Annual Mother's Day Pix

9 days out from "baby time."
I love the laughter!
Sweet smiles :)
I love Benj's "picture pose" and Talia's angelic look heavenward
Hug Mama!
The girls

She loves to pat the belly :)

Interview with a Big Brother & Big Sister

A little over a year ago we started circulating what is known as "the cousins box" between our family & Seth's siblings' families. Since we all live in 3 different states, we put various fun representations of the kids' lives in the box to help them get to know each other better. Recently I decided it would be fun to interview Benjamin & Talia about the upcoming baby for something fun to put in the cousin's box. The results were so entertaining I just had to share!

So without further ado...

Interview with a Big Brother & Big Sister: What Benjamin & Talia “Know” About Their Soon-to-be-Born Baby Sister

What do you know about our baby?

Benj: I don’t know what to say.

Talia: Come out of Mama’s tummy.

Is our baby a boy or a girl?

Talia: A girl.

What do you think her name is going to be?

Benj: Baby.

Mama: You don't think she might have another name? What would you name our baby?

Benj: Baby.

What is the baby going to look like?

Talia: I don’t know!

Mama: Do you think she will have hair?

Benj: Yes.

Mama: What color?

Benj: I don’t know. I’m going to think about it.

Mama: Do you think her eyes will be open or closed?

Talia: Open.

Benj: Closed.

Mama: How many teeth is the baby going to have?

Talia: Um… 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6!

Benj: Um, no teeth!

What do babies eat?

Benj: Um, just milk.

Talia: Milk!

Why do new babies cry so much?

Talia: Cause she’s hungry!

Benj: I don’t know.

Mama: Well, how does the baby say “I’m hungry”?

Benj: Waah, waah, waah. Like that.

Mama: How does the baby say “I want my Mama”?

Benj: Cause she say “waah, waah, waah.”

Mama: How does the baby say “I’m sleepy”?

Benj: (giggling) She say “waah, waah, waah.”

Talia, tell me about what you like to do at bedtime…

Talia: Kiss the baby…hug…kiss…hug…. Put the belly away! (She does kiss & hug my belly every night then she tells me, “put that belly away!”)

What are you going to do to help Mama with the baby?

Talia: Change her diaper

Benj: Um…Talia will.

Mama: Well, you can help too! What are you going to do?

Benj: Well…hold the baby like this (grabs his doll and shows how to hold the baby)

How do you play with a baby?

Benj: I don’t know.

Talia: Play cars.

Where is the baby going to sleep?

Benj: In Talia’s bed.

Where is Mama going to go when the baby comes?

Benj: To the hospital!

Talia: Hospital!

May Flowers

We planted flowers this morning. Talia was in little girl heaven. Benj was a bit grumpy and so not very excited about the whole thing.

Using the trowel from Talia's plastic play gardening set--the handle is an ear of corn--we filled her pot with soil. (Well, dirt if you ask her.) (1)

Next we carefully poured out two little seeds into the palm of her chubby hand and I helped her tip them into the pot.

Then Mama put "just a little scoop" of soil on top of the seeds and we "pat, pat, pat'ed" the soil down with a flat trowel (an eggplant-shaped handle :) ).

Flowers not only need soil ("food") and seeds to grow. They also need water. She helped me sprinkle some water from her watering can on the pot and then I taught her to check the holes in the bottom of the pot for drips to show that we gave our flowers enough to drink. (2)

The last thing we need for healthy flowers is sunshine! We placed her pots on some low shelves on the sunny side of the house. (3)

She was so proud of her "f'owers." (4)

Easter Fun

All dressed up

Waiting for their first-ever Easter Egg Hunt to start
Benjamin finding his eggs

Talia fills her basket

Easter Eggs

Last night the kids had their first ever experience coloring Easter eggs. They had a great time!

Today we ate some of our creations for lunch. (Benj is allergic to the white of the egg so we actually eat hard boiled eggs a lot. I just take the white off for him and he eats the yolk. Loves it!--I know, weird.) Anyway, I told the kids we were going to eat Easter eggs for lunch and they immediately began planning which one they wanted to eat. Seth had drawn "Bob" and "Larry" faces (VeggieTales characters) so Benj decided he wanted to eat Bob and Tali wanted Larry. Lunch was ready, they were sitting in their seats, and the time came for me to crack & peel their eggs. Benjamin had an absolute MELTDOWN. He could NOT understand why I wouldn't let him eat "Bob." He cried big, sad crocodile tears for at least 5 minutes as I tried and tried to console him, explaining that we can't eat the colored eggshells just like we can't eat white eggshells...etc. Poor guy. What a letdown. (Meanwhile, Talia was happily chowing down. Evidently it wasn't an issue for her.)

God is God and I am not

Yesterday after reading Seth's post I was reflecting on the place where God has us right now and remembering again that our only safety and hope is in the fact that we can trust our loving God who promises to "work all things together for our good." Then, as I was driving to my doctor's appointment this song by Steven Curtis Chapman came on the radio:

God is God

And the pain falls like a curtain
On the things I once called certain
And I have to say the words I fear the most:
I just don’t know

And the questions without answers
Come and paralyze the dancer
So I stand here on the stage afraid to move
Afraid to fall, oh, but fall I must
On this truth that my life has been formed from the dust

God is God and I am not
I can only see a part of the picture He’s painting
God is God and I am man
So I’ll never understand it all
For only God is God

And the sky begins to thunder
And I’m filled with awe and wonder
‘Til the only burning question that remains
Is "who am I?"

Can I form a single mountain?
Take the stars in hand and count them?
Can I even take a breath without God giving it to me?
He is first and last before all that has been
Beyond all that will pass

Oh, how great are the riches of His wisdom and knowledge
How unsearchable; for to Him and through
Him and from Him are all things

So let us worship before the throne
Of the One who is worthy of worship alone

Dissertation Update

Seth here, again. 3:18 AM.

The dissertation is finally rolling again. I just sent off the initial draft of chapter 4 to my advisor. I was hoping to do that about a month ago, but the last few weeks have been tough in a number of ways.

Thanks to all of you who are praying for us during this time. And I mean "us." I'm putting in the late nights, but Kiersten is working very hard each day to take care of the kids and to free me up to do what needs to be done. She has been amazing, especially the last couple of weeks. But we're both worn out, and our baby girl's due date is getting ever closer.

The current plan is for me to finish my initial draft this month, and then to work on revisions over the summer. I have the first 4 chapters (out of 7) turned in to my advisor, and I am up to 171 pages. It's a little pre-mature to turn in the concluding chapter, so as long as I get chapters 5 and 6 turned in the next 4 weeks, we'll be sitting in good shape going into the summer.

Please continue to pray for us. We don't know why God is allowing this to drag on and on, and its a challenge to trust Him when things are hard. Pray for perseverance. Pray for peace.

But as always when we go through a difficult time, I think God is drawing us closer to Him. I'll close with a truth from Psalm 2 that encouraged me today:
"Blessed are all who take refuge in Him."