Our Tuesday in pictures

Leftovers from breakfast. Yummy porridge, tea, and milk. (I hid ground almonds in there and they didn’t even know!)

How I do the dishes…(and other thoughts)

[note that Augustine wanted the cars on the table to "watch" him color ]

My mom is a speech-language pathologist. Recently

Another day in the library

Reblogged from the graduate wife:

Let me paint you a picture:

• Dishes piled sky high in the sink.
• Toddler who wants your full attention all day long.
• Lots of emails in your inbox concerning an exciting project that you are contributing to that need to be answered sooner rather than later.
• A shiny new book that arrived two weeks ago from Amazon, and still hasn’t been cracked.

Read more… 622 more words

Joy's thoughts: I really liked this post, it is so easy to fantasize about where the grass is greener, especially developing an "entitlement" mentality about which spouse is working harder at their job. Instead, we need to confess our sin of jealousy and ask the Holy Spirit for grace and joy to fulfill our jobs He has given us.

Classic.

Today Shaun was asked to pray in church.

Family Fun Saturdays

Shaun’s been working really hard these past few weeks wrapping up to submit his PhD dissertation.

You’ve got your hands full…

… of good things!

With two little ones, and pregnant again, I often receive comments about being very busy with children.

An Announcement!

[Grateful to my close friend, the amazing Sarah Niemann, for designing this announcement, check out more of her work at her blog, Now Brought Near (AND she's expecting too! eek!)]

We are super thankful to our Maker for the gift of another child! I am 13 weeks (and a day) today and feeling wonderful. We had our first ultrasound yesterday to confirm a healthy thriving little baby. Praise God for His goodness to us.

Little details:

I am totally showing, which is fun. For awhile I thought (read: *hoped*) I was having twins, but apparently having three children close together makes the stomach muscles a bit accustomed to the pregnancy tummy. In fact, one friend at church came up to me and commented on my being pregnant, and I shockingly asked how she discovered our secret news. She replied by pointing to my increasing stomach, “It’s a bit obvious”. Ha! I love it.

I was unwell until about 9.5 weeks (hence lack of blogging), but am very thankful to be recovered from nausea. Apparently eating loads of protein did the trick for me. [read: bring on the steak! ] I’m still a bit tired, but that very well may be from taking care of two little ones. I certainly have so much to be grateful for! It will be interesting to see what the gender will be since I was not sick at all during Augustine’s pregnancy, and rather sickly until 15 weeks with Jane’s pregnancy. Shaun has almost convinced me not to find out the gender this go around. Don’t hate me if I falter and cave to my OCD planning tendencies. But I think we’re going to try to hold out. In Aberdeen, the midwives are not allowed to reveal the gender anyhow, so we would have to pay about £70 for a private ultrasound if I decide we must know. But, we’ll see.

We’re not sure on names yet either. Shaun is leaning towards a scottish first name, and I’m not opposed. But I don’t like Hamish or Angus or other majorly strong names he keeps jokingly suggesting (no offense to those who might possess those names, just a bit too british for my taste). I like classy more common names (note: Shaun suggested Augustine and I suggested Audrey Jane). Feel free to throw a name suggestion in the pot. We’ll consider it. I just stumbled upon a baby names blog which is an interesting read. Apparently you can submit your baby name query, and this lady “solves” your baby naming problem.

The kids are more or less nonchalant about the pregnancy. Augustine is able to understand that I am expecting and has suggested the name, “baby augustine”. We veto’d two children with that name, naturally. To which he suggested the name, “baby Jane”. silly kid. When we initially asked him if he wanted another baby, he replied, “No, just jane” and carried on playing with his cars. Fortunately, he has since become more excited and enjoyed looking at the ultrasound pictures from yesterday.

Our plan is to give birth here in Scotland. Augustine was born state-side, and Jane was born in Aberdeen. Augustine’s delivery was nae bad, and Jane’s delivery was supery fast, so that would be freakin’ awesome if I scored that again. I really enjoy the services the NHS provides for us. The midwives handle all pregnancies, and I enjoy the more natural approach to bearing life (rather than it being viewed more akin to problem). I’ve had my first scan (ultrasound) at 12-ish weeks (though the scan revealed we were 13 weeks!) and I’ll have another at 20 weeks unless I should medically need another.

I think that’s about it. or at least all that I can think of off the top of my head.

We really appreciate your time and care for us to read about our latest news and are crazy siked to continue to share with you more about our growing family. We covet your prayers during this new season and are so grateful for the friendship each of you have given to us.

More to come!

A day in stovehaven

Shaun’s been working his butt off wrapping up this PhD. I can’t believe he is almost done! I am so proud of him! Feel free to pray for him/us as he finishes.

To give both Shaun a break and our family some quality time to see him– we try to take a portion of Saturdays to do something fun. This weekend we visited a little place outside of Aberdeen called Stonehaven. It is right on the coast and has lovely small town features. We went to the farmers market first and grabbed us some yummy fresh cheese, sourdough bread, local aberdeen angus burgers, and rosemary dipping oil. Then headed to the park! Here’s a few more pictures of the kiddos on this lovely fall day.

I’m so thankful the Lord has given us this season abroad. I know I will miss so so many aspects of Scotland. I’m super grateful for these days to soak up lovely memories with the kids.

Pumpkin Morning Glory Muffins

Autumn is here. and I was given a couple of tins of pumpkin. I’m so so glad I made this bread. The original recipe calls for muffins, but I’m lazy. and I can cut bigger slices with bread

The nice thing about this recipe is it is super flexible, check out some of the original suggestions here. You can use coconut, apple, raisins, banana… you get the picture. yummy, fall-ish, and semi-healthy too. can’t beat it. so here’s what I did:

Pumpkin Morning Glory Bread
:: ingredients ::
2 heaping cups of spelt flour
1/2 cup of ground almonds
1/4 cup +1/8 cup of maple syrup
1 tablespoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons of ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 1/2 cups of shredded/grated carrots
1/2 cup shredded/grated fresh pineapple
2 eggs
1/2 cup of softened salted butter
425g tin of pumpkin puree
handful of chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate)

:: instructions ::
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Butter a 9×13 pan or muffin tin.
2. Mix dry ingredients. Stir in the carrot, pineapple, pumpkin, maple syrup and butter. Note:I used a hand mixer with a food processor tip to grind up the pineapples prior to adding them to the mixture. I also used the same mixer to blend together all ingredients and make a finer appearance to the carrots.
3. Add the eggs to the mixture being careful not to over-stir. Use a spatula to fold in the chocolate chips. Pour into greased tin.
4. Bake in your preheated oven for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of the bread comes out non-gooey. It has a nice crackled texture to the top when it is finished. If using a muffin tin, try baking 20-25 minutes with the same method.
5. Enjoy!! Great with a piping hot mug of your favorite coffee or tea. Or a serve a fresh slice from the oven with a cold glass of milk.

Feel free to comment if you made a recipe adjustment that you know others will love!

Photos and original recipe are taken from Sarah at “Now Brought Near” Blog.

that Jane….