Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Of Bounty and Thankfulness

This doesn't seem to be the right time of year for a post with that name (at least to Americans), but thanksgiving is always relevant and in season, right?

I have a specific reason (along with so many other ongoing ones) to be thankful this morning. Last night, I took a careful look at our finances and bank account and realized that, although we had enough to pay our bills (thank God) we didn't have any money left for groceries this week or next. I wasn't worried. I thought we might have enough in the house to get by, even if it wasn't on the most delicious or nutritious meals (macaroni and cheese, anyone?). Then August would come and we'd be able to buy food again. But just now, our neighbor downstairs, a wife of another seminary family, just knocked on the door and handed me grocery money in cash. She simply said, "That's what friends are for." I give thanks to the Lord for his provision, and to the person who gave, for her generosity. Glory to God.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Of Baby Registries and Being Far Away

So, I've spent the past 4 weeks away from my husband while he has dutifully worked to earn us some money and also packed up our belongings to move them to our "new" apartment. To give you an idea of the size of the previous apartment, it is now going to be leased to a single student, and it will be just the right size for him, I think. The result of my being here in Kentucky while all the moving action is going on in New York is that I have constantly pestered my husband with e-mails about free Craigslist item postings on things I think we might need for the new place. I am sure he is getting tired of this barrage of ideas, but I feel like I have to do something to contribute from here :)

We have had a really nice, relaxing time in Kentucky with my family, which was exactly what I was hoping for. I've barely had to fix a meal while I've been here, yet have eaten enough to keep my OB/GYN fussing at me about weight gain. The girls haven't been bored for a minute, between trips to the mall's play area to Dinosaur World, in Cave City, KY, to Beech Bend & Splash Lagoon in Bowling Green, KY. We even made it down to western Kentucky to see my grandma and my other grandparents once. I was really hoping we could go back there again for the 4th of July, in fact, it's why I scheduled the vacation to last as long as I did, since all my childhood 4th of July memories are in Sturgis, KY with a picnic at my grandparents' home that always included homemade ice cream and then sitting in the backyard watching fireworks shot off from the Sturgis airport. They haven't had the picnic for years, as the family members who participated aged and/or moved away. The trees between their house and the airport have grown so tall that you can no longer clearly see the fireworks. But I was still hoping for Granddaddy Davis' homemade peach or banana ice cream. It just didn't work out with their schedule to play host to us this weekend, though, so we are making homemade ice cream today and have about three places to go for 4th of July tomorrow. Here's to new memories, right?

I would be remiss if I didn't say that today is my sweet K.'s 3rd birthday. We asked her yesterday what she might like for her birthday supper tonight and she said, "Just ice cream." When pressed to name a "growing food" for supper, she added, "Okay. Corn on the cob and ice cream. And that's that." I had to suggest pizza, and she graciously made that concession to some solid food for the rest of us :) Her pick of activity for the day is to play in the kiddie pool with the Dora & Diego toys she got for her birthday.

On an unrelated note, one of the other things I've done with all my spare time on vacation is to work on our baby registries for little L. L. We have one at Babies R Us for the rest of the main things we need, and another at Heavenly Hold for some baby-wearing items I would really like to have. We got rid of many things for babies when we moved to New York, and, if you follow my blog, you'll know that we haven't been able to retrieve some of the things that we did save from storage in Texas, so we are grateful for both the gifts we've received so far and any others we may be blessed to receive.

Happy 4th of July to everyone!