Reality

This is the reality of my life right now.
4 hampers(and counting)full of clean unfolded laundry just hanging out in the living room-well technically they are in the office now because we had friends over last night and instead of folding them I moved them-waiting for attention

My sofa bed. I sleep here on the sofa every night alone because our attic convert bedroom is way too hot for my pregnant body.

One happy little. Just glad to be. He is a huge light in my life and I am so lucky he is such an easy going little guy.

So there you have it... the world as I know it. I would like to say that I am going to sign off and dig into that laundry but the sad truth is that I am just too tired and I am going to lay down on my sofa bed and pray for some sleep.

This week

This week has been a doozy.. do people say that word any more? Doozy? Well I do so here it goes...

My sweet father in law has been in the ICU at providence since Sunday. He was on a road trip to Cali with my two brothers in-law when he got really sick. They took him to the hospital in eureka California and he was admitted. He had internal bleeding in his esophagus and his liver was some how to blame(its a really long complicated explanation). There was a space in time when we didn't know what hospital he would end up in(but the doctors thought probably San Fransisco) so MG and his mom started driving to Cali on Saturday night. Charlie(my father in law)was life flighted to providence in Portland early Sunday morning. He under went a couple of pretty intense procedures and a few really stress filled days in the ICU.
Charlie is out of the the ICU and recovering really well now so thank the Lord for that(every step of this process has been in His hands and I can see that as I look back).

During all this mayhem my amazing Grams (who is fighting off some really gnarly cancer in her whole body)fell down and broke her hip. She under went hip surgery and is doing well in recovery. She may have to spend some time in a rehab facility-which will not suit her-but I'm sure will help her be able to move much better which she will like.

Needless to say we have been stretched this week. Owen and I spent a lot of time alone and a lot of time up at the hospital visiting MG and his family. We are all together now(at least in the evenings) which makes things feel so much more normal.

I have been thinking a lot about things to be grateful for during this time of upheaval. Blessings to ponder and to praise... and remarkably there are SO many!
#1 Charlie is in Portland only 20 minutes from his home.(not San Fransisco like they originally thought)and is recovering like a super hero!
#2 My grams has a great attitude and is recovering well.
#3 I am able to comfort those around me and love them through this all.
#4 Owen has been a really easy kid during this time.
And here are some other praise worthy images...

#5 being a member of CSA(community sponsored agriculture)-if i would have had my own garden it would have gone to pot a long time ago.

Getting flowers from a sweet husband just because I have felt the pregnancy yucks for so long.

Cousin sleep overs! These are some seriously good times.


Unyielding love for his papa. This kid LOVES his papa more than anything!

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things
Philippians 4:8

Yucks

I have the full blown prego yucks! I never had morning sickness with my pregnancy with Owen so this is all new and all terrible. I Have been an inch away from loosing it for the last few weeks and now I have. I ask that you pray for me as this seemingly never ending sickness encroaches on my sanity. As I try to care for Owen and make his life joyful in the midst of my misery.
On a side note the midwifes have informed me that feeling this bad is a great sign...that the pregnancy and baby are healthy and that my hormones are doing just what they should be doing... Which is hard to care about when your face is in the toilet(of course I do care it is all I want-and I would suffer a hundred times more for this sprout-but its hard to see the light at the end) So there is my life right now...not sure when I will share again... Probably when my attitude and my tummy are better.
Thanks for your prayers

Camping

We started this week out by heading down to Grants Pass to camp with some good friends. We stayed on our friends grandparents property which was loaded with fun for everyone. There was a pool and a play area, a golf truck and a back hoe, chickens and plenty of grass to play ball(or play with balls)in. There was a kitchen for us to use inside the shed as well as a fully functioning bathroom. It was not hard core camping but it was really fun.



I LOVE getting out of dodge and leaving behind the cares of daily life. I love watching my little play with all the other littles and laughing with friends that are really more like family.



I have always wanted to try out living communally and this was as close as it gets living out of tents-all circled up close together-for 4 days and 3 nights.





We ate together and discussed life from the mundane all the way to the fantastical. We played tricks on each other and wore silly hats. We loved on each others kiddos and played like we were kids ourselves.


It was great to get away. And now its good to be home just the three(and a sprout)of us.

#2

We are officially entering a new season of wonder around here. We are headed into the unknown and navigating away from normalcy, ease, familiar, and comfortable.

We are expecting our second baby!! That's right folks I am pregnant, with child,in the club, whatever you want to call it and I couldn't be happier!

It has taken me a long time to feel "ready" to get started on expanding the family but here I am with baby on board and I am as ready as anyone can really be. It is definitely grace that has me in this place of peace and I am intensely pleased to be receiving it.

So far this pregnancy is really different from my first. I am feeling the "morning sickness" all day long. I am craving meat all the time and lettuce... kinda weird but healthy enough... I am also feeling the strain(tiredness mostly and headaches)a little more through out the day. All in all things are going OK. I am able to power through most days on my own which is good.

So there you have it... The "sprout"-that's what we are calling the baby for now-is out of the bag.

The Great Urban Race!!

All I can say about this "race" is WOW. So its not really a race per-say but more of a-crazy long hard adult type-scavenger hunt. MG and I went with Lisa and Jacob(a couple we love dearly). The plan was guys against girls and who ever finishes first gets bragging rights... well.... as it turned out none of us do(OK MG does)

The race was in downtown Portland on Saturday the 12th of June and ranged from the pearl to the waterfront and up by PSU. It was supposed to be a 10k most people just tried to get the clues figured out in a decent time while walking it,some really hard core people actually ran it and got all the clues!(that may I add was not us).

Here we are on the MAX heading in with high hope and spirits soaring!


Good old P-town how I wish I would have taken time to learn more about you before this adventure!

Here is our clue sheet... we figured out all the clues using our brains and an i-phone... finding the places the clues led to...that was a different story.(at least for us ladies)


Here are Lisa and me ticking off some of the required items on the clue sheet...


Posting by rose bushes


Finding Hot lips Pizza and eating some...


Shaking a dogs paw...

Jumping off this bike statue...

Pretending to dive into a fountain...

(These were not even half the clues but this post is already huge so I figured you would get the gist.)

And at some point in the adventure Lisa and I realized we had probably already walked about 8 miles and we had only done half of our list and we were once again clueless as to how to get to our next clue... So we called in the men folk and had them rescue us...

It went really smoothly after that. MG knows his way around Portland like a well oiled machine. The dudes had already finished all but two of there clues so they lovingly showed us the way to the rest of ours and we finished the race what I am sure was close to dead last.

We didn't mind. The Guys took us out to dinner and we all laughed about the day and complained about sore feet.








Incandescently This brewery has an awesome GF menu! They even have really yummy GF buns for their burgers! Also the home made ginger ale is outstanding(maybe I was just super hungry and really loving food)But this place Rocked!



Tired faces.



All in all it was a good time. We have vowed to never separate ourselves from our better halves during a scavenger hunt again though.

Owen 3.5

Owen you are 3.5 now!! Oh my word how you have grown in the last 6 months. I am always amazed at your development. Not only intellectually but physically too(as cliche as this is to say)you have actually shot up like a weed.

Almost all of your babyisms are gone, you have used the toilet day and night for the last 6 months,you only sleep during rest if your sick,you do puzzles like a mad man, you sing songs (and make up your own),and you can memorize books now!! You you still have a bit of trouble saying your L's they come out as W's and your R's are still really soft(which I love and hope they always are).

There are still funny things that you say...your sandals are your "samples" chocolate is "choclick" you mix up she and her... so a common sentence is "we go see she?" or "is her coming too?" you still say "amimals" and when you say zoo it sounds like jew.



You LOVE the show Kipper-which is the most mellow T.V show ever-about a English dog and his animal friends. You also enjoy Veggie Tales and Pink Panther quite a bit.

You have always loved to read-well being read to and looking at books- but now you memorize the stories. This week your favorite is Miss Lucy had a Baby.

Owen you ask us "why" constantly. It can be exhausting,and sometimes, I don't know the answers to your questions...last night you asked your Papa "why I poke myself in the eye"...things like that no one really understands buddy.

I really love you and your inquisitive nature. I love that you don't just sit and let life pass you by. You are active and curious about everything, qualities I think will take you far.