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

love...

Oh, how I treasure these moments...

live...

I'm biased I know, but I love this little piece by my daughter. If you can't make it out, it's "LIVE" spelled out in sign language. I've mentioned before our two oldest children are hearing impaired. DD17 started wearing hearing aids at 22 months old, and rebelled from the beginning. She never wanted to be seen as "different".

God has allowed some heavy crosses in her young life, this one not being the heaviest but nonetheless quite challenging at times.

It's hard to be a kid with hearing aids, which, several years ago she chose not to wear anymore, and we accept that. Now, it can be hard to be the only teenager in the group who has to focus intently on everything that's being said around her, to try not to miss anything. When people are aware of her hearing loss, most are understanding and considerate. Sometimes they just aren't, you would be amazed.

Our kids never required sign language for communication. Although, in their toddler and preschool years we did use some sign, before it was en vogue. It was something we did naturally and was never learned or taught, we just did it. Our daughter has a renewed interest in sign and would like, perhaps to take some classes in the future.

I see this little piece as an expression of self acceptance, that's why I love it. I see my daughter embracing who God made her to be, a little more each and everyday.

My sister told me about a book she is reading Calm my Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow. I have just started to get into it but it is already worth the purchase price. I read my daughter a little quote from this book the another night...

"You will never enjoy other people, you will never have stable emotions, you will never lead a life of godly contentment, you will never conquer jealousy and love others as you should until you thank God for making you the way He did"

Thank you Lord, for making me, me. Warts and all.