34 Weeks Pregnant.

The other day, when I found that amazing armoire for the nursery at the thrift store, my husband surprised me by also having this table delivered to my house along with it:



I had seen the table in the thrift store and remarked on how cool it was, so he sneak-attack bought it for me. I am completely smitten, and we have since discovered that we have quite the little gem on our hands-- an extremely valuable antique in excellent condition that is worth about ten times what we paid for it.

Not that it is going anywhere soon.

I'm too in love with it to part ways with it now.

I mean, the chairs are my favorite mustard yellow! It's like it was made just for me! :)

And then today I was wandering around in a thrift store and saw this amazing vintage cloth poster:



I knew it would be the perfect companion to our new table... so I snatched it up and raced home to introduce the two.



They are getting along famously, and I adore my new little kitchen nook! A lot of life happens right here, and now it feels so cozy and warm... which will come in handy the next few days as we are preparing for yet another download of city-paralyzing snow...



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Since I knew the chances would be few and far between after today, I greedily snatched up some much needed time to myself this morning after I dropped off the boys and made a mad dash to the grocery store before it turned into a war zone later this afternoon.

It was lovely and so refreshing to just sit and read and journal without any pressing TO-DO's over my head.



Although, I guess the TO-DO's were still technically there... I just chose to ignore them for a bit. Ezra has his birthday party this Saturday, and I probably should have spent the day buying his gifts and getting things gathered for the party since the snow is coming and I only have ONE MORE free day this week (snow allowing, of course) to get out again without the monkey children, but I decided to put my sanity first today.

It was... fortifying.

Necessary.

In fact, that should be my new life motto: "Sanity first!"

It's a good principal to live by, methinks.

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My sweet baby boy is getting so big these days. He is talking in full sentences ("Here you go, mama!", "I got it!", "Help me peese!", "Tank yoo, mama.") and he repeats almost every single word I say all day long. SUCH a different experience from when Ezra was this age. Ezra was hardly saying any words at THREE. (And oh, how I worried!)

Myer's little baby voice just about kills me with cuteness, and I am feeling more and more these days like having another little boy would be just grand. Little boys are so so precious... and it helps, too, now that we have found a boy name that we love!! Squee!



Not much longer to wait now... only 5 or 6 weeks to go!

Say whaaaaaa??!!?

A Pregnant Advent.

34 weeks! woot!

There has been something so incredibly special and significant about being pregnant during the Advent season this year. Advent lasts the four Sundays before Christmas, and is the season of eagerly awaiting and preparing for celebrating the birth of Jesus.

The word advent literally means "coming". And, boy oh boy, can I relate.

As we sing and talk of God coming to us as a helpless baby, it has been amazing to have the tangible example of how fragile and small the God of the universe became for us busily poking me in the ribs and stretching against my skin as I go about my day.

Is there anything more helpless than an unborn baby? Even... an embryo? To think that the God who governs all things at all times became an embryo for us... Was painfully born into filth and manure- roommates with a donkey and sleeping in the most humble box imaginable: a trough for the slop and food of musty barnyard beasts.

What a shocking King. A King who nurses at Mary's breast and intimately knows our pains and frustrations as human beings in this world. My kind of hero! Unexpected and seemingly unqualified. These heroes have the greatest stories, don't they?

God could have chosen to send His Son down to us from the clouds in a glorious light- expelling all rumors against His deity and authority. He could have appointed Him to instant power and plowed through His to-do list with nary an opposition. But who can relate to that? How will that kind of a God help the prostitute or the addicted father or the suicidal teen? The very people God came to rescue?

All of this to say... I'm thankful for this baby inside of me and this season. It has been a very poignant way for me to reconnect with the God I sometimes find myself too lazy to love. I'm falling in love with what He did for me all over again. Is it possible that God was thinking of me and my heart while His son was stretching against Mary's womb 2000 years ago? Knowing that this Jesus could speak to MY mother's heart about God's love like nothing else ever could?

I think it's just crazy enough to be true... Just unbelievable enough to embrace with every fiber of my being.

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Here's a song I wrote a few years back about all of this. I think I may have posted it on this site EONS ago, but I thought I'd throw it up here again in case you want to hear it...

Humble Baby by emery clark

Also, here's a little Christmas song that Chris & I recorded this year! Hope you like it, too. It's one of my favorites.

Have Yourself A Merry Little C by emery clark & chris clark

To download either of these songs, click here.

Oh, I hope you like them!