Uncommon Grace

In the Orchard

First, I want to thank you all so much for your enthusiasm about our news. Reading all of your sweet comments has certainly added to the excitement here. We just can't wait to meet our little someone new!

We have had a strange and busy week, which explains my longer than expected absence here. Between a scary injury (in a very inoppurtune place) for our little guy necessitating a "drop everything and rush to the ER" trip (everything is fine, by the way), a busier than usual weekend, a mama with a very sore shoulder (alternating ice and heat, and calling my midwife begging to be allowed to take more Tylenol), and a dog who both impressed and grossed us all out by killing a squirrel for the first time in the eight years we've had her, I haven't quite known which end was up since last week at this time.

We did take a day to visit our favorite, small, sweet, family-run apple orchard for some quiet apple picking, basking in that early autumn sunshine, visiting with some horses and chickens, and enjoying a treat of fresh apple cider and handmade cider doughnuts on the farmhouse porch.

At long last...

You all have been so very patient as you've waited to discover what this big work-in-progress I've alluded to is. I've been excited to share it with you, but it wasn't quite time yet. But finally today, with the help of my magnificent assistant, I have an illustration for you:

That's me. With our newest wee one traveling happily along inside my belly! (Don't you love my rosy cheeks?!)

We are all so excited around here! We can't wait to meet our new babe so that we'll have some cheeks to kiss. We expect his or her arrival to be right around the first of March, give or take. (My due date is actually March 4, but I've never made it quite to the end.) Elisabeth wants me to mention that she likes the name Cupcake for a girl, and Karl for a boy.

So, I'm sure you'll all want to know how things have been going. Baby is healthy and growing, with a strong heartbeat. Mama is very, very sick. I'm one of those unfortunate ladies who has that severe nausea and vomiting -- that lasts, and lasts, and lasts. So, though I'm quite firmly into the second trimester now, I'm still quite ill and not doing as much as I was before. Having done this twice before, I do have some perspective, and though I admit to pleading with God for it to stop sometimes, I do know that pregnancy goes by remarkably quickly, and we have a little miracle to look forward to at the end!

And to some of you who guessed about my big project -- the three most popular guesses were a book, an etsy store, and a new baby. I have to say that I would love, love, love to write a book. I don't have a particular topic in mind for one, so I don't have one in the works. But it's something that I have wanted to do since I was a wee girl myself. An Etsy store, while not in progress right now, is something you will most definitely see from me at some point, though not until after baby arrives. And those of you who guessed it was a baby ... well, you were right on!!

Blessingway for Meghan

Thank you for your kind words and enthusiasm on my last post! I'm excited to be back, too.

We have a lot going on around here. I don't know that I've ever felt so crazy! Since I'm still not totally organized, or back into the swing of posting, I thought I'd share a few photos today from my dear friend Meghan's blessingway (which was in July). Her beautiful baby girl was born two weeks later.

The first blessingway I ever participated in was for my friend Melanie more than four years ago. I'd read about them, but had never attended one, and was so excited when Melanie's sister-in-law organized one. Since then, just about all of my pregnant friends have had one. My own -- two and a half years ago tomorrow -- was really special; James was born 12 hours later!

A blessingway (for anyone who hasn't had the opportunity to attend one) is based upon the Navajo tradition of honoring people as they stand on the threshold of a life transition. In the last several years, the tradition has been adopted as an alternative to a "typical" baby shower.

It gives the friends and family of a pregnant woman the opportunity to honor her, to support her at a time when she is probably feeling vulnerable, and to celebrate together as a community preparing to welcome the new baby. I have always felt like it buoys the mother-to-be with a bit more strength, knowing that she isn't alone on her journey to the birth of the new baby.

Some of the blessingways I have attended have been very spiritual in nature, and some have been focused more on pampering the new mother. Either way, each one I have attended has been as unique as the friend it honored, and as beautiful.

Thank you, Meghan, for counting me as one of the women to join your circle. 

Edited: Here are a few resources on blessingways if you want more information!

*Mother Rising: The Blessingway Journey into Motherhood by Yana Cortlund, Barb Lucke, and Donna Miller Watelet is my favorite. I've used this book for ideas and inspiration a lot with the blessingways that I have helped to facilitate.

*I attended a talk given by Anna Stewart, author of Mother Blessings: Honoring Women Becoming Mothers, at the same conference that I spoke at in May. She had some beautiful ideas that I had never tried or seen at another blessingway.

*Blessingways: A Guide to Mother-Centered Baby Showers -- Celebrating Pregnancy, Birth, and Motherhood by Shari Maser has been recommended to me by a couple of people, but I haven't had personal experience with it.

*The best online resource I had seen for blessingways seems to have been removed. :( But it'd be worth doing some online searches if it's something that piques your interest.

Summer Is...

Hello, everyone! I'm back from my "summer break" with much to share. This is the final post in the Summer Is series. I would like to thank my fantastic guest bloggers for contributing in such beautiful and unexpected ways over the last month. Sarah, Molly, Emily, Stefani, Heather, Erin, Leslie, Alicia, Kristin, and Kirsten are all such amazing, inspiring women and true friends. Thank you, ladies.

Summer is...

...a snack of fresh produce gifted by our new neighbor from her yard -- lovingly arranged by my girl.

...camping. Even if this year it ended up only being in the backyard.

...celebrating Midsummer Night (that's a link to last year's Midsummer post), this year with friends.

...little living gifts from my children.

...a little bit of u-pick fun. (Strawberry season in our part of the world was fairly weak this year due to a late frost, so no freezer jam this year for us...)

...our once-a-year trip to an amusement park.

...and the backyard rides inspired by it.

And finally, summer is the time to feel awe for life in the most tangible of ways. In the life of my daughter, coursing through her. ("Mama, feel my heart beating!" she gasps after racing around the yard at twilight.)

Now, what's autumn to you? Come join me over in the new flickr group!