It's a boy!!!

Well, I must say that we were quite surprised when we found out that baby #4 is a boy, but we are beyond excited!  Excited that....
-Caleb will have a little best friend (just like Matthew and Joseph have)
-we have plenty of blue :)
-Brett is excited he doesn't have to repaint C's room
-excited that we have the privilege to train and raise (with the Lord's help of course) godly young men who will be fabulous husbands and daddys
 -and yes, I'm already praying that we have wonderful daughter's in law :)
-our only issue is that we have a hard time deciding boy's names!  Very open for suggestions!

our first ER experience.....

We had a very interesting night last night.....the boys and I got back to Nana and Papa's late (Brett was still at the house wrapping things up), and as I was headed for the porch, I hear a blood curdling scream (literally).  Joseph had tripped and hit his head on the first set of brick steps leading up to the porch. I got the key in the door, dropped (gently) Caleb on the floor) and ran for a towel.  (at this point, I didn't know what happened).  Mom and Dad got up, trying to calm the other two down, and I was trying to stop the bleeding and calm Joseph down (which he finally did when I told him he could have some coca cola :).)  So Dad and I headed out to the ER at 11pm.  Long story short, Brett met us there, Dad headed home, and Joseph slept on and off.  The Doctor was amazing, and Joseph got three little stitches, and was promised a prize if he did good (he asked for an electric train (smart boy!), but will get to pick out a movie tomorrow).

One thing that I loved seeing though-- Matthew is a lot like his Daddy-- has the biggest heart in the world.  When Joseph was hurt, Matthew couldn't stand seeing him that way, and did all he could to help.  After we left, Nana found Matthew in the bathroom just crying for his brother.  (which Nana consoled him, and he got to sleep a little later, exhausted).  Love, love, love his big heart.  Can't wait to see how God uses him in the future.

Joseph came out a trooper, and keeps telling people that's it going to heal. :)  Here's a picture of our little man...

Prayer Answered: We have a house!

This year has been an absolute blur... we've been working on moving closer to our new church, Brett's school and work (and of course, Nana and Papa), and put our house on the market the first part of february.  Prayer Answered #1: we had a contract on it after only 4 days (it's really because the market is so good- but I'm going to tell myself that it was because it's so cute :)) (but really because the Lord took care of us not having to keep the house clean very long for showings!)  After haggling back and forth, we made the closing date March 12th.  One month to pack things up.  We can find a house in that amount of time...right?
This was my first experience buying a house, and I had no idea that this house buying thing could be so hard.  So after many tears of frustration, we loaded (with the wonderful help of our OVBC SS class) our pod and packed things into storage, and moved to my parents house.
When you're picky like I am, and don't have a ton of money to spend (note: Brett is still in seminary....), it was getting downright frustrating.  We probably looked at 50+ houses.  So many houses that the boys would groan if I drove through a neighborhood or told them we were going to look at homes...again.

Fast forward to the middle of april....mom and I saw a house in february (the first one I looked at, ironically), that was about to come back on the market again.  I called (and annoyed) the agent until she told me we could look at the house before it went on the market.  I liked it just fine, and thought we could do some stuff to it to make it a home.  I was headed out of town to spend the weekend with some wonderful friends from college, and asked Brett if he liked it to have our agent put an offer on it. 

So, we're on our way to san antonio, and I'm anxious to hear how Brett liked the house.  I called him, and he said he liked it okay, but that he and my dad saw a different one in the same area that was a good price, and had the layout that we'd been wanting.  So, I asked Brett if we could go ahead and put an offer on the house, and he asked me if I'd lost my mind.  I called the agent and she asked me if I was really sure, (I'm sure she thought I lost my mind as well!) 

So sight unseen (at least by me), we put an offer on this house, only to hear that the seller had received two other bids and was deciding the next day which offer to accept.  I was a basketcase to say the least. Sherri, Amanda, Kristin, and Lacy prayed over the situation with me, and anxiously awaited the news.  (love you girls!) 

Fast forward to saturday...we got the word that they accepted our offer (answered prayer #2!)!!!!  So excited!!!!  We had a great rest of the weekend, and got home on sunday.  Our agent told me the seller had said he would fax over the changes on sunday and the deal would be finalized.

Fast forward to monday....went with the boys to see the house for the first time, and our agent got out of her car, fuming.  The seller had just called to say he wasn't going to accept the offer after all (basically, he wanted it to go into a bidding war.)  Sad day in our house.  I went and looked at the house anyway (hoping that I'd hate it), but I loved it- loved the potential it had, and the layout was great.  So, our agent just said she'd let me know any updates.

I've never prayed harder in my life.  I don't know why, but I really felt that this was the house the Lord had for us.  So I prayed, Brett and I prayed, and we prayed with the boys.  And then....on tuesday morning, our agent called back and told us the seller changed his mind and was going to sell it to us (Answered prayer #3)!  I don't know why, but I firmly believe the Lord changed the seller's heart. After I got the call, I called the boys in there and we prayed together- thanking the Lord for our miracle.  It was really fun telling Papa and Nana our good news when they walked in the door!

Fast forward 2 weeks, and we have now signed on our house, and are making plans to refurbish and update our house-- a little overwhelmed, but so thankful how the Lord has provided!!!  Praise the Lord!

No really, I don't mind having 3 boys....

Today, M, J, C, and I headed to the doctor.  J and C have had colds for the past two weeks, and just aren't getting better.  (J's cough just sounds awful).  That's not the point of my story though..while we were in the elevator and leaving the drs., and two women stopped me and said "three boys!  oh, you need a girl!" and the second lady was almost offensive in the way she kept saying that I "need" a girl.

I'm not going to say that we wouldn't like a girl (we would), but if the Lord only blesses us with boys, I'm totally okay with that.  I'm just tired of people making comments to the effect that boys aren't enough (because they are if that's what God wants... and I couldn't imagine my life without them). 

So, I've decided that anytime someone says this to me in the future (which I'm sure they will), I'm just going to say our boys are a blessing, and God knows what our family needs.  (I will have a pink guestroom someday though!)

Welcome Baby Caleb!

I knew I hadn't been on our blog in a while....but I didn't realize it was 9 months ago I posted!  Well, since that time, our world has turned upside down (in a good way!) as we welcomed Mr. Caleb Russell Tooley to the world and our crazy family.  We're pretty smitten- he is a wonderful baby, and smiles all the time.  Oh-- and he was 20 and 3/4" and 10 pounds, 5 ounces when he was born.  

Here are a few pictures from his first few weeks home-- I will try and be better and post more frequently :)

the three brothers (see their shirts (big brother, little brother!)

Our first picture as a family of 5 (hopefully we'll get an AMAZING one this summer!)

it's a.....boy!

That's right! Team Tooley will be adding boy #3 this february. We're still working on names-- will probably announce in january =). To make finding out a little more fun, we had a baby gender party a few weeks ago. When we went in for the sonogram, the sonographer had us turn our heads, typed "boy", printed it out, and gave us the sonogram all folded up. Two days later, we had friends and family over to find out! Here are some pics from the night.....


invite =)



food (totally bummed I didn't take a picture sooner-- oh well!) the middle held the cupcakes, and we had lemonade, lemon bars, peanut butter cookies, and fruit-- yum!

one of the cupcakes-- the bee on top is made from a lemon drop and almonds as wings!

about to open the envelope!

Rashel, opening the envelope.....drum roll!

yea! a boy! (the hands in the air weren't planned, but funny!)


our first picture as a family of 5 (wow!)


friends =)

more friends-- thanks for celebrating with us!

Coming this february!

That's right--we are pregnant with baby #3-- and are so excited! The official due date is February 5, which I'm thinking will fly by with Christmas right before. Right now, we are looking at minivans (ahhh!) and enjoying Brett's month off of school. Here's a little card I designed to tell some family and friends =).