I will be 32 tomorrow.  The past couple years God has been doing so much in me.  I’ve learned a lot about myself and seen progress in areas that I’ve struggled in for years.  It’s been hard, but necessary.  There are dreams in my heart that God continues to encourage.  Nothing’s happening right now, but I sense that we are being prepared for them to happen in the future.  I feel more at peace with myself and my life than I can ever remember being.  I’ve always had an urgency to be doing something or going somewhere, and these days, I’m content with where I am and what I’m doing with my life.  God is good.

So, where are we?  The big event is that building has started on the extension on our house.  The slab is poured and next up is framing the walls and roof and installing the windows.  It’s been so interesting to watch something being built from the ground up.  The first day that our builder was here working, Lily had to go to school.  When I went to pick her up, she asked if everything was finished.  She thought the extension was going to be built in one day.  I wish!

My eye is finally fixed.  Hallelujah.  My right lower eyelid has been inflamed for more than 5 years.  I’ve been to see 6 doctors, and one finally knew what to do to fix it.  He did a biopsy to rule out anything cancerous, but in the process, found an infected gland that was the source of the problem.  He scraped it out (and yes, it was just as pleasant as it sounds), and sent me home with a heck of a shiner and some steroid cream.  The bruises finally faded, and my eyelid looks totally back to normal.  It’s amazing!

Lily is 5 and growing so fast.  We have really seen some improvements in her behavior this spring.  We went through a rough patch where we felt like she just wasn’t listening to a word we said, so we really cracked down.  It wasn’t pleasant, but we’re seeing results.  She is much more responsive and obedient.  Not all the time, but we’re getting there.  Now we’re working on joyful obedience.  Yeah, we have a ways to go on that one, but we’ll just keep plugging away.  It is worth it!  In the middle of this process, I had a total revelation.  If I wanted Lily’s behavior to change, mine needed to as well.  If I wanted her to listen to me, I needed to get her attention.  Not talk at her, but talk to her.  It sounds so simple, but it really works!  I’m so grateful when God gives these gentle little nudges that have a big impact.

With the nicer weather, she is spending a lot more time outdoors.  She loves picking flowers and zooming around on her scooter with her cousins.  They draw elaborate road systems on our driveways in chalk and spend a whole afternoon riding around their “city.”  She enjoys watching the building happening outside our windows.  She thinks Warrick, our builder, is the only builder in Canberra.  Every building site we pass, she asks if Warrick is working there too.  The other night, Scott was praying that Warrick would come to know Jesus one day.  When he finished, Lily said, “how about Thursday?”  She had a whole plan worked out for Scott to invite Warrick in so she could tell him all about Jesus.

She still loves to dress up, and she and Annie like to walk around the house in my shoes.  They got married the other day.  It was too cute!  Lily was all dressed up as the bride, and Annie got to be the groom.  They hummed music and walked down the hall together.  They turned to each other and took turns asking “do you want to marry me?”  Then it was time for a kiss.  Annie then asked Lily, “do you want to have babies?”  Lily said yes, so off they went to get their babies and play house. 

Lily absolutely adores Faith and the feeling is definitely mutual.  Lily usually plays with Faith a bit rougher than we would like, but Faith loves it!  If Lily is in the room, then she has Faith’s full attention.  I love watching them together.

Our little Faithy is almost 9 months old.  Scott and I were remembering how we wondered if we could love another child as much as we love Lily, but of course Faith has completely stolen our hearts.  After she was born, I thought she would be more laid back and easy-going, but am beginning to suspect that I was way wrong.  She is a sweetie, but also quite stubborn!  When she wants something, she sticks to her guns until she gets it.  But she has the most gorgeous smile that more than makes up for the frustrating times.  Her face lights up when I walk in the room, and it is impossible to resist!  Her little giggle is the best, and we all work hard to make her laugh so we can hear it.  She is very vocal now, and into the grabbing stage.  Anything within arm’s reach is fair game.   It’s been a slow process introducing her to solids, but we’re getting there.  I had another revelation about this.  I was just going along expecting Faith to eat more solids and start weaning herself (I’m still feeding her 7 times/24 hours!), but it finally dawned on me that I needed to help make that happen.  Common sense I know, but it took me a while to realize it.  So, we’re offering her solids 3 times a day, and after she eats solids, I’ll only feed her on one side, so she figures out that this food stuff is the real deal.  She loves yogurt and pears and will tolerate pumpkin.  She likes banana, but struggles with constipation, so we have to be careful how much we give her.  She is drinking water from a sippy cup and doing well with that.  She loves peekaboo.  Just this morning, I was changing her and had given her a little Pooh blanket to play with. She put it over her face then pulled it back down, looking a little startled.  I said “peekaboo!” and then she smiled and pulled it over her face again.  And did I mention that she’s the cutest baby ever??  Because she is!  And I can say that because she and Lily could have been twins. J

Scott is busy at work, and continues to be assigned projects with more responsibility.  His boss is away on vacation, and before he left, he asked Scott to handle a project where the clients are unhappy.  He wanted Scott to smooth everything out and keep everyone happy.  Which Scott just happens to excel at doing!  Scott bought his dream car a couple months ago, so he’s a very happy chappy.  And we were able to sell his old car for our asking price, so I’m happy.  It’s nice when everything works out like that.

So, that’s what we’ve been up to.  We have a lot to look forward to in the coming months.  Mom and dad will be here in 7 weeks!  Can’t wait to see them and celebrate Christmas together for the first time in 5 years.  I’m about to start Beth Moore’s Esther Bible study, which I’m fully anticipating will be awesome.  Because all her stuff is.  And of course, watching the work continue on the extension and then all the fun of getting settled into our new space (with heaps more storage!).  So, as I said at the beginning, God is good.  All the time, He is good. 

The Movie Meme:

(please list up to 3 per genre)

Favorite Comedy Film:

Elf

Waiting for Guffman

The Wedding Singer

Favorite Romance Film:

Pride and Prejudice

North and South

Emma

Favorite Sci-Fi Movie:

Star Wars

Return of the Jedi

ET

Favorite Animated Movie:

Sleeping Beauty

Cars

Horton Hears a Who

Favorite Action Movie (the category was Disaster Movies, but I haven't seen that many of those)

The Bourne Identity

IronMan

Indiana Jones Trilogy

Favorite Christmas Movie:

Favorite Horror Movie:

Signs

Sixth Sense

Scream

Movies With Music:

Meet Me in St. Louis

Mary Poppins

Enchanted

Favorite Book to Movie:

Lord of the Rings

Anne of Green Gables/Avonlea

Pride and Prejudice

Favorite Classic:

Annie

Gone with the Wind

Princess Bride

Favorite Chick Flick:

You've Got Mail

An Ideal Husband

Notting Hill

Movie You Could Watch Ad Nauseam:

Emma

Love Actually

Elf

Worst Movie of All Time

Journey to the Center of the Earth (can't say it's the worst of all time, but it's the worst one that we watched recently)