Thoughts on Impending Parenthood

This is going to be one of those stream-of-consciousness type posts, so just bear with me.

Last night, Steve and I were running some errands it was quiet in the car and I was thinking about how tired I felt. I then thought about my dreams of having a big family and disciplining all of the children we might be blessed with and classically homeschooling them and most of all, growing them up to love the Lord. I think at some point I just remarked to Steve out loud, "It's going to be hard to homeschool our kids." He said, "There's no doubt about that," and we arrived at our destination and I started thinking about what kind of chair we were going to get from OfficeMax. :)

Anyway, I have been thinking a lot about the sheer amount of work it is going to take to raise the one child I have on the way, and then the thought of having a quiver full is quite daunting, honestly. I want so many things for my future children and all of the things I want take a lot of work. I know those of you with kids are probably thinking, "well duh, Jodi!" and it's not as if I haven't thought about all of this before, it is just that now all of the work is coming closer to being reality, if that makes any sense. My struggle with these thoughts is that I have always been sort of a tired (maybe even lazy! gasp!) person, and hard-working is not a way I would describe myself. So, I worry about being motivated and able to do all the things I have in my head that my kids will need from a mom.

So today, I was reading the blogs I normally read and over at The Dominion Family, I found this little gem:

At one point in the conference Andrew said that the opposite of rest is not work but rather restlessness and I think that sums up the conference rightly. Rest is not a lack of work or order. We don’t find rest in homeschooling by giving up order. Order helps us achieve rest. Work helps us achieve rest. Restlessness involves anxiety. “The lesson of modern education is anxiety.” The solution to anxiety is acceptance and repentance.

A light bulb went off in my head when I read that...the opposite of rest is not work! It makes so much sense to me and what I've been struggling with in my head regarding my own laziness and disorganization. A concrete example of how this would apply to me is that, sure, I can put off cleaning the kitchen and let dirty dishes pile up, but I wouldn't be at rest just because I wasn't working on cleaning the kitchen. I would feel restless about the mess until I took care of it. And, yes, disciplining and educating my kids is going to be constant work, but I will feel more at rest (or at peace, or content) to know that I am doing what needs to be done, rather than have wild, unruly, uneducated children. :)

After thinking on all of this, I will have to remind myself (daily or hourly as the case may be) that I feel more at rest cleaning the house than I would sitting on the couch watching TV!

It looks as if I haven't updated my blog in almost 2 weeks! That's what happens when I get my husband back after 7 months, I suppose.

We have been having a blast being together again and hanging out. We made it down to Ikea in Seattle last week and got bookshelves for our books and desks for our computers (yes, we have two...but one is older and mainly used for surfing and email). Steve spends a lot of time on the newer one for his new photography hobby. Speaking of which, he has started a photoblog here. His writings are much wittier than mine and his photos are turning out to be beautiful.

We attended our first Bradley Method Childbirth Class last week. I know that Steve was skeptical at first about going to a class, but he humored me and I think we both really enjoyed the first one. I would like to have an unmedicated birth, which can be a bit of a challenge in a hospital environment, and these classes are specifically designed with that in mind. It is also designed to prepare the husband to be the primary coach and support for his wife and educate him on how to help his wife on how to get through labor without drugs, and how to deal with hospital staff, etc, etc. Even if God has other plans for my birth, I think I'm really going to enjoy this time with my husband spent preparing for labor.

In other baby news, I unpacked and washed most all of the clothes I got from my shower back in May and put them away. I have a little dresser full of little baby things!

Stone Update

So, first things first, having my husband back is the best thing EVAR!

After yesterday's excitement I am feeling alright today. The OB said that the shot they gave me for pain last night would last 24 hours, and it pretty much did. I didn't have a flare up all day, but felt generally drowsy and weird from the shot. I haven't needed to take a vicodin yet, and the less I take of that, the better as far as the baby is concerned. I can still feel a slight aching in my back where the stone is and I am praying that it stays slight.

Tomorrow I will have the ultrasound to try and see the stone (I am hoping they will let us have a peek at the baby, since Steve hasn't seen an ultrasound yet).

I was feeling well enough that Steve was able to get me outside and practice some of his photography skills.

30-ish weeks:

So Much for an Uneventful Pregnancy!

So it turns out I have a kidney stone. I went into L&D tonight for severe back pain and thank God I'm not still there having a baby, but I am pretty sure that I have a kidney stone which is NO GOOD. They gave me a shot of non-narcotic pain relief at the hospital, so I'm not feeling too bad now, but this stuff is only supposed to last 24 hours. They released me and the OB gave me some vicodin, which, even though he prescribed it to me, I'm completely wary about taking.

I have to go in to get an ultrasound tomorrow to check and make sure that the stone is small enough to pass on its own. Otherwise, I don't know what they are going to do.

I had a kidney stone about 5 years ago, so I'm not totally unprepared for the pain, but I know this is going to be a difficult week for me. Steve is getting here tonight, so thank goodness I will have someone here!

Please pray for a quick passing, and that the baby is okay with all the stress and meds. Also, I'm a little drowsy-ish right now because of the medication, so if this is not-so-coherent that's why!

Cake Decorating 101

So, I don't know if I'm the only girl who grew up having never baked or decorated a cake, but here I am at 26 learning how to do both. I came across a cake decorating website and it sparked my interest. I'm not artistic per say, but I'd like to know how to make those neat character cakes and other simple things for kids' birthdays and other occasions. I signed up at Michael's for a Wilton cake decorating class. Here are some of my initial results (I can't say they are great, but I'm sort of proud of my first little cake)!

I baked a 6" cake from a mix and torted it with that handy metal gadget in the background. I didn't have to worry about being accurate with a knife, I just set the cake on the counter and ran the wire through. Neat-o!

This probably looks a little messy, but once I torted the cake, I put the bottom layer on my cake stand and put a "dam" of frosting around the edge of it. This is because I was using raspberry jam as my filling and didn't want it to seep out the edges and show through the white icing. So I edged the layer, added the filling and put the top layer on. Then I iced the whole thing.

The last picture is the final result after my night at class. The dent in the border happened in the car on the way home. Keep in mind I had just learned the techniques and practiced a couple of time before they released us to use some of the stuff we had learned on our actual cakes. I wouldn't recommend writing in yellow icing, but like I said, we were mainly just playing around with what we had learned - I didn't have any design in mind when we started. Enough disclaimers! By the way, it tastes great!!

Like Greek Food?

I made these for dinner the other night and they were really good and easy (this is from someone who hates chopping and prepwork). Some changes I made: I didn't have access to a grill, so I cooked the burgers in a skillet on the stove and nuked the pitas wrapped in a paper towel for 10 seconds. Also, my Safeway only sells ground lamb in one lb packages, and it was just me eating so I had a little less of everything in the recipe (and leftovers). For the sauce, I used regular cucumber and no mint.

Ingredients (serves 4)

1/2 English cucumber, peeled, seeded, and grated (3/4 cup)
1/2 cup plain yogurt, preferably whole milk yogurt
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons chopped fresh mint
1 small garlic clove, minced
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 pounds ground lamb
1/2 small onion, minced (1/4 cup)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried
Salt and pepper
4 pita breads, (6-inch)
Iceberg lettuce, for serving
2 medium beefsteak tomatoes, sliced, for serving

Directions:
Heat grill or grill pan to high.
Make tzatziki sauce: In a medium bowl, combine cucumber, yogurt, lemon juice, mint and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Make burgers: In a medium bowl, use a fork to gently combine lamb, onion, parsley, and oregano; season with salt and pepper. Gently form mixture into 16 small patties, about 3/4 inch thick. Grill until medium-rare, 2 to 3 minutes per side.

To serve, warm pitas on the grill or directly over a gas burner, turning occasionally. Halve pitas, and fill with lettuce, burgers, tomato, and tzatziki.

Recipe courtesy of Everyday Food

By Request...

A new belly pic!