the count, girls:4, boys:2

We are thrilled to have discovered that, IT’S A GIRL!

This brings the count to, girls: 4 (mom, eliza, elianna and baby milkdodds), boys:2 (dad, seth).

The kindness of God is overwhelming.  We got to see her move and and curl up and put her hand to her face.

We watched her swallow and her heart pound and got to see its chambers and look at her spine and admire her toes and her nose.

The kindness of God is overwhelming.  She is healthy and growing right on track.

I’m excited to think about girl stuff for the third time.  I’m happy to think that Seth will have three sisters to help guide him towards being a considerate and helpful husband.

I’m praying that the sisters will be great friends, close as can be.  And that this new little girl will be a jewel to her Daddy and a blessing to her Mother.

Always, I’m praying that she will know Christ as her Treasure and Sweet Reward.  That she will be on the Lord’s side and He will be faithful in drawing her to Himself and His worth.

And now comes the difficult and joyful process of choosing a name!!!  Yikes and yay!

a christmas misadventure (with stitches)

Christmas seems a ripe time for the misadventure.

It has been a while since the last one, in which the  main event was Eliza getting her hand shut in the automatically closing mini-van door.  That was bad, but we managed to escape with only bruises.

This time, Eliza didn’t get off so easy.

30 min before chin split!

We headed over to my folks mid-morning, arriving by ten.  The “incident” happened around 10:30am and involved some horsing around with a favorite uncle and a slip that landed her on the wood floor with a chin split open.  One look and I knew we were headed for urgent care.

So, Eliza, my dad and I got in the van and drove to the hospital (Tom stayed put to keep track of our other two).  Eliza held a towel under her chin to catch the blood and, aside from the initial shock cry, didn’t cry at all after that.

We got in at the ER quickly (with no proof of insurance, I might add.  So much for the healthcare system needing an overhaul..) and when the doctor took a look he said stitches would be in order.

After a few visits with nurses and some hanging around, Eliza had to lay down on the bed, chin up, while the doctor cleaned the wound and shot novacaine all throughout the opened up area.  I had to look away a couple times as it was worse than I had thought.

Eliza, however, was complete perfection (for being totally depraved and all).  She laid still and never cried, even when he did multiple novacaine shots.   Her body was tight as a drum with the stress of it.  When he started the stitches, she loosened up and said, “It doesn’t hurt now, but I can feel it pulling.”

Seven stitches later, he was done and she was smiling.

an hour post-stiches

The medical staff was very understanding of the accident, but were totally baffled and flustered at Eliza’s quiet response to their persistent questions about if Santa had visited her house yet.  ”I know Santa isn’t real,” she said matter-of-factly.

One of them tried to convince her that he was, in fact, real, in the process making himself look a bit ridiculous and Eliza look overly mature.  Others were kind of saddened that she didn’t “believe” but at least had the good sense to (eventually) let it go.

Eliza didn’t even know who Santa was until last year, when she started to hear his name around.  When she asked me about him, I told her the story of St. Nicholas and said that nowadays many people pretend that he is real.  I tried to let her know then, that if a child believes that Santa Claus is real, that’s ok, she doesn’t need to enlighten him or her.

But I never thought to tell her that she should act like she thinks he’s real, in order not to offend, baffle, or fluster adults!

When they brought her some toys to choose from, even after knowing that she knew Santa wasn’t real, they continued to say that Santa had brought these presents to the hospital for good little children.  Afterward she asked me why they said that and if there was, afterall, a Santa Claus that only goes to hospitals.  To which I said, no, those grown-ups just really really liked to play pretend, and that’s why they kept the charade up, even after she told them she knew the truth.

It was a strange commentary on our culture and where the values of many adults are, in terms of what they emphasize and emphatically teach to children.  At one point, Eliza even tried to tell the nurse that Jesus was real, not Santa, but the woman was too busy reacting to Eliza’s disbelief of the jolly old man to hear her.

Eliza survived the stitches and the Santa onslought and we made it back in time to open presents (given by relatives, not Santa, in honor of Jesus, not “good little children”).

Finally at the end of the day, Seth had a fall and ended up with a trace of blood on his lip.  It was very minor, but I asked him if he thought he’d need to go get stitches like Eliza, to which he replied, “No mom, boys don’t wear stitches.”

my cute kiddos

some christmas fun

Enjoy.

a great gift idea for the ladies

My search for beautiful, feminine, (not-outlandishly expensive) aprons has gone far and wide.

And it need go no further.

I stumbled upon this website called anthropologia.  Their collection of clothing and purses and other wonderful things is all quite lovely, however I would classify most of it in the outlandishly expensive range.

But not these aprons.

These gems are going for $10-$38.  Most are $28 or $32, but there are a couple on sale.  Even recently I was looking at some locally made and sold aprons and I was a bit aghast at the price tag.  Many were in the $50+ range and they were very hit or miss– not consistently awesome like these are.

I’m quite picky about “trendy” aprons.  I’ve come across ones with great fabric, but the cuts were boxy and unappealing.  Or I’ve seen nice lines and cuts, but dippy fabric that either fell flat or squawked at whoever walked by in its attempt to be noticed.  These are spot-on for both material and shape.

They even have these gorgeous little girls’ aprons that I’m in love with.  I’ve been searching high and low for aprons for my daughters and these are comparably priced and much more fantastic than the “kids” ones in the toy section of the big retailers.

So, if you’re a dude whose lady likes to cook (or she just has to cook, because you’ve got a family and everyone’s got to eat), consider a lovely apron that will make her feel feminine and fanciful come suppertime.  Suppertime is, afterall, one of the most harrowing times of the day for many moms with small children.

Why not glean some food-prep inspiration by dressing the part of the domestic do-all?

And it would make a great friend or relative gift.  Of course, if only I got motivated and learned to sew (and got a sewing machine), I could try my hand at this myself.  Maybe someday.  But for now, why reinvent the wheel, when these aprons are ripe for the taking.  I mean buying.

hospitality principles and tips, by an amateur

Admittedly, I’m no expert on hospitality.  But, even being the novice that I am, I’ve gleaned some insights over the years that may be helpful for some.

Plus, if hospitality is something you’ve neglected, the holiday season is a great time to dive in and make practicing hospitality a regular occurrence in every season.

And, if nothing else, they’re helpful for me to remind myself.  Sometimes I don’t do what I know I ought.  Motives become convoluted and priorities get misplaced.

So, here are some tips [note: I claim no originality.  I'm certain everything I'm about to write has been said before by people who follow through on them better than I do.]

1) Have people over to your house.  Novel, I know.  But, it’s where it all starts.  If you don’t have people in your home regularly, you may be the most organized, hospitable person in the world and it will all be for naught.

2) Have people over frequently and on short notice.  (I’m not too good at the short notice part).  But, I do force myself to say yes as often as I can to a “short notice” opportunity.  This is incredibly liberating.  It will teach you that you can enjoy someone’s company even when there are dishes in the sink and dust on the mantle.

3) Don’t turn hospitality into “entertaining.”  Entertaining is a code-word for showing-off.  Perfectly clean house, perfectly prepared food, perfectly arranged decor becomes primary.

And at the center of it all is you, the entertainer.  ”Look at all that I did and how wonderfully I did it.  Admire my home, my food, my effort,” is the heart of the entertainer, as opposed to the one offering hospitality, who humbly shares all they have out of love for others and God.

4) Don’t let your home be so messy or dirty that it’s a distraction.  This can be just as detrimental as the “entertainer” problem.  As much as people may say it doesn’t matter, having a reasonably-ordered home does matter.  It is uncomfortable to be in a pig sty.

5) Include your guests as part of your family.  Invite them to participate in everything.  If it’s your custom to sing and pray before dinner, fold them into that activity.

6) Let your guests give you a hand.  If your guests ask if they can help with something, let your usual answer be, “Yes!”  There are two reasons to do this: firstly, you probably could use the help, and, secondly, most people feel more comfortable when they’re useful.

7) Have saints and strangers over.  The Bible is explicit that it’s very important to show hospitality to saints (Romans 12:13, 1 Peter 4:9), meaning fellow Christians, and to strangers (Hebrews 13:2).  (Again, I’m bad at the stranger part.  We’ve lived at our home for 4 years and only had strangers over a handful of times).  This takes intentionality and effort.

8) Have large and intimate gatherings.  Have 30 people over, then have 1.

9) Treat all your guests the same when it comes to the work you put into it.  Don’t make everything extra nice for people with status that you admire or rich people and let things go for others.  Do not show favoritism.  Sometimes we do this without realizing it.

10) Be conversational!  Talk!  Share!  Share more than just your food and home, share your very self.  Offer your opinions and ask for other people’s.  Give people a peek at your history and ask about theirs.

11) Invite unlikely and likely people over: the person who is alone or lonely; the person who has a special diet (I need to work on this..); the big family who feels like they put people at an imposition; loud people and quiet people; the person who seems to abound with friends and busy-ness (sometimes these people get overlooked because of these facts); the person who is always having people over to their house (they would probably be blessed by the offer).

12) Don’t be “hospitable” for worldly gain.  If you’re having people over to sell them things or earn free gifts or garner status and connections with someone, it’s not hospitality.  It’s not necessarily wrong to do, it’s just not hospitality.

There are many benefits to being hospitable: meeting neat people, making friends, deepening existing friendships.  The list could go on.  But even these benefits should not be our primary reason for being hospitable.  We are hospitable because of duty (God commands it) and delight (his commands produce godliness and joy in us).  We are hospitable because we genuinely care about others.

Finally, I’ll give this piece of advice, which isn’t about being hospitable, but rather about learning to be a good receiver: accept invitations to other people’s homes when offered and allow them to practice hospitality with you.

I know I missed a million things that should be added to the list.  Anyone want to fill it out for me with a tip or two?