one MEGA busy weekend

The post title says it all!

Saturday:
-Breakfast
-Lowes, Target, Safeway, Michaels
-Lunch, finish tea preparations, shower
-Attend tea from 1:00 to 5:30, garden
-Quick dinner
-Small b-day get together at Nathan and Tara's

Talk about a full day! First, here are a few pictures of the table Tara and I hosted. It was so fun to overcome the challenge of her fine china and my rustic linens, but it turned out uniquely beautiful. We were bummed we couldn't use the red placemats because the table wasn't big enough to fit them all. The tea was so much fun! When I left, my heart was overwhelmed and overflowing with joy from just being with those ladies. Our church is truly ahead of the game when it comes to love and thoughtfulness. I think of Pam and how she is ALWAYS seen taking care of small immediate needs: a tissue for a teary speaker, an e-card for Mother's Day...and not to mention she's the wife of the Care Ministry leader. :-) I think of Tara herself, always gracious in speech and action, constantly thinking of others first. Then there's Meredith, who I'll get to in a moment. The Zeender women who have become my second familiy here. Belinda who faithfully extends herself to me though she oversees the whole Ladies' Ministry, making me feel important though she can not spend the time she wants with each of the women of Hope. All of the ladies are so friendly, accepting, open, and they like to HUG. More and more, I find myself thinking "This must be close to what the church in Acts was like." God is good!

So, Meredith. She's a woman I have not gotten to know very well (yet), but I have seen from afar that she is a woman of God's own heart. Her husband is head of the church website, and Matt & Nathan assist him now. Anyway, she shared her testimony at the tea, focusing on her life's desire for children and their recent loss. On New Year's Day of this year, after 10 years of marriage, they found out they were pregnant for the very first time. Ten weeks later, she miscarried. Meredith shared details of how things went, mentioning that there must have been near 100 people from the church at the hospital with them during the loss. To see her stand there and share such a personal trial was amazing, heartbreaking, and encouraging. God is in control. He knows what is best. He blesses before, during, and after trials. Such grace was given to her, and such inner strength she has obtained. Meredith shared a small related detail at the end of her testimony. When they married 10 years ago, they and some siblings were each given a piece of a christmas cactus their grandmother had grown. Not once in their marriage did that cactus bloom...until the very day they lost their first child. She said it was the most beautiful pink blossom, and we even got to see a picture of it. God is so precious in His ways.

So that's what I did all Saturday afternoon. What did Matt do, you ask? What did he do. :-D He worked on my Mother's Day gift! If you notice in the list of what we did Saturday, a trip to Lowes was included. He decided this year's gift would be flowers in the backyard so that I can have fresh flowers to either look at in the garden or have in a vase. :-) I am THRILLED! So he completely redid the flowerbeds while I was at the tea. Such an amazing, drastic difference in the neatness and cleanliness of the backyard! We can't wait to show our property manager. Today, (Matt's birthday!) we spent the boys' naptime working in the rain, cleaning up the yardwaste and doing a little more flower bed work. It was SO pleasant to work with my hubby like that. Something free, hobby-ish, and at home. And the soft rain made it peaceful, cool, and flying-bug-free. The birds were singing and made it feel like an atrium. Taking dominion over our small piece of earth really felt good. :-) So, here's a tour. The left coloumn are the before pictures while the right column shows the finished product. We got 1 hydrangea, 4 dahlia plants, 1 bell pepper, 1 tomato, oregano, sage, (eventually basil), and my favorite and our prize -- a coral/orange rose bush. ::dreamy sigh:: I never in my life thought I would own something like this. I just hope and pray that Matt and I have green thumbs -- or that God makes those plants overcome any of our misteps or forgetfulness. :-P

The finished product...

We are planning to get some grass seed, and Matt is going to level out the patio stones when he gets back from Europe. We can't WAIT to be able to spend time back there and let the boys run around on safe, even, grassy yard. It'll be a first! Maybe we'll even get to have Elijah's first birthday party outside!

Some close-ups... (Momma, the "blue" hydrangea already has pink edges after being in the ground for 1 day!)



And this is our prized possession that I say small prayers for. God really does care about the small things, and this small thing is a big thing for me. I would LOVE to be a successful gardener -- it gets you closer to creation, which broadens your perspective of just how amazing and huge our God is. And to be successful at having my own coral/orange rose bush? ::another dreamy sigh::



I love my church. I love my Matt. My heart is full of joy. And my God is good!

HoDgE PoDgE FuN

There was reason for a little brother photo shoot today. I let Judah go upstairs to play in his room while I did a few things downstairs and Elijah napped. A little while later, I heard a *thunk* and Elijah started crying. I figured maybe he'd pulled up and then plopped back down. Then I heard Judah's feet running back and forth from his room to Elijah's room. So I decided to go check out what was going on -- even though I already knew Judah had just stolen Elijah's morning nap from us. This is what I found...



My guess is that the *thunk* was Judah throwing the blue stuffed animal pail in the crib, followed by all the stuffed animals and Lightning McQeen. What can you do but smile and just move on? Have a little brother photo shoot of course!



Having a front-loading washer provides great entertainment for young and old.



And guess who's having a birthday on Sunday! Unfortunately, now I have created the typical celebration problem in this house...once the gifts are obtained and wrapped, we RARELY make it to the actual celebration day with unopened gifts. :-P

Scattergories

I got this in an e-mail, but rather than e-mail it back to everyone, I thought it'd be a fun little post.

What is your name.......... Dawn
4 Letter Word.............. Dash
Vehicle................... Delorean
City..................... Dover (Delaware for two points...Matt thought of it)
Boy Name................... David
Girl Name.................... Doreen
Alcoholic drink.............. Daydream
Occupation.................... Dermatologist
Something you wear........... Dockers
Celebrity.......... Dakota Fanning
Food....................... Dunkin' Donuts (again, Matt thought of it)
Something found in bathroom........ Dove
Reason for being late........... Darkness
Cartoon Character................ Daffy Duck
Something you shout................ "Don't!"
Animal...................... Dinosaur
Body part.................... Diaphragm (again, Matt)
Word to describe you................... Dreamer

And because Matt is so good at it, he's gonna participate, too! :-P

What is your name.......... Matt
4 Letter Word.............. Mash
Vehicle................... Mazda
City..................... Monterey
Boy Name................... Mark
Girl Name.................... Marie
Alcoholic drink.............. Margarita
Occupation.................... Mechanic
Something you wear........... Make-up
Celebrity.......... Michael Moore
Food....................... Macaroni
Something found in bathroom........ Medicine (Dawn's thought)
Reason for being late........... Madness, as in insanity
Cartoon Character................ Mighty Mouse
Something you shout................ "Mwah-haha!"
Animal...................... Marmoset (Dawn, again)
Body part.................... Metacarpals
Word to describe you................... Matt (genius, eh?)

Pics to come soon of Elijah's pretty-much-finished room!

To Melt Our Mothers' Hearts

To all our mothers whether they be called Brenda/Mom/Mamaw, Kathie/Momma/Nini, Nonie, Big Grandma, Lil' Grandma, or JoJo...we hope your hearts are full of joy today as you think about the family that originated with you. We each hold a piece of you within us! We pray that our lives and legacies will reflect who you have helped us to become and that through us, you will receive the honor you deserve. We love you very much...so much that we are all smiles for you!

Judah Update

Well, his ear is still infected; but Dr. L said the antibiotic he just finished actually keeps working several days afterwards. His right lung is still bein' noisy, so Judah gets the pleasure of going on an inhaler for a week. It actually works out for me because Judah recently (innocently) broke the breathing chamber that goes with my inhaler. Dr. L prescribed one for Judah that comes with a little mask that I hope comes off. If it does, bingo! Breathing chamber for both mother and son in one fell swoop. :-) We go for a follow-up next Wednesday, at which point Elijah may also be checked if his nose continues to be green gunkiness.

Payback. I'm sorry, Momma! I understand now what it was like to have me as a kid. Happy Mother's Day to me. :-P

Because we took Matt to work, went to Target & Safeway, and then straight to the doctor. Elijah missed his morning nap. Most of it anyway...

Normal Within Reach

Good news. I think normal life is within reach. And just when we attain it within the next
18 days, Matt will become a Europe Traveler. ::hangs head:: But THEN when he returns, life will be normal. Oh wait...I mean after our anniversary-weekend-away...and then after Melody's visit in July...THEN life will be normal. Ha. :-P

Keep prayin' for Judah. I'm gonna call the doctor again about his breathing. He still gets pretty winded when he's active (climbs stairs, plays around). I've already resigned myself to the fact that I've passed on asthma to him. I'm just waiting for the doctor to realize it. :-) But God can change that!

I moved stuff to the attic today, go me. That included a box of year books -- do you know how heavy those things are? I felt primitive when I figured out I could rotate the box up those skinny attic stairs. It's the simple things that work! But I think my body has had it after all that. It's so amazing how having some sinus/lung trouble can really affect your activities. And it's annoying when you want to do things for your hubby to shrink HIS to do list. Anyway, I also hung some things on the wall. So, here is another "finished" room, our master bathroom. I say "finished" because I have to hot glue one of the sea shells back on the mirror, and Matt has to replace the toilet seat still. But I figured you all have good enough imaginations that it was finished enough to post pictures. That color truly makes it an oasis in there. :-)



And here is another video of Elijah's continued path into Big People Foods.

On the Mend

Woo, I think we're on the mend now. I'm still congested, but not nearly as much as the past three days; and I'm having some lung trouble, but nothing I haven't dealt with before. Most important, no more headaches.

Judah is fever-free and not coughing as much. But oh my word...the boy is on some asthma med for a few days. Did I mention it makes him hyper and hungry? He chatters so much that he actually uses short sentences now, and he constantly asks for more food at meal times. Matt and I often look at each other dumbfounded at his antics.

'Lijah ALMOST has that second top tooth, and he pulled up for the first time on Saturday. He was in his crib. Since then, he has pulled up on two different ottomans, the tub, his dresser, a riding toy, more in his crib... It's like he learned once and sha-POW. He does it all the time. Scary. :-P

Matt's still healthy, praise the Lord!

We're nearly done with the living room and 'Lijah's room, so expect pictures soon! I'm tempted to take some before we're done because I'm so excited.......buuuut, I won't. ;-)

In the Sick House

Apparently our bodies were hangin' on to health until we had two major life events cease: the apartment and watching Lakota. We handed over the apartment on Tuesday, and our last day to watch Lakota was Thursday. We also took the kids for a check-up on Thursday -- coming out with a clean bill of health save for slight anemia on Elijah's part (he'll be on iron drops for a month).

Friday morning? Judah woke up with a fever and bad cough. I woke up with major sinus/head issues. Matt stayed home from work (thank you, Love!) to care for us. Elijah's yucky nose, we're assuming, is because of his teething. He's got a tip of one top tooth through, and the other is about to make it's debut.

Today, my head hurt so bad this morning that the cartilage part of my ears hurt. Weird (and painful). God bless Matt for being such a wonderful caretaker of family and home while the wife is down. Judah woke up with a fever again, and a gross cough. Last night was a hard night for him. While giving Elijah his lunch bottle, I noticed that Judah's breathing wasn't quite right. So after a quick consult call with my mom and another to our doctor, we took him to see Dr. L who "happened" to still be in the office (on a Saturday, thank you, Lord). Sure enough, Judah was wheezing and that silly right ear was turning red and trying to get infected. So he's now on an asthma med and antibiotic for this week. The asthma med makes him hyper. Oh my word, is it funny. I'm thankful he's a fun hyper and not obnoxious or disobedeint. The funniest thing he did this afternoon was go out in the hallway and turn in circles for a while chanting "Chocolate...chocolate...chocolate." Can we say random???

So pray for this sick house. Pray for Matt to be protected from all of this -- we need someone to be well to care for the rest of us and he has to work. Pray that Judah and I will heal quickly, whether it be colds/allergies/whatever. Pray that Elijah's issue will remain just teething and not compound itself. I don't want anymore hospital stays in our near future -- we're still clearing up insurance stuff from the last one! :-P

Here's a little travel blank I made for a baby shower this past week. It's the first crochet thing I've made by following any instructions (for the most part). ;-)



And we got to do something fun amidst this hardship -- get new phones! It was time for us to "upgrade" because our plan expired, yadda yadda. So we invested in phones we plan to keep for a while (and not let our kids play with). This is what mine looks like, and Matt's is the exact same in black with orange accents. It is SO cool to have the same phones but different colors. No more putting a sticker on the back of mine so we can easily tell them apart. :-P And mine would be a great lip gloss or polish color. Woo, ok, vergin' on bein' too publicly girly here... If you call me and I don't answer right away, it's probably because I'm listening to my ringtone. :-) We can do bluetooth file transfer, so we clipped out a little piece of "Here Comes the Sun" by the London Symphony Orchestra. I think it is so me, and it is so peaceful and happy to listen to.



And here are some fun pics/video. G'night!

Eat Your Heart Out

This is one of those posts everyone can enjoy, but I realize that the grandmas and aunts will be the ones to enjoy it most. Some people wonder why parents take videos of what seems to be nothing. But to far-away-family, "nothing videos" are everything!

This is a collection of photos and video from recent meal times. I haven't been able to post much because of life's busy-ness, so there's more comin'!