Grace and Glory

Musings from the Threshold

An accomplishment!

I have finally gotten a Paypal account set up for our Friends of Missouri Midwives group, and added Donation buttons to our website (www.friendsofmomidwives.org) today. Woohoo! That sort of cushions the fact that I drove 30 minutes to the bank, got there just in time to make a deposit… and didn’t have the business checkbook wherewith to write a check to deposit. (blush) But woot! Folks can now donate with the touch of a button! Weeeee!

By the way, you should see all the spelling suggestions they have for Paypal, Woohoo, woot, and Weeeee. 😀

Upon Entering…

I had the opportunity this morning to discuss with my eldest sons a simple but important principle for living. That is, that when one enters a room, it is always best for one to take a moment and survey the situation before acting or speaking. We had a humorous little chat about it, and it made me grateful that I am home with my Blessings, with ample opportunities like this to teach them about life. I am sure that I miss many of them due to my own busyness, but the sheer number of chances weights things in my favor.

I also found myself wishing that more adults had been taught this principle!

My Wonderful Weirdness

I was just reminded how many wonderful little “weird” things there are about me. Not that I think they’re weird, of course, they’re just things many other people think are out-of-the-ordinary.

So here we go!

We have six children, ages 2-9. No twins. I want more. Very much want more.

Five out of six of our children have been born in a home setting. All six of them were born without drugs or medical intervention, and I’ve only had one ultrasound in my life (just before the one who was born in the hospital was born frank breech without any further medical nonsense).

We homeschool.

We keep our Blessings with us in church meetings (they don’t go to Sunday School, in other words).

I am a political activist, passionate about making midwifery legal in our state.

I play MMORPG’s on a regular basis with my hubby, because I want to be a part of what he enjoys (and because I’ve met some really cool people that way!).

I recently put into action a conviction I had reached years ago (on my own), that based on my understanding of the New Testament, I should wear some type of covering on my head throughout the day.

I don’t know many women who wear a headcovering throughout the day simply based on their own personal conviction, and none of the ones that I do know wear anything but skirts/dresses. I and my daughters still wear shorts/pants/etc.

So, what sparked this train of thought?

All those conservative things on my list of weirdnesses…

And I just finishing painting my three daughters’ (ages 2, 4, and 7) finger/toe nails.

😀

Mountain Background and Day 1 (Saturday)

Background info:

My Grandparents on my Papa’s side have lived in the mountains of western North Carolina for years. They are 93 and 92, and have been in declining health for the last several years. They love their little home in the mountains, and would be crushed to ever leave it for a nursing home. A little over a year ago, my wonderful Papa and Mama gave up much of their life to move down to NC with my Grandparents and take care of them. They pared down their lifetime of belongings so that they could fit into the upstairs of Grandpa and Grandma’s log home – two bedrooms and a bathroom (with some understandable spillage into a storage area). I could write extensively about what an amazing example my folks are to us in this, but I’ll leave it at that for now. My Grandparents are now called the GG’s (Great Grandpa = G’Gpa; Great Grandma = G’Gma).

I have other family in the mountains of western NC – several of Papa’s cousins live close to them, as well as a Great Aunt, who lost her husband earlier this year and is a nursing home. My Great Uncle and Aunt’s house is now known as “The Cottage” and is often used for out of town guests. My brother and his family live a couple hours away.

We spent the first couple days of our vacation in this beautiful area. My Mama’s Mama and sisters (along with a dear family friend) came up from their homes in Florida to see us, and stayed in The Cottage. We spent the first day at The Cottage visiting with my Florida family. It was neat to see how our Blessings adjusted to seeing lots of people who love them dearly, but whom they had not seen for a couple years, or in G’s case, hadn’t met before. We had fun exploring the property and visiting. In the evening, J and Papa made a bonfire and Papa’s cousins and their kids/grandkids came over to make S’mores with us. Lots of fun!

An interesting side-note on my wonderful hubby. J was not raised in a “huggy” family, but he has adjusted wonderfully to my hugginess and that of my extended family. He did say good naturedly, however, on the way to my Grandparents that night, “I’m not sure about this having to hug people before I even know who they are!” But … he did hug ’em! 😀

After the S’mores, we followed my folks to my Grandparents’ house (which is also Papa and Mama’s now, but we’ll just call it the G’G’s). I didn’t think they’d still be awake, but we got to visit with them briefly before we headed for bed. There is a little two room cabin at the G’Gs where J and I slept, along with our three girls, and the three boys slept in the bedroom in the main house that my folks have turned into their “sitting room.”

Good night Day 1! And now it’s time to get the Blessings’ Fall/Winter clothes down from the attic!

Autumn!!

Just have to interrupt my vacation musings to bubble for a bit about how much I love fall! We left for vacation at the end of summer… had a blast at the beach, etc… and came home to autumn. I love it.

Last night, we had the first pumpkin soup of the season, with homemade biscuits and a big salad. Supper was followed by a little bonfire out back. No s’mores this time, but I love the smell of a bonfire in the fall.

This morning, I woke up under our new flannel sheets and shivered as I got dressed. And now, the sun is shining brightly and it is a lovely day outside. Sweaters and sweatshirts – woot!

Family Vacation

I’ve got to get some stuff down about our family vacation or I’m going to lose it all Which reminds me – I must get the pictures off the camera. Notes to self: Order an extra memory stick. Throw away the set of spare non-rechargeable batteries when they die. And by the way… it’s okay to charge the first set of batteries before the second set dies.

Okay. Now. Vacation.

We had such a wonderful time together, and enjoyed seeing oodles of family. As I look through the pictures, every thing is so gorgeous. The ocean and sky are fabulous shades of blue, the grass is so green, the smiles so sweet …

I think what I’m going to do, for my own benefit, is to outline our trip here, then add entries about smaller batches of events. That way, I can keep things straight. And, if anyone else happens to read this, it will easier to skim.

So… outline:
*Left home on Friday, Sept 16, at 11pm
*Got to my folks area of NC early afternoon on Saturday the 17th and stayed through Sunday evening.
*Left my folks and grandparents Sunday around 10pm and drove to Wilmington.
*Spent Monday-Friday in Wilmington with J’s family – mostly at the beach.
*Drove all night Friday night to Hendersonville (back to the mountains) to stay with my brother and his family Saturday and Sunday.
*Short drive to my folks Sunday night, J worked with Papa on Monday while Mama and I and the Blessings hung out.
*Drove 14 hours home on Tuesday the 27th – a day drive, woohoo! Well, mostly. Got home around 2.30 am.

So, there’s the outline. More to come!