goodbye 2010...

some questions to reflect on...over here

May God bless you and yours.

peace,

amy

thankful...

That they have each other to share all this fun stuff with.

something different...

This Christmas we decided to do something different. Instead of adding to the "stuff" we have, my husband and I decided our gift to our children and ourselves would be to be a trip to Florida to spend time with family.

We started off in Central Florida to see Grandma and Grandpa and it was so wonderful to be with them. We don't see them enough but we treasure the time we get to be together.

There are not too far from Disney, so we had planned to spend a day there.

It was a bright blue sunny but crisp day. From there we headed to my sister's to spend time with her family

they live near the Gulf of Mexico.

We went orange picking.

Because of the cold temperatures the oranges were super sweet.

My precious niece...

The tangelo orange is so yummy for juicing.

Wish we brought home more of them.

Another day was for strawberry picking.

We went to a farm where they are grown hydroponically. mmmmm! some fun on the beach for cousins...

first time for this one...

Christmas card perhaps?

We had a really good time together. Not only did we spend time with our family in Florida but we also got to reconnect with each other.

With the older ones in college now,

God only knows if we'll get to make this kind of trip together again.

beauty...

I asked dd18 to pick up a new compact for me yesterday. Look what I found when I woke up this morning. I love this perfume! I wouldn't buy it for myself. What a treat!

Thoughtful girl, thank you Love. She is aware that I am not feeling fabulous about my physical appearance at the moment. I have the misfortune/fortune-not completely sure-of gaining weight after pregnancy and not during. Happens every time that way for me. After about a year, things start to balance out and I go back to normal.

Anyway, my sweet girl left this reminder for me this morning. I feel as if God himself spoke these words to me, and indeed He has, through His word...

Go ahead, look it up 1 Peter 3:3-4

It's for all of us.

teeth...

you win some...

you lose some...
Where does the time go!?
Baby girl will soon be six months old. She is such a wonderful, happy baby!

We have been busy around here. We began homeschooling our
little one (dd6) this fall. I was so apprehensive about the whole thing, for so many reasons. But after much prayer, really felt in my heart this is where God was leading us. As we head into December, I can honestly say I am so glad and grateful God gave us the courage to "officially" begin this journey. It is going very well, she is happy, she is learning, I am learning, and it feels very right for our family.

One little saying I meditate on often...

"God doesn't call the qualified , He qualifies the called..."

words I never thought I'd say...

To my 6 year old----

"If you don't stop crying right now you are not watching Lawrence Welk tonight".

Gotta run it starts in 4 minutes!

sissy...

She has most definitely risen to the occasion of being a big sister. She has been so, so sweet with the baby and such a big help lately. I think there was a bit of uncertainty on her part when the baby was first born-that has faded away.

She was the baby for so long, so of course it is an adjustment.

We are so proud of her!

photo by big sissy

(t-shirt tie dyed with big sissy too)

Motherhood...

Prayer for Generosity

Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous. Teach me to serve You as You deserve; to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to labor and not ask for reward, save that of knowing that I am doing Your will. Amen.

St. Ignatius Loyola

blessed...

Wow, if our lives weren't full before, they certainly are now.

It's been a busy year. Our son finished his freshman year of college, our dd17 almost 18, graduated high school and is dating this fine young man. She is preparing for college next semester. Little one finished up kindergarten...

And of course we welcomed our littlest one a few weeks ago...

Here she is at 2 weeks.

I can't describe how blessed I feel to have been given the gift of another child, this child, at this stage in our lives.

How great is our God!!!

our little love...

photos by big sissy

Welcome Sweet Baby Girl!!!

Finally, she is here...

We are thrilled, she is perfect!

Here are a few pictures from the past few days...

handmade is the best...

This beautiful baby quilt was made by my dear friend Beth. I absolutely love it! Beth wants all the quilts she makes to be used up and probably not hung up. Dear Beth, I promise to not keep this quilt on the wall forever. It's just so pretty I am really enjoying just looking at it every time I walk by the room, it is perfect, it is a work of art, and so cheerful and I promise that someday it will be slept with, read and played upon and used, used, used. Thank you for the many hours that you spent working on this for our wee one. Love ya!

I haven't done much sewing during this pregnancy but the day Beth gave this to me I was so inspired, I had to sew something so I whipped up a couple of dishtowels. I haven't taken a picture of them.

Today I made these burp cloths. I was going to buy some plain white ones at Target yesterday but I just couldn't do it. First of all. I had the fabric at home to make these and secondly these are way happier to look at-I think.

My mother in law made the baby some beautiful crocheted things which I will wait to show you until she wears them. But here are some of the receiving blankets that she crocheted the edging on. so lovely...

Then there was this sweet diaper cake made by two of my neighbors. So kind of them and they know my colors...

Anyway, I had a visit to the midwife this morning.

2 cm. and 80% effaced...

She says anytime now...

I cannot wait to see my baby's face...

God is good! This has been a good pregnancy.

I am ready to begin the next chapter...

my big girl...

Well, this weekend my daughter graduated high school. Woohoo!!!

Last year I was feeling so weepy with the prospect of our firstborn graduating. This time around I am relieved, happy, and so proud of her that after much perseverance and many challenges she is finally done and ready to begin the next chapter of her life.

Dearest daughter, We are all so very proud of you! You did it! God has an awesome plan for your life, just remember to cooperate!

I love you!!!

Jeremiah 29:11

love this...

Just heard about this today. I received a request from a neighbor/for a neighbor that will be having surgery this week.

http://www.takethemameal.com/

This really simplifies things.

my daughter...

self portrait by the artist in the family...

life giving books...

Several months ago I attended weekday Mass at a parish not my own. I had been searching the previous week or two for a good pregnancy book. You know one of those week by week ones to refresh my memory regarding the different changes my body would be going through. You would think by one's fourth child I would not need much of a reminder, but let us not forget, mine are over the span of almost 2 decades. Anyway as I flipped through various books at various stores. I didn't like any of them. Some of them were down right irritating, maybe even a little scary for a 41 year old plus mom to be.

Anyway...

As I arrived at Mass that particular morning and waited for Mass to begin I had a thought that I should check out the church library, which I did immediately following Mass. Right away I spotted the book, Life Giving Love by Kimberly Hahn. A book Michele had lent me after the birth of our last child. It was once again just what I needed at this time. It wasn't about the biology of giving birth but rather God's plan for us as a Catholic family. It spoke to all the objections or fears that people may experience hearing from others or feel personally about being open to "one more soul". And really, there are very few objections or fears with validity. This is the book I needed to prepare my heart for this baby. The Bradley Method we have learned about this time around will hopefully prepare me more physically.

After savoring that book for a while I once again picked up Graced and Gifted, Biblical Wisdom For The Homemakers Heart by Kimberly Hahn from my personal library.

I've had it for a while but for some reason it was one of those books that I picked up and couldn't get going with (it was the timing, not the book), until I opened it up again recently.

Such good stuff. I have highlighted the dickens out of this one!

Here is just one little tidbit from the book...

"Little by little God is giving me more of a servant heart as I relinquish my will to His, allowing the ordinary tasks of my day to reflect the extraordinary love he has for my loved ones through me."

Oh Motherhood, what an awesome journey!

No matter how long it's been I never stop having the need to learn and grow.

my irish...

A few things you may not know about me from reading this blog...

• I am 100% first generation Irish.
• My mother is from Donegal , my father is from Sligo. They both came to this country as young adults. They both have thick brogues-Dad more than mom.
• I can put on a pretty thick brogue myself -which makes my kids laugh. Every once in a while I will leave them a message on their voice mail in this brogue of mine-haven't done that in a while, hmmmm....
• I grew up on Irish music, Irish dancing, Irish cooking and lots of Irish extended family.
• I even played the accordian-ok, there I said it...
• My Dad took us to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in NYC every year growing up. We marched with County Sligo.
• I went to Ireland only once when I was 6. I can still recall vivid pictures of that trip. Acres and acres of sheep and riding my grandma's donkey to name a couple. (My Dad says Lancaster County reminds him a lot of Ireland.
• I have a confession to make--I hate corned beef and cabbage! shhh...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

anticipation...

And so has my body...

Wow, a few short weeks ago friends were still asking "when are you going to start showing?" Now I feel like I look like my due date is not all that far off--eek! At my OB appointment last week the doctor informed me that this little princess is measuring two weeks bigger. No, that doesn't mean she will be early, it means she is BIG! My sister weighed in at a whopping 11 lbs. 3 oz.. Big babies are hereditary...

I think with spring almost here these next weeks/months will fly by and the baby will be here before you know it.

Thank God, and thank God again (as my mother would say) that this has been a pretty good pregnancy. I know that people are praying for me/us and that makes all the difference. I definitely have some fears that I need to work on surrendering.

Although being pregnant is not my favorite thing. I very much treasure the opportunity we have to share in this miracle. There is no feeling that compares to a baby moving inside of me. There is nothing that compares to this waiting to meet her, to see what she looks like, to hold her.

Very, very exciting...and yes, even a little scary.

let the nesting commence...

Oh, I have missed blogging...

My intention is to keep this little blog rolling along. I enjoy it! These last months have been way too full and I have been way too tired.

The nesting has begun, for sure! There is so much I want to do in the house and attempting to do it before the baby comes seems like as good of an excuse as any. In the last few months I have painted ds18's room, which is now dd17's room. I have painted dd5's room in preparation for her new roommate, her little SISTER! I thought for sure this one would be a boy but... IT"S A GIRL!!! We are thrilled, and would have been equally thrilled to have another boy. The kitchen has also been painted. I'm glad to have some of the painting done, but these rooms are screaming for some finishing touches.

We worked on the upstairs bathroom last week...

This is before.

This mural was here before we got here. It was fun, but it was past its prime.

I love the new color! "Summer Cottage by Waverly/Valspar which is at Lowes. I cannot speak highly enough about this paint. It is the paint plus primer kind and covered this in one coat. I have painted over other murals with this paint, it's amazing!!

You may recognize the shower curtain fabric, It is a 1960's Waverly print I found at a thrift store a while back. The grommets were a royal pain. My father in law helped me out with them (after I gave up) and put them on 123.

We added the hotel curved shower curtain rod. What a difference! Makes the shower so spacious!! And lets in loads of sunlight through the skylight-which I love!

You know I love the pom pom fringe...
Changed up the towel holders...

I really like how it came out. Clean, simple and cheerful. It's not quite finished yet, the walls are empty. I have a few ideas...

Snowed in today, yet again.

22 days until spring!!!!!!!

Have a great weekend!

great idea...

(Thank you for your prayers and concern left in the comments on the last post. We appreciate them. We are doing just fine. Much better since we got a diagnosis, not knowing was worse than knowing. Life is good, God is faithful, all is well.)

To me a great craft project idea must have at least some of the following characteristics:

• Must be simple enough to complete in couple of hours, tops!

• I must already have some or most of the supplies in my posession.

• I can't be able to simply purchase a close knock off inexpensivly.

• It must be somewhat unique, something I haven't seen everywhere.

To me, this cute idea qualifies.

Don't you think?

The theme of my life always seems to be the same...

Trust in Him.

God is always giving our family new reasons to trust in Him. New circumstances in which there is simply no other reasonable option but to completely rely on His mercy, His care, His providence, and His wisdom, that He alone knows what we need.

This unexpected and most welcome pregnancy at "advanced maternal age" (boy, am I sick of hearing that phrase) would be a good example of that.

Over the last few months our son has had some health issues. He has had some major tests done and we finally have a diagnosis. He has kidney disease. Its been a somewhat exhausting process. One where I definitely have not been doing my best trusting. Our son is handling it all quite well.

There is no cure for this disease. He is strong and healthy now. It is one of those things where you simply don't know what the future will bring--whoever does...

I think the doctor is still scratching his head trying to figure out how our ds18 and dd17 both have two completely different forms of non hereditary kidney disease. It doesn't make sense, at least to us humans, God has a plan, this I am sure of.

More trusting today... He left for college this morning after being home for Christmas break. This time he leaves having a potentially serious, chronic illness.

I know from past experience that there is great peace in the land of total surrender,

that's where you'll find me because that's where He wants me...

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, on your own intelligence rely not;

In all your ways be mindful of him, and he will make straight your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6