Today was sort of a tough day. Nothing overwhelmingly bad happened; a variety of things just transpired in such a way that I spent most of the afternoon sad. I really have been doing well lately. I'm feeling good, getting more excited about what our future holds, and finally feeling like I can move past this. Then today rolled around.

The women's bible study I'm a part of is studying the book of James. We're using a Beth Moore study and this is actually the first Beth Moore study I've ever done. (I feel like I'm going to get kicked out of the female evangelical club for saying that, but it's true.) I was sort of rushing to finish all the homework this week since I missed the last two meetings, and didn't really get to appreciate all the great teaching that was there. Since we are spending two weeks of discussion on each week of the study, we have time for plenty of discussion.I was especially thankful today that the other women could point out the nuggets I'd missed in my hurry to get through.

One such nugget was about James 1:2 - "Consider it joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds..." I'd never really thought about that first word - "consider." I guess I had kind of always assumed that I was to feel joyful when I faced trials, but the verse says "consider." It's not about what I feel. It's about what I think. I cannot feel joyful about losing a baby. I can only feel sad. I can meditate, though, on God's goodness to me and remember what the verse says next: "for you know that testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance have its full effect so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." 

Now that is a hope to cling to.

I realize this post is two days late, but hey - I'm working again this week and it's been a long one. Thankfully, I had a light day yesterday and was able to come home early and spend some wonderful time with my two valentines. This cute one here learned an important lesson yesterday - if your hands stay wet for too long your fingers become raisins. He was highly concerned about the wrinkles.


My other valentine ordered some beautiful tulips.

The last few months I have just been so proud of him. He continues to wait on God's timing patiently - much more patiently than I do - while looking for a new job, a task which he has poured a lot of energy into. In spite of the frustrations with our presbytery, he has continued to work to bless our little church even though he is not allowed to do the preaching that he loves. He teaches TWO different bible studies and was recently elected a ruling elder. He also is in charge of our church's search committee and is doing his best to find a good pastor to lead the congregation. I knew when I married him that he was a great guy, but having a front row seat to this trial has made me love and respect him that much more.

Judah may be on the slower end of the language acquisition, but man - he sure can operate a fork. Yay for fine motor skills!

I love giving handmade gifts. I especially love all the handmade gifts I was able to give this year at Christmas. The downside, though, of so many homemade gifts is that after Christmas my desire to make anything is completely gone. Even if there were occasions that normally would compel me to make something - I just can't. I decided that sometime around the fourth pair of pajama pants I was making on Christmas Eve, my sewing mojo just vanished. I'm happy to say that it's back, though. It walked back into my life this week and bit me. Big time.

This week, I made a knitting needle holder for Jeff's Grandma (just a few weeks late for her birthday), and these two adorable baby dresses - gifts for some new and almost here babies. I decided that I really hope to have a daughter one day because the girl-related sewing just kills me with its cuteness.


Ric-rac hemline! What could be cuter.



Of course, I found the pattern on pinterest. Diaper cover tutorial found here.

Up next? Judah's getting a backpack. I can't wait.

With starting back to work right after Christmas and then everything that followed, I never got to post some of our Christmas photos. I had meant to, and then our camera battery was dead and we lost the charger. Several weeks and one new charger later, here they are! In addition to the other handmade gifts that I did, because my whole family was going to be together, I wanted to make matching pajamas for all 4 boys. Because I had to make four sets of whatever I did, I definitely didn't want to do anything too complicated. But I was pleased with how they turned out.


I made some very simple flannel pants and then embellished shirts. The shirt design was one I came up with on my own, and was very simple - three overlapping circles and a bit of ric-rac. Ric-rac makes everything cuter, I've decided. For the pants, I used my favorite tutorial, which is very straightforward and easy. When there are no pockets, zippers, or buttons involved, making pants can actually be very easy.



I do love how all our sweet boys seemed to enjoy their new PJs- and each other - a lot.

I feel like Judah is changing so fast these days that if I don't record what he's doing then I won't remember all the really cute things.


1. Talking! He is really starting to talk a lot more. He has started to do this adorable thing when he wants me to hold him where he will stretch his arms up to me and say, "Me-me". The way he holds his arms open so wide and looks up at me just makes me melt every time. Yesterday when I was making dinner, he followed me around saying "up please" for a while before I figured out that's what he was saying. I have been working to get him to say please, so I feel bad that it took me so long to realize that's what he saying. He is getting new words every day and getting better and better at saying the old ones. I love hearing his sweet little voice.

2. Singing! He really loves listening to singing and I'm trying to sing more kid songs around the house with him. "The wheels on the bus" is a favorite, especially because it involves hand motions. He also does this cute thing where he'll open the hymnal we have at home and "sing" along as he turns the pages.

3.  He has really gotten into giving hugs and kisses. I normally ask him for a kiss, but today I was holding him say "I Love You" and he just laid one on me. He is also something of a flirt with the ladies; he will tilt his head to the side and give a really big smile to them. It's adorable.

4. He's also at an age where he loves being tossed onto the bed or couch and will also play the game where he throws himself down onto the bed for quite a while. I'm wondering if he's going to be some kind adrenaline junky.

5. We had our first visit to the dentist today, and I'd say Judah did pretty well. He only screamed while he was laying down on the chair with people poking into his mouth, and stopped at soon as I picked him up. I call that success. We got a good report, though I do need to do a better job brushing the front of his bottom teeth. Teeth normally come in pairs as they erupt in the mouth, and Judah seems to be missing one on the bottom, which I had noticed. The dentist wasn't too concerned about it yet, but it is something to watch. He also has a tight frenum - that little piece of skin that connects the top lip to the top gum right in the middle, which I hadn't noticed. Another thing we have to watch because sometimes they have to be clipped.

6. I just borrowed a little potty from Melanie and went to the library to check out some potty training books. I don't think Judah is quite ready to start, since I tried to get him to sit on it today without a diaper on and he flipped out, but I'd like to start in a few months around his birthday. Our library didn't actually have any good potty training books (??!?) so if anyone out there has any advice or book recommendations, I'm all ears.

1. I watched the Super Bowl at my parent's house, which was great. We ate pizza, noodles, and homemade guacamole. Yum. Not that I really cared, but I was glad the NY won. For whatever reason, I just can't cheer for the Patriots. (Although I do like Tom Brady....) I was glad that all my reading of Sports Illustrated really paid off as I got to teach my dad about automatic safeties and knew what college Tom Brady went to.

2. This whole mess with Komen and Planned Parenthood has just made my blood boil at numerous points this week. Reading comments on news stories at places like MSNBC or Slate is definitely a bad idea for a conservative like me. Of course, I am strongly pro-life and the rhetoric against the pro-life community this week has been maddening. (I love how our "unbiased" media writes about "pro-choice" groups and "anti-choice" groups. That's not biased at all.) It seems crazy to me that an anti breast cancer organization would give money to a group that doesn't perform mammograms in the first place.

3. I've been making a photo book on shutterfly this week and have to say that I LOVE the updates they've made. It is now completely customizable - you can change the size of any photos, move them around the page, make text boxes bigger or smaller, as well as add "stickers" that give it a more scrapbook feel. It's an excellent change. I have made numerous books but often felt a little constrained by their design options. Now there are more design options AND you can completely change around what is there as well. The new backgrounds are great, too.

4. I feel like for the most part I am a fairly laid-back mom. There are a few times when I notice that I really get stressed out, though. Although Judah is a pretty good traveler, sometimes in the car he refuses to nap and gets really fussy. Trying to entertain a nearly two year old in the car when he is strapped in and over tired is exhausting. Similarly, when we are at someone else's house and there are few toys and TONS of "no-touches" at toddler eye level, I get frustrated and worn out in a heart beat. Apparently I need to do a better job bringing toys/snacks/entertainment if it seems like there might not be any at our location.