sonflowers

Yes, I know that it’s spelled “sunflowers”, but I wanted to incorporate my sons into it as well. I have the most beautiful sunflowers starting to bloom in my garden. At the same time, I have the two most wonderful sons a mother could ask for. Little Elam is now 6 days old, which is hard to believe. He’s the best baby – nurses and sleeps like a charm. He’s starting to wake up a little more each day and it’s nice to see his little eyes taking in the world. Here are some recent shots of my first week off from work on maternity leave…

nesting? perhaps.

I left work at 1:30 today to come home and take a nap, which I did…for 2 hours! My mom has my son today, so I thought I would take advantage of a little “me” time before this baby gets here. It’s decided to incubate at least till its due date (tomorrow) and I’d been wanting to bake up some zucchini bread since the garden is being generous.

First, I made a blackberry peach cobbler that I’d made last year. Then, I made a double batch of zucchini bread. Next, I cleaned up the house and lastly, finished packing my hospital bag. I’m getting ready to light into dinner for my husband and me. I hope he’s as tickled as I am when he gets home to a clean house and the smell of fresh baked goodies! I think this might be my sudden burst of energy that folks talk about before you go into labor. Who the heck knows? I thought I’d have this baby by now! 🙂

I had forgotten about something my son said this morning. He got up early (around 5:45 am) and came to get in bed with me (his daddy was already gone to work). He had been laying there a few minutes when he took out his paci (still trying to kick that habit) and said “I like you.” Now, doesn’t that mean the world to a mommy? It sure did to me.

Enjoy some photos of what I was up to this evening and a visit to a friend’s house the other day.

praise God flow

I sing a song for my son that I think is referred to as a doxology. I’ve known it since I was a little girl. He loves it and says “Again” each time I sing it.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Amen

My garden is buzzing with bees this morning pollenating all of my vegetables. And the super full moon last night was something to behold when it was coming up. Too bad my camera doesn’t do them justice.

ezra and wisdom

Up until now, I have avoided posting my child’s name on my blog, but now I feel it’s time to share. My precious two-year-old’s name is Ezra and it came from the Bible. I didn’t like it when my husband first suggested it, but it’s been the perfect name for him and everyone says it’s so pretty and uncommon. We’ve picked out another uncommon boy name for #2 (if it’s a boy), but I’ll wait and share that when this baby shows up. We have a girl’s name picked out as well – Charlotte. That’s what I had picked the first go round, convinced that my baby was a girl. I was wrong, so I kept it for #2 just in case. Anyway, I digress.

The other day, Ezra insisted on wearing his dog toboggan backward, with his boots and undies in the rain. He claimed the hat would keep his head from getting wet. Smart kid, eh?

The other day, Ezra insisted on wearing his dog toboggan backward, with his boots and undies in the rain. He claimed the hat would keep his head from getting wet. Smart kid, eh?

Our little Ezra has been such a blessing these past 29 months. Even in the throws of “terrible twos”, he’s not terrible at all. He’s sweet, loving, energetic, healthy, funny, talkative…We just can’t believe how blessed we are (“we” being my husband and I). Our other family members feel the same way.

I was thinking of some of the funny/interesting stuff he’s done here lately and wanted to share:

  • He’s been mesmerized by the poison oak all over my arm and the other day I said, “It’s awful.” Now, every time he sees the remainder of the rash (which thankfully is going away now), he says, “It’s awful.”
  • Last night, I went to check on him before I went to bed and I always creep into his room in the dark and feel around in his bed until I find him. I grabbed something I wasn’t expecting – a naked butt! He had removed his diaper and was sound asleep on his belly. Thankfully, he hadn’t wet the bed, so I was able to diaper him up without waking him (a skill we learned when he was around one).
  • Speaking of potty training, he’s not there yet, but I’m not pushy about it. I figure it will happen when he’s ready, but we’ve been encouraging him to go outside since it’s nice and warm. The other day, he actually went twice outside in a row (no accidents in between), then he actually performed a #2 while standing in the yard! I hadn’t encouraged and wasn’t expecting that one, but it made me laugh so hard. We’re just standing there and I hear this “thud” and there’s a nice little present on the ground. It was a hoot.
  • Yesterday, he scared us to death when he almost ran his battery powered tractor over the bank. Thank God (literally) that this stump stopped him or we would have had a mess on our hands. Needless to say, we’re making some changes as far as that tractor is concerned.
  • This morning, I went to lay with him when he was waking up and one of the first things he said was, “I want to feel the baby move.” That was very sweet, because he really hasn’t shown much interest up to this point.

I could go on and on about my kid, but who couldn’t? Each parent is so amused and in love with their child…it’s just something hard to explain.

Last night, I picked up my Bible and read a little in Ezra. My favorite verse thus far was 7:10 “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.” I think I’m going to frame that and hang in his bedroom as his life motto. I think it’s befitting.

On the subject of wisdom, that’s what our Sunday school lesson was about this morning. I actually got to teach the ladies’ class, which I haven’t done in some time. The verses were Proverbs 2:1-6; 3:5-7 and the point was “God will give me wisdom when I humbly seek it.” Notice the last part of that conditional statement that I bolded – we have to humbly seek it.

I liked this lesson today because I feel like I need and desire more Godly wisdom in my life. Knowledge is easy to obtain, but wisdom comes from God alone. I asked God for His wisdom recently in something that I just didn’t have the mental energy for and He’s really helping me out. However, I can’t be lazy and make Him do all the work. I still have to put some effort into it.

One of the challenges in the lesson is to seek God’s wisdom by reading one chapter of Proverbs every day in the month of July – there are 31 chapters and 31 days. I asked my husband if we could do that together and he agreed, so we’ll start tonight. I figure we need a jump start since we’ll probably get off track a few days in July with this new baby arriving. I look forward to what God is going to reveal during this exciting, yet challenging time in our lives. I’ve not yet read this article, but it’s a suggested reading in the Sunday school book that I hope to get to soon – http://blog.lifeway.com/biblestudiesforlife/stripping-the-veneer/.

This week, spend some time in God’s word and see what wisdom you find…

squash blossoms & new recipes to try

My garden is coming along so well! I told my dad I had blooming squash or cucumbers (I didn’t label what I planted like a good gardener would), so he told me a yellow-orange blossom is probably squash. I couldn’t remember which was in that row (yellow or zucchini), but he told me to look behind the blossom and I should see the squash. Isn’t he a smart man? It’s my very first ever zucchini from my very first ever garden!!!

IMG_6931

Right now, it’s only about 3 or 4 inches long, but I bet it will be ripe for the picking in no time. I’m kind of excited about having a bunch of zucchini because I like to eat it. Plus, I found a neat Blueberry Zucchini Bread recipe I’d like to try.

Check out the other things I have coming up in my garden…

Sunflowers, butternut squash, and yellow squash

Sunflowers, butternut squash, and yellow squash

Tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers.

Tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers.

Romaine lettuce

Romaine lettuce

Purple potatoes (I mean, purple through and through!)

Purple potatoes (I mean, purple through and through!)

Not pictured: watermelon and cantaloupe, but they’re still pretty small.

I have been on a kick trying new recipes and thought I would share a few with you:

  • Overnight Blueberry French Toast – made this for my Father’s Day breakfast in addition to the breakfast pizza I’ve made before. It was delicious! I made 1/2 the recipe and we had enough to eat again this morning.
  • Lemon Lime Avocado Pie – this was the easiest, coolest recipe! You just put all the stuff in the blender and then pour in a graham cracker pie crust. I thought it was very tasty and I felt less guilty for eating it thanks to the avocado! And it’s GREEN, let me tell you. It would be perfect for St. Patty’s Day. I finished it off today and it wasn’t as bright green, but it wasn’t brown either.
  • Quinoa Salad – I made this for my mom today when she came out to visit. She’s somewhat vegan and we both really liked it. This recipe isn’t the exact same as what I used, but I can’t find the one I had online. My version just has quinoa, cherry tomatoes, corn, edamame, lime juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

I had planned to make up my freezer meals today for when baby arrives, but I’m going to take a little nap first (while the toddler naps). If the feeling hits, I’ll get to it in a little bit. I bought all the stuff Saturday, so I really need to get with it, huh?

Before I go, I must share a beautiful shot of my  husband and son from Father’s Day. The both looked so handsome ready for church and I caught this picture while they were walking through the yard going to the car. My son had picked some weed and was telling his dad all about it. I love these two fellows so much!

My husband and his "mini me". Cute plaid outfit courtesy of my sister Rachel.

My husband and his “mini me”. Cute plaid outfit courtesy of my sister Rachel.

purple and teal open house baby shower

My families threw us a baby shower on Saturday and boy, do I feel blessed! It never ceases to amaze me the generosity of friends, family, and church members when there’s a wedding or new baby. They just give, give, give! We got so many nice things, including lots of diapers and wipes which we asked for. Like with our first baby, we’ve decided not to find out the gender until the baby arrives in mid-July, but we still got lots of girl stuff. There are lots of folks hoping this second child is a girl…

I had seen an article in Southern Living Magazine about a purple and teal party and fell in love, so that was our theme. I wanted to have the shower at our new house since we’ve only been here about 3 months and not many people have had a chance to come see it. My mom made a cake and my mother in law had special little chocolates made. Then, the best part of all is my sister from Tennessee showed up and surprised us! Well, I say “surprised.” It was strange, because the day before the shower, I had this gut feeling that she was going to be there for some reason. She’s a terrible sneak and never gets away with anything. 🙂

When you’re showered with love and gifts like we were on Saturday, you just scratch your head and wonder what in the world you did to deserve so many blessings. I still don’t feel like we deserve anything good we get, but I’m terribly happy that so many people love and care for us.

Enjoy some pictures from the party!

the good and not so good

I talked to my younger sister last night who reminded me that I haven’t blogged much lately. Of course, my excuse was “I’m so busy!” which is true. I miss blogging terribly and thought I would MAKE time to post something, even if it’s a little quick. 🙂

32 week pregnant shadow

32 week pregnant shadow

This is a pregnant shadow picture of me, now 32 weeks along (33 tomorrow, actually). I can’t believe I’m only about 7 weeks from baby #2 being in my arms instead of my belly. In this shot, I was huffing it up a hill with my two year old son. He insisted walking down this big, steep bank in the field. He did great walking about a half mile, then I ended up carrying him the last eighth or so to his Granny and Poppy’s house. Thirty pounds in your arms and 20 some in your belly make for a good workout!

My son insisting we go through the gate and into the field

My son insisting we go through the gate and into the field

There’s been lots of good and not so good things happening this week. Here’s my list to keep it simple…

THE GOOD

  • Got my son’s twin bed from IKEA assembled last Tuesday evening in less than 2 hours. He loves it, thankfully!

    Forgive the blurriness, but this is my pregnant self after assembling the cool bed last week.

    Forgive the blurriness, but this is my pregnant self after assembling the cool bed last week. I AM a carpenter’s daughter.

  • My garden is surviving and starting to come along. I picked up some watermelon and cantaloupe plants today to add as well.
  • Had a wonderful visit with my brother in law and his family the weekend before last. They came all the way from Colorado to see us!
  • Mom hemmed my curtains I’d gotten from IKEA so now most of my windows are dressed. I got 2 sets of curtains & 4 valances for $20…thrifty!

    My living room curtains

    My living room curtains

THE NOT SO GOOD

  • Woke up sick with a stomach bug last Wednesday morning and it’s hung on for almost a week! I never get sick, so this has drained me. The baby is moving a lot, so that’s good, but my exercise has slacked. I’ve done more yoga (which is GOOD), but that’s about all besides walking around the farm with my kiddo.
  • Didn’t pass my BodyPump assessment video to become certified as an instructor. Thankfully, they give you another chance and they’ve extended my submission date till the end of September since I’m so pregnant. I’ll get it next time.

Well, let’s get busy again. I hope to share some more pictures from my good camera soon. I’ve gotten some good shots here lately in the beautiful Virginia springtime that I really want to share. Have a blessed day!

poppies and more

There’s a gazillion things I’d love to blog about, but you (my readers) seem to be more like me and prefer pictures. So, I’ll let you create your own story about what I’ve been up to lately…

easter and earth day in photos

Thought you might enjoy some Easter and Earth Day photos I captured…they kind of went hand in hand this year.

resurrected savior

I had set my alarm for for 5:15 am, but the cat woke me up at 4:15, so I thought I would get up and start the day. Maybe it was God that woke me up so I could read in my Sunday School lesson and not feel rushed.

Easter is this Sunday…in a way, it’s bigger than Christmas to Christians. It was great that Jesus was born, but if He never came back from the dead, then what would be our testimony? Part of this morning’s reading helped describe it really well to me:

“The establishment and spread of Christianity makes sense only on the basis of Jesus’ resurrection. Other self-proclaimed messiahs had their fledgling movements dry up with their deaths. Why did the Christian movement flourish following Jesus’ death? N.T. Wright, a scholar who has written extensively about the resurrection, contended:

If nothing happened to the body of Jesus,…I cannot see why anyone would have continued to belong to his movement and to regard him as its Messiah. There were several other Messianic or quasi-Messianic movements within a hundred years either side of Jesus. They ended with the leader’s being killed by the authorities or by a rival group. If your Messiah is killed, you conclude he was not the Messiah. Some of those movements continued to exist; where they did, they took a new leader from the same family. (But note: Nobody ever said James, the brother of Jesus, was the Messiah.) Such groups did not go around saying their Messiah had been raised from the dead.”

No one ever found the body of Jesus after He rose on the third day. What does that say?

This week, remember that “Jesus is the reason for the season” just like at Christmas. It’s just like Santa is the focus of Christmas and the Easter bunny is the focus of Easter. Focus on God, and reflect on what He did for us.

By the way, don’t be a CEO Christian…a “Christmas and Easter Only” churchgoer. I heard a preacher say something about that the other day and it was amusing to me.