Just in case you haven’t already heard, I’ll go ahead and make my announcement here in black and white.  It’s true.  We are expecting another baby!

Last Wednesday I went to the doctor and I was able to see the baby’s heart beating on the sonogram screen.  What a comforting sight!  And what a funny feeling to know that the little tiny peanut there was the cause for all of my current discomfort and nausea.

I’m still quite early in this pregnancy… only about seven weeks.  But already I’m struggling with sickness.  Believe it or not, I don’t mind.    It’s a good sign!  And so far it’s been manageable.

I can’t help but muse over this idea of a seventh child.  According to some, I’m getting old enough to stop having babies.  But in this day and age, many women don’t even have their first baby until they are almost 40.  I’m only 37, so I guess I have some good childbearing years still ahead of me.

Believe it or not, my biggest disappointment during this time is my weight.  When I got pregnant last time I was thirty pounds lighter than I am now.  So I’m already at my final pregnancy weight and I’m just getting started!  I wish I had made an effort to lose weight before getting pregnant again.  Maybe I can make good choices during this pregnancy and not gain too much weight.

This morning is such a beautiful Spring day.  I’m sitting on my big porch enjoying the morning breezes.  My three youngest children are playing and having a great time outside this fine morning.  Life is good.

Today I had the honor of being one of four ladies who spoke at our annual church Ladies Luncheon. The suggested topic was to share what God is doing in our lives and how He is faithful. I thought you might enjoy reading my notes. As you might imagine, I didn’t stick to my notes exactly, but they give the general idea. Here it is: Read the rest of this entry »

The chicks have had several visitors today, including my nephew Josiah. He wasn’t too sure what to think of the chicks, but he agreed to hold one for the photo.

Another visitor today were my nieces Hannah and Lydia. They thought the chicks were so interesting they didn’t want to leave. But finally their big sister convinced them to tear themselves away and bid farewell to the little chickens.

Would you like to come visit?

Yesterday afternoon we saw the first signs that the chicks were trying to hatch. By last night, one little guy finally broke through his shell, much to our delight. This morning Amelia joyfully announced to me that we had two chicks hatched! All day more of them have gotten free of their shells, but just as many more only have a tiny hole poked through. So far we are at a count of seven babies. Everyone wants to hold them, including me. Read the rest of this entry »

The Yak
by Hillaire Belloc

As a friend to the children
Commend me the Yak.
You will find it exactly the thing:
It will carry and fetch, you can ride on its back,
Or lead it about with a string.

The Tartar who dwells on the plains of Tibet
(A desolate region of snow)
Has for centuries made it a nursery pet,
And surely the Tartar should know!
Then tell your papa where the Yak can be got,
And if he is awfully rich
He will buy you the creature –
or else
he will not.
(I cannot be positive which.) Read the rest of this entry »

Last night as we were sitting around watching a movie, Mike had the very disconcerting experience of discovering a spider crawling up his shirt. He shrieked, “A spider! Mama! A spider is crawling on me!” I turned around expecting to see a spider the size of a pinhead, and was shocked to see something more the size of a penny! I flew into action whapping that poor spider off onto the floor, and then Mike and I stood there staring at the floor wishing we could see the beast so I could squish it. But the spider wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice and was probably already half-way to Wisconsin. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday was such a nice relaxing beautiful day. I started my day at Kelly’s having coffee and a roll with my sister. Then I came home and did some more yard work. After that, I made pancakes for lunch, and then several of us took a long nap. Read the rest of this entry »

Today we made plans to have supper at Roy & Mary’s house, but I didn’t know that some of us also made plans to have a surprise birthday party while we were there.

I must admit, things seemed a little suspicious today, but I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was. Once we arrived at our destination tonight, and I read the “Happy Birthday, Christie!” sign, I pretty much figured it all out.  (My actual birthday is on Sunday, but that didn’t dampen anyone’s enthusiasm.)

We all had a wonderful supper and a great time visiting. And even though I don’t always know what to do with the attention, it is fun to be a “guest of honor”.

Thank you to all of you who made me feel very special!

Every year in May, our church homeschool group sponsors what we call “Arts Alive”, where our kids have an opportunity to do any kind of platform production their little hearts might desire to do. For instance, they can recite poetry, put on a play, sing a song, play an instrument, do a ballet dance, etc. They also have a chance to display any form of artwork or other creations they might like to show off. Read the rest of this entry »

About a month ago I was remembering our fun with incubating eggs last Spring, so I e-mailed the guy who runs that program and asked him if he was going to offer that again this Spring. Mr. Lloyd replied that the program was a little different this year, but that he did have one dozen eggs not spoken for, so he’d put my name on it. We picked up the incubator two weeks early and got it all ready, and then on the appointed day we eagerly went to the county extension office to pick up our dozen eggs. Read the rest of this entry »