Precious, Chaotic, Noisy, Happy!

The last five months are characterized by the words precious, busy, chaotic, noisy, and happy.

On July 30, our daughter's family moved in with us.  Their house had sold pretty quickly and they were building a house that was on schedule for this month (December).  So they moved in to our two little bedrooms and shared a tiny bathroom.  All 5 of them...Erin, Brad, and three kids 5 and under.  I was happy that my nine-months-pregnant daughter was in my house where I could watch over her.  I always dreaded those last few weeks, sleeping with my cell phone, waiting to be called to rush out to the hospital!

Baby Natalie was due on September 3. On September 4, Erin had an OB appointment and then ran errands.  I came home from work to her sitting at the kitchen table timing contractions and water leaking.  With 3 little ones running around and trying to get them in bed, time passed quickly as we decided what to do.  Got the babies in bed and at 11pm, I drove E & B to the hospital.  BUT not before Micah the 21 month old decided to get sick in his crib and throw up everywhere.  We were standing at the door with bags in hand when he did that.   Stop everything! HA!  We went back up, cleaned him up and changed the sheets, put him back down and left all peaceful with my husband and on to the hospital.

No problems with admittance to the hospital and we settled in the room as Erin prepared to have her fourth baby! She is really my HERO.  I've said it 3 times before and I speak truth.  That girl has a high pain tolerance and knows exactly how to handle it.  The night was quiet as she slept and I was up and down checking the monitors and walking the halls. I didn't want to go too far away.

Finally at 6am (after several little scares with baby's heartbeat and Erin having to change positions) she felt ready.  The midwife checked and things moved fast.  That sweet baby was born at 6:19am. 8lbs. 6oz.  We had one scare.  When the midwife was wrestling the baby out, she found that the cord was very short, unusually so.  A nurse called out to 'Call NICU'.  Brad and I looked at each other.  But within a few seconds Natalie cried loudly and the nurse said 'never mind'!  Whew! Those were some quick desperate prayers during those few seconds.

The next day, Natalie came home to my house.  And up until now she has been there where I could rock her every night and play with her and hold her. I do miss that. The other three would come running and give us hugs when John and I came home from work. Little Micah would snuggle up next to me every night and play games on the iPad. We got 'good night' hugs every night.  Maddie started kindergarten, lost her first tooth at our house and, most importantly, accepted Jesus into her heart up in Erin's old bedroom.  Landon celebrated his 4th birthday and Micah, his 2nd.  I had lots of companionship in the evenings as E & B made me watch Batman movies, TV series like Resurrection and Last Man Standing and Shark Tank.  We did Halloween and Thanksgiving together and lots of rides to church together.  All in all, a good experience that I won't forget.  I'm thankful to God for our close family and the fact we got along very well during that 5 months!

We've just celebrated their first Christmas in their new home. It's beautiful and the setting is even more so.  Congratulations to them!  2015 is next week and we are looking forward to many hours there on the mountainside!  We also anticipate a visit by Stephen and Rachel next month and Siesta Key time in July and our niece's wedding sometime in 2015.  The Lord continues to bless and I am humbled and so grateful for that.  

Photos I love:

Wide awake at bedtime!

24 hours old at my house! 

Evenings were often spent like this!

Little beauty.

1  week old.  I loved holding her in the evenings after work.

Nightly routine.

Sweet Natalie!

Maddie and I enjoyed going to the library. She got her first library card!

Cute Landon!

Time: 6;30am. Loved seeing that little face at my kitchen table.

Madison accepted Jesus into her heart this fall!

Micah and I had fun while mommy was recovering!

In the mountains this fall.

The kids helped me decorate our tree! It was a nice pretty mess!

Maddie put her list for Santa up on our fireplace. Just to be on the safe side!

Nice side yard at the new house. Up the mountain!

Erin and Natalie were Mary and Baby Jesus in this year's Christmas presentation at RSBC.  Beautiful!

HA!!

Maddie was a very serious angel.  She wanted to get it right!

The new house. It's full of light and in a beautiful setting.

Let's not forget C3.  As usual, it took many hours of work but was the best we've ever done!

G&G are still doing great!! We count our blessings.  Merry Christmas and Happy 2015.

March, April, May, JUNE??

Poor blogging habits!  Today is June 1 so I'll try to capture the last 3 months quickly!

Late spring, summertime rhythm is already here.  90 degrees, late afternoon thunderstorms, windy, beautiful green, flowers, hummingbirds looking for their feeder (we have to get a new one soon!).  Life winds through the weeks in a steady sameness.  Work, work, time with the kids on Fridays, Church on Sundays.  My daughter is blooming beautifully. 26 weeks pregnant with a baby girl! Can't wait to see her and I can only envision her with red hair. Funny!  The other three are thriving and happy, just the usual sicknesses and play and boo-boos.   Saturdays are my rest day as I work around the house and get ready for another busy week.  There are changes going on in my life in many different forms.  The usual physical as I am 56 (ha!), changes at work with new responsibilities, more coming soon, trying to keep up, so tired.  Changes in family 'stuff'.  Some changes I cannot control and some I can.  Sad ones, good ones, lots of changes.  Trying to keep my perspective, trying to keep an optimistic outlook.  My feelings run deep and some I have to keep hidden because I influence others.  God and I talk.  That's enough.

During Mother's Day week, we got to visit our son and daughter-in-law again in Nevada.  We visited Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reefs National Parks in Utah.  We had amazing weather.  Sun, snow, wind, just so much beauty! Went to bed in Utah on Saturday night...56 degrees outside. Woke up on Mother's Day morning and it was 28 degrees and several inches of snow piled up against our motel door.  It was gorgeous.  Thankfully, the 70 year old motel had a great restaurant...a local favorite that does a home-cooking menu.  Country-fried steak, pancakes, patty melts, Yuuuum...it was all good.  We just walked over for our meals.  We decided to hike down into Bryce Canyon and see everything in the snow that day.  I was a little timid about it but we did it and I'm so glad we did.  Unforgettable!

Hiking down into Bryce Canyon

Note the colors behind me in the rock.  I was cold but not too miserable.  There had been winds and snow flurries the entire time we hiked.  40 degrees!  Wow! And just a hoodie!

Bryce Canyon 'hoodoos'.  There's a reason for the name but I forgot.

Bryce in the Snow

John and I at Fairyland Canyon

Bryce and Stephen. He likes the edge!

Bryce

Capitol Reefs (hiking through a gorge)

A funny little hotel and restaurant.  Good food...I'll never forget my banana bread, fruit and fried potatoes breakfast.
This place was run by old hippies. :)

Snowy drive through the scenic byway in Utah

Utah blue and white

Utah Christmas trees!

We returned to Georgia and these little ones were waiting on me.  Maddie loves her New Testament she received in pre-school.  Even takes it to restaurants and when she's had enough...

My Fridays all look a lot like this.  JOY!

February Randomness

Six weeks go by so quickly.  Ordinary days and then sickness hits or work problems or joyous days or insomnia nights.  And no mild winter for us this year.  Two weeks ago was the Snowjam of 2014 or the Snowpocalypse as some call it.  Many people were caught on the expressways in stopped traffic as night came and all the snow iced up.  They were stuck in their cars or abandoned them and walked to whatever shelter they could find. Little children had to spend the night in their classrooms or on school buses. Many of my friends were on the roads for 14 hours, 22 hours, 28 hours before they got home.  I left work at 12:30 and arrived in my neighborhood at 5:30 (normally a 30 minute drive).  I got stuck on a hill and a nice teenager got me down and I had to park on the side of the road and start walking.  A very kind neighbor who I'd never met took me to his house and then got my car unstuck, came back to get me, drive me home, and then walked home after he made sure I was in my house safely.  What a hero to me!  We have some new friends now!

Yesterday we had another ice storm and then a snow storm overnight. This time, however, we were prepared. No school and no work.  This morning I awakened to a beautiful white thick snow laying on the ground and on the trees.  I haven't seen one that beautiful in years.  It melted mostly by this afternoon and now we're headed back to work tomorrow.  So in the last 2 weeks there has been lots of togetherness for families as we've been kept at home by the weather.

Erin is 11 weeks pregnant now.  Feeling pretty sick and already showing the baby bump.  She's always a gorgeous pregnant woman!  This pregnancy, however, is a little different from the other three.  She's sicker for one thing.  But last week she got an infection in her hand called cellulitis. Very dangerous stuff. She drove herself to the ER at 3:30 in the morning and received IV antibiotics and steroids.  It's better now but that was definitely a scare for us all.  We pray that all is well and she has been assured that the baby will be fine even with all that medicine she has had to take.

I have had some challenges at work but good evaluations make it all worthwhile.  I try to remember that I'm doing what I do 'as unto the Lord' and not to give up, get tired, get discouraged.  I fail so many times to remember important details, choir members who are hurting or who need some encouragement or just a friend.  I get so caught up in my daily grind of work that I forget to look up and look around.  

Well, spring will be here soon. I actually saw jonquils in my yard today ready to bloom.  But in the meantime, here are some pics from my beautiful snowy morning!

A verse that has meant a lot to me the last few days:  2 Samuel 22:20..."He brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me."  I want Him to delight in me.  So many days He cannot.  But each day is new.  Maybe He'll delight in me today or just give me grace again for the next day. I love Him.