a baby in every season of life

I was thinking the other day about having babies.   My firstborn son just celebrated the birth of his first born son (his fourth child).  He will also celebrate his 31st birthday next week.   I was pondering the day I learned I was pregnant for the first time as well as the day he was born.  I was married very young and had my first child 1 year and 9 months later, one month shy of my 19th birthday.  My husband and I did not start our lives together out as born-again Christians and I will have to admit that news of my first child's impending birth was not as happy an occasion as it should have been.  Those days in my marriage were very rocky days.  God was faithful though, as He kept us together, knowing full well what His master plan was.  His birth was a much more joyous occasion.  Friday the 13th of March, was a great day for us as our first little bundle arrived at 6:56 A.M.  As I was pondering all that took place that day and the feelings that rush in as you bring a son into the world knowing full well that he will carry on your family name, I had a thought.....

It occurred to me that I have been pregnant and given birth in each of the seasons of life I have lived.  My first child came when I was a young bride at the age of 19, thus giving me a child in my teen years.  Our second child, a daughter, was born 19 months later when I was in my early 20's.  Now fast forward to my 30's  when our third child (our first reversal baby) came along (that is another story).  Three years later when I entered my 40's, we were blessed with yet another baby.  Two years later we were blessed again.  Then two years later, we were blessed again but God chose to take that baby back into His arms to await our arrival to Heaven one day.  So four seasons of life spanning over three decades God chose to bless our home with children.  How incredibly blessed we are.

jireh cooking breakfast

I had to laugh this morning when Jireh ask to cook breakfast.  She wanted to make french toast all by herself.  As she began to get out all the ingredients I could not help but giggle as my mind went back to many years  ago when we were in Bible college and living in Arlington, TX.  Jeremy (then 14) came in and ask to have a sandwich.  I told him to make himself one.  He looked at me with a puzzled look and then replied, "I don't know how".  WOW, had I really done EVERYTHING for them!  Fast forward to about the year 2000 when Jonathan was 3.  He was not even tall enough to reach the counter when we would put him on a stool and let him make his own food.  All my little kids love to cook and I am so glad.  We are not going down that "do everything for me" road again!

Jireh at age 8 can cook up quite the french toast!

the garden

We started the garden the end of April.  It is now the middle of June and most of it seems to be doing very well.  Not sure what happened to the peas.  They started out really well but don't look so well anymore.  Maybe it is too much rain.  Who knows, never grew peas before.

Then there is the broccoli that I was told would attract bugs.  So we planted it in one of the flower gardens.  It too seems to be doing well, although I have no idea when or how those broccoli stalks come out.  It has been about 50 days and all I have are big leaves.  Guess we will see about that!

Then there is the cantaloupe and watermelon and the tomatoes and lettuce.  All of which seem to be growing by leaps and bounds.  Can't wait to make all my own salsa and tomato sauce for the winter.  It is great to go out to the garden and pick your lettuce as you need it.  Awesome!

Awe, then comes the fruit of our labors.  Mmmmm good!

What do you make of this radish?  Interesting!

finally learning how to blog

Well, after a day of not doing much else but trying to figure out this blog, I think I am a little farther along than I was.  Maybe I will get better at it and be more consistant.  Who knows, it has just never been on my priority list. 

they are here

Corey and Jessica finally arrived on Tuesday.  We had Brooklyn and Claire here for a couple of days too.  It was wall to wall sleeping in this house.  Grandma took them for a swim on Thursday before the girls went home.

reese's bedding

I was able to make Reese's bedding.  It was a different kind of bedding because of the flowers.  The quilt is on it's way to being done but here are photos of the crib set and the curtains.  I love pink and green!

Excuse the guns on the wall, her daddy is in the Army!  :-)

reese adaliene duffer is born

We welcomed our 7th grandchild into the world on July 8, 2010.  She was born at 2:03 AM, was 7 pounds 2 ounces and 19.5 inches long.  She joined her two sisters Brooklyn and Claire. Well, actually, we did not welcome her...... we were away at youth camp with Jonathan.  We chose that week of camp because she was not due yet and we knew we would be able to be there for her birth.   So much for trying to plan God's business.  Hahahaha!

summer fun

What full days we seem to always have here in our home.  After all the chores were done Jonathan had a friend here for the day. It was fun to watch them be silly and act like boys!  I did the business end of the Miche Bag business and then spent some time in the sewing room doing camp clothes.  Jonathan and Michael then were taken to Park Meadows Baptist Church for a youth activity called Cola-Clash.  What a fun evening.  After such a long day of play, Jonathan was ready to get home and fall into bed. 

happy anniversary to me

Thirty-one years ago today, I married what would become the love of my life.  I was just a child bride at the age of seventeen years and two months old.  No, I was not pregnant!  I just thought I was in love.  Little did I know what love really was.  I was only a junior in high school and promised my parents that I would finish school if they allow me to marry.  I did just that.  As we have both grown closer to our Lord over the years we have automatically grown closer to one another.  I never take for granated though that the adversary is always there desiring to destroy my marriage.  It is a daily task to make sure that I have a right spirit towards my husband and home so that my marriage will be protected.  Has our marriage ever had problems?  Well of course, all things that are worth anything have their struggles but God has been faithful and always drawn us back to Himself!

what do I do all day long

I truly ment to keep this blog updated when I first started it.  Wow, it looks like that did not happen.  What a year it has been.  So here goes again.  Ladies often ask me what I do all day as a stay at home mom.  I almost always chuckle as I think about just what it is that I do.  Let's take yesterday for instance.  Up at 5AM and get David off to work  (so blessed that he has a job).  Read my Bible and spend some time fellowshipping with the Lord.  Then outside to prepare and spray the weeds in the cracks of the concrete as well as the fence line and flower beds.  Take care of all the pool needs, cleaning filter, vacuuming pool, adjusting saltwater pump, testing.  Then it is time to draw water from the rainwater barrell to water the hanging plants.  Back inside it is now time to wake the children so their day can get started.  They go down the list of "must do" things before they start their daily chores.  Things like make your bed, comb your hair, brush your teeth, read your Bible, eat breakfast  and so on.  Then it is time to oversee that the chores get finished properly.  After chores then comes music practice.  Jonathan piano and Jasmine on the flute.  I like to sit and make sure they are counting notes properly and doing all that they are required to do.... there just went an hour and a half.  Just about time it is all done, the lunch whistle rings to prepare lunch.  Jonathan did this today while I prepared to do the many alterations in my sewing room.  Lunch eaten, the children went out to play while I did some sewing.  After about an hour and a half of sewing I go out and announce that it is bike riding time.  We take off on a long bicycle ride.  When Jireh becomes worn out we head for home.  This is also after stopping twice to visit with friends along the way. Fast forward a couple hours and it is almost time for David to get home from work.  The kids jump into the swimming pool while I answer the door to a lady that wants her own personal showing of the Miche bag.  So while I am tending to her, David gets home and goes out to the pool to visit with the children.  An hour later dinner is done and it is time to eat.  Then our one television show of the week comes on, "Wipeout".  We watch that and then David and the children play a video game together.  I go back to the sewing room while they do that and then he tucks them into bed.  This is my late night for sewing so I stay up and cut out my newest grandaughter's bedding so that I can begin to sew it tomorrow.  Dropping into bed around midnight and it all starts over again at 5AM.  So my reply when I am ask what I do all day.   I never get bored or sit for very long at all.  I am busy taking care of the things that need my attention.