what our February looks like

Life is simple and quiet and lovely here this month. The soft, thick blanket of snow on the trees and fields around our house reflects an abundance of light into our home, making these weeks indoors seem bright and cheerful. There is no sense of cabin fever here, just the lovely sense of being tucked into a warm, light-filled cocoon of family and mutual delight in one another. Keith has been unemployed for six or seven weeks now, and while our bank account is showing signs of stress, our family life is thriving. We have so much needed and are so much savoring these days and weeks together. Keith and I spend hours every day talking about oh, everything. Our plans and dreams for the future, lessons and regrets and questions about the past, the things which concern us about our country and what we desire to see change and how we want to be a part of that, parenting choices and decisions, theology and the practical applications of our beliefs, how we desire to steward this gracious gift of life, name options for our unborn son and the implications of each, styles of homeschooling and our goals as we look forward to the gradual introduction of formal studies for our children, all those myriad of things which we’ve not had time to discuss in the last year or so. It is good, good, good to be together again, to be united in the way that we think and live and worship God and face the world together.

In many ways, having Keith home has been the motherhood break that I have been desperately needing. He lifts Abraham onto his changing table and up to his booster seat in the kitchen, thus sparing my exhausted, inflamed back and giving me more and more chances to just sit. When we go places, he lifts the children into the minivan, into their carseats, and out again. He helps with most meals and often gives me chances to nap, something I hadn’t done in... well, I can’t remember how long. Lately he has been cleaning up the kitchen every single evening, which is always my biggest hurdle in keeping our home clean and something I am fond of telling him is worth way more than any silly thing like a paid vocation.

It is good to just rest together. Our somewhat sluggish and temperamental internet connection makes watching shows on Hulu into a lengthy process, which is probably a good thing because it usually keeps us from attempting to indulge in late-night TV-watching. Yesterday we began reading aloud a book called My Name is Mary Sutter. It’s a Civil War historical novel about a midwife and it’s incredible so far. I want to rave about it more but as we’ve only finished the first three chapters, I should probably wait to see how it turns out. But it’s lovely to be reading an intriguing new book together and to have time to savor it.

Our children are relishing these days with their daddy, too. He does all of those wonderful things that daddies are best at doing: cooking pancakes together, tossing them in the air, tickling them and chasing them, giving horseback rides, letting them help him with the chickens and cleaning up the kitchen, taking them on field trips to visit the neighbor’s baby goats. Many things that I wouldn’t usually do and many others that I don’t have energy or strength to do at 38 weeks pregnant.

It’s just good. And our little ones are thriving, too. Abraham was still coming to our bed halfway through the night two months ago; now he sleeps through the night every night, is fine with Keith being the one to hold him to sleep for naps and bedtime, and has even stopped using a pacifier. Or rather, those things were all the case until he was feverish and needy for four days straight last week, at which time there was some significant backsliding... he’s waking up at night again and even back to using the pacifier occasionally... but I am hopeful that we can make progress forward again in these next days before our baby comes.

Besides the intense crankiness of the last week (probably due to new molars), Abraham is enthralling us with his plethera of new abilities. He speaks so clearly and accurately now that we can nearly always converse about what seems like everything. He breaks into spontaneous singing and dancing multiple times a day, usually in tune with Happy Birthday, Do-Re-Mi, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Loves Me (which he sings as Jesus Loves Abraham), or the alphabet song. He has suddenly and unexpectedly fallen in love with numbers and letters and is learning them all more quickly than we are teaching him.

And Priscilla is such a darling. I can’t believe how much I love and enjoy this girl of ours. We just marvel every day as we watch her living out graciousness and joy and thankfulness and love and self-control. She is polite and quick to obey, and she chatters to us about heaven and animals and our new baby and her friends and so many other things that I can’t even remember it all. She quotes books and turns them into her play stories... “See, Mommy, I’m preparing food for my family to show how I care” was this morning's comment (a semi-quote from God’s Wisdom for Little Girls) and she makes my heart marvel every day. It is amazing to watch her play with her brother, gently and patiently guiding him through her imaginative play world. They spend their days cooking in their play kitchen, drawing, reading, giggling, making things out of play dough, building with blocks, and really just loving being together. It is fantastic.