Change of plans...

...be back next week....

Reformation Sunday Baptism

Baby Pear was baptized yesterday, and we had no idea it was Reformation Sunday until the pastor announced it!

At six and a half weeks Baby Pear was baptized. We chose this particular Sunday because it was the one Sunday her grandma would be visiting us from over 2000 miles away. It was a beautiful service, and we were joined by our sweet neighbors and Baby Pear's godmother who is also a dear friend and the mom of Miss Pear's best friend!

Baby was baptized in a traditional christening gown made from Mr. Pear's mom's wedding dress.

While this might seem a bit over the top, christening gowns are tradition in both our families.

Miss Pear was baptized in the christening gown that I was baptized in. It was made by my grandma, and the reason that mine was new was that my mom was not the first born, so the family dress was not handed down to her. As an only child, my dress automatically got handed down to me. After Miss Pear's baptism the gown was preserved and placed in her hope chest.

Baby Pear could have been baptized in the same dress, or we could have borrowed Mr. Pear's family one (being a younger son, the gown was not handed down to him either). But this seemed kind of disappointing to me. And so we began casting around for ideas until my MIL volunteered to make it. We were thrilled. Baby's dress will be preserved and be the start of her hope chest as well.

So both girls had special dresses.

Baptism is so much more than tradition, it is the dedication of our child to God, the claiming of His promises for her, and the promise to do all possible under the power of the Holy Spirit to raise our her for Him. Our church family makes promises to help us. Our girls will need to one day make a decision for themselves. But on Sunday we gave our youngest to the Lord and she was welcomed into her church family.

So while both girls were baptized at six and a half weeks (I was baptized at 2 weeks, my husband around 8 weeks), and in family gowns, the tradition is nice, but not the most important.

We have prayed that true revival will start in our families with our little nuclear family. That the grandparents and aunts and uncles will move from tradition to real relationships, and that there will be godly generations to follow, with no one left out. So the fact that Sunday was Reformation Sunday seemed very special to us because we have essentially been praying for reformation in our families.

Bit Busy

So my mom arrived, Baby Pear is being baptized on Sunday with two families joining us, one is traveling to be here, and we are hosting lunch afterwards which will be snug but fun.

All children are doing well and Miss Pear is running grandma all over the place.

And grandparents are a lot more permissive than they were as parents.

If I would have asked to hang from the chandelier I would have been lectured about the dangers. Miss Pear is all but given a boost.

So I will be back next week with lots of news and stuff.

See you then.

Fixing Items with Battery Leaks

Sometimes, I regret to say, I just don't think things through...like when we put Miss Pear's baby gear away.

We had been given a bouncy seat, and it was great! So I stored it for the next time around.

Baby Pear arrives, and the nice clean bouncy seat is waiting for her. Except when we turn it on there is no vibration!

Close inspection reveals that the battery has leaked!

Who was it who was so silly as to store something with the battery in it? Oh yeah, it was me.

Fortunately, when these things happen you can fix them!

You simply take a bit of sand paper and sand off the battery corrosion carefully, and do not sand too much.

We did this and our bouncy seat is once again working beautifully!

As far as I know, this should work on any item that has suffered this kind of damage.

Total savings - according to Babies R Us - is probably about $50 because we did not have to buy a new one! (And with Baby Pear, it is indispensable!)

For great money saving tips head over to Crystal's Frugal Friday!

Winter Garden Update

Well, what do you know, it worked!

Forgive me if I sound a bit surprised, but the directions for planting garlic were to go to the grocery store, buy a bulb, break it into cloves, and plant said cloves bottom down, top up. That was all. No information on if I should use all the cloves or just compost the little ones in the middle. No information about how long it would take or what else I could expect.

So I am happy to report that after about 2 weeks almost all my garlic is up, and the cilantro is starting to sprout too.

I think I like this gardening business!

Fortunately these new little crops were protected from last week's strong Santa Ana winds that whipped through the area and blew down our tomatoes and broke our fence gate (which was repaired this weekend).

Nurse Mommy

So now Baby Pear is sick. At 5 weeks old she has her first cold. Is it just me or does that seem cruel? It is bad enough that we had her at the doctor this morning. It is just a bad cold, nothing bacterial in it, praise the Lord! But it is going to be a long couple days because Miss Pear is still sick. And Mr. Pear has had to work late every day since he returned from vacation.

So I will be missing for a couple days while I nurse my family.

See you next week.

Napping

I just had to tell you that both girls are napping - at the same time. I kid you not! Praise the Lord!

Unfortunately Miss Pear appears to be sick with a really bad cold. I say appears because I am not sure if it is that or the really bad Santa Ana conditions hitting Southern California which can cause the same thing in our family.

Fortunately we seem to have figured out Baby Pear's problem sleeping or at least staying asleep. We put two thick books under her mattress side by side so she is at a slight incline to help with the reflux which brings on strong hiccups. Plus we found some bigger receiving blankets so we can swaddle her in a way that she cannot immediately get her hands free as when she does she waves them around and that wakes her up. So far, so good.

Unfortunately in the high winds a car drove off the road on the highway across the ravine from us. Fortunately the fire stations near us have been practicing on our street for ravine rescues all summer. Unfortunately because it happened on the highway it is the CHP's jurisdiction and not their's, but at least they were ready. That is the kind of excitement we can always do without....

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving

Corn Bread

Growing up in Central Canada meant that cornbread was pretty much unknown to us, until we moved down here. Then we saw it everywhere. Some of the first cornbread we had was dry and flavorless, leaving us saying that we were not fans.

But then we had good cornbread, paired with chili, and we changed our minds, we liked it!

The only problem is that we cannot find a recipe for moist, flavorful cornbread. And everyone I ask for a recipe who has one like that says it is a mix!

There must surely be a recipe out there that fits that description that does not involve a mix!

Do you know of one that you could share with me???

Trusting and Focusing on God

Recently I have been praying about finances a lot. Unlike many people, what motivated me was not necessarily the last year in the stock market, but rather that we were expecting Baby Pear. Being pregnant has always made me feel vulnerable, and always brings one of my very biggest fears to the top: the fear that I will have to return to work and trust our children to day care and public schools. This is an unreasonable fear as the Lord has impressed upon us very firmly that He does want me home raising our children. But part of me is still afraid. Kind of a case of I believe but help my unbelief.

In light of some of the headlines I wanted to share some verses with you that have been helpful to me, that have encouraged me.

Psalm 50:10-12, 15
For every beast of the forest is mine.
And the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the mountains,
And the wild beasts of the field are Mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
For the world is Mind, and all its fullness...
Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.

Philippians 3:8-10
Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death.

And then two verses that are essentially life time verses for our marriage.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil to give you a future and a hope.

Isaiah 59:11
The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.


What the Lord has been teaching me is to trust Him, to look to Him and not stare at my problems. But rather to lift my problems up to Him and really trust Him. He is trustworthy and loves me. I am to let Him be the one in the driver's seat. This is another exercise in working on my type A personality and remembering that I am not in control He is, and that even though He has made me a very capable woman who can take charge and get things done, that only works when I am trusting on and leaning on Him.

So whenever I start to dwell on what we can and cannot do, on what the issues are, I need to shift my focus, and remember that the Lord knew full well what He was doing when He moved us here and put us in this precise home. (Believe me, God picked our house). It is His job to work, and my job to trust and obey. (One of my favorite hymns)

What verses of the Lord's provision are helpful to you?

Still not getting things done

So the list of things not getting done remains long, but mostly inconsequential.

I know that I have still not found a picture of Baby Pear that I am comfortable posting, so I may just pass on that. I still have not returned to the Hope Chest series. I still have not posted about the diaper fiasco this weekend (you will laugh), and a ton of other stuff.

In real life my MIL is taking care of the house, and we got to Costco last night to do the shopping. I have to finish the birth announcements, make 2 batches of granola bars, and a batch of granola, work on Baby Pear's afghan, and work on her baby book.

But really, this is all taking back stage to getting Baby Pear to nap. We seem to suddenly have had trouble Monday and Tuesday, and are not sure why.

So I will just continue to do what I have been doing - taking care of THE most important things - my family, and working the rest in later! So if I continue to be somewhat absent, bear with me. And if I continue to not respond to lots of comments (I use email) be assured that I have been blessed by all the comments, and have read them!

Life will settle down eventually again in a new way, but my girls will only be this age once, and I don't want to miss it.

Plus we have help until Saturday, and I don't want to miss any sleep chances either! :-)

Unusual Provision

Like may Christians I am well aware that the Lord is my Provider, but often in the course of everyday life I forget. The attribute of Provider is not one you can just search for the word in a concordance, rather you need book like Nave's Topical Bible to look it up, to see instances of God's miraculous provision.

A great chapter for this is 1 Kings 17 where the Lord uses Elijah to proclaim a drought.

In the first part of the chapter we see the Lord miraculously providing for Elijah. He provides daily and sovereignly.

In the next part we see the story of the widow's oil, where her flour and oil lasted miraculously as she shared what she had.

The chapter ends with Elijah reviving her son, this once again providing her with a son.

So often when we (okay, I mean me) think of God's provision we think about the big things, the monumental things, we don't think about the each and every day. We forget about the little things.

Like the shampoo bottle that was almost empty and I had forgotten to buy, I prayed for it to last until I could get a new one. That was in July, I actually made an emergency run to the store. The bottle was immediately put upside down to get everything out, and each time I would wash my hair the amount I would need would come out followed by air, I was sure it was empty, but each shower this repeated, for over two months. I finally threw out the bottle last night.

Like the lunch meat I got on sale for about $0.50 a package that has been lunches when I had no energy and when I needed to stretch our budget.

Like a grandma ordering a much needed dress for a Christmas present.

Like the gift card that just perfectly covered the cost of a new diaper pail when our old one quite working.

Like the provision of meals through friends when we were just too tired.

Like the great diaper sales when I needed to think about stocking up for Baby Pear's arrival but had to make it fit in the budget I had. We ended up with more than enough plus tons of wipes!

I am finding that the Lord's provision is still miraculous, but if we just watch for the big things that He does (and He definitely still does big things), we miss the small everyday things that teach us to trust and strengthen our faith.

Free Shipping at Land's End

Thank you for everyone who gave me such great ideas on Modest Girls Dresses. I am checking them all out.

Miss Pear's grandma just ordered one from Land's End for a Christmas gift, with free shipping.

If you are needing something from Land's End they have free shipping this week with:

Promotion Code: Frost
PIN: 00006126

Winter Garden

A couple years ago I was blessed to receive a gardening book specific to Southern California and arranged in monthly chapters so that you know what to do each month without flipping all over the place and making your own list - it even has a check list at the back! I love it! Although at our old home we had very little and I had basically memorized what to do when. So the book got forgotten, unfortunately.

However, this weekend it was pulled back out as I started asking if I could plant a winter garden in this region. Not that I have the time or energy to do so, I was more curious.

It turns out that we can plant a whole host of things including: broccoli, cabbage, cilantro, garlic, carrots, potatoes, and that our tomatoes will go for a while longer!

I was thrilled - so I planted garlic and cilantro and called it done for this year!

I will let you know how it goes!

Can you plant a winter garden where you are? Where are you and what do you plant?

Just Wondering...

Sometimes I just wonder about stuff, and with my business back ground the news lately has me wondering a lot of stuff.

Chiefly, I am wondering if I am the only one who read the summary about the CEO pay of companies that have gone under in this fiasco and was rather shocked, after all, regular workers would have been fired without benefits for far smaller infractions than this.

Is it just me or does this sound like being rewarded for financially murdering your own company?

(And that is likely the last you will hear from me on the topic, after all, that is not the focus around here, but like I said, I was just wondering...)