Today I was up shortly after 6 a.m., gratefully smelling the coffee all the way upstairs. What a good idea to set it up last night so it would be ready for me when I got up!

I quickly and very quietly got dressed and headed downstairs. I got a cup of coffee and then went to sit at the computer for a few minutes. Before I knew it, Joyce called to say she was on her way to pick me up! So I jumped up and got busy filling our coffee cups.

We had such a good time chatting all the way to Chicago. We first went to Joyce’s sister-in-law’s house so we could pick up a dining table and benches that were offered to us. I’ve been eager to redecorate my dining room, so this is a great start!

After visiting with Melvie and having some delicious coffeecake, we hurried on our way to the IKEA store. There we spent the rest of the day, all the way until suppertime. We browsed to our heart’s content, stopping only for food breaks in the IKEA cafeteria.

On the way home we decided to stop for supper at “Baby Bulls” in Pontiac. It was a fun excuse to extend our play date.

When we walked out of the restaurant it was raining, and soon after we got onto the highway, the rain was a downpour so thick we could hardly see in front of the van. Joyce finally pulled over and we visited while we waited for the rain to subside. After a bit we were finally able to continue on our way home.

I had so much fun showing off my treasures to Michael and the three oldest children. They were tickled with every little thing.

Now I’m ready to collapse. I’m so tired. Tomorrow will be a big day at church, so I’m going to go to sleep.

Good night.

I’m hoping that pictures will be worth words today, because I’m hurrying out the door to spend the day with my sister.  We’re going to Chicago!

Last night we celebrated March birthdays at my parents’ house.  Here are the photos!

Today I had a delightful day with my three youngest children. Michael took the older three kids on a field trip to the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago with our church homeschool group, so that left me to spend a day with “the littles“, as I like to call them. If you don’t mind, I’d like to tell you about my day.

I got up at 6:15 a.m. to start waking up the older kids so they could get ready to go. I made a pot of coffee, fetched jeans out of the dryer, and tried to make sure everyone had what they needed. I had visions of possibly slipping back into bed once the gang got out the door, but those visions dimmed a bit when Miguel came downstairs. We wrapped him up in a blanket on the couch where he sat and watched all the craziness going on around him.

Michael and gang loaded up and were out the door by 6:55 a.m. A minute or two later Amelia came downstairs to greet the morning. I knew at that point that I wasn’t going to be able to get any more sleep, but I did think that perhaps I would be able to take my cup of coffee and spend a few quiet minutes checking my e-mail at the computer while Miguel and Amelia ate their breakfast at the kitchen island. Perhaps you’ve guessed at this point that my quiet moment wasn’t to be. Judah was on his way down, so I resigned myself to having breakfast with my kiddos. We enjoyed coffee and peanut-butter toast, and actually, it was a very pleasant time, I had to admit.

After breakfast I suggested that the kids might like to watch some Veggie Tales while I did a few things I wanted to do. While they were piled on the couch, I mopped the kitchen floor, started a load of laundry, washed some of the woodwork in the kitchen that needs to be painted, and then put wood filler in the nail holes in the woodwork. Part way through the Veggie Tales show, Judah lost interest so he started following me around. He’s a busy little guy, so he kept me from getting too lost in my own thoughts. He went downstairs to the laundry area with me, he kept checking the fridge for me, and he fiddled with the wood filler. I kept thinking the Veggie Tales show would be done soon, but it kept going… and then I realized that Amelia had figured out how to choose a different show. I didn’t really mind, because I was glad to have more time to do the things I wanted to do. Finally, when I realized that Amelia had started a movie, “Secondhand Lions”, I decided that we needed to move on to the next thing. I was sort of waiting for the sun to come out from behind the clouds, because I had wanted to do some things out in the yard. But it was overcast and chilly, so the outside wasn’t very inviting.

We had a brunch, of sorts, while the movie finished up, and then we gathered ourselves together to go shopping. We headed to Lowe’s to look at their selection of flowers. It was delightful for me to hear the exclamations of joy as Miguel and Amelia found one variety after another of the beautiful flowers. My great joy was to find flowers on the clearance rack that were the variety I wanted. I loaded up my cart with misfit flowers, and guided my little gardeners into the main section of the store. After the obligatory stop at the restroom, we found the water cooler I was looking to buy, and a nice man loaded that on top of my cart. We trundled back to the checkout and then headed to the car.

From Lowes we headed to see Grandma and Grandpa. Since Grandpa has been traveling overseas for almost a month, I wanted to welcome him home and hear just a bit about his travels. My folks were so kind in welcoming our interruption to their day. My mother heated up some lunch for the kiddos, and they played while we visited.

Finally we headed home, and I was looking forward to rest time. But all Amelia could think about was the flowers in the car with us. She kept asking if she could plant some of them in her flower pot as soon as we got home, and I kept telling her that she could wait until after my rest. Amelia isn’t one to give up easily, so she kept telling me details she felt I might have missed. For instance, she told me that Uncle Todd had a small shovel she had permission to use, and that she was quite able to plant flowers because she knew how to do it. By the time we got home, her powers of persuasion had done the trick, and I decided that it wouldn’t hurt anything to give her a few of the flowers to plant. So while I got Judah settled for his nap, and then while I laid on the couch for my rest, Amelia and Miguel stayed very happily occupied with their flower pots. Once they finished that task, they spent some time on the trampoline before returning to the front yard to water everything that would hold still for them. Many trips back and forth to fill the watering can resulted in a drippy trail, but I didn’t mind. I was glad that they were having fun. By this time the sun was finally shining, so it was warmer and quite pleasant outside.

I wasn’t able to sleep very much if at all, but I did rest. When I got up I decided to serve ice cream as a snack, so I called in my little friends to surprise them with ice-cream cones. They were so tickled with the cones, and they were especially pleased with the Oreo cookie I pressed into the top of their ice cream. They chattered back and forth while they played with their cones. They made a mess, and they had a marvelous time. When they asked for a second cone, I said that I wouldn’t serve it until Judah came down from his nap. Amelia was quite happy to go wake up Judah while I prepared the next set of cones. Judah tried to fuss and complain, but as soon as he saw the ice cream his mood changed drastically. He gobbled down his cone and then we all went outside. I put Miguel and Amelia to work helping me clean up the front yard, and we made quite a bit of progress in making our yard look pretty. Before long they were earned my permission to go visit one of our favorite neighbors, Mrs. Davis, and she let them pal around with her while she did some yard work. I gave Miguel and Amelia each a 6-pack of white pansies to take to Mrs. Davis as a gift, and she in return gave each of them a little garden frog statue to put in their flower pots. She’s always giving them something, and they think it’s just wonderful.

I think my favorite part of the day was at this point when I showed Judah how to use the watering can. It’s a small one, so he’s well able to carry it. But he was quite unaware of how to keep the water from dribbling out of the spout while he was holding it. I taught him to hold his tiny finger over the spout while he walked to the flowers we had just worked together to pot, and then I showed him how to point the water stream onto the flowers. He made many trips back and forth, and he kept asking me so very nicely to refill his pot. He would hold it up and say, “Peas?” So every few moments I would stop what I was doing and go refill the waterer. He was just so cute!

Finally I was ready to head to the store to do my grocery shopping. So we all piled into the car and headed to Aldi. Again, I really enjoyed the company of my “littles”. Everything delighted them. We filled our cart, paid our bill, and loaded back up into the car. On the way home we munched on some cheesy rice cakes that I thought were quite yummy. Amelia and Judah shared my opinion of the rice cakes, but Miguel didn’t think they were worth eating.

When we got home I gave the children some yogurt while I unloaded the car. A short time later Michael arrived home, and the little ones were eager to show off their flower pots.

Michael’s day was quite stressful, with many children in the van, a crowded museum to navigate, mistaken directions that resulted in walking and searching for a long time for an elusive McDonalds, almost losing two kids in the museum, and then fighting rush-hour traffic on the way home.

As you can probably already predict, I had a much better day than he did.

Tonight we are at the end of all that needed to be done concerning the “Celebration of Spring”. That is what we called the memorial service for the baby of our dear friends. The last two days have been full of plans for the funeral (graveside service) this morning and the service tonight. But I’m pleased to report that it all went so smoothly and perfectly, I couldn’t help but keep pointing to God and giving Him all the glory. All through the planning process, with each of the ladies who were helping me pull off my dream of having a church memorial service, we kept sensing that God was directing our paths. At the end of this blog, I’ll copy the journal entry that Bethany wrote the morning after she delivered her baby. They named their little girl “Spring Promise”, and the journal tells you why.

I made myself a memorial necklace to commemorate the baby I lost earlier this month, as well as a souvenir of my trip to Michigan. It has “bloodstone” beads, which was the March birthstone for many years before the aquamarine replaced it, and it has petoskey stone beads which originate in Michigan.

This Friday we will have our annual “March Birthday Party” at my folks’ house. We’ll celebrate Michael, Miguel, Judah, Todd and my dad. Since I have three of those birthday boys in my care, I’ll need to do a fair amount of the preparation for the party. Michael has requested “anything with chocolate and peanut butter”. My mother and I will go together on a raspberry shortcake in Miguel’s honor, and I don’t know yet what I’ll do for Judah. He has recently started noticing buses around town, so I’d at least like to get him a toy bus, even if I don’t do a special cake for him.

Right now, I’m exhausted. I’m looking forward to a good sleep tonight and a day tomorrow that has nothing to do with a funeral.

So to close this out, here is Bethany’s journal:

Why Spring? Because Spring reminds me of so many beautiful things that are treasures to me. Thunderstorms with lightening making the darkness light, diamond raindrops flashing in mirror puddles, trees with tinges of green, pink, and red softening their winter starkness, small green shoots pushing their way out of the dirt, crocuses giving bursts of color in a grey mist.

Why Spring? Because winter is like death to me. The cold that sinks into your bones, the bushes frozen in stiff gestures. Every year I long for the first signs of spring - sudden rainstorms, that peculiar cast of light that is like light seen through translucent paper, new green leaves showing in the lavender. Spring has always reminded me that there is life after death, that a new morning will come, that after the end - there is a brand new beginning. That winter isn’t a permanent death. It is just life hidden, dormant. The bulbs that lie hidden in the frozen ground are ready to spring into life anew at the first touch of the sun. The skeleton trees that mourn all winter with their dead arms raised to the sky live again. They are clothed in blossoms and green life, and they dance with joy in the brisk spring breezes.

Why Spring? Because Spring is the physical representation of all of my hopes, and the yearly sign that my God is a God of life. Death is but a short season, and life is for eternity.

Why Promise? Because God has promised that from everlasting to everlasting, his covenant love is with my children. And because God does not change, I know that my littlest love is his special treasure also. I know that since she is now absent from her body, she in now present with Lord. Her little eyes that never saw the light that I see, are gazing into the eyes of the Lamb, who is all the light she will ever need. Her eyes feast on that which I only see in signs and shadows.

Why Promise? Because God does not break his promises. His words are certain and trustworthy. I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him until the day of His returning. And God, in His mercy and kindness to me, has given me a season each year that is a physical sign of the things that I don’t yet see, but that I long for. I can feel the warmth in the air and smell the blossoms that bring hope. I can see new life springing up out of its cold winter sleep, and remember that even in small things, God does not change. He promised that Spring would follow Winter as long as the earth shall last. And I see every year how He keeps his promises. And He has promised that those of his precious sons and daughters, whom He sings over with delight, who are not present with Him here on this earth are present with Him in heaven.

From the Journal of Bethany Ross

The last three days have been very emotionally draining, as we learned of the death of our friends’ child and then waited with them for the two days that it took for her to labor and deliver the child. By last night I was very tired and I was glad that the worst of it was over.

So since I’ve been focusing on sorrow the last few days, I’m going to turn from that and share a fun website with you. My sister-in-law, Mary, e-mailed me earlier this week with this website suggestion, and we’ve been really enjoying it! It’s found at www.janbrett.com. I keep discovering more and more as I explore the various pages on her site. The first part I enjoyed was her video section where she demonstrates how to draw certain animals. Her way of interacting with her audience is simply delightful. Then I found the coloring pages, and then the multiplication flashcards, and then the word lists featuring various combinations of words… and then last night I discovered the section with “masks“. So this morning I printed off the frog for Miguel to enjoy, and Amelia picked the goat. The artwork is amazing. Laura has been practicing some of the art tips she saw in the videos, and her artwork has already shown an improvement.

Check it out, and let me know what you think.

Yesterday we received news that the unborn child of some dear friends has died.  Bethany was 20 weeks pregnant and went in for her routine sonogram that would tell her the gender of her baby.  Instead of good news, she found out that her baby was dead.  Today she will have labor induced and will give birth to her child.

My heart is heavy for my friend and sister in Christ.  I don’t understand why God is asking them to walk this path.  All I can do is try to walk with them and weep with them.

Life is so fragile.  Life is precious.

Last night our family enjoyed watching “Facing the Giants” together. Of course, several of the kids were wiggly and talkative, which is hard for those of us who like to sit quietly and actually watch the movie. But all in all it was an enjoyable experience and I’d highly recommend the movie if you haven’t seen it yet. By the end of the movie both Michael and I were asking ourselves what great things we would like to trust God for.

But that’s not why I’m here writing today. I wanted to share a photo with you showing how we spent our movie intermission time last night.

Judah had dirtied his diaper for a second time, so I pulled him up onto the couch to change him. As I was surveying the situation and peeling things off of him, stuff started pouring out the back of his diaper onto the couch. I shrieked, Michael came running, and the rest of the kids crowded around to see the show. I almost threw Judah off the couch in an effort to stop the nasty stuff from pooling any more than it already was. Michael ran for a cloth, Laura ran for paper towels, and I worked on the mess at hand. The couch cushion needed to be peeled off and rinsed, other messes needed to be cleaned up, and Judah needed to be completely changed. I realized that what would work best to clean him would be a warm shower, so we headed to the kitchen sink to give him just that. Despite the nasty messy situation, I thought it was so cute to see him standing there in the sink getting a shower. His little body is so perfectly formed and beautiful.

Once everything calmed down, we finished watching our movie. The main lesson I learned from the whole thing is that I should NOT change a baby on the couch without some sort of pad under him. My carelessness all these years finally caught up with me.

As my weekend in Michigan slides away into the archives, I’m realizing that if I don’t record our last morning in Traverse City, it’ll be forgotten. So here it is.

We got up Monday morning and hurried to get our things packed the rest of the way. We had a quick breakfast, and then we were on our way to do the last of our shopping. My goal was to get to the bead store, Nawbin, to see if I could find any beads made from petoskey stones. Since I’ve been having fun making jewelry, I thought that it would be perfect to have some unique beads for making gifts and as a souvenir for myself. My mother’s goal was to find a thrift store. One other goal was to find the health-food store that had some locally-roasted coffee that my uncle heartily recommends. So off we went on our errands.

The funniest part about the morning, in my opinion, was how often we got lost and turned around. We had a map that my uncle had drawn, and we had the map of the city, but somehow we still couldn’t find the stores we wanted. After a long search, we finally got our bearings and realized we had been very close to the health-food store all along. While we were there, my mother asked a clerk for a map to the thrift store. After leaving that store, we headed back to Nawbin since they were now open, and we had a marvellous time there. That store is so unusual! There are gobs of beads, rocks and fossils, and there are animal skins and dreamcatchers and rugs for sale too. The children were fascinated, and the staff there was very kind in answering all of their questions. I was delighted to find that Nawbin has many options for purchasing petoskey stones, and I finally settled on just exatly what I had been hoping for. Laura and Isaac discovered a pile of rabbit skins for sale, and I told them they could choose one each. They were really wishing I’d agree to buy the fox skins or the coyote skins, but after reading the price tags, I declared that the 2-for-$5 rabbit skins were right in my price range.

While we were at Nawbin, my mother asked the clerk there for a map to the thrift store. Now my mother had three maps in her pocket, and the official city map as well. We left Nawbin and headed toward the other side of town to find the thrift store. Again we were misdirected, but this time I don’t think it was entirely our fault. I’m guessing that one of our mapmakers got a street name wrong. Anyway, after driving out of town, and then turning around and heading back into town, we stumbled across the thrift store we were hunting. We felt that we really didn’t have much time to spend there, but we hurried in anyway to enjoy what we could. It was such an interesting place, and all of us found some small treasures to carry out with us.

Once we were done there we got on the road and did our best to make good time heading home. We were so surprised, as the day went on, that we were actually making record time! Later, as I thought back on our day, I was glad that we did every one of the errands we wanted to do. Even with all of our stops and mixups, we still got home before dark.

So, now you know the rest of our story.

The last few days at home have been so nice. The weather has been gorgeous, the children have loved playing outside, and I’ve really enjoyed just being home. I love my house, I love the yard, and I’m eager to get going on some of our projects here.

When I arrived home there was a beautiful pot of blooming spring bulbs waiting for me with a note from the church. The flowers bring me cheer every time I see them, and I’m so grateful for my loving church family.

While I do grieve for the child that we had so briefly, I am also intrigued that for the first time in a very long time, we don’t have a baby in the house. Judah will be two years old in a few weeks, and I’m not even pregnant. Before long I’ll work on potty-training Judah, and then I won’t even have someone in diapers. I’m trying to think of what fun things we can do as a family this summer that we might not have been able to do if we had a baby. For instance, we can have a lot of fun at the pool or at parks or the zoo or the children’s discovery museum. I hope I can take advantage of these ideas while our family is in this unusual stage. Do you have any suggestions for us? Leave me a comment! I love hearing from you.

What a delight to arrive home, be reunited with my husband and children, and sleep in my own bed last night.

Our trip home went so smoothly that we arrived home hours before we were expected! There were no delays as we zipped through Chicago at 70 miles per hour. The roads were clear, the traffic was light, and we had such an uneventful trip that there’s nothing to write about.

Last night it was wonderful to hug the children and show them some of the little treasures I brought home. Michael had worked hard to make things inviting for me. The house was cleaned up and our bed was freshly made with clean sheets.

This morning I’m sleepy and not moving very quickly, but that’s ok. I’m going to go brew a pot of coffee and just enjoy waking up in my own house.

P.S. We had a fun adventure yesterday morning as we did some shopping in Traverse City before we left. I would like to tell you about it, but the story must wait until later when I have a quiet moment. Judah is walking around with a tiny screwdriver and poking it into things that shouldn’t be poked, such as the fan or my sock, so my computer time is at an end.

Today we lost another hour. First we lost an hour going from the Central time zone to the Eastern time zone, and then the second hour was lost thanks to Daylight Savings Time. So the children and I were hard pressed to be awake and ready for breakfast by 10 am local time. We popped out of bed with ten minutes to spare, and we hurried down to the breakfast area to grab what we could before it closed.

After breakfast we hurried to get dressed so we could get to Uncle Denny & Aunt Jan’s house for lunch. We had several stops to make on the way, so we wanted to get an early start. We picked up Grandpa and then headed to the grocery store where I found the salad items and ice cream I wanted to take to contribute to the lunch. I also bought some art supplies for Laura, since the things she brought were frustrating her. We enjoyed looking around a new grocery store and finding some fun things to buy.

Our visit at Denny & Jan’s house was so pleasant. Jan’s parents were there too, and we all had a relaxing time. Laura and Isaac were tickled with the dogs, Sawyer and Macy. Grandpa seemed very comfortable there at Denny’s, which was nice to see. Lunch was delicious; conversation was pleasant; and time flew by. Denny told hunting stories, which made Grandpa smile and made the rest of us laugh with delight.

After lunch Grandpa was quite sleepy, so he laid down while the rest of us continued to visit and drink coffee. The children did an excellent job of staying entertained. Uncle Denny and Isaac worked on cleaning up a knife that Laura had found outside, and Laura played with the dogs and visited with Aunt Jan. Uncle Denny told me more about coffee than I ever knew before, and Aunt Jan and I washed up the dishes while we visited. When Grandpa woke up, he joined us for some coffee.

Finally, when it was about suppertime, we collected ourselves and headed back home. As we were coming down the road to the nursing home, we suddenly saw a flock of wild turkeys right there by the side of the road in someone’s yard. There was not much traffic, so I did a u-turn and went back to see the turkeys again. I thought it would really tickle Grandpa to see them, since he used to point them out to us when I was younger. I also thought my children would enjoy seeing them. After we sat and watched them for a bit, a boy came out of the house and started throwing snowballs at the turkeys. I guess he wasn’t nearly as impressed with them as we were. The turkeys were funny as they hurried away from the snowballs. Finally we said goodbye to the turkeys and continued on our way to the nursing home. Mom walked Grandpa in and made sure he was all situated there before she left. But since Grandpa is the ever-gracious host, he couldn’t just stay in his room while Mom left, so he accompanied her to the door and saw her off. He reminded her to drive safely on the way home tomorrow, and he waved again as she reached the outside door. When Mom got into the van, she was unsuccessfully trying to hold back her tears. We just don’t know if this might be the last time we see Grandpa on this earth, so it’s hard to say goodbye.

Once back at our motel the kids were eager to see a show on Animal Planet that was a recap of the most interesting moments in the last 25 years of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. They had seen commercials advertising this special all weekend, so it was something they wanted to see. We all sat together and watched the show, and as soon as it was over the kids jumped into their swim suits and headed to the pool.

It is by the pool that I sit now, with Mom’s computer in my lap, writing about our day. Laura didn’t stay in the water long. She banged her head twice and lost interest in the pool, so she headed back to the room to keep Grandma company. Isaac felt suddenly lonely here all by himself, so when another group invited him to join their “marco polo” game, he eagerly agreed. They’ve had a nice time, and I’m glad for Isaac to get such good exercise. He had to be so quiet all day while visiting relatives, and this boy really needs exercise!

Tomorrow we head home. We’re wanting to stop at a few shops here before we start the drive home, so I’m guessing we won’t be on the road until noon or after.

This has been a wonderful visit. I’m really glad I came.

P.S. Evening update: After Isaac was done in the pool, he and I headed to the restaurant next door for a little snack. We convinced the folks there to just sell us a few frog legs without having to purchase the whole dinner entree. We got four pairs of legs (yes, they come in pairs!), and we saved a pair to bring back to Laura. Then we shared the “lava cake” dessert that they brag about. I also got a piece of caramel-apple cheesecake to bring back to the motel room for Laura and my mother.

Tonight after our snack the four of us sat and figured out our agenda for tomorrow. We set a time to be packed, a time for breakfast, and a time to be driving away from the motel. We made a list of the places to go before we leave town, and we set a goal for arriving home. By that point we were all so enthused about leaving that most of us packed our suitcases and got as much ready to go as we could. Now I’m getting tired and I’m ready to settle down and go to sleep. I’m looking forward to getting home.