Momma's Flowers

My little boy loves spring time, being outside, and picking my flowers!

Mother's Day and Bed Rest

This Mother's Day is different than the other special days I've experienced. I won't be going out to brunch, I won't get to hug my own mom, and in fact, I won't be doing much of anything. On Wednesday, my physician put me on bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy. 5 weeks until my scheduled C-section. I've heard stories of women put on bed rest earlier in their pregnancies or having to endure the rest in a hospital bed and although I am blessed with a less severe experience, it is still difficult to comply.

I feel the burden that Geoffrey must now undertake, caring for Eli, myself, the house, our friends, family, and his 3 jobs! I know that he is putting on a brave face and caring for me in sickness and in health, but it doesn't make it easy to watch. I want to help him. I want to clean up after Eli. I want to take care of the chores, make the meals, and serve him. God has placed in me a desire to be my husband's help-meet and I am grieving that loss just as Geoffrey must grieve the loss of closing out his classroom.

I must say that I am not the most willing and obedient patient. Geoffrey and I need your prayers. I need help in being obedient to the doctor and my husband's orders and directions. I need help not to put myself and the baby at risk by doing chores that I shouldn't be doing. I need help letting others do for me. I need help. I need prayers. I need strength to let go and let God.

Also, I ask for your prayers for Geoffrey. He needs help, too. He needs help with Eli, with his classroom, with cooking, and with caring for me. Most of all he needs the strength to be our family's leader. Please pray for him as he is relying on God to receive that strength.

We believe that God hears our prayers and has already taken care of us. We thank our friends and family for the visits and calls, for the help, for the meals, for the generosity and prayers that you've given to us. We thank God for the blessings in our life. We thank God for our lives, even during its' trials.

This Weekend's Home Project

In a previous post I mentioned that Geoffrey and I have committed ourselves to completing a home project each weekend. This past weekend was no different as we accomplished a major goal--downsizing our belongings and having a garage sale. Though we have not truly finished our quest to downsize, we are $300 better off, and now have access to our garage. I'd say the 4 hour morning was a success.

Eliminating some of our "unnecessary" belongings was sometimes difficult, but mostly we felt liberated. I've always been more of a "pack rat" than Geoffrey, so I blame most of our accumulations on myself...it also doesn't help that I enjoy shopping. I am always striving to better myself and to let go of the things of this Earth. One new rule that Geoffrey and I have made for ourselves is that every time we buy something new, we must rid ourselves of something old, too. But for now, we will put our downsizing on the back burner and look ahead to this weekend's project.

To Do:
1. Dust off the shelves on top of our kitchen cabinets.
2. Wash our display plates and decorations.
3. Paint the wall!!! (Yeah--I am most excited about this!)
4. Dust and clean all of our light fixtures and ceiling fan.

What's on your list for the weekend???

God Gives Us What We Need

Sometimes it is difficult to find the words to express what is on our heart to the Lord. Lately, this has been the case for me. I want to pray, but I stumble over the words. I have something to share with God, but I get distracted by other things happening in my life. I feel sad, lonely, or overwhelmed, although there doesn't seem to be a reason.

This Sunday morning a dear friend shared a prayer with our congregation that put the feelings in my heart into words. It happened in a big way. It felt like God was shouting through a megaphone to me saying, "wake up girl! You are a fighting a battle here on Earth and Satan tells you lies! He is whom you battle with, not other people. But don't forget, we win in the end!"

Many Christian friends have said that walking in and with Christ is like riding a roller coaster...there are hills, there are steep drop offs, sometimes we are up and sometimes we are down. In my time of weakness I turned to God and He answered. I know I am not perfect and that I will continue to fail, but I can do anything through Him and I can get through any situation with God by my side.

So when you don't know what to pray about remember this scripture:

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.--Romans 8:26

A Family Reunion

For spring break this year, our family traveled to Vancouver and Seattle to visit our family. It was a special blessing and reunion because of our 4 day excursion in Seattle celebrating John's 70th birthday. The days were filled with stops to Pike's Market, the Pacific Science Center, the Space Needle, Whirligig, and fun little stores with toys, books, and jewelry.


Photo credit: John Wyatt, outside Seattle's REI
Visit Papa John's site for more details on our family reunion.
http://avuncularjohn.blogspot.com/


One of my favorite events was the Argosy Harbor Cruise. It was a joy to receive kisses from my little boy and to watch him bond with his cousins. (Not to mention the nice cruise and sightseeing opportunity!)



The next time we reunite our family will have grown by one...can't wait to introduce our newest addition to these very special people.

Happy St. Patty's Day~!

Tonight we are having a Potluck at church. We are bringing green foods and wearing green clothes. I didn't have a lot of ideas for what to make, so I fell back on an easy "fix"--green food coloring and frosting. I even got a little daring and added food coloring to the batter. I love to make baked goods and typically prefer to share them with others than eat them myself.

Out with the Old!

With the new year, Geoffrey and I decided that each weekend we would try to accomplish one "home project". Our projects have included organizing our closet, cleaning the garage, moving furniture, and cleaning carpets. I am constantly trying to find ways to organize the living room space to make it safer for the kids, cleaner for me, and effective for the needs of my day care.

Geoffrey let me buy this cubby shelf and organizing cloth buckets for the kids' toys. If you look a little closer you may notice that we even painted our "half-wall" a shade called honey butter. I have been hesitant about painting or decorating because the decisions feel permanent to me. However, with kiddos, the walls have been scuffed, marked, and damaged. I've decided to bite the bullet and with just a little drywall putty and paint, I feel the living room has a whole new feel!

We have just under 3 months until our baby boy arrives and I am looking forward to continued decorating, organizing, and down-sizing.

Next on the list: prepping our bedroom for the baby and sorting through Eli's "old clothes". Geoffrey and I have a deal...for everything that comes into the house as a new purchase, something must leave the house, too. This is a fair deal and just the first step to minimizing our worldly possessions.

What ideas do you have about organizing or minimizing your possessions???