resolutions and gifts

I’m not really one to make ‘new year’s resolutions’
mostly
‘cause I’m not one to keep them.
But as I was rushing around today
- as usual -
I thought
I just want to be able to be still.
It seems that this year
more so than others
has just been so very busy;
we’ve rushed from one thing to the next
not having time to do things quite the way I’d like.
Always rushing.
Seeing things that need changing
but somehow
not finding the time to figure out a plan to actually make changes.
And always
no matter how much time we spend cleaning
the house is a mess.
Not one of those “oh, I’m sorry the house is a wreck” messes
and one is left wondering where exactly this mess is.
Truly
a mess.
I don’t like living this way.
~
Then I realized
I will be spending several hours a day
in the very near future
being still.
Sitting and nursing our precious new baby.
How good is God?!
Nine months ago
He knew I would be at my breaking point
and so He sent me a gift
to be opened at just the right time.
~

I just love presents!
‘specially soft cute cuddly ones!

you know you're at the vet's

when everyone talks to your

'poor little sick dog'

(who just trashed your house,

necessitating an emergency carpet cleaning.

Poor dog, my eye!)

and no one mentions a word about your

ready-to-pop 8+months-pregnant belly

~

speaking of -

only 3 weeks 'til we get to hold our little sweetie

in our arms.

I can hardly wait!!!!

Look at those cheeks!

my genius husband

Tonight

we were in the middle of another building project

- shelves, this time -

(it's almost sad how proficient we have become at shelf-building)

and Tyler decided to get the soup warming up for dinner.

Slave-driver that I am,

he figured if he waited for me to get it warming

it'd be several hours still before we ate...

I asked he'd turned the burner on good & low.

Didn't want to risk a pot of 'smokey' Turkey Noodle Soup

(with the turkey, this time - sorry guys!)

He said

"I put it on 7."

Seven?!

Eight

is as high as the stove goes!

Needless to say

I flew to the kitchen

where I found

that he had brilliantly

fashioned a double boiler

in which to heat up the soup

risk-free!

In all my years of cooking

it has never once occurred to me

to heat up a thick soup this way.

Pure genius, I tell ya!

ta-da

I finished it!

For my first real quilt,

I'm pretty happy with it.

~

I used this gal's tutorials - which are excellent, I thought!
I figure it took me somewhere between

15 and 17 hours all together.

Never mind how much money....

but I do have a fancy new walking foot for my sewing machine :-)

~

I really had no business working on a baby quilt

when the little girl currently in-house

still needs more diapers

and I have plenty of Christmas prep to keep my busy

but I just couldn't help myself.

I was a bit nervous when I stuck it in the washer

but all the 'experts' had told me

'nobody prewashes anymore'

I went ahead and threw some salt and a color catcher in

for good measure

Now all I need is a snuggly little baby girl to go with it!

well

and a diaper bag.....

God's provision

“I have sort of an odd question.

Is there, by any chance, a metallic primer of some sort

that one could use to make a surface that magnets would stick to?”

I timidly asked the lady at Lowe’s, fully expecting to be laughed at.

I am famous for coming up with a need

for products

that do not exist.

When I told Tyler it would be really neat if there was such a thing,

he agreed it’d be cool

but he certainly didn’t think it existed.
~
We’re making a
- Shhh -

k i t c h e n

for the kids for Christmas.

~
When I had the idea
(I am also famous for coming up with ‘easy’ things for Tyler to do
It’s a compliment, really, I think he can make anything.
It‘s probably not the kind of compliment he appreciates, though…)
I sorta thought we’d begin building several weeks before Christmas.
I had no clue Tyler would be working major overtime
and we’d barely see him
the entire month of December.
~
We started on the kitchen yesterday.
As in
I bought supplies while Tyler was working
and we drew out the pattern on the wood late last night.
Turns out

there is such a thing as a metallic primer that attracts magnets

called - ironically enough - metallic primer.
It’s kinda pricey at $20.77 a quart

but it would be so cool for the kids to play

with alphabet magnets on their fridge… so we splurged on it.
Anyways
Tyler had decided not to go to work today
So we were going to get as much done on the kitchen

as we possibly could.
Which is where God’s provision comes in again

(I consider the fact that metallic primer even exists

to be His provision, too :-)
~
I’ll occasionally hear or read

of God almost miraculously providing for people.

They find insanely good deals.

And I moan, “why not me? my family?”
Well, today, He provided for us.
Beautiful weather.
A sixty degree day, smack in the middle of December,
just so we could work on our little project.
How cool is that??

We commented several times

about what a blessing the nice weather was.
We were all amazed at just how much progress we made.
(granted, we did work all afternoon & evening, but still…)
The icing on the cake came when we finally called it quits.
It was after 7 o'clock.
We were hungry and worn out.
Ordinarily, we might have left our mess for later
but
we knew the weather was going to be turning nasty tomorrow.
As in
nearly freezing
with rain.
So we had to go ahead and clean up everything.
It is, after all, December
and we could expect it to stay cold and yucky indefinitely.
Trips to the shop and burn pile in the dark
seemed preferable to trips in freezing rain....
Tony got dinner on the table for us
and came out to help with the last of the pick-up.
We came in the house
washed hands
and sat down to eat.

We had served up the chili, but hadn’t even prayed yet.
3 minutes max from the time we closed the door.
Tyler said, “Quiet, everyone. Listen”
and so we did.
And we heard
rain.
Tears filled my eyes.
God does provide ‘like that’ for my family!
But He does it in the ways that we need.

We don’t necessarily need 50 cent a pound strawberries

(although we would certainly enjoy them)
But today, we really needed to make a major dent in our project;

Tyler may not have another day off before Christmas.
We could have done it in cold,

but it would have been miserable.

God cared enough to send us one lovely day

- the one day that Tyler could be home -

so that we could make something special for our kids

and He even held off the rain

until we were completely finished for the day.
~
Thank-you Lord, for your provision.

Forgive me for doubting your care.

our preferred method

we call it real life montessori

~

oh and the turtles?

Lily can match up all 12 pairs!

She's quite pleased with herself!

We're pretty pleased

with her

too!

dropped perfectionist

I think we may have another perfectionist on our hands.

~
My doctor wanted to run a strip on the girl this morning
just to make sure things were still looking ok.
The little stinker was all about passing her test!
As soon as they put that belt on she started kicking and rolling
and didn’t stop until they unhooked everything.
Then she went back to her barely mobile self.
Course I can understand her lack of movement,
she’s probably plumb tuckered out
from using up a 2-day quota of moves in all of 30 minutes.
~
I was working on a little Christmas present while on the machine.
After I’d done all I could on it
(yudonknow doya?)
I just prayed and listened to my baby galloping around.
I thought it was rather interesting.
I had lots of Braxton-hicks
(which did not register on the Baby Doppler)
When one would start
Baby’s heart rate would get super fast, then it would slow dramatically
I mean really slow
then
when my uterus relaxed
her heartbeat would return to normal.
It made me realize
-again-
how amazing it is to get to play just a tiny role
in the miracle of new life.
~
Needless to say
Our sweetie aced her test;
When Dr Lukasek looked at her strip
she pronounced it ‘Beautiful!’
That’s one of the many reasons I appreciate her.
I mean
how many doctors would use that adjective?
Certainly no other doc I’ve ever had!
~

Little Bit has also dropped.
We’re talking low
I can spread my hand out below my chest
(and those ladies aren’t quite where they used to be!)
and still barely touch her.
My babies don’t normally drop
quite so early.
Hmmmm
Although I have a hard time thinking this laid back little baby
might decide to show herself early,
we still need to be prepared for the possibility.
We’re definitely grounded to town.
~
Its kind of nice
to have such a good excuse for not being able to go anywhere.

rare sighting

Well,

not so rare

as a brilliant crescent moon and Venus and Jupiter

like we saw last week

and won't appear together

in that configuration again for about 40 years

but

rare, nonetheless.

At least around here.

ugh

The only thing worse

than having a houseful of sick kids

is Momma being sick right along with them.

while 7 1/2 months pregnant.

:-(

At least

it's not a tummy bug!

that would definitely be worse!!

a tiny tip

When your 20 month old is sewing with you

and you give her scraps

and a pin,

you might oughta think twice

about holding pins in your mouth

~

just a thought.....

five

How has it been five years?

This is one of my favorite pictures of Jeremiah's first days.

I suppose it would drive a photographer nuts

but

I am not photographer

I am a mom.

~

We waited so long for this little guy.

I suppose its fitting that he should be the one

with a December birthday.
~

We don't really have much of a story for the day he was born;

that's often how it is with a c-section.

You set the alarm

get up early

hurry to the hospital

so you can wait around a few hours.

They wheel you into a freezing cold room

shoot some stuff in your back

put a slit in your belly

wiggle you around

and pull out a baby.

Then

five short years later,

you have the makings of a fine little man.

~

We had a wonderful day today

just enjoying the birthday boy and the blessing

he is to our family!

His favorite gift was from his big brothers;

supersuits!

And

a chocolate lover like his momma,

the best part of his day was

eating hot fudge cake.

You'd think it would have been

the 2 hours we spent at Chuck e Cheese's

or having his big kids (TJ, Luke & Lana) all here.

Opening presents ranked pretty high,

but the birthday dessert

-well-

it was the icing on the cake

for him!

~

Jeremiah,

you are such a treasure!

You have grown so much these past few months;

Momma & Daddy are so very proud of you!

You are able to change your attitude in the blink of an eye.

Momma still can't do that one!

You have begun to 'take initiative' on a daily basis

(you can't always remember what it's called,

but you choose to look for ways you can help out)

You are such a good big brother to Lily -

just today, she had a bit of sucker around her mouth

and you wondered,

"What is that red on precious Lily's sweet little face?"

What a good protector you are!

Your memory is incredible!

You often amaze us with the things you remember.

And

you love the cold.

Most days, you get dressed in a tank top and shorts.

I'll ask, "don't you need to put on something warmer?"

and you'll say,

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine"

Yep, you sure are!

Oh, and did I mention
your Pop
is your very favoritist person on earth

Thank-you, Lord
for the precious gift you have given us.
Guide us
as we guide him.

~

Happy 5th Birthday, Jeremiah!