Grateful Acres

...woah, two posts in a row! :) Today I had some sweet moments with the boys God is lending me. Henry is my early riser (early has been transformed-after much diligent...diligentness- from 5:45 to more like 6:30 or occasionally later). I've been making it a point to be up before the boys when possible, but during the morning-sick stage of pregnancy, I've deemed it "not possible", so I've been waking up to little clunking noises through the baby monitor. Henry used to get up and stand in front of the door and cry (since it's dark still...), but as he grows he has started to go for the toy cupboard and pull out bins of motorcycles and race cars. I try to catch him as quickly as I can and depending on the time, either ask him to lay in his bed a little longer or whisk him away to let brother sleep. This morning it was in the window of "lay in his bed a little longer", so I got him tucked back into the soft darkness, and camped out on the floor outside

My day today was uncannily peaceful. I pinched myself ALL day... the boys played quietly with their toys, had only minor "Mommy, he hit me"-ish things, dinner turned out yummy (new recipe that is now top of Hubby's list!), my mom came to visit, sister-in-law and her friend came over for a little while, and did I mention that the boys played quietly with their toys? (ALL DAY!) ...and when I say "uncannily peaceful" I mean that I was not shocked when we encountered a moment of "crazy" this evening :) Josh was at youth group, and I had the boys in the tub before bed.    ...when ALL the smoke detectors went off. This has happened before, once, so I didn't immediately think that the house was burning down. So... I pulled the boys out of the tub, and set about the house pulling all the smoke detectors down. They are the new kind (up to code...) that are all connected to eachother, and all wired to the ceiling, with a battery as backup. Our ceilings are

Sometimes, it feels SO NICE to wrap up some projects :) I've had two projects in-the-works lately, and I was amazed at how complicated they became!  I have managed to turn Christmas cards into quite the production... and after 6 months in our house, Josh and I JUST hung family pictures! I sat on the floor of our soon-to-finally-be-baby-room (currently peaceful project room) this afternoon, stuffing envelopes with photos, cards, newsletters... And just before tucking our boys in for their nap today, Josh and I hung pictures in the upstairs play area. Hooray!!  sneak-peek at our Christmas cards! *photos hung inside these frames are from Caitlin Kristine Photography *photos being sent out inside our cards are from Bri'Anne Elizabeth Photography My aunt passed along a blog to me recently, which inspired the way these are hung. It's easy to spend WAY too much time reading blogs (*wink!*), but this one I loved! Check it out... http://www.brownpaper--packages.co

I have a small victory to share with you:  Let me give some context... I blogged about the loss of children recently, verbally stomping my feet and telling the enemy that I will have no more of it- and that I have chosen my side and refuse to budge. The children God has given me "on loan" are all so different... Jonathan was an easy baby, and is currently a whirl-wind 3 1/2 yr old- he is FULL of energy, curiosity, music, rythm, he is friendly, relational, deep (yes, deep!), always thinking, processing, talking... He knows about God and that Jesus is real, and he knows that his baby sister Evelyn is safe with Jesus. Henry was a difficult baby, and is an easy 2 yr-old!  He adores his  brother and wants to be where he is, he gives AMAZING hugs, likes to be held, likes books, connects quickly with people, is caring, noisy, talkative, fast... and still has his innocence. He likes to pray. Evelyn has changed my life more than anything. Her body was tiny, but her existenc

Hi! Today we discovered a new idea for Thanksgiving leftovers! I had a roll of biscuits (you know, the ones where you peel the paper and they pop :)) in the fridge. I flattened them, and put shredded cheddar, turkey and fresh parsley on the circle of dough, stretched the dough over the toppings, and baked them! Next year, my plan is to make those after the Thanksgiving meal, and leave them in my fridge over night, and while I "Day-after-Thanksgiving-sale" shop, and pop them in the oven when I get home! Any other recipes/ideas for Thanksgiving leftovers??

Sometimes I wonder if all that I'm pouring into is gaining any ground. Mostly I wonder this in the area of training my children... they are so intense! The last few months-ish I've been working to tighten things up- be finished with some, and create other new ones, and it's been lots of work! My dear, sweet husband is working hard to keep up with taking care of me, taking care of them :) I've had a little encouragement lately... some from a friend I've had for a long time. She's so concisely, gently upfront with me. I respect her resolve to be godly, and her willingness to be purposeful in all she does. She treats me like I am who I should be, which in turn encourages me to head that direction :) I praise God for her! Jonathan also encouraged me tonight. He didn't want to go to bed, he wanted me to, "stay with me, Mommy, I just LOVE you!" He coaxed me into snugglin' next to him, and he played with my hair, gently planted little kisses on my

Mondays are my cleaning days. I was sweeping today, while my boys played with dry macaroni noodles in little cups at the counter, and I had Selah playing. I've mentioned them before, they are that band that has a really similar story to mine and Evelyn's. Aaaanyway, one of their songs triggered a brief moment of inner rememberance of my recent time of sorrow, and I got to thinking... " (Jesus) was despised and rejected- a man of sorrows, acqainted with deepest grief." Isaiah 53:3 The Message Acquainted:   -having personal knowledge as a result of study, experience, etc.   -brought into social contact, made familiar. ...Jesus KNEW sorrows, grief. It only makes sense that when we are becoming acquainted with sorrow and grief ourselves, that we should run to the Man who was "acquainted with deepest grief"! How incredible, to have the chance to walk SO closely with Him, that He would deeply share the experience of grief with us. I'm so drawn to th

Today is my Momma's birthday! You know the saying, "If friends were flowers, I'd pick you"? Well... if people were food, my mom would be Ramen. Simple, enjoyable, and my regular go-to :) I have never once doubted my mom's love for me and my siblings, and she has poured SO much into us over the years. I wish I could've thrown a big, fancy party for my mom, but instead we had a small, pleasant family party for her tonight- which I think is more her style anyway :) We had Tacos, per her request, and carrot cake, and peach-blackberry pie! ..."Happy Pancake", Momma :) Blackberry-Peach Pie! Grandma and her grandsons I liked this, because I really like my mom's hands... I remember them so distinctly from when I was a kid, and no MY kid is holding her hand! :) Yes, my mom is 36. :) ...Happy Pancake to you... What a great smile!!

...sometimes I feel like I might only survive raising two boys who are 15 months apart- narrowly escape insanity, but just a few gray hairs. :) Sometimes everyone is crying noisily at once. Sometimes we all try functioning on way too little sleep. Lots of the time I'm flying by the seat of my pants, trying out whatever advice I can collect. Often I see how desperately I need the calm, peace, consistency of my Creator. Often I wonder if it's working- if my boys will turn out alright, or be little hoodlums forever. Sometimes I can only laugh (inwardly?) at what I find when I enter a room. Sometimes I call for backup. Always, always, every day, in the middle of WHATEVER, two sets of round, beautiful, blue eyes look into mine, and it all vanishes. They look up, up at me, with tears, smiles, naughty intent, curiosity, confusion, giggles... and I'm completely consumed with love again. Sometimes I hold them a little longer, just to savor the snuggles that will so

When I hang up my apron after 10 pm, 3 days in a row- it's been a good week :) I've been canning like a wild-woman! The last few days has been apple pie filling (new for me this year!), crock-pot apple butter (also new), and crock-pot applesause (...also new. ). My mom and I have done applesauce together, but we've never tried it in the crock pot. So far, I love it!! After the apple pie filling, I did the apple butter (sauce is cooling on the counter right now)- chopped up 10 apples, tossed them in the crock pot with a little water, lots of sugar, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, and turned it on high for 5ish hours (stirring occasionally). I put it all in the crock pot during nap time, and strained out the peels and canned it after the kids went to bed- easiest canning I've ever done.  ...also the only canning I've ever done by myself! My mom picked up a canning pot this week to be my very own, and my mom-in-law bought me the tongs/funnel/etc last year for Christmas.

...It's time to tell the Devil he's barking up the wrong tree. Do what you will to me, I AM NOT SWITCHING SIDES. Hand me the sorrows and loss you have intended to destroy me, I WILL NOT DENY MY CREATOR. I've blogged about this before, but it's time again. There have been too many children lost in our community. Accidents, still births, and lots and lots of miscarriages. It's STILL happening! I know a portion of that is "just life", but the frequency and depth of sorrow we are seeing, leads me to believe that the enemy has his eye on us. I don't know theologically how that all works out,  but I do see a pattern. A dear friend  of mine reminded me just the other day of the times in the Bible when the killing of children occurred: RIGHT BEFORE SOMETHING GREAT. Think of when Israel was enslaved to Egypt. Orders were given to kill all male, Hebrew babies. Lots and lots of babies were killed! But Moses survived and in partnering with God, years later f

In my effort to have our time be more structured (which is going well, BTW!), today we made home-made playdough. We colored it orange, rolled it into little balls, and poked dry macaroni noodles in the top to make pumpkins! I turned the oven on to 250, and after it reached it's temp, turned it off and left the pumpkins in for about 45 minutes. They came out hard and adorable! Here's the link for the recipe we used: http://www.playdoughrecipe.com/no-tarter-playdough-recipe/ I snagged a few of the most pumpkin-like ones to put next to some of my other fall decorations. Please share any fun fall activities you've enjoyed! Happy Fall!

Yesterday, the boys and I vacuumed up a whole clan of elder-beetles. EW. You know those {slightly creepy} annoying beetles that take over around this time of year? Yesterday they showed up on the outside of one of our upstairs windows. I noticed them in the morning, but they were outside, so I let them be. ...however, during naptime, I discovered they had found cracks in our window sill, and started invading!! The whole window and walls/ceiling surrounding was crawling with them. While I'm a little weary of elder-beetles, I'm significantly less afraid of them than I am of spiders. So, when the boys got up from their nap, I informed them that we had a mission: vacuum up bugs. I had spent their nap stuffing the sill of the window with toilet paper to prevent more from coming in. Jonathan and Henry thought it was hilarious, chasing after them all with the hose of our shop-vac! I got to thinking... I have known since we moved in this summer, that the windows weren't sealed w

I'm thinking of making some changes. First, it's time cut the hair again! I have at least a whole inch of grow-out, and when I run my fingers through the length of my hair, I can feel it thinning towards the bottom, from all the pony-tails my hair has been forced into. I'm thinking of going short again... :) The next changes I'm contemplating might seem a little "duh", but bear with me. My parents watched our boys the other night so Josh and I could go out for a friend's birthday dinner, and I could tell the boys were feeling a little "squirrely" when we left. They've been a little wound up lately (a little?), and honestly I've been a little grumpy lately- ya know those days when nothing fits, and all you want is chocolate and coffee?... Anyway, I was "debriefing" with my dad, about how the boys did that evening, and he had some thoughts for me: Kids thrive on routine. That's why they like the same songs over and over

Hi! Today I spent the day with my mom and the ladies from her church, at Women of Faith. Since you weren't there, I thought I'd share my experience with you :) Honestly, I came into it a little skeptical. I SO don't like cheesy, "christian-ese" stuff, and I'm not really into large groups of women crying all day. (Which is not how it was- just to clarify.) I was the youngest of our group, with the exception of one other young mom. Most of the women I have grow up knowing- they watched me grow from pig-tails to bell-bottoms (what?? at church??) to worship team as a teen, to getting engaged... many of them came to my wedding, and ALL of them hear stories about my boys from Grandma. :) The day began with meeting a new member of their group, a woman scheduled to be the speaker for their women's retreat in January. I'll be going as their worship leader, and we were introduced to eachother so that we can start forming a team. She was such a sweet woman,

You never know who might be impacted by what you say. Tonight I had an incredible conversation with my 3 yr old. We brought some Birthday cake to one of the Jr. highers at Daddy's youth group, and stayed through the worship time. Our pastor, Jack, shared something with the group about Jesus really being there, and encouraged them to close their eyes and really think about that during the worship time. ...and my wiggly 3 yr. old heard him. My boys have been waking up at night crying (which I think they are a little old now, for that to be a regular thing), and I've been praying and brainstorming about how to help them sleep more peacefully. In fact, I just had a conversation with my mom about it this afternoon. She suggested praying with them before bed, which I haven't been super consistent about. Sometimes, when I suspect that they will have a rough night, I will kneel at their door, with my arms spread toward each bed, and ask that God send an angel to spread it's w

Most of these pictures are unrelated, just fall-ish :) The boys helped me bake today: Bits-n-pieces of upcoming Birthday baking: ...I love mini-pumpkins! half the height of the sunflowers! (the short one farthest to the left is the one that Henry planted in previous posts) A moment in which time seemed to stand still... the boys sat quietly together on their leggo suitcase, looking out the window and listening to music: A bouquet of the sunflowers I learned from :) Yup. Today, I learned from my sunflowers. I was feeling weary after a day of calm, consistent discipline (...for the most part?), so after dinner I excused myself to go gather some of the last crop from my garden. After gathering a handful of cherry tomatoes, peeking at my pumpkins, and plucking a few zuccini, my sunflowers greeted me rather wearily themselves. Some of them leaned wilted and tired looking against the fence, and others were face-down in the dirt. Sunflowers are interesting plants. These ar

Tonight the boys grabbed their blankies and snuggled up next to me on the floor, in our empty room upstairs. The room was going to be Evelyn's room, but now it has morphed into a quiet, soothing place to be: we have some of our favorite antique furniture in it, and on evenings like tonight, beautiful scarlet sunsets come gently through the white sheer curtains. Jonathan laid on my left, next to the window, and Henry snuggled up on my right. In my heart I felt so blessed, so at peace, and I thought briefly of the little pink bundle that was not next to me, tucked under my arms with my other children. The thought was going to be only brief and fleeting, but Josh was sitting on our little yellow couch playing some music through his laptop for us, and he picked a song that jerked my heart a different direction. The song began talking about grief and loss, tears... and then went on, "Nothing is wasted... in the hands of our redeemer, nothing is wasted..." The song went on t

J, having SUCH a great attitude: sick... so sweet, Henry picked this little spot next to Daddy :) watchin' a show I've been feeling this post brewing for a little while. Sometimes I feel myself taking things in, learning, processing, and I can tell when the need to write is drawing closer... I've been having attitude issues of late :( Some dear friends of mine, and my sweet husband (my closest friend!) have had some wise words for me, and God and I are working on sorting me out! My wrong-attudes have been revealed through the wave of sickness that has knocked most of our little family flat on the couch this week. Henry got it first, and though I needed to cancel EVERYTHING on my agenda (notice that phrase, "my agenda") for the next few days, it was sweet caring for him. Henry and I spent 3 whole days snuggled up on the couch together, and a handful of nights with him in his pack-n-play pushed right up against my side of the bed, with him often asking for "up

Just a few little stories and pictures as Fall begins: Today, September 1st, the air outside had that cool, crisp feeling! The cool in the air reminded me of back-to-school shopping, and a whole lot of smells... the smell of school supplies at Kmart, the smell of cedar bark chips on the play ground, and my favorite, the smell of farmers burning their fields at the end of the crop season. All smells from fall after fall of my childhood. Now I'm watching as my kids gather little things that will be "fall" to them! Our first year canning our own pickles! I climbed up into the apple trees in my parents yard and picked a bag full of apples to turn into apple chips! (So far the boys love them even MORE than I did as a kid!) ...I love dressing my kids. And now that fall is arriving, it's time to break out the striped long-john shirts, the vests, socks and shoes in place of sandals. Henry is busting out of his vest in the picture below, and Jonathan did his