7 Quick Takes on Friday -- the overhaul version

This is the summer of overhaul. Right now we are overhauling...

1. Our new house. Did I ever mention here that we bought it? The new foundation was finished last week. Next is a roof and then heating/ cooling -- maybe geothermal. And Dennis has to put in a new kitchen and two baths. And then rewire. And then redo all of the walls and floors. And then maybe we can move in. Maybe.

2. Eating. I've realized that the gestational diabetes that has disappeared twice post-partum has remained this time. It means a lot of changes in what, how, and when I eat.

3. Church. We've been visiting around this summer and have a much larger view of the Body of Christ. It's a good thing.

4. Bedtimes. I put a chair in the hallway and have been reading to the kids a lot of evenings. It's been lots of fun to read childhood stories out loud and the kids are slightly more eager to go to bed.

5. Breakfasts. It's embarrassing that this has been an issue, but post-Emmeliese it has been hard to all get to the table together in the morning. But the kids and I are back to eating breakfast together and food is preceded by reading from the Psalms, a song or two, and praying for our day. Afterwards, we've been doing Bible study together. I get out mine and they get out theirs and sit at the table. They look at their Bibles and draw pictures and I look at mine and write, all the while listening to some very loud hymns sung by the Cambridge Singers. It's been very, very good for us.

6. My spirit. I feel like we are at a bend in the spiritual river we've been riding the last year or so. There's peace here and it's a wonderful thing.

AND -- I started writing this in the morning -- and the rest of the day was... not as expected, so...

7. Stewardship. Dennis lost his job about noon today. I suppose it is more amazing that, as an engineer in manufacturing, he still had a job and had been relatively untouched by the economic downturn before this moment, than the fact that he lost his job today. He is upset, of course, but we've known this was a possibility for a long time and are fairly well-prepared. Tonight, Dennis and I went out to the lake while his mom watched the kids, and we talked about how many opportunities are present because of this job loss, chief amongst them the ability for him to do a lot of work on the house. And we have the chance to be even better stewards of all our gifts, which, as we realized again tonight, are abundant, indeed. And we both know that God is bigger than Dennis' employment or this recession or any worries we might have. We'll be ok. In the meantime, we continue to overhaul! :)

For more quick takes, see Jen's.

The Momma is crazy

Today I returned from a little trip up to Chicago with the three kids. That's right -- one momma, three children aged 4 and under -- on vacation, in Chicago. Surprisingly, it was mostly fun! We stayed in the Loop, rode the train and the bus a whole bunch, saw lots of interesting things, did LOTS of walking --even in the rain, had ice cream with Aunt Cyndi, and took a taxi when our legs, patience and tempers gave out on us three block from the hotel near naptime. And now I know what I need to differently next time. Chief amongst those things -- begin planning vacation more than 12 hours before taking one.

FYI -- Daddy stayed home and worked on the new house, oversaw the completion of the new basement, built a wonderful staircase involving major architectural work, tore up the kitchen floor and took out the old cabinets, did a thousand other things I don't quite understand, and, most importantly, didn't feel guilty because we weren't at home wishing Daddy was here with us. (Not that we didn't wish he was in Chicago with us, but y'know...there are TRAINS there! And we're easily distracted.)

I wish I had pics to post, but I had Emmeliese in the sling and Annalivia and Daniel in each hand. There was no free hand for picture-taking. Luckily y'all know what Chicago looks like, right? Just picture us there. :)

Because I want to remember this

I'm breaking blog silence because the coolest thing happened here yesterday and I want to remember it. Note to self: Start a real journal. :) But this is a good one to share.

Yesterday, my friend, Melissa, came for a little visit. It was a lovely day, temperature-wise, so we had lunch on the front porch. Daniel and Annalivia were doing some playing and at some point, something fell off the porch that Daniel wanted, so he went down the front steps to get it.

The front steps to the porch are sort of in the process of rotting and there are rather large gaps in them in places. We usually walk down one side and up the other. For some reason, he walked down the side with more iffy spots and his foot got caught in a hole. He fell, and in the process, hurt his hand.

When I got to him, he was bleeding but I couldn't tell where the blood was coming from. He was crying a lot and I picked him up and looked him over, discovered the bleeding hand, and started moving him inside.

In the meantime, Annalivia, as soon as she noticed Daniel was bleeding, had run inside and grabbed the box of bandaids. She immediately got out a small one and had it unwrapped and was bringing it to me as I came inside with Daniel.

I got Daniel positioned in front of the sink and washed off his wound and then ran it under cold water. He was sobbing the entire time. Pretty soon, Annalivia appeared with Solarcaine (our wound treatment of choice). I took it from her and about two minutes later, she came back with a baggie full of ice that she had made for him. In order to make the ice pack, she had gotten in the drawer, found the baggie, moved stuff off of a stool, and then had taken the stool over to the freezer, climbed up and had gotten the ice.

We took the ice pack and went back to porch and I had Daniel sit on the settee with me. Annalivia came out a few minutes later with her arms laden with Daniel's toys. She had brought his baby, his doggie, a tractor, and his dump truck. She put it all beside him while, in a very gentle loving voice, saying things like, "Here ya go, buddy-boy; here's your tractor." She disappeared again and came back a few minutes later with water for him in a little glass.

I was so amazed that she had done all of these things without being bidden at all! She saw blood and thought he needed a bandaid. I mentioned to him that we'd put medicine on the ouchie, and she went and got the medicine. She saw him with water running on his hand and knew it needed ice. She saw him suffering and brought things that would comfort him. I was just so proud of her and told her how proud I was a gazillion times yesterday. I told her that she had done exactly what Jesus meant when he told us to treat each other like we want to be treated. And I made sure she heard the whole story again when I told Dennis about it when he got home. Our little girl was just so kind and generous! I'm still sort of in awe.

FYI -- Daniel ended up being ok. We used a couple of creatively placed bandaids to cover his bleeding, and within a little amount of time, he was not even mentioning anything about his injury. Thank God for the healing power of little boys. And thank God for the big sisters who love them.