Favorite Things

50. An older neighbor who scraped my windshield and watched me leave for work every day from the sidewalk to make sure that I was safe while Adam was gone in Bangladesh.

49. Open sky country.

48. A kind teacher to instruct our birthing classes.

47. Making bierocks for the first time and loving them.

46. An incredibly beautiful and mild winter that seems to be nature's apology for a hideously hot summer.

45. A Superbowl party at the City House with friends and neighbors.

44. Hearing stories of the Bengali church on fire with passion to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

43. Having my husband back after missing him for 10 days while he was in Bangladesh.

42. A maternity swimsuit (thanks to my in-laws) that let me enjoy an awesome swim today.

41. Being an aunt!

Isabella Joy

I am so excited to be an aunt for the very first time! Congratulations to Isaac & Allie on a stunningly beautiful little girl born this morning at 4:04!

The One Thing I Know

Dear Little One,

There are very many things that I am looking forward to teaching you. There will be lots of new lessons for new stages. Pretty soon I'll have to teach you how to nurse and how to sleep when it's dark out. Eventually you'll learn things like how to sit up (and how to sit still) and how to talk and laugh and play. You'll learn a lot and your daddy and I will learn a lot too.

But as I have been thinking about all the things that I want to teach you, not only with my words, but with my attitudes and my life, I keep coming back to the one thing I know that has made all the difference in my life.

I want you to know, most of all, that God is very good. There is nothing else in this life that I am as certain of as this.

As I wrote about last time, many things in this life can be hard or painful or uncertain. People we love suffer, we suffer, we can become quite ill, our relationships can develop tensions, the things that we own can be stolen, the things that we want most sometimes cannot be achieved and all these things can bring hurt.

But, when you know most of all that God is very good, all of these hard and hurtful things teach us that life is ultimately not just about you or me, but is about you and me living closely in relationship with a God who is very good. When we hurt, we can grow very angry because life is not fair, or we can grow very peaceful because we have learned to surrender our rights to leave more room for God in our hearts.

God is very kind, comforting and very merciful. I could not promise you that He is safe. But everything hard and wrong and crazy about this world and the way that we have made it, God knows how to redeem. He knows how to use what is most difficult about life to form us and to make us truly and abundantly joyful as we learn to love others more than ourselves.

Over and again, you will see that God is a God who will make true the desires of your heart and make your heart sing for joy. But never think that God's goodness will make your life safe. Just know that when you are most scared or fearful or in doubt, you have the greatest learning opportunity for discovering God's goodness.

As your mom, I already know how much I don't want to see you hurt and I already know that when you are in pain, I will be in pain with you. It's just how a mommy's heart works.

I think it's how God's heart works too. When you are in pain, think about how God Himself walked this earth and finally ended in the Garden of Gethsemane all alone in great grief and sorrow. He knows how you feel when you hurt, because he moved into our world and felt our hurts with us. And even though the greatest act of cruelty was committed against Him, he still showed us that He was very good and very powerful and he forgave those who hurt Him and overcame even death itself.

I can't promise that hurt will never come to your life, but I can promise you that God is very good. And I hope I can help you learn to bank your whole life on that promise.

I love you,

Mommy

Seasons of Expectancy: Nesting

While the first trimester of pregnancy seemed characterized by the slow process of accepting weakness and inability to do much except go to work and come home and rest, the end of my second trimester has come with a great boost of energy and a dose of "home-ing" instinct. So I have tried to take advantage of this season, realizing that before too long my pregnancy waddle will become prohibitive of too many home improvement projects!

Several second trimester changes have occurred to the kitchen...a wipeable kitchen sink mat (hopefully will help with all those future spills), white slat blinds in both kitchen windows to match the cupboards, and of course a picture of the Ayrshire cows from back home (so that Eliana can experience a piece of Bentley Farm) and extra silicone sealant (hard to see!) on the edge of the counter to ensure full weathering of spills.

The dining room is gaining some privacy (matching pecan slat blinds) and some vibrancy (thanks to the great table cloth Mom found for my Christmas stocking). Not seen in the picture is a Dutch bulletin board (recently installed) that hosts all of the fun Christmas pictures of family and friends that we received over the holidays.

The living room also gained a double curtain rod with an outer layer of privacy curtains and tie-backs. Adam is pretty happy about the fact that I was able to install some wall doorstops to prevent against any damage done to the walls by little hands that like to swing doors!

Some pretty simple updates to our bedroom were made too! A little lace around the windows was added and a little extra window sealant was applied as some of our windows were showing small signs of settling. On the right wall (not seen), a big picture of the alfalfa fields from Bentley Farm (taken the day of our wedding) was added.

And, alas, my mothering instincts have started to make a little nest for our baby. It is simple and no competition for the nurseries in the baby magazines that I read, but it is quite a bit more "us" and practical too because the crib is portable (on wheels) and will allow us to still have a guest bedroom as needed. I especially love all of the recycled/reused/gifted items that we have been blessed with: my parents bought us the same crib that they used for all eight of us made by the excellent craftsmen at the Bruderhof; the quilt on the wall was made for me as a baby and the blanket on the crib was from my infancy; one of the blankets in the crib was made for Adam when he was a baby by his grandmother; the glider was passed on from a friend; and my mom helped me pick-up the dresser from Craig's List for $30 when she visited in October (which will double as holding ground for a contoured changing table).

Big, Bigger...And Even Bigger!

Farm Oven Smells From a City Kitchen

Everything Changes, Kathryn Scott