It's Been A While . . .

I'm home alone for four days.  Well, not completely alone - just without my husband which feels like being all alone.  I have the girls here, of course.  They are in the dining room eating popcorn before (hopefully) going off to bed soon.  I was passing the time looking through my blog list and found a site that didn't sound familiar to me.  I clicked on the link and, to my surprise, it was this blog . . . MY blog.  I had forgotten all about it!  The last entry was made well over two years ago, before Miss Clementine was born.  Before my father passed away.  Before a lot of things happened.

So, I thought, since I'm sans husband and needing something to do (yes, I could do laundry or sweep the floor, but why?) why not write a new post?  Catch all my non-readers up on what's been happening. :)

The biggest news is the impending arrival of Baby Boy.  After four girls, and on the heels of two very difficult miscarriages, I am very large with child.  Our first man cub.  Our Blessing.  He is due in five weeks but seems to be telling me he'd like to arrive a little earlier than that despite my pleas and protests that we are not quite ready for his entrance just yet.  Still have a few things to do before we are as ready as parents can be.

When Clementine was born, I didn't want any more children.  It was a very difficult birth and I just didn't feel like I had it in me to do it all over again.  Funny how my ways are so different from God's ways.  When she was just 6 months old, my father was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer.  He passed away within weeks. I'll spare the details for now as he deserves his own dedicated post.  Very soon after his passing, I found out I was pregnant.  I can't express how shocked and grateful I was to be pregnant.  After such a stinging loss to find out we would be blessed with new life was such a balm.

A little over 10 weeks into that pregnancy, I began bleeding.  Because that had happened before, I was hopeful that the pregnancy would continue.  I had never miscarried that late into a pregnancy before and it was very traumatic.  I was determined immediately to try again.  The thought of having my last pregnancy being a loss was too much to bear.

A month later my oldest daughter made the decision to go live with her father.  Another loss for me.  I threw myself into my new-found passion (which was actually a life-long passion with a renewed fervor) of politics and began to medicate myself with Liberty and Dr. Paul.  I somehow ended up chairing the county caucus, being sent to the county convention, then on to the state convention, and finally running for PCO (Precinct Committee Officer) and winning the election.  I began attending every city council meeting and speaking up and speaking out.  I had my eye on running for city council eventually.  I was committed, passionate, determined.

God knows just how to orchestrate our lives, lay our paths, and guide our steps.  During the state convention, I had pink eye in both eyes.  I could hardly see but that didn't stop me from participating.  The day I came back home I discovered I was pregnant again.  A couple weeks later, I miscarried again.  The distraction of being so involved in politics was the perfect way to ensure that I didn't succumb to the despair that was tempting me.  I had taken it upon myself to help raise money for a friend to attend the Republican National Convention in Florida and I had responsibilities and places to be, things to do.

Well, that is about all I have time for writing.  The girls are upstairs brushing their teeth which sounds a lot like fighting and goofing around.

Bedtime Routine

When Grace was born, Jeremy was doing a midnight paper route and our bedtime routine was very lax. Grace would often be put down around 7pm and it would take me lying next to her, sometimes for over an hour, until she finally fell asleep. This continued until Abigail was born. Thankfully, by then, Jeremy had quit his second job and was awake in the evenings and able to help me put the girls down for bed.

I cannot praise the Lord and my husband enough for how diligent he was in setting up a bedtime routine. He thoughtfully planned a routine that started with Luther's evening prayer, and it has evolved over the last 2 years into a family devotional time, complete with hymns and Scripture verses. How wonderful to have a husband who has taken the role of spiritual leader so seriously. Even when tired or stressed, he has never skipped the bedtime routine. Sometimes it is shorter than others, but he always puts the girls down with prayer.

Here's a typical bedtime:

Each girl is dressed in pajamas, brushes her teeth, and is given a small cup of water. Their room is red-up (please excuse my Pennsylvania Dutch), and Daddy picks out a book or two to read. The girls sit in his lap while he reads the books, then they climb into their beds and Daddy recites the Apostles' Creed. Next Daddy leads the girls in their memory verses. So far that consists of John 3:16, Psalm 23, John 14:1-6, and the Ten Commandments.

That is followed by several songs and hymns. Our current reportoire is Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus, Jesus Loves Me, Amazing Grace, and Take me out to the Ball Game. :)

Then Daddy closes with Luther's evening prayer. Then the girls are kissed and told they are loved.

This whole routine can take an hour, but usually lasts about 30 minutes. It has become such a special part of their day and I'm sure they will carry the memory of their Daddy's love and attention all their life.

Thank you, Jeremy, for being such a gracious father. In this daily act of selfless love, you are showing our girls the love of the Father. You could be doing so many other things during this time, but you choose to spend it guiding our girls, showing them Jesus, and modeling for them the kind of man they will one day search out to marry and build a family with.

Goings On

We took the girls to Kalama for the parade today. They got a boatload of candy (it helps when you're two little girls dressed in summer dresses, waving and smiling at everyone) and we watched Carly who walked in the parade in support of one of our favorite candidates. It was so hot! The high might have reached 100 today. I'm so thankful that I'm not 9 months pregnant right now.

I cannot keep a secret, and so we've been telling some people what we're having. I think we'll keep the name secret until the birth though. So many people are rude and say how much they don't like the names we've considered that I am gearing up for the response to this one. The name has not been in the top 1000 since the 1830s; it's just that rare and special. :)

The next few weeks are going to be very busy. I have volunteered to be co-treasurer for our HOA, to help clean up the mess left by the last administration. The primary is coming up fast and furious and there are a lot of opportunities to volunteer to help support our next Congressional representative, David W. Hedrick (please, go check out his website!). We are in desperate need of constitutional conservative politicians right now. Our country is on a fast-track toward socialism (and ultimately complete destruction) and we need to reign in the out-of-control spending, regulations, and taxes.

I'm also preparing for the next school year. Carly will be gone a lot during August, which leaves me not much time to get the house in order (where'd all this paperwork come from?) and organize her curriculum. The little ones are going through a reading program with Daddy right now and will start Kindergarten math once that is done. There's also so much to get ready for baby - I have a list of things we need, which is amazing to me considering we just had two babies. Many things were used up or destroyed and then there's things like a car seat and new stroller, and figuring out sleeping arrangements.

Maybe next year we'll be able to have our garden. :)

We Interrupt This Blog to Bring You an Important Announcement

We're pregnant!

It's the old joke about the surest way to get pregnant is to begin the process of adoption.

So, I called the adoption agency today and had them stop our paperwork before they open it and cash our checks. Next I called my midwife and made an appointment for next week.

Can't say it isn't ever exciting here at our house. :)

Hopefully we'll be able to resume the adoption process after the baby is born. We'll see. God's ways are not my ways, but His ways are better. I'm not sure why He took us down this path only to have it diverted. Maybe He was testing our faith. Maybe we misunderstood the calling on our hearts to have another child. Either way we count it all joy.

An Introduction

Hi. I'm Jennifer. I'm a wife and mom and this is my blog. My husband's name is Jeremy. We're both in our mid-thirties, married for eight years. I have a 16-year old daughter, Carly, from a previous marriage. Together Jeremy and I have two girls. Grace will be three next month and Abigail will turn 2 in May. We have begun the process of adopting a child from Africa.

We're not rich. We're not poor. We're just an average family responding in faith to a calling placed on our hearts by a sovereign and holy God.

Thanks for stopping by.