A Good Day

This day was characterized by nothing in particular, except that it was good. It couldn't help that we started the day with the little secret we had sent out to our family and friends via e-mail the night before, and we secretly awaited their suprised responses. Finding out last night that we were pregnant with our third child seemed almost surreal.......then waking up remembering that there is now a child growing inside of me! The baby won't be here for nine months, yet how quickly that time goes. I can't help but wonder, what will the little child be like? What personality and characteristics are even now developing? It was fun to see Caleb and Emet get caught up in our excitement about a new baby. One minute they were hopping around in excitment, holding the pregnancy test for the picture - the next Caleb declared he did not want a new baby. Well, it's a little late now! He asked the other day (before we knew we were pregnant), "What would we name a new baby?" Both he and Emet like to cuddle with baby Caleb, 4 months, from our Bible study. He is a mystery to them. Funny, but I wonder sometimes if Caleb even remembers when Emet was a tiny baby, or if what he is now blends in his mind to create the past? That happens to me too. I try to think back to when Caleb was a baby or even Emet's age, and I have a hard time separating the present from the past. I simply cannot remember. I remember little things here and there - or particular events, but not the general, daily personality. I don't seem to have a recording in my brain to pull from.

Our friend Julia is pregnant as well. Their baby is due October 20th -ours October 29, exactly 5 days from Emet's birthday (October 25) and 5 days from Caleb's birthday (November 2). Given that Caleb was 2 weeks late and induced.....and Emet was 5 weeks early, I guess there is little guessing when this baby will actually be born, but it is likely that it will be October or November.

The reader must wonder if we are planning this only to save money and time on years of birthday parties? I guess we'll take that one year at a time....but so far the Ordway Family Birthday Gala has gone pretty well! :-)

We had a bonfire tonight on "the other side", as we call it. What started with three couples and our friend Randy plus 5 children between us all (not including the buns in the oven), ended with Jason, Randy, and myself (boys now sleeping soundly in their little beds) talking by the fire about politics, relationships, and life in general. It's amazing how something as small as standing around a fire, can draw us together and relax us enough to be able to open up and talk. No one would probably stand around in a circle staring at the grass and share such deep conversation. Yet, there we stood, coffee mugs in hand, waving away the smoke and discussing life. I sit here on the couch, Jason now up rocking Emet who awoke crying, smelling like camfire, staring at our own flaming woodstove, and typing in this blog.

Our land,1.7 acres, long and narrow is divided by a stream. We are right on a busy country road - a long, straight 50mph stretch in which cars often go much faster. That used to bother me to no end. However, I am truly coming to feel settled here, on our place in the country. The land around us is open, and we have beautiful, pastoral views. Our small country home is cozy and warm (many thanks to our new woodstove), and there is alot of potential to what we can do to both our land, our buildings and our little house, even if we have to fight with the carpenter ants to do so. I am content, and there is great peace in that. That took a while in coming, for though I was trying to be content, I guess I always sort of wished my house were not the house it is.....I wished our land was in another spot. I wished the traffic were not so busy and loud. I was always looking forward to what lay ahead, the next place we might call home, never allowing my heart to settle here. I guess what I am saying is that I still look forward to what God has for us, as a couple, and as a family. We still have a dream of having alot of land and a big house to share with those in need of rest or relaxation. However, in the meantime, God has us here. We are called to share what we have now - right here, and make it into as much of a place of warmth, relaxation, and solace as we can.....a lighthouse for those who enter. What I'm learning is - it probably doesn't have as much to do with the location, the landscaping. the space, or the interior design as I once thought.