You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December 2007.
I’ve been hiding from my blog lately, hoping/praying/bargaining with God for our baby to come before the new year….but alas, he sees fit to stay put til 2008. So a belated Merry Christmas from this slightly Grinchy-feeling mama, and Happy New Year! One way or another, he’s coming out by January 3rd (my induction date and, incidentally, my sister’s 25th birthday). If you’ve called or texted lately and I haven’t gotten in touch, it’s probably due to a) me being busy either bouncing on Michael’s balance ball, driving at breakneck speeds down pothole-ridden sidestreets, walking laps around the mall, or b) feeling like I’d like to keep to myself a little bit. I’m focused and trying to remain positive. Cheers!
A couple of little known facts about me regarding food:
1. I love to bite off the ends of really cold, raw bacon and chew the fat.* Literally. That cold, salty, smokiness…SO good!
2. Creamed butter and sugar might be the most irresistible flavor combination. Whenever I’m baking, I can hardly resist eating the whole bowl & licking the spoon clean.**
3. My number one pet-peeve regarding food and the consumption of it is hearing other people eat.***
*This has been very hard to refrain from while pregnant. Never fear, I will prevail!
**Don’t worry, I was able to restrain myself….a little. I cranked out some really delicious goodies today (that will remain nameless til after Christmas….I’m giving them as gifts this year!).
***Doesn’t matter if your mouth’s closed or not…if I can hear it, it just about drives me out of my mind. God bless my husband and his inability to keep quiet during an otherwise quiet dinner! He just has a loud jaw, he tells me. Right. About as loud as my Grandma’s dentures clacking.
Our first Christmas cookie baking extravaganza….we got flour everywhere, and it was really fun.
Took this photo while we were decorating the tree a couple of weeks ago. Large and in-charge!
PS – If someone has invented a fail-proof way to keep those maternity pants from falling down, do tell! Everytime I kneel, sit, bend over, walk, etc., it gets drafty back there.
We found out a couple of weeks ago that Michael’s former employer will be closing the Des Moines location at the end of the year…which (after a big “WHEW!”) has caused us to think about the timing of things over the past year. It’s really been amazing – Michael & I are wired to be go-getters (that first-born tendency!), and if there’s anything we’ve learned (and continue to learn), it’s the letting go of the reigns that has brought us more peace than the take-what-you-can-and-run-with-it mentality we used to employ…
I remember thinking last year at Christmas how nice it would be not to have to travel back and forth to Omaha to see friends & family…more than just missing that, I felt like our time in Des Moines was coming to an end (party selfishly). We both started to feel it. I’m pretty sure I clicked my heels a few times! We prayed about it, because we knew that leaving Iowa mostly likely meant Michael leaving his job….and it was a decent job, a steady income, so we didn’t want to leave on a whim. We felt like it was OK to put the house up for sale, and so shortly before Reese’s 2nd birthday (and finding out we were pregnant again), we did. Three fruitless open houses and a little over a month later, it sold for our asking price! The buyer just walked up to our door one night and asked to see the place. We almost didn’t answer. If you knew our house, the market and where we lived in Des Moines, you know that our house selling this past summer was nothing short of miraculous. We had to be out in a little under a month – which seemed awfully fast. Busy friends offered to help me with Reese when I was down-and-out with morning sickness. (I am still humbled by that.) We found a great duplex lickety-split, for less than we were paying for our house! Michael’s employer agreed to keep him on at the Omaha location, and even though it would involve a LOT of travel between the two locations, it also allowed us to pay cash for the move and not have the added stress of finding a new job in another city. Just when he finally stopped traveling and ‘landed’ here full-time (hallelujah! I had been a pregnant ’single’ parent most of the summer), he got fired. Sounds horrible, but hours after it happened we both felt OK about it, and increasingly peaceful. I just knew he was going to find a job that suited him and our family better. That I never doubted. And less than a month after losing his job, he did. I can see that Michael’s load is lighter, his face brighter. Sure, the budget’s pretty tight, especially for this time of year, but we are so happy.
And relieved. I cannot imagine being stuck in our house (the interest rate was about to go through the roof), losing a job and on the hunt NOW, with a baby very nearly here, and trying to sell our house and remain financially, emotionally, and spiritually stable right NOW. The provision has been plenty, the timing perfect. It is too perfect to be mere chance or serendipity. We’re convinced God orchestrated everything for us – sure, certain things weren’t ideal (by society’s standards), and we struggle with contendedness, but we have been taken care of. It’s been a lesson in trust and a test of faith. When I have time to look back, I hope I can say we trusted well. I know my faith has increased. I am so grateful for all He has given us – and surprised us with – this year.
I’m sure most of you may have heard about the massacre at Westroads Mall here yesterday. While it made the national news, and was all over the local channels all day and evening, it’s still hard to wrap my mind around it. Too close to home. It’s ten minutes from my house. I was just down the street at a doctor’s appointment less than an hour before it all happened. Michael works around the corner from the mall and his office was locked down until they confirmed the shooter had killed himself. I love(d) shopping at Von Maur, but haven’t been there in a few months (hello, shoes!). I doubt I’ll ever be able to go there again without being on edge and thinking about the nine bodies that lay on the second and third floors all afternoon and evening yesterday. I imagine myself and Reese there – what would I have done? Would I have been able to run with a stroller and a toddler at 36 weeks pregnant? Would I have been an easy target? Would I have been on the second (shoes) or third (baby) floor when the shooter opened fire?……..
The details are horrific. And so sad. It happened while a lot of people were doing holiday shopping, many over their lunch hour. Michael will sometimes go over to the mall for lunch – I am so thankful he made a tuna sandwich to take with him yesterday. A friend from church was working there at the time at a coffee kiosk just down the hall from Von Maur (I’m sure she thought of her husband & three adorable little girls) – and another friend’s father working at another kiosk further down. I wonder how all those employees will be able to go back to work? It will be hard to ignore the obvious. I think of the nine families – including the shooter’s and all the witnesses (including children!) – for whom holiday season will never be the same. I know I shouldn’t be surprised that it happened here over anywhere else, but it’s strange to see these broadcasts from my hometown on the national news. A silence seems to drape the city as we wait for snow this morning.
This is, hands down, my favorite Christmas movie ever. I’m watching it right now. There are so many remakes, but my favorite version is the one starring George C. Scott (from 1984). My folks taped it off of the TV when I was in grade school, and we used to wear that VHS out every year – I even remember the IBM commercials we’d fast-foward through. Charles Dickens was a genius – besides the biblical Christmas, A Christmas Carol is my favorite Christmas story. Redemption, forgiveness, love, mercy, generosity, social justice….it’s all in there. Read it or rent it this year if you haven’t yet!
What’s your favorite flick to watch, or book to read, this time of year?
