Extraordinary Life

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Thirteen weeks until we meet our newest little Baer. Twelve weeks and six days if he follows in the very nice pattern his big brothers have laid out for him by all coming the day before their due date.

It’s certainly too soon to be starting any sort of countdown, but I’ve been feeling more and more like we’re in the calm before the storm, and I am enjoying it to its fullest.

I mean, as much as you can enjoy something when you have heartburn, find yourself short of breath, have random aches and pains, and are heavier than you’ve ever been in your life. It’s the best sort of uncomfortable.

The boys' ages are seven, almost six, and almost three, and while there are bad days when nothing seems to be going right and everyone is grumpy and everyone is fighting and no one is listening and everyone is talking at the tops of their lungs, there are more good days than bad. Days where Alec comes home from school bursting at the seams with a project to do. Days where Sebastian spends hours outside riding his bike or putting his shovel to good use. Days where Emmett plays and plays and plays, without needing much of anything.

And I am so much enjoying not being quite so needed at the moment. ...continue reading →

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“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Psalm 139:14)

Fearfully and wonderfully made.

Impossible not to think of that verse when you’re watching a tiny little person squirm around on a screen.

So perfectly formed, every single part. A tiny, beating heart with four chambers. Minuscule fingers and toes. A perfectly aligned row of the tiniest little bones, curving and flexing in the spine as the baby moves around. A sweet little mouth opening and closing. That little bump nose that has appeared on every single one of our ultrasounds.

Just so perfect and so precious. ...continue reading →

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“If you could do one thing to make the world a better place, what would it be?” Alec asked at the supper table the other night.

My first thought was to stop killing babies in the womb, but I couldn’t very well explain that to my seven-year-old. He has no idea that such a horrific thing is happening in the world, and his little mind would have a hard time grasping the idea that not everyone thinks that a “tiny baby” is important and precious and worthy of protecting. He’s had some other bubbles burst when it comes to the evil that exists in the world, but that’s not one I’m willing to burst yet, especially not when I’m carrying his own little very-much-anticipated little sibling inside me.

So I couldn’t say that, and as I was trying to think of something, I realized that he probably didn’t come up with that question all on his own.

“Were you asked that at school?” I asked him. And when he said he was, I asked him what his answer had been. ...continue reading →

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Ten years ago today, this blog came into being. I posted my very first blog post at 4:11pm on December 3, 2014. I didn’t share it to social media. I didn’t tell anyone except probably my dad that I’d done it. I thought maybe I’d sleep on it and see if I still wanted to share it. If I didn't, I could always take it down before anyone saw it. But I woke up the next morning to texts on my phone and comments on my blog. Somehow word had gotten out, and people really liked it!

I was thrilled. 🙂 ...continue reading →