Monday morning... Collecting my thoughts

I should have just given up blogging for lent.

In case you're wondering, I didn't. Maybe I should have. Then I would have spent my extra time meditating on Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection instead of whatever I've been doing (most of which I don't remember).

Still house hunting. And bad news for the avid "Momma" reader, the house at the top of the list is a major fixer upper. That means lots of manual labor for me (hopefully accompanied by lots of weight loss) but not much time for writing. But I'm really excited (like wake me up at night excited) about the chance to make a house totally ours, I mean, top to bottom, in and out, ours.

One of my favorite parts about this house is that none of the appliances/HVAC work, so we can replace them with greener models. It's hard to justify replacing a working furnace, but a rusty dinosaur that sounds like a jet engine... I can apply a smug, "look at me, aren't I green" smirk on my face as I watch it drive off. I like that (which is why God hasn't given me a Prius; I would have a permasmirk).

To add to my creative excitement, this month's issues of Real Simple and Ready Made arrived this week. I've been slowly pouring over the pages, dog earring projects I want to tackle. When do I have time for this?!! I don't know. A girl can dream, right.

I'm making a mental "at our next house" list. At the top of my list right now, no gravel! That sounds nitpicking, but I can't count the number of times I've embedded a rock in my foot that has been carefully placed in the middle of the kitchen floor by my daughter. Each rock is different, and she is determined to show me every single one. It used to be pine needles. They were much softer. I actually miss finding handfuls of pine needles in the living room.

This has been a silly, rambling post, but it's a pretty accurate picture of my mental state. Please pray for us as we continue in the house hunting process.

Pretty Bird

Monday afternoon... Afton's asleep; Gwenny is finishing lunch. Time for me to start writing, brainstorming for the week ahead.

Thing is I read recited children's board books to Gwenny for 6 or so hours a day all of last week. I just hope I didn't permanently damage my ability to think of words with more than one syllable.

So, my silly wasted weekend. I meant to clean out and tune up the Brother then sew a cover for it. Inconsiderate of all its hard work, I do not have a cover for my sewing machine. Bad seamstress, bad!

Instead, I let my mind wander at the pet store. Hmm... It might be fun to own a bird. The girls love watching the fish. I bet they would like watching a bird, too. I think I've mentioned before that I have a problem with amassing animals.

Tim gave me the go ahead to look for a bird. So that's just what I did... all day, toting the girls from one pet store to the next, watching finches, budgies, cockatiels and lovebirds. I priced cages, supplies and birds in 6 pet shops. What did I come home with?

A bird feeder

Not really. I came home with nothing. I just filled up the existing bird feeders.

My conclusion - I'd love to have a pair of budgies or lovebirds if someone wants to give us a large, round cage. Otherwise, I'd rather spend that money on rosewood knitting needles and fabric.

How did we even end up at the pet store? That's a fair question. This all started when a friend offered Tim their leopard gecko. Ironically, the gecko died the morning of moving day. So no gecko. However, Tim worked so hard to convince me to own a reptile (I think he was excited about feeding worms to something) that he wanted to replace the gecko we didn't own yet. That's how we went from no new pets Thursday to shopping for a gecko and 2 birds Saturday.

The gecko has yet to be replaced, so no new pets, just thoughts. I'm sure if we end up with something new, I'll post pictures. Good thing no one offered us a chicken. We could have ended up shopping for a farm.

Baby Update

I left you hanging in my 2nd trimester - all that whining and then no baby pics. Sorry. At least I didn't post the last month of whining. It was bad - partial bed rest for 3 weeks, lots of tylenol. On the bright side, I knitted... alot.

The highlights:
August - September - blah. You didn't miss much - lots of monitoring Baby A for possible complications that never materialized (Hallelujah!).

The three of us in the hospital parking lot - thought this might be our last 3 member family photo, but A fooled us

October - We moved! And our house in Knoxville sold! We've had a very eventful Fall. In regards to our new house, let me quote P.D. Eastman: 

"I love my house. 

 I love my nest.

In all the world, my nest is best!"

I sobbed with relief when I found out we were finally going to be settled in Virginia with our own furniture in a long term rental. To top it off, this house is perfect for us. Because we moved shortly before A was born, I unpacked the necessities and threw the rest in storage without any organization at all. This week, I started digging through boxes, throwing out more stuff thanks to a kick in the pants from Real Simple.

October 31st - G celebrated her 1st birthday with her adopted gp's, a big piece of chocolate cake and a line of trick or treaters singing "Happy Birthday" (her name was butchered all night long).

November 25th - awesome Thanksgiving. We watched the Macy's Parade and the Dog Show with G, my family drove all morning to have dinner with us, and we spent the evening with our best friends. I loved it! Did I mention no cooking or cleaning?!

November 26th - Tim navigated Black Friday traffic on our way to the hospital at 7. Afton Grey Ellis was born at 9:26 am, weighing 7 lbs. 10 oz and stretching 19 1/2". I liked this birth - so much calmer. Baby did great; I felt good; we went home a day early. The experience fits Afton. She's a relaxed baby. Gwennan didn't fuss much, but she was intense from the start, just ask anyone she's stared down in the grocery store.

The following 5 weeks, various parts of our families stayed with us to care for G while I recovered from surgery (A big shout out to Mom and Mom - you were life savers!).

We spent 6 days as a 4 member family, then a trip to K'town for a belated Christmas.

Nieces with their Aunties!! 

Now, we're back to normal, well "new normal." Everyone warned me that two babies was going to be more than twice as much work, and it is. But I don't feel particularly hectic or worn out. In other words, God is being incredibly gracious to us, and I'm enjoying our Irish twins. Just don't call during arsenic hour.

Playing in the backyard with Sissy. 

I remember visiting a friend with four little ones whose house felt remarkably peaceful. Her kids had an established routine, and she was quiet, even when they were not. I pray that our house feels like that. 

7/7

Every year in July, I thank the Lord that I'm still alive. That might sound cliche, but it's very poignant for me and my family. Five years ago on July 7, my sister and I were sitting on a train in London, drinking lattes on our way to see Big Ben, when a Muslim extremist ignited a suicide bomb ten feet away.

When the initial shock of the blast subsided, my sister and I sat up to take inventory and check on each other. As we huddled together in the mass of rubble that used to be a train car, we both praised the Lord that we were alive. Our nearest neighbors were not so fortunate.

While waiting for the paramedics, we drew strength from the felt presence of Christ, each other and the amazing citizens who jumped aboard our train in the face of a collapse or possible explosion to give us aid.

Scared and barely conscious, the medics carried us to the hospital where we were separated for surgery. Once in the recovery room, my sister and I told everyone within ear shot to locate our sister and call our family.  It took several hours, but we were reunited in the middle of the night when we moved to a less crowded hospital.

Our family heard about the bombing almost as soon as they woke up, but there was no news from us. Mom, Dad and little Sis waited by the phone for a reassuring phone call only to hear a British doctor inform them that my sister was badly injured and I was not in the system yet. Friends mobilized, calling politicians, to update passports and book flights. Within 24 hours, my mom was on the ground in London, her best friend flying in later that day on a providentially timed missions trip.

We underwent another surgery to stabilize us for a flight to the U.S.  Workers at Duke Hospital pulled 24-hour shifts to arrange transport. After 4 days in London's hospitals and a long uncomfortable flight, we touched down in Raleigh-Durham to be greeted by Dad, little sister and DH (dear boyfriend at the time).

Once in the United States, we began to realize that this event touched many more people than our little family. The national news media was lining up to interview and photograph us as we made our recovery. Apparently, we were the only two Americans seriously injured, and the story of two sisters surviving the blast together was front page news. Our rooms were filled with bribes from new stations - flowers, gift baskets, the first available copies of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

On the big screen in Times Square during the Today Show Interview

Soon after we began to receive other gifts and cards as well, but this time from well wishers all around the country, people we had never met sending their thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery. We were overwhelmed by the support and encouragement we received from hundreds of individuals concerned for our family.

As we regained strength, we found our voice in the media. God worked mightily in our hearts. A spirit of peace and forgiveness came over us almost immediately. When the interviews began, we were ready to tell the world that God forgave us and gave us the grace to forgive our attackers. Some people hated our message and others embraced it. We were determined to use this national platform to turn what man meant for evil into God's glory.

After nearly two weeks in the hospital and six surgeries a piece, we flew home. A crowd of our friends greeted us at the airport, including 1 month old Cindy Kate. The celebration was awesome, although draining. Did I mention it included another news interview? It was months (including a trip to New York for the Today Show) before the media attention died down.

A decade after the blast and its far-reaching consequences, I still field questions about the sizable scars on my ankle and arm. When I explain where they came from, people frequently apologize to me for dredging up the memory and that it happened at all.  But I don't feel the need for the apology. My life rolled along very smoothly until that point - no major bumps. God prepared me perfectly as only He can for that moment. I knew who He was, that His character is true, that He is not caught by surprise and that He plans good for His children. The bombing only strengthened my understanding. As I hit the  gauntlet of life's bumps following that summer, the bombing served as a reference for me, reminding me that God is good and at work even in horrible circumstances.

So, if you notice a huge scar on my arm, or I "ignore"you on my now deaf right side, you know the background. A horrible, amazing tragedy occurred that God twisted and molded and turned into His glory. All praise be to our God and Father who sits upon the throne in Heaven!!

Where I come from

I would be remiss if I didn’t explain, at least in brief, how I got to this point in my life. A little over a year ago, I was consumed by my third year of vet school - cardiology, radiology,respiratory systems - more than half way to Doctor Ellis. I loved school. I loved learning and solving puzzles “House” style. I even wanted to tack on four more years to complete a residency and PhD.

God changed me. I’m not sure that I ever really asked God whether I should become a vet. After my first James Herriot novel, I was hooked. With all of the motivation I could muster (which is quite substantial), I fought for my dream of a hooding ceremony in May 2010. Looking back, I wonder if the Lord let me carry on for so long because He knows how determined I am.

A friend of mine wrote a name on my hand, “Voddie Bauchum,” telling me to download his podcast. This friend is particularly good at deeply convicting me, so I procrastinated for months. Finally, someone gave one of his sermons to my husband Tim. Being reminded of what my friend said, I synced his podcast to my iPod and headed to class. On my way home, riding the city bus, I listened to the sermon that would totally change the course of my life.

Confronted with my selfish pursuit of my career goals, I began to cry, sob actually. Tim and I took a week to pray through the decision then sent in my resignation letter. I was done. My deepest longing was to love the Lord from home, to support my husband and to become a Godly mom. The Lord blessed us with Gwennan exactly a year later.

I can confidently say that was the best decision I have ever made. It was the first time I ever gave up something I wanted to keep in order to pursue God’s will.

However, I had a new challenge before me. For seven years, I lived with the single-minded pursuit of a very difficult degree. My brain functions best in overdrive - I’ve trained it that way. The first few weeks home resembled a vacation. I completed all of those little things on my “to do” list - painting the living room, continued training with the dog, handmade Christmas presents. Eventually I ran out of things to do, just as we found out that Gwennan was on her way.

I lived a few months in preparation mode - just wait until the baby gets here, then I’ll have something to occupy all my time. However, when she arrived, I realize that, yes, she does take a lot of time and energy, but I still have time and energy on my hands. Afterall, she goes to bed at 6 pm. So, I started tackling less convenient, less expensive but significantly more fun projects.

A few months of being at home have changed how I spend my time. I’m no longer short of things to do - I just get to do new things that I love, and I do a lot by hand and from scratch. If a penny saved is a penny earned, I double our income. My favorites will most certainly be included in this blog, as well as my favorite sources of inspiration.