Expectant Longing...

So, by now you all have probably read on my dear daughter T's blog that her and Son Ph are expecting. Every time I think about it I get this catch in my throat. I thought we were going to have to keep quiet about it for a while, but they broke the news yesterday and so I can sing about it all I want! Then, we had Son T and Daughter A over for dinner last night and as we were sitting there... Son T calmly said, "well, we're pregnant again!" The Dad and I both said, "are you kidding?" and "No way!" I'm telling you that our cup is running over! Both girls are due within a month of each other, Daughter T in August and Daughter A in September! Our little family is growing again. Thank the Lord for His bountiful mercy to me... and to mine. My heart is singing for double joy today! I long to hold both little ones in my arms... may the Lord make it so.

Dinner at the new apartment

Last night Daughter L and Son T had The Dad, Son J2 and I over for dinner at their new apartment. Words cannot convey how proud of was of them. My daughter; for making a wonderfully prepared meal and our son; for hosting us at his table. They have made themselves a comfortable home together. After dinner we sat and visited on the Word and then we played a quick game Son T had gotten for Christmas. It was a wonderfully comfortable evening. They both talked about it being their intent to have the brethren over for meals and visits and it struck me that they had grown up just like I wanted them to. How blessed am I to have a bounty of faithful children around me who love the Lord with all their hearts! This surely is all I could ask for as a servant of God.

Two New Additions

I wanted to post pictures of the newest additions to our church! No, no one got baptized recently. But... we did get a new cross for the front of the church and a nativity scene to display instead of our usual Christmas tree at Christmas. Big thanks to Sis. D's dad who made our cross for us, it matches our pews and is lighted from behind. All the brethren love it! And Sis. D and I really wanted and tried to find a nativity scene before Christmas and we looked online and everywhere we could think of, but we could not find one that was big enough, but didn't look cheesy. Then, the day of our church Christmas party, I was walking through the mall and lo and behold, there in the window of the Christian Outlet store was this beautiful nativity scene! It was on sale and I bought it on the spot. Our church really wanted to get away from the Christmas tree that we usually put up and I think the Lord made me find this one because everyone thinks it's perfect!

Christmas at Our House

Litte Mister Twister

So we all have to admit it... Daughter A can wear ANY hat she wants too and still look cute!

Little Miss A in her Christmas Dress

Three little ones wondering when we will open those presents?

Little T showing off his aminal!

This one's for you Russ!, here's Baby M in all his sweetness!

Waiting to get the food!

Sis. K , Bro. D and Daughter L in their jammies!

No Christmas tree for us this year! Our Christmas "bench" made it's appearance once again!

Awww! So sweet!

Here's another one for you Russ... Bro. D is getting all the food!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, full of love and family and good food! Here at our house, things are winding down. There are still a lot of boxes to recycle and we still have two church tables in the computer room, with borrowed chairs from our Christmas Eve dinner. There are a ton of goodies hanging around. Ack! And we still have New Year's Eve to look forward to. I can't believe it's going to be 2009. We are nine years into the new century. I remember ringing in the new century with Bro. Tom who is now gone from us and awaiting his heavenly home. That was a very special evening and now it seems like so long ago.

There have been quite a few changes around our house lately. We got rid of our "land line". Now we just have our cell phones. For three months, if you call our old phone number, it will direct you to my cell number. It feels weird to not have our "land line". At first I was paranoid that I would miss a call. Or that cell phone service would go away and then what would I do? But I'm calming down. Really, our "land line" hardly ever rang. So now there is one less bill to pay! The biggest change is that two of my youngest three kids moved out and into their own shared apartment. I've had to be careful to not write about this until I could collect myself. I'm ok now, really. Most of the time anyway. It's hard to have that gaping hole of my daughter's room staring at me, and wonder if she is coming back. Do I move on and make it into my sewing room, or should I leave it empty... just in case? And should our youngest son spread out in his room, or should we keep space for our missing young man, just in case? Big sigh. These are questions that haunt me. I'm happy for my two little nestlings that have flown the coop, they are so cute in their new home! I'm trying to concentrate on that part of it, so I don't ruin it for them. You know, by making them worry that I'm too sad over here... in my almost... empty... house. Our youngest is half way through his 16th year, so I'm in no danger of being an empty nester soon. But it's looming on that horizon and I'm kind of feeling like I want to turn back the clock several years.

Enough of that! I'm going to get organized and set my sewing machine up and finish some UFOs. (that's "unfinished objects" in sewing/quilting talk) I only have two days of work this week, and so that will leave me 5 days of getting things set up and figuring out where to go from here before the new year really starts.