We’re off this morning for the first Ladies’ Bible Study of the fall. It’s a continuation of the Woman Up study that kicked off on Friday. I’m excited.
Sadly, we were up from 1:30-3:00 last night with Alex. Still don’t know why. Maybe teeth. I finally gave him some medicine, and then he finally went to sleep.
But on a happier note, we were slept until 6:30!
Okay, gotta run so we aren’t late for bible study!
Hopefully, I won’t jinx it by telling you all this, but we are starting to see babies sleeping in until after 6:00 am on a (mostly) regular basis! Yesterday, it was 6:20. Today it was 6:30. I still hear a peep or two at 4:30 or 5:00, but then we’ve all been going back to sleep…this could be the start of something beautiful, let me tell you!
The weekend was good. Friday night was…um…a long time ago. What did we do? Oh, right, there was a women’s thing at our church. It was called Woman Up, a call to “woman up” and be the kind of lady God told us we are supposed to be (Titus 2:4-5). I’ve been waiting for a while for some serious Bible preaching that is clear and hard hitting for where I live. It was great!
Saturday was spent relaxing and tidying up and watching the OSU game.
Sunday was long, but good. We went to church and then drove to C-ville for Deb’s birthday party. We hung out with family and ate berry pie with ice cream and played with babies. Then we drove back to our house and fed the babies their supper, put them back into the Jeep, and drove back to church for evening bible study. So the babies were super-tired (and slap happy) when we finally got home, but they slept all night anyway. And that was good for Eric and me!
And that’s about all I have for today…Happy Monday!
I got this one off the internet a long time ago, I think. But it’s a mainstay at our house.
Mom’s Famous Chicken Soup
3 c. hot water
3 chicken bouillon cubees
1 med. onion, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 c. baby carrots, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 c. potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 c. frozen peas
1 c. frozen corn
1 can cream of chicken soup*
1 can (9.75 oz) chunk chicken breast
4 slices american cheese
In large pot or dutch oven, add water, bouillon, onion, carrots. Cook on high until bouillon is dissolved and carrots are crisp-tender. Add potatoes; cook until crisp-tender. Add frozen veggies and cook until thawed. Add soup. Add chicken and stir; heat thoroughly. Unwrap cheese slices and add to soup. Soup is ready when cheese is melted.
*Use either a large or small can of soup. The larger can makes a more chowder-like soup. (I use a regular can.)
Alex had an hour-long screaming problem last night at 10 pm. I had just turned out the light after reading. It’s like he knows when I’m settling down for the night.
But once I got him settled, they slept the rest of the night. Until 6:30 a.m.! WOOO HOOO!
Also, Alex stood himself up this morning. He backed himself up against the curve in our sectional and used the couch to balance against while he lifted himself to a standing position. He’ll be cruising along furniture in no time!
I got videos of Erin playing peekaboo by herself and Alex crawling yesterday. Too cute!
So far this morning I’ve loaded the dishwasher, folded baby clothes (and started the next loads of it), and watched last night’s episode of Dancing with the Stars (recorded). I’ve never purposely watched DWTS before, but I will probably follow along for the season. Oh, and I did guess correctly who’d be going home (it was pretty obvious, I though). Or, maybe, I’m just that smart. 
Last night, we watched the season finale of Warehouse 13 on the Sci-fi Channel (or SyFy, as it’s now known). It would appear that they killed one of the primary characters. Which is odd as this was the first season. Maybe, by some miracle, he survived. I guess I’ll have to wait until next July to find out though…so hopefully, I’ll still care by then!
I have nothing else to share this morning. Happy Friday!
This morning Alex is very whiny. It’s an annoying kind of whiny, too. I really can’t wait until they can express themselves in words.
And yes, someone should mark this day down so that when I’m whining about them talking nonstop, you can remind me that I was longing for that day. 
I messed up the babies’ schedules yesterday so I decided to feed them this morning at 4:30. Only 5 minutes, but it seemed unfair to punish them because I goofed. So it might be a set-back, but we’ll get there eventually.
A friend of mine sent me a gift for the twins that included a double cart cover. Only Sam’s Club has a double cart. I used it for the first time yesterday, and now I want EVERY store to start using double carts. Having both kids in the front at the same time…fantastic!
Yesterday afternoon, I ran errands. With the twins. It wore me out.
Actually, it is amazing how much of a walking circus attraction we are when we go out. Two babies with sticky-up hair who stare and smile at people walking by. Yep…we get lots of comments and attention. One family actually stopped their shopping to flirt back to Alex. It took me a minute to realize that the talking I heard behind me was about us. Of course, they are always kind comments, but I do sometimes think, “Um…people…I can hear you, you know…”
Okay, I need to get my day started now. Happy Wednesday!
Mostly because I just didn’t feel like it. I actually gave myself a day off yesterday and did nothing unless it was necessary (baby-care) or fun (going to the library, playing on the computer). It was nice. Of course, today I will need to do a couple of things, but I’m sure I’ll survive!
We are working on letting the babies try people food whenever we have something they can eat. Eric let them try a popsicle the other day. They loved that! They also really like fresh bread (not toast) and some veggies. And over the weekend, we let them try my MIL’s meatloaf, which they loved (especially Erin, who kept reaching for more). Then last night, I made goulash, so I gave them plain ground beef and macaroni. Yep…another hit! This is getting kind of fun!
As for the weekend, it was pretty busy. We went out to the farm for Saturday and Sunday so that Eric could help his mom with the church service on Sunday morning. They do a service every fall that is organized and run by the lay speakers in the congregation (she’s in charge of lay speaker stuff). She wanted Eric to take some pictures for her, which of course, he was happy to do. And we hadn’t been out for over a month, so we needed to get there anyway.
And we did have a good time. It was the first time that I felt as if the babies needed me a little less than they have before, so that was a nice break for me. It also helps that how often we nurse is gradually decreasing. And, except for a screaming fit at 1:00 am by Alex (which we think was a nightmare), we had the best night of sleep we’ve had at the farm since the babies arrived. Nice!
And my in-laws are getting a new beef cow butchered this week, so I was given permission to get whatever I wanted from the freezer. So I came home with a bunch of steaks and a roast or two. Yay for free ‘grocery shopping’ at the farm!
In other news…
As I’ve mentioned, I think, we are working on getting the babies to sleep until 6:00 or 6:30 am, instead of nursing between 4-5 am. They (mostly Alex) were up repeatedly from about 4:30 to 5:45, reminding me that they were (he was) a little hungry and could I come feed him, please. Of course, then they both slept in until 6:30. I’m hoping it’ll only take a couple more days of this for them to learn how to sleep through it. Because I’m tired. And it keeps Eric up, which makes me feel bad, too.
I’m a little sad that my summer shows are coming to their season finales. I wish they’d make more episodes to air in January or something. But I think I’ll just have to survive until next July without them. *Sigh*
Of course, the arrival of new fall shows is nice (though I don’t care a lick for most nighttime dramas). I think the first Big Bang Theory of the fall aired last night. Yay for funny comedies!
Okay, I feel as if I’m pretty much rambling now. So I should stop. Happy Tuesday!
A recap of beginnings in our world these days…
I bought my first Christmas present this week. Fun times!
We’ve begun to crawl for real now. Alex does it most; he seems to have skipped the army crawl. He even crawls to me sometimes. Love that! Erin only crawls very short distances before dropping back to her stomach to army crawl. But she’s definitely getting there, too.
Both babies are showing signs of pulling up. If I’m not mistaken, Erin might even become a climber before too long. Yikes!
Erin is beginning to test her boundaries, which is, I guess, our entrance into the realm of real parenting.
) with extreme crying when she doesn’t get her way. Great…Alex seems to be eating things all of a sudden.
I want to start a couple of new little craft projects. But I’m trying to make myself finish one I started before the babies were born first. We shall see whether it works or not.
I am trying to start adding more people food into the babies world now, and mostly skip Stage 3 baby food. Does anyone have ideas for good finger foods for snacks or meals?
And with that, I am ending my post on beginnings. Happy Friday!
Doesn’t that just sound deep?
I don’t know if I’ll actually be deep, but I’ve been wanting to use that title for a while now! So now I’ll try to live up to it.
Here are my thoughts:
On Politics
Without getting into a rant, I’d just like to say that being a racist is not the same thing as disagreeing, ideologically, with someone whose skin is a different color than mine. I’m just saying…
I also loved this woman’s comment: “Americans have profound fears about central government taking power away from individual citizens and those fears are legitimised by the Constitution. They have every right to express them without being smeared as “racists”.” Janet Daley
On Courtesy and Forgiveness
Kanye West and Joe Wilson evidenced the lack of basic courtesy in our country. Both committed, in a formal setting, a breach of etiquette that was horrific to anyone watching (whether at that moment or later on YouTube). And it has been refreshing to see people be appalled at such flagrant discourtesy, instead of excusing their behavior because of their upbringing or whatever. It has been good to see people held responsible for their actions.
However, that does bring up the idea of forgiveness. Both men have apologized to the person disrespected by their actions. Both have been forgiven by those individuals. Yet neither has been, or probably will ever be, forgiven by many who were not affected, but who are offended on the victim’s behalf. If the person who was directly affected by the actions and comments have forgiven them, what right do we, who were not really affected, have to continue to hold their behavior against them? It’s something I’ve been wondering…
On Bearing Fruit
I’ve been doing a bible study of the concept of fruit-bearing, what it really looks like and how it really works. I’ve discovered some really amazing things as I’ve studied, but while I’ve been wanting to share everything I’m finding (my Word document is currently 31 pages long), I will limit myself to one I was really struck by.
In John 15, Jesus gives his famous statement: “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Here’s what I wrote (with some editing)…
So fruit-bearing is, at its most basic point, about love. Not prayers or proselytes or even pursuit of God’s glory. It is about revealing love. God’s love. The love of a Father for his (totally rebellious) children. The love of a Creator for the creation he has given birth to. The love of a Holy God who arranged for us to have a Savior so we could come near him again.
And there is no greater way of showing this love, Jesus tells us, than to lay down our lives for our friends.
Interestingly, “to lay down” here means “to place (in a pass. or horizontal posture), or to put, referring to an ‘appointment’ to any form of service.”
What a word picture. This word is not active service (me trying to do for God). It is not prostrate worship (me waiting for God to do). It is submissive readiness. I am passive, horizontal, but not prostrate. I am living in a constant state of readiness (abiding, Jesus called it earlier) and a constant state of communication (walking in the Spirit). And the result is that I am ready, at a prompting from the Spirit, to act, to serve someone in some way at the exact time He prompts me to do it.
To lay down my life is to serve? Simply, yes. Of course, to “lay down my life” is certainly superlatively illustrated by Jesus on the cross. But it is more than that, and much, much “less” in our normal way of seeing things.
To lay down my life is to place it before, offer it to, God for any service he wants from me. It is me, placing my life in God’s hands, to be spent for others as he sees fit. Maybe that service is to witness to someone. Maybe it is simply to offer a kind word, a smile, some money, some time. Maybe it is letting someone else do something for me. Jesus served some people by letting them throw him a party (Zaccheus, for example). It is any appointment to service that God requires. That is how Jesus loved me (“Father, not my will, but Yours be done”). And that is how I’m supposed to love others.
So it would seem, then, that “bearing fruit” and “laying down my life” are the same. Bearing fruit requires me to see others with eyes of love and to live out Jesus’ sacrifice for them, to let Jesus love them with my arms and hands and money and time and possessions and with every single part of me. There is no greater love than to bear this kind of fruit, to lay down one’s life for a friend.
I just erased an entire blog about things that annoy me (cost of cereal, political stuff, having to watch the deleted scenes when we finish watching a movie on DVD). It was supposed to be somewhat humorous, but I decided it just sounded cranky. So I will keep my crankiness to myself, and instead, I will post pictures of my babies. Enjoy!
Also, today is the one-year anniversary of my SIL, Debbie’s, brain aneurysm. We’re so thankful that she (and Abby) are here with us, today. Thanks for all of you who prayed for her and for us last year. It’s been an amazing year of watching God work in their lives (ours, too). He is so good!
Happy Wednesday!
The good
The whiny
Happy Tuesday!