Meet Gabriel Josiah, our youngest child. Gabriel was born October 23, 2010, exactly nine months from the day my husband returned from his second (and last) deployment to Iraq.



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Elliana Gwynn was born October 4, 2008, the first birth my husband, Josiah, was able to witness. The only girl with three brothers, she is rough and tumble, yet undeniably girly.

 Malachi James was born June 9, 2007. He is an adorable three year old, and full of fire and determination. Malachi, as well shown here, is our animal lover. He makes friends with everything from spiders and beetles to dogs and cows. He believes (and so far it has proven true) that he is immune to stings and bites from bees, snakes, etc.

 

 Simeon James was born February 23, 2006, nine months after we were married. He is a brilliant little boy, and loves the position of "the first baby". He has a very tender heart, and is always thinking. He's holding some variety of chicken on this photo.

Josiah and Janelle (me)

This photo was taken October 2009, while Josiah was home on a two week leave from Iraq. Josiah and I have been married since May 12, 2005. We are high school sweethearts, married less than a year after we graduated at age 19. We are enjoying the process of growing up together, and it is our prayer that we will be giving the opportunity to grow old together.

 In our five years of marriage, we have grown so much while weathering various challenges.We've lived in five different homes, had four babies, Josiah has had three different employers, we've made it  through two deployments and through it all, we seek to continue to become one. God has richly blessed us and we are so grateful to him for the life he has given us.

We have an entertaining sequence of attempted family pictures from Thanksgiving 2010. While none of them are "picture perfect", this photo displays our family well. Our boys think it is great to make faces for photos, and at least everyone is actually IN the photo.