25 Random Thoughts on this rainy day

Extremely random thoughts all swirling around in my head at the same time...don't you wish you were me?

1. I miss my camera. Daily I would reach for it to snap pictures of my growing brood...and I wonder if I should pay to repair the lens or just buy a new one. Will it be the same camera when the lens is repaired?
2. Why is it that my four year old son can be standing on top of something and never find it while my 2 year old daughter can find something downstairs, two rooms away and buried under couch cushions?
3. I really should go dig out our snow clothes for the youth ski trip tonight.
4. Sometimes I miss the days of sleeping in, reading books till all hours of the night and eating junk food for lunch.
5. On the food note -- I miss chicken too!
6. I'm feeling convicted to keep Andrew in worship with us but can't get him to sit still for five minutes at a meal.
7. Sometimes a homemade chocolate chip cookie makes the day so much brighter.
8. Why is there a roll on the floor under the table?
9. And why don't I have a canine vacuum cleaner?
10. There was a Sunday School coloring project in my freezer this morning.
11. Can a woman drown in dirty laundry?
12. There are two marbles, a lego, candy hearts, some loose change and two receipts in my pocket right now. Oh, and a pacifier.
13. Still chuckling over the episode of "The Office" last night.
14. Does eating Gobstopper Cookies at 11 am count as breakfast?
15. I still have a gift certificate to CBD to spend...the problem, it's not enough for my ever growing wish list.
16. In all things, moderation, except books!
17. How can I quickly defrost a ham?
18. I'm not really fond of my new haircut.
19. My children make me laugh (daily!)
20. WOW! I need to find the broom and sweep before the day is done.
21. its hard to type onehanded
22. my children make me laugh -- daily!
23. I would love a Sonic cherry vanilla Dr Pepper right about now!
24. "Do everything without arguing..." -- this song keeps running through my head.
25. Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice for me, for me -- How cool!

11, 13, 3...

What do these numbers have in common? They are, from oldest to youngest, the age in months at which my children slept more than, say, three hours at a stretch at night. I still recall to the day (September 18) the first time Andrew slept seven hours at night...I woke up in the middle of the night in cold sweats, thinking he was dead. Marcail may have actually slept through the night because I forgot to turn on the baby monitor and made her cry it out. Most likely I was pregnant with our third and so exhasuted that I just never heard her!! But Ethan...sweet little Ethan...born five weeks early, weighing almost a pound more than his brother...sweet Ethan is a great sleeper. And this week, we've been averaging six-seven hour stretches of sleep at night. Now, if I could only learn to stay on top of laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc. and get to bed on time!!

Thirty Days of Gratitude

This is the time of year where I become more accutely aware of the many blessings God has bestowed upon me. And so for the next month, I set about putting pen to paper, fingers to keys, to simply put into words that for which I am so very thankful.


1. Family...my amazing husband who's a fantastic father to our three rugrats. And those three little ones who frustrate me, delight me, bring joy into our lives and bring me to my knees daily.
Daily I thank God for the gift of my family!

2. Sunshine...after days of rainy, cold, gloomy weather, God sends the sun to dry out the land. Our bodies ache to be outside, soaking up the rays and so we go, enjoying the creation that we've been given the privilege to be a part of.

3. The privilege to vote...the freedom to voice my opinions, the ability to help choose our next leaders. What an awesome responsibility!

4. Childhood...what fun to experience it again through my own children. Climbing tractors and trees, raking leaves, searching for acorns, driving, reading books, cooking...through the growing up and "maturing" process, I somehow forgot that there is joy to be found in the simplest things. Finding a wooly bear is a delight, jumping in leaf piles brings laughter and smiles; flour, salt and sugar on the floor can be cleaned but the pure enjoyment of interacting with kids while cooking can never be replaced. May I never grow too old to enjoy the little things!

A Halloween of Firsts

• Dressing up...per Andrew's request, we have Farmer Andrew and his herd. Sister Marc playing the role of pig and baby brother playing the role of cow. It was our first time trick-or-treating (in the rain) and Marcail really enjoyed the candy! She also perfected saying Thank You...quickly learning that candy didn't go in her bag unless she used her manners.

• Carving pumpkins with the kids...a first for us. Yes, these are the pumpkins from our infamous pumpkin patch visit.

• Baby's First Halloween...which automatically makes me think of four years ago when we began this journey into the crazy, chaotic world of parenthood with...

Andrew's First Halloween. The boys are three years, 51 weeks apart in age. And so, Andrew and Ethan are about the same age in these two photos. Time certainly flies when you're having fun!

Overheard at the Doctor's Office

When asked at his four year checkup what he wants to be for Halloween, Andrew replied: "I'm going to be a farmer, Marcail a pig, Ethan a cow, the next one will be a sheep and the next one a donkey." I didn't know whether the doctor wanted to laugh hysterically or sign me up for a psych evaluation!

A day at the pumpkin patch...

...netted two big pumpkins, two little pumpkins, and one little peanut named Ethan Lowell!

10 October -- exactly one month before my due date of 10 November -- and we're off to Frederick, MD, to enjoy the day at my favorite pumpkin patch. After a few hours playing outside with the kids, we would enjoy dinner with my cousins before heading home...that was the plan, at least. But we quickly learned that God's plans are not ours and God's timing is far better than ours ever could or would be.

Two hours into our adventure with the kids, I decided to sit out the hayride to the pumpkin patch in favor of visiting the bathroom. By the time Drew and the kids returned, I was ready to rest my feet in the Tahoe while they enjoyed the rides in the barrels on wheels, jumped on the giant pillow and crawled in the corn. Twenty minutes later (and a lot of googling "labor pains" on Drew's blackberry), I called Drew and simply said, "You need to come now." Who knew that labor could come so fast and so furious?

The kids are now strapped in their car seats and we are frantically making our way south, trying to decide what to do with our oldest two as it's becoming more and more evident that Baby White is not about to wait to make his appearance into this world. "Holiday weekend, friends out of town, parents two hours away...let's see if we can get the teenagers who babysit for us to watch the kids till my parents arrive." Here's where I get to tell you how incredibly awesome God's timing and His plans for us are...

You see, these teenagers were supposed to be apple picking on Saturday, but those plans were cancelled. Instead, the entire family decided to attend an arts and crafts festival, a mere 20 miles south of Frederick. And so, we met them at an exit along the interstate, switched vehicles and took their car straight to the hospital. They took my children home, played with them, loved them, fed them AND cleaned my house, while my parents began the two hour journey southbound.

Ethan was born less than three hours later...by that time, my parents were in Virginia and Drew was able to head home to show off pictures of our little boy, pack clothes for our oldest two and switch vehicles with our friends. Because it was a holiday weekend, my mother had off work and was able to keep Andrew and Marc with her the entire time instead of sending them off to play with their cousins. And because Ethan arrived in God's time, of his own accord, I was able to avoid a repeat c-section and leave the hospital 36 hours later, making recovery a breeze!

My non-stop prayer that last few months of pregnancy was that Andrew and Marcail would be well cared for while I was in the hospital. That they wouldn't need to be sent to three or four different places to accommodate others' work schedules, leaving them feeling displaced. Because we know that my babies stop growing the last few weeks, I even contemplated scheduling a c-section just so that I would have control of the schedule. How silly I am to think that I can control such things!!

God didn't give me enough time to make plans for Ethan's arrival. He did, however, speak very clearly to us about His perfect plans. While Ethan was premature, he was my biggest baby yet and had the shortest hospital stay. The staff at the hospital was fantastic...our nurse was a Christian who admitted that she prayed me through delivery. And best of all, I'm not recovering from a c-section ... I feel fantastic and food tastes good again!

"A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." (Proverbs 16:9)

Naming Baby

As my sweet spouse would say, we are B minus five weeks and counting...the nesting is in full swing...and we think Baby White may finally have a name. Naming our first two children was relatively easy: Andrew was named after Drew who was named after his grandfather, Andrew. Easy Peasy, right? Marcail was also easy; I read the name in a book written by Lori Wicke years ago and always wanted to give my daughter. Drew liked the name and so we have our sweet Marcail, also known as Marc, Marky, Marcaily and Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.

That brings us to baby White #3 -- a boy. His middle name will be Lowell...after Drew's father who passed away two years ago. Have you ever tried to find a first name that goes well with Lowell? It's not as easy as you may think. Andrew has been full of suggestions which are usually derived from one of the many books we are reading: Alfalfa, Wilbur, Gideon, Jonah, Zaccheus, Laban, Templeton, Pinkerton, Stuart, Tractor Mac, Gussy, Froggy, Little Bear; you get the idea.

Mom and dad have been a little more practical in our considerations, taking only two of Andrew's suggestions seriously. And so, I leave you with the list of names we've pondered...and will reveal to you our final choice when Baby Boy finally makes his much awaited appearance.

Will it be: Gideon, Jonah, Josiah, Matthew, Ethan, Jonathan, Samuel, William, Liam or Wil? Stay tuned to find out!!