30 weeks

I thought everyone might be ready for an updated shot of me and little buddy! :) It's hard to believe we're already this far along! He'll be here before we know it! He is about 15.5 inches long and weighs almost 3 pounds! We are so grateful for this gift from God! Thank you for your continued prayers for our health and safety.

"My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." Ps. 139:15-16

I'm not from here

Overall, I would say that our transition to CNY has been a smooth one - we've found our way around the city pretty easily (with kudos to Jack the GPS), we've been overwhelmed at the warm welcome and extension of hospitality by the church we've been visiting, and we've found the people here to be much friendlier than we southerners sometimes stereotype "northerners" to be (i.e. people smile and nod when you pass them on the walking path at the park). However, there is occasionally a situation which arises that reminds me that indeed, "I'm not from here" (preceding phrase to be read throughout this post with an exaggerated Southern accent :)

This week's situation went as follows:

Will has been working extra hard on a project at work and I thought he deserved, in honor of his faithful efforts, a french silk pie, which is one of his favorite desserts and for which I have an excellent recipe. So, on Monday, I went to the grocery to pick up the one ingredient I was missing - marshmallow creme, which everyone knows is located on the baking supplies aisle adjacent to the marshmallows themselves (a location which is most fitting and logical in my humble estimation). Upon arriving on the baking supplies aisle, however, I was mystified to find no marshmallow creme at all! There were the chocolate chips, the brownie mixes, the spices, sprinkles, and marshmallows, but not even an empty space for the marshmallow creme. Since, as previously mentioned, I find the location on the baking aisle to be a supremely logical place for this pantry staple, I could think of no other place in the store to even begin looking, and thus was forced to ask one of the helpful employees for assistance...

"Excuse me, could you tell me where the marshmallow creme is?"

After a thoughtful pause, the response was, "Do you mean marshmallow fluff?"

Not quite knowing how to respond, I replied with "Umm, well, I'm not from here and I don't know what yall call it, but sure, can you tell me where that is?"

(At this point, in the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I did knowingly and intentionally use the contraction "yall" in order to emphasize my plight and the extent to which I am certainly "not from here.")

At this point, the helpful employee led me to the peanut butter and jelly aisle and picked up a jar right next to the peanut butter labeled "Marshmallow Fluff." Slightly suspicious at first, I closely examined the jar and found, to my great surprise, a recipe for easy fudge on the back.

"Is that what you were looking for?"

"Well, you can make fudge out of it, so I guess so! Thanks!"


So, to all my Southern friends, I am now living in a land where marshmallow creme suffers under the misnomer "fluff" and is forced to reside next to the peanut butter instead of in its rightful place (lets all say it together...) BY THE MARSHMALLOWS!

PS: For anyone who's interested, the pie turned out fine! Here's a picture to prove it:

Bouquets of Sharpened Pencils

Does anyone else remember that line from "You've Got Mail" when Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are corresponding anonymously by email about their love of office supplies? I guess i've seen the movie too many times, but I love that part - because I can relate...

In my former life as a "professional," I constantly had a wide array of office supplies at my fingertips - a circumstance which I took completely for granted. At any moment, I could reach for any size or color of post-its, notepads, folders, binders, and other such organizing tools and systems.

Since transitioning to my role as homemaker (which I am completely enjoying, but still figuring out), I have found myself mysteriously drawn to the office supply aisle whenever I go to Walmart, Target, or even the grocery store, where my logical self says that such supplies are far overpriced, but my little heart yearns to pick up a pack of pens or sticky notes. Today was such a day - I happened to need light bulbs while at the grocery which sent me directly in front of cute little temptations like pink-and-brown striped notebooks and multi-color packs of sharpies. As I was standing there debating over whether to spend $4.99 on some unneeded ("but so handy") file folders, the whole above-detailed train of thought struck me. My, how my life has changed in so short a time, and I find these vestiges of my old life straining for some expression in the new...

Which, I think, is what has also given the motivation for this blog. In my old life, I drafted and edited constantly - emails, letters, proposals, etc., countless such correspondence and documents over the past 6 years of my professional life at Union - and before that, essays, and articles and papers for my academic pursuits. In short, I think i'm just in the habit of writing (and, to tie this stream of consciousness back to the beginning, purchasing office supplies :)

So, to whoever has persevered in reading to the end of this post, thanks for being the subjects of this creative outlet, and thanks in advance to my husband who may have to add a small line item our budget for the occasional purchase of some post-its.

Pratts Falls

This past Saturday, we took advantage of a few hours when it wasn't raining and went to Pratt's Falls, a beautiful park just 30 minutes away. It reminded us a lot of the Smokey Mountains and we're both still amazed that there are beautiful places like this so close to home. No offense to dear old Jackson, but natural beauty seemed a little harder to come by there. But then there's also the possibility that being in a new place makes us pay attention to what's around us and appreciate it rather than being so absorbed in the minutiae of life.

As we were standing and enjoying the view of the falls, it struck me that just a few weeks ago, we were visiting Niagara Falls. Though the two places are so very different, they are both, in the end, simply scenes of water falling over rocks. Simple, yet so beautiful! What an amazing Creator God we have! And if He has made everything that we see around us - and made it not just functional but beautiful - how can I but trust Him with every detail of my life?

"By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness,
O God of our salvation,
the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas;
the one who by his strength established the mountains
being girded with might;
who stills the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples,
so that those who dwell at the ends of
the earth are in awe at your signs.
You make the going out of the morning
and the evening to shout for joy."

Psalm 65:5-8

Not Home Yet

I've noticed that every few days, as I'm going about the daily-ness of life - folding laundry, grocery shopping, arguing with Jack the GPS about the best way to get where we're going - that I am suddenly caught by a strong wind of emotion which I can only put into words this way: "I want to go HOME!"

Since I am mostly happy here in CNY (Central New York), I've been unsure where this feeling was coming from or the reason for its strength and random timing. Is it the natural grief process of leaving the people we love and the places which were so familiar? Is it those crazy pregnant hormones? Is it the enemy trying to distract me from the work God wants to do with us here? I'm thinking that it's probably a combination of all those.

However, it has gotten me thinking though about the whole idea of home, and that fact that "this world is not our home" - a profound truth that I think we often take for granted. I've realized that this longing I have for "home," while legitimate in a certain sense, must be always framed in this truth. The longing to feel comfortable, loved, surrounded by a familiar and reassuring presence, will only be ultimately met in our eternal home with Jesus. This void I feel, while painful, can be a powerful reminder that instead of looking to people (or familiar landmarks for that matter) to meet my needs, I must look to my Savior! When we feel that wonderful sense of "home," we can praise the Lord for what is, literally I believe, a taste of heaven! But when we find ourselves surrounded by the strange and unfamiliar, we can look to our Heavenly Father who has promised us an eternal home with Him in Glory. Hallelujah! Come, Lord Jesus!

"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am there you may be also." John 14:1-3

Niagara Pictures

At long last, here are some pictures of our day at Niagara Falls a few weeks ago! The waterproof disposable camera didn't take the best pictures ever, but we were glad we had it ...

Here we are on the Maid of the Mist Boat tour (so, for those who haven't been, we're on a boat at the base of the falls getting soaked by the mist blowing off the water - woohoo! and I only got a little seasick towards the end. :)


Here we are on the Cave of the Winds walking tour - we were most grateful for the little ponchos that were included with each of the tours!

Will, being the brave one in our family, made it all the way up to the "Hurricane Deck" only 20 feet from the waterfall itself - he could barely wave for the wind blowing his poncho up over his head. As for me, someone had to be available to get the picture!

It was an absolutely beautiful day!

Happy Independence Day!

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend! Here we are at the Syracuse Symphony concert and fireworks show. Since the temperature was around 50 degrees, it was my first Fourth of July ever to be celebrated in fleece and drinking hot chocolate! Kinda weird, but fun too!

Also, for dinner before the concert we made burgers and some potatoes that were kindof a cross between potato skins and twice-baked potatoes. With plenty of sour cream, cheese, and bacon in the recipe, how could they go wrong? But they turned out so beautifully yummy, I just had to share...my mouth is watering just looking at the picture! :)

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

We've seen groundhogs out in parks and such all weekend! (Picture above is from the park at Onondaga Lake). At first we didn't know what in the world they were (some kind of strange northern woodland creature??), so it required a little bit of internet research - what would we do without Google?

"The groundhog (Marmota monax), also known as woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots." Thank you Wikipedia! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog)

Good Friends

Meah and Evie are visiting us this weekend and its been so good to spend time with good friends! On Friday morning, we made an awesome breakfast - pancakes, bacon, eggs, and fruit salad. It was our first real meal at our dining table with our first houseguests! (see the red curtains that Will hung for me? yay!)


Today, we walked around downtown Syracuse, and enjoyed the gorgeous day - 68 degrees with a beautiful blue sky.

We also visited the campus of Syracuse University with its old, stately buildings

and went down to Onondaga Lake...

Meah and Evie were the smart New Englanders and brought their sweaters for the chilly breeze. Will and I are learning quickly! :)

We are looking forward to the Syracuse Symphony and fireworks tonight!

28 is awful close to 30! :)

Thank you so much to everyone who sent birthday cards, emails, e-cards, and facebook messages yesterday! On a day when it was easy for me to have a pity party about being lonely up here in "the North," it was truly encouraging to hear from so many friends and family.

My birthday was good - I took myself to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast after Will went to work (the apple fritter wasn't quite as good as the dearly departed Highland Park Bakery, but still quite good), and then we went to Uno's for dinner for some yummy deep dish pizza (see picture above - it looks like the waitress purposefully placed the "Uno" logo in the foreground doesn't it?). I went to Target during the day and used some birthday money to get a few curtains in a beautiful rich red for the kitchen and dining area - pictures coming soon.