Encouraging Words

from Psalm 145, was reading this today and for some reason, it seemed to hit home, was very encouraging...

2 Every day I will bless You,
And I will praise Your name forever and ever.

3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
And His greatness is unsearchable.

4 One generation shall praise Your works to another,
And shall declare Your mighty acts...

8 The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,
Slow to anger and great in mercy.

9 The Lord is good to all,
And His tender mercies are over all His works.
10 All Your works shall praise You, O Lord,...

14 The Lord upholds all who fall,
And raises up all who are bowed down.

15 The eyes of all look expectantly to You,
And You give them their food in due season.

16 You open Your hand
And satisfy the desire of every living thing...

18 The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.

19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He also will hear their cry and save them...

21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord,
And all flesh shall bless His holy name
Forever and ever.

Baby Boy Afghan, Etc.

It is the end of another week.

I am currently about 22 weeks pregnant, so that means there are about 18 weeks to go. We still have not settled on a baby boy name yet, but have been making lists. I finally decided on afghan colors for baby boy and have been working diligently to make progress. Blues, blacks, and ice blues are what I settled on, in a kind of ripple design. Of course I started with a pattern, but altered it quite a bit. It turns out the only similarity in the pattern now is the opening number of stitches and the number of stitches per ripple. Hopefully I will remember to take a picture so you can see the work in progress. (Edit-- somehow, though it took me all day, and who knows how many tries, obviously I was able to post a pic, ha ha. You can also see more on My Craft Page that my Dad made for me. Thanks, Dad.

I know Motherkitty is also making an afghan for baby, so I will take this opportunity to poke and prod her a bit.....Mom, have you worked on it since Christmas? Hmmm? I am in month 6 and I am over halfway there.

Some good news, too. My husband got out my huge bin of baby clothes (0-9 months sizes) from the shed. It turns out that I have more neutral and boy-looking clothes than I thought. I have a few sleepers and gowns for 0-3, a few sleepers/outfits each for 3-6 and 6-9 months. I also went through my receiving blankets and heavier blankets and found lots that would work for baby boy.

I also have a baby blue portable bassinet, and a white/blue regular size bassinet. The playard (current version of playpen) in navy blues and tans. From the first time I got pregnant I decided that all the big pieces of baby equipment would be neutral colors, and I am glad now that I did that. A friend whose baby just turned one said she would give me her infant car seat, so I don't have to worry about that either.

The only other thing I might replace are old strollers. All the ones I have were either borrowed, given to me or bought at a consignment store or yard sale for $2. I have plenty of time to figure that out.

My sweet husband surprised me yesterday, and said he would take the girls to gymnastics (Dancer Girl's 2 hr class) and also go to the grocery store while they were out. So yesterday afternoon I had 2 hrs all to myself. First I put on some music and then loaded the dishwasher and found all my counters, ha ha. I had quite a mess from Wednesday, long hair hubby's birthday. I made him lasagna and a chocolate pie.

Then I watched some episodes of Battlestar Galactica (again, thank you husband for downloading those for me) that I missed while I was working on baby's afghan.

And now a Message from our Sponsors

here is a post coming directly to you from Little One, who will be 3 in March and Dancer Girl who is 5

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X Marks the Spot

Busy week
Fun school
X is the letter of the week
cutting
pasting
coloring
writing
reading
watching Strawberry Shortcake
math with beans
sewing X's
cleaning house
folding towels
little girls folding washcloths
watching more Strawberry Shortcake
talking to baby Brother
dressing up
singing and dancing
going to the library
dollhouse
little girls making their beds

the girls don't know it, but I am planning a surprise this week, a scavenger hunt, complete with an "X marks the spot" map

Grandpa Teaches Art

The girls were SO excited because Grandpa was coming to do art with them today. (will try to post pictures later). They had so much fun. Grandma even surprised them with bags of gifts, and doing some sewing cards with them. We had a great lunch, did art, listened to great music, played games. It was a really nice day. The girls and I are already looking forward to the next time Grandma and Grandpa come :)

By the way, Grandma, make an appointment for those kittens. They will be 6 months old at the end of January....

Speedy Recovery

We are all much better, thanks for your sweet thoughts. Dancer Girl felt better the morning after we saw the doctor. I kind of wish we had waited a day to see how it would go, but we got an appointment so fast and I was so surprised, that we just went right away. When I called, they said, can you come in a half an hour? Well, now she has to finish the 10 day antibiotics, could be worse, although I tend to lean towards underprescribing. Well, this time, I just chose to trust the doctor, because she said Dancer Girl had 4 out of 5 symptoms for strep. Who knows? We may have gotten the meds just in time and that was what made her feel better faster. I will give all the credit to my God, though, because He is the ultimate healer. He can heal using doctors and medicines, and sometimes He heals in an instant, and sometimes He gives us wisdom to eat and drink things that will make and keep us strong and healthy.

Going to take down the Christmas tree today and make home-made pizza. Yesterday, I baked a ham that my husband was given from the company he is working with right now. It was really good! Yum.

And, I have all my dishes washed. Ok, mom, you can get up off the floor now. You can see both sides of my sink. It has been that way pretty much all week and last week. I am actually caught up on the girls' laundry and on the linens. I just have a couple of loads of mine and my husband's to wash and put away. About the only thing I can credit for being so caught up is not going anywhere. I kind of like staying home, and not rushing off everywhere.

Staying home has also made the first week back to school very productive, even with people not feeling well. Gotta go make my dough, have a good one!

Happy January

Well, the week of Christmas was filled with not only joy and family, but our family sharing a stomach virus, and all the joys of that.

Apparently this week, it is strep throat. Dancer Girl went to the doctor yesterday, and she had 4 out of the 5 symptoms and the doc gave her an antibiotic, though her strep swab came back negative. Well, in the middle of the night she said her throat hurt. That was the one symptom she didn't have yesterday.

Please pray that the rest of us stay well, especially Little One and me. Thanks.

We are having a great New Year anyway, but apparently a slow first week of school.

It could be worse. I thank God that He helped us recover quickly from the stomach virus, and that He will help us recover quickly from this, too.

How Great is our God

woke up this morning and this song was running through my head....
Click here to here a few measures

It is on the album Arriving by Chris Tomlin. Click to see the Amazon link and listen to this and more songs on the album.

How Great is Our God
The splendor of a King, clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice
All the earth rejoice

He wraps himself in Light, and darkness tries to hide
And trembles at His voice
Trembles at His voice

How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God

Age to age He stands
And time is in His hands
Beginning and the end
Beginning and the end

The Godhead Three in One
Father Spirit Son
The Lion and the Lamb
The Lion and the Lamb

Name above all names
Worthy of all praise
My heart will sing
How great is our God

How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God
© 2006 Sparrow

I have much to be thankful for. A healthy baby boy on the way. Two beautiful, smart, strong and healthy daughters. A loving husband who would do anything for our family. Loving parents who would do the same.

God show me the way you want me to go each day, and help me show your love.