Slow & Steady...

Slow & steady is such an accurate picture of my life right now in so many ways...at 34 weeks pregnant, I am definitely moving slower & slower these days & can really only hope for steady!  And at 34 weeks pregnant, I feel like the countdown is ON & I am just praying that our slow & steady pace of progress will get things completed in time...I know she might not arrive for another 4-5 weeks (all of my kids have been at least a little early), but since my last baby came at 37 weeks...I am feeling the pressure of only 3 weeks to go in my mind!
But we are making progress towards a new room for Drew & getting things organized, so I am going to be thankful for the baby steps & keep on plugging along! The thing is, even though our "Get Ready for Baby" list is a mile long (and growing), we still have lunches to pack, disputes to settle, boo-boos to kiss, meals to make, messes to clean, laundry to be done, homework & projects & activities & LIFE...so we devote minutes where we can, and like I said, at this point I really am just happy for the slow & steady progress, I'll take a baby step over nothing any day!

This week, all of the necessary HVAC & electrical work was completed to make Drew's new room free of any pipes running along the wall or ceiling. (A huge shout-out of THANKS to Jeff's dad & mom who helped enormously with the electrical work!) Now there are just a few holes left in the walls that Jeff will have to patch & sand this week...we are hoping for a little progress each evening. Next will come painting and, hopefully, building out a little closet/shelving area. Then comes moving in the bed & hopefully Drew will get at least one night in the big-boy bed before he is literally forced out of the crib ;-) It's rather ironic because he gave Darcy the boot from the crib when he was born...we had just moved her to a big-girl bed literally one night before he was born!

So we keep chugging along...with the gorgeous weather this weekend, we were thankfully able to spend some time tackling the hot mess in the garage. Right now, it is in the "worse before it gets better" stage...i.e. I'm back to parking in the driveway again after only a month of garage parking...but it is for the short-term while we pull out all the bins, sort into piles, organize, donate & discard! So I'm okay with it, and it sure feels great to finally get rid of stuff we don't need...we have found several boxes that were meant to be donated before we moved, but got mixed in the shuffle & have just been taking up space for the past 9 months!

And we also managed to enjoy some fun-time this weekend, too...

On Saturday, we joined some friends for a picnic & play-time at a local park. The weather was SO nice, it was great to just be outside...everyone else in town felt the same way, so I felt like my eyes were going in different directions the whole time to keep up with everyone, but we came home with the same kids we arrived with, so it's all good!

After the park, we ran a few errands & then came home so Drew could nap. While he was napping, Jeff jumped on the trampoline with the big kids & I sorted in the garage (Jeff had made a lot of progress earlier in the day, so it was my turn!) Jeff is proud to report that he can still do a perfect flip on the trampoline & nail the landing...but he's going to be feeling it in his back & legs for the next week!
Saturday evening, we headed to Jeff's sister's house to celebrate a very special family birthday, their mom's! It was a fun evening with all of the cousins playing together & celebrating Nana's birthday. She is such a wonderful, kind, generous & loving person, no celebration seems adequate, but we gave it our best shot!

 Drew giving Nana extra birthday love!

 Happy Birthday Nana, take 1...

 Happy Birthday Nana...take 13...

 Happy Birthday Nana...this is probably take 25...

I guess when there are 7 grand-kids involved for a group picture, 

 you just have to take what you can get!

 Darcy enjoyed licking every bit of chocolate icing off of the cake!

 Drew hanging out like a big kid...where did my baby boy go?

 Cousins playing games

 Jack giving Nana his special Origami heart card...and trying to put his hand in front of his face...

 Drew playing Perfection

 Drew enjoying a big glass of milk! I love those cheeks!

 More playing games...

Drew really wanted to take this game of Operation home!

We followed our fun Saturday with an equally nice Sunday...church & Sunday School...Jack's choir sang two songs in the morning worship service. 

Sophie was invited to a birthday tea party with her favorite doll. And she came home with a bag-full of goodies after winning several of the party games! 

Sophie & doll before heading into the Tea Party

There was more trampoline jumping, garage cleaning, heading back to church for the evening service & then bedtime to rest up to do it all again this week!

And that's pretty much our weekend...a little bit of progress sprinkled in with a lot of fun & even some relaxing...and still there was laundry & cleaning & a whole lot of life, but I wouldn't trade a bit! Slow & steady...yep, it's a pretty accurate description right now...and I feel certain that eventually we will win the race!

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12:1

"But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.” 2 Chronicles 15:7

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9