In the meantime

I cannot begin to tell you how much it thrills my heart to see Talitha smile at me, to snuggle with her, to watch her sleeping face, to hear her giggle, and to see her wiggle all over on the floor.  We are so blessed to have Talitha with us.  God is so incredibly good to us.  Being a mom has been one of the most wonderful and most difficult experiences of my life. Perhaps having Talitha has also helped ease some of the pain of our miscarriage, as in some ways, we have "moved past" the will we ever hold a baby of our own in our arms?  question.  At least we know that {maybe} we were just another couple that fits into the "first babies are often miscarried" statistic.  I don't know...   Whatever the case, I came across the following post on Lessons from Suffering in Life  in my draft archive the other day and finally feel like I can post it.  I post these not because I feel like I've mastered these lessons but because I need to be ...

The past few Christmases I've posted some recipes that are traditional here at the Stanley/Lehrman household:  Cheese Ball,   Summer Sausage & Peppernuts,  and  Almond Toast . I think it was last year that Isaac and I enjoyed delivering Summer Sausage and Almond Toast to friends.  This year, however,  I didn't get around to making the almond toast.  Instead, I decided to make Mom's Caramel Corn recipe to go along with the Summer Sausage and Zippy Mustard.   I think it turned out quite well! Christmas Caramel Corn:  Pop roughly 7 quarts of popcorn.   If you're doing it on the stove, you'll need about 1 3/4 cup dry popcorn (1/2 cup dry popcorn makes roughly 2 quarts popped popcorn.) (Don't know how many bags of microwave popcorn that would be...)  Mix together and boil for 5 minutes (while stirring):  2 cups brown sugar 1 cup butter 1/2 cup white or dark corn syrup  1/2 tsp salt  Remo...

2017 is coming to an end and 2018 is just around the corner!  Where did 2017 go?!?!?  2017 has been a great year--it's hard to surpass the highlight of having a Little Girl to bring sunshine and joy into our lives! Anyway, it seems like towards the end of every year (or the beginning of the New Year) we begin thinking about starting new Bible study or reading habits.  While I'm still working on the chronological reading plan that I  mentioned last year , I have also been working on a Galatians through 2 Thessalonians Journible . I just love the idea behind Journibles:  Write out the passage and make comments as you work through the verses.  It's that simple.   In fact, the best part about Journibles  is that the idea behind it is repeatable--anyone can do it!  It is so simple!  While you can purchase from Amazon the actual Journible  that has a nice hard cover, along with prompts for comments and notations for whe...

The first week after Talitha was born, my parents were here, so they basically took care of all our meals during that time.  Then my parents left.  For almost the next two weeks, ladies from church brought us meals.  It was such a blessing to know that a hot meal was coming each day and I didn’t have to even think about what to make for supper!  (Sometimes that thinking part is the hardest part! haha!) Anyway… during that time, instead of a hot meal for supper, one friend brought us some frozen breakfast burritos.  Ok guys, let me tell you something: for those of us who always have to have a hot breakfast, those burritos were the best. idea. ever.  Period.  I say that because, for about the first month after Talitha was born, there were so many mornings I was so tired I could hardly make myself get out of bed, much less get out of bed in time to make Isaac breakfast before he had to leave for work....

I sat there in the recliner, holding my Little Girl.  She had been crying, hysterically so, with giant crocodile tears welling up in her eyes.  I picked her up. She stopped crying. She was crying for Mommy. Wait a minute…     She was crying for Me .      I’m her Mommy. And then, while Talitha snuggled up with me, I was the one crying. They were mostly tears of joy, tears of overwhelming thankfulness to God for giving us our Talitha. But there were also tears because I missed ever getting to hold our Twins, tears because of all of the “what could have beens.” But in the end, there were tears because I know God is good and He does bring “joy in the morning,” despite the sorrow in the night. Last week at the local MOPS-equivalent get-together, a couple ladies shared on Infant Loss Awareness Day. Yes, it has been like almost three years since we miscarried, but as one of the...

Some pictures...until I get around to writing something actually worth reading! :)   And yes, these are slightly out of order.

Welcome Talitha Hope Stanley!   Born July 18, 2017  8 lbs 5 oz  19 inches

I think I’ve gotten into a rut (but I don’t think it is a bad rut…at least not yet.)  Let me explain. I’ve had an ongoing, weekly,  problem:  What to make for Sunday lunch?  If I don’t have something planned for lunch on Sunday, it easily becomes one of those my-brain-isn’t-working moments after we get home from church...  So every week, come Saturday night (or if I really am organized, sometimes Saturday morning or afternoon), I try to think ahead to what should I make for lunch on Sunday?   Oh what to make?!? (That's every housewife’s never-ending struggle, right???  My husband frequently marvels at how “easily” I come up with something to eat…  Haha! Little does he know that I’ve only been slightly obsessing about it in my mind for who knows how long, desperately trying to come up with something-- anything-- that is edible to put on the table!) Anyway, I have a few [subconscious] prerequisites for meals that work for Sunday ...

These are our "OK, Hazel!  You can come any day now!!!  Have I mentioned we are suuuper, duper, incredibly excited to meet you?!?!?" faces.                                                  38 1/2 weeks (on 7/9)

Growing up, my family got into these ruts of have certain meals on certain days of the week.  For a while, we always had pizza on Saturday night, before we girls would head off to youth group.  There was also a time when we regularly had hot dogs with sauteed peppers, onions, and tomatoes on Tuesday nights.  When I was younger, we ate Chef Salad for Sunday supper for a while…and then we started making the German “crullers” with honey and watermelon  (which was a much better option to the Chef Salad, if you ask me!)  There was also a time when we made homemade pretzels on Sundays.  (What was it with Sundays?  I don’t know…)   And then there was the time when, for some reason, we frequently had baked potatoes, steak, and sauteed green beans.  Since it was a "nice" meal,  I don’t think we had it on a weekly basis, but quite often, or as often as we had fresh green beans on hand, we had this meal.  And boy was it yummy! ...

We are now past the 37 weeks mark!  That means baby Stanley, also affectionately known {for now} as Hazelelelponi (or Hazel for short!), could be here basically any time in the very near future! Almost 36 weeks!  I think I’ve hit the “you can come any time now, Hazel” stage, which will probably only serve to make the next three weeks draaaaaag by ever so slowly.  Oh well.  Eventually the time will pass, no matter how slow it may seem to be going.  Overall, these months have gone by quite quickly, so I guess I can’t complain.  In the meantime, I’ve been trying to keep myself busy.  The past month/six weeks or so is basically the first time in a quite a while that I haven’t had an outside job, so I’m having to be diligent in all of those housewifely duties that I’m supposed to do...  While at times have so much extra time on my hands contributes to getting even less  done around the house, it has, overall, been a blessing: ...

Zucchinni Skillet...reminds me of home :)  Believe it or not, these coconut cookies are actually Gluten, Grain, Dairy, and {kinda} refined sugar free.  They're pretty addicting!  Everyone tells me that I'll be flooded with baby blankets...buuuut...I couldn't resist trying out making a baby blanket.  Afterall, if I ever have an excuse to try quilting something, now is the time, right?   Annnd...it's been 4 years now with this handsome guy.  Happy Father's Day! 

Check out this post by Nancy Guthrie: Six Words to Say Through Tears.   While it is specifically in the context of grieving and losing a loved one, the main point of the article can also be applied to the many other trials in life that God takes His children through.

32 WEEKS TODAY!  That means that our little girl (also affectionately known as Hazelelelponi) should be here 8 weeks, give or take a few days!  That means that in more or less 8 weeks, our lives are basically going to be turned upside down, never again to be the same! That means we will officially be a family of three.  That means we’ll immediately be charged with the incredible responsibility to raise her up “in the way she should go.”  That means we’re going to have to figure out this whole “being a parent” thing.  That means lots of hugs and kisses and just lots of watching this little Bundle of Joy. Cannot. Wait. Meanwhile… I have lots of time on my hands right now.  The last few months have been super busy: The beginning of March, my part-time job volunteering in the kitchen at Cornerstone Bible Institute basically became a full-time job for 2 months.  That meant that I was in charge of ...

Sometimes I come up with a made-up DIY project (or even try a diy project that someone else has done) and it is a flop. (I'm going to blame it on all Pinterest.) Other times, I come up with a project and it actually turns out! Yay!  This little project was one of those those projects that turned out.  It was a simple project, but it made me feel quite accomplished! haha... Anyway, a while back I found a nice maternity t-shirt for a couple bucks.  I liked the color and style.  The only problem with it was that it had long  sleeves!  And considering that I plan to wear it during the height of summer, that is a major problem! But I decided that it shouldn’t be too hard to make it into a short-sleeved shirt.  So I went ahead and bought the shirt. I found another shirt with sleeves that were simply cut off, folded up, and then tacked in place with a few simple stitches. (You can kind of see one of the little stitches.) How hard can it be to do t...

All my life, I’ve never liked granola bars—they were much too crunchy, nutty, fruity, and healthy  for me.  By nature, I am much more of a junk-food person than a health-nut…I could eat hamburgers and fries and pizza every day.  Soooo, I really only ate granola bars when I was desperate…and even then, not very often.  But since last summer, I’ve been working to change my diet.  Cutting out grains, dairy, and unhealthy sweets also cut out alot of the snacky-type things that I like.  And one can only eat so much fruit and plain nuts.  Oh, what can I snack on?? These homemade granola bars have become my latest and favoritest snack.  They’re full of chopped seeds, nuts, coconut, and some dried fruit (and I like to add some chocolate too!)  And they’re so YUMMY! Oh yeah, there’s the chocolate and coconut. (Did I mention that I also used to not like coconut?) What holds it to...

Now that we have passed the “most risky” part of our pregnancy and are now over halfway there and without any signs of trouble, I often catch myself thinking, or even saying, that “God has been good.” Instantly, though, the thought comes to mind: Would He not be good if we had miscarried (or still do miscarry)? Would that change the fact that God is good?   Would I still be so quick to say that He has been good?”   Of course, we all agree that our circumstances don’t change the fact that God is good , and that He always will be good.  But our flesh is so much more hesitant to proclaim that He has been good when we go through pain-filled, life-changing circumstances. We tend to be so short-sighted and earthly-minded that even though we love God and have testified in the past that He is good , we usually gravitate towards declaring God to be good only when our  circumstances line up with what we would define as “good.”  And...

I rarely watch any kind of video clips...and I usually scan over lots of blog posts without carefully reading them.  But this 2-minute clip brought encouragement to my heart.  It has been just over 2 years now since our miscarriage.  We are now pregnant with a precious little girl.  But the tears still come.  Unexpectedly. And the pain is still oh. so. real. But God has given us hope.  An amazing hope that gives strength for this life marked by pain and sorrow.  All creation groans and yearns for that day. Watch  Embrace the Life God has Given You by John Piper.

With 20 weeks down and more or less 20 weeks left to go (we're halfway -- woot woot!),  God has blessed with an incredibly easy pregnancy so far!  No morning sickness ever , no super-sensitivity to smells, no weird cravings (except maybe that I simply cannot get enough fresh fruit!), no super-emotional, irrational breakdowns (I guess maybe Isaac would be a better judge of that, haha!)....  I am super thankful for how easy it has been so far.  Despite all my fears of the many unknowns, God has been gracious and good. Last week we had our 20 week ultrasound and our baby GIRL is doing great! :)   Cannot. Wait. for July!!

The Psalms continue to produce timeless encouragement.  Over and over, they remind the reader to lift up his eyes to the Savior, back to the One who made us and loves us, and Whose everlasting character is the very reason we cry out to Him. Reading Psalm 25 this morning was a good reminder of this.  This particular Psalm is pretty easily broken down into " God, this is Who You are.  Because of Your character, hear this pitiful cry of mine.  It is about You, not me."   Verse 2-3 -- Let me not be put to shame...                     ...because I trust in You and wait for You. Verse 5 -- Lead me in Your truth...                 Teach me...                     ...because You are the God of my salvation. Verse 6 --    ... Remember Your mercy                    ...

After the project sat on my kitchen table for a week or two, it is finally finished!   Yes, I filled  the journal that I made  a year and a half ago and decided it was way more fun to make another one than to just go out and buy one!   Here are the two together -- the one one the top has held up pretty well for being well-loved for   1 1/2 years  now!   I wanted to go with a burlap cover this time...we'll see how if it holds up as well as the other cover.  It took a little trial and error to figure out how to make the cover, but in the end, it worked out well! This new journal ended up having twice as many pages as the last one, so time will tell how well this cover holds up! I also decided to connect the front and back covers with some cloth for a bit of color and girliness.  It added a little more of a challenge to the book-binding process...it's not perfect, but it's not bad for a beginner!  And...