We decorated for Christmas this week and it has been so fun. When we were in seminary, we never put up a tree since we were heading out of town for the holidays. This year, Eric took the girls on a bike ride on Saturday and I snuck into the attic and started pulling out decorations. When he came home, he was quite surprised (especially since it was the day of the Auburn/Alabama game). We put the tree up Saturday, but we decorated on Sunday after night church. My husband never enjoys the decorating day, probably because it is a lot of work for him. But this year, the girls were so fun. They had never seen all of our ornaments. We put on Christmas music and the girls help me lay out all the ornaments on the floor. They kept picking new favorites and making up stories about this one and then that one. Every once in a while, I caught Eric checking on line for some car part for his very old Suburban that he is working on. But for the most part, I think that Scrooge is reforming and catching the vision for the annual Christmas decorating day!
funny week November 27, 2007
This has been such a funny week- Everyone’s reaction has been so fun. They are completely shocked (of course, so were we!) I love that Pam Benton, my former biblestudy teacher and pastor’s wife, said “Oh My Stars!” That is classic Pam. And my good friend Becky said,”Oh my word!” Again classic Becky. Brooke, who also has 4 children, shared her responses for when people ask me,”Don’t you know what causes that?” Which has happened too many times to count already. Most of all there has been lots of encouragement and reminders that God has given a gift and that He gives us what we need to handle our situations and circumstances. When I heard about this happening to people, I would say,”If that happened to me, I would die! I would be on my bed crying my eyes out!” God has surprised me again and given me great joy and peace and happiness about this new baby. And more than that, energy and joy about the sweet ones that I already have. May He continue to do so!
full of surprises November 26, 2007
The past couple of weeks have been interesting to say the least. After 5 weeks of feeling terrible- fatigue, severe heartburn that at times made me sick, and aversion to lots of food and my favorite drink (Diet Coke)- turns out I am pregnant! Yikes! For numerous reasons, I never considered this as an option, but God has bigger plans than I did. I ended up canceling my GI doctor appointment and switching it for an OBGYN appointment. Cord is 6 months right now and will be 13 months old when new baby arrives. Our due date is June 10th. Due to all the confusion, I am already 12 weeks along 🙂 hilarious. At least I know I am not crazy, I really was feeling that sick! Thanks to all of you who have already begun to pray for us and encourage us. We appreciate the friends that God has given us and know that we are surrounded by so many who are examples and reminders of God’s love and care for us.
Happy Thanksgiving November 23, 2007
We are so thankful for so many things- our family, our home, our church, our friends, so many gifts that God has graciously given to us. This is the first time I have ever hosted Thanksgiving. We had my parents and Eric’s parents over today and had a wonderful time. As emma said, we have more blessings than our fingers can count!
getting in the spirit… November 21, 2007
The girls and I have been laughing at this all morning! There just weren’t enough spots for Cord to do this too- maybe next year, I’ll just use the kids 🙂http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9565592616
made a little money November 19, 2007
Well, the garage sale happened and it was so fun to do that with another family. I wish we had had more traffic, but for what we had we made a little money and got rid of a lot of stuff! I’m waiting for the rescue mission to pick up the leftover and we will have a clear garage again! This week is full of giving thanks! Olivia has a thanksgiving feast on Tuesday. It was the party I signed up to organize. I am working with another friend and it has been less daunting than I heard it was going to be. We made an Indian T shirt for her (and of course, if you make something for olivia you better have a plan to make one for emma 🙂 )
We also attempted cookies that look like pilgrim hats. We used the fudge striped cookies and turned them upside down and dipped large marshmallows in melted chocolate chips. The marshmallow sits on top of the chocolate cookie. We tried to put icing on the front to look like the square buckle on men’s hats. It looked more like a glob than a buckle, but I guess it tasted yummy. Chocolate covered the girls’ hands, mouths, and elbows! Emma even got it in her hair. At the end of it, I looked at all the mess, felt myself fighting off some frustrations, and hoped that the memory would be worth it! How come crafts always make me feel that way? 🙂
garage sale November 16, 2007
Saturday some friends and I are having a garage sale at my house. I always love the results, but the next two days are the hard part. A couple of weeks ago, I looked at all our things and thought we had a ton to sell and we would make lots 🙂 Today, I see the same piles and think, “Not a lot there.” I need to have a critical eye when I go through this house tomorrow and get rid of stuff that we do not use! Somehow, I end up looking and thinking, “What if I need that to decorate for a holiday? or use that to help the girls if they need something for dress up?” Many of you know my obsession with gift bags and cards 🙂 Today I opened a moving box full of tissue papers, gift bags, ribbons, and gift boxes! Please! It moved from St Louis to Huntsville. I need the encouragement to simplify and get rid of it- Space would feel better than the thought of being prepared…I think…
extra measure of grace November 14, 2007
I am sitting here listening to Emma play upstairs with her doll house and she is full of ideas, sounds, and plans. She now plays for so long by herself and with such creativity. Olivia is at school and loves that she gets to go every day. She always asks me when she gets in the car after school,”Why can’t I be a whole day-er instead of a half day-er?” I tell her she will have years of being a whole day-er! Cord is finally back asleep after his new normal wake up of 4:45. He stays awake until 7 or so and starts his morning nap… argh! One thing I do see is God’s grace to us when I compare how life with just Olivia was and how we were so new to being parents- Everything was hard! Now the hard things seem more infused with grace and perspective. I still really want Cord to sleep! But I feel like now that I am finally getting to see a couple of these kids grow out of some stages and into new ones, I can believe that this too will pass and one day he will be sleeping late and hurrying off to school too-
fried turkey November 12, 2007
Thanksgiving is on its way to our house! We are so excited about hosting our families for Thanksgiving. I plan on making all my favorites: sweet potato casserole with brown sugar topping, pineapple delight, spicy pecans on salad, Sister Schubert rolls, pumpkin muffins 🙂 And my mom is bringing the dressing! yum… The last thing I would like to have is fried turkey. Where do you buy a fried turkey? I tried to google our city and fried turkey and did not get any results. Any ideas where to buy an already fried turkey?
November is here November 8, 2007
I cannot believe that it is already November. Our time here has flown by. We have officially lived in Huntsville for 10 months, but so much has happened in our life that it easily feels like home to us. It amazes me that we still have not finished a full year of eric’s job. He is currently preparing the men’s retreat, planning a January return to Biloxi for a short term missions trip with some of the guys that went this summer, and planning a summer missions trip to St Louis in July 🙂 He has had the most amazing opportunities to preach almost every Sunday at night, lead men’s biblestudies, teach high school and jr high school’s Sunday School and Wednesday night programs, and work with the Crown Club (our senior citizens in our church). We are so thankful to be here and to be under the guidance of Charlie Wingard, our pastor. He has been an incredible mentor for Eric. I had so many fears starting a new job “in the ministry” but God continues to remind me that He is Sovereign and He provides what we need- There have been so many “good gifts” from my Father. I am grateful for these days!
miles to go... 