Oh the Inhumanity!!

It snowed yesterday. Like a lot of snow. It was snowing at 6 am when I got up and it snowed until 3:00 in the afternoon. Big fat snowflakes. To the tune of a couple inches. Blech. Just when we thought it was spring...

Thankfully, it has all melted and today will be sunny. Hopefully no more snow. At least I had something to cheer me up yesterday...

What have we learned?

I have finally given up on a full review of my time offline. If I have to catch up before I can blog again, I will never blog again. Some things don't change... I will attempt to hit the highlights.

Enter the Tomato...

And so what we have learned applies to our lives today,
God has a lot to say in His Book...

Larry, you know how I feel about that song... (the tomato is disgruntled)

You see, we know that God's Word is for everyone and now that our song is done we'll take a look!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let's start with what we've learned.

Internet addiction is real. It affects everything in one's life. And I was held captive by it.

The internet is not inherently bad. Using it is not generally a sin. But using it as an escape from your real life and an alternative to seeking God is, at the core, idol worship. As much as I hate to admit it, I was worshipping internet forums. It sounds ridiculous, but anything that replaces God is idol worship. The time away gave me perspective. I discovered this passage:

Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me.
I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;
but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.
Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!
~Psalm 66:16-20

We (I) must reject the cherished sin in our lives!!! God wants to listen, to hear, and to answer us, but we need to give Him our praise & worship!

Lesson 1, check.

Lesson 2: Avoiding the internet saves me money!!

Part of what I was doing was looking at "neat things" online. And buying them. Lots of them. A lot of money has gone to diapers over the years, and currently it is yarn that has my affections. I can spend hours online just looking at yarn. I don't intend to buy any, but it somehow falls into my shopping cart. If I'm not online, I don't buy yarn.

Lesson 3: My children are interesting!

Having more time to focus on my family, I discovered how interesting it can be to have a conversation with my kids. They really are quite wonderful! And they get into less trouble when you don't have your face glued to a screen.

Let's move on to things that have changed since March 1...

Hosanna is 4 months old, teething, and eating solids!
Winter is gone and spring has finally arrived!!!
Everyone is finally healthy!
I took on the Sunday School Coordinator job at church!
Our pastor is leaving! :-(

My husband is learning Biblical Hebrew! And I can say the first 6 letters of the Hebrew alphabet! (Aleph, Bet, Gimel, Dalet, Hay, Vov!)

I'm sure there was more, but those are the big things.

I got a few things done while I was gone. I...

Finished knitting some socks.
Read 2 books!
Started organizing my craft/utility room.

So, those are the highlights & lowlights. Now I can blog again without feeling guilty!

This Provincial Life

I know this is not this promised update from my fast, but I have something to say.

Let's see if you can name these movie lyrics...

"Madame Gaston, Can't you just see it!?
Madame Gaston, his little wife!
No sir! Not me! I guarantee it!
I want much more than this provincial life!"

(The music swells...)

"I want adventures in the great wide somewhere,
I want it more than I can tell.
And for once it might be grand
To have someone understand
I want so much more than they have planned..."

Show of hands... who got it? Anyone who cut their teeth on Disney princess movies should be seeing poor sweet misunderstood Belle from Beauty & the Beast in their mind right about now. If you're like me, you heart soared during that song and you sang it too. I want so much more!

In true fairy tale form, Belle got what she wanted. She was saved by an unlikely circumstance, an ugly beast turned prince, and rewarded with a princess' life of ease. Servants to wait on her every need, and true love to boot. No more provincial life holding her down.

I watched this movie with new perspective today. I hadn't seen it in years, but could still quote it to you. It was a childhood favorite that I watched a hundred times (or more!) But it's feminist propaganda, wrapped in a pretty package, courtesy of Disney. Being a wife, raising children - you can do so much better! You want so much more! You deserve to have it all! Why would anyone want that poor provincial life?

What dangerous thinking. Is it any wonder that I (and so many other women) are dissatisfied with the simple life? You know what I mean. That restless feeling that you need more, that this isn't what you planned. Dear sisters, this is not what God intended for us.

1 Thessalonians 4:11 says, "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands." Moreover, Titus 2:4-5 adds these words specifically for us girls: "Train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God." It sounds like the "provincial life", that simple way of living, was God's intent.

Sisters, do not be fooled. The princess life is not all it's cracked up to be. True blessings lie in the simplicity of real life. Embrace it. Teach it to your daughters. Don't surrender them to the lies of "harmless" fairy tales.

I'm Back!

Well, my 40 days are up and I will be back to my blog. Look for a series of posts about my time off, when I have a little time to spare. Hosanna has a nasty ear infection and is super clingy so I'm not getting a whole lot of spare time right now. I've only had time to delete my hundreds of e-mails and check in on Shelli's blog. Tomorrow I'm going to check in on Tara's blog. Y'all were busy while I was gone!

OK Shelli...

Because you begged, I leave you with pictures of the kids. See you in 40 days!

40 Day Fast

Well, this will be my last post for oh, about 40 days. I have decided to fast from the internet for that time. I've been contemplating a fast for awhile now, something to refocus me on Christ. I can't fast from food for any length of time, being a nursing mom and all, so I had to think of something else. The biggest time waster in my life is this marvel of modern technology. I spend hours on the internet every day. It's clear to me that this is an addiction, and I need to give it up and get addicted to God & His Word. I don't want my Christianity to be empty words and fruitless works. I want to live in true fellowship with my Savior. I can't do that here in cyberspace.

So, until sometime in April, I am off line. Pray for me during this time, that I will truly seek Him!!

A Lucky Update

Just wanted to update on Hosanna's skin tag. In the week between dr. appointments, the infection cut off circulation to the thing and it died and fell off. At her appointment on Monday, the doc said it was a granuloma now (whatever that is) and that the remaining lump was still infected. He told us to stay on the antibiotics until it wasn't red anymore. We decided to use Melaleuca oil on it instead. It was a healthy pink within 3 days. Hooray for Melaleuca oil!!! She still has a hard lump, but it is much less noticeable than before. :-)

Lucky?

Well, Hosanna had her very first dr. appointment today. She was born with a skin tag on her pinky finger. No biggie. Well, it started to look a little different, and today it was bright red & swollen. Not good. So, we took her to the dr.

The regular doc was full, so we saw someone new. The new doc was very nice. She said that skin tags are lucky. Lucky?? Sh also said it would be easily removed, but not now. It's infected and it has to be healthy for removal. So, poor Hosanna got her first antibiotic. Bummer! Ruby's made it 2.5 years with no antibiotics and here Hosanna has to get one at 2 months because of an infected skin tag. Lucky indeed.

A week from today the lucky tag is getting removed. Poor baby.

In other news, I feel a bit lucky. Miss Jade told me about her day at school!!! She told me she saw Mrs. Oleson, had snack, had lunch, went to art, saw Mrs. Kulich for gym, went to Mrs. Gutke's room to watch a movie, and went outside for recess! Pretty good for a kid who wouldn't talk to me a week ago.

Happiness is...

A smiley baby!

Two steps forward, Two steps back

Sigh.

Jade's going back to school tomorrow. It just wasn't working here at home. Her routine got all thrown off with the changes of the last few months and we can't get her back on track. She's losing the momentum of progress and we can't accept that. So back she goes. We hope that it won't be forever, but it will have to be for awhile.

I must say that I'm ready for it. It's been hairy around here of late. She has not been pleasant to live with. I know there will still be some transitioning and that could be rough, but I'm looking forward to a few semi-quiet hours every day. I'm trying not to feel like a horrible mother. I'm supposed to be basking in the joy of my blessings, but it's hard when the blessings are screaming in your face.

My mission is now trying to get back some semblance of peace & order in my home. It's been missing for too long.

My Girl

Just wanted to share a picture of my little cutie. She is getting so big already! She looks a lot like her brother. And, she's started smiling now! Not for the camera, of course, but smiling just the same. :-)

Blessed

Our pastor has had very profound messages on blessing the past 2 Sundays. You can listen to them here.

The point was this - If you are a Christian, you are blessed by God no matter what your circumstances may look like. To put it another way, the sun still shines even when you can't see it. And blessing doesn't just mean everything will go your way. It means God hand is upon you at all times.

It's been a message I really needed. Check it out if you get a chance.

Catching Up

No, we did not disappear off the planet. Life with a new baby just takes a lot out of a person.

I've not properly introduced our new addition. Here is our new little angel... She is, of course, wearing knits that I made for her. Had I known she was a she, I would have knit something a bit more PINK. Never fear, I have pink things in the works. She really is a good baby. We got off to a rough start with some feeding issues, but she is doing very well now. Almost a month old, and she is already changing! How is it that babies grow so fast?

In other news... Christmas & New Years were very enjoyable. We got to see all the family and the kids had a great time. We were blessed many times over by the generousity of others in our family & community. God was very good to us, providing much more than we expected to have for Christmas.

We did have a little trouble. Our breaker box started shooting out sparks on Dec. 23 and needed patching on the 29th so our house wouldn't burn down while we were up north. We need to replace the whole box. That will happen soon. We also had our truck break down twice - on the 23rd and the 29th. It was quite a week, let me tell you! The truck was in the shop twice and is finally fixed, 8 spark plugs, 2 coils, and $650 later. But, I say again, God is good. All the money was provided for the truck repairs, and we had a friend lend us a vehicle when we needed it. We know that He will provide what we need for the breaker box as well.

Other than that, life is slowly getting back to something resembling normal. We hope to start school again next week. We've taken the last two months off, so I'm not putting my hopes too high for a smooth restart. We will see.

It's a girl!

Announcing the arrival of Hosanna Marie!

December 10, 1:42 am
8 lbs. 12 oz.
19 1/2 inches long

Pics to come, I promise. :-)

The Good Intentions Post

Well, I've been meaning to blog. I just haven't. The baby is not here and I haven't felt like doing anything. I meant to post pictures of all the snow - we got over 8 inches last weekend and more last night. I meant to post about my lovely birthday, complete with pictures. I meant to post a cute picture of Ruby wearing Kordell's snowpants and looking very much like an oompa-loompa.

I just haven't yet.

So, excuse the very pregnant woman and her good intentions. I will give you something to look at one of these days. Hopefully it will be a baby. I am due tomorrow.

Incoming!

Well, now would be just the time for the baby to come. There's a huge snowstorm blowing in and the weather outside is certainly frightful!! Nothing is happening with the baby just yet, but babies have a tendency to have terrible timing, so maybe... For now, we will hunker down inside and wait.

And while you wait for news from us, here is a picture to enjoy. Taken yesterday, 39 weeks 1 day. The baby spent all day yesterday trying to push its butt out my bellybutton and wedging its feet in my ribcage for leverage. Very comfortable... uh huh.... any day now baby!!!!

Another False Alarm

Well, I thought for sure last night was THE night. I started having contractions 10 minutes apart, over a minute long. They persisted no matter what I did. I even called my midwife to say this might be it. She said if I couldn't sleep to call back. Well, I finally fell asleep at midnight and when I got up at 1:30 they were gone.

WAH! I just wanna be done with all this! I want to have this baby, like NOW.

Nothing to Report

I know, I know... I should be updating more often this close to the end. But nothing is happening. I've had random contractions, but nothing organized at all. As of last Tuesday at the MW, I was 2 cm & 50% effaced. It's just a matter of time, she says.

So we wait. And while we wait, a new picture from last week. Taken on Thanksgiving, 38 weeks exactly.

And here are my cute kids with Grandma Jacquie, also on Thanksgiving. It's been such a help having Grandma here the last few weeks!

Whole Lotta Nuthin'

So, Thursday evening I started having a few contractions. They were about 10 minutes apart, but I didn't think much of it. I figured they would go away when I went to bed.

But they didn't.

All night long they came, 10 -12 minutes apart. Friday they continued, got a little stronger, a little longer. I spent the day resting, wondering if this was the beginning of labor. I even took a bath and they didn't go away. (Baths are supposed to make them go away if it's false labor) By evening we were down to 6-7 minutes apart. Teagan & I had planned to go out on a date and decided to go anyway since the contractions still weren't that bad. I figured walking around Walmart getting our groceries would speed them up if this was it.

Well, wouldn't you know it, they stopped altogether while I waddled around Wally-world. What is up with that!? So, no baby yet. And no more contractions for the time being either. Which is okay because it's the opening day of the gun deer season and Teagan is in da woods.

In the Clear

I am 37 weeks today. We are officially clear for homebirth. All that worry about not making it, and here we are. And nothing is happening.

I'm not suprised.

I'm still hoping for an early baby, but not holding my breath. I heard a quote last night that sums up my feelings well. "Fortune is apt to act freakishly at all times." Not that I believe in fortune, but it just said to me, yup - life is full of great ironies. And one of those may be a late baby again... despite pre-term labor.