Snuggle down

I don't know what it is about a parents bed that is so much more comfortable than you own when you're a kid. Do you remember on Saturday mornings, crawling into mom and dad's bed and thinking how comfy it felt. It just felt warmer, safer, and softer than your bed in your room. Now, that I'm the parent it seems that my kids feel the same way about my bed. Hope loves to get in my bed and snuggle down in the blankets. It is that security that they feel the most, I think. The never ending love from mom and dad that just encircles them. I think we need a bigger bed, though. A queen won't be big enough for Saturday morning get togethers in mom and dad's bed for much longer.

We have Fuzzi Bunz around our home now!

We've been cloth diapering for a week now. Here are a few things that this disposible diaper user was surprised about.

1. How easy it is!

2. The poop just falls right off into the toilet. I don't have to do a whole lot of rinsing.

3. Washing is very easy but the smell of the urine really gets to me at times when I'm putting them in the washer.

4. Having a diaper pail is awesome. I never smell anything.

5. It is easy to cloth diaper even at night.

6. I'm still getting the hang of cloth diaper when we're out. I think I need to put more inserts in the diapers when we go out.

7. I never thought I'd actually enjoy cloth diapering, but I do.

8. My husband even is supportive of it and it was easy for him to learn how to do.

Mom of the Year Award Goes to.......YOU!

Remember the Proverbs 31 woman? You know the woman we're all expected to be like? Yeah, I never took this scripture much into consideration until recently.

Proverbs 31:10-31

⁰ ^{c]" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">[c]} A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.

¹¹ Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.

¹² She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.

¹³ She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.

¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.

¹⁵ She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.

¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

¹⁷ She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.

¹⁸ She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.

¹⁹ In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

²⁰ She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.

²¹ When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

²² She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.

²³ Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.

²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.

²⁶ She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.

²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:

²⁹ "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."

³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

³¹ Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

I come from a family of amazing women. My grandma was a working mom of 3. Louise worked for AT&T, before it was bought a bunch of times and is now just another name for horrible service also known as Cingular. Another blog, another rant. MY GRANDMA took me to work with her on several occasions. I remember being about 12 years old and sitting in her office while she was busy giving solutions to a whole bunch of crisis. I remember sitting there in my chair with my AT&T pen and pad, thinking my Grandma is "the woman"! She's important. One thing that leaped out at me about my grandma, though, wasn't her gentle way of making you instantly feel comforted. Or the way she made you feel like the most important person alive. It was the conversations I would hear her have on the phone with people from her work or church. She was a minister. She would pray with those people on the phone, talk them through their doubts, and share with them her stories. My grandma went to be with Jesus when I was 16 and I still grieve of my loss of a great woman of Christ. I take joy, though, in having had several good years with one of my earthly hero's.

My mom, is no exception by any means. She is not just another example but THE influence in who I am today. She taught me as just a little girl that I could do anything I set my mind to. She gave me creativity as I would stand beside her while she would reinvent something useless into something useful. I remember some of my favorite times with my mom were the times when she would wash the dishes, yes this was back when dishwashers weren't in every home, and I was be designated dryer. We would stand there and do the dishes together and get into good discussions about all kinds of stuff. Those times taught me things that I use today. What spoke to me mostly, though, weren't the spoken words of wisdom but the times when I would watch her with others at church, the grocery store, and in our home. Both my parents are amazing examples of how to be Christ like. But, my mom is a true example of how to be the Proverbs 31 woman. Something that I always felt was way out of my league to accomplish.

I recently read, and highly recommend, a book entitled, Mama's Got a Fake I.D. How to Reveal the Real You Behind All That Mom by Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira. I love how Caryn describes the woman in Proverbs 31.

"Say what you want about her-but this woman has depth. She is not just accomplished beyond any normal measure of human accomplishment: she's interesting. I daresay someone would meet this Mom of Noble Character at a party and say, "Fascinating! Tell me more!" And while you can tell from reading portions of the Bible that women weren't usually held in the highest of esteem, this passage shows that "noble" women had a lot more than their mom roles going on. Leave it to God to look this deeply into a woman's identity and give us a glimpse of her talent, inteligence, creativity, and impact on the world"

Caryn was right on! I now read about this Noble Mom and want to be like her in every way. I'm also encouraged that God sees the depth of who I am. He sees my identity even when I have to fight to gain that identity myself. It is nice to know that on those days when I look in the mirror and wonder who this woman is staring at me, God sees me. As a woman living in an era of time where woman can do, learn, teach, experience, and taste all that men can do, I have an obligation to my sisters who worked and died for me to be here. I have an obligation, yes, but I also have to have the courage and strength to rise beyond myself and strive to be like the "Mom of Noble Character". I may not accomplish "Mom of the Year" but I will try. Excuse me now, my girls are blowing bubbles and I am going to join them.

Stuff

I have recently gone through all the closets, toy box, shelves, and garage. I hate excess and as an Amercian I refuse to buy into the "I need more stuff" mentality. I will not have a storage unit down the street that holds more STUFF that I will never use. Or a whole garage of knick knacks that I will never make it back into my house. So, I purge my house of all the excess unwanteds every several months. You might ask, "Then why do you waist your money on the stuff you know you will just rid of in a few months?" Well, before you jump to any conclusions, most of this STUFF isn't bought by me. I love grandparents, but they do buy a lot of it. We've recently had very sweet neighbors that have taken it upon themselves to give us their unwanted garage sale finds. JOY! Because I don't want to offend them, I am thankful and take it and then stack it up in the garage. No more, people. Stop buying meaningless stuff. When you shop for your children or grandkids, ask yourself this question: Is it worth the money? Will my child ENJOY it? Will the child get much use out of it? Do they already have 6 babies and need another one? If you answer NO to any of those questions, put it back on the shelf and walk away. My kids are so happy with a new box of crayons and a sketch pad. I don't buy the $2.99 junk in the Target aisle that will just end up in the Goodwill pile in less than 2 months! My husband's grandmother likes to send the girls cards with a little money in each one every few months. It is usually not more than $5 for each. Instead of buying a useless toy that they will play with on the way home and then discard later that day, I am saving the money and will open up each one of the kids a savings account. This money will add up and maybe, just maybe, will help pay for a car one day or college. I want to live life to the fullest and my family and I don't need STUFF to do that.

Power of ME Time

My husband comes home all the time and will talk about who he went to lunch with. Who bought him some Starbucks on a Sunday morning. Who talked about how great of a job he does. And as I am so glad for him and so proud of him, I always think about how great it would be to have a job where you were appreciated. My "clients" after a nice diaper change never look up at me and say, "Wow, thanks for that clean diaper. You do such a good job at that. And by the way, last night when I was crying because I had a bad dream and you rubbed my back while singing me back to sleep, yeah, that meant a lot to me. Thank you." Yes, we all know that being a mom is somewhat of a thankless job, okay not somewhat a TOTAL thankless job. It is, after all, the hardest job on the planet and even though I do love my "job" there is something lacking in my life until recently. It's called ME time.

Recently, I have established some good ME Time. It is on my grocery days. I plan out my menus and only do major shopping twice a month. Usually on pay day, you will find me at the various grocery stores around Beaverton/Hillsboro. But, first I do a little something that makes me smile. I get up early to beat the crowds and head to Starbucks. Because they are on every corner here in the grand metro areas of Portland, there is always one near my grocery stops. I either hit the drive-thru or go in and sit. I sit with my own thoughts. I watch the mom who is trying to keep her little tots entertained in the line while trying to decided which caffeinated beverage will take the edge off. I smile at this sight and say a prayer for her. Then I ignore the entire scene because for that moment of my day, I am alone and my thoughts are begging for some attention. After this breath of fresh air, I proceed with my grande half caf, skinny vanilla latte' in hand to my grocery stop. I leisurely find the items on my list. I pray, I think, I smile, and I walk slowly without having to be creative with entertainment to just get the job done!

As I pull up into my garage and greet my husband and kids. I feel like a better person and a much better mom. It's the power of ME Time! Don't underestimate it.

Zucchini Bread

I've never seen zucchini as big as I've seen it here in Oregon. We have a garden at our church that we give fresh produce to people who need it, want it, or just simply love it. A couple weeks ago they had a table in the foyer giving away zucchini because they had so much of it. These zucchini were literally as big if not bigger than my dog, Angel, who is a Yorkie Poo and weighs 3 lbs. Maybe that's not saying much, but they were huge.

I didn't pick any up that day because our neighbor had already given us quite a lot from his garden. So, today when I found myself feeling like bringing some "Fallness" in the house, I decided to try my hand at zucchini bread. As always, I take a recipe and then make it my own. I found using apple sauce instead of eggs in breads such as this makes a huge difference. It makes them moist and adds so much flavor. You are also eliminating some fat grams!

Zucchini Bread

1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour/whole wheat flour

1 tsp. ground cinnamon, heaping

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 c. sugar

1 c. finely shredded, unpeeled zucchini (which I just blended into small bits instead of shredding)

1/4 c. oil

1/2 c. unsweetened apple sauce

1/4 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel, and squeeze some of the lemon in there too.

1/2 c. chopped nuts (optional)

1. Grease loaf pan, set aside. In a medium bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.

2. In another bowl combine the remaining ingredients and mix together.

3. Add dry mixture to the zucchini mixture. Stir just until moistened, batter will be somewhat lumpy. Fold in nuts.

4. Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack. Eat now or wrap up and store overnight for an even great taste tomorrow! Also, I think would do well to freeze.

ENJOY! I know I did!!

Picture Perfect

When people look at my life they think, "Wow, she's got it made!" At least that is what I think they think. I have a wonderful husband that is very talented, well spoken, and inspiring to be around. We have a great, fun, and exciting marriage. I have two beautiful girls that are, for the most part, well behaved. (unless they are at home, of course) I have another healthy baby on the way. We have a cute (and annoying) dog. Nice place to live. Great family. Love life. Love God. We are the perfect family, right?

I have always said that you never judge a woman's pregnant belly because you never know what she went through to get that perfectly round belly. It is the same with each others lives. We can't judge what we think is the perfect family, first of all because nothing is ever perfect. What you don't see is that Bryan and I have struggled in our marriage in very real and devastating ways a couple years ago. What you don't see is the heart break of losing 3 special babies. What you don't see is the financial bottom we got to 4 years ago. You don't see the scares of losing jobs and literally eating Ramon noodles for dinner for weeks at a time. You don't see the time when we were on food stamps because we knew no other way to feed our newborn baby, Grace. The work, the sweat, the chaos, and the heartbreak that has gone into the last 7 years is something that if you asked me, "Would you do it all over again?" I would tell you for absolute sure, "YES!" I would go through it all.

The family you see now, the love that my husband and I have, the perfect little girls, the little round belly that is starting to form on me comes from one place. Every good thing in our life comes from a place that we would never know if it had not been for those deep, dark vallies we encountered a long our journey. It is our faith, our trust, our obedience to God that we find ourselves living on the mountain. Not to say that our life is in any way perfect. And if tomorrow we hit a deep, dark valley again we will lift our heads up to the sky and know where our help comes from. We will know that God has never left us yet, and he sure doesn't plan on starting now!

There is something profound about being happy for those who are being blessed when you find yourself in the valley. Just like there is something profound while standing on the mountain and reaching down to help those in the valley.

Revolutionary Love

This blog as been mulling over and over in my mind over the last 2 weeks. I have been hesitant about writing it because of the uncertainty of committing myself, getting out of my comfort zone, and pretty much laying my heart out there for all to see. I was confronted with the issue yet again this morning in church.

Let me backtrack about 11 years before now and tell you something about myself. Before Bryan and I even met, I decided to give up on dating and the whole marriage thought. I was prepared to embark on my own journey and wasn't quite sure where that was going to lead me but I knew it was going to involve changing the world. I had completely surrendered myself to God and was ready to be the next Mother Teresa. I think God must have known me better than that and put my path align with Bryan's path and well, here we are almost 10 years later with 2 kids, another on the way, living in Portland, Oregon. Amazing plan that God had for my life, but I don't think that it ends here. In fact, my dream of changing the world has never left me. I have visions, dreams, and ambitions to revolutionize this world, my neighborhood, my town, and my country for Christ. It is only through Him, that I know LIFE and life more abundant. I want everyone to know of this Creator of their souls.

Fast forward to today where in Aloha, Oregon I sat on the far right side of the sanctuary of Life Church while our pastor, Werner, spoke on something near and dear to my heart. The poor. He gave some statistics from a book that I have yet to read but is on my list, Jesus Wants to Save Christians, A Manifesto for the Church in Exile by Rob Bell. He talked about our OVER-consumption of simple things that we take completely for granted such as clean water, food, shelter, and disposable diapers. I sat thinking, "God how can I change the world? How can me, a stay at home mom that never really gets out much, change my world for you?" Then it hit me. We support one missionary on her way to India but that isn't enough. I can't go to India, as much as I would LOVE to one day, but I can support a dear friend in her journey. But, I need to do more. Being a stay at home mom with no income of my own, I have to get creative. It was like God whispered an idea into my head and heart......going diaperless? WHAT? GOD? ARE YOU SERIOUS? We have another baby on the way and if I switch to cloth diapers how much money will that be? Well, just a quick add in my head tells me that that that is about $40 a month and add that up to approximately over the course of 2 years equals a whopping $960 and that is being very conservative. Not to mention that the usage of diapers usually lasts over 2 years and I will probably have 2 children in diapers at the same time for awhile. What would $960 do for a missionary, a family in need, a country in Africa, a child without food or clean water? That amount of money could put several students through Bible School in the Republic of Georgia where you are not only impacting that students life but whole villages for Christ! That is only the beginning of what I can do as a meager stay at home mom without any income! Sure, I'll be giving up my own convenience, but what about God's call? What about changing the world? Well, I will do it one cloth diaper at a time!!

The Thompson family has committed the next 2 years to be givers. We are canceling cable, giving up diapers, and eating at home more. All the money we would normally spend on these things will not be sitting in our bank account. It will be going into a giving fund where we will give, give, give to those in need. We believe through our commitment for the next 24 months, God is going to revolutionize our lives as revolutionize our world!

Moment by Moment

Friday I had my first OB appointment. Bryan was going to go with me but when you have 2 small children that wouldn't last 3 minutes sitting still or being quiet in a doctor's office, you do what you have to do. I got in the car and the worry starting overtaking me. This isn't just my 3rd baby, this is my 6th pregnancy. WOW. To even say that makes my heart stop a little. On my way to the doctor's office my mind went back to the time I was sitting in Dr. Collins office in Bartlesville, OK with a 19 week pregnant belly only to discover that the baby inside that belly had passed away. Or the time I was 9 weeks pregnant and had an ultrasound but found no heartbeat. Or the time I ended up in the ER at 7 weeks because of hemorrhaging. When that happens to you, you know that just about anything can happen. It may not be the greatest way of looking at things, but let's face it, I'm a pretty honest person. The emotion and the fear began to overtake me when I gripped the steering wheel in tears and said, "Okay, God, it's just you and me again. Walk me through this. Hold my hand. Don't leave me for a second. And not matter what that ultrasound monitor tells me, I know that you and I will walk out of there together!" I didn't hear, "Yes, Kristin. You are right!" from God. But, I did feel a peace and a slight wind went through my car that made me smile. I wasn't alone and I knew it.

It always takes me so much longer than most "average" pregnant women in there. My history is pretty long and extensive. When you've been pregnant 6 times, with only 2 living, blood transfusions.....the conversations can get pretty lengthy. My NP put me right at ease and I was instantly comfortable with her. She was pleasant, real, and not at all in a hurry to just get done with me. She seemed very concerned about everything I was saying and at one point looked at me with very caring eyes and said, "YOU have been through it, haven't you?" I love it when medical professionals open this door. Then I get, "What did you name your 2 girls?" Then I proceed to tell them about the GRACE and HOPE that only Christ gives and how I would have never made it through any of those things without his spirit in my life. She simply smiled but didn't say anything. I wasn't sure if she believed or if she was a skeptic, but I almost sensed that maybe she was a little of both.

After reviewing my long history, I laid down on the table and she proceeded to perform the ultrasound. I have a love-hate relationship with ultrasounds. So much bad news has followed an ultrasound but also the good news of "It's a girl" TWICE has happened after an ultrasound. Thus, my love hate relationship. We're working through it, though. This time was no different. I've seen enough of these blurry screens to know what I'm looking at most of the time. Instantly I saw what I was looking for without her even saying anything. The heart beat was beating steadily and swiftly, at which point I saw a tiny arm extend. Then I smiled. All the worry, fear, and anxiety about even having a 3rd baby simply washed away. The only thought in my head was, "I'm having another baby!" Truly is still quite surreal to me. Something that I take in only moment to moment right now as I'm still battling horrible nausea and part of my body that are so sore I want to scream. (yeah, you women who've been pregnant know what I'm talking about) Moment by moment is really all we have. And all I can take in right now. If I get too far ahead of myself I start to hyperventilate and worry creeps in. SO, this moment I'm just thankful for a healthy baby, healthy baby environment, and healthy nausea. I won't think about what life will be like with 3 kids. How in the world we are going to get Hope transitioned over into a big bed. Starting to potty train her. Getting clothes for 3 kids. Shoes. Socks. Hope adjusting to not being the baby. Her throwing fits that won't quit. Grace starting school. NOPE, I'm just not going to go there.