the other side of the world

when my youngest brother moved out of my parent's house, it was traumatic. i can only imagine the confusion, the floundering, of what to do with your life when your kids are not physically demanding anything from you on a daily basis. especially if you've been a stay at home mother your entire life.

my day begins and ends with my kids. very seldom do i do something on my own time table. i rearrange my day around what they need. i give my life to better theirs. to grow them up, to watch them blossom. and one day, they will leave.

so while i have not experienced empty-nesting, i can imagine how drastically it would change your life.

after 20+ years of raising kids, when my mother was presented with empty-nesting, she decided to go back to school. nursing school. for 4 years she endured chemistry, anatomy, then clinicals and the final exam to become a nurse. i walked part of this road with her as i was living in her home for the second half of this journey. weeks after graduating she got an offer to be an operating room nurse. and then i watched as she became oriented in her new job and now flourishes.


it still boggles my mind when i hear about her day. cutting things open, medications i can't even pronounce. and yet, as stated by her supervisor recently, she has become 'the heart of the team' of people she works with. i am not surprised at all.

today she leaves for cambodia on a medical missions trip. she will spend two weeks at refugee camps holding a clinic for the sick and needy. she will travel by boat into remote villages and do house calls. my mother. the one that i rely on for balance, for wisdom, for emotional support, will go and give life to others who need it. physically and spiritually.

and while she is nervous about what is in store for her, i can't help but be excited. be excited for the mother that will show up with her baby in arms - sick and worried. i am excited for that cambodian mother because i know she will be met by my mother. caring, loving, empathetic, knowledgeable. and i know she will be given amazing care.

will you pray with me for her (and my brother jake who is going also)? that the Lord would go before them. that they would be given stamina and wisdom. that the Lord would guide their minds and hands as they seek to meet the needs that are presented to them. and that they would be very aware of the Lord's presence and guidance. and most importantly that all would be done for God's glory alone.

you can hear more about the area they are going to by watching this video.

AC - ROOFS AND WELLS from Imago Dei on Vimeo.

the world as he sees it

i've always wanted to get inside his mind. always wanted the ability to see the world as he sees it. so profound, so intricate.

although my brother's blog is not his thoughts, it is how he sees things.

and it's beautiful.

if you feel so inclined, you can check jake's blog out here.

5 months

with how wonderful sophia is, amazingly enough, it's hard to remember life when it was hard with her. i think that's God's way of helping us cope, his way of making us want to have more. you can't really remember what it's like at the beginning.

yes, there have been moments in the last month that i have thought, 'this is so wonderful...maybe i do want to do it again.' but then reality hits and i KNOW that i don't want to. i just want to enjoy this bundle as much as i can. i want to take her in as much as i can. enjoy and be so grateful for how wonderful she is. and sometimes...oftentimes...i feel like i can't take her completely in. i feel like i might burst with the emotions that she brings out in me.

as sophia gets more mobile - more aware - her brother and sister become more in love with her. sophia went in her first swing ride the other day. and while she could have cared less, her sister, who was swinging next to her, was so happy she could not contain herself.



while sophia loves to be held, she really is content most anywhere.



but when isaiah realized he could hold her facing him, and she could stand and interact with him as she did...well it has become his new favorite pastime.



sophia gives the best open-mouth-slobbery kisses! if you try to kiss her on the cheek she will turn her face at the last second and get you on the lips. this sends her siblings into hysterics.

one of my favorite times with her right now is to snuggle and sway to music. her favorite song right now is 'you & me' by dave matthews band. it's technically a song for me and daddy, but it's like she knows and gets all comfy for a nice sway.

can you tell i'm just a little taken with her?

the last first

we're getting back into the swing of things around here. today marked the first day of school for matt, isaiah and alaythia. matt has been back teaching for a while, but southern started today. isaiah and alaythia had their first day of pre-school. i had to snap a picture before we all headed out the door this morning.


matt and i both commented this morning how this is his last first day of school. after this semester his course work will be complete and he'll be in the writing phase of his PhD. we're making progress! but this also means no natural rhythm of a school year. no spring breaks or winter breaks, or summer. just the plowing of write-until-it's-done.

but one thing at a time. i can't jump that far ahead.

i'm ready for the semester to start. i always am it seems. routine, hard work. i always feel strong at the beginning. i'm ready to send matt out in strength. tell him to go and work hard, i'll keep things going on this end. and inevitably, a few weeks in, i'm tired. i want to spend an evening together instead of him studying, i want him to stay around all day instead of being gone.

so my prayer this semester is for perseverance - to be a support to my husband, to love my kids and to keep the home running smoothly...and as i say to isaiah and alaythia, to do it with a happy heart.

this face

this face...makes any day.

big girl on a sunny day

after weeks of below freezing weather, the sun came out and it was near 50 today. so we bundled up and went for a walk/ride. seems like not a big deal, except for the fact that sophia rode in the stroller on her own. she's a big girl now.


we went up the seminary campus where we met daddy and isaiah and daddy got some football in. we also did a little hide and seek. i was amazed at how nice the fresh air and sun felt. i've missed it.

sisters

mommy got a night out a couple nights ago. alaythia was the happiest to see me go -- she got to play mommy to sophia.



this picture makes my heart physically hurt. to see alaythia's pure happiness showing on her face. sophia's hand resting comfortably on alaythia's face. this sister relationship is new to me. and the bonds that i see forming...well, it's a privilege to witness it forming from the beginning.

on guard!

it's all about fighting and protecting around here since christmas came. isaiah got a plethora of swords and even a whole knight suit. alaythia got princess dresses, jewelry and crowns. at any given moment someone is fighting or being protected.

one day i came out to the living room to find that isaiah had made himself a worthy opponent.



today, i wanted a turn with the swords. i took isaiah on, then said that i wanted a turn with daddy. the kids, having never witnessed this before, all got on the couch together and watched as we took the swords in hand. i quoted the princess bride, 'hello! my name is inigo montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!' when we were done, we turned to see how the kids were responding to it. this is how we found sophia:



luckily the camera was right beside us and matt was able to snap a picture before she stopped the pose.

first snow

today we had the first big snow of the season. it was so beautiful to watch the snow fall all day. school was canceled so matt got to be home with us too.

our good friends came over later in the afternoon to go sledding since we have a great hill just down the road from us. we all bundled up, sophia included, and headed out to the hill. the wind was whipping, but we had several good runs.

isaiah and oliver (who is a little over 3) decided to take a run on their own. both had gone down several times before and did great. we didn't think much of it to put them on together.

they came barreling down the hill screaming like girls and instead of going straight, they veered to the left, heading straight for a ditch...where they promptly fell in. after i knew they were both okay i was hysterical. it was straight out of a cartoon. one minute they were there, one minute they were gone and all you saw was a puff of leaves pop up from where they landed.

imagine how astonished i was to find i got it on video. watch til the end - at the top of the screen. as they got closer i got more nervous, so my filming when downhill. listen for my gasp too. i think it's pretty funny...now.

4 months

technically sophia turned 4 months old on christmas day, so i'm a bit late, but tonight when i was playing with her, i realized how i really needed to get these things down about her before i forget.

so even though we have not fully unpacked from our trip, and there are still christmas decorations up. although i'm tired and should be doing laundry, i'm going to type out just some of the things that i absolutely adore about sophia.

-she loves her tongue. she's sticks it out, flops it back and forth wiggles it around. she doesn't have a short stubby hendrix tongue, it reaches to her chin! this is different than the other two, so it usually catches me off guard when she starts playing with it.
-she has assumed a new position while nursing. she loves to flop one leg back and let it hang between mine. i pull it back to her other leg and she flops it back. and so it went until i realized she prefers it that way.
-she sucks her thumb. i know i will regret it. i know it would be easier with a pacifier. i know the orthodontist bills will be higher. but she puts herself to sleep without a peep...and it just looks so darn cute!
-she looks into your soul when she looks in your eyes. she is living up to her name, wisdom. if you could meet her, she would stare into your eyes first off. size you up, stare a little longer to let you know she 'knows'. and then move on. it's uncanny really.
-she can be cheered up at any moment by some beat-boxin'. that's right, a little boom-boom-chick and she's a happy girl.

that's our louie-soph - our soph-a-loaf at 4 months.