change of season....

Up until last week we were heading to Mike's parents for Thanksgiving. Then I asked my OB about traveling, and he wasn't too thrilled with the idea of me traveling that far. Mike and I spent some time talking about it, and in the end decided we'd stay here. So, plans changed, and we ended up having everyone over to our house. All I had to do was set the table and have a clean house. My mom did all the cooking and brought it. Now that's a deal friends! :) We enjoyed a lovely afternoon of eating too much, going on a nice walk, and playing at the park. We're settling in for the night now, knowing that for many people, they are starting the rampant race to the stores...

and yet,

Tonight, I find myself wanting a quiet peace, as we settle in for what will soon be the start of Advent, as we wait and prepare for the coming birth of our Savior. Maybe my keen awareness of waiting is that we are waiting... waiting expectantly and maybe not so patiently for our daughter to arrive. She will be here before we know it, and I'm well aware of that with every kick to my ribs, and jab to my bladder.

How Mary must have felt in those final days before Jesus was born, knowing that she was carrying the King, that she had been chosen to be His mother..How she must have felt..

excited? terrified? unsure? awestruck?

May the beginning of your holiday season be a time of peace and of love, as we remind ourselves that we are still waiting, this time for the second return of our Savior, to see his Kingdom completed.

fridge folly

Because it's more fun the day before thanksgiving.

Tuesday night, I noticed our fridge seemed warmer than normal. It was still kicking on, but it just didn't seem cold enough to me. We ran to the store and bought a fridge thermometer to check the temp. This morning, our fridge was reading 48.

Now after 24 hours of good ol' google, I've learned that your fridge needs to read between 30-40 degrees, amongst many other food safety issues. So, this morning we called our landlord to get the problem fixed.

9:30 original meet n greet. He looks at fridge, tinkers with a couple of things, puts his thermometer in to read, just in case mine is bad, and says call in 2 hours if nothing changes. nothing changed.

second call.

1:15.. second visit. He tinkers with a few more things, including fixing the ice maker which I could really care less about and says to call in 2 hours if nothing changes. nothing changed.

third call. manager says it will be replaced tonight.

I'm out for a walk with a friend and her two kiddos... we head home.

chaos erupts.

Levi and his friend are playing, and break a picture frame, glass everywhere, and Levi crying because he's got a giant gash in his hand. I'm in the bathroom tending to Levi, and my friend is sweeping up glass in the offending area.

after chaos calms down, Ingrid said she heard someone say "hello?" while we were dealing with everything. I can only assume it was fridge man coming back, but said nothing more and left.

so now here we sit.... 6pm thanksgiving eve, my fridge is still is reading above 40, and we now can't get ahold of the manager via the "emergency" cell number that we have.

Did I mention we're having everyone over here for thanksgiving tomorrow??

some days just seem harder than others.

happy thanksgiving

from our family...



to yours.

turkey fun

Turkey Day was fun, but now we're back to the grindstone.

Levi watched his first parade, ate stuffing, mashed potatoes, scalloped corn, and pumpkin pie. the pie was definitely his favorite, i mean really... who wouldn't love pie! :) met a new cousin, hung with fam, watched movies, played games....

We had a lovely time, but even more lovely?

coming home and sleeping in our own bed....

and now on to....

Advent.

we're waiting, being anticipatory of Jesus' coming. which totally reminds me of a funny church sign we saw once at advent. we still talk about it every year..
it said this..

"Advent means Mary is pregnant.. are you?"

seriously. we still don't understand, but boy do we laugh about it...

anyway that was definitely a side note.

so go.. and wait in joyful hope and anticipation of Christ's coming to earth!

packing and turkey

Packing, Laundry, Re-packing, Organizing...

That's what's happening around here. We are trying to get ready to head up state for thanksgiving with Mike's family. We are planning on leaving tomorrow evening.
The plan is to wait until Levi's bedtime, and then leave. In theory, he'll sleep the entire way there. Getting him into the house could be tricky, but I'd rather handle that than an ever-increasing cranky kid in the backseat.

This packing business has gotten complicated. We have so much more stuff to take. My in-laws don't really have any baby stuff around, so we have to take EVERYTHING we could possibly need. I'm trying to figure out food. How do you mama's take food with you? I assume we'll just take a cooler with his stuff in it. He is eating a good chunk of table food these days, but not everything, so we definitely need to pack stuff.

And how do you handle naps and holidays? ugh. Dinner is at Noon on Thursday that's a fine time for lunch... but then the afternoon comes. Levi naps around 1:30-2 normally, and we are having it about a half hour away from where we are staying. I'm not sure how to handle this. We can stay, but he won't sleep, and he'll be cranky, or we can be party poopers and leave.... what would you do??

on the plus side, i'm way excited for...
turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie and mashed potatoes....

yum yum double yum!

thankfulness

Tomorriw is thanksgiving, so.... in no particular order:

I'm thankful for....

1) An amazing husband who takes care of me, and has perhaps become even more evident in the last 6 months of puking all of the time. Who works so hard to provide for our family, and loves me more than I realize

2) My sister.... if you know me, you know my sister, we're the best of friends.... and now i'm humming that song from fox and the hound.. we're the best of friends, we have so much fun together... we're not even aware we're such a funny pair.. we're the best of friends... love her dearly and i'm excited for her to be auntie A!

3)A faithful God who has guided our steps, and brought us through this past year. Who has blessed us with family and friends who support us, who faithfully walks beside us, and carres us when we need it the most.

4 I often think of a year ago, and how we were feeling about the impending holiday. We were definitely NOT in the mood to be thankful. We desperately wanted to have our baby back, but I'm amazed at how much a year changes you. We are different people now. We are stronger together as a couple because of our miscarriage, and we are much more atune to other's sorrows, and for that I am thankful.

5) I'm thankful for this little baby growing inside of me. There are days where I think Mike and I both reserved still, and don't really believe it is going to happen. I can't explain to you how miscarriage changed us, but it has, and I really don't think we'll believe this can happen until we hold our baby in our arms. I said to Mike the other day, I can't believe there is a little person inside of me, with arms, legs, eyes, a nose, tiny fingers and toes, it's unbelievable to me. A little miracle, that will be here in 8 short weeks.


So... your turn..... what are you thankful for this year?

Thanksgiving Eve

Well, here it is , the day before thanksgiving, and i'm desperately trying to be thankful today. I'm thankful for a God who is all-knowing and comforting, I'm thankful for a wonderful husband, for family and friends, for a warm bed and a home to be in when so many do not have that luxury. I'm thankful for snow, for sun, for rain, for lakes, for being outside, for my cranky cat, Howie... the list goes on I suppose.
So, on with Thanksgiving....