At Last....

We are so incredibly thankful for our newest blessing.  God is good.  And Gyunay is just so wonderful!  We brought him home yesterday.

Shower and Kitchen

This was a busy weekend.  Nathaniel spent most of it installing the kitchen counters, backsplash, and new sink.  It turned out wonderful:

Please ignore the dirty dishes. :)

 

And Sunday afternoon, Lydia and I were honored with a shower at our church.  We were overwhelmed by the generosity of our church family.  Right now, we feel greatly blessed and are just eagerly anticipating getting our littlest guy home.

Getting Ready

We've been getting ready for our little guy.  I finished his spring/Easter shirt! I plan on making coordinating ones for Nathaniel, Elijah, and Malachi.  And now Lydia wants a dress, too, (naturally), so I probably should get sewing. 

We've been sorting through the things we have for Gyunay, and I was planning on buying him some things this week, but now that plan has changed.  Our church is throwing us a shower next weekend, so I won't buy anything else until after that.  It was a surprise, as we weren't expecting anything like that, but it is most appreciated. 

On the house, we are moving along.  Nathaniel plans to install the rest of the counter tops this weekend, if all goes well.  I've been making great progress on the family room in the basement, too.   I also got all of the Christmas decorations down, except for the stockings, which we won't take down until after Gyunay gets to dump his out. 

Book Review - Beyond All Dreams by Elizabeth Camden

I received my latest book from Bethany House Publishing last week, but I waited to start it until a day that I knew I'd have lots of time to read.  I'm glad that I did; I didn't want to put it down! I finished it the day I started it.

I discovered author Elizabeth Camden by her last excellent book, With Every Breath, and so I was eager to read this one. It did not disappoint! Camden's thorough research is a joy to me. I love the historical details, and the mystery involved was gripping.

This story is set in Washington D.C. in the late 1890s. The main characters, Anna and Luke, are well drawn, with faults and strengths.  Anna is a librarian in the map room at the library of Congress (you can guess that I loved that!), and Luke is a Congressman from Maine.  Both characters had difficult pasts and have had to deal with the repercussions of their childhoods into their adult lives.  Biblical forgiveness plays an important role in both of their stories.  The dialogue between them is a treat, as well. I love wit and intelligent conversation, and these two have plenty of that.

I highly recommend this book. I look forward to reading more by this author.

I was given a copy by the publisher for the purpose of writing a review, but all opinions are my own.

Projects Galore

Happy New Year's, all!  I've been out of touch mostly since Christmas, but Nathaniel got me a new computer and now I'm up and running again.  And we are busy, busy here with projects, like this one:

 

Now, in this picture, the tile is not yet grouted, but you can see our new butcher block counter top and glass tile backsplash.  Also, my new butcher block cutting board is sitting on top, as is my great-grandmother's bread bowl (which I use every time I make fresh bread).  Nathaniel installed this counter and tile, but the rest will wait about a week, as I am currently treating them with tung oil. 

 

The other project we have going on is the new "lego room" downstairs.  We cleaned out the closet under the stairs and have turned it into the boys' lego room.  They are busy transferring the legos now.  They would like to paint the walls, which is fine by me, but we're not doing that just yet.  No pictures of the basement yet; it's still a disaster.

 

I do, however, have one cutie Christmas picture:

De-Licing

Well, we had our lice episode about a month ago, and ever since then I've been really paranoid about lice.  Then, we were exposed to them again (for real, not just in my head!), so when we got home, and my head kept itching, I decided to mix up 2 T coconut oil and 12 drops tea tree oil and smear it all over my hair.  I figured that then I'd comb it out and know for sure.  I discovered a couple of things: first, I didn't have lice.  Second, 2 tablespoons of oil is a ton of oil, even for as much hair as I have!  So it took quite a bit to wash it all out, and my hair is still slightly oily today.  I've decided, though, that the peace of mind was well worth it.  And if I ever think I have lice again, I'll only use half of the oil!

Nesting

I've been a bit busy lately getting things ready.  I made this blanket, since I realized that he has no blankets at all.  With the other kids, I always crocheted a baby afghan, but I decided to make a toddler comforter this time, since the little afghans I made were usually mostly used to cover up the babies in the car, and our little guy is already two. He will need some sort of comforter for his bed, and this will work in the crib and later when we transition him to a toddler bed.  Plus, my hand/wrist is not as good as it used to be, and I don't know how long it would take me to make an afghan now.  So I found this cheerful fabric at Wal-Mart and got to work.  Now I'm thinking that I should make Malachi a comforter, too, since he actually doesn't have one, or any type of covering for his bed.  He just uses several smaller blankets, but I think he'd like an actual twin-sized one.  He does use the comforter I used as a teenager sometimes, but it's red and black, and I know he'd love green.

This blue and yellow comforter is warm and cozy.  It's not too great for cuddling on the couch, though, as it's too bulky.  But it should keep him warm at night.