Spring Rain

I’ve always loved the rain.

Truly.

I know that growing up in the Pacific Northwest plays a big part in that. It was always raining there and most locals learn to love it. And love it, I did. I spent nearly 20 years of my life in the beautiful state of Washington and came to love the drizzles, the steady drip-drop that soothed me to sleep, and most of all the torrential downpours.

I think it must be in my children’s blood too, though they have never lived anywhere close to WA. 

Earlier this week, we had a huge rain shower that lasted for almost an hour. Torrential rain. Which is really the only way that it rains here in the Southeast. Hard.

We had just made it home from running errands as the torrents began. (side note: I’m so thankful for our garage!!!) Isaiah took off running into the house and shouted behind him, “Mom, can I get my rain coat and go play outside?” The other boys echoed his words. Joshua declared, “I’d like to wear my red rain coat and carry my orange umbrella from IKEA.” (haha). Noah yelped out, “Raincoat too, please Mommy?”

And then off they went. Or… off we went. You’d think I could refrain from jumping in a few puddles myself, but no. I couldn’t. I had to be out there with them.

Seeing their delight in the rain took me back.

Way back.

And I felt so nostalgic as the pure and refreshing Spring rain poured out upon the earth. Watering the grass, my garden, and our hearts.

I was reminded of a childhood verse that I loved dearly, and that would often come to mind during rain showers as a kid. I remember I found the verse while following my first “read through the Bible” in a year schedule as a young girl.

Hosea 6:3

Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord;
his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth.”

 

Isn’t that a beauty? In the beginning verses of the chapter, Hosea prophesies of Christ’s return, and urges us to flee to Christ, and then finishes with verse three—calling us to know Him, to press on, because the Lord will come as surely as the spring rain. He will pour out Himself upon us so that we are covered in entirety.

Just like this beautiful refreshing spring rain that watered us today.

 

 

 

* thanks for the “rain coats,” Mom! We didn’t know several years back when you bought them that having all three, in different colors, would come in handy! But boy oh boy, my boys were glad to each have a firefighter rain coat of there own today. Score!!

A trip to the Beach

To celebrate Memorial Day this year, we headed out to the beach.Okay, so really we weren’t being all that patriotic, we just took advantage of the day off work. Haha. I’ve been wanting to go to the beach, as have the boys, so this was the perfect opportunity.

The boys got ready in their swim suits and then while I decided if I could still pull off a swimsuit in pregnant style (which, apparently, I can! Phew!) and packed the rest of the gear, I asked the boys to run out to the backyard to gather a few beach toys.

I packed the cooler with drinks and snacks, and collected beach towels etc, and then went out to supervise the boys. Of course, I was expecting they’d gathered shovels and buckets for the beach, but what was I thinking??? When I went outside, I discovered a great collection three yellow dump trucks, an excavator, and a bulldozer or two all neatly arranged by the minivan for transport to the beach.

Perhaps needless to say, I laughed out loud.

And Nick laughed out loud too when he got home from his breakfast meeting. There is just something amusing and endearing in the earnest looks from our boys and the assortment of wheels and diggers. Boys will be boys. And their parents? Well, we love for our boys to be boys too. Oh boy, do we love their boyishness. So without hesitation, we loaded up an entire giant bucket full of their vehicles, however awkward and bulky it would be to carry, and transported them to the beach as requested.

It was SO worth it.

The boys were the talk of the town. Or the talk of the beach. Though it was my youngest who spent the most time playing with the trucks. The older two passed the time splashing in the waves with Dad.

Tropical Storm Burl had made its way up the coast and had just passed by and left clear beautiful weather, lots of shells and still some residual waves and wind. We had driven through heavy rain and wind en route, and wondered what the weather would look like on the coast, but it was absolutely gorgeous. 85 degrees and sunny. Breezy. Really the perfect day at the beach.

We all played and relaxed contentedly. Nick and I even got a few chapters of beach reading in. When does that ever happen?

New Do and Week 22

The news of the next boy on the way, and the reminder that it is going to be another hot Southern summer, prompted me to get my long hair chopped off and restyled to make me feel super feminine and super cool (as in, not hot).

I like it a lot. I was finding that with my long hair, I was always tying it back in a pony tail or messy bun, and only on rare occasions was I taking the time to blow dry and straighten or to mousse, scrunch and bobby pin.

This shorter style will be so much easier to manage and gives me a fresh new look too, don’t you think?.

As I said, I like it a lot.

And I like 22 weeks a lot too. Feeling great and energetic. Feeling slim, even though I’ve put on 10lbs. Feeling happy and delighted over the frequent kicks and somersaults of my little guy. Feeling overjoyed at God’s blessings and the gift of pregnancy. Feeling content and thankful with my brood of boys.

Oh boy, a new do and week 22… it’s a great place to be.

Mud City

Remember last years blog post about preparing my garden with the help of my little boys? And the hose that got turned on, and the garden bed that turned into the worlds best construction site? And the mother (named me) who let her boys dig and plunge in the beautiful muddy wonderland they’d created?

Well, this years garden started out much the same way. In fact, aside from the age lapse in my boys, and that Noah is out there helping (instead of napping like last year), you’d have a déjà vu kind of feeling.

Take a look:

Oh what fun we had preparing the garden bed once again this year! After we turned over the soil and mixed in my organic (homemade) compost, the boys and I headed to the garden store, and bought organic seeds together. We had a great time choosing what to plant. I let the boys each choose one package of seeds of their choice.

Isaiah picked pumpkins. This was the only seed pack that we got a non-organic hybrid seed—because Isaiah read on the package that they can grow up to 300lbs in size, and… well, what five year old (or what homeschooling mother of three!!) can resist something that incredible? I expect we’ll be out there measuring every day).

Joshua picked “waterlemons.” This is what he still calls watermelons, so cute, its become a family joke and even though he knows the right name, we all laugh and smile a little and call them waterlemons too.

And Noah chose bush green beans. Probably not so much because he likes green beans, though he does, but more because that was the package his oldest brother recommended. Haha, such is the life of the youngest one!

Because I’m the mom, I chose the most seeds and picked out bush peas, zucchini, cucumbers, carrots, spinach, asparagus, and tomatoes. For herbs, I chose basil, parsley, chives and dill. The cilantro, rosemary and oregano from last year are still growing strong, so no need to plant them.

We got home mixed in some extra manure and peat moss, with the help of some great gardening tools (i.e. dump trucks and front end loaders) and we got our seeds planted in beautiful rows.

And a little water, a little sun, and waaaa lahhhh!!

Actually this picture is from a month ago (yes, I’m that behind on life again!!) and my plants are twice as many and twice as big now. The South is such a perfect place to garden, its amazing how life thrives in this climate. This years garden is just as big and luscious as last years.

Won’t it be fun to show the pictures of next years garden? Not just the mud and dump trucks and the thriving garden, but with FOUR (!!!!!!!!!!!) little boys digging and preparing the soil for me?

Yes! I’m a proud mama to be of four little boys. We had an ultrasound this past week and there was NO doubt about this little ones gender. Haha! We are SO excited, words can’t express. I have found myself feeling very overwhelmed this week… not in a bad or oppressive way, but in an awed and inspired kind of way… to think that God should shine this blessing upon our family and give us the privilege of raising another son in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Wow.

Four boys with an exclamation point is right. An amazing incredible gift that we can’t stop smiling about.

It’ll be so hard to wait.

Oooooooh la la

My hubby’s birthday is tomorrow, so I decided to get off my lazy hindquarters and actually start whipping up masterpieces again. Oh my its been too long since I felt like eating/cooking.

Carrot cake is Nick’s favorite, so I made these from lovely little carrot cake cupcakes (with carrot, smashed pineapple, walnuts and no raisins). And then topped them with the most delicious possible cream cheese frosting you can imagine.

It’s a whipped cream cream cheese frosting. Light, sweet, melt in your mouth deliciousness. Its got that beautiful rich cream cheese ring to it, but none of the heaviness. Its literally as light as whipped cream, only it holds its shape and could be used by the expert piper (obviously, not me, haha)

I’ve never tasted anything so good. And I’m hoping my hubby hasn’t either.