Julie Goes to Prom!

Friday when I went to the Doctor, she offered to strip my membranes. She was pretty sure it would put me into labor this weekend. I declined. Now, before you go thinking I'm crazy, let me explain.

1. I've gone that route before and it worked. Too well. Too fast.
2. It was going to be beautiful last weekend for us and I wanted to just enjoy it.
3. Julie had prom. How could I miss that?!?

I'm so glad I didn't. The weekend was full of beautiful weather and relaxing. Julie had a ton of fun at prom, and we had lots of fun watching all the couples arrive. Although the boys are still confused as to why anyone would ever want to get all dressed up like that. And Noah is quite ticked that the boy has to wear a tux that matches the color of the girls dress. He thinks the boy should get to pick the color too. He has a lot to learn... ;)

Blogger is totally messing with me and my pictures. I've tried all sorts of things, but for SOME reason it is making the pictures microscopic.

Except for this one. Which Julie is totally gonna love. I made them fake pose for this. At the time she said, "Are you taking a picture of my butt!?!" and I was like "No...well, yeah...sort of." ;) Someday...when she's hours away from birthing her 4th child, she'll look back at this picture and think...Dang, my butt looked good! So glad my host mom took that picture ;) I'm sure she will...

She was the most beautiful. And they were adorable together. (FYI: This is not the boyfriend from before. They broke up a couple months ago. I've resisted blogging about it because my joy seemed innappropriate at the time...it may still be innappropriate ;) This is Nick, a friend from youth group. He seems like a nice kid. And, in my humble opinion *cough* had the best tux of the evening. He is from a different school, so it was very kind of him to escort our Julie...she in return gets to go to his prom in two weeks.

Maybe blogger is just trying to help me out by making the pictures smaller so that I look smaller. I guarantee you that in the real picture I in fact look huger than huge. But I can deal...because people we are counting down HOURS now till the little baby arrives!

Tomorrow (or eventually) I'll post the news! YAY!

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Everything in One Post = Overkill

This once a week blog post thing is really quite boring. I apologize.

Some random updates for you:

• Monday night I went into the hospital because I'd been having regular contractions. By the time they hooked me up to the machine thingy, they had stopped. We'll just call it a trial run. The bonus was that Ben and I got to watch the end of Amagedon while at the hospital. And, we were both reminded of how absolutely wonderful the nurses there are. Five more days and we get to go see them again...for the real deal this time. :)
• Tuesday and Wednesday I came down with some weird viral thing. Nausea, fever/chills, sorta comes and goes. Ben was here to take care of me during the worst of it. He reminded me of what true love really is...sometimes it involves making 100 trips up and down the stairs filling the bathtub with pots of boiling water because your wife has used up all the water in the water heater and is still cold in the tub. I love that man.
• Today I'm feeling much better. Even having some coffee. Totally looking forward to some more nesting in the next few days.

In other news:

Ben came up with the idea of planting a garden (at his grandparents home in the country) this year. At first I was a little skeptical...and by that I mean lazy. Gardens seem like an awful lot of work. Last Summer I was annoyed with the two tomato plants we'd planted because I didn't know what to do with all the tomatoes. Can you imagine me with a garden of produce?

After chatting about it for awhile, I realized the garden wasn't really about the produce anyways. It's about the process.

As parents, we've been lamenting a bit about how our boys sometimes don't want to work for things. We live in a culture that wants to take the easiest way possible in order to attain something. I'm entirely guilty of this. I'm perfectly fine with store bought canned green beans if it means I don't have to pull weeds and get dirty. Makes sense to me.

When we presented the boys with the idea, there were mixed reactions. Which reinforced the fact that they need a little hard-labor under their belts. ;) God gives us so many practical and spiritual lessons from the land He's created. Sowing and reaping. Hard work in the planting, the labor it takes to keep the weeds from over-running everything, and the joy of the harvest. It's not just a lesson for my boys...it's for me to. It's a family ordeal.

There's bound to be whining and complaining along the way, but we're praying God uses this time to teach our boys (and us) that things in life require hard work. I want them to learn that just because something is hard, and takes awhile, doesn't mean we avoid it...it means we work hard and see it through. I want boys who grow up to be men who aren't afraid to do hard things.

Saturday, April 10th we started the process. I'm hoping to document it all the way through. Eventually, I'll even be able to bend over again and help...with a baby strapped to my back. :) In the mean time, here's my 38 week preggo shadow.

There, I think you're all caught up now. Oh wait...I can't stop listening to this song: If you can be in love with a song, then I am in deep.

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I'm Trying...Sorta

Guess who's not all that fun to talk to these days?

Me.

Oh you heard me right. I'm trying my best to be pleasant...but the effort is strenuous.

Stren-u-ous. The smile in the picture above, for example. We took that at church on Easter Sunday. Easter is my favorite, without it my faith would be dead. It's also the one Sunday of the year that I make everyone dress up. The boys usually whine and complain, but this year...it was me whining and complaining about finding something to wear...and by that I mean something that fit.

When you tell a non-pregnant, rational person that baby is scheduled to arrive in 12 days, they naturally think, WOW! SO SOON!

When you tell me, I think...12 days feels like forever.

It's not rational. But it is what it is.

I'm quite certain that God knew the precise amount of time it would take to create and form a human life, while at the same time knowing the exact limits of the woman. 40 weeks, give or take a few. Just the right amount of time for the woman to reach her absolute limit. So anxious to meet that little baby, and so ready to feel human again, that she's willing to endure any amount of pain to reach that outcome.

I'm there. Except the pain part...I'd really like the epidural in first. But still...

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We Just Connected...

Sunday we celebrated an early Easter with Ben's side of the family, out on the farm. Each Spring we always have so much fun admiring the new little calves.

This year though...I connected with someone else...

Our profiles let ya know we have a little something in common.

The only difference is that the cow seems to be able to manage keeping her eyes open for the picture. Geeesh. Maybe my face is just so puffy that my eyes actually look like that when I smile. At this point...I'd rather not know. *smile*

19 days to go. Can I get an Amen?

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Grieving is an Odd Thing...

I'm a little weird in a lot of ways. There's no denying it.

I'm especially strange when it comes to death and grieving. Funerals seem weird to me. Visitations/viewings even weirder. The luncheons afterwards make no sense to me at all.

I never know what to say...or where to stand. I never get in line to view the body in the casket, because for those funerals that I have actually gotten in line, that's the first vision that pops into my head whenever the persons name is mentioned.

I've heard people say, how "good" the person looks, as in kudos to the funeral home. I always think to myself, really?!? We make dead people try to look "good" so that we can view them and say goodbye? I don't get it. Needless to say, there will not be an open viewing at my funeral someday...I've put it in legal writing ;) Although, I told my mom she could peek, because she's on the side that finds comfort in the funeral process.

And, as you can see from the above statement, I don't find it hard to think about my own death, or to even joke about it. Several years ago when we sat down with our lawyer to make out a will, I remember him saying how he knew it was uncomfortable to think about such things...and I thought to myself how I didn't find it uncomfortable at all. Weird-o.

I know, to the vast majority of people, all the things I find strange...they in fact, find very, very comforting. I'm not trying to dismiss the importance, or be insensitive...I'm just sharing my weirdness.

Up until yesterday, I'd really never experienced any close family members dying. I've watched people I love, lose loved ones...but never anyone in close relation to me. I've reasoned over the years that maybe that was why I didn't get it. That maybe someday, when I was on the other side, I would understand the process better.

I received a call from my dad yesterday afternoon letting me know that my grandma had passed away. I had no emotional reaction. No visible one anyway. Her death hit my dad and other normal people as unexpected. Yet, in my head, death is always expected for older people. There was no shock, just logic.

Ben called later on to see how I was doing. I said fine, and then asked him how his day was going, just like I do every time I talk to him. Afterwards, I said to him, "I'm weird, aren't I." And he lovingly said, "Yes, yes you are..."

I spent the rest of the evening pondering my lack of reaction, and I learned something about myself. Four years ago, my grandma suffered a major stroke. When my dad called with that phone call, I think it sent me to my knees. That I found unexpected. There were times during that hospital stay, that I was certain she would not survive. It was gut wrenching. I prepared myself to let go.

My grandma and I had always had a good relationship. She was smart and witty, and I always enjoyed chatting with her about current events and politics. I knew she was proud of who I was. She miraculously survived that massive stroke, physically. I remember everyone being so thankful that she had survived. And I was too...yet the woman that remained was now different. Stuck in a body that would not cooperate with speech. And I grieved because I missed who she was.

I grieved more then, than I do today. I guess in a way, I'd already let go. And really, isn't that what grief really is, the process of dealing with letting go. I know everyone grieves differently...yet I see flaws in the way I dealt with my grief since the stroke...I let go too soon...because it hurt less that way.

I'm a work in progress...until the day God has destined for me to meet Him, I just have to continue seeking after Him. And today, my grieving takes the form of a smile, as I think of my grandma in Heaven, with a perfect body and mind...no more frustrations, no more pain...and most certainly drinking a warm Coke (which I always pretended to like, for her sake, but in Heaven...my Coke is gonna be ice cold ;)

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Lately...

Life in the parsonage...lately:

• Last Thursday night, Julie's friend Audhild flew in from Norway. She is here visiting for 2 weeks. The school here will only allow her to visit classes with Julie for one day, so she gets to hang out with me and the kiddos during the day. God bless her. She's quite nice to have around. The boys adore her (she'll draw a picture of anything they ask) and she's finishing up my knitting project for me. :) Oh, and she knitted the most adorable Norwegian sweater for the baby. I need to take a picture of it...I need to take a picture of anything...I've gotten lazy. But...
• I found out today at my Dr. appointment that they are going to induce me 4 weeks from TODAY! YAY! Call me crazy, but I'm all in favor of being induced. I've done it both ways...and induction works best for me. That being said, now watch I'll go into labor on my own...I tend to end up eating my words often.
• I think April is going to be a beautiful time of the year to have a baby. Something about Spring...
• We are starting a new ladies Bible study on the book of Ruth. I've loved the first week. I've also been using my hubby's commentaries to read up on the book of Ruth. This short little book of the Bible has piqued my interest. Ben printed off a sermon series that John Piper did on Ruth, and I loved what he said,

"One of the main messages of this little book is that God is at work in the worst of times. Even through the sins of His people He can lead and He does plot for their glory. It was true at the national level. And we will see that it is true at the personal, family level, too. God is at work in the worst of times. When you think He is farthest from you, or has even turned against you, the truth is that He is laying foundation stones of greater happiness in your life."

• Which was also a good reminder for me, and my politically conservative self, after hearing of the health care bill (that I loathe) passing. God is still at work. And He is far greater than big government...and socialism.
• A sweet little girl in Jake's preschool class looked at me today and innocently asked, "How'd your belly get so big?" I told her there was a baby in there. She looked skeptical.
• Ben and I are working our way through season 6 of 24. We're also watching the current season on TV. You should hear our conversations, trying to keep the seasons separated in our heads. Tricky stuff.
• You know what else is tricky? Two teenage girls, 3 boys, one husband, and a 9 month pregnant lady all in the the same house with only one bathroom.
• Well, I'm off to eat. Audhild is making Norwegian pancakes for lunch. I KNOW! I'll take pictures...I swear.

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In Need of Adjusting...

We're on spring break here...which pretty much means life as normal, except we get to stay up later and sleep in a bit later too.

Exciting stuff.

I've been battling my attitude lately, thus the absence of blog posts. Every time I sat down to do a post, it ended up being kinda crabby...and really, does the internet need more crabby? I think not.

Last night I woke up with a song in my head...the kind that just won't leave. It's a song we used to sing at the church where I first met Jesus in a real way. It's pretty much this Bible verse:

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

(Psalm 118:24)

I generally like to apply this verse to days that are grand. Days that involve things I like. People I like. Activities I like.

And the other days...eh, not so much. They're just days. Days I survive, but definitely don't rejoice in. This verse last night, reminded me that no matter what my day holds. No matter how boring the activity or annoying the people *smile* God has ordained that day for me. His plan is not for me to merely get through it, but to be glad in it. Whatever it holds, He has planned and prepared for me to encounter it.

If only my attitude would stay permanently adjusted...

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