Peaceful.

There is nothing more peaceful than the sight of a baby sleeping by an open window on a balmy day, especially in January. Don't you think so?

Here I am...

Someone told me tonight that I should get back to blogging. I've been planning to but its so intimidating to pick up where you left off when you've been absent for more than two months. But you have to start somewhere, so thanks, Christin, for inspiring me to stop putting it off :)

To make a long story short, we packed up and left after several weeks of prolonged mourning. We spent lots of quality time with my family and made wonderful memories, and schemed about how to get people down here as often as possible.

We all crowded into the girls' little tent for this shot

We love our new (rented) house in FL, love the area, love the weather (except this past week in which the nighttime lows went down to 27 several times), love the church we are attending, and HATE that we can't share it with all our loved ones in MI. But, overall, we feel very blessed of the Lord, very peaceful, and very grateful for His provision.

Theia is adapting to her new surroundings with her usual cheerfulness, and the humidity especially suits her hair. She has entered her 4,892 question per day stage. I can't answer her questions fast enough, and when I do answer, she re-phrases my answer to turn it into another question. For example: "Momma, did Eliza go to sleep?" "Yes, Eliza is sleeping in her bed." "She's asleep in her bed, Momma?" "Yes." "Yeah, because she's tired, right Momma?" I came to get Theia out of bed the other morning and I was wearing a scarf headband. Theia gasped, "Oh, Mama! You put a princess on your head! That's beautiful!" I look good with a princess on my head. Theia is now potty-trained too. A feat that was accomplished in a mere two days. I was shocked. My memories of my own potty-training scared me. Obviously, since I can remember my own potty-training, you can surmise that it was not completed by the age of 2 and a half. Eliza is adapting to her surroundings with her usual cheerfulness, sometimes punctuated by loud screams. She thinks any problem, no matter the size or nature, should be addressed with a piercing shriek, which should be maintained until the problem is resolved. But she is still the most snuggly and affectionate of my children and I just love her to pieces. Yesterday morning Jessie and I woke up to find Eliza standing at our bedside, holding out to us a dripping wet digital camera. Upon further inspection we deduced that the puddle of water around the toilet in the hall bathroom was probably connected to the incident. We left their bedroom door open that night since it was so cold and we wanted the heat to circulate. I can just imagine her waking up and taking stock of the situation, then calculating what was her best bet for achieving maximum damage in the amount of time she was likely to have. It was a very brilliant combination. Forbidden Object (camera) + Forbidden Activity (playing in the toilet) = Immense Satisfaction (of the sort that requires 1 year old sophistication, apparently). Ingrid is 5 months old now and she is so sweet. She is the smiling-est baby I've ever had, I think. She charms people of all ages wherever we go. She loves watching her sisters play, and she loves having Theia "read" books to her. She loves to push herself up to the top corner of her crib and sleep with her head against the padding. She loves to scoot herself backwards all over the floor in her walker. And she loves to "chase" her sisters with help from Mommy or Daddy.

What Happened!?!

Theia is not making this move any easier. She has no clue what's going on, but yesterday morning she came down to our living room to find that we had packed up the Christmas tree, rolled up the rug, and packed several other prominent items. She stood in the middle of the floor stunned for a second, and then wailed "What happened!", and broke out in tears. Me too.

Accursed Business Trips!

I am preparing myself for next week when my husband will be gone for FIVE DAYS and FOUR NIGHTS. Mostly I keep telling myself how terrible it will be, and how the week will be the longest I've ever known, and how much I hate next week in general. Its working. I'm definitely getting in the mood.

Last Things...

Yesterday we embarked on the beginning of the "lasts" in the countdown to our move. And since it is the first of the lasts, I thought I'd better commemorate it with a post. Although we are excited about the provision and opportunity that the Lord has directed us to, we will miss the goodness that He has allowed us to enjoy here at this house in B____. Of course, we will miss our family the most, but we don't consider any of the time spent with them to be "lasts" because it won't be. Thank God for a loving and supportive family if you have one, and if you don't, pray that the Lord will show you how to establish the groundwork for the next generation to have this great blessing! And you will be able to rejoice as you see it happening! First on our frivolous list of lasts was a vow to have breakfast again at our favorite little hometown breakfast and bistro establishment that is within walking distance of our house. So we took advantage of the morning that, thanks to my mom and dad, began with only one child under the age of 2 and 1/2 in the house instead of the usual three. Since it was a very chilly fall morning, we bundled up this one: and took a walk through the modest but pleasant sub we live in, and ended here: After scanning the day's specials we took our seats and giggled about how dorky we looked to the other patrons since we were taking pictues of everything as if we hadn't been out in years. This little girl agreed: Then our food came. Jessie ordered his favorite western omelette and I took the chance of being spurned for the remainder of the day when I ordered the International Greek Scramble with feta cheese on it. Jessie usually won't kiss me after I've eaten feta cheese or mustard, he can't stomach the thought of being in the same vicinity of those substances in a 24 hour period (just for the record, he did kiss me again, more than once, before the day was over. Our love is strong enough to triumph even over goat cheese, apparently). Since Ingrid is NOT a seat-dweller, we took turns passing her back and forth over breakfast until she stated her preference conclusively and remained with daddy until we finished our coffee and took our leave. Then we bundled up again and headed back through the lovely Michigan fall leaves to home, sweet rental home.

Last Day of Separation!

I am ecstatic to be leaving in an hour to pick up my man from the airport. We've had a wonderful time with Aunt Robin, Uncle Brian, and the cousins, Preston, Haley and Clayton. But we are so ready to be re-united with Daddy and go home again.! I hope they have only been taking a brief hiatus from their usually compliant ways (okay, mostly usually) in Jessie's absence. We'll find out soon enough, I suppose. I have to commemorate our survival of Jessie's first ever business trip (hopefully not the first of many, I am NOT a fan). So, here we go:

Sweet Cousin Haley; such a little mother

My 5-yr old nephew Clay-Clay, and his Mommy,

my sister Robin. Thanks to Robin who didn't have the

best week in homeschooling history thanks to the invasion

of three infant nieces.

My little gals (Ingrid is the beehive-like mound behind Eliza)

during our freezing trip to the orchard. This kid should drop the cider and head to the chiropractor!

My nephew Preston who is 12, obviously.

Theia's hair never ceases to amaze