May

I'm not quite sure how May is almost over.  This happens every month, so I should be surprised.


We celebrated Emmy's birthday in early May.  She is two now. And definitely in top two cutest nieces ever. ;)

Emmy's bird cake and bunny cake to the far right.

We spent mother's day with the Wyss's at the condo's.  It was the typical gathering with plenty of good food, sitting around, and interesting conversations to overhear.



Jack seemed to enjoy himself. :)

Jack and Nancy (Lena's grandparents) joined us.

I'm sure with them and Andy, Pearl, and Grandpa and Grandma, the conversation was hilarious.

And, with May comes flowers.  I love late spring and summer.   I spent way too much time and money at the Washington green house one afternoon.



What a glorious sight.

my cart was full of wonderful things

I spent that evening planning flowers and the garden. 

Our porch back to it's summer-time glory. :)

We have 5 rhubarb bushes (?) and they have been going nuts.  I still had some rhubarb in the freezer from last year, so I bought some strawberries and made a few pies one evening.



all the necessary ingredients :)

yum

plain rhubarb complete with a lattice top.

and the strawberry rhubarb.

Not only is our rhubarb doing well, our strawberry patch is exploding.  Not many have ripened yet, but there are lots of little green ones.



The first ripe strawberry.

It was amazing.

My birthday came and went. :)  There will be more in another post.  And, work has also been keeping me busy.   Last I went to the doctor, baby B, as the baby shall be called,  seems to be doing well.  Poor Nathan will have to deal with my ever increasing bouts of nesting and planning. :)

In Christ

~Michelle

Gathering of the Alumni

Two weekends ago, we hosted a U of I reunion. We tried to invite the young groups from when we were at U of I.   Out of 40 possible (maybe more) we got 23 guests. :)

Taco bar. 

We had plenty of food.

It was a beautiful day, so we were able to move the festivities outside for a while. 

Tristan brought some outdoor games. 

A few brought their musical instruments. We sang a few country western songs. :)

It was great fun.  A solid turn out from the UIUC YG. I miss the intelligent conversation and comfortable silences.  The best part of college was the young group, it was so good to be back together with them for a bit. 

In every day activities: we planted our garden. 

He is such a trooper.

Actually, he knows more about gardening than me.

our rhubarb is going nuts :)

Asparagus! 

our strawberry patch has grown.

beautiful green and sunshine

The other evening I invited us over to my parents for supper.  For two reasons. I feel sick and don't feel like cooking.  Of my two lilac bushes we only have one bloom and the farm has tons.
The girlies were there. I took them out flower picking with me after supper. 

I think these are my favorite flowers.

:)

I'm loving spring.  Those few warm days we had were amazing.  April was crazy. We are looking forward to a quieter May. 

In Christ

~Michelle

It's about time

I suppose that it is about time to announce:

Yup, that is correct.  I'm pregnant. :)

FAQs:

Q: When are you due?

A: I'm going to go with October. The doctor thinks they know better than me on the date so there is quite the range. :)

Q. How are you feeling?

A: (I'm trying very hard not to be snarky) I'm alive, as you can tell. I think I'm feeling pretty good.  But, maybe I'm just a super strong human being who can handle more than you. ;) hehe. No really. I'm doing well. But, truthfully this question gets old...sorry.

Q: Was it planned?

A: I won't even try not to be snarky. Why. Why would you ever ask this? We've been married almost 3 years... ?

Q: Are you excited?

A: Still such an odd question to ask.  But, yes, very.  Will I show it? Probably in spurts, but I'm also extremely practical and know it won't be all sunshine and daisies.

Q: When did you announce?

A: um... we just sorta started telling people and went from there.   I don't like a lot of attention so I prefer the trickle effect. 

In other news, we are also one class and a home study away from being licensed as foster parents. :) I'm not sure when we'll start taking kids. Once we are "ready" it could be months before they call us. If anyone has toys, games, books, or clothes, for 0-3(ish) year olds we'd appreciate donations :) so we can be prepared. A lot of kids come with very little and we pretty much have nothing. 

So, recently I've been doing a lot of crib shopping,  room arrangement planning, and Pinterest-ing for ideas. 

The other evening we were with Nathan's family and they opened the Bible to read. Before they started, I immediately thought of a verse. They started reading and read the exact verse:

"And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me." ~ Mark 9:36-37

Prayers appreciated for both steps in our life.

In Christ

~Michelle



April

I know. I know.  It's already halfway through April and this is my first post.

We started out April by spending our evenings working on our garden.  I decided this year to try raised beds. Nathan has been kind enough to go along.  

The first bed going in

One evening, my dad and Jake brought us dirt. We paid for their labor in cookies.

Lots and lots of dirt

The finished product. 

The other evening the doorbell rang and I answered the door.  It was an older man and he was wondering where we got such nice dirt. He had never seen dirt so nice before. hehe. Thankfully I knew where my dad had bought it and with a confirmatory text, I was able to advise the man. 

April 8th and 9th Nathan and I participated in the wedding festivities of one of Nathan's college friends.  Nathan got to be a groomsman and wear a tux.  Friday night we went to the rehearsal dinner. The other groomsmen, Nathan's friends as well, who aren't from the area stayed at our house that night.

Saturday, I tagged along to the Pere Marquette where the wedding party was meeting up.

We quick grabbed a picture. 

looking quite handsome in his bow-tie :)  hehe 

We then headed to the church. I got to experience my first Catholic wedding.  Quite something. 

The wedding party and the gorgeous church.

From the church, I got to ride the bus with the wedding party, and other significant others, to pictures and then to the reception. 

The bride and groom

Oh wedding receptions. They are so awkward.  God was definitely looking out for me though and Nathan did not have to sit at a head table.  But, yah. Dancing and drinking. Since I do neither, It was a bunch of long hours of sitting and sipping coke.  If the dancing were only as beautiful and sophisticated as dances from the regency era (aka pride and prejudice), I would have been way more tempted to join. 

Nathan's friends stayed Saturday night as well and left Sunday after we went to church. 

Sunday evening, Kacie came over and spent the night.  We stayed up far too late having really good conversations. :) I wish I got to see her more. To say I was tired on Monday is an understatement.

I got to babysit for Jack the other night. We had fun. I was trying to transfer the pictures seen above from my phone to the computer. Jack wanted to suck on my phone. 

So, we took a selfie. 

Saturday night we went to Matt's "surprise" birthday party at the farm.  A random assortment of Matt's friends came. It was fun. 

His cake. It's so gross. 

just look at the amount of frosting. 

The girlies came with Jenny and Bob and a few of the others brought their kids as well. I had fun watching them run around the farm. The men mostly sat on the porch and chatted. 

They finished up the night with some quartet-ing. 

We served lunch on Sunday. It was a success. We had plenty of food and not too much left over.  Every time I find it weird how people thank me.  I don't feel like I should be thanked.  Every other couple serves lunch.Why is that spectacular or worthy of praise? I just did what was expected, nothing special.  Serving lunch is my way of thanking everyone else for doing their part and vise versa.   

Side rant on thanking:  I also don't think people should be expected to write thank you notes for gifts given at showers. If I thanked you in person, why do I need to thank you again?  If you need something in return for the gift, was it really a gift at all?  For family and close friends, I have so much to thank you for, a card can't even do justice, and for others, it become the stock "thank you for the ----. We really appreciate it."   How is that better than a collective appreciation for all the support and love shown?   Do people realize how much it might cost a young couple fresh out of college, just starting out, with barely any savings, to send that many cards through the mail?  

I don't mind getting or writing the occasional thank you note. But, I think expecting everyone to write one for everything, they lose their meaning. Same with being thanked for serving lunch.  

I'm just weird. And, quite opinionated. If you haven't figured that out.  If you like to write thank you notes for wedding/baby showers, enjoy :) 

"But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." ~ Luke 17:7-10


Anyway...I should probably be quiet. I've been on a soap box rampage these days. Blogs are wonderful forums for those though. ;) hehe.

In Christ
~Michelle

busy days, Easter, and inappropriate laughter

I feel like we've been really busy, but with not much to show for it. 

We hosted potluck at our house at the beginning of  March. I made pork loin for the first time.  It turned out well and wasn't too dry :)

I finally put our chairs back together. 

I really like them with our table. 

I brought these inside and they started blooming. 

On the 15th,  Nathan's nephew, Isaiah, celebrated his first birthday.  We went out to Camp Grove for supper and for the party. 

Isaiah quickly learned what his cake was. 

There wasn't much left.

St. Patrick's day fell in the middle of the week again. Which meant that the parade shut down our part of the city.  They block off all of the roads surrounding our building at work, so we are pretty much stuck, and forced to watch the parade.  ;)

I took a picture of the bag pipers, of course. 

Palm Sunday,  the Sunday school did their Easter Program.  I, a less then thrilled teacher, got to lead my lovely children in song.  I'm telling you. It is exhausting trying to get them to stand still, stay in line, watch the person in front of you so you aren't looking at the ceiling when they start walking,  pay attention to the teachers so you start singing together, watch what I'm saying so you say/sing the right words, put your dress down,  sit still, get off the floor, stop touching him, look where you are going.... ayiyiyi...  I think this is the reason people don't give birth in litters. 

One of the lovely students was doing something very obnoxious and I laughed. Well of course that dear child thought he would do it again and again....

I have the unfortunate characteristic of laughing at the most inappropriate times. It seems, the more inappropriate the time, the more funny I find it. 

And, then there is communion.  We had communion in Washington, the Saturday before Palm Sunday.  I have gotten better over the years at preparing myself for communion. And, I mean preparing myself NOT to laugh.  Here are reasons I could have laughed:

1. A sea full of men in fresh white shirts about to drink from a glass of very red wine passed to them from the person beside them. Oh the stains that could happen!

2. The slurping, glugging, sipping noises echoing across the somber silence of the church. 

3. The wave of coughs following the wine glass.

4. The number of times you hear the elder or minister refill the men's side goblet v.s. the women's side.

5. The sudden shock, and gag reflex, I feel when I take a sip. The expression I know just shot across my face.   I don't like wine. I don't like grape.  I don't like alcohol. I know it's just a sip. But, every year...ugh. :)

6. The bread. It's cut into long, unnatural tubes.  

7.  The bread sticks to your teeth and the back of your throat. You feel like you have to pry it off with your tongue. All very irreverent. But, you can't help it.

8. The sound of coughing and gagging and such that follows. 

I know. I'm supposed to be thinking about how Christ's body was broken for me. How he poured out his life for me. How he suffered in agony for my sins. How wonderful and amazing, how horrible and beautiful, God's plan was.  You're supposed to let the depth sink in, feel the communion with Christ and your fellow Christians. 
But, me. Nope. It's quiet, it's somber, and it is ever so awkward...and every little detail, every sound, it's funny.  More funny than any joke.   The irony of the awkward humaness next to such a holy and perfect thing we are commemorating.  I've gotten better over the years, but I still stiffle my giggles and try not to notice how much some people seem to enjoy that wine. 

The other evening, Matt and Lena kindly allowed us to come over and play games.  I got to 'help' give Jack a bath.

Isn't he the cutest baby ever?

I had Friday off work, so Jenny invited me to come over and color eggs with her. The girls joined in. ;)

Emmy was enthusiastic as usual.

Cecily checking her blue egg.

Emmy got bored pretty quick. So, Jenny gave her a cup of water and a plastic egg. 

they're so springy!

I played with the girls on the swings for a bit. 

It was fun.

Easter snuck up on me.  I was not prepared.  It seemed way to early this year.   Or, maybe I just need to look more than one day ahead on the calendar. 

We spent Easter with Nathan's family.  Tim and Becky hosted in Eureka, so we didn't have to go far. That was nice.  We had a good evening and ate too much food. :)

The Sunday School Easter program's theme was: Alive.    And it did stick with me through Easter. He is alive.  Though, I may never feel the same joy the disciples did (I never thought he was dead) there is an inexplicable joy in that. He is alive.  

"...Why seek ye the living among the dead?" ~ Luke 24:5

In Christ
~Michelle