Projects

It came as a surprise to many when I started lamenting about my 'battles' with a sewing machine... the surprise was not that I was fighting with a machine (that's easy to understand, I'm totally machine/technologically challenged) but rather that I was even attempting to battle a SEWING machine. I'm thoroughly convinced that the right combination of stupidity, online tutorial, and pedal-pushing ability can make anyone able to sew (note: I didn't say "well" but rather just be able to accomplish the task, more or less).

My mother is an amazing seamstress. I LOVED my Easter and Christmas dresses she made each year for me while I was growing up. They were among my most valued possessions because they were so beautiful. The sewing gene, however, didn't really get passed on to this hyperactive, couldn't-sit-still-for-2-minutes kid. I learned the basics: straight line, thread and bobbin (the words, not necessarily what/how to use them). I always knew I COULD do it, if I put my mind to it, but doing any small sewing by hand was always easier. If something needed to be hemmed or what-not, I would just do it by hand. It wasn't a big deal and seemed easier to me than learning the sewing machine again. Besides, if I needed something major, Michael's always had that iron-on stuff to use rather than sew a seam.

Well, when we started getting the kids' room ready with paint and such, I started looking for things I wanted/needed. Em was all over her crib, so I looked for a bumper and I knew the curtains would need tie-backs, so I hunted around for those as well. I found a lot of great stuff, like a wonderful tall basket for a diaper pail and a great red basket/box for diapers yet to be used. But the bumpers here only go about half way around the crib... so I got two, thinking I could just tie them end-to-end. They overlapped by too much and refused to look "pretty". I was totally bummed. Then, the laundry hamper I brought from the States that my Bible study girls gave to Em broke. It was just the frame, so I got another frame. Well, once I got the frame home I realized the fabric cover didn't fit the new frame. These, and a few other things, convinced me that I could get EXACTLY what I wanted if I did it myself. Thus, the fighting with a sewing machine!

I borrowed a sewing machine from my pastor's wife, but it needed to be serviced and a part was missing and still can't be found (weeks later). Another missionary found out my plight and lent me her machine, but she said she'd never used it. I'd only ever used one of these contraptions under STRICT supervision, so I was more than a bit frightened, but after two hours of fighting a bobbin (with the instruction manual in Afrikaans), and my own ineptness, I finally got the machine working late Wednesday afternoon. From that point until now, I've basically been totally preoccupied with getting my 'projects' done. For some reason, I just feel like I NEED to be ready for this baby more than Em because I can't see being able to do much with Em running around and an infant in-arms. So, dinner has been take-out or left-overs (sorry Todd) and the laundry is piled on the couch, but I've finished the hamper, the car seat tent (so I don't have to fight with a blanket whenever we go out) and the photo board (yes, one piece of ribbon is missing... my inches to meters conversion is apparently more atrocious than my bobbin skills but the store opens in two hours, so it's not a big issue). I only have a few small things left (more for my convenience than anything else) and one BIG project: the crib bumper. I have the online tutorial. I have all the material cut, pinned and ready. I have everything except the courage to just make that first stitch (which is why I'm writing this blog rather than sewing). You see, if I mess up, I don't have extra material, so I'll be really stuck, but it's GORGEOUS fabric and I can't wait to see the final product... okay, off to go sew me a bumper! Wish me luck!!!

Gardening

When we were living in Illinois, many of our friends had gardens where they would grow veggies and such. We were in a second-story apartment, so this was an impossibility, but when we bought the house, I already had the plot planed out for our garden. Well, that garden obviously never became a reality, so when we got here to Johannesburg, and I saw that our backyard, unlike every other yard in the complex (it seemed like) didn't have any large trees or landscaping already in it; I was thrilled. I'm not a gardener. My 'green thumb' goes only as far as digging the holes for my mom's flowers and the 30 minute Life Lab education with my one foot by one foot square in elementary school (they made me grow radishes, and I don't even like radishes- but it was a great program, I have to admit).

Well, with nothing really going on in the backyard, I waited until Todd was gone on business a few months ago and dug up a plot about three feet deep by maybe twenty-four feet. I was proud of the fact that I was able to save the grass and just move it from one location to another (I have a passionate disdain for ferns and we had one the size of a small country in the backyard that I pulled out, leaving a hole the size of said country). The dirt was red clay so I went to the local nursery and got some compost and the only veggies that will survive in the fall/winter here: lettuce and celery. I got everything all ready, and I had a ton of extra room left over for the spring, which I was thrilled at, and Todd and I have loved the results. We had a dinner group over and managed a full salad for ten with leftovers from just our garden!

For me, this and the addition of a small compost pile (see Aunt Nancy, you taught me well!) would be the end of the story. If you know my husband at all, though, you know there was no way that would be 'the end'. He started researching gardening and large-scale composting and all the stuff. He then spoke to the local theological college near us and got permission for us to use some of their land for gardening as well. This news really excited me for a few reasons. 1) It'll be an excuse to get out of the house with the kids and do something outside 2) I get veggies for a fraction of the cost (I'm not planting anything that I can get dirt cheap to begin with... sorry carrots) and 3) It will be sanctioned "dirty" time and I've already scouted out a good spigot for hosing Em off. I'm really looking forward to it, but since I'm as big as a house, Todd had to do all the hard labor for this bed. We went out to the college on Saturday and again Tuesday afternoon. Em and I mostly watched, although we were able to help a bit here and there. She loved the tall grass that she could run and fall in (think the littlest Ingalls girl on the Little House on the Prairie TV show when all the other girls run down the hill and she just sort of tumbles, that's Em). Luckily, the grass was tall and therefore, each fall was totally padded. Todd worked hard, and the bed, which had sandy red clay (yuck) has been sufficiently layered with compost, manure, newspaper and dirt. Not sure how much will be able to grow in that soil this year, but even if all I get is a few cucumbers (to pickle, not to eat, gross... I'll let Todd and Em do the eating) and a pumpkin or two, I'll be thrilled. Aren't my two workers adorable?! Again, no pregnant ladies were harmed in the making of this vegetable bed. As a matter of fact, I wasn't allowed to lift anything heavier than a trowel!

A Moment Today

Mary Rice Hopkins children's worship music is playing, Em is 'reading' The Mind of Christ by D. Kinlaw (our Bible study book at the moment), Lani is licking the walls and I am sitting here praying for our friends, Ben and Kate, and their little Mary Alice.  I ran across this quote from a sermon by Pastor Les, and thought I'd share, "God knew Adam and Eve had sinned.  He knew and yet He still came down to be with them, look for them... even sin didn't stop God from pursuing mankind."  That, mixed with the quote a friend shared with me yesterday, from one of our favorite authors, Madeleine L'Engle, "I will have nothing to do with a God who cares only occasionally.  I need a God who is with us always, everywhere, in the deepest depths as well as the highest heights.  It is when things go wrong, when good things do not happen, when our prayers seem to have been lost, that God is present."  I needed a reminder this morning that God will pursue me (and you as well), no matter what, and that He is the only God worth having and holding on to.  Father- be in the hospital room with Mary Alice and be with all the rest of us who can't be there.  Heal her Lord, but more than that, hold her.  

Last Murray Photo

Warning: This post may contain some sarcasm. If you do not like/understand sarcasm, please disregard the following musings.

When Em was born, she was in the 90th percentile for everything. She never lost weight as most newborns do and Todd was very thankful she was so large because he was less afraid of changing diapers, dressing her, etc (he also got to watch her being born, rather than do the work himself, but I see his point). Almost all her developmental milestones have been achieved well in advance, which gave me slight cause for concern when she wouldn't have accomplished one until just before she was 'supposed' to. She has a large vocabulary, she's sprinting (not joking on this one folks) and loves to read her books. So, Todd and I were just over the moon thrilled when we discovered that one of the 18-month milestones was to throw tantrums when 'frustrated'. Yeah for mastering that one MONTHS early... it has made grocery shopping and meal/nap times just a delightful treat lately (I know many of you won't believe it, but it's true, she's not always an angel... come to the check-out aisle with us when she can't have a candy she wants for the shinny wrapper, good times).

While I was sitting on the floor, trying to calm her down before she totally lost it this afternoon, I realized, however, that I'm so glad she's so 'advanced' at this point. She loves to read her books, either to herself, to the dog, or to one of us. I can ask her to pick something up off the floor; this is great for me because, with 20-some odd days left, the floor most days seems about as reachable as the bottom of the ocean. There are so many things that God has blessed me with, and her ability to "help" around the house has become an invaluable asset... now, if only I could teach her to wash the dishes in the next 3 weeks. Anyways, here's the last of the "Murray" pictures as the next time I hope to post pictures of this babe, it will be of an actual person with an actual name, not just my overly-large belly hanging out of all my cloths!

Mom's Night

One month to go and exhaustion has hit in full force. The baby is extremely low, which is great because I can breath, but has left me with a constant backache... something I don't remember experiencing with Em ever. That, mixed with not being able to sleep at night, carrying Em around and getting up and down from the floor leaves me praying nap time would come- for me!

Today was one of those days where I have nothing to show for the last 14 hours, but I feel like the Boston Marathon would have been easier on my body than whatever it was that I spent my time doing (I really couldn't tell you). Todd offered to watch Em and do something to help me out. (Sidebar: Em has recently learned the art of tantrum throwing and is practicing this art quite regularly if she doesn't get her way... yeah.) I knew she didn't get a good afternoon nap. I knew she wasn't overly thrilled with dinner, thus not eating as much as normal and I knew how many dishes dinner had involved. Handy bits of information when planning the last hour before bedtime. So, of course I was thrilled to say I'd take one for the team, sit on the couch and fold the laundry and he could clean up from dinner!

After folding the laundry, I went into the kitchen to see this...

My wonderful husband doing dishes while my daughter beats (literally, it's a kid-sized egg beater that she got for Christmas) his head. I'm not sure that words or laughter could do these two justice.

The Room- Phase II

If any of you have ever been part of a church in a building project, you'll understand that there are many phases to go through. The kids' room, otherwise affectionately known as "Santa Barbara", has completed Phase II: the major wall painting is done, all the furniture is in, and inhabitant #1 is occupying the space. Phase III, all the painting being completed, all the nick-nacks and accessories up and hung, and inhabitant #2 in, won't be done for a little while yet, but that's okay. If we were a church, this would be the sanctanasium phase (think sanctuary and gymnasium combined). Em doesn't seem to mind a bit that's it's not done though... she loves all the new things to play with and on!

Like silly people that we are, we went with a wall pattern that we LOVE, but didn't take into account the four-layer process it would require (base paint - green, main flower - brown, accent flowers - yellow, and then the final 'pop' of color - red). Oh well, live and learn, right? The surfboard/height chart still needs to be painted, but I was waiting on some paint to come in for that (so it's not my fault just yet!) and the shelf, which is currently on the ground, still needs to be hung. A few layers of flowers need to be added here and there, but I'm thrilled with the overall look.

Today, I got the fabric I ordered from California, so the next item on the agenda is to figure out the sewing machine and make the crib bumper. I wish I could say I feel this huge sense of urgency, as then I would know that this room will be completed before the next 32 days expire, but I don't, so I'm not really expecting everything to be done. Sad, but true. Em did have her first nap on the new "big girl" bed... if you can tell which one is her, you have better eyes than I do, and I was standing in the room!

Homesick

There are many levels to homesickness.  I honestly had never really had it until I moved to college and experienced cold, dark, tornado-stricken Illinois and had no one back home that would understand, but I got over it and am none the worse for the wear.  I think part of the reason why camp or mission trips and such never made me miss home was because I always knew that my situation would END and then I'd be home.  Here, this is 'home'... or some version of it.  It's not been too terrible in terms of missing things there in the States except those times when I log on to friends' blogs and see pictures that I wish I was in, for events I wish I was attending, with people I miss dearly.  It's hard to build friendships for so long, and then get used to not having those people around.  It was hard to see the girls from our old small group, all sitting together with their babies/bellies knowing that I "deserved" (my opinion) to be there on that couch too.  

Well, we got a phone call that made both Todd and I wish we could be 'home' for the first time since moving here.  We had an amazing group of friends in IL... we all ate together every week (or more!), we did Bible study, we moved each other... I guess you could say that we did LIFE together.  When the power went out, we would schlep to someone else's house that did have power- all of us!  They were a wonderful group and one couple called to tell us about another family, Ben, Kate and Mary Alice (4 months), who were going through a rather scary trial.  Mary Alice was born a bit early because of preeclampsia, which was hard enough to not be around for, but now she's in the hospital again because of pneumonia caused from a heart defect.  The whole family is anxiously waiting Mary Alice's open-heart surgery (again, 4 months old) and it is incredibly hard to be here, not able to do anything but pray from afar.  It's little comfort that we're at least bathing them in prayer when most people there in the States are asleep, but that was the only comfort we had... until Todd managed to outsmart the bandwidth restriction and stream Shine.FM (the local radio station we listened to in Bourbonnais).  We were able to hear our old pastor, our old worship team, and all the latest information from Bourbonnais.  It made us both realize that we could picture the church, picture friends and where they'd be sitting, picture the worship band and the pastor... it was all there, in our own mind's-eye.  It was such a blessing from God to know that, while we weren't there, those people still were, and Ben and Kate and Mary Alice were there, with those who hadn't left and were in good hands, just as we are here.  It's amazing how small the distance can feel when you realize that you're all in the same divine hands... we miss, but we miss a little less knowing that things have been left in good hands.  

Granola Cruncher

It has been warming up considerably lately. Each day seems to get nicer and nicer, which is wonderful because we can enjoy the sun and the outdoors, but miserable in that if you get ready too early in the morning, you'll end up with more cloths on than needed by 10 am. Today, Em woke up late and thus, we got a later start to the day. By the time breakfast was done and cleaned up, it was warm enough for me to put her in a short-sleeved shirt and pants. This, however, led to a dilemma. Currently, she has no short-sleeves in her wardrobe because of all the long-sleeves for the cold weather. So, I went to the closet and pulled out the next size up clothing bag. In that bag, I discovered some of the CUTEST clothes, which I can't wait to put her in. However, one particular 'Ella' (for those that don't know, Ella is the little girl from Bourbonnais who has donated all of her clothing to Em) top and onesie caught my attention. I paired them with a pair of jeans and the cutest white (at one point anyways!) eyelet Mary Janes that Nana sent. Todd thinks she's now officially a "granola cruncher," but I really don't care, this is the cutest thing I've ever seen (especially with her crazy hair!). So, the outfit for the day was cared for, and off we went.

I've been down and out since Monday, but thankfully, the doctor and some good ol' antibiotics have brought me back to life. So, I went about all the tasks that I had planned to do Monday-Thursday, in order of importance. Some gals from church are coming over on Monday for a 

small 'shower' and that is just the incentive I needed to work on completing all the projects for the kids' room.  The sewing machine is still not in useable condition, but I could still work on the surfboards. I made the mistake of looking up actual surfboards while Todd was working on cutting and sanding the wood to find painting inspiration. I found this awesome pattern for the board that will be a decorative shelf... I said awesome, now I say I was nuts! There is so much detail and each piece needs to have two coats because of the paint. I think this pregnant lady bit off more than her back and neck could handle- it's taking f o r e v e r !!! I really like how it's turning out though, I will say that. I just wish it wasn't 'work on a few here, let them dry and work on a few over there, then go back to the first ones and do a second coat' type of job. I sure hope Em and Murray like this room a LOT because it's not going to be changed for a very long time!

Which takes us up to what should have been my time to 'punch out' and sign over parenting duties to Todd, except he had a meeting at work that went really late, so it was just us girls for dinner and post-dinner entertainment. I was all ready to read a book to Em, but she wanted to play with Lani instead, so I pulled out the camera and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum have fun for a while all by themselves! Enjoy your weekend!!!

Best Buddies

Right after we got Lani (we're talking a day or two) and found out we were expecting again, we had to have the conversation of whether or not to keep the puppy. She'd be a ton of work, she'd cost money for food and vet and such. The decision, obviously though, was made that we got the dog for Em, because she needed a 'friend' to play with and this next kid was a good two years away from being a playmate. Even though the dog drives me nuts most days, I still say it was one of the best decisions we could have made. The two of them have a way of communicating that is beyond me, but they understand. They play hide-and-seek together, and Em has invented a game where she takes Lani's tail to Lani's mouth, just to watch Lani jump up and chase it. Em will stand and squeal, clapping, every time this happens. It could be the first time of the day or the hundredth, it doesn't matter.

Well, this morning, I wasn't feeling so well, so I was on the couch trying to get enough energy up for the major list of errands and chores that need

to be accomplished today. Em brought over a book, but I just couldn't have her up on my lap, so I told her, "Not now, Mommy doesn't feel well." To my utter surprise, she then took the book over to Lani, who was just sitting near the heater, and snuggled her little diaper-clad behind into the space between the dog's front legs. She sat down and began reading the book while Lani looked over her shoulder or licked her head affectionately. They were so cute that it was worth springing up to get the camera. They were much cuter before I startled them, but you can get the general picture. Some moments, I'm amazed at how blessed I am and this morning, I was truly in awe of how wonderful my puppy and her little girl are!

Getting Ready

We are getting ready... I say "we" but the reality is Todd is having to do most of the heavy labour. We got a twin mattress, so it was put in the 'spare' bedroom. The bunk beds came in, and since we're only using the top bed (it has the guardrails that will serve as an anti-falling-out-of-bed measure for Em) only, the bottom bunk went into the garage. We moved the old headboard into the spare room when Todd finished the new one. Then, it was time to paint, so, last week, poor Em and her changing table/dresser, all her real paper books and her crib were moved into the spare room (rather hap-hazardly I must say) until paining was completed. So, her poor 'room' right now is the dumping ground for all the stuff that should be in her room, but isn't there yet (crib, dresser, baby cloths, crib bumper, books, car seat, etc). Note that in the picture is the pillow for the room, teddy bears, the bassinet hood, mobile, and humidifier. It's all organized, but it's still all in that one tiny room.

Em has been a trooper through all the changes and as I keep adding to Todd's "Honey Do" list, he graciously agrees to all my hairbrained ideas. He started painting, and it looks divine!!! This is only the first layer (there are two more colors of smaller flowers that overlap) and I love it already. I don't think it could be looking any better, but unfortunately, we realized a bit late that the pattern Todd's using to project onto the wall is slightly more detailed than it should be for this type of project. Bummer, but like I said, his improvising is turning out wonderfully... it's just taking a bit longer than I know he'd like, and this type of work is tedious for him... it's not art, it's work.

But he doesn't complain and I'm so thankful for that, or else I'd have to do it and then he really would complain (something about paint fumes and pregnancy, I don't know). As we were gearing up for getting this room all ready, I began to think about all the items I would normally hunt on amazon.com for or just run to Target and pick up. Since money is tight for frivolous decorating (my penny-pinching ways are to blame for that!) and Target is scarce (give or take a 15 hour flight away), I started to look around at what we do have that I could use. That was

when I realized that we still have a ton of 1x1s, 4x4s, and plywood from the crates left over. So, I got the idea to make a few 'surfboards' out of the plywood for things I would normally buy, like a height chart, decorative shelf and coat hooks. This seems easy enough, except for the fact that I'm asking Todd to make these from rough sketches on plywood with knots with no jigsaw, no workbench and no real tools outside of a massive hand-held table saw we bought at a garage sale and a borrowed sander. I can tell you now, that sander weighs a good 10-15 pounds (I've nicknamed her Helga)... my husband is a SAINT! Anyways, I just got a delivery of surfboards that need a pattern drawn on them so that I can paint (I'll do this outside, Murray will be just fine, I promise!). I'll have to show pictures when we get a bit farther along!