Need a smile????

THIS IS FABULOUS!!!!

This is stinkin' brilliant!

So one *good* thing that happens to my body when I am pregnant is that I grow fingernails! I'm actually kind of having to get used to them and I have scratched Nathan a few times accidentally when changing his diaper. I decided that I should give my new nails the proper treatment and at least paint them and maybe even get a little fancy and do a French Manicure. Well... it's been a long time since I had fingernails (2 years ago, to be exact) and I don't recall seeing this product (although, I don't recall looking for it, either) but WOW! How smart is this? It's essentially a paint pen and you simply paint the white polish onto your fingernails! So easy!!!

Blast from the past

THIS POST was from Jan of 2006. I was about 6 mos pregnant with Nathan and Abby was 2 years and 3 months old. Wow. Please excuse me while I go and bawl my head off. How did she get so big???

Keeping things in perspective.

I have been feeling sorry for myself today. Why do I have gestational diabetes? Why do I have to be on medication? Why do I have to go have non-stress tests and biophysical profiles every week until the baby arrives? Why can't I just have a normal delivery instead of another C-Section? Why is having babies something I want to do but my body doesn't like it so much? I found myself being jealous of this woman who today is blogging the birth of her TWELFTH child. (Not that I want TWELVE but I have loved reading all her birth stories and am jealous, in a way, that she is *getting* to go through labor again and that I will have a scheduled C.)

Then.... I check my bloglines again and see another post from a mama who has just lost a child....


Has anyone else been reading this blog? This woman found out in January that her baby had polycystic kidneys and an enlarged heart and would not live. She opted to carry her to term, if possible. She delivered Monday and the baby lived 2 hours. Here is a letter she wrote to the child. If you're praying folks,send some love their way.

Click here to read from the beginning.

Whether or not you agree with her decision to carry this child through the pregnancy, this is a beautiful story of this family's faith and a humbling testimony of keeping your eyes on greater things.

I have been consumed with the story as it unfolded this week. I stumbled on her blog just as she was going into surgery.

You might want to have a { box of } tissue close by.

I am sitting here bawling my head off reading the letter to Audrey and my sweethearted Nathan is concerned for me. He came and wiped my tears away and said "Mama, cry?" I smiled and assured him I was OK. A few minutes later he came back and laid his hand on my cheek, hugged me and said, "OK? OK, mama?" Yes, dear one. I am OK. I am better than OK, I am blessed. How quickly I forget.

You'd never know it from this photo but...

This child was a holy terror today! What makes her have bad days, we'll never know but when they're bad - they're really, REALLY bad. (But when they're good, they're terrific.)

Oh Sweet Abby - You don't have to make things so hard, dear one!

A Lovely Day Outside

In anticipation of colder weather this weekend and bad storms tonight, we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and turned on the hose. The kids went totally crazy! Abby kept screaming "It's like SUMMER!" and all night long she kept asking "can we play in the hose again tomorrow, please?!?!"

In the event that you haven't had a good cry lately...

Take some time to read about Audrey Caroline and the amazing testimony of a mother's faith. The blog details their faith and struggles over the last few months, from an unthinkable diagnosis till just earlier this week when Audrey went to be with Jesus just hours after birth. A humbling and uplifting story.

Just days before she knew she was to go in and deliver a child who would most likely not live for more than a few fleeting moments, she wrote:

"I want you to know, especially if you do not know the Lord, that He is real. This is not a fairy-tale coping mechanism that I rely on when I need to escape from reality. It is not something I do because it's nice to have a place to dress up for on Sunday mornings. It is my fervent prayer that somehow I can manage in this post to find a balance between not alienating people and sharing my heart. It's just that I don't know how people get through things like this without Him. I can barely choose stuffed animals without having a heart attack, and today, because of Christ, I am filled with peace. I pray the same for each of you as you walk through your own life.

One way or another, our daughter will be healed tomorrow. Praise God with me tonight for this truth."

Cah-yee!

This little cat has officially become part of the family, I suppose. As many of you now, I could do without cats. For one thing, they make me sneeze, and well, I'm just not a cat person. They're too needy and moody for me. (I, myself am needy and moody and have a needy and moody daughter - you can only have so much neediness and moodiness in your life, huh?) But Callie has turned out to be a sweet little playmate. She's done much better about scratching at Abby (the occasions on which it has happened, were probably totally deserved, mind you) but she does seem to be a bit more tolerant of the kids' antics lately.

If we take walks, she comes along. When we play outside, she's always right there nudging up against our legs. Nathan chasing her around the yard yesterday with a toy truck and although I don't think she LOVED the game, she played along much to his amusement.

So.... I guess we'll keep buying the cheap bags of catfood and feeding this "stray" that has adopted our back stoop. And should God eventually grant us our dream of rural living, we'll be sure to bring her along - you know, to keep the mice at bay.

toot toot!

Hey! I'm gonna brag on myself a little. I just got my complimentary copy of Scrapbook Max's Baby Edition. And do you want to know why I was sent a free copy of this awesome software? No, not because I'm ABOUT TO HAVE A BABY. It's because I am one of the designers who helped contribute to the product! I have 3 templates and sets that are included on the CD! Kinda neat! You should try it out FOR FREE today!

doc visit 35 weeks 4 days

Dudes.

I am HUGE!

Crafts: Use what you have

Today Abby and Nathan had a birthday party to go to. Their lovely daddy took them because I was having some major blood sugar spikes and drops today and there was just no way that I could have handled chasing them around at The Monkey's Treehouse.

(By the way - I just got off the phone with the doc on call and he said "unless you're vomiting or losing consciousness, you're probably alright." OK Doc, If I LOSE CONSCIOUSNESS, I will be sure to call you back. Oh wait - I WOULD BE UNCONSCIOUS and therefore incapable of doing things such as making phone calls. But I digress...)

He's a mighty good man, that husband of mine, and I am so thankful for him and his willingness to be a servant and for his loving heart. He had plenty of important things he wanted to do this afternoon - like getting the blade off the lawn mower so it could be sharpened and starting up the Packard that's currently in the garage. (You know, the one we just caught on fire!) He insisted I stay home and rest while he braved the chaos that is a 5 year old's birthday party.

Anyhoo - About 30 minutes before they were supposed to leave, I realized that although I *had* thought ahead enough to purchase a birthday gift for said 5 year old, I did NOT have a gift bag suitable for a 5 year old boy. (I don't think the pink bag with the feathery boa trim would have worked too well.) So we got out some printer paper and the markers and Abby and Nathan went to town scribbling, er, drawing their masterpieces. I embellished a bit with greetings of "Happy Birthday!" and then taped the sheets together and wrapped up the gift. It turned out right nice and and was a super easy activity for the two of them. Plus, they get to give a more "personalized" gift.

They just headed out with Daddy who went armed with his cameraphone so I'm sure there will be some postings to the flickr account shortly! In the meantime, I will be here eating almonds, slim jims and peanut butter, trying to get this blood sugar to calm down a bit. (But don't worry 'bout me. I'll be sure to call y'all if I lose consciousness.)

Edited to add: See! I told you he'd be snapping pictures!

roses

About a week ago I took a photo class with some mamafriends of mine and since then, I have been experimenting with the settings on my camera. I liked how the depth of field turned out in this one!!

We had a great time tonight with Abby after Nathan went to bed and ended up having a conversation about ways in which God speaks to us. She was enthralled with the topic. We talked about the fact that one of the ways he speaks to us is through nature - in the beauty of His creation. It brought to mind THIS SCRIPTURE.

After we finished talking, she ran to the back door and opened it and looked at the stars and said "That's God talking."

Oh I love them so.

This was not a posed shot. Bruce and I were inside getting ready for dinner and had the windows open while the kids were running around outside. It got kind of quiet and we peeked out the window (you know, to make sure they hadn't hurt one another) and we found them like this:

I nearly broke a limb getting the camera and sneaking out to take the photo.

Afterward, they came inside and chatted for a while.


A friend of mine saw the picture and said of her son and daughter, "Oh, I hope mine love each other that much!" - My reponse to her was, "They will. (They *may* also pull each others' hair and scream "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" when one wants a toy from the other - I'm too busy breaking up those fights to take those pictures.")

Honestly, though - Moments like these take my breath away. (And I don't mean the times I am screaming at them. :smile)

NOT home sweet home.

So... some time back I posted about the possibility of moving out to the country and living for free in exchange for some work (on Bruce's part.) It was an exciting prospect and one that got a lot of conversations rolling in our household. We know that God has us looking at other things as far as where we live, how we live, how he will provide financially for us and this was one of the avenues we were exploring.

We had visited the house twice and had met with the owner and discussed possible improvements to the house and he said he was willing to do *some* things to it but not TOO much. A friend graciously accompanied us on a trip to Scottsville, Ky (location revealed!) and upon looking at the house said "no way!" and gave us his opinion that it would just take way more work than anyone was willing to do to make this house comfortable for our soon to be family of five. (Guess we won't be pulling any more Dukes Of Hazzard stunts out on the property.)

It's been an adventure, though, exploring this option and has opened our hearts and minds to other avenues. It's so wonderful to know that God DOES have something going on for us to move us closer to a more "simple" way of life. In the meantime, we continue to be thankful and content in the life we are currently blessed to have and we wait on God's provision. It's a good place to be.

April Meals and Shopping List

This should last us about 10 days or so.

MEALS: Tacos, Broccoli and Rigatoni, Home Made Pizza, Nibal’s Lentils, Italian lentils, Chicken Casserole, Heather’s spinach, beans & pasta, Deanna’s Cheesey shell bake

Sides:

Corn
Green beans
Caesar Salad
Asparagus
Broccoli salad
Marinated Veggies
Cabbage
Mac N Cheese

Breakfast:
Overnight Oatmeal

Link to the *incomplete* list is HERE
(The list is for the stuff I need. Some of the ingredients I got at Aldi already.)

Attitude

She made this face on demand and really, the mood of the moment was more like THIS and THIS but I still thought I should post this picture because I love it so much! We're working on it, diligently, but at times this sweet girl has the will of a stubborn mule! (But she sure is precious - even when she's pouting!)

Mamamade 2008!

I'm part of a group of mom-preneurs called "mamamade" - As you would guess from the title - - we're a crafty group of mamas who make things. This will be the first spring event and it has been getting tons of press! We've had lots of fun in years past and this will be the first time I'm not participating. (I will be days away from having a baby, you know!)

Be sure and check out the mamamade website! So many cool things this year!

mamamade.biz

Let's Go Fly A Kite!

We went to Toys R Us today and Abby and Nathan spent some money that Nana and Grandbud had given them for Easter. We got a kite and when Daddy got home, we tried it but the wind wasn't really strong enough. After dinner we went out to play some more and it was perfect! Bruce is a master kite flier (maybe he could get some kind of kite related job? :smile). Both the kids thought that it was the BEST. THING. EVER. Because of it's long tail, Nathan kept pointing to it and hollering "Nake! Nake!!" (snake) and Abby ran like a madwoman all over the yard chasing it as it flew. Before it got up real high, it was doing all kind of loop-de-loops and threatening to crash right into our heads. It was the best $7 we have spent in a while! Once it got up high enough, Bruce let Abby fly it and let me tell you, she was psyched!

It really was the perfect day for it and it will be one of those treasured, ingrained in your mind kind of memories. See why we need daddy home in the afternoons?

Here's some video!

Resurrection Sunday

We had a great time today celebrating Easter with mom and Jen and JT and Uncle Matt and the girls. They all came over this afternoon and we ate and had an indoor egg hunt (it was a bit chilly!) We took lots of pictures, but seriously - this was the best picture we got of the 4 of them!!! It's so fun to get them all together. Mom brought a gorgeous fruit salad
that was *almost* too good to eat (not I said ALMOST - it's totally gone now!) and Easter "buckets" for the kids. Everyone had an all around good time. It was a busy weekend in general. Yesterday we spent the day with Bruce's family. Nana and Grandbud celebrated 50 years of marriage!!! WOW! We went to Maggiano's and then to the Clark's to visit and watch some old videos of Bruce and his sisters growing up. In some of the shots, you would swear you were looking at Nathan! It's amazing how much he looks like Bruce did when he was little! I tried to get a few pictures of Abby and Nathan all dressed up in their matching duds yesterday but none of us had the patience for a photoshoot. They're cute nonetheless, aren't they?






Hope you all had a marvelous Resurrection Sunday and that your celebrations were centered around the Hope that this day brings! He is Risen! He is risen, indeed!!!

A Very Good Good Friday

It's been such a beautiful day today! Abby and I took a walk after dinner and she held my hand the whole way - because she wanted to. We have talked on and off all day about what happened this day in history. On our walk, we came across a bush FULL of huge thorns and we touched them and talked about what it would be like to have a crown of them pressed into or heads and that Jesus willingly took that pain for us. I am so thankful for those kind of teachable moments.

Afterward, we went to Kroger and Starbucks while Daddy gave Nathan a bath. We came home and Daddy read the Easter Story for bedtime.

Later, I was in the kitchen working on a scrapbook for my MIL and FIL's 50th wedding anniversary celebration tomorrow and Bruce was in the garage tinkering with the '30 Packard that he's got out there and all of a sudden he runs into the house and kind of whispers "the car is on fire - get me some water"

I start to get the water and ask if he tried the fire extinguisher - yes - it's dead.

I get him water and ask if i need to call 911. Yes, he says.

So I call them and give them all the info while getting water and take it to the garage and he says he thinks he's got it under control - it was very small and not actually the car itself but a bungee cord thingie that was inside the hood for some reason. A spark ignited the rubber on it and it started to burn.

I told the 911 lady we were OK and had to work really hard to convince her that we had it under control (and I was thinking "please do not come with your screaming fire engines and wake our kids up.")

Oh yes - Did I mention - our kids did not wake up? Smoky house and garage, running in and out of the door to the garage, opening the big garage door. We never yelled though - we practically whispered through the whole event.

AND! Our smoke alarms did not go off because we have them shut off at the breaker. A few months ago they were doing this random for no reason at all in the middle of the night going off craziness so we shut them off, fully intentioned to get it looked into. We haven't yet. But we chose to keep them off because we were being aroused from sleep at 3am with frightened kids for no good reason. And since we so value sleep around here, we have kept them turned off.

Priorities.

Note to self: get smoke alarms fixed. get new fire extinguisher. keep a bucket of water in the garage.

Thank You Jesus for dying on the cross for us so many years ago. And thank you for protecting us tonight.