I'm starting this post before I chicken out

Being a mom is soo busy. I sometimes get time to breathe, but Naisa takes 110% of my time, and then  I'm also doing dishes and coming up with and making meals, so it's been nearly impossible to keep the house clean and keep up with exercising and eating right.

I have started exercising again, but it's been on again off again for a month and I'm hoping to stay on again because some baby weight needs to get rolling. I would love to join Weight Watchers to lose weight again, but because of where we are financially, it's not a possibility.

Naisa is a "good" baby. She doesn't have colic, she takes a couple naps a day, goes to bed without too much of a fuss, and sleeps almost all the way through the night (last night she slept through, but we've had a couple of those followed by regular once a night.

The hardest part for me has been the adjustment to pumping. I wanted to breastfeed and we were going to do it for a long time. But Naisa had other plans and wasn't taking in milk efficiently or effectively and so I've been attached to a pump three hours a day since she was two weeks old. And we're planning on giving her breast milk as long as I produce it (when you get pregnant again it dwindles and stops). But pumping takes double the time nursing a baby would take. Because I have to pump and then feed and pump and while I'm pumping I change her diaper and entertain her and eat lunch and use the bathroom, and read books and surf the Internet. I call it my oxygen tank because I have to carry it with me if I try to go somewhere while I'm pumping, and because I'm hooked up to the pump with little tubing like on an oxygen tank.

It gets old. And I have the patience for it, but to add to my breastfeeding woes, I had thrush on my nipples. This made pumping very painful and irritating, but I persevered, and through a series of medical and natural remedies (including vinegar rinses, coconut oil and excessive consumption of garlic) I have overcome it and my breast feel much more "normal".

We've had to supplement with formula to keep Naisa satisfied. At first I was a hater, but it's keeping me sane now because Naisa gets her needs met, and trying to increase my milk supply was not working, no matter what I tried (and I tried nearly everything.)

Oh I hate thank you cards. People kept sending cards with gifts and congratulations and I am thankful, very much so, but writing them takes forever. I would much rather thank people in person rather than mail them a card (a very indirect way to thank them). I made duplicates of the same thank yous for several people because I wrote the thank yous on two different occasions. So now I have to deecide what to do with the extra ones.

We're packing up our apartment this week. It's very challenging to pack up because we try to wait until Naisa is asleep for the night and then we can only pack up in the living room (which needs plenty of packing, for sure). But then we're tired, and I'm tired, and I have no motivation. It's super hard to pack up with a baby telling you to look at her and give her attention. I have an ergobaby carrier, but we have to bend over to pack many of the things in the living room and bedroom, so having a front heavy carrier on makes it challenging to do that.

We're having some friends come and help because I need the extra hands.

Christmas was great. We went to PA for a short while and spent it with Ben's family. It's always fun to go to Ben's house because there's lots and lots of food (which was also my demise) and get a break--Oma and Poppy want to spend time with her. It's also nice to connect with the Delps in Ben's extended family and also the Meyer's--Ben's step mom's extended family.

We drove home in a snowstorm and the drive took 8 hours instead of 4.5. It's easy to say that but it was a long frustrating drive home. Naisa was cranky when she wasn't sleepy and when we were not moving in bumper to bumper traffic (and both Ben and I had to pee) I took her out of her carseat to soothe her and she spit up big time on me, and pooped in her diaper. So I changed her diaper in the backseat of the car,, on my lap. That car is going to be too small very quickly.

We got to spend four days with my sister and parents, who came down to Virginia the day before us (also an 8 hour drive, but it's supposed to be) and we mad ea music video to a Kpop song, went running, ate Ethiopian food twice (YES) and they got to hang out and play with Naisa, who was adorable as usual. I love seeing my family. It was very special to see Mari's reaction to Naisa--it was her first time meeting her and it was truly delightful to see her interact with her.

So now we are looking for a job since Ben graduated from EMU and it's looking like we'll either stay in Harrisonburg or go somewhere random. It just depends on the job and the amount of work that will be involved. Ben is looking for something in Sales, and there are a few bites, but we haven't accepted an offer (there haven't been any official offers).

So that's life in a nutshell. 

Getting used to being a mommy

So Naisa is now two weeks and three days old.

The first two weeks were pretty difficult for us, losing sleep and breastfeeding woes, but we have begun to straighten things out. Naisa had to start supplementing with formula because she wasn't getting enough breastmilk from me, and was subsequently under birth weight at her two week appointment.

But once we started formula, it explained all the intense crying and the hungry after nursing for an hour. Now we have a calm baby who only cries when we don't give her food soon enough.

And my nipples are surviving. They were dreadfully sore from the first two weeks--and looked so bad that I'm just pumping right now to get them healed up so we can try breastfeeding again later. We're getting connected with WIC again because they have free lactation consultants (and free hospital-grade breast pumps), and we're also getting connected with Le Leche League. I would love to be able to breast feed Naisa, but that would have to involve her getting a good latch, which is the main reason for my atrocious nipples.

Ben is getting better at changing diapers. I'm enjoying carting Naisa around in my baby carrier and today we went for a walk. I'm also enjoying having Naisa sleep on my belly. She likes it because it's warm and it's Mommy. . . But I'm having trouble being patient with pumping. I have to do it often, because if I don't, my breasts leak like crazy, and my ducts get clogged. I'm also having trouble being patient with how much milk I'm getting out. I feel like I'm not getting enough and it won't be enough when Naisa does start breastfeeding again. If that happens. I hope it does, but at this point I'm trying not to think about the pain, and I'm hoping for a good latch. Naisa saw a baby chiropractor and he said she had some tension in her neck and jaw, but also that she had a lip tie and a sublingual tongue tie that may be an issue for breastfeeding. And if this is the case, it may be much more difficult to get back into it (especially because the solutions for the tongue and lip ties are a good bit more expensive than just removing tension).

So Ben and I are feeling a bit of the stress that comes with being new parents. And in addition to that, we are feeling the stress of finding a job after Ben graduates, and the stress of having homework when there are so many other tasks that need to happen and I can't do all of them, and it's hard to do some of them when I'm feeding Naisa and pumping so often. And finding time to just hang out.

We're doing okay. But we're also looking forward to when Naisa gets into a schedule with feedings and naptimes. And when she starts to smile and giggle. And walk. . . 

Naisa's Pre Birth and Birth Story!

I'm excited to announce that Ben and I's child has arrived!! Her name is Naisa (Nay-suh) Fern Delp. Naisa is derived from the Hebrew word "Nasa" (don't know the actual Hebrew lettering) and it means "The Lord forgives".  Ben was doing some intense Bible study a couple of weeks before our due date and found this word, told me about it, and we fell in love with the name. Then after that, I wanted to have a little girl, because I wanted to use that name. God knew that all along, from back in December when we conceived. :)


So Wednesday the 26th, we had our 41 week appointment with our midwife. I had hoped and hoped we wouldn't make it to this appointment, and we had a couple days where I thought that labor might be starting, but the contractions weren't intensifying, and stopped after a couple hours. And so the week of our due date, I walked everyday for almost an hour every day, to encourage labor to start.
But still no baby. So I kept walking--doing the same thing at the 41 week mark. But we still made it to that appointment.

I was emotionally ready to have that baby! I was sick of questions and ready to have answers! I was swollen (retaining water), my blood pressure was up a bit, but the baby was moving an measuring well, so I was happy. But because we were 41 weeks and a couple days, it was routine to have a biophysical profile done. It's an extensive ultrasound done for various reasons to make sure your baby is alright.  So we had one scheduled for that Friday.

Misty, our midwife, gave us some recommendations for natural induction of labor--homeopathics were recommended. So we went to Kate's Natural Products and found the little vials. One was homeopathic blue cohosh, and one black cohosh. The little vials are the size of chapsticks and contain little sugar pills that supposedly contain those two herbs. But you can't taste it. At all. So my prescription was to take two sugar pills of one at hour intervals. One at the :00, and the other at :30. So the next morning I started taking these sugar pills. And then went about my daily tasks. . . getting groceries, taking out the trash, washing dishes, figuring out Medicaid stuff for baby, made granola,  hanging out with friends (I walked with Bridgett that day, to Food Lion), and I stopped taking them when we went to bed that night. I didn't feel any different. During the day, I'd had a few contractions, but nothing exciting, and during my walk, I just had the tightening that I normally had from walks.

We went to bed around 10 pm, thoroughly convinced that I spent a day taking sugar pills for nothing, and preparing to go to Charlottesville for the biophysical profile in the morning.
Then at 2:30 am, I woke up because I was feeling pressure like I had to poop. So I went and tried to do that for a little bit, but didn't have any luck, and I moved onto the couch because that's how I normally would finish the night. But I couldn't fall asleep--every so often I would feel that same pressure, now feeling more like period cramps (but more intense) with added pressure, and I knew that this was the beginning of labor--real labor. I decided to wait a little bit to wake up Ben, didn't want him to be too tired, if this, in fact, was not real labor again. But at 3am I woke him up, telling him that I felt like it was starting.

So he got up with me and encouraged me along in the labor, which contractions were getting more intense and closer together. We called our midwife, and she said we'd probably have this baby Friday night or Saturday morning, and I was discouraged about that, because I felt like I was in a great deal of pain already, and how could I continue to labor like this for 22 more hours?? But she said to call again at 7am, so we labored until then. During that time, we ate, drank lots of water, and I deep-breathed through the first contractions and then moaned and groaned through the more challenging ones. They were getting more intense, and so when we called Misty again at 7, she said come in at 9.

So we waited, and counted, and I puked up some of my water and food. It was agony. I started peeking at the time to see how much longer until we would leave, and found myself having more contractions in ten minutes than I had been having before. Time s-l-o-w-e-d and it was killing me. But we made it to 9am, and got in the car and drove to the birthing center. The drive also felt like it took forever, because my contractions were so intense.

When we got there, Misty was just arriving as well, and she had me \ sit down in her office/ the exam room. She took my blood pressure (had to wait for a contraction to pass), my temperature, and maybe my pulse. The student nurse, Meredith, arrived and they started setting up the birthing room, and filling up the tub. my contractions felt the worst and most intense while I was sitting down--especially when I tried to pee in a cup--there was so much pressure going on.

Once the got the bed set up, I reclined on it and Misty checked my dilation, and was surprised to say that I was 8 or 9 cm dilated. She could feel the bag of waters bulging and with that, I got into the tub--the water covered my belly up to my chest, took away so much pressure, and made contractions more bearable. Not that bearable was that comfortable, we were going through transition shortly after I got in the tub. Misty was explaining to Ben what would happen when my body started to get into pushing stage right about when we got in the tub and it seemed just a few contractions after that, I started pushing, I can't really describe this feeling so well--mostly that there was so much pressure on everything down there and I wanted to move that pressure off! so I pushed!

I would take a break between each contraction, and Misty or Meredith would check the baby's heart rate on the sonogram. Her heart rate was fine, there wasn't any complications, and labor was really progressing quickly. at one point, Meredith asked me if I would like something to drink, and I said something along the lines of, "I'll have water when this baby is out."

I must gave been pushing for twenty minutes (I really have no idea about time), and I asked how we were doing, and they said things were moving right along--couldn't see the head yet, but it was in its way. At this point, I was pushing while leaning forward on the edge on the tub, and Ben was sitting in the edge behind me. I was 'vocalizing' a lot (low-pitched screams/groans, anyone?) and continued to do so until Misty suggested it would be more productive if I left more air in my lungs to push the diaphragm on the uterus. And then they suggested to try a different position, so I leaned back on Ben's legs and wrapped my arms around his knees and held his hands, and then let my belly, hips, and legs be supported by the water. We found that this was a much more productive position to push in, and soon they could see the head, and were commenting on how much hair there was. :)

At one point I reached down to feel and I felt the hair, and the head coming out in a point. Did you know that's how the head first presents itself? But by the time the baby is all the way out, those bones reshape again. Crazy. Totally God-created. Well I kept pushing and soon the head was crowning. I was super shaky from all the effort I was putting into each push, but it was worth every push. My motivation was meeting this baby, and I was prepared to push through the pain to do that. One of the things that I learned during my research is that the point where the woman thinks, "this is too much, I can't do this anymore" is the point where you have to push harder. So the entire labor, I had this in the back of my mind, and was doing my best to bear the pain and push through it as needed. During pushing, I must have reached that point. Not the "I can't do this anymore" feeling, but the "I need to push through this pain" feeling. There was so much pressure, though, that I was prepared to push her out no matter how much pain I felt. I was ready to meet her.


I remember feeling the "ring of fire" (down down down in the burning ring of fire) and saying so ("Oh, There's the ring of fire.") and soon Naisa's head was out. I asked if the cord was around her neck, but there wasn't enough give to take it off then, so she waited until I had pushed her out completely. I pushed maybe a couple more times, and I felt her body slip out. That was pretty bizarre feeling, and I felt a great release of pressure.

Then Misty handed her to me. My first words afterward were, "We have a child!", in disbelief that this little person had been growing inside of me for nine months and a week or two, and was ours, seemed huge (and long) in comparison to my belly, and (at that point) was still attached to me. I took her in my arms and put her against my chest and then remembered we had one more surprise--so I lifted her out of the water and saw that she was a girl! :) Ben and I were so excited, and we started calling her Naisa right away. We tried breastfeeding right away but she had trouble latching on to my flat nipples. I was going to birth the placenta in the tub, but wasn't really feeling any contractions, so we got out of the tub--we had to do a good bit of maneuvering to get out--Naisa still attached to me, and I was still bleeding a little. Once we got out of the tub and back on the bed (which was already lined with several absorbent pads for me to sit on), we decided to cut the cord. Ben got to do it, while Misty instructed him.  Misty did a little kneading on my uterus (if you are prepared for it, its not that uncomfortable), and I birthed the placenta (Misty said it was rather large. They didn't weigh it, but she thought it was at least three pounds.), and she also removed the rest of the membranes and I had to cough to assist with that. it's much harder to cough than you might think after giving birth-- you contract your pelvic floor when you cough, and mine was all worn out. I was still pretty shaky at this point, and my lovely husband was bringing me lots of water and snacks.

Misty then checked to see if I tore. She said I did, but only a little and it didn't need stitches. :) Yay me. Misty did the newborn exam around 1pm, and Naisa was 9lbs 3oz! Bigger than I expected to push out, but I was very proud of myself. :) Her head measured 12 and 3/4 inches, her chest 14 1/4 inches. :)

Misty had to take some of the blood from the cord/placenta to get it tested for the blood type because I'm Rh negative. We didn't know what Ben's blood type was because he doesn't like needles. So we were prepared (with a prescription) to get the Rhogam shot after birth, but not excited about it at all.ut when the midwives tested the blood, they saw it was negative and when they sent it to the hospital, it came back O negative. so I didn't have to get a shot in my butt (and that saved me a long wait at the hospital to get it done, as well.)

My labor and birth experience was great for many reasons. I really didn't feel the need to time my contractions consistently because I knew that this labor was real--it felt different (more painful) than the other times. It was intense enough that I knew it was the real thing. I didn't worry about being dilated in the weeks before she was born, where some practitioners might routinely check their patients for dilation in the weeks before birth, Misty didn't. Being dilated, but not in active labor at 40 weeks (or 41!) doesn't really do anything but add to the anticipation. Misty hypothesized that I probably dilated a centimeter each of those times I thought I was in labor--practice/preparation labor. But we didn't know, and just because I might have been dilated didn't mean labor would start soon or not. That's the mystery of labor. It starts when my body signals it to, not because I ate spicy food, or walked a lot, though those things helped prepare my body for labor (ok, probably not the spicy food).

And once we got in the tub, after I was checked once, I didn't need to be checked for certainty that I was 10 cm dilated before I could start pushing--I started feeling the urge and could go with it. Then after it was over, there wasn't a rush to get out of the tub, time got to melt away while we spent our first hours together. Naisa's cord was cut after it stopped pulsing (probably a half and hour to forty five minutes later) and I delivered the placenta with her in my arms. Then she had her newborn exam two hours later. We only had to stay until I peed once and we got instructions for leaving. So we were on our way home with Naisa around 3pm that same day.

41 weeks. . . perhaps this week?

Our sweet baby has not made its entrance yet. . .

Hopefully this week will be the chosen one, otherwise we get to start doing fun things like castor oil (google it if you don't know), and continue hearing the "I" word from well-meaning acquaintances who don't know our desire for a natural out of hospital birth--induction.

I have my reasons for not wanting to be induced--my body was made to deliver this baby, this labor will start when it needs to! There is a much higher chance of fetal distress when the mom is induced because those contractions are stronger than the ones that the mom's body would produce. I don't want drugs, I don't want strange things. I just want to welcome our alert, fat baby into the world!!! And let other people hold it for a little while.

And have bladder space, and flexibility, and not-swollen hands/feet, running, seeing my feet, and lose water weight/weight in general, and have a baby in my arms, still being nurtured by me (but no longer needing to pass through my pelvis), and getting to use the cute diapers we bought for it!

When the time comes that some of your maternity clothes no longer fit, it is a sign that the baby should come soon. This happened yesterday while I was getting ready for church. Granted, these maternity clothes were not the stretchy ones (those could fit me if I was doubly pregnant!).

And now for a round of "Where's Grace's Belly? There it is!"

On the left, you will see me sucking in my belly. This is how I plan to go to the grocery store today and avoid the leering eyes and questions (not that it will be successful. This belly helps me win races, its so big). Middle is a normal shot. How I look normally, today. And on the right, you'll see a very nice extension of regular--the I'm carrying twins who weigh 8 pounds each belly (lol).

Yes, I somehow have retained my abdominal muscles. 

But really, I know my belly isn't that big. My favorite is the one on the far right because I look ridiculous.  (and they are all ridiculous because they are taken with a cell phone in a mirror. But at least it's for educational purposes. . . ;) )

Love you all! Pray for me and this baby that I'll have patience, emotional endurance, and that the baby will come out at its healthiest point!

Crickets

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with the cricket. It only has to do with the baby still residing in Hotel Mom. Don't worry, delpling, Mommy is patient. But come out soon! We want to meet you! (this pic was 40 weeks and five days.)

Maybe a week ago, I was determined to kill the cricket that had been singing in our kitchen. It was loud at 2-9am, churping to it's delight and destroying my patience and several hours of sleep (when I move to the couch because it becomes more comfortable than the bed in the early morning hours.)

So I moved the island out of the kitchen (and it lost TWO wheels in the process!, which I had to have Ben help me put back on because I couldn't do it by myself (pregnant women can only kill crickets)).
And used a knife to get in the crack between this bizarre platform that resides over the sump pump in our kitchen (yes, our former utility closet kitchen) and the wall. Then this large sized cricket(larger than the ones we'd been catching around the house because it had been feeding delightfully on dirt and crumbs of cellulose with no predator (that it knew of muhahaha)), hopped out of the crack and I made a loud grunting noise of SUCCESS! as I slammed my hand upon it.
Dead cricket #1.

I was so ecstatic, I partied for about fifteen minutes until I heard MORE churping! There was another (arrgh!) cricket still in the kitchen. It was with that I had a bad morning (not enough sleep, my efforts seemed in vain) and (I think) said "screw it!" to the whole process.

Fast forward to today.
I slept out on the couch again for the last four hours of my night, and wasn't awoken until 7:15 by said churping cricket. I had been stalking this nemesis for the past few days, but had not succeeded in seeing it. Then geared up with my headlamp and a flyswatter, I lifted the awkward platform and propped it up with a muffin tin, and continued my searching. I discovered it was residing under the removable flooring (again, to cover the sump pump in the kitchen). So I had to move the island again (which lost another wheel. jerk head), and moved the floor. And I saw it!

Dead cricket. Sorry for those who might find it a little gruesome.

From there, I made it hop out with a few nudges of the fly swatter and then WHAM!!!! WHAM. Got it (actually got it the first time. second time was for emphasis).

"Hallelujah"

We now have a beautifully serene kitchen to be in, with the gentle sounds of the outdoors, outdoors.


:)

how Grace, Ben, and belly are doing

This picture, taken by Issac (Han Park), one of Ben's friends, shows me and Ben (and other Ben) at church today. In case you were wondering, I did not, in fact, seemingly eat the entire chocolate cake that happens to be sitting in front of me. I just cleaned off the icing. And I'm holding my hands like that because they were sticky. :)

We're ready to go! Ready for meeting our baby! Ready for the labor to start (and then will be ready for it to end!) and just want to have an idea of when rather than a "maybe" or "perhaps".

And I'm ready to lose some weight! This morning I washed dishes, swept the kitchen, organized the bag pile, killed a cricket, and almost fell off my rocker trying to get the other one (which still prevails in the kitchen). Does that count as an energy burst of "nesting" before the baby comes? And I made a list of things that we still need to do before the baby comes. Lol. Ready to go!

I feel like a chunk with a big uterus knot (when i get a braxton-hicks contraction) and I'm ready for the big uterus knot to be emptied so my arms can be filled!

39 weeks and crickets

It was a beautiful day outside so we decided to take our weekly shot from the outside!


 Here I am at 39 weeks and 2 days. Ben and I either expect this baby to arrive in the next few days or in a week or two. . . I'm hoping for the former. It's really hard to schedule things when I could go into labor at any time.

 This is Benjamen watering his bean plant! He loves it! It's grown from the organic dried kidney beans we got at Martin's in the bulk aisle. He's excitedly looking forward to eating the dried beans cooked in some delicious meal his wife makes. :)

 Here's a nice shot of the watering business. :) And his awesome outfit for the day. Flannel, golf pants (look like dress pants), black socks, and flipflops. :)

And this is just a drastic shot of baby belly, whom I am carrying wide! I don't look full term, but very much am!! Also see Ben looking at his plant in the right side of the picture. :)

Can't wait to meet this baby and get going with running again!!!!

In other news, we both haven't been sleeping well due to hormones (that's the pregnant lady) and rolling pregnant lady (that's Ben). We also been having issues with the resident crickets who have been trying to live here without paying rent! (they often suffer a death in the toilet or being crushed by a show). The worst part was that last night the crickets were keeping me awake (and I need those precious minutes of sleep, let me tell you!) and so I had to fumble around in the dark to find my glasses, turn on the right light, and get on my hands and knees to find this cricket that was singing in the entry-way of our apartment. I found it, but lo and behold there were more!

I was too tired to kill anymore in the middle of the night, but found them residing in the closet in the morning. Ben and I then hypothesized they were entering the house through the drain near the air conditioner, and placed a cup over it. hopefully no more night serenades from here on out!

38 (and a half) weeks. . . and we're READY

I love my husband Benjamen. :)

This is less than 38 weeks. I think 37.

But this child may decide to wait until 42 weeks. We don't know.

But my belly is wiggling with baby's anticipation of joining Mommy and Daddy in the great outdoors (aka not hotel Mom anymore).

And my body, not my brain, or our baby, gets to decide when little Delpling comes out, so the patience has begun! I'm past ready to do this thing, though, because 1) I want to be able to stay asleep unless woken up (whereas right now, I'm not sleeping all night) 2) I'm ready to meet this child, find out it's gender and give it a name (and so is Ben)! 3) I will have something to do with my time besides keep up with America's Got Talent, washing dishes, and reading the Screwtape Letters (which is not a bad choice). 4) ready to have my body back? Yes!!! Especially so I can stand up with much more agility, put my wedding rings back on my finger, and move in the direction of running again (after healing up, of course)

We have had little prep-labor spasms (mucous plugger showing up, back achies, Braxton Hicks almost all the time) but nothing is starting and staying started. This is where the patience continues.

Right now I need to go sit on my hands and knees so the baby moves a little more in the direction it's supposed to be relaxating (so labor is more "comfortable" (attempt to be without backache)). And drink water and play Solitaire until my husband comes home from his practicum.

Tomorrow is 36 weeks!

So this baby could decide to come anytime now!
I'm officially very round, tired often, and ready to push this baby out. We'll be doing a child birth education class at the beginning of September though, so hopefully it will wait until after then. We are almost set (cloth diapers in the mail, still, but the plan is to use the disposables we received at our baby showers for the first few weeks while I recover and don't have the mobility to do laundry every other day (we don't have a washer or dryer)).

34 weeks

Right before 36 weeks

Baby keeps kicking, sometimes when I am leaning over and it kicks it actually slightly hurts. I have not developed a waddle yet, but I'm probably getting close. My hips are sore as of late.

Ben is getting ready to go back to school for the semester, reduce his hours at work, and become a daddy! He's most excited about the last thing. We are looking to apply for Medicaid for the child, since we are both under our parent's plans and cannot add a child to those. This gets a little complicated because of the waiting time that often occurs with medicaid. We can't really afford anything else, though.

We have our midwife appointment on Tuesday, and I'm excited for them to tell me that my uterus is huge. I've had normal appointments, normal blood pressure, normal weight gain, and have had an uneventful pregnancy besides the normal aches and pains of a growing uterus (both abdominal, back, and hips), extreme hunger (in the middle of the night), emotional roller coasters, and having trouble sleeping.

Oh, and I got my trial run with a four month old baby boy from babysitting on Thursday--everything except breastfeeding. but swaddling, napping feeding, and two older brothers were the main focus of the day, and I was tired afterward! It's a bit bizarre to hold a baby while another one is kicking you from the inside. Oh and I got the poop blowout. Yay! Four dry heaves later, the diaper was off and all the poop removed from the little squirming (but happily content) body, and a new outfit was on.

We met with our pediatrician that we'll work with as we remain in Harrisonburg and that was a good experience for both Ben and I, and the doctor had much experience and could discuss that with us, and we appreciated it.

So in conclusion, this baby will most likely show up in September, within a week either way of it's due date, and we are excited to meet our little munchkin. :) 

And I'm ready to go to bed.

Patience

If someone had told me last December that I would weigh over 200 pounds in July I would have rolled my eyes and said something along the lines of "Yeah, right."

But here I am, 32 weeks pregnant, tipping 200 on the scale!

And so while I used the elliptical machine at the gym and felt my legs rub together I have to sigh and remind myself that this is just part of the season, part of this time. My body will realign itself after Delpling is here, and I need to be patient for the arrival of this child.

It needs me to gain this weight so that it can be healthy long term. I know this. And I am doing good things for my body in the mean time. Like exercising. Not running as long as I'd like to, as often as I'd like to, but I'm exercising. Getting my heart rate up and stretching out my body, prepping for this baby's arrival.

Pregnancy, as of now, has been one of God's ways of reminding me to slow down and savor. Though I want to weigh less so I can run four miles, I need to remember to savor and enjoy this baby wiggling in my womb, reminding me of God's crazy glory and creativity in making it!

Everything is beautiful in its time. 

Odd Jobs and what we've been up to!

My work schedule has changed over the past month, I went from babysitting full time to no time, and now I'm doing odd jobs for people at my church. These are small jobs, but they are steady and are accomodating my growing belly. :) Ben is getting full time work at his job at Family Christian Bookstore, and may possibly accept a promotion.

Right now, I am pet-sitting for two different families, while they are on vacation, and will be doing some housecleaning and plant watering in the next few weeks. Besides those things, I've been up to the normal stuff-- baking and washing dishes, cleaning up the house (not so much). I made kidney beans, brown rice, and my normal bread (with some brown rice in it) yesterday. I also decided I wanted to start knitting a baby sweater. :) Yay me!

I'm going to post some pics from my most recent escapades. Enjoy!

This is the space ship that Henry and I made. Lots of tape, cardboard, and toilet paper rolls. I'm pretty proud of myself (we just worked from a picture in a magazine (seen in bottom right).

This is how I stabilized my structure... making triangles (thank you 7th grade science class!)

Again, using triangles.

Henry with his fully decorated plane, using colored paper and glue to create the patterns that were in the picture of the magazine. It's a space ship from Star Wars.

Rosie, my companion for three times a day for the next week. :) We get along great.

This is NOT an animal I'm petsitting. This is the groundhog that still prevails on our landlord's garden, seen through it's hideout in the shed.

That would be my 31 week, 3 day belly. I could feel the baby growing today.

Ben and I went to the Creation Museum in Petersburg Kentucky. Here I am with a Veliocoraptor

We found a onesie for Delpling!

An alpaca at the petting zoo. It was quite hot while we were there. He is only napping, not sleeping.

Benjamen with out new pet in front of the Creation Museum!

This is Lucy the "missing link" according to evolutionists. In reality, she's just another handsome ape. Just look at the skull!

Yes, they admitted pregnant women to the Creation Museum too! I'm looking wide!

My buddy King David.

King David's shoes. . . I can tell that he's the son of Jesse. Jesse had those same shoes!!! (and still does) lol

The apostle Paul. "See with what big writing in my own hand!"

Hate, LGBTQ Rights, Christ, and Living the will of God

Attending EMU moved my opinions on homosexuality all over the field. I love my friends dearly, regardless of their sexuality, and would stand for their rights. When a gay acquaintance put on a senior theater show depicting the discrimination he experienced at his church after coming out, I remember seething with anger at this superficial judging of a person.

And now I recognize that this is justified, but not like the LGBTQ community may want to see it.

The issues portrayed in the theater show were helpful, painting a picture I hadn't seen, helping me see pain I hadn't seen. These things were good. It also brought to light the issue of how members of the body of Christ are supposed to address homosexuality. And it is not through discrimination.* I say this with a disclaimer. I do believe if a person is not following the word of God, and also the will of God, there is room for guidance. But guidance has love, and relationship. Discrimination has neither of these. Discrimination shows fear and dances on the line of hate. Hate is the product of fear.

If a person is attending a church and comes out as homosexual, instead of labeling, the fruit need to be examined. Is this person following Christ fully, do other members see the fruits of the Spirit in them? If the members do, and the person continues to serve God in all aspects of their life, truly seeking God's will in their life rather than their own will in their sexuality, then I feel there is no need to remove them from leadership positions or participation. What I think is the issue in churches is that people spend too much time worrying about 'a certain person who is homosexual' in leadership rather than being prayerful and careful about all of the other people put into leadership who are heterosexual, and have the capabilities of sinning and leading others to sin as any person.

It's hard to read the Bible, believe it as the word of God, AND follow it. While I was at EMU, I found myself deciding that certain passages were only culturally relevant* (and there are some that are just culturally relevant, but it is not reasonable justification to say that all of Paul's writings about women and men's relationships or homosexuality are simply cultural. Remember "Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever." This means that what He said through Paul in the 1st century is also relevant now, and should be followed as such).

I've committed my share of prideful sins with my relationship with Ben prior to being married. We didn't wait. We "couldn't find the reason" in the Bible, because it didn't state anywhere that sexual relations in a committed relationship was wrong. I knew it was in the back of my head, but that messed with my desires, and I didn't let the little voice of Wisdom speak most powerfully in my heart. Eventually, we recognized our sin and regretted our poor decisions and lack of repentance prior to marriage and after parents and friends came to us in Christ, reminding us we could always turn from it. So now, as you probably well know, we are expecting our first child in September. We will always have a humbling story to tell this child.

The point I make with these past two paragraphs is it's very easy to frame the Bible to meet our desires or our hopes, the easier way of doing things, our way of doing things. I feel that this is the way it is with homosexuality. First of all, the world that we live in is sinful, fallen because of Adam, so there is corruption in everything, including sexuality. I'm not saying that a person with homosexual tendencies is "more corrupted" than a heterosexual person: we are the same in corruption. Just as someone with homosexual tendencies has the capability to lust after, and have sex with someone of the same gender, so does a heterosexual person.

The path Christ has called us to live is separated from our sex-soaked society. It is a path of purity, where sex can be enjoyed and love made, within a marriage between a man and a woman. That's a hard statement for most people who are heterosexual. I can only imagine how depressing and harsh and discriminating that can seem to a person who is homosexual. Is life fair? No, we live in a fallen world. But is God just? YES! and you know what else? God promises not to let us be tempted for more than we can handle.(1 Corinthians 10:13).

So just as many heterosexual Christians can handle being chaste for their entire lives if they do not find their Christ-given human soul mate (and instead Christ fills that role for them), so can homosexual Christians.

This next idea (which has been displayed in action by this story http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/when-homosexuality-became-a-man) seems impossible, to all people who are homosexual and probably to most heterosexual people. But it's the idea that a homosexual man or woman falls so in love with Christ that they leave the life and love sucking lifestyle that they used to serve and seek unconditional love with Him. So much so they seek relationships like God and the Bible describes as holy. I found this story beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time, but you could see the fruit of God in them! Amen to that!

Relationships aren't just about the sexual aspect. Anyone who has been in a relationship or a marriage understands that, and I know that homosexual couples also understand that. But can a person who is homosexual find the unconditional love of Christ as the third cord braiding their relationship together? Can a couple seek first God's kingdom and His Word FIRST and still be in that relationship? You know what the Bible says, God says, and I feel the Holy Spirit speaking for me now? The answer to that is no. Why is the answer no? Because God is just. This world is sinful, corrupted, cultured to say "Do what YOU want, do what feels good."

But instead "Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Romans 12:2

My Take on Evolution

So I've been married to Ben for two months on July 5th, and during this amount of time, we haven't been that employed (some part time jobs), so we've spent a lot of time together (which has been absolutely wonderful. :)). One of Ben's hobbies is learning about Creationism, watching Ken Ham speak (answersingenesis.org), and watching debates between old earth and young earth creationists, and creationists and evolutionists. So naturally I've been watching them with him.

Now, for those of you who knew me at the beginning of my EMU college years (2009-2010), you might recall I was a self defined liberal. As I look back, I recall that there were many questions I had about Genesis, and Jonah, and all of the other crazy amazing things that God did in the Old and New Testament. I didn't have the answers, and nor did I have the time to pursue them. You know how I filled the gaps? I plugged in "Oh, we're not supposed to take the Bible literally." and "You know, I believe that God had the power to do that, but I'm not sure it happened." And I plugged in evolution. How did God create the world in just six literal 24 hour days? "Oh, a day can mean a thousand years according to God's word. I don't think day really means day in this context. I mean, I think that God could have done it, but in reality, that's not what I really think. I think that Darwin's theory of evolution definitely was how the world was created. Over a long period of time."

Little did I know about evolution. . . and this "theory". Darwin's theory exemplifies micro-evolution. There is so much variation within a species. Think of wolves to poodles (yes, that is a KenHam reference. Get over it). Lions can breed with tigers. Donkeys can breed with horses.

The fact is: Darwin's observational science points out natural selection, and micro-evolution to the T. These are clear. We see them all the time. But when it comes to macro evolution, (change from one species to another, the evidence stops. If the evidence existed, we would see transitional animals in the fossils, in the present! But presently, there are no transitional fossils.

And if we talk biochemistry, getting down to the nitty gritty of DNA, evolutionists can pull the "mutation" card. But the truth is, they can't find any mutations that have occurred that have added to the genomes, or have benefitted them. Mutations remove genetic material (which is what has been happening for thousands of years since the animals got off the ark. Thus why poodles exist (that, and artificial selection by humans. . . do you think those animals would survive in the wild?)

Dating methods: evolutionists will also argue that their radioactive decay and dating methods are sound, and that's evidence enough for an old earth. But of the dating methods, these are fallible, especially the ones that they use. . . How could a dinosaur bone be 20 million years old and still have connective tissue? (Look it up!) They also took the layers created by the lava layers (just laid and cooled) by Mt. Saint Helens and said that those layers, according to their technique, were millions of years old.

Could science be fallible? Who said humans had it right? Why did the question of God creating the earth even come up? Could it be because sin entered the world.

One of the biggest problems with the Old-Earth, but God still created it view is that it would mean that death, thorns, and cancer all existed before the fall of man. The literal view of the Bible states that these things came into play after humans sinned. If they came before sin, that would mean that God created them and said they were good. Does God think that death, suffering, and cancer are good? No! God is just! (see Ezekiel 18), but also think of how much he labored about having to kill the whole world with a flood, and Sodom and Gomorrah. The Bible says that God is a loving God, slow to anger and rich in love. But if we take Genesis figuratively, then we take the entire Bible figuratively.

The Flood. So this is one of those highly debated things, and we never hear about it in a science classroom (more likely in a history classroom as a story). But instead of the billions of years plot, laying rock layers, plate tectonics, animals dying year after year, the various periods of dinosaur times, could it be that dinosaurs lived with humans? There is evidence of this! Cave drawings, stories passed down from generations. Where do you think dragons came into play? And could it be that those layers were caused by a global flood, burying animals and plants in silt and fossilizing them? That would be a much simpler way of putting them. But humans have to be complex. We have to be smarter than the previous generation.

Do you want to know why the word dinosaur isn't in the Bible? Because the word wasn't created until the 1800s (at the discovery of dinosaur bones). In the King James Bible, they use the word 'dragon', but modern translations change it to "jackal". Don't ask me why. The Bible states, in many locations, that there were flying and swimming serpents (at least in the King James, they do change them in translation for modern times (NIV, ESV).

I could go on and on, because I have been learning a lot, and honestly, I find it more sound than many other discussions. Have you ever watched a debate between an evolutionist and a creationist? There is a lot of information that is out there that isn't discussed much, (and there's also a lot of dissing from evolutionists and atheists, rather than sound debating). I think there is much to learn.

Another issue that has come up is that all this information, all this discussion... is it necessary for the kingdom of God? Some say no. And that's because they are not sound in their own beliefs in this area. Isn't God's Word stronger than any double edged sword? So shouldn't we let it be our sword to fight against the evil one? Why diss the Bible, limit God's sovereignty, and praise humans, and with that our secular world by saying evolution is true? If we don't believe a piece of the Bible, doesn't that give people the right to argumenatively rip it out of our hands? If we don't let God's word be Truth in our lives, then we might as well not even read the book, or follow it, because we don't let it be our guide in this way. We might use it for morality, but hey, someone might try to argue that away too.

I encourage you to do your own research. There is a vast amount of ambiguous research by evolutionists that is easily reachable through the internet, but if you need to find some information that counters that the start painting the picture of creationism as a possibility and reality, check out answersingenesis.org.

I once heard a person say, I'd rather be on the right side of wrong than the wrong side of wrong. Meaning, I would prefer to believe something that God did, rather than saying that He didn't do it, and I get to heaven and He did. I think this is true for this case. How serious are you abour your faith? How much of your life is focused around following God, and His word, seeking His kingdom, and how much of it is centered around doing the things you want to do, with the money that you earned, and with the people that you want to be friends with? Isn't that too comfortable?


So, my disclaimer for this entire post is that, if I want people to read it, I'm not going to get into references, or search for quotations. Most of this information has been learned from various videos and articles on the Answers in Genesis website (which, by the way, are written by people with PhDs in all of the different levels of science). I am also not a scientist. I am a learner, and these are tidbits of what I've been learning. If you seek to debate, do your research. 

I've heard it said that you need more faith to believe in evolution than in Jesus Christ. There's more evidence for Jesus than evolution? Hallelujah.

PB&J, and water guns

Ben and I have been up to all sorts of things since my last post!
Mainly,  I've been working. This past week I babysat one of my families of three kids Monday through Thursday and then Saturday also.

The day would start around 7:30 and end around 5:15, and then I would go home, snuggle with my husband and crash around 9:30. During the day with the kids, I made them toast, I made them cereal, I made them PB & J (they really test my culinary skills) and try to figure out ways to turn the TV off (NO MORE DISNEY Channel! EVER!) and to get them to not fight (and maybe put some clothes on.)

The middle child decided that he wanted to be in charge of walking the dogs in for the summer, and he is supposed to do that before noon. Thus, my job is to walk one of the dogs with him, and we walk around the block (a little bit more than half a mile, I'd say). So I can usually get him dressed. The youngest, on the other hand will run around in his underwear and will only get dressed if he has to, and that usually doesn't happen, unless we go to the park. We did this on Friday (which was a nice break for me).

I've been reading books while I'm at their house and they are watching TV and require little attention (unless I hear screaming of crying). I've read through all the books that the mom owns by Dean Karnezes, an ultra marathon runner. I got back into Experiencing God, and also have continued my Bible reading, finishing Amos, Obadiah, and Galatians.

On Friday, I had off, so I made bierrocks, (and also bread) something Ben hadn't had before. He liked them, which was good because I figured we could have them the next day as part of our meal plan with the kids (who, again, requested PB & J).

We drove out to Canaan Valley Resort, where the mom and boyfriend were going to be running a 40 mile trail race the next day. ON the way, I was feeling pretty carsick, and Ben happened to scent the car with a fart, and I dry heaved a bit from the smell (this of course, made him lose it. He thought it was the most hilarious thing in the world.) We got in, got acquainted with the area, and then were too tired to do anything but sleep. We were in a room that was connected to the room the kids were in, we got to hang out with one more kid that day, whose dad was also doing the run.

Once they were all awake, I gave them breakfast (notice I did not say "made". it was bagels), and saved Danny, the extra child, from eating chocolate cake for breakfast (it was the only food that was available to him. Oh dear). Then I convinced them that we were going to go swimming in the morning and in the afternoon. But they had to digest breakfast, so they played with water guns (and I convinced them to change into their swimwear.). Once all the boys were soaked to the skin, we decided to go to the pool. Gigi brough her sketchbook to the pool but then decided that she would swim with Rowie, who was the youngest and wasn't going to be able to swim in the deep end.

They brought the water guns to the pool. Enough said. I got bored and Ben and I needed to check out of the room we were in by noon, so I made them all get out and move out of the two attaching rooms by noon. Then I made them lunch (PB & J, anyone?) and they decided to play a version of the Hunger games with water guns. and guns guns guns! I got so sick of those freaking guns. After the second round of the Hunger Games, we went back to the pool and they swam while I watched to see when the parents would come through the finish line (which was by the pool.We waited, and waited, and 4 pm came and went, and then it was 5 and the dad of the extra child I had came through the finish line, and then the mom's boyfriend came through. I went to talk to him, even though he'd just finished the race and was clearly exhausted, and told him I was leaving, gave him all the keys that I had and told him where the kids were.

Then I walked back to the room, and removed my sunburnt, sick-of-bierrocks, chair-ridden husband from the porch, and we went to dinner at a seafood restaurant down the road from the resort we were in. And drove home. On the way home, we were joking about being pulled over for passing on a road with double yellow lines.
Ben's best one-liner: "I like to pass in those lanes because I like the challenge."
Mine: "The two double lines in the middle of the road represent the two lanes in the road, and they both go the same way, representin' how we're supposed to be drivin'. Side by side. I was trying to drive next to you, officer, and instead you pulled me over."

Yep. It was a long Saturday.

Tasty Scripture

This is often what happens in the morning: I read some wonderful passages in the Bible, and i can't put it down. Then all the goodness that I keep reading gets sloughed off because I have other things to do. But when I meditate on it, by writing about it, either in my journal or elsewhere, I come to great conclusions, get super excited about the things that God says through the Bible, and live life fully.

The past few weeks I've been enlightened with an overall theme of a righteous leader: how to be one, how to live like God wants us too, and how to serve others as leaders. This post is not about that, because I feel there is much more scripture that I haven't come across yet that I deeply desire to, that will continue building my thoughts and post (or sermon/book).

This is about 2 Corinthians, which is a quite delicious serving of Scripture. :)

We'll start at chapter four verse seven, although I could start at chapter one verse one and never finish this post before church. This is the passage that talks about Jars of Clay. Not the band. But the band's inspiration. Now I hadn't figured out what Paul meant when he wrote  

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay yo show this all-surpassing power is from God and not us."

Now I have a new Bible since the last time I really thought about that, and there's a commentary. When I read what it said about jars of clay it totally clicked! Humans are made from clay, we are these jars of clay! But it's important to note that instead of gold, silver, cedar, topaz, or bronze, we are clay. This means that we break, we are fallible, as the commentary states.

We carry the treasure of God within us, but it's full proof it's God working through us at any time because we are wimpy jars of clay. We have no capability to be kind to others in the face of persecution, to bless our enemies when they hurl insults at us, or to endure harsh trials. Paul says it so well in the next verse (v8).

"We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."

This is because we have Christ within us! We can persevere through any hard time because we have Christ within us! :)

This next verse I'll be talking about (v13) is great.

"It is written, 'I believed; therefore I have spoken.'" 

Now I'm going to start there: we have this faith in Christ, and so we need to speak about it. It's not just something that we can believe with our whole hearts and not say a word about when we are surrounded by people that are going to "hard-press us from every side." Doesn't God want us to "consider it pure joy when we face hardships of any kind"?

"With the same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence." (13-14)

Faith means speaking. So if you don't speak, do you not have faith? Do you know why we are speaking? Because at our deaths we are going before God  in judgement for the things that we did for the Kingdom. What will you be able to say? Did you speak?

"Therefore do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly,we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen,but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary,but what is unseen is eternal." (v. 16-18)

Does what we look like, what this world looks like, what our homes, our careers, or how our facebooks look like matter? What really matters is our hearts. Where are we in our hearts? Are we pursuing Christ 100% all the time? Then is doesn't matter that your hair line is receding or you can't get rid of that last ten pounds. It doesn't matter that your lawn isn't perfect or you aren't popular enough. It doesn't matter if the audience you reach with your music is small (quality over quantity!). As long as you fix your eyes upon Christ, all that is supposed to happen in due time will happen. In due time. :) But nothing more.

Are you okay with nothing more? Are your wants overcoming letting Christ reign in all of your life?

I'm going to stop there, even though I read two more chapters after that that are chock full of spiritually whole grain goodies!

Cravings, Company, Avocados, Babysitting, and Bread-eating

So the past few days have been rather busy. We've had several people over to our apartment, have fed them and enjoyed their company! We had my grandparents over for chili on Saturday and then our good friends Daniel and Meg over for taco salad on Sunday for dinner. We had a great time, playing Uno and Rook, talking, and giggling. We ended with a prayer for our transitions and for a job for Ben.

I haven't been craving much of anything really, although earlier I had an inclining to cottage cheese and chocolate. But yesterday and the day before, I was craving oven fries. The day before, I decided it would take too long and settled for eating other things. . . several other things. So I decided yesterday that it wouldn't be too much of an issue to make the oven fries. So I sliced up a potato, coated a pan with olive oil, placed the slices on the pan with sea salt and black pepper, stuck it in our tiny toaster oven, set it to 400 degrees and 30 minutes and waited.

In our beautiful bowl from Mexico. :)

They came out nice and toasted, (I flipped once during the cooking time) and I enjoyed them with ketchup. Mmmmm! Totally worth it.

Ben and I have been enjoying a few avocados lately, and last night had guacamole with our taco salad. I decided to keep the pit and see if I could get it to take root and start growing, just for kicks, so I did that today. If you look at it, you will see I did not have any toothpicks on hand, so used paper clips and our (empty :( ) honey jar.

Today I started my second babysitting job. I'm working with two different families this summer, one on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and the other on Tuesday and Thursday. I had a great time today! The kids built a hiding place with stuff animals, pillows, and blankets in the bottom bunk of a bed. We went to the library and signed them up for the Summer reading program, and got some books (and I got a library card!) I helped the oldest boy make a puppet out of an old washcloth (and retaught him to sew). I made them lunch (mac n cheese and fresh peas!). I played two square with the girl (for a little while, and then played two square with the younger boy. And soccer, and ultimate frisbee. And I taught him how to play Rummy. It was an eventful six hours.

Prior to rising in the pans, the beautiful bread.

I made bread yesterday (two loaves), and as it is, there is only one left. There are a couple reasons for this. Reason #1: Ben sliced inch thick slices for Daniel and Meg (and me and himself) last night for after our meal. Reason #2: Ben really likes the bread. Reason #3: I like the bread too, but take smaller slices. Reason #4: Ben thinks the bread is cake.

Chili (modified recipe)

Something I'm good at is improvising. This happens often with recipes because the only grade I receive on them is flavor, and it might as well be the best flavor ever, so I change things to suite the recipe, plus my, and my husband's taste.
In this case, I was using the recipe my mom always made when I grew up for Chili.

I've always loved thicker chili, so I used less water, added more chili, and changed a couple other ingredients. Sorry there aren't any pictures. I was multitasking while making this chili, including having a friend over, breaking and cleaning up a glass jar, band-aiding a cut from the broken glass, and trying not to forget any ingredients.

Grace's Modified Chili
First, I sauteed, in olive oil, the following veggies until they were softened a bit. Didn't want any crunchy celery disrupting the digestion of this chili!
1 medium onion (chopped)
1 clove garlic (i'll do more next time, probably 2 or 3) (minced)
1 green pepper (chopped)
1 stalk celery (chopped finely)

Then I added:
More than a pound of chicken (we roasted it on Sunday, and it was a chunker of a bird. We hadn't finished it yet and so we put it in the soup.)

Then I poured in
prepared black beans (these were made in the crock pot, about 2 cups)
1 can pork n beans
1 can dark kidney beans
1 can tomato soup
1 can diced tomatoes

From there, I added
2 Tblsp chili powder
Salt and pepper

And then I let it simmer for an hour, let the flavors blend (not on heat) for an hour, and then served the chili to my grandparents who were coming for dinner. :) It was delicious. We ate it with Greek yogurt and sharp cheddar cheese as toppings.

Yum. Yum. Yum. There were barely any leftovers.

Pancakes for supper!

 Ben and I decided not to go out for date night because we wanted to save money, so I brought the date night to our home! At the Little Grill, they have a breakfast night, and I wanted to have pancakes. So I decided to look up a healthy wheat pancake recipe that Ben and I could eat. It was easy to find. (http://www.food.com/recipe/hearty-honey-whole-wheat-pancakes-159535/review)

Here I am pouring the batter on the pan, which was lined with olive oil.

I halved the recipe and changed some of the ingredients to fit our pantry: more cinnamon, soy "buttermilk" (add 1T apple cider vinegar to almost a cup of soy milk), olive oil, more honey. It also required more liquid. I used 3/4 c. water to get the right consistency.

He's excited about the Bible reading.

 Here's Ben, this is what he was doing while I made pancakes. At first, he wasn't sure about pancakes, but when I promised berry capote to go with it, he got excited. This facial expression is an accurate portrayal.

The berry capote that I made. I used about a cup of blackberries that were frozen, I added about a tablespoon of honey.

These are the beautiful pancakes on their way to cooked perfection. :)

 Sometimes the pan gets too hot, especially when you are using the stove. So the quickest way to cool it down is to remove it and turn the heat down. I removed it and walked around the living room with it.

Me cooling the pancakes down so they wouldn't burn.

Finished product without toppings.

With peanut butter and berry capote! YUM!

Ben raving about the pancakes. He was super happy about the scrumptious pancakes. :)

They were a great success, very good. There are leftovers for me to eat tomorrow for breakfast.