Gigi Blog » The life and loveliness of Gigi's World

I just read that I’m a week from being halfway in this pregnancy … wow! First off, I can barely believe it and yet, in other ways, I can.

It’s amazing how once you know there is a little human being formed in your womb that it feels as if they have been a part of your life forever – and once they are born, you cannot imagine your day without the little one to brighten up your family’s lives!

 

 

 

And so, we are finishing up 18 weeks in the pregnancy. The midway ultrasound is booked for next week. I look forward to seeing a sneak peak into God’s handiwork!

Apparently, the baby is the size of a sweet potatoe and is hiccuping, sucking his or her thumb, rolling and listening to noises…amazing!

I started to feel the baby move quite a few weeks ago and it was delightful to feel the tiny little kicks throughout the day. Besides being tired {but don’t we all feel tired?}, I feel wonderful and am thanking God every day for another little baby that will join us in the spring. The girls pray every day – one for a girl, one prays for a boy, one prays for triplets and another prays for twins.They’re cute. I told them -no doubt, it’s not twins, but we whether or not it will be a boy or girl – well, that will be a surprise!

 

 

“Motherhood is not a hobby, it’s a calling.
You do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps.
It is not something you do if you can squeeze the time in.
It is what God gave you time for.”
- N. Anderson

“Throw back your arms and breathe deep, deep,” Laura cried.
She knew that cold is not so cold if you are not afraid of it.
They threw back their arms and breathed the cold in,
and through their cringing noses it rushed deep into their chest and warmed them all over.
Even Mary laughed aloud.
“I can smell the snow,” she said. “So fresh and clean.
“The sky is bright blue and the whole world is sparking white,” Laura told her.
- The Long Winter, Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

 

“Winter is the time for comfort,
for good food and warmth,
for the touch of a friendly hand
and for a talk beside the fire:
it is the time for home.”
-Edith Sitwell

 

 

It was a long night last night in our home. Painful ear aches, sleep walking and nightmares, colds and snuffly, sore throated babies … Morning came quick and with much dread.

But, waking up to the most beautiful winter wonderland this morning put me in awe of God’s majesty …  the girls and I are sitting together, cozy by the fire, one baby sleeping and tucked in her crib for her afternoon nap, and one wee growing baby providing tiny, adorable kicks from inside my tummy … I am grateful and humbled to be surrounded with such love and cared for by such an amazing God!

 

 

Little twinkle lights warmly glow in the evening in our home.
Tiny pink and colored Christmas trees have been set up around the house …

Festive Christmas carols can be heard at random times during the day… holiday baking and sprinkles and messes in the kitchen have begun…

 

 

And homemade gifts are being created, wrapped and sent through the mail to loved ones abroad…

But while we joyfully write out Christmas greetings, throw up another string of lights and create special presents for family and friends that we hold dear, the Lord has been showing me how easy it is to have commercialism cover up Christ during this season.

And I’m not even referring to the presents.
Because we all know better than that, by now.
In our family, we don’t have t.v. and we rarely, if ever, listen to the radio. We purposefully don’t subscribe to lots of magazines or ask the children to circle their favorite things in the Wish Catalogue that seems to find its way into every home in November. So it’s not hard to escape the present-push during the holidays.
But driving to town the other day, the radio was on and within 15 minutes, I heard a slew of commercials all about the holidays, buying this, going here, doing that, making memories by attending this event and catching the latest sale at this store. It reminded me quickly as to how easy it is to be deceived to do more and be at more places.
I know I say this every year  – it’s NOT about the presents … and we all know that.

But for Christians, there’s another way we can let commercialism dictate our holidays.

This season,  it can be a sad trend to see many Christian families putting off going to their weekly church service or their time with God because they have been too busy the rest of the week attending holiday-outings.

I’m not anti gatherings or fun times together. And I’m not against going to such outings as families. This can be a beautiful time of year to create special memories! But when it means you do not have time or energy to take part in your church family, then it does seem wrong. Putting commercialism before Christ can never be right, no matter what time of year.

It will not matter if you attended every holiday gathering this season with your children if your precious little ones have not met with Jesus lately.

How too easy it seems that we may have time for Santa Claus parades and perfectly decked halls, but we stay home on Sunday morning and skip church -  or ignore Jesus all week {because being a Christian means more than just ‘going to church’ every seven days} – oh, yes, the little ones are tired from all the previous day’s excitement … but which should be the priority? Are you are robbing your family of a blessing by choosing commercialism over Christ?

Do we have time for breakfast with Santa and enough energy to visit all the Christmas-time markets and celebrations, but find it too rushed and exhausting in the morning to invite Jesus to our daily breakfast table or too tiresome to take our children to church to hear God’s word?

And yes, we all know that going to church doesn’t make you a Christian, but certainly skipping your time together with the family of God does not seem to be putting Christ as the top of the priority list. And this does not matter what time of year – Easter and Christmas are *not* the time to suddenly amp up your regular church activities. We need to make God and our relationship with Him – and our children’s relationship with Jesus! – the first and most important priority as a Christian parent.

 

 

It may not be the piles of ridiculous presents or over-stuffed stockings that are the issue anymore … but is commercialism still suffocating Christ this season?

We really ought to know better by now. 

 

“Cooking is not about being the best or most perfect cook,
but rather it is about sharing the table with family and friends.”

~ Skye Gyngell, My Favorite Ingredients

 

I have always adored the old way of living .. I love antiques, anything *not* from the present day and time … for example, my great grandmother’s Hoosier … which, much to my complete joy, fits perfectly into our new kitchen … {It sat outside the last kitchen, just beyond the doorway so it was still used but never could fit into the actual kitchen}…

 

 

I certainly must sing my husband’s praises right now because he allowed me to purchase an antique stove for our new home’s country kitchen …  something I have always thought would be fun to have but never really dreamed it would actually work or take place.

 

When we brought the 1937 Moffat stove home last week, we realized there was no cord for the stove, it was not working and found a rather large mouse nest snuggled inside. Abby spent all weekend and many nights working on the 76-year-old stove and with his wit and skill and a few prayers, he managed to get it working!

After a good cleaning with a grateful heart, I was able to bake my first batch of muffins in the stove this morning …

 

It brought me such joy … not just because it is a beautiful (to me) old stove that my wonderful husband fixed … but because it’s been well over a month since we had something home-baked … maybe even longer with the move and then with not having a stove in the kitchen. There’s something very comforting and natural to be able to bake and cook for your family.

 

 

The home-baked muffin accompanied my morning Bible time with a new (also old) book that I am just loving. {Have you read any of Elizabeth Elliot’s books? She is such a woman of God!} Later, the muffins were shared with my best friend over an afternoon visit …

and speaking of muffins … our little one in the oven is growing steadily and starting to show just a little more …

 

I’m 16 weeks along now … and I haven’t had a chance to take a proper photo so my daughter snapped this one … really, there’s not much to take a photo of yet. I’m feeling well and love to feel the wee little baby (now the size of an avacoda, apparently!) move about. As we settle into our new, old home and prepare our hearts for Christmas and a new season, we are anticipating the arrival of the next baby with great joy! So thankful that God has chosen us to raise another baby!

 

 

 

P.S. I am going to include the recipe for the muffins because they were super yummy!

Apple Crumble Muffins

2 1/4 cups of flour
1 cup of brown sugar
1 tsp of baking soda
1 egg
1 cup of plain yogurt
1/3 cup of oil
2 cups of diced applesoptional: 3/4 cups of cranberries (I did not have any  so I omitted and replaced with apples. I have had it with cranberries and it’s so good! Do try!)

Mix dry ingredients together. Fold in the wet ingredients. Top with the delicious topping! Bake at 375 F. for 25 minutes or so.

Topping is wonderful – don’t forget this part!

1/4 cup of brown sugar3 tbsp of oats
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1 tbsp. of melted butter