We're a happy little family of 5 who have been blessed. God has given us each other, our family and friends, and most importantly, with His only son Jesus who died for us. Jesus was adopted by Joseph, don't ya' know!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
This time last year, this time last year, this time last year, this time last year, thi
I am getting very nostalgic as the birthdays of my guys approach. I'm always thinking to myself, "This time last year I was x weeks pregnant and BB was LB's age," and "This time last year I wore a pink maternity shirt to Waterloo when my family ways here," and "This time last year I was getting up every morning at 4am to use the bathroom," etc. I know it's going to get worse and worse as the birthdays approach.
It has been quite an exciting few years! I'm loving the idea of not having a newborn at Christmas time and being able to sleep through the night most of the time, but I am feeling that sense of letdown one has after a long anticipated big event is over. In 2006 BB was born in late October and in 2007 LB was born in late October. Who is going to be born late this October? No one into our house and that's a fact.
I don't know that we'll ever seek to add any more humans to our household. It's pretty nice being a family of 4. We don't have any more rooms anyway! I do know that God has granted me peace about not "trying for a girl," so you all can stand down on that front. I've always wanted a daughter, but I haven't always wanted more than 2 children.
I do feel sad sometimes that it is very likely I won't ever have a daughter by birth or adoption, but that's what daughters-in-law are for. Who could have been a better daughter than Ruth for Naomi (Your people shall be my people and your God will be my God. Ruth 1:16-17)? Seeing as we weren't sure we would ever have children, how could we not feel so abundantly blessed with our little guys! I guess it's possible that next year I'll be thinking, "This time 2 years ago," and then, "This time 3 years ago," and on and on.
OK, that's all. I'm hungry. TTFN.
It has been quite an exciting few years! I'm loving the idea of not having a newborn at Christmas time and being able to sleep through the night most of the time, but I am feeling that sense of letdown one has after a long anticipated big event is over. In 2006 BB was born in late October and in 2007 LB was born in late October. Who is going to be born late this October? No one into our house and that's a fact.
I don't know that we'll ever seek to add any more humans to our household. It's pretty nice being a family of 4. We don't have any more rooms anyway! I do know that God has granted me peace about not "trying for a girl," so you all can stand down on that front. I've always wanted a daughter, but I haven't always wanted more than 2 children.
I do feel sad sometimes that it is very likely I won't ever have a daughter by birth or adoption, but that's what daughters-in-law are for. Who could have been a better daughter than Ruth for Naomi (Your people shall be my people and your God will be my God. Ruth 1:16-17)? Seeing as we weren't sure we would ever have children, how could we not feel so abundantly blessed with our little guys! I guess it's possible that next year I'll be thinking, "This time 2 years ago," and then, "This time 3 years ago," and on and on.
OK, that's all. I'm hungry. TTFN.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Modern "conveniences."
I am afraid that the Internet may be the downfall of my writing career. No, I'm not a professional writer trying to earn a living, but I enjoy it and could see myself trying to get something published someday. However, I just can't imagine sitting down to write and doing nothing but for more than about two minutes. When I'm on the computer I feel the need to constantly check my email, read about Wendi, play a few games of Word Challenge on Facebook or find out what's going on at Hannah's Prayer or Parenting After Infertility ministries. I also feel I need to sweep the floor, clean my person in some way, and of course listen for my cute little guys waking up from a nap.
A question in the Bible study I'm doing asked what were some of the things that keep me from doing what is important, like spending time in fellowship with the Lord. My #1 and #2 answers were television and the Internet, and not necessarily in that order. After spending time praying and thinking about this the Holy Spirit revealed to me that I am relying on TV and the Internet to relax and calm me instead of relying on God for those things.
As soon as I get my kids to bed for nap time I typically eat some comfort food and turn on the boob tube. I get sucked in and before I know it someone or the other is crying and needing attention. My "me" time has then been spent doing something with no eternal value and really hasn't relaxed or refreshed me at all. I don't learn anything on TV that I can teach my children or use in any other way, and it does not bring me peace lasting for very long. When I do something like Bible study, reading, or writing I do feel like I've learned something I can use and have experienced some nice quiet that I don't get when I watch Tyra at one o'clock.
We had a new couch delivered today and the old one is sitting under me in the bay window in the dining room. I thought if I sat here to write something it would begin to break my habit of automatically turning on the television when the kids go down for naps. I have managed to leave the TV off and the only reason I opened another browser was to remind me how to spell "o'clock." (Did I do it right?) So I guess it has worked for now. I feel like I am done with this piece, so can I avoid turning on the TV or spending the next 20 minutes surfing the net? We'll see.
A question in the Bible study I'm doing asked what were some of the things that keep me from doing what is important, like spending time in fellowship with the Lord. My #1 and #2 answers were television and the Internet, and not necessarily in that order. After spending time praying and thinking about this the Holy Spirit revealed to me that I am relying on TV and the Internet to relax and calm me instead of relying on God for those things.
As soon as I get my kids to bed for nap time I typically eat some comfort food and turn on the boob tube. I get sucked in and before I know it someone or the other is crying and needing attention. My "me" time has then been spent doing something with no eternal value and really hasn't relaxed or refreshed me at all. I don't learn anything on TV that I can teach my children or use in any other way, and it does not bring me peace lasting for very long. When I do something like Bible study, reading, or writing I do feel like I've learned something I can use and have experienced some nice quiet that I don't get when I watch Tyra at one o'clock.
We had a new couch delivered today and the old one is sitting under me in the bay window in the dining room. I thought if I sat here to write something it would begin to break my habit of automatically turning on the television when the kids go down for naps. I have managed to leave the TV off and the only reason I opened another browser was to remind me how to spell "o'clock." (Did I do it right?) So I guess it has worked for now. I feel like I am done with this piece, so can I avoid turning on the TV or spending the next 20 minutes surfing the net? We'll see.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Poison Control to Major Mom
Today was my first call to Poison Control! I didn't want to call at first because I was pretty sure it wasn't serious, and I was afraid they would come to take me away for not supervising my kids. BB ate the top of a Creative Memories Photo-Safe pen in gold. I was in the bathroom for a minute and when I came out he was holding the pen sans nib. I found the lid on the floor so he obviously hadn't ingested that, at least.
The lady was really nice and she asked me a bunch of questions like, "What did you think you were doing going into the bathroom by yourself and CLOSING THE DOOR????" Just kidding. She asked about his age, weight, if he was acting sick, etc. The bottom line, if you ever need to know, is that the Creative Memories Photo-Safe pen in gold is non-toxic. You can now rest assured if you ever accidentally ingest one.
The lady was really nice and she asked me a bunch of questions like, "What did you think you were doing going into the bathroom by yourself and CLOSING THE DOOR????" Just kidding. She asked about his age, weight, if he was acting sick, etc. The bottom line, if you ever need to know, is that the Creative Memories Photo-Safe pen in gold is non-toxic. You can now rest assured if you ever accidentally ingest one.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
We have grandparents!
Well, we all have grandparents, Don't we? But our BB has 4 sets of grandparents now! OK, he's had that many all along, but we've recently been in contact with another set of BB's birth grandparents. It's pretty cool.
I sent them some pictures of our family a while ago but hadn't heard back, so I sent some more a few weeks ago. We received a letter in the mail today from his birth grandmother and apparently she had written after the first batch of pictures but we didn't receive her letter. We also received a picture this last set of birth grandparents, aunt, and 3 more cousins, bringing the cousin total up to 9!
This is so cool. Not the family we expected when we began to try to add children to our life, but a family for sure. A great, big blended one. This isn't much different from a family with a couple of divorces and remarriages either. It makes holidays a bit more hectic, but when aren't they?
We also recently received pictures of BB's birth-half-sibling who just turned 1. There are now no obvious branches missing from BB's family tree. We were out climbing trees this morning, so this makes an applicable metaphor for today.
I sent them some pictures of our family a while ago but hadn't heard back, so I sent some more a few weeks ago. We received a letter in the mail today from his birth grandmother and apparently she had written after the first batch of pictures but we didn't receive her letter. We also received a picture this last set of birth grandparents, aunt, and 3 more cousins, bringing the cousin total up to 9!
This is so cool. Not the family we expected when we began to try to add children to our life, but a family for sure. A great, big blended one. This isn't much different from a family with a couple of divorces and remarriages either. It makes holidays a bit more hectic, but when aren't they?
We also recently received pictures of BB's birth-half-sibling who just turned 1. There are now no obvious branches missing from BB's family tree. We were out climbing trees this morning, so this makes an applicable metaphor for today.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Autumn days
LB is wearing the costume his big brother wore the day LB was born. I had taken him outside to snap some pictures in the lion costume, 20 minutes after we came inside the contractions began, and less than 7 hours later Thing 1 became BB.
BB had been wearing a Tigger costume but had fallen and bumped his head and would not be consoled. So we had the photographer snap some quick shots with the singing cat that helped BB forget about the fall. I was giving him kisses to help comfort him. He is a good kisser. Later LB gave me his first kisses, too. Such sweet boys.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Monday, September 08, 2008
Supreme blessings.
I'm waiting for a baby to start crying. I have something important I want to write, but it's hard to get it down wondering if in the next 10 seconds Mr. Cat Nap is going to wake up. This is how most days go at present, which has something to do with what I have on my heart. Let's see if this will happen.
It has been a busy, relatively aimless summer. During the school year I am usually involved in a Bible study during the day, but most of the summer goes by without me being in something organized. This has made me feel ungrounded and a little isolated. I am looking forward to my Moms Together Bible study beginning this week. Today I realized just how much I need that and how meaningful it is to me and to others.
I took the boys to the gym today so I could get some exercise, a shower, and let's face it, some kid-free time. Afternoons have been long with LB's short naps and I thought I could use some extra energy to have a good afternoon today. The gym I sometimes go to is on one of our church's campuses, and it is the same building in which we have Moms Together. Today when I walked in I saw several of the coordinators of this group working on some administrative things in the building.
Diane greeted the boys and I with a big smile, a hearty hello, and a high five for BB. "Look at the name tags, aren't they pretty?" she said. She was rejoicing over the little things - an important reminder to do the same. A few minutes later after dropping off the kids I came back through the room and recognized more of the ladies sitting together at a table discussing our group and I'm positive they were also praying for us. "Here is one of our girls!" someone exclaimed as I walked by. A girl! Gotta love these women, I'm a girl! I felt like a celebrity. A young celebrity.
After working out I went down the hall to check on LB and I passed another small group of women taking a tour of the nursery. One checked on LB for me since I was worrying about how he was doing today. He hadn't taken a morning nap and was upset this morning. (He just woke up from his 30-minute afternoon nap, just as I'd expected.) I left there to go hit the showers and out popped Glendarae from another of the rooms in the hall.
It was like an amusement park in that church building today. and the featured attractions were these lovely ladies ensconsed in every room and at every table preparing, praying, and studying their Bibles, all to be there for younger women like me who spend our days changing diapers, nursing and feeding babies, reading the same book a million times, saying things like, "No, sweetie, don't lick that," and "No, that's cat food, Stinker." These ladies give their time, effort, and talents in order to love and mentor to others. To me!
I knew that a lot of work went into this time of Bible study, food, and fellowship. I'd heard about prayer meetings and leaders lunches and have benefitted from all of the personal touches at our Bible study tables and in our large groups. But only today do I guess I really got to see first hand what goes into this. It was like God showing me how much I am loved and prayed for, and how important my job of raising children is, even when it seems like all administrative work and menu planning. I needed it, I know I did. It's easy to get stuck in a mommy rut and start to think that my job isn't important for the greater good of God's kingdom.
What a neat morning. Now I'm perfectly content that No Nap McGee woke up after a 30 minute nap and is now playing happily at my feet drinking water from Big Brother's cup and talking to himself. This is a good job - an important job. So important that God has appointed angels to pray for me and teach me what it means to disciple others. Right now BB and LB are my disciples, but maybe in the future I'll be sitting in one of those rooms praying for "My girls," or as my leaders call us, "Our moms." It's so cute.
Thank you, Titus 2 moms, can't wait to see you on Thursday! I am rejoicing in you today, and in the little things, too. (Although, not diapers. Maybe next semester.)
Love,
Amy
It has been a busy, relatively aimless summer. During the school year I am usually involved in a Bible study during the day, but most of the summer goes by without me being in something organized. This has made me feel ungrounded and a little isolated. I am looking forward to my Moms Together Bible study beginning this week. Today I realized just how much I need that and how meaningful it is to me and to others.
I took the boys to the gym today so I could get some exercise, a shower, and let's face it, some kid-free time. Afternoons have been long with LB's short naps and I thought I could use some extra energy to have a good afternoon today. The gym I sometimes go to is on one of our church's campuses, and it is the same building in which we have Moms Together. Today when I walked in I saw several of the coordinators of this group working on some administrative things in the building.
Diane greeted the boys and I with a big smile, a hearty hello, and a high five for BB. "Look at the name tags, aren't they pretty?" she said. She was rejoicing over the little things - an important reminder to do the same. A few minutes later after dropping off the kids I came back through the room and recognized more of the ladies sitting together at a table discussing our group and I'm positive they were also praying for us. "Here is one of our girls!" someone exclaimed as I walked by. A girl! Gotta love these women, I'm a girl! I felt like a celebrity. A young celebrity.
After working out I went down the hall to check on LB and I passed another small group of women taking a tour of the nursery. One checked on LB for me since I was worrying about how he was doing today. He hadn't taken a morning nap and was upset this morning. (He just woke up from his 30-minute afternoon nap, just as I'd expected.) I left there to go hit the showers and out popped Glendarae from another of the rooms in the hall.
It was like an amusement park in that church building today. and the featured attractions were these lovely ladies ensconsed in every room and at every table preparing, praying, and studying their Bibles, all to be there for younger women like me who spend our days changing diapers, nursing and feeding babies, reading the same book a million times, saying things like, "No, sweetie, don't lick that," and "No, that's cat food, Stinker." These ladies give their time, effort, and talents in order to love and mentor to others. To me!
I knew that a lot of work went into this time of Bible study, food, and fellowship. I'd heard about prayer meetings and leaders lunches and have benefitted from all of the personal touches at our Bible study tables and in our large groups. But only today do I guess I really got to see first hand what goes into this. It was like God showing me how much I am loved and prayed for, and how important my job of raising children is, even when it seems like all administrative work and menu planning. I needed it, I know I did. It's easy to get stuck in a mommy rut and start to think that my job isn't important for the greater good of God's kingdom.
What a neat morning. Now I'm perfectly content that No Nap McGee woke up after a 30 minute nap and is now playing happily at my feet drinking water from Big Brother's cup and talking to himself. This is a good job - an important job. So important that God has appointed angels to pray for me and teach me what it means to disciple others. Right now BB and LB are my disciples, but maybe in the future I'll be sitting in one of those rooms praying for "My girls," or as my leaders call us, "Our moms." It's so cute.
Thank you, Titus 2 moms, can't wait to see you on Thursday! I am rejoicing in you today, and in the little things, too. (Although, not diapers. Maybe next semester.)
Love,
Amy
My wares
Here are my knitting projects as requested by Niki. Are you impressed yet? Here come the legwarmers! Haha.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Daddy's roadie
When Big Brother is at "school," Little Brother gets the run of the house. Randy took a few days off work to take care of some things he's been meaning to get to, including replacing the tubes in this amp. (Did I get that right?) So, LB practiced "helping" Daddy by playing roadie for the morning. He's even multitasking - eating some puffs from a can while adjusting the levels. Thanks, dude.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)