Well, hello Reality! Nice of you to drop by.

So, today I woke up with a sore throat.  Feeling a little yucky.  If I had an office to go to, I might call in and take it easy.  I'd eat soup, drink hot tea (which I normally never want), watch an old movie, take a nap, just wait to feel better...

Enter: My New Reality.

I'm learning.  Slowly, the obvious is dawning on me.  Parents don't get sick days.  Heck!  Parents are lucky to get vacations.  Most parents are lucky to get a solid night of uninterrupted sleep.  Parents get 8pm-10pm.  That's about it.  And if you're ambitious, you can have 5am to 6:30am.

So I'm facing this reality.  Parents are on.  All the time.  For the next 18-25ish years, I am always on-call.  I'm a parent.

Don't get me wrong.  This is not grumbling.  It's more a matter of acceptance.  Of my new reality.  I'm a parent.  And though I will miss things like sleep and forming a complete thought for the next X # of years, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Parents get the beauty of watching another person grow up before your very eyes!  --A living picture of 100% dependence and (in my opinion sometimes unwarranted) affection from this little one who looks to you for protection, food, love, play time, explanations, correction, discipline, reassurance, hope and laughter -- his very life is in the hands of his parents.  And that is at once scary and a precious privilege. 

And I'm thankful.

Because it makes me to look to my heavenly Father -- my perfect Parent -- who chose to become a parent and be forever "on-call" and make a much greater sacrifice for the sake of His children.  And He is perfect in His provisions of everything I need...like protection (Luke 21:18), food (Matt.7:8-10), love and affection (Eph.2:10), explanations (Jer. 31:33), correction and discipline (Heb. 12:6-8), hope (Romans 15:13), and laughter (Luke 6:21, Prov. 31:25) -- my very life is in His hands (Heb.1:3).

O praise Him.  I am weak.  He is strong.  He never needs a more sleep or a sick day (Psalm 121).

Yay for marriage! And commitment. And endurance.

Getting Ready for Christmas (and Noah's first snow!)

Shockingly cold Saturday.  Noah is watching it snow for the first time in his life!!!

On a freezing December Saturday, we got the house looking a little more festive.  Noah sat outside with me (Dana) while I strung one little strand of old fashioned lightbulbs across our porch.  I also tucked evergreens into our grapevine wreath on the door (instead of buying a wreath).  I LOVE to repurpose things!  It's so much less expensive and always comes out looking creative.  (I first learned this with our wedding plans when I realized that anything marketed for weddings is overpriced.  Turns out, holidays are the same way.)  So we had some unique ...er, occasionally a-traditional items.  But I figure we're in the process of creating our own traditions anyway. 

The snow started in the early afternoon.  So beautiful.  I took Noah straight to the window and then to the porch for front row seats on his first snow!  It was so much fun.  Cookies were baked.  Christmas music blasted all afternoon.  Noah and I danced (well, I danced. Noah bounced) in the warmth of the house while the snow covered everything outside.

That evening, we forged the snow and went to a Christmas festival at the local plant store/tree nursery that we love.  They had Santa (yes, he scared Noah) and cookies, tons of gorgeous Christmas trees, and a miraculously marked down (75%off!) Christmas tree that we had delivered to our house that night. 

Hmm...I wanna say it looked better than this -- like, I straightened out some of the branches...but now I can't remember and I know that the wind really did a number on those little sprigs after a while.  Anyway, I thought it was festive.

Noah sitting under a 20ft Christmas tree at a local tree nursery.  

All of us at the same nursery, next to a different tree.

And he's done.  It was bedtime after a looong day of fun.

They're Cousins...

The first official meeting of Noah and Rosy Marie.  Hilarious.

A Surprising Perspective on Abortion and Adoption from the NYTimes

 A friend sent us this recent NYT article.  Incredible.  Heartbreaking.  Moving.  Motivating.

The Unborn Paradox

"In America, there’s been tragic contrast between the burden of unwanted pregnancies and the burden of infertility."