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So for Colin’s birthday dinner last week my mom made German food. One of our family favorites. 🙂

Here is the table spread, with Grandpapa getting Gabriel seated for the meal.

The spaetzle in the serving bowl. Gotta love a close-up of this delicious stuff!

My dinner plate. 🙂 We also had some great German wine. Yummm.

And for dessert we had sort of a fudgy fondue, with lots of incredibly yummy goodies for dipping. 🙂 Even homemade marshmallows!! 🙂

Then my sweet Steven whisked me away for the Labor Day weekend ~ It was so wonderful! We missed our darling Gabriel like crazy. But he apparently had the time of his life. Was not disobedient. Learned new tricks. And all-in-all I think he’d like us to go away once a month! (Grandmama would too, haha!) As far as our getaway time, we really enjoyed ourselves. Even though it rained every day we were there. Thankfully we think gray, cold, rainy days are cozy & romantic instead of dull & depressing. 🙂

This was our lovely little hotel room.

This was the outside of the hotel.

This was on the wall in the hotel room, and it made me smile. 🙂

We walked around the cute little town a good bit, and window-shopped.
Actually, we bought one thing too. Our new favorite game, Bananagrams. We play it endlessly now!! 🙂

I love this town, it’s beautiful and quaint.

The first night we did our one fancy schmancy dinner. We actually both had veal jagerschnitzel and spaetzle (yes, yes; we love German food, okay?) with spiced red cabbage and rye bread.

For dessert I ordered a chocolate mousse “thing” that was just exquisite!! And Steven got a dessert port sampler. We shared a little, but not much. 🙂


On Sunday morning we visited a sister church of ours that was just wonderful! We were so blessed by the service, liturgy, preaching, and the people. So many people came up to introduce themselves. It was lovely. We kind of want to move there. 😉 So anyway… after that we went out to coffee with a young couple there we are friends with. It was great to catch up with them, and sip some warm drinks on a chilly day. Then we drove back, went walking and shopping, and bought pretzels for a snack.


That night, a bit later, we ate dinner at a really nifty little underground place, and got to sit in a cute little booth that’s supposed to feel like you’re sitting in a wine keg. I had fun playing with my camera and using the mirror next to us in the booth. 🙂

If I knew how to post video here I would; I got a great little video of the restaurant and the cute little old man who went from table to table playing the accordian! Oh well.
Instead, here’s a look at our sausages, mustard, fried potatoes & onions, and Steven’s “dunkel”.

The mist around the mountains was gorgeous.

Walking in the rain!!

We went to the local cheese shop and got some small samples of completely fabulous cheeses to enjoy for a bedtime snack. Wow. Simply incredible. One of them was soaked in whiskey. 🙂 Another was applewood smoked cheddar. And the middle one? It was creamy and mild, and I can’t recall what it actually was. 🙂

On Monday we couldn’t really go truly hiking because of the rain, but we went on a miniature jaunt right on the river. So pretty.


And that was that! Such a pleasant getaway, and a truly blessed retreat. I am so thankful my husband did that for us. He is a wise man. Sometimes when I don’t even know that I need a break from the grind (especially the emotional grind) at home, he can see it — so he whisks me away like this, and is truly the most wonderful husband in the world.
Maybe I can swipe some of my mom’s pictures of Gabriel’s visit in the country. She got some super cute pictures of him rolling down a grassy hill — one of his new tricks. He also has two new teeth popping through. And Grandpapa taught him to say thank you (signing).

My “mommy necklace” arrived today!! I love it. I’m so excited. 🙂

What’s the difference between sharing your opinion and over-sharing? What’s the difference between being thankful for what you enjoy, what you like, what God has given you and on the other hand implying that your way is the only way, the best way, and all other methods are foolish, backward, and borderline sinful? There is a great deal of wisdom needed in this area, but let’s start with two things. First is real and genuine thankfulness to God for His kindness. In other words, real and genuine thankfulness can’t stop talking about the kindness of God. It sees God’s hand in all of the details. When God gives, when God provides, when God blesses, thankfulness receives and rejoices in the gift and the Giver. This applies to the food you eat, the medicine you take, the medical decisions you make, educational decisions, housing decisions, money spending and saving decisions, the movies you watch, the movies you don’t watch, books you read, music you listen to, clothes you wear, jewelry, and so on. The first thing is to check your motives. Are you talking about these things with thankfulness to God for how He has blessed you in this area? Are you talking about those vaccinations with gratitude deep down in your heart to the God of all creation? Are you rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ for the way He has led you in the standards you have for your family regarding movies and television? Or are you cranky or complaining? How has God blessed you? If you can’t say how God has blessed you, then you probably should keep your mouth shut. Your opinion is not flowing out of thankfulness to the Lord and Giver of Life. And finally, when we talk about these things, it must be remembered that God gives us principles, and then He requires us to apply them with wisdom. He tells us to train up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. He does not send you an email and tell you to sign up your child for a particular class. God calls us to love life and preserve life. He doesn’t say to avoid high cholesterol foods or meat pumped full of hormones. God requires us to meditate on those things which are good and true and lovely; He didn’t give us a list of approved movies and books. If God has blessed you and poured His kindness upon you, and you are sharing God’s goodness and if you can clearly see the principle that God blessed in and how He led you to wisely follow Him in the details then by all means share, discuss, laugh, and enjoy. But if you can’t see the difference between principles and methods, and you’re just on a crusade for some cause, please shut up. The tongue is a small but deadly weapon.

“But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” (Js. 3:8)

So with the fall schedule beginning at church now, we’ve got lots of things going on again: book studies, fellowship groups, church choir, Sunday school, prayer groups, walking groups, MOPS, etc. It can be hard to know what all we should commit to ~ what we should dip our toes into. It’s taking prayer for wisdom. We are probably going to be dipping our toes in quite a few different things, and wading up to our waists in a couple choice events. I love schedules most of the time, so I guess it’s good that I have bothered filling our calendar with all the weekly/monthly events. It looks rather full now! 🙂
I’ve started reading books again more consistently lately, and it’s exciting. I somehow manage to do it while Gabriel is sleeping or while I am feeding him (he got banana in my copy of Passionate Housewives Desperate for God, haha).
Today I am reading a short essay by Elisabeth Elliot. You can read it online too, by clicking here. It’s called The Essence of Femininity.
Related to that is one of the new book studies that is starting up for the fall. It’s about 10 women of varying ages and varying life situations (they’re encouraging the older women/younger women philosophy of Titus 2:3-5). We are waiting for the books to arrive, and will shortly begin going through The Five Aspects of Woman. It discusses what biblical femininity is, I guess. I am really looking forward to this study.
I think I might try to get a copy of Womanly Dominion for my next personal read. I might even see if a friend of mine wants to go through it together and discuss it chapter by chapter. I found the book on this blog, and think it might be encouraging and beneficial. I’ve read a lot of books in the last couple of years on this sort of topic, and it’s always good to keep learning & growing in this realm.
I’m also still reading my “usual” mix of the daily Morning & Evening, and a page or two of quotes from The Loveliness of Christ each day. As a family, Steven recently finished reading the book of Matthew out loud to us, and now we are in 1 Samuel. Gabriel and I have been going through Revelation together, and today we will finish it up! So we’ll find something new next… hm… need to think about that one. I also read him a psalm every day, but today we begin Psalm 119 — so I think we’ll read it in small chunks. 🙂

So. What have YOU been reading lately?

p.s. I thought about including the list of books Gabriel brings to me every day to read to him… he has taken a habit of going to his bookshelf, grabbing a book in each hand, running over to me, handing them to me, and plopping down on his bum — think he likes reading?? umm, yes. 🙂 His favorites right now are Mr. Brown Can Moo Can You?, Dr. Seuss’s ABC, and Little Bitty Baby Learns Greek.

I am interested in maaaaybe getting these books for our little-but-hopeful-library shelf. 🙂
Manners
Psalm 103
Mommy/Teacher
Homeschooling/Trivium

My sweet, sweet hubby popped in a movie for us to watch on the laptop last night… What was it?, you ask.
Anne of Green Gables. I remember when I used to have the entire thing memorized, practically word for word. I soaked it all in, and enjoyed every scene, every landscape, every outfit, every clever line, every beautiful home.
Have I mentioned lately how positively incredible my husband is?? I am one of those women who wants to get a t-shirt claiming that I have the best husband in the world. But you know, then I am sure I would get into a quarrel with someone sooner or later and it just wouldn’t be pretty. Because I would have to win. Just have to. 🙂 My husband is so loving and attentive, caring and diligent, purposeful and understanding, strong and tender. He leads me, he supports me, he prays for me and with me. God is so kind.

**happy sigh**

Maybe you can imagine the terror involved for the poor little boy. The full-body trembling. The fingernails digging into Mommy’s neck. The screaming. The wide eyes and fat tears.
Let’s just say I will never be doing self-check-out at the library again. Probably ever.

**tired sigh**

I love my parents.
They are the best.
I’m so thankful for godly counselors, encouragers, and prayer warriors.
These are some of the things they encouraged me with today:

What does that have to do with anything??, you ask.
Well, my hands have grown so weary.
I feel like I can not possibly hold them up anymore.
I need a stone to sit on.
And my daddy said he will hold up my hands.
Praise the Lord.

My newest endeavor is “worship practice” with Gabriel every day of the week. No, it’s not the same for us as family worship. That is in the evening, right before his bedtime. So he is pretty calm and quiet and happy about it.
This is morning. This is without Daddy, since he is diligently providing and working. Just my boy and me. Right now we aim for thirty minutes: singing (his faaaaaavorite part), reading Scripture, and reading a devotional. It’s good for both of us. We do it during the time when we would be at church on Sunday (although for just 1/3 the amount of time). A time of day when Gabriel has copious amounts of energy. It can be a challenge, but we are hoping that daily training in worship will have beautiful, bountiful rewards.
Although right now I simply read a short devotional out loud to act as “the sermon”, my aim is to work up to using tapes or online sermons, and work with him on sitting quietly, sitting still, and sitting joyfully for the duration. I don’t expect this to happen overnight. But we are aiming towards a goal, and hope God will bless our efforts.

I am always thankful for the words of Spurgeon in the Morning And Evening readings.
The following was the reading for this morning, and the words pierced me.
Lord, I believe. Help Thou my unbelief!!

Numbers 14:11
“How long will it be ere they believe me?”

Strive with all diligence to keep out that monster unbelief. It so dishonors Christ, that he will withdraw his visible presence if we insult him by indulging it. It is true it is a weed, the seeds of which we can never entirely extract from the soil, but we must aim at its root with zeal and perseverance. Among hateful things it is the most to be abhorred. Its injurious nature is so venomous that he that exerciseth it and he upon whom it is exercised are both hurt thereby. In thy case, O believer! it is most wicked, for the mercies of thy Lord in the past, increase thy guilt in doubting him now. When thou dost distrust the Lord Jesus, he may well cry out, “Behold I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.” This is crowning his head with thorns of the sharpest kind. It is very cruel for a well-beloved wife to mistrust a kind and faithful husband. The sin is needless, foolish, and unwarranted. Jesus has never given the slightest ground for suspicion, and it is hard to be doubted by those to whom our conduct is uniformly affectionate and true. Jesus is the Son of the Highest, and has unbounded wealth; it is shameful to doubt Omnipotence and distrust all-sufficiency. The cattle on a thousand hills will suffice for our most hungry feeding, and the granaries of heaven are not likely to be emptied by our eating. If Christ were only a cistern, we might soon exhaust his fulness, but who can drain a fountain? Myriads of spirits have drawn their supplies from him, and not one of them has murmured at the scantiness of his resources. Away, then, with this lying traitor unbelief, for his only errand is to cut the bonds of communion and make us mourn an absent Saviour. Bunyan tells us that unbelief has “as many lives as a cat:” if so, let us kill one life now, and continue the work till the whole nine are gone. Down with thee, thou traitor, my heart abhors thee.

Just wanted to post a short & sweet medical update. Won’t go into details, since it’s a public blog. 🙂
But I want to thank you for your prayers. Those of you who have prayed for us over the summer have truly blessed and encouraged us. May God bless you for your faithfulness and your care for His people.
We had our final appointment yesterday with the reproductive endocrinologist. Well, the last fertility research appointment. Hopefully the next time we see him it will be for maternity monitoring. That is our prayer.
Most of the tests came back normal. We even got to see pictures of our chromosomes. Kind of like in a textbook. It was funny, and pretty clever actually. 🙂 Thankfully my hubby and I both come from medical backgrounds/families so we catch onto the medical lingo really quick. Otherwise we probably would have been so confused, haha.
So the only main “marker” is that I have hypothyroidism. The bad thing about it is that it could have been the reason (possibly. or at least a contributing factor maybe?) for the deaths of our three babies. The good thing about it is that it’s treatable. So I am on medication now for the rest of my life, and hopefully it will make a difference. I am already noticing, just a few weeks after starting it, a few major changes. And I am so thankful and happy!! The main change being that I no longer feel constant lethargy, like I am trudging around knee-deep in mud every day. God is good, and I am so thankful for this treatment.
There were one or two other small markers, but one isn’t probably a factor and the other we can’t do anything about. So that’s that.

So what’s next?

We continue petitioning our good and merciful Father in Heaven.
We pray for Him to fill my empty, aching womb.
We pray for Him to fill our home with dancing and laughter and the pitter-patter of many tiny feet.
We pray for Him to use the medication and new knowledge we have to help our next babies.
We pray for Him to give us patience and hope for the future.
We pray for Him to give us peace and comfort.
We pray for Him to accomplish a miracle in our family. Many, many miracles actually. 🙂

Thank you again for your encouragement, support, and prayers.
May the Lord bless you for your faithfulness.
Praise the Lord!

PSALM 113

Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD,
   praise the name of the LORD!

Blessed be the name of the LORD
   from this time forth and forevermore!
From the rising of the sun to its setting,
    the name of the LORD is to be praised!

The LORD is high above all nations,
   and His glory above the heavens!
Who is like the LORD our God,
   who is seated on high,
who looks far down
   on the heavens and the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust
   and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes,
   with the princes of his people.
He gives the barren woman a home,
   making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the LORD!

Wait a minute. Did you get that? Did you let that sink in?
Or did you skim over it, since you have read that verse a million times in your life?

Go back. Read it again. Absorb every syllable.

“SURELY goodness and mercy SHALL follow me ALL the days of my life.”

In the dictionary, it defines surely as follows:
          firmly, unerringly, undoubtedly, assuredly, certainly, inevitably, or without fail.
It also defines shall as follows:
          will have to, is determined to, definitely will.
And then all is defined as:
          the whole of, every.

Just think about that.

Okay, wow.
Surely doesn’t mean maybe.
And all doesn’t mean some.
Praise the Lord!!!!

“With God these qualities are not merely solid and dependable,” explains Derek Kidner, “but vigorous–for ‘follow’ does not mean here to bring up the rear but to pursue.”

If you are a Christian, goodness and mercy follow you “always” says Charles Spurgeon: “the black days as well as the bright days. Goodness supplies our needs, and mercy blots out our sins.”

HALLELUJAH & AMEN!!!