Mon-27-Oct-2008 - A Little Girl for a Nickel . . . .
We drove around town looking for garage sales Saturday. We only found a couple, but I found a really cute little step stool at one.
I’m standing there, waiting to pay my dollar, and this young woman holding a little girls says:
“Would you like to buy a child?”
I totally wasn’t prepared for such a comment. Honestly, my mind raced. Really?
The mom continued, seeming so earnest it was hard to take her for anything but serious: “I’ll give her to you for a nickel.”
My first thought was honestly, I have a nickel! And secondly, Jonathan wouldn’t mind. Any child is worth more than a nickel! Last of all, surely she isn’t serious!
“She’s really cute,” I said.
“Oh, you’d bring her back in 10 minutes,” the mom snorted. “You’d be like here, I don’t want her!”
I smiled and rubbed my stomach. “I wouldn’t be so sure. This will be my third under the age of three come January.”
“Good ---!”
Yeah, she thought I was crazy. So I said something about how much we love our boys and I looked at this adorable little girl and said “But we don’t have a little girl yet!”
“Well, she’s fine until she’s teething. Then it’s like ‘Go to sleep! Go to sleep!’” the woman explained in a screech. The little girl looked calmly at me from her mother’s arms as they walked away.
Jonathan told me I should have told her both our boys were teething last week so she would fit right in!
We wandered by an auction, where a huge, beautiful table sold for $7.50. We watched the house sell for $1,500 . . . it was crazy. The woman who is going to be moving to an assisted-living home was sitting on the front porch, watching it all unfold.
Jonathan approached her to ask about what was going to happen to the contents of the house. She said she was taking it with her. “Oh,” he told her, “You have some lovely lamps.”
“Lamps?”
“Oil lamps,” I explained, starting to turn away.
She brightened visibly. “Are you interested in them?”
We stood there and talked to her about oil lamps and the auction and her house and heard about how neither of her sons could be there to help her. She told us our boys seemed well behaved. She looked at me, and I could see memories tugging at her.
“Unless it’s dangerous . . . or really obscene . . . they'll be okay. Enjoy your little ones.”
And her eyes welled up and she tried not to cry as we stood there, and I wondered what it will be like to be old and have nothing but memories of when my children are little. She reached up under her glasses to wipe an escaping tear.
Jonathan said that we need to buy a lamp from her, she was so nice and old and alone. She wants us to call her in a week and she will let us look at the lamps she has left. She only wants to keep her grandparent's lamp. She has so many! Some were very neat.
"Bring your little boys" she told me, "And I'll give you a better deal."
As we go everywhere together, I told her we would.
I told Jonthan that I just love oil lamps. I warned him that some day we may have a housefull of them! He grinned and me and said he didn't care. Perhaps because I only have three right now, so a "housefull" may be a slight exageration! lol
I'm in the third trimester now. Month Seven! Part of me is nervous . . . I'm scared that this baby might come early like Elijah did last time. Part of me is taking comfort in the fact that this baby is riding quite high. Everything about this child points to s/he being strong and healthy, but I still worry about this one in a way I didn't worry about Elijah.
I'm cleaning up my diet even more. These next 8 weeks to get to full-term feel so important! I'm craving fruit this week, and so I bought some good quality fruit for the days ahead. I'm drinking milk. I'm eating my protien. I'm careful to drink enough water so that I don't bring on extra Braxton Hicks . . . .
I hope everyone has a great Monday! And if you see a young woman with a little girl that she's offering for a nickel, tell her I asked my husband and he said she'll fit right in! 
~Ashley~
Note: For everyone who has so kindly asked, we won't know until the baby's birthday if baby is a boy or girl. We have names picked out for both, and enough boy/girl clothing to see us through the first few months ... we enjoy the suspense and eager anticipation of not knowing that builds up as we get closer to meeting this precious child. Thanks for asking! 
~A~
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Mon-20-Oct-2008 - The Logistics Of The Exodus
So, just because I find the state of the economy an adventurous thing, doesn't mean some aren't feeling something more akin to a mild state of panic. I found this on a blog today, and I'm posting it here. While being married to an engineer I'd love to know what figures this is coming off of to know just how accurate it is . . . I think we often err in down-playing the awesome power of our God.
Is He not our Father? Does a Father not care for His Children?
Enjoy,
~Ashley~
The Logistics Of The Exodus
*I got this in an e-mail, it's pretty cool*
Exodus 12:37-38 The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. Many other people went up with them, as well as large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.
Moses and the people were in the desert, but what was he going to do with them? They had to be fed, and feeding 2 to 3 million people requires a lot of food.
The people needed 2,000 tons -- four million pounds -- of food each day.
To bring that much food each day, would require three freight trains each a mile long!
In the desert they needed firewood to cook and keep warm. Each day this would take 4,000 tons -- eight million pounds -- of wood and a few more freight trains, each a mile long.
Of course, they needed water. If they only had enough to drink and wash a few dishes, it would take 11 million gallons each day, and a freight train with tank cars 1,800 miles long, just to bring water!
And then another thing: They had to get across the Red Sea in one night. If they went on a narrow path, double file, the line would be 800 miles long and would require 35 days and nights to get through.
So, there had to be an opening in the Red Sea, 3 miles long so that they could walk 5,000 abreast to get over in one night.
Each time they camped at the end of the day, they needed a campground two-thirds the size of the State of Rhode Island, about 750 square miles.
They journeyed in the desert forty years.
Do you think Moses worked all this out before he left Egypt?
Moses put his trust in God.
God handled things every day for 40 years.
If you think God can't handle your problems . . .
THINK AGAIN!
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Thu-27-Mar-2008 - Miss Annabelle
Aka the little girl that was born in my living room.
Okay, a few of you read about the "company" we had in a previous entry. Some even saw pictures. Then, I got a commenter that said I had to explain about the baby that was born in my living room.
From about Feb the 27th or so (I'd have to go check my journal for the dates) until Easter Sunday we had my dear friend Sarah and her 20mo CJ staying with us. Mrs. S---- came to our house to use our midwife to have her second child.
Anyone remember this lovely young woman?
What most of you probably didn't notice is that she is 9 months pregnant.
I was there for the birth. It was . . . . so very wonderful! I wish I had words to express A) my gratitude to dear Sarah for letting me a part of it B) my admiration of our midwife and C) the incredibly wonderment of what God has made us capable of.
It was the most beautiful and the most agnozing thing I have ever seen - and I've done it twice. I was breathless to be on the other side, to be witnessing it instead of partaking in it. I empathized so deeply with her as she labored for multiple hours. God was there, giving her just what she needed, just as much strength as she needed. Chills ran up my spine when she called on God to be with her and to deliver her . . . .
I cannot speak more highly of my midwife. She turned my house into a hospital ward in minutes and we sat there and visited and helped Sarah as she endured suffering, waiting for the moment of her delieverance.
Sarah, Annabelle and CJ
I took notes with Elijah on my lap, recording all sorts of details such as when Sarah was complete and when the baby crowned. I was standing there with one hand pressed to my mouth in shock when I realized it was a girl, and I was in tears as I listened to Sarah's suprised, stunned voice:
"It's, it's a girl. A girl. I can't believe it . . . it's a girl! Hello, Annabelle."
Annabelle the next morning:
The whole S---- family. CJ was with my Jay and Samuel with grandparents and Sarah's dh was holding her hand the entire time.
Annabelle Elisabeth was 8 pounds even, 20.5 inches long and beautiful from the very beginning.
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