Lately

So, it feels like it's been a million years since I've posted. I think it's actually only been a couple of weeks.

Here's what we've been doing:

1. Ben's awesome sister and her FIVE kids (ages 6 and under) came and we got to hang out with them almost every day. His parents are awesome and welcomed us and our four extra mouths for any meal we could join. Levi loved holding his brand new cousin Ruth (3 weeks old).
2. We made and delivered Christmas cookies to a few of our neighbors. The kids loved singing Christmas carols (Jingle Bells including verse) and I loved it too.
3. Ben got the flu on Christmas Day. Thankfully we had already celebrated Christmas so he didn't miss anything.
4. We were snowed in and then lost power. I became the rugged pioneer woman and got logs for our fire, cooked food over the fire and kept babies warm while Ben was sick on the couch. I have no idea how many times he broke fever in those four days, but it was pretty awful.
5. Ben's parents (who regained power before we did) took us and about half their church in. It was really cool to get to hang out with them.
6. We relocated to my parents house with my side of the family coming in town. It wasn't until Saturday afternoon that we regained power. Total days out of electricity: Four.
7. Celebrated Christmas with my side of the family. I got awesome videos of the kids doing cute things. And then I accidentally deleted them. And then I sunk into a deep pit of despair. Lesson learned: download videos from camera as soon as the event is over.
8. Both kids got sick. We ended up in the Dr's office on Thursday. Turns out Aria had a double ear infection (so that's why she was acting so crazy! Stupid parent moments...) One night out of the sickness kids woke me up about every two hours. In all honesty, the Lord really sustained me through it. Some days I would think to myself, "I shouldn't even have the energy to be walking around right now, but for some reason I do."
9. Aria got on an antibiotic for the first time. This is the worst yeast rash I have seen yet. And believe me I've seen a lot of rashes. It's kind of like trading one problem for another...
10. I decided to start intensely reading the Bible at any spare time. During nap times primarily. I have a goal of trying to read it in 90 days. I don't think I will complete it that quickly, but I am hoping I will finish close to that. It's been good to get a more sweeping view of the Word. I used to only read a little at a time and then meditate on it, so this has been a good challenge.

Tomorrow is Aria's birthday. I can't believe it's been a year...