Humbly grateful

Today we were blessed with the presence of two great friends - Marvin & Dori - who came to our house, in the midst of our dust, dirt, construction zones and some chaos, to help us clean and tackle some more projects before the baby arrives.

It's hard for me to allow others to see our messes at times, and even more difficult for me to allow others to clean up those messes (unless it's my mom...for some reason that's very different). But, our dear friends didn't bat an eye at our dirt and disorganization, and instead they got down and dirty with us to help sort through some things and get one step closer to some assemblance of order. And then in the end, they thanked us for the opportunity to share in the nitty gritties of life with us! Incredible!

It truly is a humbling experience and a joy to share things such as these with friends. So again, Marvin and Dori, thank you, asante sana, gracias! We are full of gratitude!

Here's some photo evidence of what occurred at our house today... Marvin & Tim were totally celebrating the successful assembly of our changing table/dresser combo... and confusing themselves for Charlie's Angels!

Guess where we slept last night...!?!

Believe it or not, last night we slept in our master bedroom for the first time EVER... since we've owned this house - 20 months and 27 days!!! As you can see we still have some finishing touches to add, like curtains, blinds, light fixtures, pictures, etc. But the lack of curtains allowed us to have our very own sunrise service in bed on this Easter morning! Happy Easter, everyone! We're celebrating on many, many levels!

Graduation Day... of sorts!

Today marks a special day! I'm 35 weeks pregnant today, which for many is just a bit closer to the due date, being more uncomfortable, tossing and turning more in bed, feeling more tired, getting more excited... and anxious, etc. But for me, it's also seems like a day worthy of celebration! I'm sure this has a lot to do with my doctor-who-delivers-babies (mild) neuroses, but I'm jumping for joy because 35 weeks is the cut-off age for babies to avoid a stay in the NICU based on age alone. For this, I'm incredibly thankful! I certainly don't have any history or conditions that would have put me at increased risk for having a preemie, but one never knows, until you pass the date successfully. Of course, babies end up in the NICU for a plethora of reasons, and we hope and pray that our precious life growing inside of my belly will successfully avoid a NICU stay altogether. We trust our Father to continue to keep our baby healthy and safe.

Yesterday we took a hike with some friends at Tucquan Glenn - one of my favorite spots to hike in Southern Lancaster County. It was a gorgeous Spring afternoon, and it felt great to get out and get movin'! I certainly could tell that I had done more physical activity than usual, however, when I promptly zonked out on the couch shortly after dinner last night... and then proceeded to sleep all night long. Tim tells me I was more restless than usual last night, and that I was moaning and groaning lots, but I awakened feeling well rested and ready to start my Monday morning at the clinic after being away from the office for me than two weeks.

We're making big progress around here - we plan to be in our master bedroom by next weekend. We still have quite a bit to do (volunteers to help are welcome :) ), but we're getting sooo close! Many thanks to Tim's parents and to several friends who have already come to help us out a ton. All of our helpers have made the light at the end of the tunnel seem significantly closer. Next week, our general contractor (and my dear brother-in-law) will start framing out what is to become the nursery and our office in order to blow in insulation. That being said, we have to be out of our guest room (which is to become the office) and sleeping in the master bedroom by Easter. It's super exciting and super overwhelming all at the same time. We're also getting closer and closer to having a functional new powder room on the first floor. Yipee! Pictures to come soon!

Speaking of Easter - this year, the thought of new creation and new life takes on a hugely different meaning for me. I've never experienced this motherhood thing before, and I continue to be in awe of the fact that God has chosen me to carry inside my womb a growing human being that will breathe life in just a few weeks. He's gifted us with the honor of becoming parents. We realize that we may not do this perfectly, but we desire to glorify Him with our own lives, and also in our parenting. We pray that our child will grow to know and truly love his or her heavenly Father, who gave all of us His son, who amazingly died for all of us, so that we can enjoy life eternal and the riches of His many blessings that we experience every day. Wow! What a sacrifice! As I'm about to have my own son or daughter, I ponder what that must be like - sacrificing your child - and it seems incredible to me! I can hardly comprehend it...

I received an e-mail with the following slide show in it (A New Creation from Mennonite Central Committee) - I found it a powerful and wonderful reminder of how God has freely given so much, including His one and only son. May it be a blessing to you, as it was to me!

Projects...making progress!

We're knee-deep in remodelling and projects around here... not to mention knee deep in plaster dust! Oh, the joys of an old house with plaster walls and ceilings!

Tim has been working hard on all sorts of things - hanging dry wall, patching walls, making holes in walls to upgrade electric and add hard-wired smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors, painting, building closets, etc. His brother, our general contractor :), has also been doing lots of stuff around the house. We're making lots of progress, but I'm learning that things must get worse before they're better!

I'm leaving for Florida tomorrow for a week, and leaving my hubby behind - this will be our longest time apart since we got married (sigh...) - but it sounds like when I get home things will look different! He's hoping to get our master bedroom painted, and the fixtures for our new downstairs bathroom just arrived today, so perhaps that might be nearly finished too. We ordered a Toto Aquia II dual flush toilet - yeah! - which has yet to arrive, but almost everything else is here so far and looks great! Our GC will be here next week to get some more stuff done in the bathroom and elsewhere. And just in case there's time, I picked out paint colors for the upstairs hallway too! Never hurts to plan ahead.

I'm guessing the furniture for the nursery might arrive while I'm gone as well, but we'll have to find a temporary place to store it til we move on to getting the nursery ready.

Fun times!

Check out the pictures of all our holes, dry wall, project progress, etc.! Some day they'll be history!

The week in review...

So I realized that it's been a very long time since I've done much posting - almost a month, as a matter of fact! Except for the pictures of my jewelry that I posted yesterday before the power outage (lasting 4 hours) and the -even worse- cable outage, lasting almost 24 hours. I'm as happy as a clam to have internet back, and figured it was time to do some blogging. It's crazy to realize how dependent we are on the internet, at least in this household, in 2008. We don't have TV, so this is our source for all things informative, not to mention how I check on the jewelry business, communicate with friends and family and follow things at the hospital while I'm on call (like right now!). Anyways, the internet is back, and so am I!

Since it's been so long, I just thought I'd post some updates...

First, we have a wonderful new outdoors patio set, which we just assembled last night. Check out the picture (a view from above on our balcony) - it was made from tropical woods (maybe acacia?!?) in Indonesia, and we were ever-so-pleased to purchase it, knowing that it was Forest Stewardship Council certified, which means sustainable and responsible methods of forestry were used to get the wood to make our super sweet table. The best news is that I ordered the table, chairs and benches on clearance, and when I ordered them, it said that there were only three chairs left, so, I ordered three chairs and two benches to have seating the whole way around our 7 foot table. When they arrived, the cartons for the chairs said "two chairs per carton." What a surprise! No where did it say that on the website nor the order form... so it seems like we got 2 for the price of 1! And we thought they were a bargain when they were the price for just one! So now we have a table, six chairs and two benches. We put the extra bench on the front porch for now, to create a sitting area out there to watch the cars and people go by on our quiet city street. Isn't our furniture lovely?!? Now you'll all have to come over and have dinner with us! We're starting with my parents tonight to break in the new table and chairs.

While having new patio furniture is exciting, it was a bit of a sad week, because I went to my third-ever funeral of a patient. This funeral was particularly sad, because it was a baby that I had delivered the week before, that was born still-born. Everything seemed fine up until the day the baby was born, when the teenage mom developed belly pain and all of a sudden didn't feel the baby move anymore. We still don't know what happened, and likely never will. My patient is doing as well as can be expected, but this is incredibly difficult for her and her family. Some things are so hard to understand no matter how old you are, but especially when you've just finished 9th grade. I was glad to be able to get coverage during my office hours to make it to the funeral - my patient and her family were all very appreciative.

We had a lovely surprise in our front yard! Which was a wonderful reminder of growth and new life (even when there are sad times and death). My sister-in-law, Lydia, had done landscaping for us in the front yard (which is gorgeous!), and somehow snuck in a surprise. About two weeks ago, I noticed leaves that didn't seem like anything else in our yard, yet strangely familiar to me. Sure enough, out popped my favorite flower, a calla lilly, and then more and more. They keep coming, one at a time! They're beautiful, and in MY yard (as opposed to some garden or alongside the road in Mexico). Thanks, Lydia.

Tim and a friend, Jason, spent the day doing the prep work to re-do the electrical work in our master bedroom. We only have two outlets, as it stands now, but soon we'll have a total of 6, plus lights in the closet, that don't currently exist. One step at a time, the master bedroom will become a wonderful retreat! Can't wait to have lots of zzzz's in that space. :)

Tim and I both must have been distracted this week, because three days in a row, we did a load of laundry and forgot that it was there! Of course, with the dampness and the hot, steamy days of July, by the next day when we remembered, the items were asking to PLEASE be washed again! At least we use eco-friendly laundry detergent, but so much for doing our deed in terms of minimizing our carbon foot print this week!

I guess we didn't do too badly, now that I think about it - we dry all of our clothes on drying racks or on the line (some day I'll have a wonderful pully system to dry our clothes on, but for now it's been added to the "list"), Tim has upped our rain barrel count to 10 (I told him that I bet no one else in Lancaster City owns so many rain barrels), and I ride my bike to work while Tim car pools with two other guys.

We're coming up on our 1st anniversary very, very soon! Just three days away! So hard to believe that we've been married now for one whole year. When I think about what the year has brought, I'm overwhelmed with joy and blessings. I have a wonderful husband, a great house (with lots of projects to keep us all busy for a long time), a fabulous group of partners to work with (go SELHS!), family and friends close by, and wonderful vegetables to eat everynight from our local CSA. Yum!

Speaking of vegetables, it's time to get on with dinner - chard cheese bake (delicious recipe from Simply in Season), grilled corn on the cob, beets, sweet potatoes, and pineapple (not from the CSA, sadly, but every now and then we break down and go with the splurges beyond what our local produce can offer), fresh baked bread from Ric's Bread at Central Market, something to do with cucumbers, and surely blueberries for dessert... all at our new table! Summer is great!