Our Story
Inherent to the concept of My-Newborn-Baby-Care.com is the reality that your family is growing! Each addition to your family will bring about adaptations to your interests, responsibilities, and goals. This is a good thing! Much joy is to be shared through these adjustments.
Our family is continuing to evidence this truth (we welcomed another daughter into our home during Thanksgiving week of 2010...how appropriate), and we here share with you a brief glimpse of our personal and family growth.
Our Beginning
I (Michael) grew up in a traditional, conservative, Christian home in Omaha, Nebraska (U.S.A.). The oldest of three boys, I enjoyed the ‘trailblazing’ privileges that often accompany a firstborn child. My various activities included many church-related youth programs, camps, Christian school, music opportunities, and athletics (especially football).Laurie grew up in Minnesota (U.S.A.) with a family life that was very similar to mine, except that she was the oldest of two girls (and it doesn’t seem that ‘football’ carried quite the same interest). As girls tend to do, much time was spent playing ‘house’ as a child…and Laurie was usually the Mom! Her teenage years revolved around church gatherings and Christian school activities, including volleyball, cheerleading, and music.
Throughout our childhood, the exemplary living and wise counsel of our respective parents was so extremely vital in shaping the choices we would make. Many paths could have been chosen, but their consistent guidance challenged us to live with an eye toward the future. Early spiritual decisions brought about life-changing results, and we know not where our lives would be without the saving and keeping power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Should you desire to know more about this, please read Our Greatest Birth. After meeting in college, we became friends most especially due to our inclusion in various music performance groups. There was no lack of interest in each other during those years, but we didn’t marry until a couple years after graduation. I called the waiting period ‘cautious consideration’…most everyone else said, “What are you waiting for?!” (Hindsight is 20/20, right?)
We both graduated with bachelor’s degrees which included double majors. My degrees are in Bible and Church Ministries (youth and music), and Laurie has Bible and Business Administration majors, along with a Photography minor.
Marriage began with a desire for children, but no expectation of a particular number. Quite honestly, we never dreamed of such a full house in those early years. Babies have come ‘one at a time’, and the adjustments undertaken for ‘one more’ have always been miniscule compared to the joy of sharing in another gift of life. Even the difficult pregnancies (bed rest for pre-term labor, gestational diabetes, breach baby, severe back pain) have not been enough to discourage us from pursuing a large family.
Though modern technology has allowed for parents to know of their baby’s gender during the pregnancy, Laurie and I have preferred the excitement and anticipation that accompanies waiting until the birth.
For our first sixteen years, expensive medical technology hadn’t been needed anyway. In a show of superiority to "mother's intuition", I had successfully predicted the sex of each of our first eight children...but I missed it with our ninth. Oh well...I love my newest daughter!
Our Present
Michael (that’s me) has begun to notice some of the maturing aspects of age. ‘Crows foot’ (not to be confused with my ‘pigeon toe’) has entered my vocabulary this year following a morning when I must have leaned in toward the mirror. No doubt I was trying to tilt my head so that I could locate the growing ‘spot’ on my scalp that needs covering. Well, of course, my back probably gave out, and this must have caused me to reach for the pain medications on the top shelf. While wincing in pain just in front of the mirror.....I surely came face to face with my.....’seasoning’ shall we say. All those major events of 1968, including my birth, are beginning to slip into the fog of history. Actually, I’m in good health, and though there are some outward signs of ‘weathering’.....my kids keep me young at heart. In fact, my young heart is in such great shape that I sometimes set aside my trumpet and horn in order to pick up a tuba and ‘blow it’ with our church groups.
Laurie, who is also well past her teen years, is still married to her first husband of 19 years. She is still changing diapers as she did seventeen years ago, but has added on an enormous load of teaching and mothering over the years. It happens little by little, but with home schooling eight, writing and researching for My-Newborn-Baby-Care.com, church services, 4-H, piano lessons, violin lessons, cello lessons, doctor’s appointments, meals, laundry, groceries, mothering all nine, pampering “Dad” and more.......Proverbs thirty-one comes to mind. I was certainly cautious when considering a wife, but the Lord gave me so much more than I could have known. She makes everything in my life a breeze, and marriage to her is like peanut butter fudge ice cream.......it’s all good.
Life has been full of the typical challenges. There have been broken bones (Tarzan games gone bad and stumbling toddlers), close calls (car crashes and tumors), grieving losses (miscarriages and the passing of friends), sicknesses (that slowly make the rounds through our family over a period of weeks), and plenty of opportunities to learn from mistakes (both parents and children). We have grown closer in our understanding and appreciation of each other through these difficulties.
We have been so blessed to have found a means by which Laurie can contribute to our family income and still be at home with the kids each and every day. This website was started with that in mind, so if you'd like to hear the whole story behind our business, be sure to read Joining the Work From Home Moms.
Our family shares together in encouraging one another in our Christian life, and all activities of the week are scheduled so that we might fully participate in the life and ministry of our local church ( www.legacybaptistchurch.net ).
Among the opportunities that have grown with our maturing children and their talents is the privilege of ministering to the spiritual needs of people through our family’s music. We love to sing together (especially acapella), and each of the children is growing in their piano skills along with various other instruments of their choosing. We have determined that the reward of these efforts ought to be used primarily to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ in the church and in His service. As we have had invitation, it has been our pleasure to minister in likeminded churches or in various other places of opportunity. If you like, you may visit www.grismoremusic.webs.com to sample and purchase our sacred vocal music recordings.
Want to meet our kids? We'd be happy to introduce them to you.
Our Passions
Our ultimate passion is to our Savior, Jesus Christ, both now and forever. We love our family (both immediate and extended). The freedoms, privileges, and responsibilities that come with being an American are not lost on us. When given the opportunity, we go completely crazy in support of the Nebraska Cornhuskers (especially the football team). These loves of ours do not all rank equally in importance, of course, but they do help to define who we are.We are completely unique in our experiences, and yet our story is somewhat typical of families all over the world. This adventure of life with our children has certainly demanded that we make some choices morally, spiritually, spatially, and financially, and the reward of making good choices far exceeds what mere words can convey. Yet, through this web site, we have tried to help excite you to begin well as you consider the possibilities that lie ahead.
If you'd like to know even more about us, read about Our Greatest Birth.
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