merry christmas!

A virtual Christmas card.

Merry Christmas to you from us!



it's happening again...

The last few Christmases a change always seems to happen to me.  It hard to describe but it's something supernatural.  It's like the moments that I'm supposed to pay attention to the most and learn something from go into slow motion and I'm in awe of my maker. 

This last weekend at church in closing prayer my pastor prayed and in one sentence summed it up...We're learning that your love is greater than we previously imagined.

I really think that's what it is.  I don't know why it's taken me 25 years to get here but everyday God's love is greater than I previously imagined.  It's amazing.  It's overwhelming.  It IS Christmas.

70

I'm now 70 weeks pregnant.
No, really look at all those 70's in our forecast.

GLORIOUS!!

43 degrees

It's only 40ish degrees outside, but in Indiana that's considered Spring. Well, Spring enough to go outside and walk it out. Colt borrowed a pair of Grandma's shades and sported them the whole time. He cracks me up.

I think we'll uncover Mom's pool today.

beautiful

I LOVE fall.
God made us a really beautiful place to dwell.
I thank him for it often.

da patch

The patch was fun this year.
Flippin cold, but fun!

Colt had cried & whined almost the entire 3 days previous to our trip to the patch so I was nervous that we would have a not-so-great time. BUT, luckily the color orange captivated him & he even smiled a few times. I'll be so happy when all his teeth are in. His K9-pointy-vampireish teeth have been killers to break through.

Here are a few last year compared to this year shots from the patch... thought they were cute :) AND a slide show. TA DA.

The Patch:
[Colt has gone up in price. Bad economy.] The cart:

The family portrait:

[yep, same scarf] The pumpkin head:Goats:

[yep, same goat]

rain

The rain won't go away here in Indiana. Although the snow has left us, rain has taken it's place and we only get small glimpses of sunshine here or there. Drag. I've been praying for sunshine for the Anniversary Party. Think God will give it to me? Ask and you shall receive. My plan B is moving all of mom and dad's living room furniture into the basement and setting up camp in the living room. Sunshine would be so much easier.

Question: Can you trust your local weather guys' "Sixteen Day Forecast?"

Guess what he calls for on the 26th? RAIN.

Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain

we've been outside

Summer is here. Kind of. It was 80ish today. Here's what we've been up to...

• Day before yesterday I went to Serena's house and laid out for hours. At times my skin was on fire but I thought...Didn't I complain about snow, and wish for sunshine for what seemed like months? Shouldn't I celebrate the sunshine by letting my skin fry like an egg in a skillet? Yes! Burn baby burn! I actually did burn. But that's probably because I lathered my body in Johnson & Johnson baby oil. Next time I'll use something like SPF15 or Olive Oil.
• I also put on a bath suit for the first time since giving birth. I laughed out loud when I saw myself in the mirror. I don't recognize parts of my body as being...parts of my body! The zebra stripped stretch mark design along with the excess skin from carrying a 10.5lb baby makes for an interesting combination. Good thing I have high self-esteem and a man that loves me because gee whiz! One piece here I come...forever.
• Colt is trying to master the crawl. He can't master it until he actually does it....but we're on our way. He is wiggly to say the least. When he's down, he wants up. When he's up, he wants down. The last two nights he's woken up in the middle of the night and instead of making him whine himself back to sleep, I've gotten up and rocked him. He is so busy now days he has no time to stop and cuddle with me. He won't fall asleep in my arms. I get nothing! But wouldn't ya know...in the middle of the night...that little boy wants his momma and we get our cuddle on. He is precious and I love him so much. The middle of the night cuddling gets to me so much that when he's fallen back asleep, instead of laying in his crib I bring him to bed with me. We lay there...pillow walls around us and snooze. Together. Little does he know that I make our noses touch and I watch him sleep. I inhale his exhale and we both drift away. The love I don't get during the day...I make up for at night. Also, I'd say it's time for another baby.
• We worked in the yard today. Luckily Andy has a green thumb. He also has a laundry thumb. Both of which I'm thankful for. I went outside in my work clothes and told him to point and tell me what to do. I did well on all the tasks when I could use a shovel or a watering can but when I had to actually dig in the dirt with my hands is when I pretended Colt needed attention and then I disappeared to the front porch for a bit. While planting perennials around our mailbox Andy told me to space them evenly and use some miracle grow [black dirt with white dots in it]...I told him I couldn't because, I just gave myself a french manicure and I'm trying to grow my nails out so I can scratch your back better [extra large grin]. He called me pathetic. I'll take it.

I'm not guaranteeing I'll be back tomorrow...or even the next day. It's too beautiful outside!

it's a good day

So far this morning I've been thankful for two things...their sort of unrelated but too good not to share.

First) The other day I mentioned to Spencer and his girlfriend, Susanna that I loved sunflowers and I wanted to used them for Mom and Dad's party but they were too pricey. End of story. We moved on. Yesterday Spencer said he had a little something for me for Mothers day. I'm not even his MOM! [see picture below]. The best part about this gift is not the flowers itself but the fact that my brother has such a sweet heart. He listens. He bought these for me because he knew I mentioned that I loved them and he thought it would bless my heart. He is a gem! What a good husband he'll make someday! I'm so lucky and thankful to have such an great brother. Thank you Jesus!
Secondly) I had a rough night last time. Colt is getting lots of teeth all at once. He has a really bad fever all night last night. He's having trouble with his peepee and it just seemed like everything was happening at once. I had spent all morning with him trying to make him happy and as I let the dog in from outside I stopped and was in awe by the view of my backyard. I thanked God out loud and just stood there for a minute. Look at what God has given us today? Look at the sky. It's like he took his paint brush and just paint the clouds in the sky just for me. So beautiful. Instantly everything was going to be okay. I don't know what it is but I feel so close to God when I see something like that. It's like he's saying, I'm still here. I hear him whisper that in the winter especially. When everything is so beautiful, quiet and white. Almost makes me want to cry. Thank you Jesus!

Winter

I took this picture just a few days ago when we had our real first snow fall of the season. I've heard people all my life complain about snow and the weather getting icy cold and for a quick moment I was to say 'So MOVE', but I hold in my true feelings and the urge to kick people out of my state slowly passes.

I love snow. I love to get bundled. I love my fireplace. I love warm coffee. I love Christmas music before Thanksgiving [What? Me? No, I don't do that].

Sometimes I just stick my head out the door to my backyard and listen. It's so quiet and beautiful. I feel like it's God's way of saying to me 'I'm still here'. I love winter.