Are any of you wondering if maybe we just didn’t have Christmas, and that’s why I won’t post any adorable Christmas photos of kids in jammies in front of the Christmas tree? If so, don’t worry. We did. I promise. Trust me.

The problem is that my card reader went out on my laptop, and to post the pictures I would have to walk all the way downstairs and put them on Chris’ computer and then come all the way back upstairs and access them and copy them to my computer. See my problem? That’s such a lot of effort.

In other news, Kyra and I spent last night in the ER. She got up about one o’clock this morning complaining of being itchy.

***Something freaky happened here and I lost my whole second half of this post. So, instead of rewriting it, because of how, um, lazy  am, you get the no frills version below.

Kyra had a rash all over her body and started throwing up. I took her to the ER. We were there till five thirty this morning. She’s fine today. We’re tired. It was just an allergic reaction.

Sigh. You should have read the first version. It was much better.

I will post pictures from Christmas soon, and say something or another about it. Right now, though, I just thought I’d ask…

If you had to pick one restaurant to eat at for the rest of your life…all your meals had to come from there and nowhere else…which restaurant would you pick?

My answer is in the comments.

This post brought to you by a very pregnant woman. ‘Nuff said.

I hope all of you have a wonderful day with your loved ones!

I got one of those email question/answer forward things from my friend, Heather, and, instead of emailing it, I decided to procrastinate cleaning by posting it here. I was on the phone with Amy Jo at the time, and we decided that it would be more fun for her to answer all of my questions for me. The thing about these questions, is that they are supposed to be answered in one word. We kind of cheated. We’re like that. But we tried. So, remember as you read, these are Amy’s answers for me.

1. Where is your cell phone?  ear
 2. Your significant other? heretic
 3. Your hair? bee-yu-ti-ful
 4. Your mother? crafty
 5. Your father? funny
6. No question here for some reason.

 7. Your dream last night? squirrels
 8. Your favourite drink? wet
 9. Your dream/goal? happiness

10. What room are you in? kitchen
 11. Pet’s name? peeve
 12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Heaven?
 13. Where were you last night? home

 14. What you’re not? stupid
 15. Muffins? pumpkin-chocolate-chip
 16. One of your wish list items? bigger-mp3-player
 17. Where you grew up? in-skirts

 18. The last thing you ate? Froot Loops

19. What are you wearing?? pajamas
 20. Your TV?? loud

 21. Your computer?? beloved
 22 . Your mood? constant
 23. Missing someone? Me!
24. Your car? Filthy
 25 . Something you’re not wearing?? bobsled
 26 . Favourite Store? Kroger?? (no, my friend, it would be a bookstore)
 27 . Your summer? adventure’y
 28 . Your favourite colour? pink (said very sadly)
 29. When is the last time you laughed? when I gagged at your pink
 30 . Who will/would re-post this? only the losers with nothing else to do

Just a little pregnancy update one day early, for those of you who want to know how things are progressing with Abby Jo. 

From Babycenter.com:

The network of nerves in your baby’s ears is better developed and more sensitive than before. He may now be able to hear both your voice and your partner’s as you chat with each other. He’s inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of his lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when he’s born and takes that first gulp of air. And he’s continuing to put on baby fat. He now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches  from head to heel. 

I am feeling generally well these days. The nausea has almost disappeared, so I don’t have to take Zofran on a daily basis anymore. My main complaint is that I am ginormous, and that makes me not able to fit into my clothes or expect to always be able to get up or stand up straight on my own. My back and hips kill me. It’s hard for someone of my size to suddenly have to support such enormous girth right in the front of them. So, yes, that is my main complaint.

It’s hard to get these little people into the world. Totally worth it, though. However, if it lasted much longer than 40 weeks, I might have to think a little harder about my role in populating the earth.  ;)

I was reading an article by John Piper called “Clusters of Hope” from the Desiring God website. I found this portion to be particularly relevant to my current state of mind and also to my thought processes about the need for community in our churches. I thought I would share it with you.

It is amazing how much hope you can find when you look hard for it, and hope is a desperately needed power in our lives. It is the river of joy that flows back to us from the final triumph of God, and “the joy of the Lord is our strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). We simply cannot live without hope—let alone flourish in the cause of God.

So maybe we should go harder after hope than we do. I have in mind specifically the most exhilarating hope of all—namely, the hope that God’s saving purposes are now triumphing in the world and will one day hold sway over all creation.

How shall we go harder after this hope? First of all, we can’t do it alone. Without each other’s cheering exhortations we sink. God saves one from despair by giving another a vision of hope. He does not always come directly. God’s work of encouragement in you saves me. His work of encouragement in me saves you.

Continue reading…

Kyra’s Ornament

Elijah’s Ornament

Owen’s Ornament

I bought this ornament in memory of the Little One we lost this year. It’s not the best photo. I couldn’t get my camera to focus on it. I think it was the lighting. I really love the line from Horton Hears a Who that says, “A person’s a person, no matter how small.” 

I just had a terrible thought. You know the movie “Groundhog Day”? Wouldn’t it be terrible if Christmas was like that…and you had to relive it over and over and over until it was perfect? “Ay yi yi!” (as a dear friend of mine would say).

I am not quite as bah humbug as I was last year, but I’m really kind of over Christmas. I think I was since people started decorating for it around October. I hate how it takes over my life. I hate how it’s all commercialized and hectic. I hate how it’s all about the shopping. I had a little more Christmas spirit before I heard about the man getting trampled to death in Walmart on Black Friday. It’s insanity. It’s all about consumerism. When family members heard me say I was only getting my kids one or two gifts a piece, they said, “Those poor babies.” Whatever. My kids have more stuff than they need already. Why should I feel obligated to buy them tons of stuff they don’t need? I get ticked off about Christmas in general when people start trying to make me feel guilty for not overindulging kids who already have everything they need and most of what they want. 

I was way too busy with the end of the semester and everything else to put much effort into Christmas. I didn’t think about it much more than to be annoyed by it. Since my life got much less hectic when the semester ended, all of my Christmas preparations finally got underway this week. We bought and put up a Christmas tree, I wrapped some greenery and lights around the bannister, and, Thursday, Chris and I went Christmas shopping. I bought most of the presents that day, and I have just a few more to take care of today. Kyra got one non-clothing gift (not a toy) and two sweaters, Elijah got two toys and a sweater, Owen got one toy, and they all got one gift together. We also bought them all an ornament for our tree which they already opened and put on the tree. If I know my kids, they will be delighted with this. Last year, at the apex of my grinchiness, we had no tree, they got one gift (that was stuck in a gift bag with no tissue paper), and they were happy. They opened their taped-shut gift bags and squealed over the gift they got, while we all ate cinnamon rolls together. I kind of like easy-to-please kids without a lot of expectations. 

(For those of you who are feeling terribly sorry for my kids, you should know that they still get a ton of toys and stuff from all our bajillions of loving family members.)

So, as you should be able to see, my Christmas spirit has increased from last year. I want it to be a fun time for my kids, but I don’t want it to be all about how much stuff they get. I enjoyed watching them in their little Christmas play at church, and we will enjoy going to our candlelight service at church on Christmas Eve. We’ll eat cinnamon rolls for breakfast that day, and open our gifts whenever Daddy is home. (He has to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.) We’ll read the story of Christ’s birth from their collective Christmas gift… the ESV Illustrated Family Bible. We’ll spend time over food and fellowship and merry-making with all of our extended family, and then it will be over.  And I will be glad.

I’ll be glad to get back to our normal lives. I’ll be glad for people to quit asking me what I got the kids for Christmas, as if that’s the most important thing. I’ll be glad for people to pack up their giant, inflatable Santa Claus lawn decorations, and I’ll be glad to quit having to run all over creation to this and that Christmas celebration. I want to enjoy being at home for a while with no school to worry about, and Christmas is hampering that right now.

Why can’t Christmas just be a two day celebration, instead of a two-month long hassle? That’s what I want to know.

I poured myself a glass of Dr Pepper, and Elijah, who was watching, said, “Dr. Pepper doesn’t make me climb the walls anymore. I drank some, and I tried it…and I couldn’t.”