lessons learned

i don't have that much new to post, so here's some personal musings on pregnancy, remodeling, and the countdown to UltraSound Day (this coming Friday!)

10. Dirt is inevitable. No matter how hard you try to keep it out, it climbs through the cracks in the walls and pervades the entire house when you are remodeling.
9. Weekends go by in a nanosecond. Weekdays last forever.
8. Three-year-olds can sense change on the wind better than a dog can smell "dinner". And then begin to assert their identity in the household with a vigor.
7. I will never feel like I've gotten "enough sleep". I could sleep all day and still want more.
6. Three-year-olds don't respect the sleep needs of a grown-up.
5. Pregnancy dreams make sleeping a whole lot more exciting. Zowee! It's like CSI every night.
4. Remodeling begins with "oh, this will just take six weeks or so!" and ends with "that was the longest six months of my life."
3. Maternity pants are abominable. Doesn't matter whether they are lo-rise, mid-belly, over-the-belly, hidden panel, whatever. They are all uncomfortable and constantly feel like they are falling off.
2. There is nothing quite as blessed as laying in bed and feeling a 5 oz. little human pummel you from the inside out.
1. You know you're working too hard when you look forward to Maternity Leave as a "vacation".

(the photo is me at 4 mos. with Scooby, and thankfully, I look pretty much the same this time around! We all miss Heidi though...)

details details

for all you who are visiting here for the first time after receiving The Gabes Christmas card, be sure to view the archives for summer pictures, Little Dude as ring-bearer, etc.

for all of you who have been asking when our ultrasound is going to be - it's scheduled for February 2nd. yes, we're going to find out what the gender is.

and our c-section is tentatively scheduled for July 2nd.

have a happy wednesday!

xmas in Maine

it wasn't quite a white Christmas, but it did snow twice the week we were back East. Here's a few photos of our family fun. We put Colin on a pair of tiny little skis, which he caught on to relatively well, and thought it was hysterical to be pulled around by the front of his jacket. We also managed to go back to the covered bridge in Jackson, NH, near where Gabe used to live as a boy and take a family photo of the "four" of us (notice the bump). Colin didn't let us stay long, b/c it was about 24 degrees and ended up wearing my jacket and I his as we trudged back to the car. we were also able to spend some great quality time with Gabe's stepdad Ed, namesake for Colin Edward.

there's no place like home...

top 10 reasons i'm so very glad to be home after a wonderful visit with family and friends for 10 days back east...

10. unsalted and unsanded streets.
9. not having to wear a coat 24/7.
8. not having to bang snow off my shoes getting into the car or going indoors.
7. not having to worry about something called "black ice."
6. Campbell Church of Christ
5. my king-size bed.
4. produce (they think iceberg lettuce and coleslaw are vegetables up there...)
3. Ken McAlpin's singing
2. Baja Fresh
1. my king-size bed.

happy days...

the air is cold (28 this morning!) and crisp, the sun is brightly shining, and Christmas is less than a week away. somehow, with a full time job and a full time family, we're done with the chaos and the shopping and simply get to play Santa Claus all week delivering the goodies. other than the Christmas cards going out very late, we did ok this year. we even had time for a family photo...here's a few shots and outtakes. may YOUR Christmas be merry and bright...and take the time to go see the movie The Nativity. It really brings home the "reason for the season". i cried the whole way through, but they were happy tears. what a gift we've been given.

Blessings to you and yours.

Love, The Gabes

lost

many have been following the story of a young San Francisco family that made a wrong turn coming home from Thanksgiving in Oregon. stuck on an impassable road, the family ran out of gas, then burned their tires for warmth and as a signal for help. finally on Saturday, James Kim, the father could bear it no longer and set out on foot to find help for his wife Kati, and two daughters, Sabine, 7 months, and Penelope, 4 years.

i don't know why their story, out of so many, has captured my heart. there's an awful lot of suffering in this world - why this story? maybe because they're local. maybe because they're my age. maybe because we'll soon have a newborn and a four year old. i don't know. but i've spent a lot of time crying and praying for this family. the mother and daughters were found on Monday - in good condition. James was found today at the bottom of a ravine. they don't yet know why he went off the road, what he intended by the trail of clothing and bits of map he purposefully left along the way, or how long he survived out there.

i can't help but think how life would feel unlivable if it were me. facing a future with no husband, no father to my children. knowing he died trying to save us.

so, this family continues to be in my prayers - the answer to our many prayers that he might live was "no". but i still know that God's plans are perfect, His way is best, and His heart is hurting along with Kati and her daughters right now. may they know some kind of peace in the days ahead.

out of the mouths of babes...

Conversation with Little Dude early one morning as we snuggled in bed:

"What did you dream about last night, Sweet Pea?"

"I dreamed about God! He took away allllllll our sins."

"Yeah? What else did you dream?"

"And Jesus. He put the sins in his pockets. He has two pockets. Not five, Mommy. Just two."

"What is a sin, honey?"

"It's like a pencil. It's what you color with."

Moses

We asked Little Dude what we should call the new baby in Mommy's tummy. He decisively replied: "Moses". So, we're using it as a nickname for now. Boy or girl - we're going to wait and see this time around. I make no promises, however. As hormonal as I am I reserve the right to caprice.

Moses is 8 weeks today, with a nice strong heartbeat visible at our first appointment a week ago. Our Dr. gave us the green light to go ahead and celebrate, which we are certainly doing in between bouts of severe nausea and mood swings. My dear husband has been VERY sweet and tolerant. Little Dude is walking around with a stuffed frog up his shirt and complaining that the baby is making his tummy hurt too.

and then there were...

Once upon a time there was just one Gabe.

All alone, he filled his days making spreadsheets.

One day, he met a girl. She was cute. They fell in love.

And then there were two.

Together, they filled their days making spreadsheets, writing stories, and digging trenches.

One day, they decided that they had too much time on their hands. They had a baby. He was cute. They fell in love.

And then there were three.

Time passed, and the Three Gabes spent their days making spreadsheets, telling stories, digging trenches and terrorizing the Campbell Christian Pre-School.

One day, they decided that they had too much time on their hands...

(to be continued sometime on or about July 8, 2007).

wanting...

did you ever want something so bad, you wished and hoped and prayed for it and when it was finally given to you, all you could do was worry that it would be taken away? that somehow God is up there waiting to say "ha ha! just kidding!"?

sometimes it does happen - the new bicycle crashes, the new job doesn't turn out to be so great, the beautiful new shoes mangle your feet (ok, ok, i've never prayed for new shoes, but i sure have been grateful to receive them and consider them a blessing!!!).

how can we count our blessings, but also be willing to give them up if God so chooses? how can we hold on to our gifts less tightly, trusting in a Creator that infinitely knows what is best for us?


when i was small, i truly believed that whatever i prayed for in earnest would be given to me. that if i prayed really, really hard, God would let me have whatever i asked for! i remember the rude awakening when we realized mom had inheirited her mother's illness. i was shocked. i truly, deeply, honestly was convicted that it wouldn't happen. i had prayed earnestly since i was old enough to understand that this wouldn't happen. how could God deny that prayer? years later i understand that what we are given soars far above what we ask for. that her illness had a purpose. that her life still had meaning. but, the spectre of fear entered my heart at that time and i continue to battle against it...what if what i desperately want isn't what God wants? what if i am mistaken in thinking that what i'm asking for is part of His plan? what if He decides that this is not right for me?

this is really the deeper meaning of trusting God...trusting that when He gives and when He takes away...we are still able to say Blessed Be the Name of the Lord.

does this make any sense? do you ever feel the same?

p.s. no that is not Little Dude, and no we haven't adopted another dog! just a fun photo i found on the internet!

all we need is...

what is love? someone sent me an email that had love defined by 4-8 year olds. it was one i hadn't seen before, so i thought i would share a few:

"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love."

"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."

"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford."

and my favorite:

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."

Halloween

finally! was able to retrieve the halloween photos of Little Dude. enjoy!









at the Festival of Light with Daddy.







Riding ponies with some friends you might recognize...

does God smell our hair?

Little Dude is at home today, spending the morning with Dad. we had a rough day yesterday; a tummy bug struck around noon time and he spent the afternoon and evening throwing up. what a trooper! he never cried. he told me before he was going to throw up. he compliantly put his head over a bucket. and he's only three. we finally were able to get some fluids to stay down around 10pm. i awoke in the middle of the night to hear him crying, and rushed in only for him to declare "mom, i have to go potty!" we rushed into the bathroom, he did the deed and promptly went back to sleep.

wow. keep in mind, he's only been regularly using the potty for about a month, and was wearing a pull up. bless his little heart.

i was emailing with a friend this morning who wondered about how God reacts when His children are suffering. does God "sleep restlessly"? are we constantly on His mind? does His heart ache when he sees our pain? if we are made in His image, and we have His emotional characteristics, then we must have gotten these emotions from Him.

it's a nice reminder; that as much as we love and adore our children with emotions that are beyond words...God loves us ten times that much.

and so, i like to think that also means that sometimes, in the dead of night, He slips into our rooms just to kiss us goodnight and smell our hair.

what do you think?

woo hoo!

my sweet husband officially is now among the top 25% of agents in the state, having just officially earned his broker's license. and only 1/3 pass the exam on their first try! we are so very, very proud, and so very, very blessed.

family tree...

Little Dude was making a family tree in class last week, but didn't like that his friends had more leaves on their tree than he did. So after adding Mommy, Daddy and Papa, he tacked on five brothers. one of them is named Sammy.

yikes. i'm having hard time imagining 5x Little Dude.

last week, my sweet son was sent all the way up to the elementary school principal (this was just too big for even the preschool director) having locked friends in a dark bathroom three days in a row until they cried. when my dear husband heard of this - he cheered: that's my boy!

yes, he certainly is. he did not get those genes from ME!

fine art...

every parent thinks that their child is a prodigy, and we are no different. can you guess what it is? hint: his papa was his muse.

see...i live up to my promises. here is Little Dude mugging for the camera in my sunglasses.

does anyone get the pre-school fascination with band-aids? what possessed me to leave them in the cupboard that he can reach...

happy memories...

we have began the somewhat painful process of cleaning, renewing, and sorting through the history of my parents' house; in so doing, we ran across hundreds of slides that Dad has been painstakingly scanning ever since. i'm pretty sure that i haven't seen most of these, ever! except for the few that were later made into prints. it's been such a gift to go through them one by one, seeing mom so young and vibrant. our old houses, the furniture, even clothes i remember her wearing. and seeing me with my big brother...he was my hero! i promise i'll post some new ones of Little Dude soon...but for now, take a walk with me into my past...

nope, that's not Heidi, that's Prinz. i'm pretty sure i thought he was just one of my brothers until i was about 10...

in honor of the season, here is Halloween c.1980. and last, a very cool picture of me with my Great Grandmother...who lived to be 97. she was one hip chick.

i wanna be a cowgirl...

some of you heard tell of the amazing cakes Mom used to make. now you understand why i feel guilty using cake-mix! check out my first birthday extravaganza.

and, since dad has been scanning and forwarding photos from our slide collection, i'll include a couple other humorous ones for your amusement.

we call this one "Fraulein Maria"...i'm going to bust out any second with "the hills are alive....!"

i wanna be a cowgirl....i'm guessing this was either Big Dave's hat and boots, or maybe Loy Burch.

humility

check out my dad's blog this week. he's got some extra time on his hands, and is sharing his humorous and humble journey of the past week:

http://rtstone.blogspot.com/