November: A Light unto My Path

My belly is eminent, meaning that Sofia Joy's arrival is imminent.  Our curiosity about what life will be like with two babies is also growing daily. How will Siena cope with Mama holding a different baby all the time? How much time will Shiloh need to take off from work as we transition? How will I manage cooking, cleaning, mothering, and my beloved scrapbooking? (I'm only caught up to September of 2009!) Will we still fill our evenings with IMs galore? Will my old clothes ever fit again? Will my "terrible" toddler turn out to be a good-natured, God-loving contributor to society? Or will the impending mama-neglect doom her to the life of an uncontrolled, princess-shoe-wearing, grabbing, pinching, shoving, "no"-shouting, diaper-wearing menace?

I find that all I can do as the days of our new life approach is to lean wholly on the gracious and providential God and Savior who has faithfully brought me this far. He'll show me the way one day at a time. He promises a "light unto my path" (Psalm 119:105), not a crystal ball into my future (Max Lucado), so that's how we'll take it. One day at a time.

And do you know, each day has turned out pretty well! Minus the day when I broke my pinky playing catch on the sidelines of Shiloh's flag football game. And the day Ruby swallowed her rawhide bone practically whole, got sick, and pooped/vomited on the sidelines of Shiloh's soccer game... and again in the bed of Nat's truck. And the past two days of a Siena that pouts, growls, cries, throws tantrums, clings, ignores, and defiantly says "No!"...

But who is keeping track of those days? We much prefer to dwell on the lovely times we've had that were good enough to document in pictures (not that I'm too selective in that area) like the dinner celebrating Richie's Ph.D., a Halloween party with our Bible study crew, and all the sweet day-to-day moments where Shiloh and I have thrown back our heads and laughed heartily at the antics of our first-born.

Like when she was trying simultaneously to mimic the Cal Aggie Marching Band-Uh's wild musicians, the dance moves of some young girls, and a couple of tai chi practitioners doing their thing outside the Pavilion last night after an Aggie basketball game.

Like when she sat on her potty, fully clothed, next to her daddy on his, and declared: "I can't go peepee. It's too hard for my bumbum."

And so many other moments. So here are the pictures:

Riding the rocking horse Grandpa made for Uncle T over 30 years ago out of a cherry tree...

Celebrating Bethany's birthday with some other moms at Westwood Park...

Monday evening volleyball at the Shull's house...

 A visit to "Grandpa's Barn at Impossible Acres...

Cool Patch Pumpkins: Corn Bath!

Apple Hill!

Poor pinky...

FBC Davis had an "iCare" event where we split up to different high schools on Sunday and fixed things up around campus. Of course it was the one day this month of POURING rain!

Shiloh cleaning up after sick Ruby...

Pumpkin season!

Siena trick-or-treated downtown Davis on Friday and had trouble deciding what to wear...

On Saturday we had a fun little Halloween party with our Bible study group after Richie's Ph.D. dinner. Siena was Little Red Riding Hood, Shiloh was the woodcutter and I was grandmother. Ruby, the big bad wolf, stayed at home.

Monday we visited the Nimbus fish hatchery near Folsom and watched the salmon climb the ladder to spawn. The highlight, however, was feeding the trout in the holding ponds.

And that's all for now. Thanks for reading!