Babies And Boxes

Thank you so much for all of your sweet comments and congratulations! 

I loved reading all of your thoughts and yes I did create that pearl covered pregnancy test. I have a bit of an obsession. I love to make things beautiful. Especially ordinary things. Thank you so much for so many kind and encouraging words. 

You all made my heart sing....

We are completely overjoyed and so thankful to The One who gives the greatest gift of all. We are still blown away that He would entrust us again. We are not in any way the greatest parents in the world and most certainly do not have it all together~ not by any stretch of the imagination. We know there are many who do it all so much better...

After all my husband still lives and works in another state. 

And my laundry very well could hold a world record for the largest clean and dirty piles. 

And my car is a mess.

 And so is my house.

We definitely would not be ones to give out advice. Encouragement yes, but not advice.

After twenty years of parenting I still don't have it all figured out....

But I love my children & I am overjoyed at the thought of a newborn in our house again.

Even though I don't have it all together.

Even though most of my days are really, really hard.

Even though I do not qualify in the "best mom ever" department.

Even in spite of what we are walking through in this season.

Even in spite of what other people think. And often times say.

Even in spite of the fact that everything is not perfect and probably never will be....

Our hearts have been, from day one of life together, knit together for family. Not just a family but a big family who carry a heart for His people.  This has always been our prayer and we are grateful that He would call us once again.

I thought I would share some special pictures of a baby boy shower I co~hosted in my home for a girlfriend a few years ago. You may remember my love for hosting baby showers. I was blessed to design the tables and settings for this one and had so much fun doing so. It is one of my favorite things to do! 

I thought these pictures would go well with the baby theme today as I share pieces of what we have been walking out lately.  I will suffice it to say~

Faith Tested.

It has been an emotional few months in our house. For several reasons.

I just took note of my one year mark on July 17 of caring for our children solo. 

It was emotional because my faith has been tested like never before in the last year and looking back I survived it but not without clinging to Him and a daily outpouring of His grace. This season has stretched our faith. Our marriage. Our family. Our finances. There is not one area that hasn't been touched by our big move over one year ago. We have found ourselves questioning whether or not we made the right decision. As the one year anniversary came and went and Daddy was still not here with us. 

Faith Tested.

We've stood on His word. His promises. And what we had hoped would be His provision. We have walked through the most difficult season to date in our 10 years of marriage. 

We have also walked through it alone. 

Which has been a heartache all by itself. There has not been a tremendous outpouring of help or support during this difficult time. It has truly been a winter season and one where we have just sought out the Lord like never before.

We also have not been able to join a church here yet. Mainly because each time we have tried to visit one, we are paged to come to the nursery to comfort a little one and just end up going home. So we have not had the blessing that can be a church family during the absolute hardest time in our life. 

We have walked through in the last year what I would describe now as a stripping away and a refining fire. There have been many, many heartaches. Disappointments and broken relationships. Loads of rejection and abandonment and many days and nights of clinging to the Father for His help, wisdom and guidance.

I remember one year ago moving to a new place.

Sending my oldest off to college.

Sending my husband off to another state to start a new job.

And being surrounded by babies and boxes.

And trying to do life. Alone.

New place. New town. New schools. New people.

Completely starting over.

I remember having a ray of hope that it would be okay because at least I had my mom in this new place and my children would have a grandmother to love on them at the least on a weekly basis. Something they had never had before.

And then I received a phone call that would rock me to my very core.

Just a few weeks after our move into town. ... she would decide she was done.

To say that I was undone would be a huge understatement.

It came without reason or warning. And to this day, one year later it is still so painful.

I haven't been able to write about it for a solid year and still can barely talk about it.

I have walked through a depth of forgiveness that I didn't know was possible.

And my heart still prays for her. 

Still loves her. 

Still honors her. 

Still forgives her.

Still believes the best in her.

Faith Tested.

After all of this and so much more we had to make some decisions about what would be best for our family.

And so we have moved again just for the school year.

We found a little rental house that needs a lot of love.

Thank goodness the owner agreed to my obsession with white paint.

One year later. 

I am surrounded by babies and boxes- again.

Just this week I sent my oldest off to college- again.

And sent my husband back to work in another state- again.

And here I am. Starting over again. 

Trying to do life ...

With my faith tested, tried and true.

With my babies and many boxes.

Unpacking life and hope one cardboard box at a time.

Only this time I'm carrying a promise inside my womb that is a daily reminder to me

That He is for me and not against me.

That He has a purpose and a plan.

And that He will work all things together for my good and His glory......

We have had lots of celebrations too.

I am happy to report that Mr. P and G survived another month of May which is commonly known around here as the "trifecta."

He has the beautiful opportunity every year to celebrate my birthday, Mothers day and our anniversary all within 18 days of each other.

For our anniversary this year he asked what I would like to do and I responded with this simple statement. 

"I want to see the babies." 

He knew what that meant. 

After all he married a woman with a 10 year old baby girl and a heart shaped uterus. :)

And this is not the first time in our ten years of marriage that I have made that request. 

That's all I wanted. 

Which meant that my precious husband drove me down to the biggest baby hospital in town, held my hand on the elevator ride up to the maternity ward and walked me straight to the closest thing to heaven on earth that I could personally ever dream of.

Newborns.

He stood by my side and waited.

My sweet man.

Listening and watching as I stood there and stared in complete awe and wonder, weeping at the miracles before me.  Whispering to the Father my very hearts desire.  

Imagine.......

When just eight days later I would discover

It was already done.

 Another gift given and one I certainly did not deserve. Imagine my reaction after standing at the newborn nursery window weeping just eight days prior to this.  I was already expecting and had absolutely no idea.

Glory to His precious name......

I had to share the good news over the phone with Mr. P and G as he was away for a month at the time. His reaction was the same as it has been each and every time before this ...

Unspeakable Joy. Laughter. Tears. Gratitude and Praise. It was a beautiful sound ...

Here is how he responded when seeing "us" for the first time at the airport a month later.....

Tears sweet friends.

15 precious weeks and counting......

Please keep us in your prayers as we expect the arrival of our sixth gift in January 2011.

Glorious Splendor

Then the word of the Lord came to me saying: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;

Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations. 

~ Jeremiah 1:4-5

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You 

for I am skillfully and wonderfully made;

Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.

My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed,

And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.  How precious also are Your thoughts toward me, Oh God!

How great is the sum of them! ~ Psalm 139:13-16

One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts.

I will meditate on the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works.

Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts......

And I will declare Your greatness. ~ Psalm 145:4-6

We are overjoyed, humbled and so thankful that He would call us one more time.

No words big enough sweet friends........

The Latest

Good Morning Glories! I hope that each of you are loving the summertime with your babies and your grand babies! We spent one week in VBS (Miss Pearl attended for the first time!) and one week of gymnastics/swimming camp. The rest of the time they have spent moments of their precious childhood in the back yard arguing over who gets to hold the water hose and who gets to fill up the tacky baby pool. 

Fabulous. 

I'm not sure what I am going to do with my cherubs for the rest of the summer. It has been a little difficult to find a camp where at least two can attend and be dropped off and picked up at the same time! Otherwise Mama and Ashton spend the entire day in the car. Much like the school year! So I am trying to avoid that if at all possible.


And in case I haven't mentioned it here before. It is incredibly difficult to spend the mornings and afternoons in the car when your son has a bit of an affection for a certain item. While most children grow attached to their beloved blankies and stuffed animals, my sweet baby boy is terribly attached to his.........

Bumper Pads.

 I cannot begin to tell you of the dramatic exits we have made out of this house with those bumper pads. And he doesn't want to hold a small piece of the bumper pad or simply one end of the bumper pad but he wants the entire thing wrapped around him several times like one giant feather boa. It is hysterical.

If I opt NOT to allow the bumper pads to travel with us.....well, you have never in your life seen such a fit. It is horrible. Really. This is a first for me. But I can't say that I blame him. They are made out of the softest white linen........

Please Lord. That's all I can say. I hope you are laughing with real tears right now. Because I do every single time we have to go somewhere. He hugs them. Kisses them. Smells them. And buries his face in them and giggles out loud.  It is really something......



Speaking of the school year. We somehow survived the end of the school year extravaganzas for two children at two different schools. I am so thankful for all of the joyful celebrations but I am relieved to see the end of it. It has been the longest school year without Daddy home every night. We are hoping to all be together by the time September gets started! 

Bennett's end of the year play "Noah's Ark" He was a member of the wolf pack...

Grandparents and Special Friends Day at Bella Grace's school

She invited her very hip big sister and Daddy of course.....

Sharing her journal entries...

She had her name chosen out of a hat to dance with her Daddy ...

Lucky Girl....

This is her "all about me" star that she made at the beginning of the year. 

 It was the only one with streamers of pink tulle.............giggles.

I am so grateful for a bit of a break from the rush, rush, rush of a school day morning. It has been so nice not to have to run around searching for Bella Grace's glasses at the last minute. Yes, my precious daughter tends to enjoy creating her own tablescapes, mini floor moves and occassionally adding her own creative touches around the house. Like this for example. Gracious dear. I never thought to look in the topiaries for your eyeglasses......

Love it. This is classic.

So in an effort to entertain my babies we have spent some time at the park every morning where we have attempted to go on a walk. Which immediately turned into a nature/science project complete with the use of every piece of my tupperware as bug boxes. On one exploration Grace found a lizard and everyone begged to bring him home with us.

Yes. I allowed them to.

And yes. They were beyond excited.

And yes. 

Someone who shall remain nameless decided to "just check on him" in the car ride on the way home. 

And yes. 

He escaped. 

In the car. 

While I was driving.

And yes. I almost had a heart attack. Right there with all of my children in the car with me.

And yes. There may have been screams so loud that the entire neighborhood heard us.

And yes. Ashton managed to sleep through the entire thing.

And yes I had to pull the car over and take everything out of the car and pray for all of Heaven to supernaturally deliver me from my "just trying to be a good Mom decision." And yes. I had to ask someone else's yard guys to please assist in the deliverance. No he was not successful. But suggested that I hurry home and just leave all four doors open and "more than likely he would just get out on his own." I hurried home alright. With a lizard loose in my car......

Big Sister was mortified by about the entire situation. It was just too much for her. :)

 I then decided that I needed to know that he was definitely gone. As it turns out I'm not much of a "more than likely" type of girl. I'm more of a definite type of girl. And the only lizard removal tool I had around the house were my Williams and Sonoma salad tongs.  

Have you ever tried to catch a lizard with a pair of salad tongs? Well. A Mother has to do what a Mother has to do. And I was a desperate woman. Don't judge me.  It didn't work. Turns out he was too slippery. 

And yes to this very day  I may still be driving around with a lizard in my car.......

In other news and not without an outpouring of His immeasurable grace we managed the biggest hurdle we have had in a while. I just survived almost one month to the day completely solo. Mr. Pearls and Grace has been away for a month. Let's just say that the airport pickup last Thursday evening was a bit of a scene.  I'll let the pictures do the talking...........