Where O Death is Now Thy Sting?

"Christ the Lord is risen today,"
Sons of men and angels say.
Raise your joys and triumphs high!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply.


Vain the stone, the watch, the seal,
Christ has burst the gates of hell.
Death, in vain, forbids his rise,
Christ has opened paradise.


Lives again our glorious King!
Where, O death, is now thy sting?
Once he died, our souls to save.
Where thy victory, O grave?


Soar we now where Christ has led
Foll'wing our exalted Head.
Made like Him, like Him we rise,
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies.


Hail, the Lord of earth and heaven!
Praise to Thee by both be given.
Thee we greet triumphant now!
Hail, the Resurrection, thou! Alleluia!


- Charles Wesley, 1739


My grandma went to be with the Lord yesterday after a long battle with lung cancer. She loved God and her family and her neighbors. She took great comfort in the Word of God and had peace in the last days of her life, knowing that Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, and today she worships God in his heaven.

Give the people what they want

Here are some more pictures

Baby Clarence is here!

Clarence Daniel was born at 5:26 pm on Monday, December 8. He weighed 10 lbs, 10 oz and was 22 1/2 inches long. We thank our good God for his mercy and tender care over our family as Baby Clar came into the world. His heartbeat stayed strong throughout the entire labor and he has been nothing but a joy to us since his birth.

I had a complication from the epidural and have been suffering from a "spinal headache" since Tuesday night. I was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon but went back in Thursday for a procedure to provide relief from the headache. It helped some, but not all the way, and so I've spent most of my time since Baby Clar was born flat on my back. They say the rest of the problem should fix itself within a week of the epidural, so in the meantime I'm waiting with pain medication and loving family to help me. We are so thankful for Jerri, Luke's mom, who has been with us since Thanksgiving. She cared for Ellie while we were in the hospital and continues to take care of all of us now that we're home. We're also thankful that my mom flew in from Boston and came straight to the hospital yesterday. There's just something about having a mommy there when you're getting stuck with more needles! Luke's dad also worked a business trip so he could go home through Albuquerque, so he was able to come to the house today and see his grandson, and will drive back home with Jerri tomorrow. We are blessed beyond measure!

Ellie loves her baby brother already. She doesn't want to hold him all the time, but she's always excited to see him when she wakes up and she's very possessive of her baby.

Baby Clarence had his first post-hospital checkup today. He's gained back almost all of the weight he lost in the hospital and is doing everything a newborn should do. We are looking forward to sharing him with more of you, especially our church family, but we're going to wait a few more days to have visitors so I can enjoy the visits, too!

Thanks to everyone who waited with us and prayed with and for us as we waited for Baby Clarence to arrive and in the last few days. We're so thankful for our son!

We're Off to Have a Baby

Luke and I are headed to the hospital to have a baby. I'm very nervous and excited!

A December Baby?!

No, I am not in labor.

I wish I were! But Baby has decided he likes the idea of a December birthday, so here we are. Since I'm over a week past my due date, we go in for regular checks every 3 days or so. They monitor his heart rate and my (non) contractions, and then check out amniotic fluid levels with the ultrasound machine. Our checkup Saturday went great and we'll have another one tomorrow. And although I was originally scheduled to be induced this Thursday, my excellent midwife rescheduled us for Sunday evening, just to give our little guy a few more days to come into the world all on his own. Until then, I'm walking, drinking my water, and praying for the health and safe delivery of this obviously patient and content baby. If only his mommy were more patient and content!

Found!

So, I realized last Thursday that I couldn't find my keys anywhere. We don't really go out much, and it's not unusual for my keys to be MIA for twenty four hours or so. But this time, I really searched for them and they were nowhere to be found. I just knew that the last time I'd seen them was when I went out to get the mail and then walked straight from there to the playground with Ellie. I searched our route but didn't find them. I searched our house but didn't find them.

By yesterday afternoon we were on Day 6 of Katie's missing keys. I finally did some real cleaning of a few rooms in the house and still didn't find them. I called the law enforcement office and they hadn't seen them, but they did suggest I call the housing office here.

Sure enough, someone had turned in my keys just moments before I called! As Ellie said, "Yay, hurray, Mommy found her keys!" And in the process, cleaned up two rooms I'd been putting off all week.

So now that I've found my keys, I'm really ready to have a baby. Come on, baby!

At Least I'm Not An Elephant

So it turns out that the little baby box on my blog is a big fat liar. It says 0 days to go, but apparently it didn't talk to my unborn child, because he thinks he has lots of time left.

So no, no baby yet.

But with all this spare time (when I'm not searching for my car keys, which I haven't seen since Wednesday), and since my internet was down for a few days this week, I did invent a crocheted mittens pattern. Here it is:

Katie’s Crochet Mittens
Hook Size: K (or hook size needed for gauge, which I still need to determine...)
Yarn: Patons sws solids

Ch 8
Row 1: Sc in each ch across and across other side, sc in first sc (16 sc)
Row 2: *2 sc in next sc, sc in next 5 sc, 2 sc in next sc, sc in next sc, repeat from * once more (20 sc)
Row 3: sc in each sc around (20 sc)
Row 4: *2 sc in next sc, sc in next 7 sc, 2 sc in next sc, sc in next sc, repeat from * around (24 sc)
Row 5-16: sc in each sc around, sl st in next sc after final row (24 sc)
Make thumb:
Ch 8, sk 2 sc, sc in next sc (makes loop for thumb)
Row 1: sc in 2 skipped sc, sc in next sc, sc in 8 ch, sc in connecting sc (12 sc)
Row 2-6 : sc in each sc around (12 sc)
Row 7: *sk next sc, sc in next 2 sc repeat from * 3 more times (8 sc)
Row 8: *sk next sc, sc in next sc, repeat from * 3 more times (4 sc)
Finish thumb: sl st to close thumb, fasten off
Make Wrist:
Row 1: Connect in corner between thumb and hand, sc 10 in ch around thumb and 22 around mitten (32 sc)
Row 2-5 : sc in each sc around
Row 6: *sk next sc, sc in next 7 sc, repeat from * 3 times (28 sc)
Row 7: *sk next sc, sc in next 6 sc, repeat from * 3 times (24 sc)
Row 8-10: sc in each sc around (24 sc)
Row 11: *sk next sc, sc in next 5 sc, repeat from * around (20 sc)
Row 12-16: sc in each sc around (20 sc)
Row 17: *sc in each of next 4 sc 2 sc in next sc, repeat from * 3 times (24 sc)
Row 18-22: sc in each sc around (24 sc)
Row 23: sl st in each sc around, sl st in 1st sl st, finish off