the return

I'm tired of apologizing on my blog all the time about the infrequency of my posts of late. So no apology will appear this time. In it's stead, let it just be said that pregnancy is difficult and exhausting, and that this has now been one of the fastest summers I have ever seen.

I can't believe that July is already almost halfway done! May went by like a flash, with a week of RUF Summer Camp in northern Pennsylvania (beautiful country, near the NY border), a rushed 4 days back at home to unpack, do laundry, and repack, and then 2 weeks of vacation in North Myrtle Beach. The waves and the sand were exactly what Hubs and I (and Murry) needed to relax from the long year before.

June ushered in another busy time, the first week spent getting our guest bedroom arranged and ready for guests, painting our master bedroom, and sundry other details in preparation for parental visits. Hubs' parents came the second week of June, and my parents came the 4th week. We greatly enjoyed both visits, and enjoyed showing off our little house and little town.

Last Wednesday, Hubs completed his written exams for ordination, a process which has been going on for a year but which will finally be completed by the end of the month! We look forward to him not having to study for those exams any more, especially once our little girl makes her appearance around mid-September.

Speaking of, I'm now 31 weeks! Next week I officially start the eighth month of pregnancy... I can't believe how fast this baby has grown. The nursery is beginning to come together, crib and changing table are in place, my mom is working sweetly on baby girl's little bumper pad, sheets, and blanket for her little baby bed, and the walls are ready for us to paint in early August.

Hubs and I have been enjoying Lamaze for the past 3 weeks, next Thursday is our last session. Supposedly after that we'll know everything we need to know to have this baby! I'm getting really excited and antsy just to have her here. I'm so ready to see that sweet little face and kiss those precious cheeks. And I'm gearing up for the sleepless nights and countless loads of laundry.

So that's really the recap of everything that's gone on for the last few months, I still have great visions of blogging often and chronicling this time in our lives... Lord willing I'll be able to discipline myself better and find the time in my days to make this a priority.

Soon!

fearfully and wonderfully made...

So I sit here grasping for creative juices to write a column for Hubs' supervisor's newsletter (I know, right?). The cloudy weather outside has left me feeling a little cold and achy, just because it looks cold. It's not really, but atmosphere has a lot to do with mood.

The last couple of weeks I have been really sore and achy, especially in the abdominal regions. This baby is beginning to grow and stretch his or her limbs, the result of which has caused me to feel more tired and just sore from all the muscles and stuff rearranging to make room for baby. I'll be at 16 weeks tomorrow, four months pregnant and starting to feel little kicks and taps as baby feels its way around in the dark. And I've been reading and looking at pictures at the development of this little munchkin, amazed at how intricate and awesome this whole process is. At just 5 inches long, our little one already has eyebrows and can suck its thumb. On all ten tiny little fingers... there are fingerprints taking shape. Honestly, I feel awed and privileged that God is using my body to create such an amazing little human being. In just 6 short months I'll be holding this child in my arms for the first time, cuddling its warm little body and memorizing each beautiful feature. I'm excited to see what the Lord has made in my body.

It really brings to mind Psalm 139 where David exclaims that he was "knit together" in his mother's womb, being "fearfully and wonderfully made..." We are, each of us. Intricately woven to look just like we should by the Creator of the universe. It's an awesome process.

for Steph

I do realize that I have been long absent from my blog and my adoring readers. I apologize... with a confession. Lately I have just felt very low on creative juices. It's just one of those times when it seems that nothing in my brain is really flowing correctly. For those who don't know, I'm very busy lately growing a little baby in my belly. But little baby has also been making me mega sick. Something about 24 hour nausea and frequent vomiting and headaches and heartburn seem to steal the creativy energy... in fact, all my energy. However recently there has been a decrease in the sickness, and today I'm propped up at the kitchen table with a pouch of Capri Sun and a bowl of applesauce, good to go.

Currently in the background I have my new favorite song on repeat: Carrie Underwood's remake of I Told You So, featuring the original songwriter/singer, Randy Travis (who also happens to be one of my childhood heroes). My love for Randy Travis originally made me sceptical of this pretty young thing coming in and doing a redo of my hero's song. But it's beautiful. And she included Randy, which makes me really happy. Download it, your ears will be glad you did.

Also, I must let you know that it is currently snowing outside my window. Snowing. It's March 20. Yet there are big flakes falling out there. I love snow, but I'm a little ready for some spring. Not much, just a little. Is that too much to ask? Just a little bit of sunshine and flowers blooming and pretty green leaves and birdies singing in the trees... I know it will come. Someday.

Ok, my creative juices are running out again, and I need to save some juice for my next post, which, I promise will be sooner rather than later. Until then, hang in there!

life happens fast

It occurred to me as I was sitting on flight # something or other on the way from DFW to Philadelphia that I hadn't blogged in, like, three weeks. So I did what any self-respecting traveler would do. I waited a week longer and then sat down in front of the keys.

This past month has flown by. Hubs' training, fundraising, family time, craziness introducing Murry to a bunch of people and new situations (some he liked more than others... namely, my Mom, sister, and Hubs' Dad). He also enjoyed chasing my nieces around the living room, especially cute was the youngest, all of 17 months old, following Murry around with her little finger waggling in the air yelling, "Sit, Murry, sit!"

Christmas itself brought fun and laughter and lots of tattered wrapping paper and a new set of luggage from Hubs' parents in which we could tote home all of the spoils of the holidays. We checked three bags that eeked by on the weight limit (in fact, we had to transfer a pound from one suitcase into another right there in line... the people behind us loved that). Carried on the two smaller suitcases, as well as Hubs' backpack and Murry. It was a crazy sight as we meandered our way through two airports with dog in a bag on my shoulder and pulling two suitcases stacked together, Hubs toting his backpack and pulling three suitcases stacked together. Needless to say, we had an interesting time. But we got home really without a hitch (I was dreading security with dog and three carry-ons, but we breezed through), somehow got all of that luggage in Hans' Honda (I swear the trunk was dragging all the way down the tollway, though ;-), and made it to our cold but wonderful house. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see our house. Murry went nuts, running to all of his favorite spots and then checking his food and water bowl, disappointed that they had been emptied before the trip (I have this thing about not attracting bugs and small rodents to my kitchen. I like my kitchen vermin free!).

We spent this last week resting from the trip and enjoying our Christmas decorations, which I put up the day after Thanksgiving. We won't be taking down the Christmas stuff for another couple of weeks, we're determined to get the enjoyment out of them that we missed while in Texas. It's been great. Also great? The four inches of snow that's all over the place. Makes our Christmas decorations seem just that much more appropriate.

Tonight we have small group as soon as Hubs makes it home from a back to school event on campus. Until next time, stay warm!

on the road again

It seems like much of my year has been consumed with travel. In fact, I counted on the flight out of Philadelphia that I had been on 9 airlplanes this year, and it will be a perfect 10 on the flight back. I'm really ready to land somewhere. But the trips are necessary, and some even fun. Hubs and the puppy and I flew out on Saturday for Texas, where we will be spending time with family and fundraising for the ministry.

Hubs is currently at a week of training in Dallas, while Murry and I are hanging out with my family. Murry's getting his first exposure to kids, and he's loving their energy. Playing with kids seems to be what he's born for, they're so much more exciting than us! He's also a little less excited about getting to know my parents' standard poodle and german shorthaired pointer, though. He thinks they're a little big for his taste.

Blogging will be sporadic, at best, since we will be in and out of people's houses for the break. But I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, and I will post as I can.

ahem....

Dear Sweet Pennsylvania Neighbors of Mine,

(Especially those eight houses who can see into my backyard).

I must offer my apologies for what you saw if you were looking out your windows at approximately 12:30 pm this afternoon. That girl that ran out of our back door in her flannel pajama bottoms, ratty t-shirt, barefoot with hair frizzy and messy, white dish towel in one hand and soapy dishwater dripping from the other... yes. That was me.

While that is a very disturbing sight in and of itself, it must have become even more traumatic when that apparition began leaping up and down in the frozen grass screaming, "It's snowing! It's snowing!" - especially considering the sparseness of the flurries that were swirling down for only a few minutes.

I could offer you endless excuses about how I have been snow deprived from my youth or how snow is my favorite weather phenomenon ever, but something tells me that by now your opinions of me are already formed and nothing I could say would ever erase the disturbing images from your mind's eye.

For the haunting scene that will be forever emblazened upon your memory, I am truly sorry. But I must warn you, in the future when you see snow falling gently outside your window, resist the urge to look into the backyard... because what you saw this afternoon is quite likely to occur again soon.

Sincerely,

Your crazy new neighbor from Texas

rainy day blues

Since I'm a little depressed and bored with all the rain and wetness, I thought I'd post a few pictures of things up here for your enjoyment. It's been far too long since I've posted pictures, so here goes.

The gorgeouse fall colors out my kitchen window. This is what I see while I'm doing dishes every day.

More fall colors, this time on the campus.

Handsome Murry.

My newly organized mudroom.

So there is a little snippet of life up here in the Northeast... Beautiful colors, puppies, and organization. And rainbows and babies. And unicorns.

And the sun! Which just peeked through my kitchen window! Miracle of miracles... Now I must go frolic.

has it really been a month?

So many thoughts, so many good ideas for blog posts, they've all been wasted (or chronicled in other ways) these past four weeks. I'm ready for my computer back. Since Hubs' laptop has "issues" right now, my happy little laptop companion has been given over to the office. And I rarely see it anymore. Someday we will reconcile with Hubs' fixable laptop, and I'll be back to my old posting self... in the meantime, I'm restricted to smaller, more infrequent portions of time.

It feels good to be here right now, though, having slipped from the office with the laptop and now sitting at the kitchen table wearing my big green sweater, pup snuggled happily in my lap, cup of caffeinated hot cocoa (we're out of coffee) at my right hand - the perfect combat for the cold, pouring down rain that taps at my window. Hubs is at presbytery all day today, luckily it's close by this month so he didn't have to drive far in the cold and stormy weather. The forecast calls for the weather to drop even more today (this rain is ushering in a front), and the snow starts tomorrow, Monday, and Tuesday. It's just a chance all three of those days, but it will definitely be cold enough. I'm excited, yet a little nervous about the first snow of the season. We could have a white Thanksgiving this year, which would be awesome if a little weird.

There is so much to catch up on, like the victory I achieved when I finished clearing out all of the boxes from the mudroom and finally converted that room into useable space... thus finishing all of the unpacking and settling in for the whole house except for Hubs' office, which is a project all in itself. It finally is beginning to feel like we live here. I finished that project just in time, too, as it is quickly becoming very uncomfortable to do much work in the mudroom because it's not heated and working in a coat is just no fun at all.

I found the first pomegranates of the season at the grocery store last week, Hubs and I have been enjoying our fill. They taste so wonderful, and we always feel healthier as we eat our antioxidants. We ate so many pomegranates last year that I wondered if you split either of us open if a ton of little seeds would come out. (I know, a little gross and graphic, but you get what I'm saying).

I just realized that the structure of that last sentence was not grammatically correct, but I'm not going to change it.

Thanksgiving is going to be an adventure this year, it will be our first Thanksgiving without either of our families. Hubs has been in charge of thinking about cool family Thanksgiving traditions we want to start for our itty bitty family, and I'm in charge, of course, of the food. We will probably have several students here, perhaps a friend of ours that lives in New York, and who knows who else. That's one of our new family traditions... open table to all around us who have nowhere to go for Thanksgiving. My family had that as I was growing up - especially as I got into college years - and I always loved the concept of having as many as possible at the table. Even though it makes for more work for me on the cooking end, there is something about Thanksgiving that just asks for that kind of attitude. The Pilgrims and the Indians started it by chowing down together at the table, I think we should continue in that same spirit.

As for the actual cooking, I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I think I can do it. But the rub is that in our family, we don't really have Thanksgiving recipes. All the girls just go in the kitchen and start cooking, and between us we always remember everything. Now I have the responsibility of remembering everything all by myself!

I'll let you know how it comes...

Now comes the time when I must part, I have books to sort up in the office, and tonight Hubs and I are going to a dinner hosted and prepared by two students. Should be fun!