A Call Back to Blog World

Hello! I know I've been gone for much longer than I anticipated, I said I'd be back after my trip to Colorado. But sometimes life just happens. (Okay, naps happen too.) Here's a picture of Green Mountain Falls pre-fire. Who knows what it looks like now.

Then, there's the dread of returning. What do I blog about since I've been gone so long? What do I have to show for myself? Doctor appointments? Bruises from blood-draws? A growing belly? A sink full of dishes? A browned baby who doesn't get sun-screen often enough? Swimming lesson photos? Whoops! forgot to take one single photo. Ridiculous! Ooh! How about a picture of Eliana and I? She surprised me with this last night!

So obviously, I've been dragging my feet. Until dear Yoly from Made for Lilybelle called me back to blog world again with her invitation to answer these questions. Thank you, Yoly! It's good to have a starting point!

1. What is your first thought every morning? And the last?

My first thought is... man, I'm starving again!

Last, is usually something like... I need to take tums.

(What can I say? I'm pregnant.)

2. Something that your followers do not know about you?
 Last Thursday, I was lucky enough to be diagnosed with gestational diabetes. :) As much as I am not happy about it, honestly, I'm a little surprised I haven't had it with any other of the pregnancies. Diabetes is rampant down both sides of my family and I'm not in great health. To top it off, I love to bake sweets and rarely say no to said treats. So, the past week, I've been spending a great deal of my time trying to figure out how to live with and be healthy through the rest of this period of time. Thankfully, it has been the kick in the rear I needed to take control of my eating habits. Yesterday, I spent 5 hours at a diabetes association learning all sorts of "fun" stuff like: how to take my sugar levels, eat correctly, and stick myself in the leg... just in case I need to be put on insulin while I'm in Mexico. And then I went home and did more time reading and researching... I've got lots to learn. We'll see how the next few months play out.

3. Something you always have in your bag?

Diapers and wipes. For the past 6 years. I think I've got about 2 more years in me and then (hopefully) I'm done with that portion of my life... the diaper part. Wipes are just too convenient... I think they may always be a part of my life now.


4. Three things you can't live without?
Jesus, my family, and coffee.

 When you're nervous, what do you do? 
Turn beet red. Look away. And perhaps imitate Mary Katherine Gallagher.

6. Anything you want to do and have not done so far?
Return to my pre-wedding weight. (It's my post-last baby goal.)

7. Five things to do before dying?
1. Take my family to Thailand

2. Live overseas.

3. Get my house completely cleaned and organized. (A girl can dream, right?)

4. Open a vintage store.
5. Get a DSLR camera and learn to use it.

8. What do you usually read? What do you usually listen to? TV or Movie?
Children's books... I like adult books too, of course (Austen, anyone?) but honestly, I get nothing accomplished when I read something that long for several days. Listen: Pandora... I haven't bought music in years. TV, rarely happens when the kids are awake. Sometimes I watch Jimmy Fallon if I'm awake late enough. I love to watch episodes of "Who do you think you are?" when I can get 'em in and I did like ABC's "Once Upon a Time" this past year... don't judge. Movies are like tv-- they don't happen with kids very often.

9. Secrets of your room?
It's a big mess. I try to keep the kids' rooms pretty clean, but things that don't have an assigned location often get dumped in my room. It needs a huge overhaul!


10. Man of your dreams. City of your dreams. House of your dreams.
Man of my dreams-- I'm married to him! He's a pretty great guy... we'll soon be celebrating our 9th anniversary!

City of my dreams-- hmmm, perhaps San Miguel de Allende or Merida, Mexico.

House of my dreams-- a historic home in one of those cities in need of restoration.
Something I could eventually make look like this.




11. What super power would you have?
Mary Poppins' super power to clean!-- snap and toys jump to their place... I'm hoping it works on dirty dishes too! Ha!

12. What WOULD you set out for the next five years?Go on a genealogy trip research trip with my momma once or twice.

13. What makes you happy?
Snuggling with my babies... the little ones and the big one, too!

14. Always wearing ... 
My wedding ring :)


15. What character do you admire?
 Bishop Myriel in Les Misérables. His short appearance in Jean Valjean's life makes a marked difference in how he will live. Myriel was able to be Christ to Valjean in a real way... buying his freedom with candlesticks and shaping his life for the better. I want to be full of the same grace that Christ offered me like Myriel was!


So there you have it! Have a great weekend everyone, and maybe I'll be a bit more present in July. You never know!

Girls' Retreat

How blessed am I that I have a family full of wonderful women who love the Lord? More so, in a few short hours I'll be blessed even more as my awesome husband lets me leave with them and go retreat into the mountains for a few days!

Mountains, folks! You don't know what that does to the soul of a Kansas girl... unless you are a Kansas girl and then of course you do!

But especially since I'm pregnant and not handling the heat of all this yucky June weather... and our A/C is not blowing well again. Like it does every summer since it's been installed. It has a 10 year warranty. We've had it for 6 years now and every. single. summer. we have to call the guy who installed it and it always takes him 2 weeks (at least) to get out here to even look at it. *sigh* So, for at least 4 days I'll have a bit of respite from the heat.

(My momma and Eliana at the Green Mountain Falls Gazebo two summers ago!)

Even better, is the fact that we are going to be staying in my great-grandparents' (Roy and Alice) old cabin in Green Mountain Falls. When I was young, we'd vacation there every summer. My momma and her siblings grew up spending summers at the same cabin. But when Roy passed away, the cabin ended up in another line of the family and that was pretty much the end of vacations there. Until now! My aunt (Nine) arranged it with a cousin to rent the place out... I think it's going to be Nostalgia City!

(My momma's family: Back Row l-r: Jim, my granny (Marilyn),  my grandad (James). 

Front Row l-r: Diane (aka. Nine), Grant, Bill, my momma (Laurel))

But best of all, we're going to study the Word together and encourage one another in the Lord. We've never had a girls' weekend quite like this before and I am thrilled to pieces to see what God has in store for us! He is so good and I am looking forward to the refreshment so I can return a better wife to Jesse and mama to my kiddos.

Speaking of Jesse and the kiddos, will you please pray for them? It'll be the first time Cruz is away from me for an extended period of time. It's always overwhelming to have the kids by yourself for a few days. And Jesse has an interview for a job tomorrow that we'd be terribly excited if he got! We think it sounds like a great fit for him and are praising God already just that he was called to interview in this economy! Still, it'd be the icing on the cake if he got this job... but we do want what God wants for us, too! Please pray that the interview goes well, that God will make it abundantly clear to Jesse that He wants (or doesn't want) him at that job, and that my kids will be awesomely full of God's grace while I'm gone!

Thanks and see you next week! Blessings!

Thirty-Three

Yep, you read that right. I'm only thirty-three... and you all thought I was in my forties. Ha! That's alright, I still love you!

To celebrate my birthday, visit my shop and enter 33TODAY into the coupon code box for 33% off one item! Big bargains!

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!

Celebrating the Graduate

We had a cookout with so many of our friends and family this weekend to celebrate Jesse's recent graduation. My parents were gracious enough to host in their awesome backyard. Thank you, Momma and Daddy!

I, of course, did what I normally did and snapped only a couple of photos... the rest I stole from my niece's facebook page because the girl I typically put in charge of snapping pics decided to go to Florida this past weekend. Ahem.

Don't you love this dress? It's in the etsy shop, but it fit her so well and went with the party colors (yellow and blue) so, she just had to wear it! She's not convinced that it's for her... you know, if it's not purple I have a very hard time getting her to wear it right now. (Something about wanting to grow up to be Rapunzel or something like that).

Some of Jesse's family made it up from Tulsa... this is my great-nephew. Just to let you know, I'm really not old enough to have a great-nephew but the fact that I do makes me feel really old. But I love him anyway. And he... doesn't really know who I am, and could care less. But! he loves Cruz! They were too cute together this weekend!

Jesse's second oldest niece just graduated from high school!

We had a lovely time and we were so blessed by those who came out and spent time with us celebrating. I am completely floored by the grace that God pours out on us in the form of awesome family and friends... He really has been good to us!

In other news, my feet and ankles feel like overstuffed sausages from all the swelling... guess summer and my third trimester are in full swing now! How was your weekend?

My Sister's Birthplace

Well, not really. I mean, you didn't think that she was actually born in (or at) the Keeper of the Plains, did you? Ahem.

She thought so. Well, at least for a long time she did. Apparently, there used to be a Wichita commercial on the t.v. when we were kids and when it came on my brother and I would tell her, "That's where you were born, Elisabeth." Or perhaps we said, "Little B" because that is what we called her back then. Anyway, we would go on to explain how we were both born in Nebraska and that she was born here. Unfortunately, there was also a photograph of the Keeper of the Plains in that commercial and she took it to mean she quite literally was born there.

"There's where I was born!" she'd shout as we'd drive by... since then the Keeper has been mentioned in a Rich Mullins song and had some major improvements done.

Tuesday night, we decided to take the kids to see their aunt "Biscuit's birthplace."

"There's where Biscuit was born," I told them.

"Really?" they wanted to know.

"No, not really... she was just a silly little girl who thought she was born there." I murmured under my breath. Some people are meant to have bigger and better stories than reality... Elisabeth is one of them. Let the kids try and figure out how or where exactly she was born out there.

And then, we waited for one of the improvements to be turned on... fire!

Pretty cool place to be born, if you ask me.

Change of Plans

Our plans to spend yesterday in Tulsa visiting family fell through at the last moment on Friday night... little feelings were crushed in the process and floods of tears ensued. (Meeting up with any of Jesse's family does not happen on a frequent basis, so when it doesn't work out as planned, it is a big disappointment to everyone.) Even after assuring them that they'd come to see us the following weekend and that we'd find something to do here in town that would be fun... we still had a severe case of mopeys going on.

But we came up with a plan... last weekend we'd also had a change of plans to the day and had missed a birthday party at O.J. Watson Park. (Fortunately for me, I hadn't mentioned it to the kids beforehand so I hadn't had to deal with the same amount of crying as last night.) So, with the park still fresh in my mind, we headed down to make an afternoon of it.

The kids have been forever asking to ride on a boat... they see the row boats up and down the Arkansas as we're constantly crossing it and think that looks like a wonderful thing. (A couple of years ago, Diego asked for a row boat for his birthday... he didn't get it.) We took a paddle boat ride instead on the pond and that seemed to do the trick for them. I had fully expected to stay behind with the baby, but apparently he was permitted to go, too.

Pony rides for the bigger kids.

And then a train ride for everyone.

Cruz refused to hold on to my hand on the train... he made it perfectly clear that he would sit and hold the rail but in no way, shape, or form was I to treat him like a baby and insist on holding him or his hand. (He thinks he's big stuff!)

 And although we did miss spending time with extended family yesterday, it sure was nice way to redeem it by spending some fun time with our own little family! Thank you, God, for Your love and mercy and giving us just what we needed for the weekend!

BSF

For the past two and a half years, I've been a part of Bible Study Fellowship... it's been good for me as a mama and great for my kids. I've felt blessed knowing that I could leave my kids (for free!) with ladies who love them and love the Lord and who would develop a love for the Lord and His Word in them while being able to go and learn with other women. It's been a big blessing and has helped me to stay in the Word myself.

But today was our last day. For most of the women there, they will return in the autumn... their 1st graders off to full time school and the little ones still attending. So, there are downsides to homeschooling, and this is one of them. There's not a class offered during the day for 1st graders. (There is in the evenings-- but then they don't have a class for the little ones in the evenings.) *Sigh*

We will miss it! We'll miss the friends we've made and I'll miss the accountability and study. So this is my prayer, that I find some new study that I'm able to attend and the timing of it all will work for Jesse and his schedule so I can go. Right now, we don't know what he'll be doing for work or study in the fall so things are really up in the air. I guess I'll have to leave it in God's hands... and I suppose that's a perfect place for it to be.

A big thank you to all the awesome BSF volunteers was in order again... so perhaps we did a repeat of last year's gift. It's a yummy one!