NewlyWards

We moved! Come by for a visit!

Our kitchen is yet to be finished so we're using the third floor bathroom with a mini-fridge and microwave...so when you come to visit bring food. :)

Joanna turned 3 last month and asked for a blue castle cake.

Sam is 10 months old and 24 lbs.

...so little time. I feel so overwhelmed these days. Wake up...take a shower...feed the Sam...feed the family...change diapers...do the laundry...wash the diapers (I really do love my cloth diapers)...change diapers...feed lunch...nurse the baby...put Sam down for 3 naps...put Joanna down for a nap 3 times before falling asleep...drink tea...change diapers...make dinner...clean up the house...drink more tea...have my devotions...change diapers...send Joanna out to welcome Daddy home...change diapers...re-heat tea...eat dinner...do chores...relax with my luv...eat ice cream...sleep. There are some things that you may noticed don't get done like dressing the children, doing the dishes, exercising. We're stressed out a lot these days about our house-buying process. But this anxiety forces us to humbly turn to God for peace and wisdom. And God, as always, is faithful to lead and to guide and to give peace. And to give joy. Though my life may seem mundane sometimes or frantic, I love my family, I love my job as mommy, I love my job as cook. I don't love my job as house-keeper but such is life.

Which brings me to the original purpose of this blog...I love my job as craftser (sp). I plan on going to visit my parents in London next spring and have enough money saved for my ticket...Sam will be free...my mom will pay for Joanna...and your orders will pay for Kirk. :) Above is a picture of our beautiful daughter and my new hat design of the season. This hat is selling for $25, pick your own colors. I'm still making my design from last year with the earflaps, which is especially good for babies who like to take off their hats. And of course onsies...

Which brings me back to the real original purpose of this rambling blog...I did a tutorial for my onsies and you can now view it on Whip Up. Give me lots of great comments. :)

Here's a recipe I got from my Mom. It would be great with rice or is also fine plain (it might be from a South Beach diet book).

Place the following in a 9 X 13 pan:
- 4 chicken breasts
- 1 zuchini, chopped
- 1 yellow squash zuchini, chopped
- 1 C carrots, chopped
- 1 onion, yep, you guessed it, chopped
- 1 red pepper, chopped

Mix together and pour over chicken and vegetables:
- 1/4 C olive oil
- 1 t parsley
- 1 t marjoran
- 1 t thyme

Bake at 350 for 45 min, covered.
Pour over and bake for 10 more minutes.
- 16 oz. can diced tomatoes (I don't recommend letting your 2 year old dice the tomatoes)

I have a few new items for sale in my LittleKnots shop. And a few more are on their way...a dung beetle ("waste not, want not") and an owl. Then I plan to find a new hat pattern for cooler weather.

But here's a funny conversation with Joanna. We generally eat cold cereal for breakfast. Granola for me and Kirk and Joanna rotates between granola, Cheerios, and cheerio seeds (i.e. Grapenuts). On the back of the Cheerio box are pictures of some of the largest animals/birds and some of the smallest. Did you know that the pygmy shrew is only 2 inches tall..."that's as big as Mommy's thumb," I tell Joanna. Also, a baby giraffe is 6 feet tall when it is born, "that's taller than Daddy!" Joanna proceeds to point to the whale and says, "Mommy, the whale is taller than you!"

I was reading Joanna the book If You Give a Pig a Pancake the other day. This is another book by Laura Joffe Numeroff with a similar story line to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. As I read the book I began to realize that I was the little girl in the book...and Joanna was the pig. Much of the day, for the mother of a toddler, is spent trying to keep up with the energy, passion, sporadic, destructive nature of her toddler. Some days I feel like all I do is clean up messes: alphabet magnets on the kitchen floor, poopy diapers on the changing table, potty-training accident on the couch, toys and beads and stuffed animals in Joanna's room, spit-up on my clothes, blocks and puzzle pieces on the living room floor, dirty dishes and counters in the kitchen, TONS of laundry.

But in the midst of all of that...Samuel smiles and laughs when you make faces at him. Joanna and I crawl around pretending to be monkeys, hide behind the chair eating kangaroo food, sword fight with various Mr. Potato head parts. We sing made-up songs and use silly words. And I watch Joanna run out to meet Daddy coming home from work (no matter how fully clothed she is) and smile, with such a deep joy in my heart.

Discipline is hard for me these days. I am often quick to correct, beg, and plead, but can be slow to spank. Thus Joanna continues to say "no," speak disrespectfully, and not obey the first time. Good discipline is SO hard!!! I've got to pray more for God's long-suffering, patient, love to flow through me.

Tanya's tagged me to do this, and proper blog etiquette requires that I comply.

Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. When I was about 7 years old I ran into a sliding, glass door which resulted in over 100 stiches and three scars. One scar runs about 1 inch from my lower lip to my chin. One scar is about 5 inches in the shape of a "V" on my right shin. The third scar is about 10 inches from my inner thigh to my left hip. The artery in my left leg could be seen through the cut.

2. I was once quite and athlete. In high school I played soccer, basketball, field hockey, volleyball, and was on the track & field team (I ran sprints and threw the javelin). My senior year I was awarded "Athlete of the Year." I also played soccer on the Team at Covenant College. Oh, how I miss it.

3. I have had several "near-death" experiences. No. 1 fact about me was one time. Another time I slept in my brother's bed while he was gone. The lamp at the head of the bed was fickle and I woke in the morning to a burnt pillow. I leaned on the door handle of our once and fell out and almost got run over by another car. Our car was hit on the side as we made a turn...if my father had not been insistent on getting roll bars on the car many years before I would have been hit dead on. Then of course there are the several times that I almost fell while rock climbing/rappelling.

4. Drinking apple juice make me nauseous/air sick. We couldn't get apple juice in Kenya so when we would fly back to the US I would always get it on the airplane and so drinking it makes me feel as though I am on an airplane. And on that note...

5. Though I have been flying on airplanes world-wide since I was 1 year old, I have only thrown up once. This happened this past summer when we went to London for LEAP. The threw up as we landed in London though I believe this was more due to the tiny little life growing in me, Samuel.

6. The coolest country I have ever been to, besides my love for Kenya, is Turkey. Though I'm not so sure about the whole "not being able to flush toilet paper down the toilet.

7. Unlike my husband, I LOVE rain and storms.

I forgot to tag people: Rinnie, Kirk, Anna, Kate, Amy, Grace, Heidi.

So we rearranged Joanna's room. Her bed used to be in the corner and she would often sleep up on the top of the bed with her feet against the wall. Now the wall is gone but she hasn't get conformed her sleeping habit.

Our family has been going through a lot of change lately...and change is hard! Some changes are wonderful: the birth of Samuel, the move from diapers to panties, less involvement with the South City worship site, having two children. Some changes are hard: the birth of Samuel, the move from diapers to panties, less involvement with the South City worship site, having two children. Samuel is a wonderful little, tiny person...but it's been hard to adjust to caring for two kids instead of one. Even harder than that adjustment has been figuring out how to still be a wife, a good wife, while also mothering two kids. Joanna's move from diapers to panties (yes, I have already made this change) with be AWESOME! But it's a lot of extra work right now. Life is all about change though. And God is all about change.

Romans 8:28+ says, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."
Yes, sanctification is a long and hard process, but what a wonderful trip it can be if we grow and learn and allow change along the way.