bsmiles and sunny days

My sista is scheduled to be induced tomorrow morning, and I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve! I can't help but thank God that He brought us home so that I don't have to experience this via text updates a million miles away! She is considerably calm, regardless of the chaotic circumstances with the gestational diabetes and doctor ordered induction. And she is looking soo cute! We are all thrilled to snuggle sweet Piper Jayne! Pray that all goes well and that the Lord's blessing is evident on this precious family!

My sister is days away from having her baby, so we are here in Emporia, eagerly awaiting sweet Piper's arrival! I have never been on this side of anticipation. Usually I am the one begging God to make it all end and scouring the internet for a remedy to induce myself. If you have seen us together, you know the similarities between me and my sister. This is one place we part ways. She is patiently enduring every false alarm. Her hope is to wait as long as possible. I have never experienced this inside the final month. It's amazing! On another note she steadily continues to lose weight as her pregnancy draws to a close. The doctor prescribed diet has helped that I'm sure, but in all of my eight pregnancies, I have yet to come out at the end looking any less than the size of a small vehicle. I am so excited to watch her function in her role as a mother. With these monumental differences in her attitude toward pregnancy, who knows how she will tow the line in the great parentin...

Deisha's birthday is Saturday, but with all the craziness of Michael's graduation, we gave her a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party early to curb the loss of the actual day. Dana took her to Build-a-Bear immediately following, and then to Yogurtini. It was a day of Kansas City revelry and mayhem. She loved it. I am tired, but it was a good day. Dale took the big kids for a bike ride, Leila, Deisha and Jasmine are doing yoga, and Tre is practicing his guitar. Hello, summer; I love you. I hope things are going well on your end! Lvb

Maybe you heard, I'm pre-ga-nen-te!!! And this while working a real job for too long on top of raising seven and schooling five children leaves only a wink for anything extra. I seriously miss writing. I miss telling you my funny stories and amazing epiphanies. I miss knowing that we are connected here. And that, my sweet friend, is what brings me back. So this morning God answered my prayers definitively. I have been agonizing over my job since before the positive pregnancy test. My children, these blessed gifs of life, have needed me here at home with them. I struggled to let the extra income go but felt the end coming. After I announced the new baby coming, the hunt began for my replacement. I thought I would continue to work one day a week after she was hired, but I found out this morning that I will not have that option. It's funny... I should be thankful, and I am. But I feel strangely about leaving. I want to be as productive at home as I have been at work.I want to work...

He was born in a Christian home near Dumfries, Scotland, in 1824. From an early age he had a special awareness of a closet in the three-bedroom cottage,  where he lived with his parents and ten brothers and sisters. He described it thus: "The closet was... the Sanctuary of that cottage home. Thither daily, and oftentimes a day... we saw our father retire, and "shut the door"; and we children got to understand by a sort of spiritual instinct...

I am sitting at the kitchen table with my feet propped up on Scarlette's booster chair, feeding her chicken noodle soup. Deisha and Leila are drinking hot chocolate out of tiny tea cups. Deisha is laughing hysterically at herself while Scarlette looks on. Leila is scrolling through the Ipod in search of a song to play. The big kids are all down at the park. It's the end of January at 7pm. 50°. So bizarre. The Oilers came over to play for a couple of hours, so naturally none of them want to waste a single minute eating dinner. I can't blame them. Dale is working late because it's Monday. I cleaned house all day... for someone else. Now I'm too tired to clean mine. Leila picked Friday Night by Lady Antebellum, hence the wild spontaneous dance party. Love it. What you doin'? Lvb

I was shocked to hear that my sweet friend, Charlotte, had passed last week. I was a thrill to be able to  attend her funeral, though. Charlotte was a person that knew and loved and kept in touch with everyone. She was an amazing woman. I learned so much from her as a child, a teenager, and an adult. Even in her death she is teaching me lessons in life. It's incredible! I left her funeral with thoughts of how to live with no regrets. I want to reconnect with people that I've lost touch with. I want to be better about maintaining long distance relationships. I want to be more diligent in kingdom work, even if it seems menial to me. But most of all I want to share the love of Jesus as far and wide as my influence in this world reaches. I love Him so much, and His ways are so perfect! This life is only a moment before eternity.  Lord, make this moment count! Lvb