Season's Greetings, 2012

As another year draws to a close, our hearts overflow with gratitude and joy as we recall what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us.

While we were expecting our fourth baby, we needed to purchase a larger vehicle that could accommodate our growing family.  After months of searching, the Lord provided a Ford Traveler’s van that seats seven.  The second row inside this 12-passenger van has two bucket seats with a video deck between them on the floor and two video screens above.  The third row has a three-passenger bench and all the seats are leather.  The rear does not currently have a four-person bench, but one could be installed later.  It also has a tow package with low mileage and the price was within our budget.  Our big, green van has indeed been a huge blessing.

Likewise, we were having some leakage from the roof.  As you know, a new roof is expensive when paid out-of-pocket.  So we put off purchasing a new roof for as long as possible.  When late Spring came, we could not wait any longer.  After speaking with a building contractor and our insurance adjuster, we received a new roof for only the cost of our deductible!  We praise the Lord, yet again, for providing to meet our needs out of the abundance of His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

The birth of our fourth child was quickly approaching.  After an undesirable experience in the hospital at Shiphrah’s birth, I hired a professional midwife to deliver our baby at home.  Well, after 4 hours of mild labor, I was still not completely certain I was truly in labor.  I had been communicating with my midwife during this time but it wasn’t until my water broke 5 minutes before the birth that I was certain of my labor.  Needless to say, the midwife did not arrive in time to deliver the baby and (SURPRISE!) our first son was born in our master bathroom, caught by an unprepared Daddy!  It has been, and probably will remain, the most exciting birth story in our family!  Praise the Lord! What a marvelous blessing it was to give birth at home!

Joseph Wade is now 6 months old and growing quickly.  He is already wearing 12 month clothing, sleeping through the night and very happy.  He always has a smile and greeting for all.  The only time he is not content is when Momma doesn’t hold him while he’s awake.  He has brought a lot of joy to our home.

Moriah turned 5 years old last month and it’s hard to believe that so much time has already passed.  She loves to play with the baby and looks forward to having a family of her own when she grows up.  She is reading at a first grade level and loves to learn.  Lily is learning to read and loves to talk to Joseph, play with dolls, Legos and puzzles.  We will celebrate her 4^th birthday in January.  Shiphrah celebrated her 2^nd birthday this past August and is currently toilet training.  I think the “Terrible Twos” has hit her, but her smile and infectious laughter always light up our lives.  Our children keep our home busy and all three girls, even at their ages, love to help Momma.  They get excited when they assist me in various tasks.  They know that we love them and that they contribute something beyond value to our family.

We pray that this letter finds you well and that you similarly are filled with gratitude for all the wonderful ways God has blessed you this year and that, like our family, you seek to bless the Lord in your service to others in the year to come as we eagerly anticipate the return of our Lord.

Grace to you and yours!

The Andersons

P. S. Speaking of service to others, Jeramy and I will quickly finish a book we hope to self-publish by Spring 2013.  I am also preparing to record my first album entitled, Hymns on Violin.  Lord willing, it should be ready concurrently with the book.  We pray that these two contributions will bless and benefit many to the glory of God, our Father.

A Blast From the Past

Most of you reading this will not remember personally going through a period without some of the modern conveniences we've come to take for granted. Like a dish washing machine and a clothes washing machine, for example. Over the past week, we've had such a trip back into the ice age before modern technology created these wonderful time-saving devices.

My husband and I purchased a Kitchen Aid Stainless Steel two-drawer dishwasher when we moved into our new house a little over two years ago. When my parents remodeled their kitchen in early 2000 they replaced their dishwasher with a Fisher & Paykel double drawer model and I appreciated it so much, I convinced Jeramy to get one. Well, we've had trouble with it from day 1 but I still enjoy using it very much.

For several months it had been making a terrible grinding noise when the top drawer was in a washing cycle. Then last week it decided not to drain the water out after rinsing. It would wash the dishes, but the water would remain in the machine afterwards. It is still under warranty and so we had a part ordered and a man was to come and install it, Tuesday. That was almost one full week away! The bottom drawer still worked, but alone, it only washes about 1/2 a load of dishes.

In the meantime, Saturday night after washing a load of clothes, the washing machine would not drain the water either! We did not have any other issues with non-draining in the house (toilets, sinks, etc.) so now, something was wrong with the washing machine. It was full of clean towels and clean water. It did not spin and it would not agitate. For some reason it stopped mid-cycle. You can imagine our frustration having two expensive major appliances out of commission and possibly costing a pretty penny to fix or replace. After viewing some YouTube videos, Jeramy ordered a part he thought might fix it. Well, it would not arrive until Tuesday also! We have three children and use cloth diapers!

During the time without those appliances I went about the house trying to figure out how to spend my time apart from doing laundry & the dishes! I kept thinking about how I wash going to wash clothes in the bath tub or travel with them to our neighbor's house. Well, we got by without and Tuesday finally came.

The Geek Squad technician from Best Buy arrived and fixed our dishwasher. Now it hums quietly just like new! How wonderful!! The part Jeramy ordered also arrived and after he got home, after several YouTube videos and about 2 hours later, Jeramy fixed the washing machine, too! He's so proud of himself that we didn't have to spend any more than $30 on an expert to come fix our washing machine. And because the dishwasher was still under warranty, we didn't have to pay for that repair either!

I'm so thankful to have working machines again! Today I've never been more excited about doing laundry than the whole time we've been married!

Eight-Point Deer!

We always see the does in our yard at all kinds of morning hours eating our shrubbery. This is the first time Jeramy and I have seen a buck in our yard. He appeared very late in the morning - about 10 a.m. I was shocked to see him greet me when I returned home from my 13 week ultrasound!

Daddy's Little Helpers

A Brief Update

On October 31st we celebrated the first year we've moved into our new house! Yay! It's hard to believe that it's been a year already. We've made some necessary improvements and had many opportunities to fellowship which have all been sweet! God has blessed us abundantly over the past year that we've dwelled here.

Moriah is learning the U.S. Presidents (and the States and addition). Out of the 44 that we've had as a nation she now knows more than half of them! Her memory is amazing. It's really funny too. Obama is in the dollar store book that we bought and Jeramy and I have taught her well. When she gets to Obama she says, "That's Obama. He's a communist. He's bad." It's funny not just for her words but her emphasis too! She will have her third birthday on November 26th! We plan to celebrate it at Grandma and Grand Daddy Andersons after our Thanksgiving meal with a Disney Princess party.

Lily has learned to count to 20 about as good as Moriah can, because Moriah is her teacher. One through 10 is perfect and 12 through 15 is a little mottled. She has graduated out of her crib into a twin sized bed on the floor. And she has a booster seat to eat at the table. Our little Lily is growing up. She has peed in the potty several times, but nothing consistent yet. She will be two years old on January 4th, the day after Grand Daddy Dennis' birthday.

Shiphrah is still so cute and chubby cuddly. She will be three months old on the 17th. Much of her early gas issues have been under control for some time so that now she is much more able to sit in her bouncy seat and swing whereas she couldn't before. Her sleeping is not a whole lot better, but still very inconsistent, but I put her down earlier so that I can get to the gym before the other family members wake up.

I'll post some pictures soon, stay tuned.

Baby Projects

There are several things we've been doing around the house to get ready for the new baby. And I've not been very good at being specific in sharing them. :-(

One of the main things was to convert the guest bedroom closet from the previous office storage space back to a functional closet. Unfortunately I don't have a before picture, but use your imagination. The existing shelves were removed. The holes were spackled, sanded and painted. The hanging clothes rod and the doors had to be installed. Jeramy did an excellent job. Don't you think?

An unexpected repair was made to the ceiling fan. This is another testimony of God's grace and provision. One night Jeramy went into the room and pulled the cord to turn on the light then he proceeded into the closet to resume some work. Suddenly the ceiling fan crashed down to the floor while Jeramy was standing in the closet!! However the previous owners had it installed was incorrect. It was one of those where the motor hangs down from the ceiling mount and swayed while the fan turned. Imagine all the horrible scenarios had it happened at any other time!!!! God is good and He is sovereign and merciful!! Pictured below is the new ceiling fan, mini blind and the new location of the guest bed.

We really needed a new changing table. The one we have been using was used from Jeramy's cousin and we've put it to really good use. But it's been falling apart. The repairs could easily be made by hand, but some aspects of the design could be improved upon. For instance, the two shelves underneath have been unusable for most things because the girls pull items off or climb on it and the particle board pieces have finally broken. So, I designed a sketch for a new changing table that would be more stable, safe and enduring. Here are some pictures of its construction and the last photo shows that it has been coated twice with stain and once with gloss. It may be ready by the due date for functional use. It looks great, yeah?! And it's real wood. Notice that the side guard rails are removable so that one day it could be used as another dresser or furniture piece. Cool feature, huh?!

To go with the new changing table, Jeramy suggested I make a pad instead of buying one. I purchased another piece of polyurethane foam, this time 2" thick, and covered it over with a waterproof fabric. It came out much nicer, I think, than the hearth cover. It's 18" x 34". Normal retail price is in the $30-$40 range. I got the foam on 50% sale at Jo-Ann Fabrics and the fabric was discounted too, but I don't remember by how much. The total cost was probably around $20.

Afterwards, I considered that the baby might not like lying on some plastic waterproof fabric. So I decided to make some pad covers. I chose fleece because it's soft and doesn't fray at the edges. I turned the sides and corners, sewed them down and inserted some soft stretch elastic. Boom, there you go. I chose to use the elastic because simply laying a blanket on top of the slick pad won't keep it in place when the child is active or when lowering/lifting the child up and down. The covers were only a 2-hour project. When I saw how easy they were to make, I made some more for other friends of mine who just had babies. For them I made it easy to remove the elastic if they desired to use it like a regular blanket and I think they liked it. :-) It's not expensive (I got the fabric on sale at Hobby Lobby), not difficult and personal. If you bought a changing pad cover at Walmart it's $9.50. All the elastic and fabric together cost about $21 for 3 covers!! Here are the cute prints I chose for our new baby girl.

June Flowers

Here are our hydrangeas in full color and bloom. I read that the richer, deeper the color, the more acidic is the soil.

These were my favorite from last month! They are so gorgeous! I love the color and the shape.

One or two of these started coming out at the end of May and continued to produce eye-popping flowers into June.

And our Marigojuanas . . .

These would be the marigolds we planted from seed along our driveway. See how tall they are before the first buds even began to appear! Jeramy begun to joke that the police might come by and think that we were growing marijuana in our yard! So we've jokingly called it marijuana until . . .

At last . . .

blooms finally appear!

Most are yellow, but there is one orange one. The packet was supposed to contain a mix of colored seeds. We'll see . . .

These are blooming right now and are absolutely breathtaking. They also attract a lot of bees. Maybe our squash would do better closer to these babies.

Our New Table

Jeramy built an outdoor dining table, 5 feet by 6 feet. It looks really great, doesn't it?! It's the best outdoor dining table I've ever seen made of real wood. I think my favorite part is the support structure underneath. It gives everyone room to swing their legs. He plans on building 4 chairs and 2 benches to go with it. This is the same project that Moriah helped on a few weeks ago.

Daddy's Little Helper

They are working on the table top for the picnic table to go on our back deck. Jeramy pre-drilled all the holes and Moriah helped with the screws and screw driver. They make a good team. :-)

May Flowers

Here are the flowers in our yard that have bloomed this month. Some are really quite beautiful. This first picture is of wild roses in our backyard.

Here is a pretty daisy near our mailbox. It really stands out.

I don't know what these are, but they open their blooms when the sun is out. They kind of remind me of stars. There are a couple patches of these around our mailbox.

This one is very beautiful and the only one I could find in the yard.

Who can resist hydrangeas?

A beautiful white, late blooming azalea.

This one reminds me of a princess - regal, breathtaking, beautiful crown, stands alone.

This beautiful bed of pretty little purple flowers is blooming next to our basement door.

Recent Wood Projects

Last night Jeramy built these a rolling table for his saw and here is the rolling table he made for his planer a while ago. This makes accessibility to these heavy pieces of equipment much easier. When the time comes that he feels moved to build something, he doesn't have to spend extra time setting up and taking down machinery.

Last week and again this week, Jeramy has built and installed two gates for the stairs from our deck. They look really handsome, don't they?! They blend in to the remaining sides really well and therefore make the stairs that much more unappealing for our girls to adventure. The rust resistant hinges are very attractive and swing and catch really easily. It is so much nicer having a safer outdoor place where we can relax with the girls and other little people. :-)

April Flowers

My parents had a lot of azaleas on our property back in Northern VA. They had about 3 acres of land there, full of azaleas and trees. But I've never seen an azalea like this white one bloom so full and amazing that I can remember.

The iris strikes me as being a funny flower. They look gorgeous from a distance, but get up close and they're not all that breathtaking. The pretty colored petals are flopped over like rabbit ears and their full glory is somewhat diminished. The previous owners planted these purple and yellow ones on the side of our driveway. Some days there are more and some days there are less flowers in bloom.

Christmas in April! Part 2: Tupperware!

When Grandma Jane came up to watch the girls when Jeramy went to TX for a couple of days, she decided to give Jeramy and me our housewarming present: Tupperware! It was really funny how she approached me with it. She said that she didn't want to offend me (since our cabinets were in disarray) but asked if would I like to have some more organization in the kitchen. I said I was open to the idea, but I didn't know what would work to make it better. Then she said the magic word, "Tupperware". So I called Jennifer and she came over and spent about 3 hours with us gabbing in the kitchen and helping me to decide what items would work best. Let me tell you that it looks awesome! Notice how much more room there is available in our cabinets! I do confess that I was unwilling at this time to get rid of some of the boxes. :-)

My in-laws are so very generous. Through them I have learned more about how immeasurable the grace of God really is, because you can't even begin to pay back all the kindness you've received. It is the same with the Andersons. Thank you so much Mr. and Mrs. Anderson for your really awesome housewarming gift!!!

Got Dirt?

Tuesday Jeramy ordered some landscape mix dirt for our garden. This is the same mix that helped produce our huge deck garden last year. Our backyard garden palate is surrounded on all sides by tall trees which brings concern about adequate sunlight especially when the leaves come in fully, but we remain hopeful. We talked about planting tomatoes, squash, jalapenos, basil, cilantro, cucumbers, okra, and mustard greens. We have more than double the space we had last year, so if it does well, we could end up having this massive forest of vegetation. :-D

I also did a little bit of raking in the front yard to clear out the beautiful flowers that came in at the curb. Put off the old, put on the new . . .

Here is a pretty berry-bearing bush on the left of our driveway. I'm not sure what it is, but by the leaves (red and green) you can tell it's not a holly. Lily enjoys picking the berries and smashing them between her fingers.