Settling In, Family Update, & a Decision

We have been in our new house almost two weeks now. Thanks be to God for the help of a couple of dear friends who worked hard to get all our stuff moved from the rental house.

We are still very much in that make-do stage that comes with moves. Baby ME made do with this place to play in the first few days we were here...

And she played for quite a long time with that whisk!

Mixed in with the move-in chaos was the added crazy of illness - a few of the kids passed around a virus. Sicknesses that make you and me feel gross and tired often make BH very ill. This time it morphed quickly in to pneumonia, so we were at urgent care on Memorial Day.

I'm happy to say that God has healed him. It was many days and lots and lots and lots of nebulizer treatments, steroids, and antibiotics before he got better. We're hoping to connect with a pediatric pulmonary specialist this summer in order to get a better understanding of BH's problems and perhaps come up with improved responses to his issues.

Sometimes it's so easy to miss God's little and big kindnesses when things are a mess around me. During the move, we lost ALL the keys to the new house, and there are a LOT. Most of the doors have different locks and on several, the deadbolt and doorknob have different keys. Anyway, a few days went by...we prayed for God to help us find the bag of keys.

And He did:

Yep, they were in the freezer. 

Who knows why.

Our new yard is full of lovely flowers, plants and trees. There are two clumps of pink calla lilies. They are so dramatic and graceful!

More making do here...breakfast in the first few days in the house. I am happy to say the table and chairs are up and functional now.

We've been to the doctor's office four times in these two weeks. Whew. Thankful for good medical care, though. BH has been well-behaved at the doctor visits, thank the Lord. He was very entertained by his baggie of Legos at this particular visit. He calls the Lego minifigures "his boys."

Moving is exhausting. For all of us:

A safe place for baby while big sister caregiver does laundry...

Milestones don't wait for life to calm down. Baby ME has been having a little solid food each day for almost a week now. She has had a super dramatic reaction to the experience, shivering all over in apparent disgust and shock each time the spoon and food first touch her mouth. Funny. She's growing more accustomed, though. She's also sitting up pretty well, too!

Did I mention that moving is exhausting, for everyone? 

Note the ever-present (for the last 2 weeks anyway) nebulizer near his head. Glad, glad, glad that's past for now!

So, we continue to settle in, one box at a time. There's also summer school to be done over the coming weeks. Life is always very full. Praying for God's strength - that He will give me strength to keep my trust in Him and not panic and get all self-sufficient...that's an exhausting, anxious place to live, eh?

I've decided to ramp down the blog during this season. This will be the last, or close to the last, post for awhile. I may return here in time, but for now, this will rest. Thanks for being my blog friend!

Texas and the Big Move

Miss ME and I got to take a little jaunt out west from Saturday to Monday. On my way out of TX, I stopped to browse the ever-pompous and delightful t-shirt selection at the airport. This was my favorite.

Given that Baby is such a smiling, uncomplicated little thing, I wasn't anxious about traveling with her, but you never know. I prayed she'd do well, and hoped the air travel wouldn't hurt her ears.

This was her state in the airport before we boarded to go to Texas:

Once on the plane, she mostly relaxed in my lap....

I mean, she really relaxed. Slept most of the 2 hour flight, and I got to read! What a treat!

God graced us with such strong and beautiful relationships during our nine years in Texas. We traveled there last weekend to attend a wedding. Our dear friends' daughter was married on Sunday, on her parents' and grand parents' anniversary.

There are five kids in their family, three of whom are girls (young ladies now, women, actually), all of whom babysat our children many times.

The happy bride and groom planned a beautiful, simple ceremony and celebration. The weather was horrible, awful, wet, and thunderous the morning of the festivities, but God in His tender mercy allowed it to all clear off before the evening wedding. I always get emotional at weddings, because I'm transported back to my own big day, and am reminded of the blessedness of marriage.

I got to see many precious friends while away. The time there was bittersweet. So much for which to give thanks to God, and still sad over the loss of regular in-person contact with our Texas people.

Driving around and not being or feeling lost was a treat, too, I have to say. I have not figured our new area out yet, when it comes to navigating and all that.

As we headed back east from Texas, Baby once again confirmed her easy going status by napping twice on the flight home. She proved to be quite the charmer, striking up sweet little baby talk conversations with lots of people, all of whom seemed more than glad to chat it up with my little baby doll.

So we made it home safely. Thanks be to God. What an honor and blessing to get to make the trip and to connect with others...

And now, it's back to life here. This is a big part of what we did this week:

It's been all about final packing, organizing, cleaning at the new house, making small move-in improvements there, while trying to maintain a bit of normalcy here at the old house - naps and playtime and books read to little ones. On that note, a funny quote, and a testament to my amazing big kids, who are so kind to read to the little ones a lot: today, MK offered to read to the younger set. CJ came to her, semi-whining and asked, Do I have to listen to Hamlet again?! It's not really what I expect to hear my four year old saying, but how fun is that, that she even knows what Hamlet is, and that it's because her big sister reads to her so much (that one is from a children's version of Shakespeare's works). This is all extra-special to me because I do not love reading aloud to the kids.

So tomorrow and the next day are IT: the big move! I'll be honest - I feel completely overwhelmed by it at the moment! But we've been provided a home by our God and He's not overwhelmed at all...

No Words Necessary

okay, just a few words....the above eggs are chocolate...

the one below is real - a cardinal egg in the rosebush

Resurrection Day!

He is Risen!

He is Risen, Indeed!

He is Maker and and Sustainer of this amazing, beautiful universe.

Jesus, He is unselfish, obedient, humble love.

He is my generous Provider - of salvation, of daily life-needs, of delight.

He is all-wise, all-powerful, all-good.

My God knows the beginning from the end.

He is Father, Friend, Rescuer, and King, and in all those roles He is relational. 

And because Jesus lived righteously in my place; suffered and died unfairly in my stead; and defeated death on my behalf...because of all this, I can be friends with God, both in this life and when my body dies someday. I can know what He means by I will never leave you or forsake you - because Jesus already endured forsakenness for me. And I'm able to believe and take comfort from the reality that nothing can separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. 

Halleluia! What a Savior!

Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! Revelation 5:12

 (the picture seems sideways, but it's not...I got to jog under these breathtaking Japanese Cherry trees last week, and this was just the view straight up! pink clouds...pink snow...and matching pink snowdrifts on the the ground, as all the petals are falling down now.)

One (Birth)Day More!

If I were to try to catch up on all that's happened this week, it would totally take over this post, so I'll save that for later and finally share about EG's 14th birthday.

The kids all love the story and the music of Les Miserables. Several have read the book. We've watched the screen version starring Liam Neeson. And the movie soundtrack: beyond memorized. Even BH, with his very inarticulate speech, goes around singing, Ooo DOOOW, Ooo DOOOW! He means, Look down! Look down! (You'll always be afraid...), of course. So funny.

So when she woke up on her birthday, EG found France and Les Mis themed decorations. My parents had come in for the weekend as a surprise, so they got to enjoy the day with all of us.

We all wore buttons with famous lines from the songs and story...

We decorated with a bit of French flag, French red-white-and-blue...

 My beautiful mom

(It was a Providential blessing my parents were here, since multiple kids got sick; we had a home-shopping outing; I wasn't feeling great myself; AND there was birthday fun to accomplish. So thankful for their help and support that weekend!!)

Baby ME was even in on our Les Mis day: see, she's dreamin' the dream!

Thoughtful presents from siblings and parents and loved ones

Downstairs, we decorated with red and black, to commemorate the song of that name, of course. She asked for a bombe cake and couldn't decide on flavors, so I made it neapolitan - three kinds of ice cream, three kinds of cake, fluffy white icing, red sprinkles, black candles.

Happy Birthday to you! 

My mom saved the day by providing these awesome silver candlesticks - to remember the silver (the grace!) that helped change Jean Valjean's life.

And, who'd have thought we'd have a tiny baby whilst celebrating 14th and 15th birthdays in our family?!

One of the biggest surprises for EG and all these Les Mis loving kids was that we all watched the newest screen rendition of the story. We'd been saying no to that for very good reasons, when it hit me that we could easily edit out the unnecessary yuck that was included in the film. It is a beautiful gospel story at its core, and the music is heart-wrenchingly lovely, emotional, and deeply touching all at once.

And so we watched! And most certainly, a good time was had by all, including the musical-nay-saying men in the house and the rest of us womenfolk, who were in various stages of sniffling/weeping when it was all said and done.

We finished the day with a French-themed supper at something like 10pm. There was Perrier to mix with white grape juice (does anyone really drink Perrier straight? No thanks!) and sip from fancy glasses, fruit, meats, cheeses, and baguettes.

It was a special day for EG and for the whole family!

Praying for EG in the coming year - for closeness to the Lord, for growth in faith and love, for love of His Word. Thanking God for her and for each of our eight kid-blessings