Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

babies

Saturday Smiles: End of the year edition … and news on the blog for 2012

Happy last day of 2011!

We do a lot of remembering on New Year’s Eve, for good and bad, about the year that’s wrapping up, and we look on the coming year with hope and expectation.

Whatever 2011 held for you, I wish you every good thing in Christ for 2012.

Here are my weekly smile-makers. And read on for a preview of what you can expect on this blog for the new year!

We got a Wii for Christmas, and while trying out the swordplay game on Wii resort, I laughed so hard I think I scared my 3-year-old. My husband crushed me in the duel, and for some reason, it was funny to me. Laughing uncontrollably, for whatever reason, is a guaranteed smile-maker, even after the fact.

My son and his “tiny wittle bear.” I’m not sure how this started, but he got this little stuffed bear for Christmas, and now when he looks for it, he says, “Where’s my tiny wittle bear.” Totally adorable. Perhaps not the best picture, but I wanted to capture the moment before we lost the bear. I nearly left him at a rest area on the Pennsylvania Turnpike yesterday.

Holding babies. Though we didn’t meet our nephew yet, we did meet and see my husband’s cousins’ new babies. There are four this year, not counting our nephew. Babies fascinate me. I always wonder what they’re thinking. Plus, they’re easier to talk to than grown-ups sometimes.

Our son decided that his Christmas present to us would be learning to do this.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIT4QFbRK88]

This morning, he climbed out of his crib before I could go in to get him. And he ended his 3-hour nap by strolling into the living room unannounced and carrying no less than three of his sleeping friends. Toddler bed, here we come.

Our daughter’s personality. It has blossomed of late, and she is sporting a major ‘tude. In the coming months, I sense there could be more drama in this house than a high school theater club.

Endings are never fun for me, but a song I’ve always liked says that “every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” So, the end of the year brings new beginnings.

We have a lot to look forward to in 2012. A trip to Disney. My husband’s graduation from seminary. And the great unknown after that.

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So, speaking of 2012 …

I don’t consider it a New Year’s resolution, exactly, but I’ve wanted to get on a more regular blogging schedule for a while. This year, I’m going to give it a shot, for my sake and yours.

Here’s what you can expect:

My Cup of Tea — Okay, so I usually start the day with coffee, but I do enjoy a good cup of tea, too. On Mondays, I’ll start the week blogging about something that’s been rolling around in my mind that I just can’t keep to myself. I’ll pretend we’re talking over coffee or tea, and I’ll tell you what I think or how something has impacted me, and you can tell me if you agree or disagree. I love conversation and thinking about things in a new way.

The Weekly Read — On Wednesdays I’ll post a review of a recent book I’ve read. Through Christian Speakers Services, Blogging for Books (Waterbrook Multnomah), Tyndale Blog Network and BookSneeze (Thomas Nelson), I have regular access to Christian fiction and non-fiction, but I’d like to branch out. If you’ve read something good recently, I’d love to hear about it! I recently joined GoodReads, so you can see what I’m reading or want to read, or send me a recommendation.

Saturday Smiles — I’ll continue to write about the things that have made me smile that week. In the couple of months since I started this exercise, I feel like I’ve noticed the positive things happening in my life more, and I’ve let the negative parts of the week go a lot more easily. It’s been a good, life promoting addition to my week.

I may find reason to stray from this schedule from time to time, but for the most part, you’ll know what’s coming.

Happy New Year! And thanks for reading!

Making room

We’ve had an interesting day, but it really begins Tuesday. That was my 35-week doctors’ appointment, at which the doctor discovered that my belly had grown, in a week, bigger than it should be at this point in the pregnancy. So, she scheduled us for an ultrasound, which was this afternoon. Bear in mind that a year and a half ago, at 35 weeks pregnant, I was in the hospital preparing to give birth to our 6 lb., 3 oz. daughter.

As the ultrasound tech took the baby’s measurements, she said, more than once, “Oh, big baby.” Really? I thought. I mean, people have been looking at me like I’m nuts when I tell them I have five weeks to go, even asking me if I’m sure I’ll make it one more day, but I guess I wasn’t totally prepared to hear that the baby is big. I blame the steroids in the shots they’re giving me. 🙂 Anyway, according to her measurements, the baby is 7 lbs., 6 oz. already, which may bump my due date up about two weeks.
So, let’s see, if my math is correct, five minus two is … three. Three? Like, we could have a baby in less than three weeks? But we’re so not ready! I envy those people who have everything in order and who seem to just sit around and wait for the baby to come. That’s not been our experience so far. Heck, when Isabelle was born, our apartment was undergoing electrical work that our landlord had yet to finish and we had, literally, nothing as far as baby gear goes. No car seat, no crib, no diapers, no clothes. I remember telling people, “We have five weeks” like in that span of time, the baby fairy was going to sweep through our apartment and equip us with everything we needed.
Lesson learned. This time, at least, we have gear. We have diapers. We even have a more-than-half-packed hospital bag. Still, we find ourselves with some minor redecorating, shall we say, to make room for the baby, who will sleep in our room for the time being. After hearing today’s baby update, it seems like all of a sudden we’re in high gear to get this stuff done.
All of this makes me think of getting ready for Jesus. The world was mostly unprepared for His arrival the first time; will we make the same mistake the second time around?
I think of the Parable of the Ten Virgins, found in Matthew 25:1-13, and how half of them were ready and half of them weren’t. And even though the bridegroom in the story was delayed, the five who had prepared were ready anyway while the other five were caught by surprise. In the course of my everyday life, I wonder if I’ll be caught by surprise when Jesus returns or if I’ll be ready. It’s certainly no secret that He’s coming again. He talked about it often when He was on earth, as is recorded in the Gospels. So, like with pregnancy, I shouldn’t be surprised that it will happen someday.
Unlike with pregnancy, there’s no due date, though. At the end of the passage in Matthew, Jesus says, “Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.” How, then, should that affect how I live my life?
Anticipating the baby’s arrival, I see my daily activities through a different lens. I look around the house and see better what needs to be cleaned or moved or gotten rid of. How I spend my day also is affected. I rest when I need to, knowing that I have the trial of labor ahead. Or I prioritize baby-related activities, like washing baby clothes or packing the hospital bag, above other things I could be doing like reading or checking Facebook. (OK, so it doesn’t always look like that as I’m 100 percent guilty of being on FB when I should be doing something far more productive.)
If I view my life through the lens that Jesus is returning, and it could be any day, then my priorities should change, too. I should value what He values. I should consider how I spend my time and money. I should have an urgency about my life that reflects the need to be ready for His arrival.
Most days my life doesn’t look anything like that because it’s so easy to get caught up in the daily stuff of life that we, in some ways, have to be concerned with to make life flow from day to day. Still, I desire a more eternal perspective. Will you pray with me for that perspective? Regardless of the day or year of Christ’s return, we, Christians, need to be ready. How will you get ready?