happy birthday, Lana

I woke up thinking
this is the day
Finally!
You’d think
since the first one was 12 ½ weeks early
the second one would at least be a week or so early!
Nope
2 minutes before her due date
was all the early she could muster.
~
I waited an hour or so
just to be sure.
Then I tried calling Tyler
(Army - 'nuff said)
After getting the run-around for about 10 minutes
I finally told the person on the phone,

“I need to talk to Tyler now.

This is his wife. I am in labor.

He needs to call me before he comes home."
I hadn’t wanted to tell anyone;
I knew when they told him
he’d freak out and speed home.
And I didn’t want him to come home
I wanted him to go to the quick-stop

and get me a raspberry filled powdered-sugared donut first!
But
in about 5 minutes
He showed up at the window
(another story entirely)
wondering why on earth I was so calm
and not ready to go…
~
The hospital was about 45 minutes away
in Landstuhl , Germany
We got there early afternoon.
They checked me
said I wasn’t doing much of anything
and we should walk around.
We went to the cafeteria to get something to eat
After all - I never did get my jelly donut!
We got settled in a room early evening.
~
Fast forward to 11 pm
I wasn’t progressing quickly
But I sure was in pain!
The nurse was impatient with me
and told me I better get a grip
'cause that baby wasn’t coming any time soon!
I had a grip!
I was hanging onto Tyler’s sleeve
And apparently, with every contraction
I would twist the sleeve.
Tighter.
Tyler called the nurse in and told her I thought it was time
She grumbled, but took us to the delivery room
She didn’t bother calling the doctor on duty
you know
since I wasn’t having the baby any time soon.
She told Tyler to help get me on the delivery table
He grabbed me from behind
she went to the foot of the bed.
She starts saying, “Stop!”
Tyler wasn’t sure what I was doing,
but he chimed in too, telling me to stop whatever it was.
He was going to just throw me on that table by himself
since the nurse didn’t seem to be helping.
‘No, You stop!”
This time
it’s clear she’s not talking to me, after all,
she’s talking to Tyler!
The doc never even got called
and I sure didn’t make it onto that table!
Just a few minutes later
and there she was
A girl!
Our little princess
Lana Marie
~

She was a dream child,
giving us very little trouble over the years
and
bringing us so much joy
And now, in just 24 days
Poof
She’ll be gone.
How can 20 years go by in the blink of an eye?
I love you,
my beautiful daughter
my friend

my love

In my earliest memory of him
he made me laugh.
We worked together on Fridays.
Usually
I worked days
He worked evenings
but on Fridays
I’d pull a long shift,
working both the lunch and dinner rushes.
I was a waitress in an ugly uniform
He was a cook.
(in an equally ugly uniform)
For whatever reason, I was grouchy
and he made a stupid little potato person to cheer me up.
Oddly enough, it worked.
And

he’s been on my mind
ever since.
~
Happy (belated) Birthday
to the love of my life.

~
Because he is forty, forty things about him
He loves the Lord
He’s an awesome dad
He has a heart for the lost
He’s a good son
He makes delicious sloppy joes
He spurs me on to good works
(although, admittedly, sometimes it irritates me at the time)
He sees the good in people
He’s handsome
He likes a good action movie
He also enjoys a sappy romance
He appreciates my efforts in the kitchen
He’s quick to change when he’s erred
He has great legs
And gorgeous eyes
mmmm
He’s steady
But he can still fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants
He brings me flowers for no reason
And pays full-price, even though I fuss at him
He’s a hard worker
He’s creative and will figure out the easiest way to get the work done
He’s a good inventor
He reads the same books over and over to the little boys
He loves my parents
As much as he loves his own
He can take a short nap and wake up refreshed
He gives Lily her baths
and tells me what a good girl she was

even though she cried the entire time
He loves a good joke
Sadly
He also loves a stupid joke
He’s honest
And expects everyone else to be, too
He tries hard to speak my love language
Even though it's ‘foreign’ to him
He’s smart
And wise
He makes up wonderful stories for the kids
He will obey God no matter what
He loves a good back massage
But he doesn’t get one nearly as often as he should

He's much nicer than I am
He rarely complains
He is faithful

.
and I am so very grateful
that he is
mine

I love you, Tyler

pictures that make me smile

that I never managed to get posted...

in no particular order...

the boys with Grandpa

yum!

peeked out the window one day to see

Jeremiah

picking flowers for Momma

LilyPie at the park
man, she's grown in 2 months!

Jeremiah & Josiah bought this train
with their Easter $1 from Granny
at the thrift store.
it even had batteries in it!

another view from my window
It made me smile to think that in a few years
they'll be hanging out their own diapers
(made by gramma - with love)
with their own little ones helping.

Happy Birthday, TJ

It had been a long week.
For the past seven days
I’d spent the majority of my time
drugged
slightly inverted in a hospital bed
lying on my left side
trying in vain to stop labor.
Somewhere around 3:00 on the 21st
The nurses decided they weren’t going to stop it.
Like it or not
after only 27 wks and 3 days
the baby was coming.
They moved me to a labor room.
I say room loosely
as it was really just an ‘area’ bordered with red curtains.
Did I mention I was alone?
I was.
All by myself
with some grouchy nurses who checked in once in awhile.
Lying flat on my back strapped to a fetal monitor.
Later that evening
the contractions quit registering on the monitor
So the lovely nurses told me I was no longer having them.
Except, I could still feel them.
and they were hurting!
“It’s just all in your head” they told me.
And so began a lifelong general mistrust for the medical profession.
Around 11 o’clock
I got brave and moved the stupid belt myself
and wouldn’t you know it
it showed I was having contractions again.
And they said, “This baby is comin’!”
I probably smarted off, “I told you!!”
I’m pretty sure I bruised the arms of two of those nurses.
Not because I punched them, mind you,
but because they were kind enough to let me hold on.
And I was squeezing pretty tight.
They told me to wait - Dr Jain was coming.
(that was another pattern that seemed to develop -
waiting for the doctor to have the baby…)
She finally walked in the door
looked me in the eyes
and said, “Now, you can push.”
At 12:02am, April 22nd, 1987
a scrawny little 2 lb 15 oz boy entered the world.
Peeing.
And I was smitten.

We’ve always known God has special plans for this one.
Still aren’t sure what all those plans are
But His hand is clearly on him.
~
We share a love for movies
and a general dislike for musicals.
And food.
(We love food, we don’t dislike it - in case there’s any confusion.)
He’s generous
He’s a good friend
He’s smart
He’s an excellent mechanic
And plumber
He laughs heartily
He loves babies

and they love him
He’s thoughtful
And he’s my favorite 21 year old in the whole world!
I love you, T.
Happy Birthday!!

coming soon to a mailbox near you...

Whew

they're in the mail!

I haven't been so relieved to finish a project

in a long time.

No

that's not quite true;

I was pretty darn relieved when I finally

got those blasted sleeves in the wedding dress last Saturday

~

when she saw them

she knew

those were the sleeves she wanted

very Galadrielish

if you're a LOTR's fan

(which I'm not! But I've been subjected to it enough

to have learned a thing or two...)

I said, "Sure I can do that."

Cause

you know

I can do anything

and she's my daughter and it's what she wants.....

(and I had no clue how tricky they would be to put in!)

grrr

Those sleeves were a bugger!

~

Tyler asked me what else had to be done.

I told him I was taking the rest of the day off

from wedding work!
~

Thanks, everyone, for pitching in

and helping with the invitations.

We make a pretty good team!

blech

I just finished licking 173 envelopes

I think my tongue is swollen

~

we still have a doz or so more invites to do

but we ran out of the vellum

seems our printer

has developed quite an appetite

for vellum

~

I never intended to stay up so late

but I really wanted to finish the job....

I will be happy to get these babies in the mail!

great big thanks

to Eva & Susie for doing the bulk of the addressing for us!

our entire family is gifted with lousy handwriting;

I cheated

the envelopes I addressed, I did on the computer.

I hope that isn't a major faux pas

cause they really do look so much nicer

than if I'd done them by hand!

~

I've been hungry for a few hours

but we had a silly little

no-food-anywhere-near-the-invitations policy

so I couldn't eat

well

that

and I didn't want to take the time to stop....

but now

I'm going to have a piece of honey toast

and crawl into bed

and tomorrow

make that later today

I'll get to mark something else off the list

finally fun

People keep asking,

"Aren't ya'll having so much fun?"

and when they say 'fun'

their nose crinkles up & their voice get higher.

NO

actually

as a matter a fact

we are not having fun!

this is supposed to be FUN??

what part?

but

finally

today

we actually had some fun

with the wedding planning

~

It's been a very productive day.

We completely re-did our Unforgettables' order

(you have to do that when you change wedding locations...)

and even had enough money to get the punch fountains

that Lana really was hoping to have.

(yes, fountains)

We got all of the serving pieces figured out

and most of them ordered or purchased.

We got the invitations printed and cut.

~

Then

we went to Sam's a bought the pool!

We came home to find Lily napping.

Papa said she was a good girl the whole time!

Now, the guys are diggin' away

while Jeremiah makes use of the 'pool'

we currently have

(formerly the chicken brooder - soon to be the goat waterer)

meanwhile
Josiah is sawing logs

Lily is still being a good girl
but
she won't be still!

and
Lana is getting ready for her final concert of the semester

all in all
a good day
and it's not even over yet
Thank-you, Lord!

strawberry girl

just in case there's any confusion

as to what happened to all the strawberries yesterday...

Lily ate them.

And she's not a bit shy about it!
okay

so she didn't eat all of them

but I bet she ate about a half a pound!!

That girl loves strawberries!

And we sure love that girl!!

pancakes

pancakes for dinner

YUM!!

We haven't had pancakes in almost a year

cause

you know

half of the batter

is

milk

~

Somehow

we have an excess of milk.

That doesn't happen real often around here;

usually

we're rationing it.

Josiah is in heaven!

~

I decided to make pancakes for lunch

only

to found out around 11:45

that we had no syrup!

The boys had been so looking forward to pancakes

and I'd already had the flour soaking

so I figured we'd just have them for dinner.

Lana picked up syrup

and

since it was dinner, not lunch,

I had her get some strawberries and cream, too.

(Tyler always says it feels almost like cheating

like

we're having dessert for dinner)

Then

I had Tyler get more strawberries on his way home

cause when I went to get them out of the fridge

there were only SIX left!

~

I suppose

it could have something to do with how long it's been,

but

we all agreed

they were some of the best pancakes we've had

(even though I did forget the eggs...)

loss of words

yet another sign that my baby girl is all growed up

She tossed her words.

all of them

~

One year for language

the kids (Tj & Lana) had to read from a book list

and

make index cards

of every word they came across in their reading

that they didn't know.

Lana, being the 'wordy' one,

took the assignment much more seriously than her brother;

her box of words was precious.

Once, some little person got into her box

and she ended up in tears

because

someone had 'spilled her words'.

(I'm ashamed to admit it, but the rest of us thought it was rather funny.

Not the mess, mind you, but

words

all over the floor.... guess you had to be there)

~

yesterday

she

very reluctantly

threw her words in the trash.

Now

she has nothing left

but an empty box

and

a couple thousand rarely-used words

rolling around in her head.

~

I love you, Baby Girl!

do you see what I see?

curls!!!

I'm darn near giddy with excitement!

(I know - I don't get out much!

and that's just the way we like it :-)

how blessed can one mama be??

snack-time

ordinarily
when the boys get in the fridge
and 'fix' their own snack
I get a little irritated.
but
how could I complain
when they chose this??

on an entirely different note

I had to brag on Jeremiah;

A wise man keeps himself under control

but a fool gives full vent to anger

and

"I think what you meant

was

'okay, Momma, thank-you anyways'"

is something that is heard

pretty often around here.

~

Last Thursday

Jeremiah asked me if he could do something

and I told him, "no".

he looked at me

smiled

and said,

"okay, Momma. Thank-you anyways!"

he's worked really hard to keep

this attitude ever since.

~

Jeremiah,

you sure do please God and Momma and Papa!

tea parties

Lily and I had our first

of what I suspect

will be

many

tea parties.

It was rather impromptu;

she kept crawling to the cabinet & pulling out cups.

I finally it figured out -

she wanted to have a tea party!

okay,

so maybe not

but

we had a little tea party anyways.

She kept switching cups with me;

wasn't quite sure why

I

had something in my cup

but she

did not.

~

fun

transplants

I’ve been following Nate, Tricia, & baby Gwyneth’s story

for about a month or so.
I also check in fairly often with sweet, ornery baby Ashley.
It’s caused me to think a lot about organ donation.
~
I’d always planned to donate my organs -
I wouldn’t need them anymore…
and I figured
if ‘science’ wanted it
they could have the rest of my body, too.
I was thrilled when all I had to do

was check a box on my driver’s license form
to show my desire to be a donor.

~
A few years ago
Tyler and I were talking
and
for the sake of argument
(that man does like to argue)
he said maybe we shouldn’t be doing organ transplants;
Perhaps, in doing so, we were playing God.
Now,
it’s no secret
that I believe that doctors often cross the lines
and play God sometimes,
so this made me really question transplants.
So much so
that when it came time to renew my license,
I left the donor box unchecked
because I hadn’t really figured it out yet.
I’ve felt badly about it from time to time
but as a general rule
I’m pretty wrapped up in my own life
and didn’t give it much thought.
Until I started reading these two blogs.
~
I have come full circle;
I’m surprised it took me so long.
I’m dumb like that sometimes!
God is far too big
to let a ‘little’ thing like an organ donation
change His plan.
…All the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be
Psalm 129:16
~
Tricia got her new lungs last night.
Someone lost their life yesterday, in order for her to get them.
I hope that that person is now in the presence of Jesus
and that Tricia can live out the rest of her pre-ordained days
bringing glory to the Father,
just as she’s been doing.

Just as I hope to do.

oh happy day

It's been one of those days.

Actually,

it's been one of those weeks.

you know,

the kind where not much of anything

goes right...

but

I got a gift just a moment ago ~

a new laundry helper!!

YAY!!!

LilyPie saw Momma putting the clothes in the dryer

so she crawled in to help!

She doesn't have it figured out quite yet.

I understand how she's confused;

the only other helping she's done with laundry

has been to take the clothes

out

of the washer

and

toss them down......

our priceless gift

6-7 years ago
my (then) doctor
recommended a hysterectomy.
Apparently that was the only cure for my symptoms.
I had a very large uterine fibroid that was causing tremendous pain,
almost constant bleeding and secondary infertility.
We tried shrinking it with medicine
but that didn’t work.
Btw - if your Doctor ever suggests taking Lupron
Run!
Seriously!
That stuff is of the devil!!!

I said
thankyouverymuch
but I think I’ll live with the pain…..
~
Today
my precious baby girl
- the 3rd child we’ve been blessed with

since I ‘should’ have had that hysterectomy -
turned 1

Lily is such fun!
She is absolutely brilliant -
even carrying on conversations
(so long as we ask the right questions)
She loves pretty things -
‘specially her sissy.
She adores her big brothers and loves it
when they come in the bedroom after she wakes up in the morning;
I call out, “LiyPie’s awake (at which point she’ll smile and look at the door)
and she’s lookin’ at the door!”
She watches the door and listens
and as soon as she hears them coming
she gets so excited!
She likes books
Cars and guns and legos are some of her favorite toys
She loves to help
She mimics everything
She’s a night owl
She’s our treasure!
~
I love you, Lily!!

I am so happy to be your momma!

Thank-you, Father, for this priceless gift!

HE IS RISEN

He is risen indeed!

glamour girls

Lily was sitting on Lana's bed

watching her 'sissia' put on make-up.

Tyler popped his head in the door,

"Are you girls putting on make-up?"

to which

Lana says, "Yeah."

and Lily said,

"Yes, Dad."

so pretty

takin' a break

We have been crazy busy around here

and I don't expect it to get any better

for,

oh -

say,

2 months and 3 days....

but we took a break Tuesday evening

to watch Enchanted.

We rarely go to the movie theater

but we're often 1st in line

when a movie we've been waiting to see

comes out on video.

Lana'd been waiting for this one

since she saw the preview for it

when she with Luke and some other friends

to see Ratatouille (at the 'real' movie theater)

in July

Frankly,

I've seen better movies.

much

better movies.

but

I enjoyed the company

very much!

growing green

I was so tickled this afternoon;

I was just moving my seed-starting trays

so I could check and make sure everything was moist enough.

Imagine my surprise when I saw green sprouting up -

Tyler and I planted these Tuesday!

(the seed packet said 9 - 14 days)

~

Now,

I'm always excited with green in the Spring

but this was especially nice

because these little beauties

are for the wedding.

I hope, I hope...

you know you're a homeschoolin' family...

...when

a package arrives in the mail

and everyone fights over the contents

for hours

and your 15 yr old son is happy he's the first one up

the next day

'cause he gets first dibs on it.....

and

this

is what was in the package.
~
We've wanted this book for years!
When I first started looking for it,
it was out of print
and copies were selling for over a hundred bucks!
I've had it on my wish list at half.com
ever since.
I occasionally get an e-mail
telling me they've got one for sale,
but the price is usually still to steep for my blood.
but last week
someone had one
for only $18
(plus the over-priced shipping, of course)
~
thank-you, Lord, for your provision!!

good helpers

Scooping the laundry soap into containers
is definitely one of the favorite jobs around here.
I'm not sure what we'll do when Lily is big enough to help.
I guess I'll just have to make a triple batch.

Thanks for being such big helper-men!!

finally

Ever since I began cautiously reintroducing dairy

I have been wanting to go to Mazzios.

We've been trying to go for six weeks

We finally got to go last night.

See

you have to go for the buffet

which is only at lunch on weekdays and on Tuesday evenings.

Lunch wasn't practical

so it had to be a Tuesday.

We've either had someone sick

or something going on every single week

since I decided I was going to try a whole serving of dairy

(and then some)

Lana suggested just making pizza at home

("why spend the money to go out

if Lily's going to end up screaming for hours afterwards?")

Tyler offered to take us to Pizza Parlor on a Friday

but what I wanted

was

Mazzios.

the whole shabang

the salad with fried onions and cottage cheese and eggs

supreme pizza - piping hot

a slice of chicken club - hot enough to burn my mouth

and last but not least

cinnamon sticks.

If she was going to end up crying in pain

by golly

it was going to be worth it!

She didn't sleep the greatest

and there were a few moments during the night

when I wondered if had been too much too soon;

I think it was more her teeth than her belly, though.

~

As glad as I was to finally get to go to Mazzios

-and it was pretty good

although, I'd built it up to be so much more -

I'm glad I could make this sacrifice for Lily

~

It's absolutely nothing

compared to what's been sacrificed for me

~

We love

because He first loved us

1 John 4:19

new shoes

The other day
I was putting Lily's shoes on her dresser
(never mind why they weren't already there...)
and I said
aloud - but to myself -
This girl has outgrown all of her shoes
I have got to make some more!

Tyler said,
"that's what all the moms say when their kids outgrow their shoes"

"whhaatt?"

Lily was quite pleased with her shoes!

momma's quite pleased to have accomplished something

hmmm

The boys were having a rough morning

so they took turns riding in the ERGO.

While Jeremiah was 'helping' me fix lunch

he was just rambling on and on.

"Isn't this nice?

don't you love it when I rub your back?....

When I'm 18, you can still carry me on your back."

I replied,

"Um, I don't think so!

Tony is only 15 and if I carried him, his feet would touch the floor!"

Jeremiah thinks for a second.

"Well, what would be the problem with that?!"

our LilyPie

our babies aren't little angels - as a general rule
They require almost constant attention
(and almost as constant holding
which is why we are such ERGO fans)
but Lily is beginning to play on her own a bit.
Last night, she was finishing her cookie
-and as a result of miscommunication-
she was left in her high chair
for like - twenty minutes!
I think she was waiting for seconds!

our budding musician

Lily really enjoys watching our reading videos
and right up close is her favorite spot!

As of Sunday, she still wasn't really crawling
she was sorta doing a scoot-crawl combination.
well, she is officially a crawler now!

way to go LilyPie!

doctoring dad

Jeremiah and Josiah taking care of daddy's Skicktow it's clear that Daddy enjoys being the patient :-)

better late than never

The weekend in pictures

LilyPie just waking up from a comfy nap

Josiah & Lola watching the 'long black' train.
in the summer, we can't see the trains from the house
but in the fall & winter - we can :-)

Jeremiah and Josiah helped Papa in the garden.
Jeremiah even planted an 'apple tree'
which will give us lots of watermelon this summer.
perhaps we need some science lessons, eh?

The big kids were all gone for dinner
it was just the 5 of us.
I can see how small families can eat for $50 a month
(and fix a meal in 30 minutes)
we had 2 chicken breast, 3 potatoes & 4 ears of corn
and still had some scraps for the chickens

Lana & Lily playing with 'hats'

love my girls!!!
Gramma & Grandpa Bill & Gramma Joyce (and T :-)

spent Sunday afternoon with us

4 generations doing 'here's a ball for baby'
Lily's favorite parts are
clapping
peek-a-boo
and rock-a-baby-bye

Josiah holding Felecity
we are so happy to have these sweet kids!!

last, but not least
Jeremiah enjoying a book before bedtime

(yes, Tony was here - I just didn't end up with any pictures of him
except with Felecity, which I already posted)