Miriam's Life

This last Friday we went to the Fire Station here in town to do a tour with our Mothering Matters group. Our group does this every year and this is the first year that we have actually made it. Will was so excited that morning. I really didn’t think he knew where we were going until he ran upstairs and came back down with his fire truck toy. “Woo-woo,” he said. OK, I guess he is a smart kid. He just fools us all by not talking.

Our half of the group toured the upstairs of the fire station first. We saw the firemen’s living area, kitchen, and screened in porch for barbecue. Unfortunately when they do use it for cooking, they often get 911 calls from people afraid that the fire station is on fire because of the smoke. Our paramedic tour guide explained to us how the 24 hour shifts worked and how they really get to know the men they work with since they spend every 3rd day with them. Many of the things in the fire station come in threes, one for each shift. This even includes the refrigerators, which get locked when it is not their shift. Apparently firemen are protective of their own food. He then showed us the work out room, the bedrooms, and the pole.

We didn’t get to go down the pole, which disappointed Will, but we did get to watch a firefighter come down while we stood below in the red-lighted gear room. If I understood the explanation right, they use red lighting to keep it from breaking down their reflective gear.

Then we headed out and took a look at the ambulance, the rescue truck, the ladder truck, and the firetruck that carries a huge tank of water. The paramedic showed them all sorts of equipment, explained lots of stuff and demonstrated their new air-powered stretcher. Most of it went over the kids heads. I learned why when my parents had someone set their hay on fire three different fire stations sent trucks. He said that it was routine on any out of town fire calls to send three of the tanker trucks so that they’d have enough water. All Will really wanted to do was climb in the truck, which he did get to do.

Seth perked up at this point too. He’d been looking pretty tired and was content to let me carry him around. But once everyone started climbing and touching the trucks, he decided he needed to be included as well. He climbed through the ladder truck just like the other kids and then checked out the huge tires.

The paramedic was finally able to grab everyone’s attention when he showed them how he would get ready for a fire. As he pulled on his protective clothing, all the way up to his air mask and helmet, the kids all watched speechless. He then explained to the kids that if they saw someone dressed like that when they needed help in a fire, not to be scared, but to come to them. After seeing what they look like, I can see why many kids would be scared to death, thinking some weird monster was coming after them out of the smoke and flames. He then demonstrated the alarm that goes off if a firefighter stays still too long to let his team-mates know he needs help. This made an impression on Elise, who asked several questions about it later.

After that, everyone got a free fireman hat and we headed home. It was a fun day. I really should think about what other field trips we could do this year in homeschooling.

Continue Reading

The day began at 5:30, a little earlier than I had planned on rising to begin a day of reflection. Will came to my bedside seeming a bit disoriented. Finally he decided that a drink of water was what he really wanted, and I sent him back to bed. It wasn’t until after 7, when I did get up to find him looking still just as miserable, that I thought to check his temperature. 102.9! I had planned on dropping the kids off at 9 at a friend’s house so that I could have some alone time to reflect and pray on this day that marked Emma’s 4th anniversary in heaven. I guess I would have at least one little one with me to keep me company.

After normal morning routines, I dropped Elise and Seth off at nine and headed home hoping for some time alone with God. But of course I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, so I started with that, and then since Will was happily watching a movie I decided to try to start with quieting my mind, since I wasn’t feeling particularly reflective. I sat still for awhile, but try as I might I found it impossible to completely empty my head of thoughts. And they weren’t deep thoughts either, just the normal shallow ones that fill my waking moments. Once I reached the realization that the only way I was going to shut down my mind was to fall asleep, which my body was threatening to do at that point, I gave up. I got up and did a couple of the chores that had been on my mental to do list. At least I could get those out of my head.

After a short burst of housework, I pulled out Emma’s photo album deciding I should have some time alone looking through it before sitting down with the kids later in the day. At that very moment, Will decided he was done watching his video and he came to join me. So we sat together, me remembering, he discovering for the first time. At first he just went through naming each face he recognized. Elise, Mom, Dad, Nana, Pop, even Emma when prompted. But then we reached the page describing Emma’s open heart surgery and his sensitive eyes caught sight of the photos of Emma after surgery during recovery. Tubes, wires, and blood covered her tiny little body and I could see the worry in his eyes. I tried to encourage him by showing the pictures from just a few days later when she looked so much better, but he kept coming back to those pictures. When Dad walked in to see how we were doing, Will had to turn the pages back once again to make sure Dad saw them too. This is going to be hard, I am realizing. I want my boys to know the story of Emma’s short life, but until now I guess I didn’t really see how much pain and hardship I would have to explain that went along with it. I’ve taken it for granted with Elise, who grew up knowing these things. She lived through them with us, albeit somewhat at a distance. But she’s seen the pictures over and over, and has developed for herself a somewhat simplified explanation for the troubling parts of the story. Though even Elise has come up with some harder questions this year as her mind tries to piece together the parts of the story she doesn’t know. She was not here the day Emma died, and up to this point, she has accepted our simple explanation that Emma stopped breathing and went to heaven. I remember when she finally put two and two together and realized this meant Emma “died,” since we hadn’t used that word. But just a few weeks ago Elise asked me how I knew that Emma died. Was she just gone that morning? What did I find when I woke the morning of her death? I hadn’t realized that even that simple thing was still bothering her little mind. So I explained how we don’t need our bodies anymore in heaven because we get new ones, and so that is what I found that morning. Emma was gone, but her body was still there. Later I went further, thinking maybe she was ready for some more of the details, explaining how we called 911 and I tried to breathe for her to save her life, but that it didn’t work because she was already gone.

I had to leave off Will’s and my exploration of the photo album as I needed to go get the kids to drop them off at their next play-date. I had some urgent errands to run as well, so I was gone probably about half an hour. When I returned, Will was sound asleep on the couch. John said he’d wandered in there by himself and fell asleep. I left him there and he ended up sleeping about 3 hours straight. With the house now quiet again, I went to my bedroom and did some journaling and Bible reading, realizing that reflection is not forced. The most reflection I got out of that time was more on simple changes I want to make in my daily life and a renewed desire to spend more time in Bible study and prayer. Perhaps that is all God wanted to say to me on that day. I’ve had more reflection pertaining specifically to Emma today as I have planned out this blog post than I did yesterday, but I started the day wanting to be open to what God had for me, and I am content in that.

I had lunch, went to pick up Elise and Seth, and then had a little nap. Then Elise and I spent some one on one time together as we went grocery shopping. We finished out our Wal-Mart excursion with picking out flowers for the cemetery. Elise chose the brightest bouquet she could find because she said: “It is almost Spring and these flowers look like Spring flowers.” She was very positive that Emma would like them. Again she asked me the question she has asked me many times: “Does Emma come and get them? Does she get to see them?” “No,” I answered, then paused. “Well, maybe God lets her see them, I don’t know.” Truth be told, I guess we put flowers on the grave more for our own comfort than for anything else. Elise then asked why some of the flowers on the graves never get old, and we had a discussion on fake vs real flowers. I told her I preferred putting real flowers on the grave, and she decided that must be so we could change them.

We went home and everyone got dressed for the cold so we could all go to the cemetery. On the way Elise voiced something I don’t hear her say often. “I wish Emma didn’t go to heaven. Because if she were here now, I would get to play with her.” I sympathized and tried to comfort her as I always do, saying how when we go to heaven, we’ll get plenty of time to play, but Elise is worried that she and Emma will be all grown up by then and not really interested in playing. “Well,” I offered, “I think that heaven will be a lot of fun for everyone, no matter how old they are.” We placed the flowers in the vase at the grave, and I praised Elise for making such a great choice. The bright colors shown bright in the brownness of the winter cemetery. We got some pictures and then gathered close for a quick prayer before bundling back in the car. You can tell by the picture we got that Will was pretty miserable as fevers and cold biting winds don’t mix well. We decided to all go out to eat as a family, which was a lot of fun.

After we got back and Seth went to bed, I sat on the couch with Elise and Will and we looked at Emma’s book. I read portions of it, but mostly we just looked at pictures. I tried to remind Elise of little things she did during that time. We pulled out the card she had made for Emma and sent to the hospital so she could read it. I took time to read several of the most important things to them, though I know much of it still goes over their heads. The book ended in tears for me and I think I noticed a few in Elise’s eyes as well. She announced loudly her dislike of listening to me cry and covered her ears, which kind of ruined the moment, but oh well. I don’t know how much Will understood from our day, but I am sort of glad that he got to stay home with me as this is the first year I would expect him to start to piece any of it together.

Today at dance I overheard Elise mentioning to one of her friends about her sister in heaven. To me that is the real sign of the day being a success. It was meant as a reminder, a reminder to me to teach my children of the grace of God as it was shown through our little Emma, a reminder for the children to remember their sister and to speak proudly of her to others, and a reminder as well for me to remember that Emma is not all of who I am, but just one page in this adventure God has called us to.

Continue Reading

It snowed today!

It snowed all day. The kids begged and begged, so we finally made a short excursion out into it. It was still coming down pretty heavy. John was cleaning off the car in an attempt to run some errands. Thankfully he was able to get out and do everything we needed.

It was the first time I’d let Seth stay out in the snow and he loved it. Of course he was probably dressed the best for it. Elise was ready to go in after a few minutes. Will, on the other hand (who I might mention had already snuck outside once today) was very upset when I dragged him inside. We all came back in after probably 15 minutes and enjoyed hot chocolate.

Seth

Will

Elise

The secret to why I discourage outside snow excursions.

Continue Reading

I’ve been told, since I was a child, that I am a bit oblivious. Sometimes that can be a good trait to have. Sure, I might not know what is going on, but I also don’t hold many grudges, because I probably just didn’t notice that you did anything to hurt me. But I am learning, that as a mom, this trait is not serving me as well as it used to.

Take for instance this morning. “While I wasn’t looking” (Elise’s exact words when she alerted me to the incident), Will managed to go down into the nursery (where he is not supposed to be now that we moved Dad’s painting supplies down there), brought all Elise’s poster paints and Dad’s paintbrushes upstairs (which must have taken him several trips), and proceeded to start filling a palette with paint in preparation for who knows what. Thank goodness that this time it was poster paint instead of oil paints like last time.

I know we are supposed to be thankful for our kids. I know because I lost a child, I am supposed to be more thankful for each minute detail of my living children’s lives, right? Well, this morning as I cleaned paint from my newly set up cutting table in my sewing room, the main thing I was thankful for was that I didn’t have any fabric out to get paint on.

My morning continued to go downhill as I found that my newly placed cabinet, that I am in the process of filling with fabric and supplies, had two baskets of toys and other misc things already added to the bottom two shelves. I told Elise to move them out of there and gave the kids a lecture about no toys being allowed in my sewing room. And really, no kids are allowed, at least right now, I added. I waded out into the family room, covered in toys, trash, and junk from moving around rooms yesterday.

Feeling frustrated with the state of my house, I took a very fussy Seth down to the kitchen to start some mac & cheese for lunch. As I set the kids down to eat at a crumb-covered table, in crumb-filled chairs, on a crumb-encrusted floor, I wanted to cry. I went to finish cleaning up the paint before I could eat my own lunch and realized that it isn’t that I am not trying. It’s not like my house is a wreck because I haven’t cleaned it in forever (well at least not every part of it). The trashed upstairs was actually spotless yesterday morning (thanks to Dad and the kids working together). The dishes covering the counters in the kitchen had all been either in their cabinets or the dishwasher just last night. The dining room can reach the state it was in today after just one meal. It is just that no matter how many times I clean something, it will just become undone, sometimes in just a few short minutes, and that is what is discouraging to me.

After lunch, I did manage to clean the table, chairs and floor in the dining room. I even swept the kitchen, and returned to the dining room to find Seth sitting on the dining room table playing with the salt and pepper shakers. I took him with me to supervise Elise, who was supposed to be cleaning the upstairs. We arrived, of course, to find her “distracted” and playing with Will instead. After some unsuccessful attempts to get the kids to proactively clean up their messes, I started throwing out some unkind comments and disciplining out of anger. Eventually I realized that this was not the time to deal with the kids problems since I obviously have too many of my own right now, so I sent them all to bed.

I wish I had some thoughtful and encouraging message to end this post with, but all I can tell you is what I am going to do right now. I’m going to wrap up this post, take a break to pray and ask God for strength to get through the rest of this day and for forgiveness for the unkind way I treated my kids, and I’m going to take a nap. Then perhaps, when I wake, I will have a bit more motivation to tackle some of what lies in front of me.

Continue Reading

That’s what I affectionately have been calling our house over the last few weeks.  It seems to be cursed with sickness awaiting all who enter.  First Will got sick.  It was on a Wednesday and he, Seth, and I were watching Elise’s dance class.  I noticed he was not as energetic as usual, climbing into my lap several times.  He felt warm and was flushed, but I didn’t think too much of it.  Later that night I checked him and he had a fever, but it wasn’t terribly high, so I put him to bed.  He threw up several times that night and I felt a bit off too.

I had heard about the salmonella outbreak from peanut butter products, so I was worried enough to call the doctor who said to bring him in.  He couldn’t keep anything down and had diarrhea too.  The doctor discovered an ear infection of all things, and said he probably had a stomach bug on top of that.  So we got some antibiotics and pedialyte and spent several days trying to keep him hydrated.

Friday I woke up feeling bad and very quickly progressed into the same stomach virus.  It was the most sick I have been since I had food poisoning several years ago, or perhaps since I was a kid.  I had it for 24 hours, though it took me longer to feel 100% back to normal.  Will was still throwing up once a day and not eating much.

During this time, the ice storm hit, and Bekah and Herbie (Tia and Tio to the kids) came to stay with us until their power came on.  This stay turned out to be a week and a half long, as it took much longer than expected for their house to get electricty back.  I’m going to miss them, it was nice having their company and the help around the house and with the kids.  :)  Of course because they entered the house of germs, Bekah came down with the same symptoms and was also terribly sick for 24 hours.  Then Elise got it and Herbie seemed to get a mild case of it, though Bekah says his was actually due to eating a whole thing of chicken livers.  Yuck!

Despite the fact that my family had purposely been staying away, my Mom got sick with the same stomach bug.  I don’t think she passed it on to anyone else though.
Will was still throwing up over a week after initially getting sick, so I took him back to the doctor the same day I took Seth for his 2 month well-check.  It turns out he also had strep, which must have been resistant to the antibiotics, so we got another kind of antibiotics to try.  Seth, by the way, was completely healthy, got his shots and checkup, and was happy as can be.  He is off the charts in height at 25.5 inches long, and 50th percentile weight at 13 lbs. 4.5 oz.

That day Seth was not his cheery self as he dealt with pain from the shots.  It made for a difficult day at the store while I was at work.  Will started to slowly improve over the next few days, while Seth started to get sicker and sicker with what started as a cold.  Elise and John both got sore throats, but thankfully got over them quickly on their own.  Seth’s cold turned into a cough, a hacking horribly painful cough.  I didn’t think it was more than a cold though, so I didn’t take him in.  He was breathing fine, except for when he needed his nose cleaned out.  He was waking at night a lot to cough and would sometimes gag with the coughs.  This last Friday I was getting ready to head out of town to Kansas City (for an embroidery trade show and seminar, which was really good by the way).  I had noticed that Seth had started to lose his voice and would cry in pain when he coughed, so I was worried that his throat was now sore.  I tried to get ahold of the doctor before I left, but couldn’t, so I just took him with me.  He did all right over the weekend, but still terribly sick.  Today I was able to take him in to the doctor.  The poor guy has bronchitis that has also been irritating one of his ears.  He must be in a lot of pain.  He’s also lost an ounce from the last time we took him in.  He still smiles, but is not his usual laid-back self.  I have had to hold him a lot the last few days and he won’t sleep out of my bed at night.  John is frustrated because he isn’t happy when Daddy holds him, just Mommy for some reason.  I am hopeful that now that we have antibiotics for him, he will improve quickly.

Oh, and while I was gone in Kansas City, Mark (John’s brother who was visiting for the first time after being home from Iraq) got sick as well.  The same stomach virus.  I don’t think there is any way that we could have given it to him, but I still felt bad.  And then of course his Mom got it too.  :(
Well, hopefully we have gotten through all our sicknesses for the whole winter in two weeks.  :)  But if we haven’t, I at least hope we get a break before something else hits.

Continue Reading

There are so many times I think I should write down some of the things Elise says or does and then don’t, so tonight I am going to take the time to record at least one of them here.  You will hopefully be interested in what goes on in a 5 year old’s mind.

Elise has been very interested in what a casino is.  Especially since the Cherikee Casino finished their brand new fancy building complete with cascading waterfall, she has been asking plenty of questions.  One day she asked me to clarify what goes on there, and so I tried to explain it in the best way possible.  I told her that people played games there, but if you didn’t win the game then you lost money.  I tried to express my opinion that it wasn’t a good use of your time.  She mentioned that she had had a conversation with Daddy on the topic too.  Between his information and mine she had a pretty good picture that the casino was a place she shouldn’t go (and in her mind that no one should go).  She told me that someone should tell the people that worked there that it wasn’t nice to take other people’s money.  :)  And so we had another conversation about the fact that not everyone thinks it is wrong.

Anyway, today (a couple week’s since our conversation), Elise was in the back of the car and started quietly crying.  She does this a lot, so I wasn’t too surprised, but I did ask her what was wrong.  Here are her words as well as I can remember them:  “I was thinking that I went to the casino place, but I didn’t win the games.  And then they took away all my money.”  (I was about to jump in and mention that she didn’t really have any money, until . . .) “And they came and broke my piggy bank.”

As you can probably tell, Elise is a bit over-dramatic.  Before Christmas she misunderstood something I said and thought that Will was only getting one present.  “But Mom,” she wailed, “He will be heartbroken!”
Life has been different as Will gets old enough to be more of an influence in his and Elise’s relationship.  Sibling relationships add a whole new dimension to our family.  Today Elise was crying because Will didn’t want to play with her.  She was convinced it was because she had not let him do something he had wanted.  I tried to explain it was just because he was hungry (instead of playing he was standing on the stool watching me make breakfast and trying to snag anything edible when I wasn’t looking), but she didn’t believe me.  She decided she wanted the stool and kept trying to ask Will if she could use it, which of course has no effect on a 17 month old.  The other day when I had told her she and Will couldn’t share the stool, she had tried to lure him away with his blanket, so she could jump back on it when he got off.  Since I had vetoed that method, she was resorting to continually asking him over and over again, which was getting on my nerves.  As Elise’s frustration rose as well, I ended up saying something short to Will because he had grabbed the dough I was working on.  Elise, I think seeing her chance to vent her anger and possibly getting away with it, jumped in and swatted Will on the bottom.  I turned around and swatted her on her bottom and sent her to her room.

At other times though, they get along together like little angels.  Well, maybe not angels, angels I think are probably quieter.  But they have fun together.  Running around with plastic toy containers on their heads, pretending a long cardboard tube is a horn, playing the piano, and dressing up, are all things they like to do together.

Will still doesn’t talk much, but every once in awhile he’ll spit out a word, which makes us all think he can talk more than he lets on.  He told Tio (Herbie) “thanks” when he handed him a drink.  He told Nana “hop, hop, hop” as they played with little rabbit cookies.  So, there are words in there, we just have to work hard to get them out.

Seth is doing well too.  He is quiet compared to the other two.  When they are yelling, he is usually quietly sleeping, or just observing the goings on in his quiet manner.  But don’t let him fool you completely.  Once the older kids are in bed and he has Mommy and Daddy to himself, he will often work himself into some of the worst screaming fits I have ever seen or heard.  Thankfully, this doesn’t happen too often.  Usually he is happy and contented and makes the cutest little cooing sounds.  He smiles all the time now, and is even trying to get a laugh out every so often.

He is sleeping a pretty good 6 hour chunk most nights.  His bedtime needs to be moved up a bit still, but we are all getting pretty good sleep.  He must be getting plenty of nutrition as 3 weeks ago he was 10 lbs 11 oz.  At almost 6 weeks, I am sure he has put on more.  I gave him a bath the other night and was delighted to see that his legs and arms are starting to chunk up a bit.

Well, this has gotten to be quite a long update.  I hope you all had a great Christmas, I know we did.  We are having issues posting pictures right now, but hopefully soon I can share some with you.

Continue Reading

I have had several people ask me if they are still receiving my email updates because they haven’t seen any in awhile.  I have to admit it is because I have not updated the blog in a long while.  In fact when I logged on here today I was shocked to see how long ago it actually was that I had last written.  I’m sorry.  Here is an update for all those who are wondering how we are doing.

-The Baby Habit:  As most of you know, John and I have been busy running our business The Baby Habit.  This is the main reason I haven’t updated in awhile as it takes a lot of our time.  The business is growing slowly, but surely.  We now are open at our downtown store every afternoon and all day Saturdays.  We have two employees working the embroidery machine and watching the store, so they are the ones you will see if you happen to visit the store.  I plan on adding back in some store hours for myself in a few months when life adjusts after the new baby, as I do enjoy it a lot.  For now, John and I spend many hours a week packing and shipping boxes for our many online orders.  For now, that part of the business will still be done out of our house and mainly managed by John when I take time off for the baby.  John and I are still enjoying this business venture and have high hopes for the years ahead.  You can pray for this business mainly in that we will find the right balance of work and family.  There are many advantages to having our own business, but it also seems to be easier to put work before family since we are so invested in it.

- John:  Other than running The Baby Habit, John also works half time for another company, mainly doing web design.  This keeps him pretty busy, but we have enjoyed seeing more of him around the house as most of his work can be done from home or from his store office.  He has spent lots of time with the kids too since he is conveniently located in town and I can drop them off with him for a doctor’s appointment or for a morning at the store.  You can pray for him as he tries to balance two (and sometimes more) jobs at one time, and that God would bless his striving to get to a point of much more flexible family and artistic time.  Also, pray for all he has ahead of him as he helps me out through the adjustment of having a baby, all at the same time as losing a lot of my help in the business.
-Elise:  Elise is doing Kindergarten at home this year, and she and I are thoroughly enjoyed it.  We started a little earlier than some homeschooling families so that we could take a long Thanksgiving/Christmas break to adjust to having a new little one around the house.  She loves reading, which she is getting quite good at, and addition (right now she is practicing adding one to other numbers).  She also enjoys Bible time, in which we read a section of the Bible together.  She really seems to enjoy all her school and it is a good time for both of us to do something together.  When Will stops taking morning naps, that will get harder.  Elise spends some time helping John and I with sorting and packing.  She also can be a big help with cleaning and laundry when she feels like it.  She is almost always a help with entertaining Will though.  It is fun to watch them play together.  Sometimes Elise follows Will around copying him, and sometimes he is the one copying her.  They enjoy each other’s company despite the little “arguments” they do get into.  Please pray for her in her spiritual development, as she is learning all the time new things about God and her relationship with him.  She is also learning to adjust to having a sibling that doesn’t always agree with her or leave her alone when she wants him too.  She has a very willing and loving heart, but as you well know, being 5 can be quite a war between the desire to be good and the desire to have things your own way.  Pray also for her adjustment to another sibling.  Despite the fact that she really looks forward to it, I know that she is also aware of the time with me she will lose.  She is also aware enough now to be conscious of the fact that this won’t necessarily be an easy transition for any of us.
-Will: Hmmm, how to describe Will.  Will puts smiles into our day with his antics and his loving personality.  He has been sick a lot so far this fall, it is different having two children to pass things back and forth.  :)  Most of the time he is a happy little one year old, running after Elise or playing quietly by himself.  He is quite adventurous though, and requires almost constant attention.  He often climbs on tables, eats markers, and produces large messes.  He does have the desire to be a helper though.  He will often carry little packages for me when he thinks we are ready to take them to the post office (sometimes we are, sometimes we are not), and will run to get his hands on any items that we are moving, trying his best to push or pull them to help us out.  He is actually quite strong for his size too, and often surprises me with the large things he can move.  He doesn’t talk much, but is starting to produce some clearer sounds.  His favorite words are “this” and “that,” which he uses for just about everything.  He makes it clear what he is talking about by also adding in a pointed finger aimed at the desired object.  In most instances he has decided that this method works quite well in getting his point across.  He can also say “do” for dog, and “da” for Dad.  He just recently decided that he would add “mama” into his vocabulary, which of course has me thrilled.  He tries some other words, but they usually have to involve pointing in order for us to understand.  :)  Pray that God would keep more sicknesses away from him.  He just recently went through two rounds of antibiotics to get rid of step and I am not sure yet it is gone.  Also pray that he will transition easily into being big brother instead of just the little brother.
The “baby”:  Right now we are just waiting for the new baby to make his/her appearance.  My due date is in about 2 weeks (Nov 14).  I am having the normal end of the pregnancy contractions and discomfort, along with increased fatigue.  The baby seems to be doing well, and still finds the room to wiggle and squirm.  I am looking forward to meeting this little one that God has chosen to add to our family.  I know that each of our children was specially chosen by God, but there is an extra bit of surprise involved when you know that God chose it without letting you in on the secret.  Elise is looking forward to the baby as well, and seems to enjoy waiting for the surprise of boy or girl, although she has made it clear that her preference is a girl.  She says right now that I look like a chair because my stomach is so big.  Will on the other hand seems completely oblivious no matter how often I have him touch my belly and say “baby.”  Of course that is to be expected, but I hope the new addition doesn’t take him too much by surprise.  Pray for the baby’s health and development and for a good and easy delivery.
Miriam:  Well, I am doing well.  This has been a relatively easy pregnancy for me.  I have had very little hip issues (I did on all 3 other pregnancies), no carpal tunnel so far (another symptom I had on all 3 other pregnancies), and not even as much weight gain.  I am thinking that a lot of this has to do with the fact that I have stayed more active during this pregnancy just because we have had so much work to do with the new business.  Also, having a toddler adds another dimension into mom’s fitness routine.  I do much more getting up and down and lifting.  :)  Also, I think that God just knew what we needed for this pregnancy and gave us special blessings.  You can pray with us that the baby will arrive in God’s perfect timing and that the labor and delivery would be much easier than my others have been.  I also anticipate going through postpartum depression again, as usual, and so I would appreciate prayers for us during that transition time as well.  I am actually feeling very positive about the whole thing right now, but I don’t want to underestimate the work I have ahead and would appreciate any prayers in these areas.

Other family news:  OK, not all of you know my sister Bekah and her husband Herbie and those that do probably already know this news, but I will share it here anyway.  Bekah and Herbie are expecting their first baby (supposedly a boy) in early March.  We are all excited for them and it is fun to see how excited they are as well.  I am enjoying being pregnant at the same time as my sister and adding this new dimension to our friendship.  Pray for them for a healthy pregnancy and baby, and also for an easy delivery.

Continue Reading

Elise has said that twice today:  “This is my worst day ever!”  Of course, when you’re 5 it doesn’t take many bad things to erase all the wonderful things that  happen in a day.  Come to think of it, that may not have anything to do with being 5.  :)

It has been an excellent day actually, but ended with an adventure.  Elise went to Bible School this morning while I was at the store for a half day (our first day on our grand opening sale).  We had a record number of customers at the store, so when I came home and sat down with Elise to eat lunch I shared the good news with her.  She’s been very interested in “The Grand Sale” as she calls it.  So interested that she has been more than willing to pray at bedtime so that she can pray for the sale.  I’m surprised as it has taken so much of my time this week to get ready for it, that I haven’t been able to do anything extra with her.  Anyway, I shared the good news with her so she would know that God was answering her prayers and I said we should thank him for that, so she asked to pray and told God thank you for answering her prayers about the sale, and asked that it would keep going well, and also thanked him for helping her have a good time at Bible School.  It was a very grown-up prayer and I was so proud of her.

Her day had obviously not started out badly, because she talked to me for quite some time about all the things she had done at Bible School and brought me the invitation that they had given her for the program tomorrow night.  She was disappointed of course that we won’t go to the program, but didn’t seem too upset about it.

I worked at getting caught up on online orders during Elise’s naptime and then after nap, Tio (Herbie) came to play with the kids while I ran to the post office.  She talked him into letting her watch a cartoon.  Sometime during the afternoon came the first rendition of “This is my worst day ever,” but to be honest I don’t know what it was about.  I think she hurt herself or something.

John called a little before supper to let me know I needed to bring the keys back to him so he could lock up, and I told him how I had forgotten to thaw the meat for supper.  We decided to meet him at the office, lock up, and then go out to eat, something Elise was thrilled about.  My mom had already picked up our car to use to transport those going to a wedding in Pennsylvania to the airport tomorrow morning.  We are supposed to pick up her car at the shop tomorrow morning.  In the meantime, we have John’s Dad’s truck.  So, I loaded the kids in the truck, letting Elise be a big girl and sit up front with me, while Will sat in the back seat.  When we were getting out of the truck at the store, Elise burned her leg on the seatbelt and I’m sure felt that this reflected badly on the whole day.

We eventually got to Callahans where we enjoyed a good supper.  Elise assured us that this was her favorite restaurant, partly because of the good food, and partly because there is a horse painted on the wall in the entryway.  Around 7:00, slightly past Will’s bedtime, and nearing Elise’s we loaded back into the truck and pulled out onto Hwy. 412 to head home.  In the turning lane before John had a chance to merge into traffic the truck completely died and spilled oil all over the road.  John tried several times to restart it with no luck.  Elise, of course, was starting to stress and said she “doesn’t like this day!”  We prepared to have John push the car through traffic into a nearby parking lot, when thankfully two firemen in a small pickup stopped to help.  They stopped traffic for us and helped up push the truck to safety.  Then they gave us a cramped ride home.  Elise said that she thought firemen only helped with fires, but they said they tried to help anyone who needed it.

We got home safely, and Elise is still convinced that the day was no good, even though it ended up OK.  She said she was scared, and I don’t blame her, it was a little scary.  Although it would have been scarier had not John been with us, and had the firemen not stopped to help.

I encourage you to read this story carefully and see how many good things outweigh the few bad things that happened today.  Perhaps next time you feel like you are having the “worst day ever,” you will be able to see some good in it as well.

Continue Reading

I have been so busy lately I hardly have time to sit still during the day.  Well today that changed.  Why is it that God decides to force me to rest sometimes?  At least he gave me the foresight to get a bit ahead on work last night.  I was a bit behind and decided to catch up and get a bit ahead on embroidery for orders that were going out today.  That way I thought I would have lots of extra time today!  Hehe.

Anyway, this morning as I was trying to do some basic household chores before heading down to watch the store for my half day I noticed that Will was unusually grumpy for that early in the morning.  When I picked him up he was also warm.  Since he turned his head away when I stuck my finger in his mouth I figured he was teething and gave him some tylenol, but decided to go ahead and take his temperature too.  It was 100.3, which is a bit high for just teething.  Thankfully I knew that Laura’s kids had strep and that he could have been exposed, so I went ahead and made a doctor appointment.  It is a good thing I did, as he did have strep and even with starting antibiotics today his fever climbed to over 103.  He has slept most of the day and is down again for the night now.  I will have to check him later though, as I don’t want his temperature to keep climbing.  Usually I wouldn’t have taken him in on the first day of symptoms because I like to wait it out first to see if it is necessary to pay for an appointment.  I’m glad this time I knew enough of what it probably was to take him in.  Especially since John and I are going away for the weekend for our anniversary.

Well, back to my forced rest.  I actually did get a little bit of time at the store while John took the kids home and put Will to bed and Elise in front of a movie.  Elise had been complaining off and on of a sore throat, but I didn’t know if she was just worrying about getting sick because Will was.  The doctor had looked at her throat too and said it looked fine.  Anyway, as the day has gone on, Elise also now has a temperature, so we will be calling in antibiotics for her tomorrow as well.  So, with all that, while Will took a very long nap, I was able to get all the orders out that needed to go and then when I took a break to check on him, he was so grumpy and miserable that he ended up just cuddling with me for an hour.  I’m definitely not complaining.  It was a good rest time.  Unfortunately I have not been as patient with Elise.  Sigh . . .

Elise is about ready to go to bed now and then I am going to do some more work.  But I do plan on just doing a minimum and then sitting down to REST.

Continue Reading

February 21, 2008:  My day of “fasting” went very well.  It was a very relaxing day, mostly because of the way I approached it, and also partly because I was limited in how busy I could be without turning on the computer.  It is amazing how dependent I am on the computer, even my grocery list is kept on there.  As I did my devotions today (Woman on a Mission Bible Study) I ran across a verse that jumped out at me.  II Corinthians 9:8 says: “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”  As many of you know, Emma means complete or whole, and Anne means full of grace.  So put together, they mean Complete Grace or as in this verse:  all grace.  After her name popped out at me in the verse I started thinking what that meant.  The time of my life so far where I have felt God’s presence most completely, where I have felt true abundant life, and where I found myself effortlessly abounding in good works was during Emma’s life.  Many people would mention that they didn’t know how I did it, or that they couldn’t imagine going through what we were going through.  And yet, to me it was never so easy to live the spiritual life.  Since that time I have found it harder to continue to live in that abundance.  Sometimes I miss what we had with Emma, the excitement, the drama of her life.  But perhaps, hopefully, it is really this abundant life that I am missing.  If so, according to this verse that is available to me even now in the humdrum of everyday life.  I thought through this longer and realized that all that needed to be done to tap into it was to act, to make a decision to do something for God and then to do it.  As we do, he begins to pour his grace into us, making it easier and easier to continue to abound in good works until we reach the point that it feels easy, natural.  But through it all, it is obvious that it is God who makes the whole process work.  Realizing how easy it all was has encouraged me to begin to make those little decisions and act on them.  Every time I choose to say a kind word to Elise even though she has interrupted me for the umpteenth time.  Every time I get up from the middle of something intriguing without letting out a tremendous sigh to get Will from his bed.  Every time I choose to joyfully clean my house.  Every smile I give to someone I meet.  These are all little things, but I do believe that as we start acting on the little things it becomes easier to do the big ones.  [...]

Continue Reading