Wait

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried:
Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,
And the Master so gently said, 'Child, you must wait'.

'Wait? You say, wait! ' my indignant reply.
'Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By Faith, I have asked, and am claiming your Word.
My future and all to which I can relate
hangs in the balance, and you tell me to WAIT?
I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign,
or even a 'no' to which I can resign.
And Lord, You promised that if we believe
we need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply!

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
As my Master replied once again, 'You must wait.'

So, I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut
and grumbled to God, 'So, I'm waiting.... for what?
'He seemed, then, to kneel, and His eyes wept with mine,
And he tenderly said, 'I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens, and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run.
All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of My love for each saint;
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint;
You'd not learn to see through the clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there;
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence were all you could see.

You'd never experience that fullness of love
As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove;
You'd know that I give and I save.... (for a start),
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.
The glow of My comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight,
The depth that's beyond getting just what you asked
Of an infinite God, who makes what you have last.
You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that 'My grace is sufficient for Thee.

'Yes, your dreams for your loved one overnight would come true,
But, Oh, the Loss! If I lost what I'm doing in you!
So, be silent, My Child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.
And though oft' may My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still, 'WAIT.

love this.

Bargain Produce!!!

Hey all!! So about a month ago I found out about this awesome food co-op called Bountiful Baskets. It freakin' rocks, so I thought I would share! These awesome ladies in Arizona started it and it has just recently come to Utah. How it works is everybody that wants to participate pays into a pool so to speak and then they take that and buy produce wholesale and distribute it amongst everybody so we all get a deal! It is so awesome! Such a bargain! You go to their website and pay $15 for a "basket". There are also options to buy other things such as cases of fruit (this week was peaches and cherries), ingredient packs for different kind of ethnic cooking (Italian pack, Mexican pack, Asian pack...I love these! See below for details), and also breads of all kinds! I hear they also have other things occasionally, but these are all that I have seen so far. :) Anyways, here's all the loot I got today:

Basket:
2 big heads of green lettuce
4 lb. container of red grapes
6 big bananas
1 lb. big PERFECT! strawberries
1/2 brown bag of cherries (approx 1-1 1/2 lbs?)
7 pluots (never had these before, but they look and smell SO tasty)
4 roma tomatoes
7 braeburn apples
1 head cauliflower
1 bunch of celery
2 zucchini
1 brown bag full of fresh green beans
This filled about 3/4 of the big laundry basket that I took with. And this was even smaller than last week! Last week the basket was full! We are still eating stuff and a lot of it I don't think we are going to get to so I'm making it into baby food :) Go me bein' thrifty!

Ok, and then here is what was in the Mexican Pack this week:
1 pkg. 12 ct. corn tortillas
dried anaheim and chipotle chiles
1 bunch of cilantro
6 limes
1 yellow onion
2 bunches of green onions
4 pablano peppers
3 jalapenos
2 avocados
1 head garlic
Awesome right? I'm making homemade enchilada sauce tonight with the dried chiles. And then tomorrow we are having homemade cafe rio salads using a bunch of the other stuff! :) And I totally intend on making chile relanos with the pablanos! :) Yum! Last week was an Italian pack... And it was stinkin' awesome as well! It had an eggplant, TONS of herbs, 3 heads of garlic, 3 onions, and a bunch of other stuff. SOOO awesome! I am loving this!

I love looking into our fridge and seeing all the colorful fresh fruits and vegetables!!! It has been so awesome! It has been so helpful in getting us to eat better. And like I said above, I'm taking whatever we have leftover after the 2 weeks (oh yeah, they do it every other week) and making and freezing baby food with it for Noah to eat in a month or so! :) It's been so awesome! Such a great deal on stuff that's so good for you. And also it's all store quality stuff. Not like leftovers or anything. The only reason we get such a good deal is because the ladies that run the co-op go and work out awesome prices with the growers because they buy in bulk! :) So dang cool!

I highly recommend you all check it out! The website is http://www.bountifulbaskets.org. And chances are anybody that lives in Utah reading this has one close to them. There are 2 pick-up places in Brigham City alone! And they just started one this week in Bountiful that has made things much easier for us! :) Check it out! It rocks!

p.s. I realized while I was typing this that I should have taken a picture of all the yummy stuff...but unfortunately I have already got it all washed and chopped and what not a put in the fridge...so I will try and remember next time I promise!

Do ya see it?

lol Do ya see it??? lol Cute eh??? I think we may have found our Halloween Costumes for this year...

Baby Noah!!!

Ok so I know I'm a total slacker as this blog thing! As I'm sure you all know little Noah Michael arrived on March 24, 2009. He was 7 lbs. 1 oz. and 20 in. long! :) He is such a sweet kid! And such a good baby! This Mom and Dad got lucky!!! I'm posting a complete "birthing story" on my personal blog, as well as info on the nitty gritty details of recovery and adapting the first monthish, so those of you that don't care to know the details can just see these pictures of his cute little mug. :)

He'll be 11 weeks on Tuesday, and here are his tricks and stats thus far:

• He's about 14-15 lbs from our best wii fit measurements. lol That's the only scale we have and it's not always 100% accurate.


• He's just over 24 in. long. (2 feet yeah!)


• He smiles ALL the time! It's the cutest darned thing ever.


• He also does a very nice WTF?! look. lol As I'm sure you'll notice from the pics.


• He found his hands at about 5 weeks, and loves them. He'll just sit and stare at them, most of the time with clenched little fists that we lovingly refer to as "fists of fury!" lol


• He loves to talk and be talked to!! He is such a loud little guy. Always just babblin' away. Especially when you talk to him.


• He rarely cries. It's been nice. (Tho me and Miche realized after hearing a little newborn cry at Target yesterday that he never did the sweet little newborn cry because of this...kinda sad.)


• He does, however, yell at us. lol Just loud little short yells like he's sayin' "HEY! FEED ME!" or "PAY ATTENTION TO ME!". It's pretty darned cute. It cracked up the kid checking us out at Target yesterday.


• He is, and has been since day 1, SO expressive!!! He has always got some expression on his face. Whether he's got the WTF?! look, or smilin, or curious. He'll raise one eyebrow at us sometimes like "Really guys? This is the best I could do in the parent department?" lol And the most popular lately is his wide eyed "Holy crap look at this place!" look he sports when he's looking around.


• And speaking of looking around...one of his newest things is that he HATES to be laid back or leaned on anything!! He likes to be held up, sitting, holding his head by himself, so that he can look around. He's too dang independent for only bein' 2 1/2 months!! We're in trouble I'm afraid.


• He's also figured out how to stand now. (With help of course. lol) He loves it and is constantly grunting at us to help him stand. :) Luckily I got a fun jumperoo from my cute sister in laws so that helps him stand and gives me a break occasionally.


• He found his feet! It was the cutest darned thing! He just looked down the other day and stared at them while he wiggled his toes with this amazed look on his face. So cute!


• Ever since he found his feet he's been into kicking. He loves to be put up against something so he can kick at it. lol Which unfortunately is usually Mommy...lol I thought the belly kicking was gonna stop as soon as I got him out of there! No such luck!


• He eats SO MUCH!!!! I know lots of parents say that but in this case it is true for real. I talked to his doctor about it actually, he said babies his age should be eating about 3 oz. every 4 hours or so. Well...Noah eats 4 to 6 oz. every 2 hours. Except in the evenings from about 5 to about 9 or 10 when he goes to bed. Then he eats just constantly. Like we're talkin' 2 oz. every 1/2 hour...We literally feed him all evening! I don't know what I'm gonna do when Miche starts school in a week and a half and I have to do it on my own in the evenings!! lol


• Due to his above mentioned eating habits, he is also unfortunately very much not sleeping through the night. Every once and a while we can get a stint of 3 or 4 hours in a row of sleep. (the other night he went 5!! I did a happy dance...literally..lol) But usually he's up about every 2-2 1/2 hours. :P I'm so grateful that I'm able to stay home with him so we can sleep in as needed and take a nap or two together during the day. :)


• Though he doesn't sleep a long time, he does sleep really well in his bassinet! Which I am SO grateful for! I have heard some horror stories of kids refusing to sleep anywhere but in their parents bed for YEARS! I'm happy to say that I don't think we're gonna have that problem. :) (knock on wood...)

That's about the jist of what we've been up to. Again, if ya want the nitty gritty details take a look at Abz' Insights. (Link on the side) Now here are some cute pictures of the last few months. :)

Last picture of Noah in utero. lol at about 5 in the morning before we went to the hospital. Please ignore the EXTREME puffiness.

First diaper! :)

Our new little guy :) I was just out of surgery so I'm a little doped up and they wouldn't let me sit up yet.

Fresh from his first bath. :)

Ok...Blogger is being stupid. It took me forever just to get those pix on here and decent looking...I'll upload more tomorrow! :)

Ode to the best husband in the world! :)

Ok normally I'm not the type to express my undying, mushy-gushy love on the world wide web. But this is going to be the exception because my awesome husband deserves some public recognition!!

I'll be the first to tell anyone how very unenjoyable I have found pregnancy for the most part. I envy those women who love, enjoy, and have never felt better than while they were pregnant. I am just definitely not one of them. While I am so thankful to finally have been blessed with being pregnant. And I definitely can't wait for our little buddy to be here. The road up to this point has been less than pleasant for me. And unfortunately, as much as I have tried for it not to, has made life less than pleasant at times for poor Miche.

It has been 10 months of morning sickness, insomnia, cravings, uncomfortableness, lots of crying, and being oh so sore. And through all of this unpleasantness, Miche has been SO great and supportive and taken care of me every step of the way. I think all too often I take for granted how good he is to me. So here is a list of all of the wonderful things he has done for me over the last 9 months so you all know how much I have to be thankful for.

• Not once have I ever been left wanting for something I have craved. Miche always insists on making sure that I get whatever sounds good to me. No matter how far out of the way. Lots of nachos, buffalo wings, mexican food, bacon, strawberries, tons of fun dip :), soda, cookie dough ice cream, sausage biscuits, among many others. He has let his diet be dictated by whatever my hormonal body is craving without any complaint. He can be as tired as can be from a day at work, and just wanting to stay home and relax, but still jump up and gladly take me to get whatever craving strikes at whatever time.
• He not only has been so willing to go out and get me what I want, but also to make anything I want when I just don't have the energy, or my morning sickness won't allow me to do it myself. I don't even think I could take a guess as to the many POUNDS of hashbrowns he has made for me these past months. And every morning he is home on the weekends he wakes up and asks "What can I get you for breakfast?" He gets up, and makes me anything that I want, or goes out and gets me anything that I want, to try and help me ebb the morning sickness.
• There were several times that I woke the poor guy up in the middle of the night because I was so hungry it hurt, and regardless of having to catch a bus or carpool as early in the morning as 5 a.m., he would wake up and make me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, heat up some leftover pizza, or pop in a frozen something or other so that I wouldn't get sick before I could get it down.
• Every morning for the first at least 4 months, he would bring me up some french bread or crackers, and some ginger ale or lemonade, so that when I finally woke up in a few hours that I would be able to eat something before I got up and not get sick.
• There were nights when I was so tired and crying from not being able to sleep that he would sit up (so he didn't fall asleep first like he usually does), snuggle me, and scratch my back until I fell asleep before he would let himself fall asleep.
• I have got my backed scratched and/or rubbed every night throughout my entire pregnancy. Without fail. :)
• When I am feeling huge and so unattractive he is always quick to tell me that I am pregnant, not huge, and that it is cute.
• When I have been unable to sleep in bed, I have been on the lookout for a recliner. But with the baby coming I can't justify spending money on one. So one night he came out and made me my own recliner on the couch so that I could sleep better. :)
• Towards the end of the day sometimes, or even when I am just havin' a bad fit of fatigue, he will jump up to get me a drink, snack, blanket, or just anything else I can't reach from where I am so that I don't have to get up. I know that makes me sound super lazy. But he is so good to do it to help me be more comfortable.
• He gets poked and rolled over so often during the night when I am having trouble sleeping. I know it gets so annoying to him and he has had to sleep on the same side for months which has to get uncomfortable. But he says he's more than willing to do it because as he says "I need my sleep more than he does". I'm not sure how correct that is seeing as he has to go to work the next morning, but that's what he says and therefore moves where I need him. Even the few times that has meant going out to the couch.
• Stairs have gotten more and more difficult the huger I get. Miche will get behind me and help push me up the stairs to make it easier. :)
• I consider cleaning the house to be my job because I am a stay at home mom. But I have been such a slacker with it through the entire pregnancy while I've been so sick and tired. So despite the fact that he works all day he will still come home at nights or on the weekends and help around the house, doing dishes (especially when the smell of them makes me sick) and straightening up the house.
• He is always willing to let me drag him around the baby section of any store we are in everytime we go. And even all around to tons of different stores just so I can keep a look out in the clearance sections for anything we might need. The poor guy has been dragged around so many baby stores these past months. He even drove me clear down to Ikea in a BAD blizzard because I was stressed about ordering a crib before we checked there.
• And not only is he sweet to come with me, but as the end has gotten closer he has been so dang excited for the munchkin to get here it is the cutest thing ever! He has loved picking out cute little outfits for the little guy. Finding cool toys. He searched all over the internet for a pirate flag "jolly roger" blanket because he wanted one for the little guy.
• He has been just as excited about getting the baby's nursery all decorated and helping with it. He waited so impatiently for all the furniture to get here because he could hardly wait to put together the crib, changing table, etc. He's designing and printing giant vinyl safari animals to put up on his walls that match his bedding (that Miche found and loved by the way :) ).
• He's been so willing and insistant, even sometimes more than me, that we make sure the little guy has everything he wants or needs, and that it's super cute, regardless of how very expensive everything is. He gets just as excited as I do about spoiling the little guy.
• He has put up with SO many hours of "baby talk". It has been pretty much all I have talked about through the entire pregnancy. And I know it can get tiresome but he always is willing to listen and indulge me. :) Even when some of the pregnancy related things I choose to tell him may be WAY more information than he really needed.
• He gets so excited to feel and see the little guy move in my belly. And when he does it gets him so excited to meet him. Several times, he has even hugged my belly and said "can we just have him now?". It's so sweet. :) He's gonna be an awesome dad.
• I'm sure I'm missing much more of the awesome things he has done for me. Big and small. But lastly I just wanted to mention what he said last night and this morning to me as things have gotten super hard for me pregnancy wise. He told me how much he appreciates me going through all this so that we can have a healthy baby boy. After all that he has done for me, he is thanking me. :) He is THE best husband in the world, and the sweetest guy, hands down.

I am so lucky to have you sweetie!!! You have been so great to me through this madness! Thanks for making things so much easier on me and helping me keep things in perspective. I can't wait for our little boy to get here! And I am so excited to get to watch you be a daddy to him. You're an amazing husband and you are going to be an amazing dad! I can hardly wait!!!! 8 more days babe until baby time!!! Yeah!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Look what I made!

Look how cute! :) I made it! It's a baby wipe holder for the diaper bag. So boutique chic don't you agree? lol It was so fun! I think I'm totally going to start making them for baby gifts! :)

Two weeks to go....

Thank freakin' goodness. I'm done. That is all.