More springtime preparations

It's becoming a sad habit now. I'm only posting in order to sum up recent events. Life is so very busy lately.

We'll finally be getting a new dryer tomorrow. Our's has finally eaten it's last piece of clothing! The dryer was given to us when our older one was still working. We saved it and ultimately needed it. So, although it is too small for our family we have been thankful to have it and very glad to now replace it! We've decided to wait until our insufficient washer dies again before replacing it...

Preparing for baby. We're still without a name. Still praying and discussing. I have four packages of newborn diapers in my closet and a box near the attic door of newborn clothing. Bob came home with a load of baby gifts and cards from his co-workers. How fun! It seems premature with the due date nearly three months away. But we all enjoyed gathering around to read the cards and admire the tiny clothing. I've been visiting alot of thrift stores in search of teacups and saucers for an upcoming Mother/Daughter tea at church. While I haven't found many teacups, I have picked up several tiny baby boy sleepers. No, we didn't need them since Noah's were all new. But at $0.50-2.00 apiece, why not? I have only a row or two left of the blanket I'm knitting and I am excited to start another. The pattern I'm currently using (bastketweave) requires too much counting and I grew tired of the colors (sage and brown). So my next one will be a solid blue with a very simple pattern. If I love it I might start to make them for other people. It's a beautiful diagonal design with a border.

In the meantime, we are still working on new dresses for Easter. That leaves about three days. We started with a plan for Kendal, Kelsey, Joy and me. Since we all had leftover fabric, I've decided to make one for Anna and Mary. If it works out we'll all match in pairs. Mary's will be made of my fabric. Joy's is the same as Kendal's. Anna's will be the same as Kelsey's. I hope we will have time to take a picture so that we can remember our projects.

The garden. The new beds are built but have no dirt in them. They are for summer planting so we're in no hurry. The rabbits have been found sitting in our spinach patch, inside the raised bed. We put the plastic owl there. I hope it works! The lettuce seeds have not been as successful as they were in the fall. I've sown twice, and have less than twenty sprouts.

We freshened all the bed linens today and even bought some new ones. Thankfully we still have some Christmas giftcard money from my sister, so I didnt' have to stress over buying new sheets. I'm trying to figure how many times we'll have to change all those beds again before the baby comes...atleast the new dryer will be bigger!

I can't figure out why life seems so busy and overwhelming lately. The passing around of a sore throat and cold hasn't helped. Noah has been miserable. I hurt my foot and have been walking in pain for almost a week. Sewing projects and spring fever take time away from school and chores. Or maybe it's just that there are eight children and one pregnant mommy here all day and we are trying to keep it all together.

A friend at church gave a great testimony last week. She told me that instead of worrying over the thousands of details that mothers have bouncing around in our heads, she's been asking God to speak specifically to her regarding each one. He has! It has made her life much more simple. I need to do that more often, everyday!

We did celebrate Passover on the right evening. We did not go through the entire service but it was a very nice dinner with nearly two hours of reading and discussion and singing! The rest of our week has not felt quite as "holy" with Bob gone or late home from work. But we are grateful for the good memories. At one point we were stumped as to what we were supposed to do with certain pieces of unleavened bread that were hidden in the folds of a napkin. We'll have to do more research for next year. : ) There is a lot of detail in that celebration. Hopefully over time we'll be more familiar with it and be able to complete it.

God is good!

Spring!

Happy Spring!!!

Due to blogging negligence I'm forced to post a rough sum of the things that I don't want to forget for the last week or so. Sadly it may not be interesting to others. For that I apologize. This is my only journal for now. I haven't touched the handwritten one in months. Maybe I can work on that today.
The week in review:

One friend's eldest child was engaged this week. We are all so very excited for them! God is a faithful provider in all ways, including husbands for stay at home daughters! Praise His name!

Another friend miscarried a baby at 13 weeks. I was priviliged to be in their family's life and home during the crisis. God's people are amazing! We love this family. We are blessed to have a future hope when tragedy strikes. God is our strength.

My husband dealt wisely with some tough issues over two luncheons. He and I had spent hours talking through the issues in advance. He is a wise man and hasn't given up on learning new skills. I'm so thankful for his perseverance.

On Monday, we had fifteen other children visit or stay with us for a few hours. It was an adventure in love and endurance after only sleeping a tiny bit the night before. God blessed us with a great day! I need to remember to always make extra food and be ready to share it at a moment's notice. We had a great dinner and were able to add two more to our table at the last minute.

Kendal added some new skills and responsibilities to her (theoretical) resume and increased her work hours. Kelsey made the most tasty gluten-free tortillas. (And eventually I'll get those two papers that are due of hers) Anna is loving the new disc swing from our backyard tree. All three "little girls" have been racing through the yard in boots and skirts. It warms my heart to watch them. (Photos do not express the beauty of a joyful family on a spring day! But I will try to include some.) Joy is reading like a pro. Mary is impressing us with her bright 4 year old ideas. She's really expressing herself well. Noah makes us laugh with his struting, shooting, playing dead, and singing songs from "The Donut Man" dvds. He kicks the soccerball all over the yard. It's impressive. Isaac and Daniel have spring fever and will find a way to be outside everyday from now until December. I know they'll be asking for bike rides and turns on the scooter from here forward...

We enjoyed a demonstration of the Passover Meal at church a couple of Sundays ago. It was presented by a Messianic Jew. In fact he is a leader of the Jews for Jesus ministry. We learned the signicance of the Seder through the eyes of a Christian Jew. It was absolutely breath taking! Christ is the all sufficient Passover Lamb! We'll keep learning and enjoying the rich heritage of God's chosen people and when we can, we'll try to celebrate with them. Afterall, this is a dress rehearsal for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb we'll all be enjoying in heaven one day! I was mistaken earlier, Passover begins at sundown on March 29 this year. So we still have a few days to prepare if we want to have traditional Passover meal.

I only exercised twice, but loved it. I found a pregnancy workout DVD. It's perfect. Staying at home rather than going to the Y to swim has saved alot of time. I have many weak muscles and aches that need stretching and strengthening.

The daffodils we planted (and gave away by the thousands) are in bloom. The garden soil is warm and the lettuce is sprouting. I found spring maternity tops and bottoms at the thrift store (50% off) this week.

I love a bargain. I love spring. I love having a pregnant belly. Even if I am not sleeping as comfortably.

While reading through the bible this year (starting again in Genesis) I read some passages about the flood and the seasons. God's faithfulness is demonstrated by the return of each season, every year. Last month, when it was really cold, someone said that they didn't believe spring would ever come this year. I responded that it definitely would because God is faithful. He keeps His word!

Happy Spring! Happy Passover! We look forward to rejoicing over the Resurrection again!

Preparations

Today I tackled the raised beds and the shed. Anna and Daniel helped. I really intend to have a fruitful spring, summer and fall garden this year. We'll see how our little June baby affects those plans...

I was pleased to discover that the six modest strawberry plants from last year had multiplied into 21 in our weeded over garden. So I dug them all up and transplanted them to the fertile and well-cared for soil of a raised bed. I'll be so excited if we really have a strawberry patch worth picking. I'll deal with the squirrels and cardinals later.

We still have spinach, parsely and cilantro that survived all the snow. Our plastic would not stay on in the snow and wind, despite many great efforts by Kelsey and Daniel to pin down the "hoop houses". Today I planted some winter lettuce seeds and if they don't sprout in the next two weeks, I'll just try again. No losses.

It was a joy to see our little babe yesterday under ultrasound. That always makes everyone more excited. I'll be working a little harder on the blanket I'm knitting. Noah's making more progress with the potty and sleeps every night with Daniel. I've organized all the baby and toddler clothes again. So, we are in the preparation stage for the baby's arrival and doing well. Supposedly our baby weighs one pound and six ounces right now. That is the same weight of the Duggar's recent premature baby, Josie, at twenty-five weeks. I sure hope she gets to go home soon and that our baby comes at the right time!

I decided after twelve years of homeschooling to catalog all of our books into the computer. I have purchased many "history through literature" programs and was beginning to forget which books we already own. So this year for the first time, when I am ordering books for next fall, I will know what we have without asking the children repeatedly. I'm also having to box-up some programs to preserve them for use later. Our children love to read and most of our books are paperback and get destroyed by too much lovin'. We are blessed to have settled into a wonderful rountine with Beautiful Feet history and Teaching Textbooks math and Apologia Science. This will all make my life much easier when ordering and help keep our home a little more organized. Curriculum roulette makes a homeschool hard to keep neat. Finding a really good program for everyone is a blessing... If only every room had a built-in bookcase (and beds hidden in the walls) we'd be set! I'm also preparing for Kendal's last official year of school and praying for wisdom in choosing those books. She'll finish history, take business/personal accounting, read more literature with biblical worldview study guides, finish Chemistry and...we'll see.

I asked each child at breakfast to name their favorite thing that our family does that they hope to continue in their own family. Their responses were encouraging: homeschooling, family vacations, reading the bible, going to the library, making meals from scratch, and having one girls' room and one boys' room. I need to ask those sorts of questions more often. : ) Next we chatted alot about how Bob and I would help them with all of those things as grandparents, how we'd like to help when babies arrive or when the parents need a vacation, etc. It's really fun to imagine them all grown up and us as the blessed, white-headed grandparents of a couple dozen grandchildren.