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Get ready...this might be long.

What a day!

-Straightened everything
-Dusted upstairs
-Vacuumed whole house, including stairs
-Mopped upstairs
-Cleaned bathrooms, including Mr. Clean bar on our shower (yeesh!)
-On the fourth load of laundry now (I think)
-Typical kid watching, lunch, etc.
-Made, enveloped, and mailed all four sets of Mother's Day cards
-Showered and did a mini manicure and pedicure while praying and meditating...rediscovered an awesome summer toes color
-Read some from Practicing Hospitality
-About to start prepping dinner and may rest some...after I finish this post, of course

Where has this energy come from? Sure wasn't around last week! Could be part adreneline. The Firstbrooks arrive from California tonight! Woo-hoooo! We're all so excited to see each other, and they are excited to spend a week touring WDC. It'll be fun times catching up, hearing about our HBC family back in Cali, and watching the Firstbrooks hold our sons once again. Sweet times!

Here's the updates:

MATT

He did a LOT of work this weekend. God said to for man to have dominion over the earth, and that's just what Matt has done. Around this time a year ago, he redid the backyard for Mother's Day and planted pretty flowers and a few edibles. Well, many of them failed, save for the rose and hydrangea. Then the tree fell. Because of that and the many Bob-the-Builders that did repairs, the grass, hastas, and azaleas became not so nice looking. Matt found some free fill dirt online, so he spent Saturday prepping the yard (which included redoing the patio...again) and Sunday getting the dirt. It was gloomy with intermitent rain the whole weekend (and presently). But oh does it already look worlds better back there! I did a bit of fixin' up in the front yard last week. Matt moved the two backyard azaleas to fill in the front ones, so hopefully in a few months we'll have a nice looking hedge rather than weirdly spaced azaleas and random daffodils. The patio layout is superb! Makes both yard and patio seem bigger. Everything looks much cleaner and cared for. I keep thanking God that we have yards to work in. A little something inside of me hopes that whenever we have to move out, the owner will notice a huge difference in how we have cared for his possession compared to previous residents. A good witness, I hope! Or if we end up buying sometime, the work will already be done! I'll take pics when the weather improves (in a few days, I hear) and things are more settled.

DAWN:

I had a physical last week. I'm fine except for a vitamin D deficiency. Hmm. Who knew? Low end of normal is 32. I'm at 8.3. So I was placed on 12 weeks of vitD supplement and calcium. But a man at church expressed some concern (he's in a similar boat), and sent me a couple articles. Good information and wise advice to research it a little before I blindly follow. I'd rather get a little color from the sun to get my vitD anyway. I'll be talking with two of my other doctors to see what they would do for a vitD deficiency.

Yesterday, during communion, I had one of those "duh moments." You know, the kind where you've always known something but never thought of it in such simple terms. They had some instrumental music playing, so I was thinking through the lyrics. I came across "sin's curse has lost it's grip on me." Well, then why do I keep sinning, I asked. Because YOU haven't lost your grip on sin. ::stunned:: DUH! It's so convicting to be reminded over and over that I am FREE FROM SIN. I don't HAVE to sin. I CHOOSE to. Because of the Holy Spirit in me, I have the power to NOT sin every moment of the day. And yet I do -- many moments of the day. ::hangs head:: Glory be, the Day is coming! Glorified body, bring it!!!

JUDAH:

Cute kid. Deathly afraid of bugs, floating fuzz, and Elijah's gaping mouth when he tries to bite Judah. Can't decide if he likes soft tacos or pbj the best. I think we're going to start preschool activities at home this fall -- he's too smart to keep playing his days away. Great memory! Loves to play chase. Lives to go outside and will die of excitement the day he gets a bike (whenever that will be). Showing signs of typical first born bossiness. Gets a thrill out of people coming over. Wants to go somewhere EVERY night after dinner. Loves to snuggle while watching TV. Is a pottying pro. Is still a very clean eater. Likes all his pillows and blanket just so when going down to sleep. Tries out stalling methods like drink of water, have to pee pee, need to be covered.

ELIJAH:

Woah. Definitely my all-boy boy. That child is such a messy eater even though most of it does in fact make it to his mouth. Floor, clothes, face, curly hair, hands, chair...it all has to be cleaned after every meal. He's always sliding his cup clear across the table or squishing his cheerios or strawberries in his hands until they juice and make a noise. The boy sticks crayons up his nose, has been known to eat goldfish out of the trash, bites out of defense, has quite the sly grin, and knows EXACTLY what he's doing but thinks he can be cute enough to get away with it (which sometime almost works). And yet...he is such a pretty momma's boy. He's the perfect baby model for preppy style; and when he wears one of my headbands, he would make either a super cute girl or a perfect ancient Athens boy with those adorable locks. And don't cross him or he'll throw you the tantrum of his life (complete with not looking at you, obtaining blob posture, screaming and crying, throwing himself flat out on the floor...). He's definitely a package deal for a little kid -- keeps Momma on her toes mentally, physically, and spiritually! Just learned to hop. Dances to pretty much any music he hears. Gasps every time he hears a dog or airplane. Loves his stuff animals. Is starting to repeat words you practice with him, so maybe he'll be talking soon? Still uses "sssssss" to tell you just about anything.

Whew! That was fun. :-D Off to prep dinner now!