To meditate on, today..

This week has been a tough one, and I'm finding that it's really easy, when life throws you lemons, to get really caught up in lemon juice, and to not be able to see anything through the stinging in the eyes.  Between concerns over the best way to handle LW's teeth situation/possible night weaning, and also how to afford that and a variety of other $$ concerns coming down the line, I have not been the most pleasant person this week.  I get so wrapped up running mental circles in search of answers, and get really grumpy/bitter/frustrated when I can't see any solution.  So this is what I am meditating on today - and trying to leave it all in God's hands...

'Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? "Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well." Luke 12:22-34

Hope this speaks to you all, today, too.  It really is true - as I've found in the past, He knows our needs, and His grace (and provision) is sufficient for each moment.  Like the manna in the desert, though, He doesn't always give us the grace for the next moment, until it has actually arrived.  The promise is that He'll provide, when we need it; since we're not actually there yet, or needing it yet, why should I be surprised that the provision hasn't appeared yet?

Trusting for each moment... now off to find some iced coffee and beat this heat.

Ups, Downs, and All Arounds..

My apologies for being so "quiet" lately.  Life has been crazy - sometimes crazy good, sometimes crazy bad, and it's been hard to find a moment to do laundry (hence three loads are sitting on my basement floor) much less sit down to construct a coherent post.

First, the "down":  I had to take my 13 month old to the dentist yesterday.  Jim and I used to joke years ago that if we ever got married, our kids would be doomed - we both had so many problems with cavities and such - and evidently (dentally?) it's not so much of a joke when it actually happens. LW has two cavities behind her front middle teeth, and now it's a race to try and find a second opinion as far as what to do about them.  Dentist #1 was brusque, uninformative, performed a sealing procedure without asking or explaining first, and is insisting that we night wean (and preferably stop feeding on demand in the daytime as well).  Of course, as I know from previous experience, dentists really would be most happy if they could get all their patients to be fed via stomach tube and never have anything touch their teeth...  Anyway, that is the current crisis of our days.  I really don't want to night wean her yet, as she's still nursing 3-4 times a night, receives quite a lot of calories that way, and it gets us all the maximum amount of shut-eye.  SO.. prayers, please, for healing and also for us to find a decent dentist who is willing to work with the whole baby, not just focusing exclusively on her teeth (side note - this has been a bad year for this particular topic; we had to shell $2500 out of pocket in March when Jim had a dental abscess, so this came as a particularly annoying blow).

The literal "up": LW is standing up on her own (as in, in the middle of the floor, without anything to pull up on), and taking a few steps from there!  Her toddle-waddle is one of the cutest things I've ever seen.  She is pushing "further up and further in," in the form of climbing everything (chairs, couches, people) in sight.  She's also beginning to master more words (like "bath"), and every day becomes more like a little toddler-person rather than a baby.

Also literally "up": the garden is entering into its full glory:

  We recently harvested the first of the tomatoes and peas:

They are *super* tasty.  I had forgotten how good a cherry tomato or snap pea straight off the vine can taste.  My buds have gotten used to the bland store bought stuff.

The peas are actually kind of funny, because when we left for 4th of July weekend, there was one bud about to bloom; when we returned, the whole tops of the bushes were covered, and the next morning, there were full pea pods waiting to be harvested.

This might, of course, have something to do with the "all around": the all encompassing heat wave we've been experiencing.  Remember this post?  It's even hotter than that now, and ridiculously high humidity levels as well.  Yesterday, I gave in, and let Jim put the AC in the bedroom window (being mistress of frugality, it has to be seriously hot for me to allow the use of the AC).  It was worth it, though, for the three of us to actually get a good night's sleep.

In one other piece of "all around" news - our BG's are working great!  She hasn't been any redder than she ever was in the disposables in weeks, and we've got a good wash/dry routine down.  The only problem is that with this hot weather, she's been running around in her diaper, and has now figured out how to open the Velcro tabs.  I'm super excited about not spending all that $$ on the disposables anymore (although, technically, it'll take 6+ months to recoup the investment in the BG's).  We're still using one sposie at night - any suggestions for good overnight solutions?  She might be OK overnight, I just haven't dared risk it yet.  That being said, she pretty routinely leaks out of the disposable at night anyway...

Oh, and the other "up" piece of news: we're looking at a house that we actually really like, which might even be in our price range!  5.5 acres of a land, an older farmhouse that needs some renovations but would be livable until we were able to do so, and only about 30 min from where Jim works (not ideal, but better than it could be).  God willing, we're hoping to move on to the house inspector step, after taking one more look at it.

Now... time for that laundry :)