Author: Audra

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Why I Set An Alarm for 7:00 a.m. Every Morning

First of all, let me stress that this is not a persuasive or defensive argument. I’m not trying to persuade anyone that public school is the best option for children, and I also don’t feel like I need to defend why I choose to public-school instead of home-school my children. I think home schooling is a great option and I have many good friends who home-school their children. I am just working through some thoughts and re-visiting my education choices.

I strongly believe that all children learn differently and any approach to educating a child should be done with that specific, individual child in mind. Therefore, I am very narrowly considering Naomi’s own individual personality, strengths, and weaknesses, and our own family’s unique circumstances. I am looking at five different aspects to Naomi’s education: academic, social, religious, worldly influence factor, and convenience/scheduling.

Academically, I am very pleased with Naomi’s progress. From every report and paper I get from her school, I can tell she is excelling in her lessons. She is a proficient reader and enjoys reading. She has become an excellent writer as well, keeping journals and writing out her thoughts and ideas.  She has also learned, this year, addition, subtraction, fractions, and money. I don’t have any complaints about the academic aspect of her education.

Socially, Naomi is doing very well in school also. First of all, she loves school. She is a very shy and quiet child (much like me!), and school gives her many daily opportunities to learn how to speak up, make friends, etc. She has made many friends in her classes. She gets excited about all her class’s activities, like the holiday parties, special class assemblies, etc. She likes her teachers. As far as I know, and I try to communicate frequently with her teacher, she gets along with everyone. So I don’t have any complaints about the social aspect of her education, either.

Obviously, as Naomi attends a public school, she doesn’t get any religious teaching in school at all. Her school has a “winter break” instead of a “Christmas break,” etc. But still, I think Naomi is excelling at the religious aspect of her education, too. She has begun to memorize Scripture. She knows quite a lot of Bible stories. She enjoys reading the Bible and looks forward to doing so every night at bedtime. She goes to AWANA on Wednesday nights at a nearby church, and to Good News Club at her school, and she enjoys Sunday School (which she attends twice every Sunday!). So I can’t really complain about her religious education, either.

However, when we get to the Worldly Influence Factor, I have more concerns. She is being introduced to things that I can’t control! It’s scary. Where do you draw the line? I don’t want to isolate my family. I find it appealing, in many ways, to homeschool my children, and not mix with the world and its crazy, wrong values. But I know my personality, and I know our family’s circumstances. I am a quiet, introverted person. I am happy to stay at home. My husband is a  pastor. If I homeschooled, it would be very easy, and very tempting, for me to “close in” around our little family and ignore the world outside our door. Yet I feel strongly that as a Christian, that is not how I need to be. I need to be meeting people and developing relationships with people and hopefully showing them a glimpse of Christ. So again, where do I draw the line? I don’t know. But I will say that honestly, I would say that public school fails on the Worldly Influence Factor.

Finally, their is Convenience/Family Scheduling. Sure, sometimes it is nice to have one less child at home during the day. (Naomi is quite a messy child, lol.) But overall, it is more of an inconvenience to send her to school than let her stay home! First of all, we have to get up at 7 a.m. every day. Rachel misses her sister terribly. When Naomi is home, Rachel and Naomi play very well together and I find it is often easier for me to get things done around the house. Also, our day is structured around Naomi’s school schedule–bus pick up and bus drop off. After school is a rush of homework and dinner and bath, and if you throw in any extra-curricular activities, it becomes terribly busy. Vacations are harder to plan because you have to consider the school schedule, not just what works best for your family’s schedule. On beautiful days when we would like to go explore the Rockies, we can’t, because Naomi has school. I have to say that I think I would enjoy a home-schooling schedule more than public school. So I would give this section a Fail too.

Balancing it all out, we have decided to send Naomi to the local public school. Is it perfect? No. Is it the best choice for her? I hope so. I hope I have made the right decision for what is best for her. Will we send Rachel and Sarah to public school too? Probably, but not definitely. Every child is different. I don’t know how Rachel and Sarah will do academically and socially in public school yet. Will Naomi always attend public school? Probably, but not sure. I remind myself often that I never signed a contract for 12 years of public school.

I am having trouble coming up with a concluding thought for this post so I think I’ll borrow one that Naomi taught us. “All in all,” I feel we have made the best choice for Naomi.

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Goodbye January!

This is not a week in which I would’ve won any parenting awards. It started off very well…Monday was a great day. Naomi was off to school, and I spent time with Rachel working on cutting and pasting pictures to make a collage. She is really getting good at her scissors skills.

On Tuesday, right after Rachel and I had eaten lunch, I got a call from Naomi’s school nurse that she had tumbled off the slide during recess and hurt her lip. The nurse felt that she had bitten a piece out of her lip! Having never had a seriously injured child or seriously ill child, I was on the brink of panic as I tried to reach Tim and call the doctor’s office to see where we needed to take her.  Tim ended up taking her to the E.R. where she waited for 3 hours and received 14 stitches. I was home with the baby and Rachel…and going crazy…Naomi, I knew, was totally out of her element. She has never been to the doctor for an injury and really hasn’t been very sick ever in her life. I wanted to be with her, so badly. When she got home, I just held her on the couch until it was bedtime.

On Wednesday, we kept Naomi home from school so she could recuperate. Tim and I woke up sick. I lost my voice. Naomi did very well at home, with no pain, and was able to go back to school Thursday and Friday.

So, for the past three days, I have mostly been following little trails of cut-up construction paper throughout the house as Rachel continues working on her cutting techniques. I can’t even read books because my throat is sore and my voice is rather odd sounding. We didn’t make it to AWANA Wed.  night, and we didn’t make it to the playground to enjoy the warm weather. And we never got around to the letter “C.”

Thank goodness for Tim, who has been carefully caring for Naomi’s stitiches and cleaning them off regularly (an ordeal for everyone). Thank goodness also for Sarah, who is happy and healthy. Thank goodness for Rachel, who, though she has made quite a few messes this week, has been very sweet and happy and able to help me entertain the baby when I need an extra hand. Thank you to all the members of our church who called and visited to check on Naomi, and to all who prayed for us.

Monday we return to the doctor and hopefully they will be able to remove the stitches then! I am looking forward to a new week. And I’m not that sad at saying good-bye to January.

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On New Year’s Eve

Last year at this time, we were living in Alabama. I didn’t know yet that I was pregnant (although we were hoping). We knew Tim was going to be looking for a new job soon, but I had no idea we were going to hear God’s call to bring us to Colorado! So much can change in a year!

This year has been full of many changes and many challenges, and also full of many blessings. I am grateful to God for His provision for our family. During the first six months of 2010, after Tim resigned from his job, we were “living on a prayer” month-to-month, yet we made it through! When we accepted Tim’s new job here in Colorado, we had the full support of family and friends back home to help with our transition and move. I had a healthy and mostly uncomplicated pregnancy that made it possible to move at 35 weeks. Once we arrived in Colorado, we were immediately welcomed into our new, supportive, loving and enthusiastic church body. The girls had friends from day one…and I don’t think I can describe how important that was to me. My parents were able to come visit us just before Sarah Joy was born, and she arrived four weeks after our move, perfect and healthy and truly a joy to our family.

This year has also been full of “firsts”. First time to see Colorado and the Rocky Mountains. First time to be the one with the “different” accent! First time to see it snow and not have the grocery stores run out of milk. First time to use a midwife. First 9 lb. baby!

I am ending this year with a heart full of gratitude toward God, and, I hope, more faith than I had when the year began. I hope that God will grow my faith every year, and that I will always be mindful of His blessings.

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Kids

Parenting styles…

I never considered parenting styles before we had our first baby. I was the first of my friends to get married, let alone have a baby, so it was not something that came up often. Now, 3 babies later, I think about parenting styles quite a lot. I read parenting books and magazines and blogs, and now I have lots of mom friends to share with. But I don’t think I can define my parenting philosophy. I also think it has changed over the years.

When Naomi was born 7 years ago, she cried A LOT. I remember that Tim and I would have to walk her up and down the hall in our house to get her to sleep (rocking her wouldn’t work). We took 2-hour shifts at night! Maybe it was colic; who knows? Neither of us had any real experience with babies, so we thought it was normal. After a couple of weeks of this, I read a book called “Babywise.” I don’t remember everything the book said, and I don’t have it anymore, so this is all based on my postpartum memory from seven years ago, but I do recall that it advocated getting the baby on a sleep/feed/wake time cycle, where the baby nurses when she wakes up, then is awake for awhile, then goes down for a nap (without nursing to sleep). Following this advice, and probably also due to Naomi’s own temperament, Naomi got on a very good, consistent 3-hour daytime feeding schedule and spontaneously slept through the night on her own at around 2 months, and then consistently slept through the night thereafter. We had a lot of trouble getting her to go to sleep at night, though, and we did choose to follow the “cry it out” method one night, which, although it was a difficult experience, worked and she then went to sleep on her own. And although we started out with Naomi sleeping in our room in a cradle, she was in the crib in her nursery by two weeks of age. She never slept in the bed with us at night, but sometimes, she would wake up at 6 a.m. and I would nurse her and just lie her back down in the bed and we would all go back to sleep for another couple of hours.

Rachel didn’t cry nearly as much. She and Naomi were sharing a room, but again we put the cradle in our bedroom, and she slept in the cradle for about two months. Rachel was a good sleeper from the start. After she was born and I took her home from the hospital, the doctors told me to feed her every 3 hours around the clock, so I actually set an alarm at night so I could nurse her. At her one-week checkup she was gaining good weight, and they told me I could let her sleep until she woke on her own to nurse. I think she slept through the night for the first time at 5 weeks old, but it was not consistent. She went through phases of sleeping all night, then waking up again for that first year. She had a flexible schedule, which became more fixed the older she grew.

And now Sarah. Sarah is definitely my “happiest” baby. She is very content. She spends a lot of her awake time quietly studying things, although she has recently begun cooing and vocalizing and it’s so sweet to hear. As I write this, she will be 4 months old in just a couple of hours, and she is still sleeping in the cradle in our bedroom. For the first two months, Sarah probably slept in the bed with us 85% of the time. Lately, I have begun putting her in the cradle more, but still, she sleeps in our bed frequently. She has randomly slept through the night on a handful of occasions, but most of the time she wakes up at least once. When I nurse her in the middle of the night, she is not hungry when she first wakes in the morning, so I have started trying to get her to go back to sleep without feeding her, but I probably still do a middle-of-the-night feeding about 50% of the time. She follows the same general sleep/nurse/wake-time cycle that I used for Naomi and Rachel, but not on a specific timetable. She will go four hours between nursings, then want to nurse after only two hours, etc. She’ll take long naps one day, then lots of short naps the next.

So, I realize my parenting style has changed. But what do I believe is the best way to raise a baby? I felt guilty for having Sarah sleep in the bed with us those first few months, so I worked to get her to sleep in her cradle. Then I read about all the advantages of bedsharing, and felt guilty for making her sleep alone. I used the cry-it-out method with Naomi, but couldn’t bring myself to do so with Sarah (luckily she goes to sleep pretty well after being rocked for a short time). So I feel guilty for using that technique with Naomi, even though it worked and gave everyone much better sleep at night. I don’t know if I agree more with attachment parenting or…whatever not-attachment-parenting is called. I nursed all my girls, although I weaned Naomi at 9 months and then gave her formula until her first birthday. I nursed Rachel for one year, then had her weaned within two weeks. Neither of them had any problems when I decided to stop nursing. Sarah is almost entirely exclusively breastfed, because I am not working now and am able to be with her 24/7. She has only had a few bottles of breastmilk. However, when she was only a couple of days old, and we were just home from the hospital, I did give her a bottle of formula. She was up at night, crying, inconsolable, and I had been nursing her repeatedly, but my milk wasn’t in yet. She was hungry and I knew it, and she was upset. I didn’t want to give her formula at all. But was I going to let her cry and be upset, when I had my free sample of powdered formula in the cabinets, just so I could be proud and say my daughter never had any formula? I gave her a couple of ounces of formula, and she was much happier after that. My milk came in the next morning and we were all happy then.

As I write this, Sarah is sleeping beside me on the couch. She woke up about 30 minutes after I put her to bed tonight, apparently considering what I thought was an appropriate “bedtime” as an “early evening nap.” So she got to watch TV with me and Tim and fall asleep in the living room. Something I don’t recall Naomi or Rachel doing often when they were babies.

All of my children are very healthy, and for that I am very grateful. They all understand and feel how much they are loved and valued. I hope that, as they grow up, any parenting mistakes I make will not have any ill effects on them. I hope they will understand why, maybe, I did things differently as their sisters were born and our family grew. And I hope that, maybe, I will be able to let go of my guilt, and my constant questioning about what is the RIGHT thing to do, and spend more time just enjoying my girls for who they are as individuals, and meeting those individual needs.

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Fasting

Our church is going to start the new year with “40 Days of Prayer and Fasting.” No, I won’t be fasting from food, as I am still nursing Sarah. But Tim shared this quote with everyone at church today: “Fasting is abstaining from anything that hinders prayer.” (I can’t remember who said it.) What hinders me from prayer? I could make a long, long list, but honestly, what hinders me from prayer is distractions. The dishes that need to be washed, the toys on the floor (even worse than usual since Christmas), the laundry that piles up faster than I can run a dry cycle. The idea that “If I can just do this first…or just get that done…then I will be finished, and can do XY or Z.”

So for the first 40 days of the New Year, instead of fasting from food, I am going to “feast” on the Word of God. Here is my confession. I am an avid reader, and I love novels. But I do not read the Bible very much at all. I will be honest here. It has been weeks since I read the Bible on my own outside of a church setting. So for these 40 days, I am fasting from novels and will devote the time I normally would spend reading books, to studying God’s Word and prayer.

Also for these 40 days, I will be fasting from desserts, which is going to be very hard for me since I probably eat dessert multiple times a day. I am going to try to move my focus away from food and unto God. I also admit that I am doing this for health reasons. I may not be overweight, but I do not eat well. I suspect I’m addicted to sugar, and I want to break that…I want to feel more energy, and to model good eating habits for my kids.

I hope all of my friends and family will help me with this period of fasting by holding me accountable. If you talk to me, ask me what I read in the Bible that day!

I don’t plan on being legalistic. I am in a women’s group at our church, and we may choose to do a book study this January; therefore, I will be reading something besides strictly Scripture. My point is to take time when I normally would read (“me” time, time I usually don’t give to God), and spend it in prayer and Bible study.

I am excited about these 40 days, even if I am nervous about how I will really make it through the day without even one cookie.

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Sarah, my baby princess

I have been thinking of this post for a long time. Sarah, my baby princess, and my joyful, happy camper. Sarah is now almost 3 months old, and she brings so much joy to our whole family. She is smiling now, huge grins at me, her sisters, Daddy, and her baby doll. She smiled at Naomi “100 times” yesterday afternoon, all of which were dutifully counted by her adoring big sister.

Sarah loves to be close to me. At night, she sleeps in the bed beside me about half the time. I never planned to co-sleep, but the first day I came home from the hospital, I was exhausted, and I just knew that Sarah would not cry if I laid her down right next to me, and that we would both sleep. And I was right. Sarah has a cradle in our room, but if she is in the cradle, I lie in bed and listen to her every sound. Did she just spit up on herself? Did she cough? Did she roll over to the side and get her faced mashed into the bumper? Was that a poop, or just gas?

My parenting style has changed some since Naomi was born. I am less concerned about getting Sarah on a schedule. Her schedule depends mostly on whatever we have going on during the day. She takes naps whenever she starts to get cranky. She nurses anywhere from every 2-4 hours during the day. She’ll sleep 8 hours between feedings one night, then wake up every 3 1/2 hours the next. I do miss the reliability of knowing what we will do at which time each day, but I can’t make all our days the same. Sarah, though, is happy to just go with the flow.

She is changing so fast at this age. She is a chunky little thing. She hates being on her tummy and she has rubbed a bald spot on the back of her head. She got her hands in her mouth for the first time a few days ago, and now she is fascinated by sucking on her fingers. Yesterday her hands found her ears for the first time and she was amazed. She has a baby doll that she coos at. She loves to be held very tightly, right next to my heart. She likes baths, but she only gets 2 a week. She hardly ever cries, but if she does get upset about something and I am not quick to respond, she will get very loud!

Quiet time with Sarah is one of my favorite things. I love to lie down on the couch, with her on my chest, and read a book while she naps. With two other kids, I don’t get to do this every day, so it is a real treat for both of us. When she wakes up in the middle of the night, I often put her in the bed beside me (if she’s not there already) after I feed her. I love to just lie beside her and watch her sleep. She can wake up in the morning, after we’ve had a pretty sleepless night, and give me the sweetest smile as if to say, “Wasn’t that fun, Mommy? We spent the whole night up together, just you and me!” Luckily, most of our nights are pretty smooth now!

I look forward to seeing her sit up for the first time, hold a toy, look at a book, crawl across the floor, and say “Mama.” But I know I will miss these sweet newborn days.

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Thanksgiving

I love seeing all the “thankful” statuses on Facebook lately. I haven’t posted one of my own yet, so here is my list of all the wonderful blessings I am thankful for. These are not in any kind of order at all!

Healthy children, and especially a healthy labor, delivery & birth for Sarah Joy

Indoor plumbing (this will ALWAYS be on my list)

A loving and supportive church family who has taken me in as one of their own in such a short time

New friends for Naomi and Rachel

My neighbor Alice, who has a baby just exactly Sarah’s age, and all the other mom friends I have made here…there is just nothing like having another mom close by to ask for advice, or share frustrations, or just pass the morning or afternoon with.

Facebook, cell phones with free long distance calling, and digital cameras that all help me keep in touch with so many close friends and family all over the country.

SwaddleMe blankets

diet Coke

Libraries!!! And books…I am thankful for the many authors whose books have touched my life, and who have kept me company. Jane Austen, Karen Kingsbury, Francine Rivers, Harper Lee, John Bunyan, C.S. Lewis, John Milton…

My husband: “I have no one else like Timothy.” (Phil 2:20–thanks Paul)

My parents, for their love, good health, and generous spirit to travel to see us

My husband’s family, for their health, and all my adorable nieces

Our country: the freedoms we enjoy, the beautiful land we live in, the opportunities that are available to our children

Central air and heat in my home 🙂

Christmas music

Other musicians whose music has spoken to my heart

My brother and sister-in-law, for the close relationship and friendship we have.

Chap Stick and Curel lotion

Washing machines and dryers

A dishwasher!

All the things Tim does to help me out, including handling ALL outdoor yard work (I’ve never turned on a lawnmower in my life), cooking, and taking out the garbage.

I’m thankful for this time in my children’s lives, when they are small, and that I get to spend my days at home with them.

It is important to note that when we say we are thankful for something, it implies that we are directing that thanks to some kind of entity. Who are we directing those thankful comments to? I try to never forget that all of the blessings I have are gifts from God. I deserve nothing from Him. “Who is man, that You are mindful of him? (Psalm 8:4)” Yet He loves me. “Jesus Loves Me” is the first song many children are taught in Sunday School. But I am still trying to understand that concept. The God of the universe loves me…this is what I am most thankful for, that in His mercy, He calls me His own child. And that He loved me before I believed in him or chose to follow him. “But God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8).

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Kids

Naomi

When Naomi was a preschooler, she was not one to pull everything out of drawers or crawl into the forbidden kitchen cabinets. She didn’t put dangerous objects in her mouth or stick her fingers in the outlets. (She really didn’t prepare me much for raising Rachel as a toddler!) I would describe her as “careful.” She is still a very deliberate child. Watching Naomi grow up is, a lot of the time, like reliving my own childhood. I look at her, and she is just like me as a child. She is quiet, shy, and cautious. And she loves to read. One morning Naomi told us she had finished her Junie B. Jones book the night before. We were confused and asked her when she had read it. She replied that she read it after we  put her in bed!

Lately Naomi’s favorite game to play is school. She is the teacher and Rachel is the student. Yesterday she was carrying a stack of notepads and pencils to set up “school” and she looked at me and sighed and said very seriously that teachers were very busy. One afternoon Naomi and Rachel were on the front porch playing with chalk, and Naomi wrote the numbers 4 and 100, and then asked Rachel, “Which is greater, 4 or 100?” Rachel answered, “Um…4!” Naomi says, “No, 100,” and draws the greater-than sign between the two numbers.

In the mornings, Naomi is never the first to wake up. But when she gets up, she immediately comes to check on Sarah. She excitedly reported to me last night that Sarah smiled at her 9 times, which was more times than she had smiled at daddy (4) and still more than she had smiled at mama (0 that day).

When we were considering moving to Colorado, we told Naomi and Rachel that we might be going to Colorado so that Daddy could be a pastor for a church, but that we had to pray and ask God what He wanted us to do. We asked Naomi and Rachel to pray, too. She took it quite seriously. And she was so excited when we decided that God did want us to go.

Naomi, you have a soft and tender heart. You are a protective older sister. You know more Old Testament Bible stories than I do. You do not like jelly on your peanut butter sandwiches. You hate picking up your toys. You miss my mom’s cat, Tiny, from Alabama. You love to play dress-up and this year for Halloween you have been, or will be, at various events, Cinderella, Ariel, and Barbie. You like to eat chicken nuggets and chef salad from the school lunchroom. Your favorite movie is Barbie’s “The Princess and the Pauper.” You and Rachel frequently like to dress up and act out this movie. You are always the princess; Rachel is the pauper. 🙂 You don’t like it when I put bows or barrettes in your hair. You loved taking ballet last year, but the recital outfit was scratchy. You are a blessing and I love you and I feel honored to be able to watch you grow into a young lady.

A brief photo history of Naomi’s life:

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The Road to Colorado: Day 2

Yesterday was moving day. Somehow, even though we were nowhere near ready to go, and many closets and rooms were not totally packed, we got everything either on the moving van or on the “donate truck” that was sent to Hannah Home. Nike Air Max 90 We couldn’t have done it on our own. nike tn We had so much help. I love the Duggar Family, even though I don’t watch the show anymore. I remember reading their book, and during one of their moves, they apparently had everything moved from one house and set up in the new house within half a day or something. I have always wanted an organized, smooth move. And we have moved plenty of times, so I’ve had lots of opportunities for practice. But it has never worked the way I envision it. Women Kevin Durant Where does all this stuff come from? We had a yard sale last weekend and got rid of furniture, about half of the kids’ toys, extra bedding, lots of kitchen accessories and miscellaneous dishes…everything we could find that we didn’t need anymore. But yesterday, even after the furniture was moved out and all the regular things were packed and on the van, we had boxes and boxes and piles of piles of “stuff.” Our not-so-organized moving day started at 3 a.m. when Tim finally went to bed, after staying up most of the night packing up our bedroom. Anyway, we all got up at 6:00 a.m. and friends started showing up to help move. Adidas Neo Rachel woke up and had thrown up during the night and was running a fever…of course I had packed the medicine cabinet already, so I didn’t have a thermometer, but I had forgotten to pack the children’s ibuprofen, yay. There were many wonderful moments during moving day: the people who looked at our house Thursday night came back to sign a rental lease, so we have renters! Also, neighbors brought muffins, lunch, sweet tea, cold drinks, a pair of bedroom shoes and five handbags. (Seriously! A sweet lady who lives across our street, whom I have never spoken to before but often see taking care of her flowers, brought me a pair of bedroom shoes and five purses that were left over from her yard sale the weekend before.) There were minor catastrophes, too. We thought Rachel’s favorite stuffed animal, “toy Calvin,” accidentally got packed in the back of the moving van. And being sick, she really wanted toy Calvin more than usual. Luckily he was later located in a pile of laundry. While cleaning out the pantry, Tim discovered a really rotten bag of potatoes (really really gross). Around 3 p.m., as the renters are here signing the lease, and while boxes and stuff are still scattered through the house, the carpet cleaners show up. We piled everything that was left in the kitchen so they could start working. At 4:00, the kids and I leave with my parents to go to their house, and as we are leaving the neighborhood I am sure I forgot my jewelry box (which has my wedding rings in it, because I can’t wear them anymore). ugg boots sale I can’t remember what box I put it in and I am panicked that it might have accidentally been put in the “donate” pile. We turn around and go back to the house. air jordan women Tim promises to look through the boxes that are in the “donate” truck. oakley garage rock sunglasses After we get to Tuscaloosa, I find the jewelry box in the bag I had packed to bring to my parents’ house, with my wedding rings inside. I c all Tim, who has not looked through the donate truck anyway, lol. So now on to today. rb3025 aviator large metal 003 3f We are having a great time with my mom and dad. Rachel is feeling better after seeing a doctor and getting some medicine. Naomi played all day long and never once did anyone ask her to pick up her toys. I am looking forward to this week! But I am already feeling homesick. It hit me yesterday, as we were leaving the house.

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Family News

Will There Be Frosted Flakes in Colorado?

Today at breakfast, Naomi, our 6-year-old, asked me that question. It made me smile, and it made me glad that I could reassure her about this one thing–yes, there will be frosted flakes in Colorado! In the middle of all the other uncertainties (who is her new teacher going to be? etc), I could definitely promise the Frosted Flakes. The move is progressing and so is my pregnancy. nike air max pas cher Tim is now planning to load up the moving truck on Friday morning and head out later that afternoon. I am so thankful to the guys and girls that are coming to help put all the stuff in the van, especially in this awful heat they are predicting for Friday! Also, we found a prospective renter for our house last night, and it might very well work out that she will be moving in this weekend right after we leave. Adidas Noir If this does work out it would be a HUGE answer to a prayer as I had pretty much given up on finding anyone to buy or rent before our moving day. Naomi, Rachel, and I will be going to my parents’ house on Friday and staying with them until Aug. air jordan 8 3, when we catch our flight out to Denver. uggs for women The girls are excited about spending a week with Gaga and Granddaddy and getting to ride in an airplane. I am excited about avoiding the 23-hour-drive out to Ault. So that’s our Moving Update. Right now (Wednesday morning), it is hard to imagine that the house will actually be packed up by Friday morning. We are busy, not just with packing, but with my OBGYN appts, and playdates, and making sure we get to say good-bye to all our friends here. air jordan 28 I firmly believe in “people over things”…our stuff will get packed and we will get to Colorado, but I don’t know when or if Naomi will ever see her Alabama friends again. These last few times with friends are so special to me and I cherish every moment of them. nike pas cher And, of course, my nesting instinct is kicking in. I am now 34 weeks pregnant with baby Sarah Joy. Usually at this stage, I am setting up the crib bedding, wiping down and putting out our baby swing and pack’n’play, washing everything in Dreft, etc. But now, before we get to CO, pretty much all I have done is wash all of Sarah’s things. nike air huarache soldes I have them folded up according to type and size, and they are in storage containers so that they can be immediately placed in her dresser once we get to Colorado. I was in the middle of all this washing when Tim said there was no need to wash everything ahead of time, because he would do it once he got to CO (during the week before I get there). 2018 nike air max I was like, “NO! I need to do this! I need to do something to get ready for my baby!” These hormones are crazy. Air Jordan Son Of Mars My focus for the past several weeks, ever since we decided to make this crazy move and take this new job, has been on what needs to happen to get to Colorado and take care of Sarah. That’s more than enough to occupy my mind, and because of that, I realize that I am becoming very short-sighted. ugg boots cheap I am so focused on packing, moving, and having this baby that I have given very little thought to our new position in Colorado as a pastor, pastor’s wife, and 3 preacher’s kids! What is it like being a pastor’s wife? Is it like being a youth pastor’s wife? (probably not, I would guess.) Can my girls handle the pressure of being PKs? Now that the “end is in sight,” I am thinking of these things more. I pray that God will equip me for all the challenges ahead, both the ones I know about (trying to remember everyone’s name so I don’t hurt any feelings) and the many ones I am sure have not occurred to me. I really cannot overstate how thankful I am to our family and friends here, who have showered us with love and support, helped us with free babysitting for my many OBGYN appts so I don’t have to take 2 small kids with me every time I see the doctor, thrown us a baby shower for Sarah (she is going to be one well-dressed kid!), invited us to dinner, showed up to visit and spent the evening packing up our kitchen, devised creative ways to alter a bridesmaids’ dress so I could still wear it when I am nearly 9 months preggo, and I could go on and on with more examples.