Sunday, August 2, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Wherein I gush with parental pride
I am so proud of my daughter. It is exciting to see her personality emerging and the goodness of her heart being expressed throuh her actions.
She loves to share with her little sister. Although sometimes this is problematic (say, when there's an extra Easter basket or rice heat pack to share), Abbie is getting really good at making sure Karis has a toy to play with. Whenever Karis cries, Abbie is the first to bound over to her, coo "Oh, Karis!" and give her a comforting hug and kiss (before commanding, "Mommy, feed Karis!"--ha!)
Abbie has also been practicing doing very grown-up things lately. She's working on getting her baby doll into a nap routine; she puts her in a diaper, nurses the baby, then puts the baby to sleep in Karis' bassinet. Then she announces to me in a whisper "Baby sleeping." The best part, of course, is watching her sit in my rocking chair and nurse her baby. I must be raising her right!
And then there's her frequent desire to pray. As a family, we've always prayed before meals and before bed, but recently I've added prayers once or twice a day for sick people in our church, or just people who are on my heart. Apparently, this has inspired Abbie. Sometimes in the middle of a meal she'll reach out her arms to Matt and me and say "Pray!" Then we all hold hands, bow our heads (yes, she bows her head too) and thank Jesus or tell Him we love Him. Sometimes I'll say, "I love you, Jesus" and she'll add "SO much." !!!!!!!!!!! I love that she understands who Jesus is and knows that she can talk to Him anytime she wants. (So to all the nay-sayers against infant baptism--yes, my 2 year old has indeed been brought into the grace of God and is becoming a disciple of Christ.) She challenges me to grow closer to the Lord, too...and to have faith like a child.
She loves to share with her little sister. Although sometimes this is problematic (say, when there's an extra Easter basket or rice heat pack to share), Abbie is getting really good at making sure Karis has a toy to play with. Whenever Karis cries, Abbie is the first to bound over to her, coo "Oh, Karis!" and give her a comforting hug and kiss (before commanding, "Mommy, feed Karis!"--ha!)
Abbie has also been practicing doing very grown-up things lately. She's working on getting her baby doll into a nap routine; she puts her in a diaper, nurses the baby, then puts the baby to sleep in Karis' bassinet. Then she announces to me in a whisper "Baby sleeping." The best part, of course, is watching her sit in my rocking chair and nurse her baby. I must be raising her right!
And then there's her frequent desire to pray. As a family, we've always prayed before meals and before bed, but recently I've added prayers once or twice a day for sick people in our church, or just people who are on my heart. Apparently, this has inspired Abbie. Sometimes in the middle of a meal she'll reach out her arms to Matt and me and say "Pray!" Then we all hold hands, bow our heads (yes, she bows her head too) and thank Jesus or tell Him we love Him. Sometimes I'll say, "I love you, Jesus" and she'll add "SO much." !!!!!!!!!!! I love that she understands who Jesus is and knows that she can talk to Him anytime she wants. (So to all the nay-sayers against infant baptism--yes, my 2 year old has indeed been brought into the grace of God and is becoming a disciple of Christ.) She challenges me to grow closer to the Lord, too...and to have faith like a child.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
What can I say?
This is the question that has kept me from posting during the last few days/weeks. I'm now married to a high-profile man (relatively speaking) and I have no idea who's reading my blog, and if or how much my opinions, frustrations, disagreements, ramblings, etc. will "reflect" on him, and in what way. I feel like I should just lay it out there: this is my blog and the opinions I express are wholly my own. If you're reading this to spy on my husband, you've come to the wrong place. And if you read something that insults you or ruffles your feathers, talk to me about it--don't go to him.
Don't get me wrong--I love Dingmans Ferry. Everyone we've met has been friendly and hospitable, and we've felt very welcomed. The area is much more remote than I'm used to, but it's beginning to grow on me. The more I see of it (one of the church guys took Matt and me off-roading in his Jeep on Monday--SO awesome) the more I fall in love with the area. I've seen more deer and turkies than I have in years, not to mention the family of Canada geese crossing the road in a straight line and the tiny turtle sunning itself on a rock. It's really charming.
And the parsonage is surprisingly wonderful. It's so much bigger than our Wilmore house, with so many closets and kitchen cabinets we barely know what to do with them!
I guess I just needed to lay my cards on the table. Ever since I said some negative stuff in a previous post about Matt not getting commissioned for ordination (which I changed after hearing indirectly from a blog lurker through Matt that it was a touchy subject and I shouldn't bring it up), I've felt hesitant about expressing my opinions, especially if they're negative. Especially about the UM church. And believe me, I have a LOT of disagreements with the UM church! However, I believe that the Lord called Matt to be a minister of the Gospel through the UM church, at least for this time in our lives. And when we got married, I promised Matt that his people would be my people.
But I digress.
Bottom line: I like it here. I love the church and the house, and I'm really looking forward to serving DFUMC as a layperson while seeing how the Lord uses Matt's gifts and talents for His glory and the Church's edification. However, I reserve the right to express my opinions in this blog, and respectfully ask that anyone reading/lurking would respect that right without assuming that what I think/say reflects negatively on my husband in any way.
Thank you for reading. I look forward to you journeying with me (although silently, which seems to be the case for many of you!) as I continue to grow as a person, wife, mother, and daughter of God in the coming months.
Don't get me wrong--I love Dingmans Ferry. Everyone we've met has been friendly and hospitable, and we've felt very welcomed. The area is much more remote than I'm used to, but it's beginning to grow on me. The more I see of it (one of the church guys took Matt and me off-roading in his Jeep on Monday--SO awesome) the more I fall in love with the area. I've seen more deer and turkies than I have in years, not to mention the family of Canada geese crossing the road in a straight line and the tiny turtle sunning itself on a rock. It's really charming.
And the parsonage is surprisingly wonderful. It's so much bigger than our Wilmore house, with so many closets and kitchen cabinets we barely know what to do with them!
I guess I just needed to lay my cards on the table. Ever since I said some negative stuff in a previous post about Matt not getting commissioned for ordination (which I changed after hearing indirectly from a blog lurker through Matt that it was a touchy subject and I shouldn't bring it up), I've felt hesitant about expressing my opinions, especially if they're negative. Especially about the UM church. And believe me, I have a LOT of disagreements with the UM church! However, I believe that the Lord called Matt to be a minister of the Gospel through the UM church, at least for this time in our lives. And when we got married, I promised Matt that his people would be my people.
But I digress.
Bottom line: I like it here. I love the church and the house, and I'm really looking forward to serving DFUMC as a layperson while seeing how the Lord uses Matt's gifts and talents for His glory and the Church's edification. However, I reserve the right to express my opinions in this blog, and respectfully ask that anyone reading/lurking would respect that right without assuming that what I think/say reflects negatively on my husband in any way.
Thank you for reading. I look forward to you journeying with me (although silently, which seems to be the case for many of you!) as I continue to grow as a person, wife, mother, and daughter of God in the coming months.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
My Review of Nature Babycare Diapers 30 Ct - Size 4
Nature babycare is the result of many years of intense work and development. The first award winning ECO-friendly high-performance diaper, based on new green technology, protected by a Swedish patent. The diaper is soft, thin, comfortable, & the ultra-thin construction gives a non-bulky fit,...
WOW--no blowouts!
Mom of two under 2 Pike County, PA 6/27/2009
Pros: Highly Absorbent, No poop blow-outs, Snug Fit
Cons: Stiff
Best Uses: Infants
Describe Yourself: Parent of Two or More Children
My 6 month old daughter was leaking through her cloth diapers at night, so we had been using Pampers. Unfortunately, every SINGLE time she pooped, the Pampers leaked. So gross. I decided to give Nature Babycare a try. AMAZING! Highly absorbent, and absolutely no poop blowouts (the leg gussets contain the mess while not being too tight). I'm thrilled that this chlorine-free, biodegradable diaper is comparable in performance to even the most expensive brand of traditional disposable diapers. From now on, when my baby's not in cloth, she'll be in Nature Babycare!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
End of Intermission.
In some ways, our short stay here in Jersey has been sort of like the intermission in the Beatles' movie Help!
Here's a brief wrap-up of what's been going on with us during the past few weeks:
1. We sold our house! In other words, we've officially been homeless for two weeks now. Let me tell you, it was a weird experience closing on a house via overnight mail!
2. We bought a minivan. But when you see me driving around in a 2009 grey-blue Honda Odyssey wih leather seats and power everything, don't write me off as the average soccer mom. According to Matt, our kids will never, EVER, play soccer. :-)
3. Staying up late, sleeping in late. We may not be healthy, wealthy, or wise, but we sure are rested and quite happy!
4. Abbie has finally grown out of her bedtime separation anxiety. Now when we put her to bed, we sing a few songs, pray, then tuck her in and say goodnight. And she goes right to sleep! Relief.
So our intermission will come to an end on Sunday when we caravan up to Dingmans Ferry to move into the parsonage. Woot!
Here's a brief wrap-up of what's been going on with us during the past few weeks:
1. We sold our house! In other words, we've officially been homeless for two weeks now. Let me tell you, it was a weird experience closing on a house via overnight mail!
2. We bought a minivan. But when you see me driving around in a 2009 grey-blue Honda Odyssey wih leather seats and power everything, don't write me off as the average soccer mom. According to Matt, our kids will never, EVER, play soccer. :-)
3. Staying up late, sleeping in late. We may not be healthy, wealthy, or wise, but we sure are rested and quite happy!
4. Abbie has finally grown out of her bedtime separation anxiety. Now when we put her to bed, we sing a few songs, pray, then tuck her in and say goodnight. And she goes right to sleep! Relief.
So our intermission will come to an end on Sunday when we caravan up to Dingmans Ferry to move into the parsonage. Woot!
Monday, June 22, 2009
How is this possible?
My little baby is 6 months old. Well, more like 6 months and one week old at this point. And she's sitting up! How in the world did six months go by like blur?
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Day trippin'
Matt and I took a day trip to Lanchaster county, PA today. We were mostly going to check out a non-toxic Strobel mattress that represented too big of an investment to make blindly (and the closest showroom happened to be 3 hours away), but we decided to take the kids and make a day of it. We had such a great time as a family! We ate a big lunch, went to the model train museum, and did some shopping before we even went to check out the mattress. Abbie absolutely loved the horse-drawn buggies. We even saw a horse and buggy going through an ATM drive-through. Odd. Matt splurged and bought me an antique drawing table which I am enthralled with! And I was pleasantly surprised with how well the girls did without naps. Awesome, refreshing day.
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