Stepping Heavenward
Babies

House
Spiders
baby food
couponing

I've just finished the book "Stepping Heavenward" and it's amazing! I"ve always tried to find joy in the Lord no matter my circumstances. I've always tried to "praise him in the storm" and obediently submit to his will for my life and trust Him knowing that he knows far better what I need than I do. This book, though it's about all these things, still challenged and encouraged me immensely. It's a journal of a woman beginning at the age of 16. She pours her heart out in a way that is entertaining, and yet still challenging as you see how her faith grows throughout her life. Pastor Dan always talks about being in the Word and in prayer and how our faith should be growing, and evident that it is growing. In this book- you see it. In this age of texts and blogs and emails we tend to just write what we think without much thought. I try to put thought into my blogs but this woman writes so very well, and in a time when writing is a luxury. Now that I've finished this book, my next quest is "Mere Christianity" by CS Lewis. I'm also of course reading the Bible and I started a novel yesterday so I might just squeeze that in before I really get too deep into Lewis. I highly recommend Stepping Heavenward and hope if you pick it up, you'll enjoy it too!

Babies Babies Babies!!! I love mine beyond words, and it seems that having one is the thing to do this spring/summer! To all my many friends who are trying, pregnant, or have new babies, I'm praying for you!! It's so neat to see how babies change lives. :) I'm very excited for my niece to come in a few short months! She's already gotten some clothes from her cousins Grace and Esther, and we hope to find little ways to continue to spoil her! As for my Baby, she's perfect! She turned 6 months last week. Her stats confirm my choice to keep Grace's old 12mo summer dresses within easy reach! On April 23, six months, she weighed in at 16lbs 4oz, 27.5 inches long.
At 6 months her sister was 16lb 5oz, and 25.5 inches long. Isn't that funny? one ounce difference, and TWO inches! Tyler was 19lb 11 oz at 6 months. No length recorded, but a month earlier he was 27inches.

I LOVE SO MANY THINGS ABOUT OUR HOUSE!
I love my dishwasher. I mean LOVE it. I now cook again, and might even get back into some baking in the future! I just love that I can load it up and run it and it WORKS SO well! I love our water softener too. I know it's not quite working right (still have iron in the water), but well water/water softened water is so wonderful. I"m already seeing how our soap is going further. My mom told me of this when we moved, and I thought it would be no big deal, but she was SO right! Even with my super long hair, I need half or less of the shampoo and conditioner I did before. Sometimes I don't condition at all. We use much less body wash, the bubble solution in the bath goes further... hand soap, dish soap, dishwasher soap (I only use the tabs if it's FULL), and even laundry soap. I can just feel that things are cleaner and softer and i use less and less. It's funny, I'm getting into couponing, but the way i'm using shampoo, the 6 bottles I got for under a dollar each will take us YEARS to use! Don't be surprised if you get Heath and Beauty items as gifts this year from us! I also love our windows. I just love love love being able to open them (those few days of warm weather we had) and the breeze. I love that we can leave the lights off all day,even on a cloudy day and we barely notice the difference. Let's see... I love the seperate tub/shower. It's more to clean, but so wonderful to know the kids won't get into our stuff. I don't have to go hunting for where I hid my razor every time I take a shower! Such little things in life... I also love the laundry chute. This is an awesome reward for the kids- if they are good they get clothes out of the hamper upstairs and run them down to the bathroom and throw them down. No more carrying baskets of laundry down, the kids get to have fun running up and down the stairs, and they use up extra energy on cold dreary days like today so that they will NAP! It's also nice that the hamper is always in the same place. I also love my stove. Thank you Gary for letting me spend a little more to get these great features- I love it.

I'll have to add more later, this has already taken me HOURS to compose! Many wonderful inturruptions in my day!

I'll leave you wiht this interesting question: When do we lose the ability to caress our own cheeks with our feet while we drink our milk? Do we lose that when we start to use a cup?