Sticky Fingers and Kisses

It's been one of those mornings. No, not the bad kind. The ones where you can't help count all of the wonderful blessings in your life. Most of my blessings have come from being a wife and a mom. As Bruce is out on the job search once again, I think of my own work career. At times, when I watch us struggle, I wonder if we did the right thing in deciding to make me a stay at home mom. Then I have days like today and I remember some lessons learned.

I learned that sticky kisses from a little boy are the best form of payment. Especially when accompanied by "Love you, Mamma." I learned that the sound of a little boys laugh is far better than season tickets to the symphony. I learned that cleaning up splashes from bath time are worth it when I get to tell my husband how our little boy learned to use the rubber ducky to spray water at Mamma. I've learned that the closest I feel to heaven is when I listen to my little boy say his nightly prayers. Most of the words aren't discernible to the non-Mommy ear, but he says them with such sincerity, it makes my heart ache with the wonder of it all. I've learned that watching your child sleep seems creepy until you're a mom. For mom's, its a time at the end of the day when everything is over and you can just smile down at them and remember how very blessed you are. I learned that listening to my husband sing a song to a sleepless child makes me fall in love with him all over again. I've learned to love the sound of a little boy pretending to be a dragon and that any toy can be used to aim at something and say "Bang Bang." I learned that holding hands with my husband means a little boy wants to hold hands too. I've learned that cuddle time will always mean more to me than any job and that living frugally is hard, but worth it when I get to be home with this amazing child that Heavenly Father has blessed me with. I am so thankful for the blessing of being a mom. I am thankful for our growing family and for the new little one that will be joining us in the next month. I am so thankful that life has delivered us so many surprises and that at the end of the day, the only things that really matter are kneeling right beside me for family prayer.

Weekend of Crafting

So, I have been needing a crafting fix for sometime. I am still working on a couple of projects, but I finished some fun things that I love. It has been so much fun. I got to work on the wood stuff today with my sister Cheree. They turned out super cute!

I also decided, based several different ideas that I liked, to make some burp clothes and bibs for shower presents. This picture isn't necessarily wonderful, but I did a cute little lacy border around the edge. Thanks to Adriane for teaching me how to do this particular pattern. I love it!

Cookie making has been my downfall for the last couple of years and I got to try out a great new recipe. The recipe is courtesy of pinterest and is super easy to make. I added butterscotch chips to the recipe because Bruce loves butterscotch. When you bite into these awesome bar cookies, it makes your whole mouth happy. So I thought I would share this recipe with you. To find some more awesome recipes from the lady who came up with this, visit: http://musingsfromasahm.com.

Ingredients
1/2 c butter, softened
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sale
1 c white chocolate chips
1 c semi sweet chocolate chips
1 to 1.5 c toffee bits

Cream the butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs and vanilla; mix in well. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips (all kinds) and the toffee bits. Spoon into a greased 9X13 inch pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle with the remaining toffee bits. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until the top begins to crack and is golden brown. cool on a wire rack and cut into bars.

I'm also working on a couple of other projects that hopefully will be finished this week. Then I can post the pictures!! I already made one and sent it to my cute sister Christi for a housewarming gift. I can't wait to see it in her cute new home. We are so excited for Christi and her husband Aaron.

We have five weeks until I am due to have our new little girl. We are so not prepared, but are very excited to have her be a part of our family. Bruce is such a good dad to G, but it will be interesting to see him with a little girl. In other exciting news, Bruce got another long term sub job that will continue through the end of the school year. What a blessing for our little family! The time is rapidly approaching for new teaching contract positions, so the search starts again. We appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers that family and friends have sent our way. Please keep it up! We are ready to move on to the next phase of our life. Despite that, I am learning to appreciate this trial. Bruce has proven himself to be such a hard worker. I am amazed every day by his willingness to work this hard so that I can be a stay at home mom. He is such a good man. I cannot help thank my Heavenly Father every day for bringing him into my life. I love you, Bruce! It has also shown us that we are capable of surviving on a lot less than we thought. We are so grateful for my parents for letting us stay in their house for so long. While we are grateful, we are hoping that the end of this trial (soon, we hope!) will mean that we can be back in our own place.

February

Valentines was one of my favorite holidays as a kid. It was when you got to make a fun valentines box for all of the valentines at school. I always wanted to win the competition and even managed to win one year. Plus, I had a dad who gave all of his girls a valentine. I would look forward to that every year. What a fun Valentines Day we had at our house. Or at least, what a fun day Mom had thanks to Dad. Bruce went all out for Valentines. He arranged for my wonderful in-laws to watch Gideon and then we went and picked up food from Olive Garden. He then took me to a local park pavilion, where he had candles set up and sparkling cider set out for us. He even made a special playlist for Valentines that had all of my favorite songs. Bruce doesn't enjoy dancing, but I got to dance a couple of songs with my sweetheart before it got too cold to keep up the dancing. Even though it was super cold outside, it was one of the most romantic nights we've had. It was such a surprise.

Our second pregnancy is coming along nicely. We are having a baby girl and the countdown is now less than eight weeks. Now comes the phase of waddling! Gideon obviously doesn't completely understand why mom's belly is growing, but it is still fun. Whenever we ask where the baby is, he comes up and kisses my belly. He is going to be such a fun big brother! He is such a joy to watch grow and develop. He is starting to talk and it is so much easier now that he can tell me things. My favorite is when he tells me he wants "Lenonade". It makes both of us laugh. This last weekend, he got a new big boy bed. We aren't quite at the point of sleeping in it at night, but he does climb into it for bed time. We are hoping that by next weekend, we can get him to start to sleep in it. We wanted to have some time to take down the crib before we reset it up. That way, the crib can be the baby's instead of his.

Bruce is still looking for a full time teaching job. He has gotten quite a few substitute teaching jobs and is still working every night at the pizza place. While this has been a blessing, I am ready to have Dad be home more. He is such a hard worker. I am always amazed when I realize that most nights he is getting less than six hours of sleep just so we can survive. Gideon really misses his Daddy, though. I can always tell when it has been too many days of not seeing his Dad. He will cry for almost no reason. Half an hour a day of seeing Daddy just isn't enough. But we really appreciate all of Bruce's hard work for our little family. We know that someday, this will be one of those times we look back on and say "Look what we accomplished" and it will be a great learning experience. Until then, we will just keep going.

Calling all Miracles

We are having a rough day at our house. I have tried to keep our blog happy, hence why we haven't had any posts for a while. I have held the opinion "If you can't say something nice..." but we are feeling lost right now and since the only people who follow our blog is family, I figured it was okay to share.

Bruce had an interview on Wednesday for a teaching position. He felt so good about the interview and we were finally feeling optimistic that things would change for the good. It would have provided us with insurance in time for our little girl to be born. It would have put us in a position to get out of debt (which we have accumulated more of since being out of work for nearly a year). It would have answered our questions on what to do. But this morning, he received a phone call telling him that they had chosen someone else. He is very discouraged. I am very discouraged. We don't really know what to do at this point.

We felt so strongly in March that we were making the right decision with me being a stay at home mom. It really honestly felt like that was what we were supposed to do. We felt the same way when we found out we were pregnant. It wasn't the best circumstances, but we believed that Heavenly Father would take care of us. Nine months sounds like forever and we figured that Bruce would most assuredly have a job by then. We are now nearing the deadline for him to get a job with the wonderful 90 day waiting period that most jobs have for insurance. And there is nothing in sight. Part of the problem is that my going back to work now is a little harder. Who is going to hire a woman who is almost six months pregnant? I really don't want to go back to work, either. I feel like that is giving up on what we felt was right. So what do we do?

How do you maintain your faith when it feels like nothing is happening in the way you need it to? We keep getting blessing that just tell us to be patient and faithful, but how long can we do that? Bruce is at the end of his rope and is honestly thinking of giving up his dream of teaching. I hate to see him do that because he is so wonderful at it and I feel like that is what he should do. At what point, though, do we face the reality that this isn't working for us?

I guess I need some faith affirming miracles in our life. We have such a sweet little boy and we want our family to continue to grow and develop. That is extremely hard, though, when we are living with family because we can't afford housing right now. It is even harder to develop our own family traditions and practices when you are living with other people. We are ready for our miracle. We are in desperate need of our miracle.

Enough of the negative. No more complaining. I know that compared to a lot of people, we are so lucky. I just have to keep reminding myself of that.

Year End 2011

So, we haven't updated our blog in a while. I thought it might be time now, with Christmas just past and the end of the year around the corner. We had a wonderful Christmas this year. It is so much fun now that our little man is big enough to really enjoy it. We are so thankful for our wonderful friends and family that made it such a special day. We had a couple of surprises this holiday season. Early in the season one night we received a gift card from an anonymous neighbor, which really helped with some of the holiday expenses. Then, on Christmas Eve, we received another package. Inside it was a little gift for Gideon and stuff for Mom and Dad. What a special thing to feel that loved, especially when Bruce is still unemployed.

Our other exciting news is that we are expecting a little girl in April. We are excited to have her join our family. It is a little bit stressful to be facing this without a job, but we know that Heavenly Father will help us in this wonderful opportunity. Gideon will be such a great big brother and Daddy is excited to have a little girl to spoil!

The Legacy Left Behind

I have often thought about what kind of legacy I want to leave behind. This question has come more to my mind these last two weeks as we celebrated my grandmother, who passed away on August 27, 2011 at the age of 88. So I get to share a few of my fondest memories of her and how I hope that when I have reached that age, I can leave the kind of enduring legacy she has.

My grandmother was a farmers wife. Even in the years when they didn't farm. I hear stories of how thrifty she was, how she loved life even when life didn't seem to love her back. She was the proud mama of 10 children, 48 grandchildren, and 85 and counting great grandchildren. I am so sad that my children won't get to know her, but I am so grateful that I have some pictures of her and Gideon. Her funeral was a celebration for all of those people. My father says that he suspects the number of people celebrating her on the other side was probably a lot higher, and I tend to agree. After ten years, she gets to join her sweetheart on the other side, plus two of her boys who preceded her in death.

My memories of my grandma are simple. She was the most amazing cook. I really believe that her motto may really have been "Only cowards cook on low!" When we would visit her farm as kids, she would make the most amazing breakfasts. The kind that as a kid make you so excited. Pancakes, homemade syrup, oatmeal, cold cereal, eggs, bacon, sausage, orange juice, fresh milk, and all of the other foods you could possibly hope for. To this day, I miss those breakfasts. She also made these amazing Christmas tins for the holidays full of her fudge, brittle, and all of her wonderful candy. I will admit that her fruitcake is the only fruitcake I have ever cared for. At her funeral, though, I found out that even though this was her specialty, she never really cared for it. She made it because she knew her family loved it.

She was a woman of faith. I remember her playing the piano and singing. She was always singing. I remember kneeling down for family prayers with her and the way her hands felt when she would hold mine while we prayed. I remember the wonderful birthday cards that she sent me every year, with their words of encouragement. Her promises that if I kept living faithfully all of my righteous desires would happen. She was right. Maybe not when I wanted things, but she was right.

I hope someday that I can leave behind the same legacy she leaves. I hope someday that people will look at me and say "You remind me of her." As I raise my children, I hope that I can have that same strength of character and conviction that she had. It's funny how much a funeral can make you reevaluate your own goals and desires. I hope that I can be the same kind of wife and mother that she was!

Life Ain't Always Easy...

My goal in starting this blog was to tell about our little family. All of our ups and downs (with more ups, preferably). We have had a wonderful summer. But interlaced with all of the good things came the hardest part of our summer. Bruce is still looking for a job. With graduation in May came the hard part of him finding a teaching job. He still hasn't found one and most schools start in a week. I am so grateful for my husband, for his hard work and his willingness to do whatever it takes to take care of our family. Unfortunately for him, this may mean not being a teacher for a while as he has not received any job offers. I hate the fact that he has to give up his dream a little. It is not what we planned for our little family. I know that Heavenly Father is taking care of us, though, so I have to trust that there really is a reason behind this. We have had so many prayers offered from family on our behalf in the search for a job and we really appreciate this. Keep 'em coming. Hopefully the Walther household will be gainfully employed soon and Bruce can get back to doing what he wants to do!

Gideon turned one at the end of July. What a fun time! It's hard to believe its been a year since this boy who is so full of energy came into our lives. We've spent two weeks partying for him. He had a party at Grandma and Grandpa Walther's house, cupcakes at camping, and another party for my mothers family (the Cressall Clan). Now we can post all of these fun pics and celebrate what a wonderful boy we have. We also got to go on several camping trips this summer. It was more of an adventure than I imagined. Taking a one year old camping requires a lot more packing than I knew was possible. But we had a blast. We went to Moab, to the Olpin reunion, and to the Loveless reunion. I am excited and sad to say our camping season has pretty much come to an end.

Gideon got to experience a lot of firsts this summer too. His first trip to the zoo with Mor Mor. His first train ride. His first fireworks show. How fun it was to see it all through his eyes. I was positive that he would be scared at the fireworks. Nope. He just sat in his dads lap and watched with wide eyes. No scaredy cat at our house! It reminded me of what a great thing it was seeing all of that when I was growing up. I hope that our kids (future one's included) can really learn to enjoy life and find wonder in the experiences. Thank you, baby boy, for reminding me of that.

Last- the cookie count. After taking cookies to every major family event this summer, our cookie count is now at 906. I am well on my way to my 2000 goal. I have a couple of major cookie events (yes, that is how I calculate events by; can I bring cookies to that?) coming up, so hopefully that number will jump above 1000 by the end of August. Again, any recipes would be welcome!