Fall has fallen

Without question, fall is my favorite time of year. The colors of the leaves, especially the fire engine red, are just jaw-dropping beautiful. I love seeing the huge hay rolls alongside the roads and hearing the geese above head. It's so surreal sometimes that I have to remind myself that I'm awake. The only thing missing from the fantasy is football. We watch it on TV as much as possible but the Raiders aren't on TV much here. And, honestly, there's nothing that can replace the experience of being in the black hole itself.

But fall also means my schedule gets full fast. From August until February, it's crazy holiday chaos at Avon and since I work part-part-time for the company as well as sell, it's doubly crazy for me. And MOPS started in September, so that keeps me busy on Thursdays. I've also joined a book club and I'm thinking of starting a writers' group. But maybe not until January. To answer your question, yes I'm writing. I haven't sold any other pieces yet, but I'm working on it. A few weeks ago, I felt a friendly pressure from my Maker to get back to work and start writing again. I know without question He has something He wants me to write, I just need to do it.
The election consumes most of my brain-space these days. I'm so excited to have Palin on the ticket and am planning a "Palin Power/Moms for McCain" event for October.

Whew!

Since Gracie and I came home from the hospital, it's been pretty non-stop around here. I pushed myself too hard that first week and had a little set-back in my c-section recovery. But a little rest went a long way and now I'm feeling nearly 100%. The nerves are starting to regenerate so I have some itchiness along my abdomen and some numbness still in my rear, but other than that, I'm good as new. All the baby weight is gone plus an additional 8 pounds, so I'm pretty proud of myself. I'm short on time tonight, so I'll just tell you about the photos below and post more later. First, we discovered we didn't have a current "Wolfer family" photo that included Adam and/or Gracie. So, we rectified that problem on Saturday before going on a trail ride at She-She's. On Sunday, we went to Medora with Grammy, Pops, Grandpa and Grandma K. While there, we drove through Theodore Roosevelt National Park and three times we had to stop for buffalo crossing the road. The first time the buffalo came right up to the RV so I got some great photos.

1 to 2

Well before I go into my last day as a mommy of one, I'll tell you about our 4th. We spent the afternoon at my parents' neighbor's house where we had a BBQ and homemade ice cream. The kids went on a treasure hunt and then we all went to my parents' for swimming. Then we went back to the neighbor's for dinner. Isn't that funny? But that's the way people are up here. Mi casa es su casa is really the mindset. I think about the neighborhood I grew up in in San Leandro. Until we got married, I'd never lived anywhere else (well except for that summer at Oxford). The neighbors were as good as family, I thought. But, in the 31 years my parents lived on that street, they were never once invited over for a BBQ. That just didn't happen on Daily Court. Here we've known folks no more than 2 years and we're treated like family. I'm not saying folks are better people up here. I just look at this as another confirmation that moving here was meant to be for us.

Anyhow, after dinner, Scott and Pops went to buy fireworks. You won't believe the kind of fireworks we can set off here. We're talking rockets launched several hundred feet into the air with repetitive explosions. So Scott starts the show, at the end of my parents driveway and I sit with Adam, G and P up on the porch under the eaves, about 200 feet away. Halfway through the "show", Scott lights one of the big rockets but part of it misfires and shoots right at us. It lands about 4 feet to my left and then explodes. The boom was so loud I felt disoriented afterwards. When I came to my senses and saw that Adam was okay, I realized my arm was burning. Sure enough I'd caught a spark and have two 2nd degree burns, each about the size of a nickel. And I also had a bunch of singed hair.

Can you believe it?! I'm okay now, but it's kind of funny. Growing up, I was always terrified of fireworks whether they were sparklers or the show at Disneyland. I was always certain that I'd get hurt. I would hide inside the souvenir shops at Disneyland because I thought the sparks would land on me. What I didn't know is that one day they would! In our own backyard! Ironic!
So it's a little after 8pm here, and that means in less than 12 hours our baby girl will be here. Today's been kind of surreal. Everything is done and we're ready to go. It kind of feels like the night before our wedding. It's hard to believe tomorrow is the big day and all this waiting and preparation has led up to this. Months and months of waiting, planning, praying and here it is. I'm not really nervous. I wasn't nervous the night before our wedding, nor was I nervous the night before Adam was induced. I'm just ready to be mama of two.

So I'm signing off as Adam's mama only to return as mama of two.

Huge

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. All is well, I'm just huge. Rosebud is consuming more calories than I can give her, I'm afraid, and though she's growing the scale is going down. I guess I shouldn't complain. She's still measuring bigger than her gestational age, about 2 weeks ahead. The doctor has said twice that she will be a sizable baby, but hasn't guessed how big just yet. I have had this scientific theory since we set the c-section date that she'll be about 8 lbs 8 oz. I told my doctor this at my last appointment, and all she said was "uh huh" in a very dismissing tone. Not sure what that means. Blood pressure is good, sugars are good, no edema. By this time with Adam, I couldn't wear my wedding ring and the only shoes that fit were flip-flops. So things are going well. But other than that, I feel like I have a basketball between my legs. I'm carrying her very low and it makes it hard to walk or do anything, really! Her room is just about done and so we're ready for her to make her debut in just a few weeks. I see the doc again on June 24 and July 1 and then baby will be here.

Trust & Obey

Last week, Scott and I were presented with yet another opportunity to "trust and obey." We were at a crossroads in our business and incidentally our faith. And frankly, we were weary with frustration, confused by our choices and in general, overwhelmed. As the week wore on we sought God's leading, begging Him to give us a sign, close a door, open a window, something, anything! But, He was strangely quiet. We've been together nine years and this certainly isn't the first time we've had to make a life-altering decision. But in times past, we've walked confidently down the path we knew God was leading. Moving to North Dakota is a perfect example. We knew in the instant Scott suggested North Dakota that God was calling us here and seven months later, we walked into our new home. But this time was different. There were no sure signs, no internal leadings, no audible voice. And so, on Friday as I emptied the dishwasher, a phrase slipped into my mind: When God is Quiet. I stopped emptying the dishwasher and began writing and consequently crying (I do that a lot lately -- it's gotta be hormones). Anyhow, while I was writing, I realized we were on a walk of blind faith. And no sooner did I share this with Scott did the phone ring. In reality the person on the other end was a customer for whom Scott had quoted a job. But in my mind, it was God. The silence was broken.

That night we attended Good Friday service. I sat through the service shushing Adam every two seconds and constantly shifting in my seat to stop Rosebud from stepping on my bladder. When the closing prayer came, I won't lie, I was ready to go. But that's when the speaker quoted these lyrics from a popular BarlowGirl song:
I believe in the sun even when it's not shining
I believe in love even when I don't feel it
And I believe in God even when He is silent

I couldn't get my pen to write fast enough. Scott just smiled at me. I've since looked up the lyrics from the song. You can read them here. And listen to the song here.

Turns out this wasn't the only blessing in store for us last week-end. Read on.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter from the prairie! We were blessed with a beautiful sunny day in the low 40s (hard to believe I'm calling that beautiful), clear skies and no snow. The snow melted a few weeks ago, but on Thursday another inch fell. I was pretty frustrated. But it melted on Friday and with any luck we'll only have rain from now until summer. Anyhow, back to Easter. After church, we had lunch at my parents and then the famous egg hunt.

At church, this morning, they had a story time for the kids 3-10 years old up on the stage. Stephanie, the children's pastor, took a piece of paper and put it in a pan of water and tried lighting it. When she couldn't, she asked the kids, "Do you know anyone who could do such an amazing and impossible thing?" Adam, who was sitting just a few inches from the microphone, said "That would be my dad." Stephanie could easily see us sitting in the third row and asked, "Scott, what do you think of that?" So after service, a lot of people greeted Scott as the "man who can do anything."

But the real Easter excitement happened this evening. At bedtime, Adam and I read a book called "Let's Celebrate Jesus on Easter." Afterwards, I asked Adam to again tell me why we celebrate Easter. He answered, "Because Jesus died and rose again." That started a discussion between the two of us about heaven. I told Adam that he could see Jesus (and Dido, GG and Buddy -- those who have died in his lifetime) in heaven one day if he told Jesus he believed in his death and resurrection (I used another word, I think) and asked Him to come live in his heart. He said, "okay." Puzzled, as this isn't the first time we've talked about this, I asked, "So do you want to pray right now? Pray with mommy about this?" He said, "Yeah." I told him to repeat after me and we prayed together. When we said Amen, I told him this meant Jesus was always with him, always there for him to talk to and ask for help and that he'd one day go to heaven with Mommy and Daddy. Then we called Daddy to come and celebrate with us.

Adam was so excited about what we'd just done together that we could hardly get him back into bed. He was dancing around the room and suddenly decided he needed to clean up his room too. (a sure sign the Holy Spirit was at work!) We'd had communion on Good Friday and Adam had asked about what we were doing. (At our church, we walk to the front to take communion) We explained to him that it was something we did to remember how Jesus died for us and that one day when he asked Jesus into his heart he too could take communion. So one of the things he was excited about tonight was being able to go up and take bread and juice with us.

I can't tell you the joy we both feel tonight! Of course, being pregnant and emotional, I've been crying tears of joy and tears of relief. And I can hear the angels rejoicing tonight!

Oops!

I can't believe I forgot to tell you this! Last week-end I found out that MomSense magazine purchased a piece I'd written and submitted last fall! It will be published in the May/June 2008 issue.