multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

2522. family camp HERE WE COME!

 2523. arriving at our favorite place on earth for our very favorite week of the year

2524. the sound of the rain
2525. our kids walking across camp together
2526. unexpectedly bumping {almost literally} into an old friend that I haven't seen in years :: 1 minute earlier or later and we would have missed a fun little reunion
2527. a loon call breaking through the early morning quiet
2528. chipmunks on the path
2529. live praise music coming out of the chapel at various hours of the day :: brushing my teeth one morning to "Jesus, awesome in power forever, awesome and great is your name. You overcame!"
2530. my selfless, sacrificially giving parents
2531. delicious kettle corn, still warm from being popped over the open fire
2532. family chapel
2533. Joe's smile
2534. sun glistening off the water
2535. seeing to the bottom of the lake :: crystal clear water

2536. canoeing Hidden River with Kirb :: so much natural beauty
2537. sunrise over the water
2538. eagles flying overhead :: 3 of them at once! so majestic.
2539. spotting 4 deers {uncomfortable close and not a bit intimidated by me, I might add} on my morning run
2540. men taking off their hats to read the Word and pray
2541. progressive snack date night with Kirb & my parents
2542. being brave ::

 2543. our family camp babysitters :: Marie & Shannah

2544. a exceptionally peaceful drive and being home again
2545. meet the teacher :: Knutson for Joe, Hausman for Lydia and Simonson for Bekah. All teachers we've had before and really, truly love!
2546. the annual back to school parade :: so fun!

 2547. the state fair {we love it SO!} ::

watching the mini donuts fry

2548. a family walk
2549. donuts with Joe at the park
2550. how Sara announces "My lucky poopy!" when she needs a new diaper {she can't say "yucky", so it comes out "lucky"} :: we just LOVE it . . . and it makes changing her kinda fun!
2551. morning runs with the older kiddos
2552. fresh school supplies ready for a new year
2553. hanging shelves and pictures up in the basement :: I just keep loving our new space more and more
2554. enjoying the last day of "summer"


Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

Dreams

I had an especially weird and crazy dream early this morning, right before I got up {maybe even during the 10-minute "snooze" after our alarm went off the first time}. All day yesterday and all day today our house has been extra full as we're hanging out with 3 extra kiddos. My friend Allie's little man, Sam, and Vince and G-Rae, the 2 kids from the family that I've done daycare for the past few years have been here. Sam is here for 48 hours straight {since he lives on the other end of the world and coming to get him at night isn't so smart}. The other 2 go home at night. When you have a teacher for a parent, childcare gets a little extra tricky the week before school starts, since you need to "go to school" and your kids don't. So what is any good teacher to do? Call us! Thus we've been a 9-kid house.

Possibly that fact had something to do with fueling my dream -- a dream in which I "gave birth" {not in the normal way though . . . you know how dreams are!} to triplet boys! It also might have to do with the fact that we just got home from a WONDERFUL, FABULOUS, favorite-week-of-the-year week at family camp {which, hopefully, I will get a chance to blog about later} and there were 2 ladies at camp who were about 37 weeks, plus there was an adorable 4-week old boy there with his family, and a few other not-quite-as-far-along pregnant ladies there too. Also, I have a thing for babies! {in case you didn't know!} And, also, I have to add that there was a family at camp with 7 kids. Their oldest was a few months younger than Jacob and their youngest was a few months younger than Sara, so basically we had kids the same ages, they just squeezed one more in there than we did. I told them we had 4 girls and 2 boys and the mom answered, "So did we until we had the seventh one." I love being around other big families! They "get it" so much better than most people.

So, back to the dream :: In my dream I was sitting in a chair in a room with another woman {OB? Nurse? Produce manager? I'm not sure of her exact role in the whole thing}. Appearing, seemingly, out of nowhere {wouldn't it be nice if that's how birth really was?} into this woman's hands one at a time came these three little spheres which she then peeled, kind of like you would peel an orange, and then she handed me my baby -- which had emerged from the little sphere. None of the boys cried or anything when she peeled/delivered them, but that didn't seem any weirder to me than the fact that she was peeling them in the first place. As I held the boys one at a time, my thoughts went immediately to the fact that I would have to name them. Being that they came together, I wanted their names to kind of "go together" too.

My first thought was "John, Paul and Ringo", even though I'm not a major Beattles fan or anything. But I shot that brainstorm down quickly when I imagined introducing my kids :: "These are our kids, Jacob, Rebekah, Lydia, Joseph, Anna, Sara, John, Paul and RINGO." It just didn't work for me. Plus, there is also the fact that I'm bothered by rhyming names. Contrary to what many people think, our last name is pronounced "stall", as in the place in the garage where you park your car, or where you pee in a public bathroom, or when your car stops going . . . not like "stole" as if you think we take things that don't belong to us. So, anyway, Paul Stoll is not a good choice in my book. {On a related note, some of you know that my father-in-law is one of 17 kids in his family. Now I fully understand that if you give 17 kids a first AND middle name that you have used up 34 names, which is quite a few, and by the end there you could possibly run out of names you really like. But, guess what they named their firstborn boy? You guessed it. Paul Stoll. He was a wonderful, godly man, but I've always thought it funny that, when they had all the boy names in the whole world to choose from, they chose to name their first boy a name that rhymed.} I also considered naming the triplets "Alvin, Simon and Theodore" but decided that wasn't the right three-some either. Finally we settled on Peter, James and John, in the spirit of the catchy Sunday school song that many of you might know. So, I finally got a Peter, which is a name I've wanted to throw in the hat each time I was pregnant, but Kirb always shot it down.

Maybe I should get Joseph from the Old Testament to come and interpret it for me. Or maybe my Joe could do it. Or maybe I don't want to know!

Anyway, that was how I started my day!

And for you long-time blog readers, in the spirit of 'Thankful Thursday' I will add that we are not expecting any number of babies . . . just in case you were wondering. {And I know some of you were!}

multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

2503. clean laundry
2504. towel hooks up in the bathroom
2505. 8 years of marriage for Luke & Jenn
2506. 86 years of my grandma
2507. Joe and Vince together again :: a great reunion
2508. school patrols in training
2509. freshly mowed lawn
2510. coffee
2511. a glorious breeze
2512. the start of the fair
2513. birthday dinner {for 4 August birthdays and an anniversary}
2514. a good book and staying up late to finish
2515. the library
2516. fair-themed storytime at the library with "the littles"
2517. audio books
2518. family camp! our favorite week of the year!
2519. coffee and donuts to start the day
2520. school shopping with the 2 big girls
2521. hearing the state fair fireworks from our house


Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

multitude monday {two weeks worth}

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

2353. overnight rain
2354. late-night IKEA furniture assembly with Kirb
2355. Sara saying "Buh-bye, have fun!" over and over and over again {the funniest part is that I wasn't going anywhere}
2356. carpet!
2357. making thankful walls in the laundry room
2358. beadboard, doors, trim . . . basement coming together
2359. dropping kiddos off at camp
2360.  Sara spontaneously "raising the roof" and "head banging" whenever the rockin' music comes on
2361. Jacob and Rebekah taking care of our neighbors house/lawn/mail/plants while they're gone
2362. watching Anna play soccer
2363. spending the 4th (and the 3rd) with the Newman family
2364. Sara's excitement over the pool and swimming :: she LOVES it!
2365. cooler temps {even for just a day or two}
2366. morning snuggles with Joe
2367. Jacob's burn healing up nicely
2368. my faithful, kind, cute, loving, funny, thoughtful husband
2369. Sara's chubby feet
2370. Lydia's spunk
2371. double coupon day at the gas station and a 20 cent/gallon coupon, which, when doubled, saved us $8 on a 20-gallon fill up
2372. girls night with my  mom, Bekah and Lydia
2373. helpful kids
2374. family trips to the library
2375. hanging out the laundry :: it calms me and makes me feel all peaceful {unless it's 100 degrees, then it makes me sweat!}
2376. the race our kids organized on a Saturday morning complete with numbered bibs, a finish line and medals :: Joe took 1st place and Bekah carried Anna the last little bit because she was worn out
2377. an early morning run with Bekah
2378. Jacob getting more man-like by the minute {and me being -- mostly -- ok with that}
2379. Bueggers asiago bagels . . . mmmmm
2380. book club night
2381. the best news ever
2382. girl's weekend with friends on the way to pick up our girls {11 girls between us all} from camp
2383. seeing the kids write on the thankful walls in the laundry room
2384. the community we have at Central
2385. girlfriends!
2386. birthday week free coffee coupons {I'll be happily caffeinated all week long, I think!}
2387. lap swimming on a beautiful, sunny morning
2388. a great week at camp for Rebekah
2389. my clothesline
2390. {much-needed!} overnight rain
2391. donuts from SugaRush
2392. the kids all singing along to Go Fish in the van on the way to church
2393. my wonderful friends

Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.