Wintery Wonderland

As you can see, we almost had a white Christmas. The day after Christmas we got almost an inch of snow. That may sound piddly to most of you, but to Arkansan's, that's a blizzard. Eli got to experience his first snow, and liked it for the most part. The holidays have come and gone for the most part. There's always a bit of sadness that comes with the passing of Christmas. We had a great time though both at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We spent some great time with my family over Thanksgiving, and then spent Christmas day with the Tuckers. Both events were full of food and fun. Eli was showered with gifts starting at Thanksgiving, and continuing on through the month of December. He is a very well dressed guy, and thanks to a lot of generous people, won't have to wear the same outfit twice for quite some time. He's still trying to figure out this eat, play, sleep pattern, but it's getting better and better. Someday he may even sleep through the night.


Leigh Ann is managing well as a stay-at-home mom. She does a fantastic job and is growing in patience all the time. Eli tends to extract that character trait out of people. She's now been home for eight weeks and enjoying it. Life is extremely busy running to appointments, taking care of Eli, and taking care of the house. All of her organizing and multi-tasking abilities are being pushed to the max.

I am enjoying some time off over Christmas. School ended on the 19th of December and will resume on January 7th. During the two weeks off, I've spent time in the office getting caught up on some projects. I've also enjoyed a lot of time at home with Eli and Leigh Ann. We've spent a few days cleaning and redecorating after Christmas, and it's been nice to be home to see Eli throughout the day. On the 28th, Amos and Meredith came out with his father and sister and we spent the afternoon shooting clay pigeons. Since I got a new 12 gauge shotgun for Christmas, this was a fantastic after Christmas activity.

We look forward to greeting in the new year next week. Hopefully it will be a little less chaotic than this year, but either way, it's fantastic to have a God that walks with us through it all. Here are some more pictures, since that's why most people check the blog. Enjoy and we'll add more soon.

Can't Get Enough of Elijah...

We have been promising more pictures of Eli so here they are. He is growing quickly and has started to smile and coo. He is more content and less fussy since we put him on a schedule and everyone is getting more rest because of it! He absolutely loves baths and being naked (watch out for the little shooter). As you can see, he also has a wide variety of styles that he enjoys sporting. He is still the most adorable when he is sleeping though. Jeff and Leigh Ann are doing well and are beginning to get accustomed to being parents.


Eli wanted us to say a special thank you to all who have sent outfits for him to wear, blankets to wrap up in, and toys to play with.



He weighed in at 10lbs 5oz at his last doctors appointment at one month of age. He has outgrown newborn diapers but still fits in most newborn clothes.



Eli loves being in his swing, going for walks, and riding in the car (puts him to sleep every time). Of course, he also loves being held!










He still has blue eyes and his mommy is hoping they stay that way but daddy hopes they turn brown. One of his favorite past-times is staring up at lights. When he got his pictures taken it was hard to get him to look at the camera and not stare at the lights.

Stay tuned for more pictures!

The Holidays Arrive

My favorite time of year is here. I love the month of December. I love listening to Christmas music, decorating the house, making cookies, all the wonderful family things that go on as we look towards Jesus birth. It's an awesome time of year. As we celebrate Christmas this year, it is definitely with a new twist. Elijah has taught us a lot over the past four weeks, the main thing being that we can and do survive with a whole lot less sleep than we used to.

As everyone who has seen pictures of him would testify, he sure is a cute bugger when he's sleeping. However, he's not always cute. He does have his crying bouts, but what baby doesn't. He went in for a checkup yesterday, and has gained almost a whole pound over the two weeks. He's obviously getting plenty to eat.

The past few weeks have been really hectic around here. Not only are we changing to accommodate a new baby, but my whole family came down to visit for Thanksgiving. In total, that would include 19 people. My parents came the Monday before Thanksgiving to get a little "Elijah time" before the masses arrived. We had a fantastic time throughout the whole weekend. While the weather wasn't quite as warm as they all hoped it would be, it was beautiful none-the-less. We played a little football on Thanksgiving, shot some clay pigeons on Friday, and went horseback riding on Saturday. Overall, a great couple of days. One thing that was definitely not lacking was food. As Rice and Tucker tradition would have it, we managed to eat our way through the weekend. Unfortunately, they didn't get to experience catfish, so they'll have to come down again soon.

We have three weeks of school left before Christmas break. I'm not really counting because I know it'll go really fast. After missing the first month of school, I'm really not all that excited to get it over with. The Christmas break will find us in Arkansas for the majority of it. We may do a bit of exploring with Elijah, we'll have to see what he thinks of road trips.

Anywho, enjoy some pictures from the past couple of weeks, and we'll be sure to update again soon with Christmas decorations and pictures of interesting holiday outfits (for a preview of what's to come check out Eli's new reindeer outfit compliments of his U.P. family).

Joy Through Lifes Lessons

After three months of training, God is finally getting through to us concerning the following lesson: Things are not always going to happen how we expect, or plan for them to happen. We’d like to thank all those nurses and doctors out there who have been a part of God’s wonderful training regimen. After ten hours of labor and a C-Section, Elijah William Rice entered the world. He is a beautiful 9 lb 8 oz baby, 21 inches long, and his head has a circumference of 14 ½ inches. He was only two days over due, but was obviously ready to come out. I can’t describe how overwhelming it was to carry him from the operating room into the nursery while trying to wrap my head around the fact that this was my son; it was overwhelming and awesome. When he arrived he did have some problems breathing, and had to stay in the nursery for a few days. He was put in a 100% oxygen environment and he steadily improved, within 24 hours they started removing the oxygen. Because of these complications, Leigh Ann was not able to hold or see him until the following morning. She was disappointed to say the least. This was not what having a baby was supposed to look like, but obviously God was still doing some training. Thankfully, Elijah improved over the first night, and by 8pm on Saturday night, Leigh Ann was able to hold her new son for the first time.

Leigh Ann is doing very well. She was thankful for an epidural when she was finally able to receive one Friday afternoon. It turned out to be a huge blessing as she kept it after the surgery. This helped her get up and around on Saturday morning and sped up her recovery. Her pain is being held at bay, and she is doing very well. She is allowing Jeff to help her with things, but only to humor him and make him feel like he has some purpose in all of this.

She was discharged on Sunday afternoon but Elijah was not yet ready to go home. The hospital put us up in a boarding room for free so that we could stay close. We were yet again reminded of the many ways that God is so good in providing for us. By Monday morning, Elijah was breathing completely on his own. He still had a few hurdles to overcome and so we had to continue to be patient as the pediatricians placed a few more goals in front of him before he could be released. He began retaining a lot of fluid and therefore got very bloated. At one point he reminded me of Rocky Balboa because his eye lids were so swollen. However, with the help of a diuretic the swelling went down. Unfortunately, that caused his potassium levels to drop. By Tuesday night, they were saying that everything was leveling out, and there was a possibility that he would be released Wednesday.

Wednesday morning brought much anticipation. Finally, the pediatrician came in and we were given the go ahead to take Elijah home. He still had to endure the circumcision but did well. As you can imagine we were overjoyed to have our son and finally be allowed to go home as a family.

We cannot begin to tell you how wonderful it is to be able to hold our son without having to call the nursery and get permission to see him or to be able to have him with us 24/7. We are still on a learning curve about this thing they call parenting, but we are loving the journey! Thank you all for you prayers. Hopefully, this will conclude our hospital stays for a while. This blog does not include all the typical first baby stories but God is good and we have been able to see His hand at work in all this!

Stay tuned for more as life with Elijah William Rice truly begins.

Crazy Days

Where to begin... As many of you know, the past six or seven weeks have been a roller coaster for us. We last blogged about our week at camp with the kids. We were looking forward to sleeping in our own bed, but that only lasted for about a week. After that, we headed to the hospital for what would be the first of two, two week stays. In the end, we spent four and a half weeks in the hospital. Jeff had a flare up of his ulcerative colitis which led to two weeks in the hospital trying to bring it under control with medication, and then another two and half weeks resulting in surgery. Over this time, we were both tested in many ways, and God showed his faithfulness in abundance. We had a lot of visitors that encouraged and lifted us up. We also received a multitude of letters and emails which were great. Finally, God provided for us financially in ways that we could not have imagined. During this time, we got to be pretty close with some of the nurses and hospital staff. It was almost strange to check out and go home because we felt close to some of the people there. Nonetheless, we were excited to finally come home on October 3rd. Since then, Jeff has been doing well. He is back teaching and working with computers and is doing good. He's also expanded his diet to include most things and is working on putting a few pounds back on after loosing so many. Over the past six weeks, he lost 50 pounds, bringing him to a weight he hasn't been at since high school.

While all this was going on, Leigh Ann was continuing to grow. She is now in her last month of pregnancy and is eagerly anticipating the birth of our new baby. We don't know if it's a boy or girl and are both very excited. Leigh Ann is looking forward to sleeping in normal positions again and returning her body back to a semi-normal state. We weren't able to work on the nursery for a long time, but fortunately a few people from the ranch really helped out. Dan was mudded and textured the walls for us and Leigh Ann's father primed and painted the room. Therefore, when we returned home, Leigh Ann was able to start decorating with a vengeance. Between Leigh Ann and her sister, the room was pretty well done in a weekend. It looks great, so all we need now is a baby.

God has definitely shown his faithfulness to us over the past six weeks. Not only through those around us and our families, but also through the protection of Leigh Ann and the baby. Glenhaven was very gracious in giving us all the time we needed to deal with medical issues and recovery. While Jeff was supposed to start teaching again in early September, he didn't actually start until mid October. Even in this, God was faithful to provide people who could fill in and handle things through this time. Also, God has provided a few more teachers who will be joining staff at the end of October and early November. We are greatly looking forward to this, as the kids will receive a better education as a result of it.

We have truly appreciated all of your prayers and encouragement over the past months. You are all so valuable to us. We have no idea how people without God deal with trials such as these, and we don't want to try. We covet your continued prayers with the new baby coming and all. Prayers for sleep would seem very appropriate. Also, the ranch is going through more difficult times. This past week our executive director had a heart attack while touring in Washington state give seminars. He is scheduled for a triple bypass this week. The ranch has endured many such trials throughout the year, so your continued prayers are appreciated.

We'll try and blog again soon after we have the new "baby" Rice. We'll be very excited to be able to send out pictures and finally share our names with everyone. Until then, enjoy the cooler weather and walk with Christ.

On the Road Again...

We have spent more time in the car in the last few weeks then we have in a long time. We headed north for a short vacation at the end of July. We started off our time by visiting family in Oostburg. We got to meet our new nephew Benjamin for the first time. It is an awesome and intimidating thing to think that in a few short months we will have a baby of our own. Benjamin is a good-natured and absolutely adorable little boy. We thoroughly enjoyed reconnecting with the rest of our nieces, nephews and family. The kids grow so fast!

From there, we continued north to the U.P. to visit more family. As we drove along Lake Michigan, we both agreed that we miss seeing all that beautiful blue water. The time spent in Michigan was both fun and relaxing. We enjoyed the awesome accommodations at Aunt Becky's and the tasty treats Aunt Lauri baked up just for us!

Next, we drove back to Oostburg for a few more days. We cooled off in Doug and Kris's pool, visited with some extended family, and just relaxed as we wound down our time in the great north.

As we headed back, we made a brief stop in Southern Illinois to catch up with more family. It worked out great to meet up with Jeff's older brother and see the rest of our nieces and nephews. They are such a great bunch of kids with many talents and abilities.

Driving the rest of the way home was bitter-sweet. It is hard to be so far away from loved ones and the time spent with them is always very precious and never long enough. We were glad to get back and sleep in our own bed...at least for a few nights.

One week later, we piled in the van with most of the kids here and headed off to camp. Shepherd of the Ozarks located in northern Arkansas is a beautiful camp and is provided for our kids at almost no cost. We were challenged in many ways during the week. We were challenged in our walk with Christ. We were challenged physically on the horses, high-ropes challenge coarse, and hike to Goat Cave. The weather also challenged us at it stayed in the upper 90s and lower 100s the entire week.

We are once again back home and look forward to sleeping in our own bed tonight. It has been a busy couple weeks and there will be several more before we get back into a routine. As we close this update we have a few prayer requests: Please pray for the upcoming trip to Colorado the boys will be heading on in just over a week. Pray for new staff to join the ranch. Pray for energy and stamina for Leigh Ann as the pregnancy continues and we near the end.

Sizzlin' and Soggy Summer

When the summer started we had no idea just exactly what to expect. Well, summer is in full swing and life here continues to bring new challenges almost daily.

The first week of summer we started by working in the office full time. Jeff is pretty much the IT department now. He has many projects on his plate and never enough time to complete them all. He is also called upon to help out with work days once in a while. Leigh Ann is helping revamp the entire accounting structure to accommodate the growth that has taken place within the organization the past few years. Both jobs have brought many challenges, long days, and sometimes late nights. We enjoy our positions and look forward to what tomorrow may bring.

The second week of summer we accompanied the youth to Arkansas Youth Camp where we were challenged to run the race. It was an awesome week. The teaching was phenomenal, the fellowship great, and the fun never ended. The kids also thoroughly enjoyed the week and eagerly anticipated the next camp (South Eastern Youth Camp in Alabama). We came home physically weary but spiritually refreshed.

Then following weeks brought more challenges in the office. The IRS came out for an audit (always a ton of fun). Leigh Ann had a week long session with a consultant who helped us in revamping our accounting system. Jeff was called upon to help several times with work days as many of the male staff were off ranch. All the while, Jeff was also trying to get several computer projects done.

We were so blessed to be able to have Jeff's parents come down for several days and visit. It was a very relaxing time. We took in several of Arkansas's most beautiful views. Just recently, Pete and Dorothy also came down for a visit. We camped in an RV at Petit Jean for a few days and enjoyed everything the park had to offer. From playing tennis, to hiking, to climbing on the bear caves, to swimming in the pool, to having s'mores over the campfire, there was never a dull moment.

In the midst of all this busyness, God chose to bless us yet again in a unique way. A couple of volunteers who have worked here for several years headed back to Iowa to be with family. This move opened up a trailer for us to move into. It is a three bedroom, two bathroom, large home. It is in great shape and in one night the kids helped us move almost all of our stuff to the new place. We are enjoying the larger space and look forward to decorating the baby's room.

We had our second ultrasound about a week ago. "Bob" is doing well and is right on schedule. He/she weighed about 1 lb 1 oz. and is healthy. Leigh Ann, although tired by all the busyness, is doing well. Both of us can feel the baby move now and are very excited to meet our new little one in a few months!

In the weeks coming up we are planning a trip up north to visit family and friends. We are hoping for a little cooler weather as it has been in the upper 90's here. We have also had rain for 26 days straight. We have been told this is highly unusual and by now the grass is usually turning brown. We are thankful that we are not experiencing a drought but look forward to some dryer days. In the beginning of August we will be accompanying the kids to yet another camp, this one in Missouri. Then at the end of August Jeff will be back-packing in Colorado with the guys. Then school starts again. There is never a dull moment.

Well, I think that is enough for now. We hope that you are all well and look forward to seeing some of you in the very near future!