Every now and then, you just have to take a few days or 7 and just walk away from your normal routine. Go someplace away from it all. And just disappear off the map. Or at least off the map most people know.

I realize my life as a stay-at-home mom sounds REAL taxing, but there are days, particularly days when it feels like all I do is laundry and vacuum (and throw up)..

And even more vital for my beloved husband who hadn't had a real break from work at ALL this past year.

And cuddle with his kids.

In my family, we're so so so blessed to have what you have heard me casually refer to as the Farm. And it just happened to be free this past week, so we packed up our bags, our dog, our many many library books, my knitting projects, a few clothing items, our toothbrushes, lots of art supplies for Kyle, some groceries and got the heck out of dodge.

All the way to Monticello, past the horse farm and curious cows and down the dirt road to our favorite getaway house.

We came on the heels of Josh and Lauren who left us milk and eggs in the fridge. Thanks!

So our week is ended and we are once again settled back in our own home, suitcases packed away.Until this weekend. When we'll head down once again to share Labor Day with the whole clan!

In other news...another blessing that we've been keeping to ourselves the past few months is that...

I'm pregnant!

We should be welcoming Baby Number 3 into our family sometime around the end of February, first of March. I'm currently 11 1/2 weeks pregnant, we've seen the heartbeat on an ultrasound at 7 weeks and heard it galloping along yesterday at our OB visit. And I've been horrendously sick for the past 6 weeks, so if you're wondering why I haven't posted as much or just have generally dropped out of sight...that's why. Extreme nausea and exhaustion will just sort of kick you out of service.

And for those of you speculating that it must be a girl if I'm that sick, well, you may be right, but I was also sick with both of my previous pregnancies, so I don't think those wives' tales mean anything in my case.

I will answer a couple of questions in advance for you:

1) we are not finding out what we're having. Didn't with the previous two, won't with this one.

2) we do not even hint at possible names, so don't ask.

3) you didn't ask, but I'll tell you that I'm currently planning a home birth with this one. Had 2 previous easy deliveries completely without any meds using the Bradley method and after much research and deliberation, have decided to pursue a different course this time. We'll see how it goes.

Keep us in your prayers over the next several months. We're super excited and so very blessed.

The Send Off

The college students and the kids

He starts school next week and I can't wait to see how things go for him. I am so proud of our brilliant young man and so so so blessed to have been his surrogate mom for the summer. What a blessing it is to open your house to someone...yes there were moments of inconvenience, but mostly, I would say it was the best decision we ever made. We now have another son, a friend and a deeper love in our hearts for the tiny country of Rwanda and its many wonderful people.

The day our air stopped working, we had a friend who happens to be an a/c guy come out and give it a quick fix. What I hadn't mentioned in the previous post was that I had planned to cook a big farewell dinner at my house that night in honor of Rene who was going to Hendrix the following morning. My parents and sister, Rachel, were planning on coming. And I knew I would be heating up my house even more with a hot oven!

I decided to go ahead and take a leap of faith and begin cooking. While my children napped peacefully upstairs in the cool air, I put together our meal in my 85 degree kitchen. And the crazy thing was, I adjusted just fine to the temperature. I wasn't even sweating. I was actually singing praise songs. Our air was fixed just in time for dinner to be served.

Woke up the next morning and it was off again. Had a repair guy come out and fix it.

Woke up the next morning and it was off again. Called our original guy to come back out and he gave us a new motor for a fraction of the cost quoted to use by the other repair guy. And so far...it's continued to work. We are thankful daily for the cool air!

I kid you not. 2 seconds after posting the last entry, I felt a bead of sweat trickle down my stomach. Interesting. Yeah, it does feel a little warm in here. I go check our thermostat. Set at 79 and it's...81 in here...and climbing. I run to a vent and hold my hand over it. Air is blowing, but it's not cold air. I run downstairs and outside to see if the fan thingies are blowing...the upstairs one is, but not the downstairs. I run upstairs...yep, still cool. Downstairs...nope.

I call Kyle, almost laughing at the irony of what I just wrote and the events currently unfolding. I've been waiting, for almost 2 years now, for our a/c to just die. I don't know if it just did, but whatever it's doing, it's not working. So, that's what you get for putting your faith out for all the world (or my few readers) to see. A real life test.

My prayer warriors, I need you now. Meanwhile, this is where the rubber meets the road, isn't it? I say I trust God's promises to provide and now I have to live it out. I do trust you God, but I don't think this is nearly as funny as You do. It's 100+ degrees outside. Ah well, thankfully we have places to go if it gets too hot!

I don't know about you, but there are some promises that I rely very seriously on. Such as Kyle's promise to love and cherish me till death do us part. Or my bank's promise to guarantee my funds up to a certain dollar amount. Or even the simple promise that when I make an appointment somewhere, that hour is mine. Designated for me. I expect certain things based on certain promises.

The reality is, a promise is only as good as the one who makes it. I trust Kyle to keep his vows more than I trust the FDIC to guarantee my funds. I trust the appointment holder significantly less...but there's still hope there!

Within the past few weeks, I've seen some men seriously abandon their promises to their wives, leaving them far beyond high and dry. Some seriously despicable actions by people old enough to get their head out of their rear end and do the right thing. Men whose wives JUST gave birth to their child...men who apparently don't care about this because they run off to another woman without so much as a backward glance. Clearly, their promises meant nothing since they lack the character and integrity to back them up.

Some other promises that I've been relying heavily on are ones found in Matthew 6 where Jesus tells me not to worry about my life, what I'll eat or what I'll drink or what I'll wear because He knows what I need and He'll provide all those things for me if I seek HIM first, not the answer to all my needs. God's promises to provide for me and take care of me, I take very seriously. Why? Because if there is ever anyone who has proven himself big enough to fulfill those promises, it's Him.

I can personally vouch for God's power and might. I have seen Him perform supernatural miracles in my life. Seriously. Things that just don't happen in real life, except through God's handiwork. Like when I was dying to quit work and stay home with Brooklyn, but there was no way. Because we had just bought a big house that necessitated both our salaries and there was just no way, financially, short of selling our house, that we could afford to have me stay home. No way. I do our budgets, I know exactly how much it takes to live on and I knew that we would require an additional 40% increase in Kyle's salary if mine were to disappear. And all I could do was pray...knowing that only if God allowed it, could it ever happen. There was no way Kyle would be getting that many raises in time.

Except that I underestimated the bigness of God. Within a few weeks of our laying out these needs, desires and requests before God...out of the blue, completely "randomly", nowhere near his annual review time, Kyle received a 50% salary increase. He had not spoken a word to his boss or anyone else. NO ONE knew the dollar amount we had been praying about. Only God. And then, to have this completely unexpected answer, in an amount even GREATER than we'd been praying about...it left no doubt in my mind. God was big enough to do anything. Anything. Truly, nothing was impossible with Him. The only impossibilities lay in my finite mind. I was forever marked by that event...and since then, others have happened, just as miraculous.

So I know what I'm talking about. God is big enough to stand behind His promises.

He's big enough to work in the life of my husband...to strengthen him and turn him from a good man to a GODLY man...because as great as my husband is, I know that he's only able to keep the promises he's made because God equips him and strengthens him to do so. Just as God alone is able to give me satisfaction staying at home raising my children. And gives me the ability to honor my promises to Kyle.

In short, I have been paying attention to promises and those who make them. And I'm humbled that a God so big and awesome makes such wonderful promises to me. And keeps them.

August, Kyle, Rene, Brooklyn, Ashley, Evergiste

Good news! This morning, the Orkin guy came by and said they would fix the damage to the house. In fact, the moment he left, the carpenter they will be using called and said he plans to start on it immediately. Great news! I can't tell you the relief I feel!

These past few weeks have presented me with multiple opportunities to rely on God and His promises to take care of me and my family. But it's interesting...as I was doing my quiet time this morning, I saw things from a slightly different perspective. I'm currently using Beth Moore's 90 days with John as part of my daily Bible study. And this morning, the passage we studied was in Acts where Peter and John encounter a beggar at the Beautiful Gate. The beggar was asking for silver and gold, which was absolutely the most reasonable thing for him to be asking for. Silver and gold would go a long way to meeting his most basic needs: food, shelter, enough to get by for another day. He certainly couldn't go do any other kind of productive work.

And yet. As logical as his request was, as much as that was the MOST he could have conceivably asked for...there was more God had planned for him.

But when Peter held out his hand, he offered him not money, but something far beyond what the man was expecting: a new life. The Holy Spirit, through Peter's grip, gave the man the ability to walk - strengthening his feeble, crippled limbs. The man was suddenly leaping about, praising God, no longer confined to a life of begging, but liberated to new life.

A point that Beth made today was this: is there someone out there who's been begging God for trivial things like silver and gold when God wants to raise them to their feet to jump, dance and praise Him. Made me wonder what God might be trying to accomplish in my life through all these trials lately. I have definitely been asking him for the daily provision...to help us get through everything...but maybe I'm missing the point. I find myself asking what I'm not seeing. What does God desire to do in my life beyond the obvious? How can these situations be turned into jumping, dancing and praising God?

I don't have the answer yet, but it seems a good question.

If you read my rant last night about our termites, you may be wondering if my house is still standing this morning. Praise God, it is. No sudden implosions just yet. I did lay awake for a really long time last night, thinking about all the wood in this house and trying not to worry. I had to refrain myself from getting up and going room to room poking baseboards or from creeping into Rene's room to dig out my Orkin contract and read it thoroughly...

This was one of those times where the reality of ownership was actually quite helpful. Truth is, I own nothing. All belongs to God. Including this house, our finances, my kids... As a believer, I realize that I am nothing more than a steward of the gifts God blesses us with. And part of stewardship is being responsible and paying for things like termite policies, pest policies, homeowners insurance, etc.

After a restless night, I was awakened at 8am by my phone ringing. Through the haze of sleep, it registered that this could be the Orkin guy calling me b/c just about everyone else knows we're all still sleeping at 8, so I actually answered it. It was and he was on his way. I left the kids asleep in bed and ran downstairs to greet him. He confirmed my suspicion - termite damage. He didn't see any live termites, either. He also confirmed that our contract covered retreatment and repair. Another huge praise!

I should have his manager out here Monday morning to begin figuring out what is involved in fixing and repairs.

But get this. While the guy was checking out my attic to make sure there was nothing suspect up there, he found...either a huge mouse or a little rat. It was in the process of making a nest between an outdoor vent/screen area. I thought I was going to throw up right on his shoes. Needless to say, I was on the phone with Terminix before I left the attic area. When it rains, it pours, folks.

Sigh. This is probably one of those times when I should be laughing and I probably will. Later. Meanwhile, it will be MONDAY before this critter is dealt with and Brooklyn is praying the mouse/rat will die young. Looks like Monday will be a big day around here! More on the joys of home ownership later...right now, I have floors to mop!

Since about March, I have been on an energy-conserving spree. This began when I learned from several of my brothers that you could request (and receive) a free energy audit from our local electric company. This I did. The nicest guy imaginable came and spent about 4 hours walking room to room through my house with me while I peppered him with questions, took extensive notes (to his great surprise!) and made a detailed Excel (or in the words of my friend, Josh, an Expel worksheet) plan to follow through with "tightening up" our old 1935 house. I was shocked to find out that the biggest leak of energy was only what I thought it was - our original windows. Which I adore and refused to get rid of. I hate new windows.

Plus, to replace all the windows in this house would be...unaffordable. So, this guy innocently suggested we add storm windows to the outside of our existing windows which would/should seal off the leaks and make them just about as energy efficient as brand-new windows. At a FRACTION of the cost. I almost kissed the man. But I refrained.

Essentially, I was informed that with the installation of storm windows and a whole lot of caulk (and a few minor other things), we could take care of most of our energy leaks. For a house this old, I felt pretty good about that. That, and my excel spreadsheet, made me happy.

And I have been rigorously tackling my 5 page sheet of "energy audit to do's". Which led me to my basement this afternoon to spray blow-caulk up into the holes where pipes entered from the basement to the next level. Which brought me much to close to lots and lots of spider webs (EWW!), but fortunately I also found some leftover paint stirrers which I wielded with great finesse in front of me to swirl up the cobwebs like so much cotton candy!

So, as I craned my head up and slowly paced below the boards of my living room, looking for holes to caulk, I wandered in front of an interesting and somewhat alarming sight...what looked like rotted wood sort of built up in a little area. Uh oh.

With my handy paint stirrer, I cringed and poked. And the stirrer poked right through the wood. It was either seriously damaged by water or...my worst fear...termites. By this time, I have no idea what got into me, but I actually hauled over a chair to stand on and set to work poking and trying to see how bad this really was. I was spitting chunks of wood out of my face and praying as fast as I could. No live termites - that was good. But overall, the situation was bad. I could tell it went through part of my wall, but I couldn't tell how far. I wanted to cry.

This is because we just paid to have our whole house trim repainted. Not cheap. Then we're in the middle of having our storm windows installed. Also not cheap. Why is it that we ever even want to own houses? Why is that the American dream?? It's a stupid stupid dream! What they should show the poor, hungry immigrant with nothing but their stupid American dream is a hapless homeowner writing out a big fat check to FIX something! Which is what we do most of the time! Come on!

Fortunately, I have the world's sweetest, cheapest handyman plugged in my cell phone, and I was calling him up in about 2 seconds. And bless his sweet heart, he was over at my house in an hour, peering right up into that hole with me. His thought - water damage PLUS some hungry termites. But he is convinced he can fix it without breaking the bank. If anyone can, it's Roger. But meanwhile, I have this section of wood that is obviously in bad shape, possibly hosting termites I can't see, and am waiting for a call from my termite company. That is why we pay for termite policies, right?

I'm so tempted to just start ripping out boards myself to see how bad it is, but then where would I be? With holes in my walls waiting for Roger to come fix it. Probably not a good idea. So here I sit, irked with homeownership and all its onerous responsibilities, wishing I lived in a tiny, worry-free apartment, waiting on my Orkin man to come see me and praying there are no more disgusting critters gnawing things in my house. Please, oh please, Lord, let that be it!

Our friends Becky and Greg (I almost wrote Beg and Grecky), have a trampoline in their backyard, and it was kind of amusing to see my novice jumpers experience bounciness.

Rather than really digging in with their weight and exploding up into the air, they sort of frittered around the surface. Rapidly bouncing on the balls of their feet, plopping down on their bottoms, flopping forward onto their faces, or just sitting there, waiting for another source to move them up and down.

Hey, Guys? Uh, this thing moves!

Getting staticky...

Whatever, Bookwin, whatever...

Oh, that's what you do!!

Many many years ago, in a town about 2 1/2 hours from where I was busy being a little girl, there lived a little boy named Kyle. He was a cute, skinny little thing with large teeth, large brown eyes and at times, a mullet. Although we'll let that slide. I had quite a few atrocious moments myself with enormous froggy glasses, 80's bangs, and some pretty awful taste in clothing...

While this little boy was busy building BMX bike ramps, exploring the creek behind his house, playing baseball, skinning his knees, scoffing at girls, and generally getting into mischief, he wasn't doing it alone. He had the unique opportunity to experience boyhood with several other like-minded little rascals. These boys formed a bond unlike any bond I've ever seen among boys.

This bond lasted through elementary school, junior high, high school, college and continues to this day.

They call themselves the Fellas. The exact roster of the Fellas varies depending on whom you ask. Some of the guys are better at keeping in touch than others, and as is typical among friendships, there are some who are probably closer to each other than others.

Greg, Nathan, Patrick, Chad, Kyle, Jason and Jay

These boys tormented their teachers all through school and from what I can tell, performed legendary feats of "bravery/stupidity" while in high school (I rue the day my children hear all the things their Daddy got away with). They spent summers on the lakes together, broke their fair share of hearts, wrestled together, teased each other, tormented each other's siblings, gave their parents grey hairs. But they also all shared one amazing thing: a strong, unwavering faith in the Lord. These boys, for all their gritty guy-ness, never considered a life apart from God. And some of them had good reason to run from the straight and narrow! Two are now even pastors!

I was introduced to these guys my freshman year of college. It was quite an experience to head up to the UofA for my freshman orientation and not only meet the boy I would fall in love with and marry, but about 8 other guys who "completed the set." Kyle came with friends, to say the least!

Kyle was the first among the Fellas to really fall for a girl, although not the first to do something about it. It was actually painful for them to release each other to the girls they would fall in love with and later, marry. It's as though the introduction of a girl and what she meant to them threatened and changed the relationship they'd always had. How could this girl meet a need the Fellas couldn't meet? Well, she just did. In that inexplicable way that girls and boys find their other half in each other and must be together, turning from all familiar. So there was a definite struggle to readjust to the Fellas plus Girlfriends.

Over time, many of those Girlfriends became Fella Wives. Becky and Greg were the first. Patrick and Karen followed, then Kyle and I, then Jason and Autumn, Chad and Kim, Nathan and Zuleka, Jason and Jennifer, Jay and Lindsey and most recently, this past weekend, Jay and Sarah.

Over the past 15 years, these guys have become men with various degrees, in-laws, car payments, careers, mortgages, and children. It is absolutely incredible to witness the transformation of our lives since we all started out together as college babies. We emerged, diploma-in-hand, dewy-eyed and optimistic with huge dreams for our futures together. We couldn't imagine where we'd end up. We couldn't foresee the struggles some of us would face in various forms or the ways we would pull together and triumph over those struggles. We wouldn't have been able to even DREAM of the ways God had planned to change us, break us and re-make us. We couldn't have predicted how valuable our friendships would be to us through the years. It has been a beautiful process, not without pain and suffering, but rich with love, true friendship and encouragement.

This past weekend, the first time since we graduated from college, just about everyone was able to gather together for the wedding of Jay and Sarah. It was a good excuse to spend time together, let our kids play with each other and reconnect.

The Fellas and the Fella-Wives have now started the next phase...the Fella Kids. It is humbling to see the legacy we now are leaving behind with our babies and little ones. What a blessing. What a treasure. What a legacy.

There are mothers whose gift is the birthday party. I am not that mother.

Today August is 2. I will not lament the passing of time or say how rapidly it's gone by. Those things are true, but every day that has passed has been wonderful. Having a daughter and a son has been a precious gift. They are so very different and each so wonderful in their differences. And in their similarities. I love the little boy August becomes more and more every day. He is so dadgum sweet!

The little boy a mother dreams of - he loves to cuddle with me, kiss me, snuggle with me at night, he seeks me out just to give me a hug or touch me on the leg. He loves the boy things: cars, trucks, trains, hitting his sister...but I have to say at this point he also loves dressing up and wearing my high heels. I think that will pass.

"Our"wandan and August sharing a birthday bowl of cereal.

He's easy going, laid-back, friendly and cool. Not to mention ridiculously cute with his enormous, long-lashed brown eyes. I know I'm biased as his mother, but I feel blessed to have such a cutie. Inside and out. Just wanted to share with the world my happiness that he's graced my life for 2 whole years. Looking forward to many many more.

Total buddies.

Happy Birthday, Little Man.

Haven't actually disappeared off the face of the earth, despite my prolonged absence from this blog. Just been wiling away these summer days with my children. Nothing like seeing them happily playing side by side.

Brooklyn and her "cheese" smile.