life of endless bliss

It is one of those days. I am feeling less than enchanted. It's hard to find my happy, little working song. I wish my prince was home, instead of off slaying the trolls from the land of Paythebills.

But...

Even though I wasn't sent yellow flowers on this gray-sky day, I do have a love note in hand. I was attacked with the truest of true love's hugs and kisses by my two little people. I really will live happily ever after, forever, someday. And as the queen of this castle, I have the option to put a DVD on in the middle of the day:)

Three Thanks Thursday

Today I am thankful for:

1. Sleeping with Katie in my bed for an hour after she woke up too early this morning. I rarely have my kids in bed with me, and she was warm and cozy and perfect.


2. Coffee.


3. A long, hot shower. (a lovely morning)

Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart. Psalm 32:11

The girl has issues

Saturday night after dinner Katie was in a fussy mood. She didn't want what she had, but nothing else was really pleasing her either. After the twentieth or so little squeal left her whiney, little lips Adam said, "Katie, you have issues."

Katie looked right at him and immediately left the room. She returned a moment later and gave him a box of tissues.

That girl cracks me up.

My Knight in Shining Armor

I wish I could write how much I love this boy. I wish I could explain how thankful I am that the LORD blessed me with such a wonderful son. Joey brings me joy, laughter, love, hugs, kisses, and compassion everyday of my life.

And I think if he had to, he'd slay dragons for me.

Hesitancy

One of the reasons I wanted to start a blog was to have a place where I could talk about Natalie if I wanted. There are just a handful of people in my life with whom I can freely discuss her without being nervous that I am making them feel awkward. And even if the conversation wouldn't make them feel awkward, sometimes I feel like stillbirth and the following grief and memories aren't always the most delightful conversation topics.

As I begin to think of posting about her I am hesitant. I love her so much, and it is hard to understand how I will communicate what a beautiful part of my life she is. However, one of the hurts of stillbirth is that your child is gone from the minds of many long before you are ready to be done thinking, remembering, and speaking of her.

By posting about her here, I am allowing complete strangers to read about her, and my fear is that it would seem as though I am trying to garner an emotional response to gain readership. Please know that would never be the case; a post about Natalie or my grief over losing her is just another post about one of my children - me sharing what is going on in my life.

So I will post about her from time to time. It will be a change of pace from my usual, silly stuff. You can choose to read or not read, and I like that. If you are a reader who is also my friend, I consider it an honor to share more of her with you. If you do not know me personally, I hope I will be able to convey the scope of the work God did and continues to do in my life by allowing my daughter to be born in Heaven five years ago.

What happens when you let your 20-month-old daughter play in the brush-filled lot next door while you are mowing in the rain

Kate's new hairstyle courtesy of a wad of prickers the size of a baseball getting tangled in her hair. I took the photo after I had removed most of them. (Being the good mom that I am, I decided it was better to relieve her discomfort than get the real wowzer photo.)

Boy Genius?

We were driving home from Giant today when Joey shouted from the backseat, his finger pointing out the window, "Look, Mom, look! A monkey!...Uh, no, ...a cat!"

The boy has some serious animal recognition skills.

Three Thanks Thursday

Today I am thankful that:

1. The election is over, finally over. It did not turn out how I had hoped, but I don't have to sit around and mope. The kids and I have started to pray for Mr. Obama's salvation and that he will see the truth of God's Word.
2. I can pray for my friend who is in the middle of a hard trial. I am not stuck with just giving care, concern, and hugs. I have the gift of talking to my Father and Creator about her needs. And I pray knowing He loves and cares for her a billion times more than I do.
3. I had bacon with my Thursday waffles. If you haven't guessed by now, I am a food lover. And the salty crunch of the bacon was the perfect compliment to Adam's waffles.

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trusteth in him! Psalm 34:8

Meet the enemy

I hardly ever buy chips. The reason being if I buy chips, I eat them. But I made bean soup that was short of extraordinary, and some crushed corn chips were just what it needed.

Do you see how few chips are left in the bag? That is after only two bowls of soup; two bowls of soup and me standing at the counter, eating chip after chip dipped into sour cream while I wait for my soup to reheat. It's terrible, I know.

The fight is on bag of corn chips! I'm on to your salty, crunchy tricks. You can't beat me!

(aren't you glad I posted a photo today, instead of yesterday?
I decided posting photos of dead birds wasn't the best way to lure in new readers)

Inspect your deck

Joey ran inside. "Mommy, come see the bird we found! You gotta come see it!"

He was outside on the deck, so I guessed maybe a bird was caught in the playhouse. I walked outside and found Katie holding a beautiful, red, very dead cardinal.

I consider today the day I learned to inspect my deck for dead fowl before I let the children play.

vote

I had CNN on for one minute this morning before I put on Little Bear for Joey. They showed the lines of people outside, in the rain, waiting to vote. And I welled up with tears. I cry easily, so those tears are no big deal. But the fact that each one of us has a voice, and has the freedom to use that voice, is a big deal.

I will vote today, and you probably will too. In addition to voting, let's be thankful.

For our country, our freedom, and our vote.

I never thought I'd say...

...these special instructions for the church nursery workers:

"Katie doesn't have her shoes on because she burned her toes on the waffle iron. There is Dermoplast in her diaper bag if she seems uncomfortable."