My Ebenezer

We're packing up today to head to Connecticut and then New Jersey later in the week. My niece Becca is getting married on Saturday (!!!) and we're excited to see our family. Now to the challenge: It is currently 94 degrees here with a heat index of 103 degrees. I can't remember what it's like being chilly. ;) I've heard several people who live in New England say it's been a chilly spring and to pack my sweaters. Then I look at the weather forecast for this coming week and it's supposed to be in the 70's and 80's up there. So do I pack my sweaters or leave them out? Knowing me, I better bring at least one. We'd appreciate prayer as we head out on the airplane tomorrow. Noah may miss his nap in the afternoon, which always makes thing interesting. Plus, as I've stated before, we "get to" hold Noah on our laps for the duration of the flights. I'm praying for an extra seat in our row and that Noah will obey and sit still. Hopefully I

Last night I came across some old pictures of me from when I was pregnant with Noah. They're a little blurry, but that's slightly appropriate since they ARE memories after all. Don't anyone go starting any rumors: THESE ARE FROM 2 YEARS AGO!!! Seeing these and others made all those familiar longings come back up to the surface again. *Sigh* I am getting used to the idea that we may never have any more children, and I trust the Lord with whatever He wants for our family. But I do miss pregnancy and a little baby. I think to myself, "I should have savored it more. I should have taken more pictures. I should have written everything down." Pregnancy seems to me like a wonderful dream I've awakened from and will probably never return to. Anyway, those are my thoughts today! "Lord, help me with my unfulfilled longings. Help me to remember to trust You always. And to keep smiling." :)

In no particular order: Noah and I went to the park today and there was no one there! It was looking like rain, so I guess no one wanted to chance getting wet. It was much cooler without the sun, though, which is why we decided to go. The pictures above are from today. Mom Rowley has gone home. She was such a blessing to all of us while she was here. It was nice to have an extra set of hands to help out. Noah stays dry all day now. He's had one accident in one week, which I don't think is bad at all! We're making progress! And we're saving money on diapers! :) We're preparing to take a trip North next week to go to my niece Rebecca's wedding. We are excited to go, but dreading the plane ride (at least I am!). Noah still gets to ride on our laps until he is two years old, so lucky us; we get to hold him! For HOURS! ;) We realize we could buy an extra seat for him, but the extra money doesn't excite us. Besides, you can do anything for a few hours, right? This

I love to bake. Unfortunately, sometimes baking doesn't love me. Over the weekend I made a dessert to take to Matt and Jen's, but it was a comedy of errors trying to make the thing! Thankfully it ended up tasting fine even though it was not even close to what it was intended to be. And thankfully I was taking it to family or I may have given up halfway through and not "discovered" a new recipe! So here's my goofed-up recipe that turned out okay after all! Raspberry Chocolate Mousse Brownies 1 pkg brownie mix (9x13 pan size) 2 C heavy whipping cream, divided 1 pkg instant chocolate pudding mix 1/2 can raspberries in heavy syrup (use 1/2 of a 14 oz can) chocolate chips Make brownies according to package directions. Cool completely. In a small bowl, combine 1 C whipping cream and pudding mix. Stir. Beat remaining cream in a small bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold into pudding. Add raspberries and stir. Carefully spread pudding mixture over brownies. Cov

Family photo minus Josh and me. Brianne cracks me up in this one! She is "naked" because her clothes had gotten drenched and sandy from the water. Matt was holding her out from him so he wouldn't get wet too. The effect is fantastic. :) Family photo; the 3 of us. Brianne loving the beach She's walking! Grammie Rowley explaining to Noah about the waves Awww. Mother and son. Father and son. Son is fearful of the beach for the first 15 minutes Every Single Time. Hence the crying.

At the zoo yesterday On Tuesday, Josh's mom flew in for a visit. She's staying with Matt and Jen for the week that she'll be here. What I thought was a little vacation for her turned into a sort of game I like to call "How Big Of A Blessing Can I Be?" She has jumped right in to help with all those little projects that Jen and I have a hard time getting done with a little one toddling about. She's helping Jen make curtains for their new home, she's cleaned out my car, done hours of landscaping for the two of us in insane heat, watched the kids for us, helped me make a new blanket for Noah, etc etc. It's been great! Jen and I are threatening to keep her. :)

To us, it appears to be a gas regulator for our grill. (Don't ask me what a gas regulator is, because I don't know. My guess would be it regulates gas. Ha ha!) To Noah? It's a leaf blower. I'm not joking! For the last few weeks this "toy" has been his favorite. Forget the fancy ride-on airplane, forget the brightly-colored toys that talk to him. My son would rather play with a gas regulator. Oh, excuse me; I meant LEAF BLOWER. Here's a couple pics of Noah demonstrating how it works. Ah, the imagination of a toddler!

As far as an update for potty-training goes (Mr. Terrell, this is for you!), we continue to have good days and bad days. Thankfully, the good days are starting to outnumber the bad days! Noah now tells me when he has to go to the potty. We usually make it, sometimes we don't. I still occasionally take him on my own initiative (if it's been a while or if we're about to go somewhere or once we get home from being out). He has gone stinky ON HIS POTTY twice this week, which was a major accomplishment! What I've found has helped is leaving him naked from the waist down while we're at home, only putting a diaper on him when he goes to bed, or a pull-up if we're going out of the house. Hopefully we'll be done by the time he turns 2 in July. I'm praying so, anyway!

My dear former roommate Natalie has always been a reader. She reads circles around most people I know, and after looking over her Summer Reading list here she has inspired me to compile one of my own. Now whether or not I actually get to read the books on my list is probably not worth thinking about: I can tell you right now, I won't. But I can make a list (I love making lists!). Here are the books I would read if by some miracle I had extra time left at the end of the day and could actually finish, say, one book a week instead of one book a quarter, which is about my current average. :) Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss (I am currently 3/4 through this, so I may get to read another one on my list!) A Mom After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis Trusting God by Jerry Bridges Julie by Catherine Marshall (I've read this one before, but it's been probably 10+ years) That is likely a very ambitious list for the summer, but

It's so easy before you become a parent to plan out exactly how things will go or what your children will do or will NEVER do (ha ha!). I can remember a conversation with my mother-in-law about how I was determined to keep my walls clean. That I couldn't fathom how people's walls could get so dirty from little fingers and feet. I was simply going to make my walls off-limits; you just don't touch walls in my house! Yeah. Right. It's almost an arrogance, though I would never have considered it so when I was taking notes on other people's children, compiling my lists of Always Do This and Never Do That. And I'd even heard people (namely my own mother) tell me, "Watch out what you say you will NEVER do, because that's usually exactly what you do! I didn't listen though, and now I'm having to take back almost every dogmatic statement from pre-parenthood. Here are a few: "My child will never throw a fit in public." "I will never rev

Words really aren't necessary to describe what is going on here in these photos. You are simply witnessing the ingrained love of all things motorized that is deeply imbedded into males. Or at least, my males. :) Enjoy.

I have let almost another week go by with no blogging! Here's how it works for me: 1. I get busy 2. I forget to take pictures of my busy-ness 3. I put off writing a post until I have some good pictures. 4. I forget what I wanted to write about in the first place. 5. Blog sits ignored and lonely. I am not proud of this series of unfortunate events, but that's how it goes. Let me try to recap as best I can what we did over the last week (sans pictures, I'm afraid!) Praise the Lord, the roof was finished over at Cellar Cir! It looks worlds better, and actually does what a roof is supposed to do, which is block rain. We've had many opportunities to test that over the last week. Good job, Josh! Mrs. Fallon and her daughter Meredith stopped through here on Friday night for a visit on their way to Greenville. We had a short but very sweet time with them while they were here, and I even got some good ideas for our new home from Meredith, who should be an interior designer in my