Open Sunflower, Mystery Flower, and Some Thoughts

As the days go by so quietly with no baby appearing, I have some rare extra moments in which to think. These moments will be non-existent, I think, very soon.

My mind keeps going back to last summer. I keep marveling at the great difference between summer 2009 and this one.

Last summer was trials and uncertainty, faith-building, stress, family members facing pain and all of us watching God move mountains. It was us being Back Home twice - meaning we were out of town a total of more than 5 weeks, I think. I can't thank God enough that He allowed us to be close to my family during that intense time.

Before the first trip Back Home and the second trip there, the girls had two weeks of swim lessons. During that middle session of lessons (between the two trips), our family caught the worst virus we have ever experienced. It laid me out on the couch and in the bed for more days and in more discomfort than I can remember for a long, long time. This virus resulted in CA experiencing a scary, scary (but harmless in the end) febrile seizure. Holding your 2 year old, who is limp, gray, and unresponsive is a terrifying thing.

Our second trip Back Home was mainly to drop the girls with grandparents and leave on our 10th anniversary trip, which was to be in Eastern Tennessee. Or so I thought. And that crazy, exhausting, intense summer ended with me in the Canadian Rockies - completely and utterly caught by surprise by my clever, sneaky, wonderful husband, who let me believe we were spending a few nights in Tennessee.

As soon as we returned from our trip, it was time for the new school year to begin. Everything seemed very back-to-back that whole summer.

Now here we are. If you'd told me last summer that I'd be 9 months pregnant a year later, well, I don't think I'd have believed you. Three months after that fabulous trip, a new baby began, and now we're waiting, waiting, waiting for Cinco to arrive.

This funny, pretty pink flower popped up in my planter box. Mom thinks it's a zinnia. Maybe so, but I don't know how it got there! Look how tall and leggy its stem is! What fun to have a cute little interloper of a bloom show up.

And this summer has been the antithesis of last. We've had but one trip Back Home and that was immediately after school was finished in May. Since then, we've had only swim lessons and an appointment here and there, light schooling, and....not much else! We've been healthy and strong, not busy, generally not stressed or facing trials. It's been what I'd call the quintessential summer - quiet and restful, mostly unhurried. There's been time for reading and talking and movies, the farmer's market and naps. The girls have played and played and played, inside and out. We've gone to the community pool about once a week - oh, yes, I hauled my great-with-child self to the pool just the other night and enjoyed the semi-weightlessness of the water again.

I thank God continually for this rest, this sabbatical He has given our family. Oh, and if you add to that the fact that this pregnancy has been easier than my last - I mean, wow! Thank You, Lord! But, I also thank Him over and over for last summer with its tribulations, discomforts, lessons learned, and faith built. God is glorified and worthy of my thanks and praise in all these things!

Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Psalm 106:1

...give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. I Thessalonians 5:18

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The Mercies Continue....

301 five little girls out catching frogs in the backyard (a weird phenomenon this summer, frogs in our yard)...at last count they said they had 25. Came squealing into the house, saying that they'd watched the critters eat a few spiders they caught. Ha!

302 a few more things put in order, little mundane tasks much easier done on this side of baby's arrival

303 realizing today that God has answered my prayer for a method and routine of keeping things a bit more tidy and everyone pitching in on daily indoor work

304 early bedtimes for all last night

305 those spiral patterns in the sunflower's face

306 oatmeal all around for breakfast

307 wisdom from God's Word in dealing with kiddo sin - man, is it hard sometimes!

308 laughing to myself at this memory: working all day to make a triple recipe of chicken tetrazzini on the day before I gave birth to CA....then realizing I forgot to put the chicken in it...