New Beginnings

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven 

 Ecclesiastes 3:1

Fall in Southern Indiana, 2009

For the longest time Winter was my favorite season. I was born in the winter and grew up where we periodically had snow. I lived most of my adult life in Florida and I think I romanticized Winter, I longed for the coolness and the white blanket of snow that covered a multitude of imperfections. Since I have lived in Indiana for the past few years I have learned to love all seasons again and I especially love the change that takes place in the world around us.

This time of physical change in God's amazing creation always brings about a time of self-reflection for me. My life has been full of change, some of it good and some not so good. With each change in my life I have been given to opportunity to use that change to launch a new beginning. I have begun to see that each change, whether it's a door opening or a door closing, is an opportunity from God to draw closer to His plan for my life. I am learning to seek His guidance in everything.

So, in this transition to autumn I have been reflecting on so much in my life, and looking forward to the New Beginnings there are to come.


Jason and I both have wonderful jobs...we are by no means rich, and honestly we struggle each month to pay the bills and have extras, but we are comfortable...we have a roof over our heads, we have food in the pantry and clothes on our backs. But we had both been feeling lately that we are not fulfilling our purpose and we are due for a change. And so we have made some changes that we feel are following God's will for our lives and our family. We took a leap of faith and I left my position at the hospital and began babysitting a few children at home. I also became a Jamberry Nails consultant...I love this product and this business! I am absolutely loving being home with our babies during the day! Jason started a new position at our church, working directly under the head maintenance and grounds guy. This has been a huge positive for our family and we are very excited to see what all is in store for us.

Bible Study Time

Right now I am desperately trying to get our house in order. Since we moved in just over a year ago, we haven't truly gotten it decluttered and organized the way we like. I'm attempting to break the daunting task down into baby steps. I've tried various programs, email reminders, charts, etc... But I've come to realize I have to do it in a way that makes sense to me. So, here's the beginning of my plan (trying not to over think it): (1) Conquer Laundry Mountain and develop a routine that keeps it under control. (2) Keep kitchen in check by at least getting dishes done every day. (3) Make sure toys in living room get picked up at nap time and bedtime. It takes 21 days to create a habit (I think it's 21...), so by next month I'll be ready for the next part of my plan. I think at that point I will be ready to go through the book 31 Days to a Clutter Free Life by Ruth Soukup. In the meantime, I'm going to get back to reading her book Living Well Spending Less and get back on track with my inductive Bible study of Romans.

 Our babies have grown and changed so much...all five of them! Elisabeth is a senior in high school and anticipating college. She's starting her first job and will eventually get her driver's license. Joseph is an 8th grader and is excelling in school. Margaret is in 3rd grade and is busy with friends. Joseph ad Margaret are with their dad during the school year and so we keep up with all the going-ons through phone and Facebook. Abby Sue is 2 now, she is so, so smart and has developed an awesome personality. Logan just turned 1 and is an awesome little man. They both adore their siblings and bring such joy to our lives. All of our children do!

Kids, July 2015

Perhaps the most  telling change is the growth in faith that I have experienced. I will write more in depth on this in upcoming posts.


I have a plan to resurrect this blog. I hope to be able to focus on a few topics and write daily in a more focused way. I gain such joy from the written word, whether my own or in reading what someone else has written. My prayer is that my words may be a blessing to those who read them.

37 weeks and still pregnant

So here I am exactly 37 weeks pregnant. I never though I would make it this far this time. We've been counting on an early arrival of our little Abigail from the very beginning. After all her siblings all decided to come into this world earlier than planned: Elisabeth at 37 weeks, Joseph at 36 weeks, 6 days and Margaret surprised everyone and showed up at 32 weeks without warning. So, I figured that my body was just going to keep spitting out babies early, especially now that I'm in my mid-thirties.

I've been saying from the start of this pregnancy that she will be a Father's Day baby, that's in 2 days....we'll see. I have a repeat c-section scheduled for July 1st (that's the earliest it can be scheduled at our hospital), my doctor is convinced I won't make it that far....we shall see. At my appointment yesterday I was effaced about 90%, dilated about 1, she is still at a -2 station (although she has felt lower) and my cervix is still posterior.....but my doc still thinks she come sooner rather than later.

It's amazing what life changes can do for your health. This pregnancy has been amazing, other than being older and having more aches and pains because of that. I have the most amazing and supportive husband, my parents are close by and my kids are super excited about their baby sister.

So now we wait....we keep ourselves busy....and we wait for little Abigail to make her appearance.

A little bit of excitement

This morning (yesterday) I went to the doctor for my routine 34 week check-up. They hooked me up to the fetal monitor for a non-stress test, basically listen to the baby's heartbeat, measure contractions and movement. Well apparently Abby was sleeping because she really hardly moved during that time. So my doctor wanted to do an ultrasound to make sure everything was ok. Since his ultrasound tech was at the hospital for her own pregnancy, he sent me over there. They hooked me up to the monitor and did the ultrasound. Thank goodness everything is just fine. Abby started moving plenty (although her head is already pretty far down, they couldn't get a clear picture of the circumference). So home we went, no additional restrictions.

Then it dawned on me soon she really is going to be here. My due date is in 6 weeks, but I'm pretty sure she'll be here before then. In three weeks would be ideal, hopefully not before that. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon sewing. I made a pocket diaper and a wetbag.

diaper testers

Ok, here's the scoop on diapers...

I will be making the following types of diapers:
Fitteds made of 100% cotton with internal or quick dry soaker (require the use of a cover)
AIO  and AI2 with PUL outer layer and cotton or microfleece/suedecloth inner layer absorbent layers will be cotton or microfiber
Pockets PUL outer layer, microfleece/suedecloth inner layer, microfiber soaker
PUL wrap style covers
Swim diapers PUL with microfleece/suedecloth inner layer
All can be made with snap or aplix closure.

Sizes are as follows (i know these seem like really wide ranges, I will definitely need feed back on the fit of these size ranges)
Preemie/newborn: 5-13 lbs
Newborn: 7-16 lbs
Small: 11-25 lbs
Medium:15-35 lbs
Large: 23-40 lbs
Extra-large: 30-50 lbs

Tester prices will be as follows:
All diapers $10
Fitteds: $8
Covers and swim diapers:$5

Shipping is $6 priority mail

Send me a message if you are interested in testing with your preferred type of diaper and closure, and size. In exchange on an incredible deal on new diapers, I ask that you provide feedback on how the diapers work for you (please be honest and critical), I ask for pictures of the diapers in action (will not be published without your permission, I need to see how they fit on various sized children), I ask for you to post a review in my online store (either etsy or hyenacart) when I get it up and running and finally I ask for you to spread the word to everyone you know.

Once I receive your requests, I will send an invoice and after payment is received you can expect shipment in 2 weeks to 1 month's time (probably closer to 1 month). All tester diapers are made to order.

ETA:If you would like to order tester diapers......and I still need some more testers.....please send me some additional measurements along with your requested size. This will allow me to match the best fit to your child. See the following article for more information: http://www.diaperjunction.com/determining-cloth-diaper-size.html

Newborn diapers

Just for fun here is a pic of our complete newborn stash of cloth diapers. All washed and waiting for little Abigail to arrive :)

a crafting venture

I've been contemplating  starting a side business selling hand made cloth diapers, PUL covers and wool soakers. What are your thoughts? Here are some pics of my handiwork that I've made so far for our little Abigail.

Those 2 are my first attempts.

I'll need some testers before I really get started.

And 2 years later...life is good

Quick recap:
Jason and I got married October 13, 2012. We are expecting our honeymoon baby July 5th (really just hoping that she hangs on for 4 more weeks).

The kids are super excited about welcoming their baby sister this summer. They are still in Florida with their dad during the school year.

I'm working as a tech at our hospital on the cardiovascular unit. Jason is working maintenence at our apartment complex. I'm looking forward to going back to school for nursing soon.

So 2 years in a nutshell...more updates coming soon :)