Saturday, January 31, 2009

Project #1- in progress




Last year I joined the block of the month club at our local quilting shop. This week I finally finished the last block. I'm planning on finishing it into a twin size quilt. Here's some photos of the final twelve. My two favorite have to be the 'Hugs' and 'Kisses'. xoxoxoxox

Remind me again Why I'm doing This

I have more than a few months left before baby number three arrives. Today I needed a reminder of why it's all worth it.






I love those first days in the hospital and the months of peacefulness that follow. It's so fun to watch them grow from total dependence to rolling, sitting, crawling and then walking. I love their little faces in the morning and how easy it is to make them smile. Love the cuddles, the energy, the humor and looking forward to something new each day. You never know what's going to happen next. What will they do, say and get into today? Yeah, it's worth it.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

I love the snow!!

One of the great things about visiting Idaho is the snow. Check out this snowmobile, it's a two seater. Don't worry we didn't let them drive it themselves.














Friday, January 23, 2009

Special Delivery


A new bedtime routine between my oldest son and I has developed ever since he found out a third baby is on the way. He is fascinated by the story of not only his birth, but that of his younger brother. He requests it every night. Leaving out all the gory details, I tell him that he arrived into this world very peacefully, with a serene look on his face, eyes wide open and silent as a mouse. His brother on the other hand came out screaming due to a broken collar bone.
Well , tonight was a little different, the story was told and in addition he wanted to know the names of all the doctors involved. When I told him Dr. Coury would be 'delivering' our new baby he asked, "Like in the mail box?"
Oh, that it where so simple. I've been thinking of simplicity a lot lately. As I mentioned before my goal for this month is to overcome worldliness. I won't preach or rant about the reasoning behind it but here are a few things I've started doing to keep the world out.
  • Morning meditation, prayer, scripture study. It keeps me grounded and focused on what's really important.
  • No TV till 3. We spend our mornings playing, learning and interacting, instead of watching marketed cartoons and manipulative commercials. My sister-in-law goes so far as to mute commercials when the TV is on. I love the idea, but haven't quite perfected it.
  • Creating vs. Consuming. I'm deliberately looking for things to create, or recreate instead of looking for things to buy. I hope to post some of these in the future.
My own special delivery arrived today in our mailbox. A copy of The Simple Living Guide by Janet Luhrs. I've checked it out from the library at least once a year for the past four years and finally decided to buy it. I highly recomend it to anyone who is looking for ways to cut back, simplify and live life more deliberately.

Simply,

Friday, January 16, 2009

Lucky Numbers, Lucky Day, Lucky Year

Happy Birthday to me!! As a gift to myself ,and with the final go ahead from my husband, I've finally started a blog. Today I will turn 31, a very significant day for me. I've been looking forward to this birthday for some time now. Why? you may ask. Well for the past 15 years my lucky numbers have been 16 and 31. For some reason significant things happen surrounding these numbers. The date of my birth being one of those (Jan. 16).

The number thirty-one started over a boy (as most things do for teenage girls), but most recently became more significant with the birth of my first child (July 31). I notice these numbers everywhere and have truly believed that this year, the year they collide, will be one of my best. The next time they collide will be Tristen's 16th birthday. Dating? Driving? Oh no.

Looking forward to the new year I've decided that my word for the year is OVERCOME. Each month I want to strive to overcome something that's keeping me from progressing. This month it has been worldliness (more on that later). It's to overwhelming to make a list of all the things I want to overcome, so each month I'll choose a new challenge (or stick with worldliness for the entire year). Wouldn't it be great if I could tackle 16 maybe even 31 by 2010?!

Our family continues to grow as we look forward to the birth of our third child in May. It will be three boys for us, and I can't wait. Stay tuned, or don't, this is mostly for my own documentation of what promises to be a great year.

Always,