Dedication

Liturgy prevents us from thinking of ourselves as an island. It gives us unification; it makes us declare "us" and not "me." I won't compare liturgy to individual worship because a proper balance of both is really the only good way to worship. But today we dedicated Noemi to the Lord at church, and the liturgy of it spoke to my heart.

Making Christmas

Santa comes to our house.

If you don't believe, he won't come, so we can't prove to you he's real.

But we believe, and he comes. Every year on Christmas Eve.

I believe more in him now than I did when I was a kid, actually.

How to Save Money Shopping Online!

I like shopping online. We live out in the country, near a smallish town that has limited shopping opportunities. So shopping online gives me a wider variety.

Useful Christmas Gifts

Coconut Oil and Nursing?

I've nursed for more than 6 years total. You'd think my "nursers" (as we call them around here) would be tough as nails by this point. But nooo!

A Dress and A Shirt!

(This was done and written before Noemi was born. I just didn't get the pictures added until now. Oops!)

I found this lovely and cute pattern on Pinterest and wanted to try it for each girl. (Cute blog too!) I used the blue plaid that was one of Jeremy's button-up shirts for Eowyn's with an old knit shirt of mine for the lining. And then I used the blue floral for the baby's new dress. I modified the pattern for each slightly, but I think they both came out really cute!

An Unclean Woman

Getting back to normal as quickly as possible after having a baby is the goal of most moms these days. Getting back into those jeans, exercising, and regular routines. Of course, few take into account that the normal we knew before the baby was born is never going to be our normal again. (And the new normal takes about 6 months to feel normal!)

Born in Laughter

With each of my pregnancies, I've been given a word for each baby. Eowyn's was freedom, Gideon's was purposed, Esmond's was protected, and Noemi's was happy. I feel like each word is a gift from God, and because of that, we choose names based around those words. It's hard to find names that mean those exact words, so we have had to improvise some. But the words are what I truly believe give meaning to the names and have meaning for each of my kids.

Best Birth EVER!

Well, let me tell you, this did not go as planned or expected. At least not according to my plans. We think God had a huge hand in making this happen the way it did. A previous pattern of long labors set me up to believe differently! And even the labor part was pretty close to my pattern. What was completely different was transition and pushing. And it was awesome.

Sew a Dress ~ A Short Tutorial

Hello! As I said earlier, I've been nesting, and by nesting I mean I've been sewing things we don't really need.

Well, both girls (hopefully this baby is a girl, otherwise I'm going to have some explaining to do one day!) do need some fall dresses, so that's kind of what I've been working on.

How to Prepare for Baby #4!

Only a little more than a week until my due date now! Wahoo!

I made a shirt!

Actually, a tunic, but I'm so glad it worked out! I love it when that happens. Sunday we spent the day at home doing exactly what each of us wanted to do. It was a wonderful day, full of games, playing outside, movies, and for me, sewing! Loosely using this tutorial that I found on Pinterest, I sewed up a new tunic for Eowyn in just a couple of hours. She and I have been working on her fall wardrobe, and we're trying to make several pieces. We're using things we have on hand, so we haven't spent any money yet. Hopefully, we'll have a couple of dresses, shirts, and skirts for her fall outfits before fall gets here.