(And All My) Work Be Praise

Today is my (our) fourth wedding anniversary!  It's not all that many years, in the grand scheme of things, but they've certainly been full years. I have to admit that my wedding day was not all I'd hoped and dreamed.  I was working some 50 hours a week (with no time to plan a wedding), my fiance was living in another state, my best friends were scattered across the country, I came down with a ridiculous sinus infection the week before the wedding, and all in all I simply couldn't get everything done by myself.  When I'm not careful, I look back on that day and see: the wedding dress that wouldn't stay in place despite the $250 I spent to have it "perfectly" altered a fellowship hall nearly to dark to see in, because I never got the needed extension cords for the Christmas lights we (or, rather, my tall friend Ryan) so painstakingly strung up the day before, and it didn't occur to me to simply flip a light switch my dear friend running from t...

Things that improved my overall mood from yesterday's post : 1. Bible study  on the last three chapters of Hebrews.  Reminders from a lady in my group (who is 2 weeks from delivering her third child) that life is indeed a marathon, not a sprint, but we are asked only to finish the race set before us.  Encouraged me to keep my focus in the right direction. 2. Hubby home today, and for the next two weeks.  We all (all four of us!) slept in until after 8am, and I lazed around upstairs while he fed the little boys breakfast.  I said yesterday that there are no "off days" in motherhood, but today was as close as it comes -- and it was lovely. 3. Time with a dear friend this morning who readily acknowledged that each of her five children were needing some extra "mommy attention" today -- and acknowledged it cheerfully, radiating sincere love and willingness to serve.  What an example. God always knows what we need.  :)

It's starting to sink in that motherhood is a life-long work. That sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?  I mean, my oldest is nearly two and a half, and I'm pregnant with my third.  I should think I'd have figured out the above statement quite some time ago. Maybe it's because we're rapidly approaching Christmas.  All of our regularly-scheduled activities are winding down for the year, not to resume until mid-January.  For what, twelve, sixteen years of your average American's life, more if you work in an academic setting, that means one thing: Christmas break! I suspect that the next two weeks will not be drastically different from the previous hundred (or so) weeks. "Leave the boys at home with Isaac and go out," people tell me.  And I have!  Twice this month, in fact.  Last year, I even went on a four-day tour with my college choir (though being 37 weeks pregnant might have affected the "vacation" feel of being gone from my firstborn...

It's (Levi's and Owen's) Oma's birthday today!  (For those of you unfamiliar with the term, "oma" is German for "grandma."  I can never remember precisely why my in-laws go by Oma and Opa, but it does make life easier when there aren't two people with the same name.) Levi made a card for Oma, as he did for Grandma , but this time all the credit for the idea goes to Katey from Having Fun at Home !  She pinned this idea for using toddler scribbles as the foundation for cards, and I thought it was perfect.  I must confess that I encouraged -- not forced, but definitely encouraged ;) -- Levi to use some colors other  than black for Oma's card.  I gave him full control over the stickers, though, and even backed down when he protested because I moved some stickers off of her name (which I wrote lightly in pencil and he traced).  I tell you what, that boy wants things the way he wants them!  Yay for fine motor skills! (This was before he put s...

You may remember from my Goin' Crunchy 2011 post that I started a batch of homemade vanilla back in May. It's all ready for use now, just in time for Christmas gifts!  I bought these little bottles  and a pack of winter-themed address labels on clearance at Target, dug through my craft boxes to find some old ribbon, and ended up with this: (You can't see it, but there is coordinating ribbon around the sugar jar, too.) As you can see, after I was done using my vanilla beans for extract, I cut them up into 2-inch pieces and covered them with white sugar in baby food jars: after about a week, the sugar is delightfully vanilla-flavored!  I haven't used it yet, but hear it's great for sprinkling on baked goods or oatmeal, or stirring into coffee or tea.  Packaged together in a little gift bag, they're making a nice small (and frugal!) gift for . . . those people who need nice, small, frugal gifts.  :)   In other news, I picked up a $1 sheet of snowfla...