Thankful for the Small Things

Sometimes it's the smallest things that we're thankful for. And by "smallest things" I'm thinking specifically of someone that weighs 5 ounces. Yesterday was an emotional roller coaster of a day for us. I went to my regular doctor's visit to make sure that all was going well, but my doctor was unable to find the baby's heartbeat. This was cause for concern for him so he had me in for an ultrasound within an hour's time. Let me tell you, many, many tears were shed during that hour and many, many prayers were said. It's amazing how attached to and in love with you can be with someone you haven't seen or felt before. But, praise the Lord, all was well. The ultrasound technician was able to see the heartbeat right away so there was much relief (and more tears, but these were tears of joy!). The baby was moving around a lot and even seemed to be waving to us at one point as though to say, "I'm fine; don't fret!" Here are some photos of our little looker that we got yesterday.

Christmas Catch Up

Christmas was great and it's hard to believe it's already come and gone. It seems to go faster every year. The girls had lots of fun and we had a legitimate white Christmas with more snow falling on Christmas day. After the 7+ inches that fell on Christmas eve in addition to the 7 or 8 or 10 we already had on the ground, we were pretty much guaranteed a white Christmas anyway. We got another 2 inches of snow yesterday, but I think it has finally stopped. The melting has begun and the streets are a mess. Not only is about 18-24 inches (depending upon where you are) of snow melting, we've also gotten about an inch and a half of rain today. I went to the grocery story earlier today and thought I was going to have to wade in. Good times! Snow is fun, but as I heard the weatherman describe it today, it's like some visiting relatives can be in that it's outstayed its welcome! We've taken lots and lots of pictures over the last several days so there's no way I can post them all. Here are a couple of my favorites.

The Saga Continues. . .

Finally it has stopped snowing here and we've actually seen some melting from our van. We've gotten much more than the 2-5 inches they forecast. I've only ever seen so much snow in the mountains, never in the place I call home. These are from this morning.

Same Song and Dance

The snow is beginning to seem like the Energizer bunny; it just keeps going and going and going. Would you believe we have more forecast for tonight and have the potential of getting 3-5 inches? We've started talking about buying snow boots and chains for our tires. I never thought we'd have to worry about such; I guess all that global warming is to blame. The girls are really enjoying playing in it and, between you and me, I think their Daddy is glad to have an excuse to get out in it and play as well. Here are some pictures we took yesterday of how things are piling up around here.





Since we can't get out and do much, we've been staying in and doing lots of baking (and eating). Here's a photo of the girls and me making peanut butter balls tonight. They were mostly observing and trying to figure out how they could get one to eat before bedtime tonight!

Playing in the Snow

For your viewing pleasure, here are some pictures of Lon and the girls playing outside today in the snow. It's still snowing even as I type! I can't believe when we moved here 3 years ago, we told people it didn't snow that much up here! What liars we turned out to be!

Snow-Part 3

We've now had our 3rd snow storm in a week here. As the snow from the first two has never melted, it's really hard to tell what we ended up with last night. The difference between this storm and the last 2 was the wind. It blew so much that we have about a foot and a half drift at our front walk and steps. For two folks from the south, that's a lot of snow. More is in the forecast for today and tomorrow so who knows what we'll end up with. It's looking like we'll definitely be having a white Christmas this year as we're supposed to have some off and on all week though no real accumulation is expected. And that's your local weather, now to sports. . .

The view from our front door

Our porch and steps (what steps?)

Digging out

For Our Friends In The South

Here are some snow pictures from this morning. The bulk of this is snow we got on Sunday, but new snow is falling today and it's beautiful. We're stocked up on milk and bread so I say, "Bring it on!"

A Snowy Day of Rest

Well, the snow came and came Saturday night. We ended up with somewhere between 2 and 3 inches by Sunday morning. As we are from the South where trace amounts are enough to warrant school closings, huge runs on milk and bread at local grocery stores, and giddy delight from school children (and teachers), we were excited. Church was canceled so the pastor's family had a rare Sunday at home. The girls were eager to get out and play in the snow so as soon as breakfast was over, we bundled them up and let them go out and play. As the wind chill was somewhere around 2 yesterday morning, they couldn't play out long, but they got their fix. The rest of the day was spent being warm and cozy inside. We made chocolate chip cookies (which I discovered today Sarah Grace calls chicolate chop cookies), got our Christmas tree up, and took a nap. Great fun! As we were decorating the tree, it was lots of fun to hear the girls get excited about their Christmas ornaments from years past. I handed Lainey a box with an ornament in it to place on the table so we could get it on the tree and I told her to be very careful because it was very fragile. Sarah Grace said, "Like Fragile Rock." (That's the 80's show Fraggle Rock to those who might be unacquainted.)

Here are a few pictures from our day yesterday. We had some extra Christmas lights so Lon wrapped some around the girls' bunk beds and made them festive as well. Also, in other news, Abby started pulling up yesterday and we got some cute pictures of that!





And then, what can you say about this? This is what we found when we checked on the girls tonight after they'd gone to sleep.

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Well, the snow has arrived along with some super cold temperatures. Just as I was about to have supper ready tonight, our power went out and sent us on the quest for candles, matches, and flashlights. Thankfully we found all without much search. When the power went out, the house was pitch black and all 3 girls started crying. Trying to recover them all was an adventure. Abby had been on the floor crawling when the lights were on and, while I knew her general location, I wasn't 100% sure and was a little worried about stepping on her. I had to tell Lainey to be quiet so I could find Abby without my feet. I found her quickly and managed to get the others settled rather quickly. We then realized it had started snowing outside and this news brought the girls great delight. They then started dancing around the living room saying, "It's Christmas already!" because for some reason they associate snow with Christmas. I'm not sure why as we have not had a white Christmas in our time of living here. Oh well, they're enjoying it. Thankfully the power was only out for about 30 minutes (one of the benefits of living mere yards from the border crossing and the customs office; they need their power on rather quickly) and all has returned to normal. Here's hoping it doesn't go out again in the middle of the night!

The girls and I made some sugar cookies today (pre-power outage) and they thoroughly enjoyed using the sprinkles. Here's a picture of them as they wait for them to bake in the oven. It looks like it was better than a TV show.

Sentimental Christmas Mush

I've always been a sucker for Christmas. Sometime around October when we have the first really good cold day, I break out the Christmas music and start getting in the spirit. I didn't start my music as early this year, but the spirit has still been there. Now my lack of decorations do nothing to speak of my love for the holiday, but we're getting there. We made great headway in getting the living room cleaned up tonight so that we can put our little (and I do mean little) tree up tomorrow. We do have a little Disney tree up in the girls' room and they've been thrilled with that. I think this year more than any other so far, I've enjoyed seeing everything through the eyes of Lainey and Sarah Grace. I can't put into words how excited they get when they see some Christmas lights or some sort of yard display. They love all of the Christmas songs and have enjoyed watching all of the little Christmas specials that come on TV. The other day we did our grocery shopping at Walmart and heard "Deck the Halls" over the loud speaker. On our way out to the car, I heard Sarah Grace singing "Decorate the halls". I laughed. Seeing them enjoy the season brings back memories of my own childhood: feeling like Christmas would NEVER come, loving the 2 8-track collection of Christmas songs we had (that's right, 8 tracks) and playing them over and over, and watching Rudolph and Frosty and Charlie Brown. Oh it just leaves me feeling all warm and fuzzy. I hope when these girls are grown and married with their own families, they'll have the same warm feelings of Christmases past and hope to create those same things with their own kids.

To go along with my sentimental (perhaps hormone induced) ramblings, here's a new favorite Christmas song.

Didn't See That One Coming

Abby has been eating baby food now for a couple of months and really likes it. We haven't had any problems with any of it except sweet potatoes; they tend to make her a very unhappy camper until she poops orange (perhaps she's just trying to show how committed a UT fan she is?). At any rate, we're introducing new things every now and again and making pretty good progress. She's gaining weight well and is much more content these days (unless Sarah Grace and Lainey start bickering and slamming doors as they did this afternoon, but I digress). Well, I've discovered in the last couple of days that perhaps she's not as satisfied with her diet as I thought she was. I came in the living room the other day and could tell that she was smacking her lips and trying to chew something. Knowing that there was no authorized snack within her reach, I quickly picked her up and checked her mouth. As she stuck her tongue out, I saw it. Bright pink and pasty. Play-doh. I don't know that she swallowed any because I think she had just started when I got her, but I warned Lon anyway that if he changed her diaper in the next couple of days and saw some pink in it, he shouldn't worry that she was passing bits of flesh, but was instead getting rid of the Play-doh she had just ingested. That was Monday and so far no pink. Diapers are all normal. Until this morning. We smelled an odor, determined its source was precious and went to take care of it. As I was wiping her, Lon glanced in her diaper and saw something round and hard and asked, "What is that in the middle? Is that a googly eye?" I checked (with the gentle use of a wipe) and determined that, indeed, it was a googly eye. You know the kind you use for craft projects so that whatever you've made looks like it's looking at you with these eyes that rattle around. Well, it seems that the human body (at least not the 8 month model) can't digest those. So, that googly eye has seen parts of Abs that we'll never see. I asked Lon if he wanted to clean it off and use it for the next craft project, but he declined. Chicken!

Three Cuties!

These girls are just too cute! This was taken while we were visiting our friends Jen and Travis. Isn't it just obvious how much they enjoy one another? I could just eat them up!

Well, Here We Are Again

Sorry for the delay in blogging. We have returned from our travels abroad (you know, since Texas is like a whole other country), but we hit the ground running with no end in sight yet. I find myself looking forward to next Wednesday already, the first day I have nothing planned! I have had to suspend telling you about our adventures because we've been too busy having them. Never knew laundry could be an adventure, but with the amount I've done in the last few days, it has resembled mountain climbing or some sort of large animal hunting. I've honestly begun to wonder if our clothes are multiplying in the laundry hamper; big socks are making little socks, little underwear seem to be coming from nowhere, etc. I think with the addition of another baby next summer (surprise for those who didn't know that little tidbit), we're going to have to invest in a bigger laundry hamper!

The other day I heard the girls arguing in the backseat, but for once I found that their argument brought me joy. Sarah Grace was trying to tell me something about Jesus dying on the cross. She was having a hard time getting it all out, but I was going to give her time and see what she came out with. Well, the whole time she was talking, Lainey was trying to correct her and was saying, "No, Sarah Grace, he died to forgive us of our sins. Just say that." Well, Sarah Grace finally got out all that she wanted to say and did include that Jesus died to forgive us of our sins to which Lainey said, "Well, I'm glad you finally said that. I've been trying to tell you that the whole time." How grateful I am that they were arguing about why Jesus died for us and that Lainey was trying to teach Sarah Grace some correct theology. If only all of their arguments were over such subjects!

I Don't Know. . .

To paraphrase the classic Coen brothers' movie Raising Arizona, "Girl, you've got a panty on your head."



We're off to Texas this week to celebrate Thanksgiving so the blog posts will be a little more sporadic than usual. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday! I am grateful most of all for the forgiveness and salvation offered through Jesus and I pray that you have received this most precious gift as your own. I am also grateful for the gifts He has given me: a husband who loves Jesus and me; beautiful, healthy children who help me see the love, grace, and glory of God every day and who also provide great entertainment every day; an extended family who is very good to us; and a church family who treats us as though we are their own. God has indeed been good to us in spite of our not deserving it. I pray that I am found thanking Him everyday and not just when the calendar says it's time!

Today in church we sang Victory in Jesus. Love, love, love that hymn and the message found in its words. As the man leading our service today said, "It's the gospel in a nutshell." I'm telling you it makes me ready to go and the last line of the third verse brings tears to my eyes as it makes me think about the joy we'll have there!

I heard an old, old story, how a Savior came from glory,
How he gave His life on Calvary to save a wretch like me;
I heard about His groaning, of His precious blood's atoning,
Then I repented of my sins and won the victory.

I heard about His healing, of His cleansing power revealing,
How he made the lame to walk again and caused the blind to see;
And then I cried, "Dear Jesus, come and heal my broken spirit,"
And somehow Jesus came and bro't to me the victory.

I heard about a mansion He has built for me in glory,
And I heard about the streets of gold beyond the crystal sea;
About the angels singing, and the old redemption story,
And some sweet day I'll sing up there the song of victory.

Chorus:
O victory in Jesus, my Savior, forever,
He sought me and bo't me with His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood.


And as our pastor says, "You are dismissed."