Ellie's Visit

Ellie with my sisters and me...

I've been living life instead of blogging. That includes lots of midwife-stuff... but also loving on the four darling babies who have been living in we girls' bedroom, along with their mommy, Ellie.
Somehow, Ellie was adopted into the family years ago, the day we met her. She's one of the favorite non-biological sisters who we claim.... The past month has been delightful, but it's time for her to go home and settle back into regular life with her hubby. We're going to be saying goodbye early tomorrow morning. Perhaps, when that traumatic moment of kissing our four babies goodbye is in the past, I will have time to post a few more pictures of recent days around our house...

Someone asked me how our family was doing, and I replied, "Um, in a nutshell, we're happily going crazy, trying to love a zillion people!"

:) I like it. People matter. Life is good. Love is worth a lot. :)

The Threesome at the Capitol

Halley in one of the giant urns behind the Governor's portico

Mary in the Governor's garden

Sarah in the Governor's garden

As the years have passed at the Capitol, I have wanted to quit lobbying for midwifery in Missouri and move on with my life. I complained to a friend one day, "My idea was not to be 60 and still running around as a lobbyist! This was so not what I planned to do with my life!"
And yet, there was something that needed to be done, and someone needed to do it.
So, I went back, year after year.

I would come home at the end of session and tell my family that "next year will be different... I won't be at the Capitol all the time..." But the replacement I prayed for didn't appear. So I kept going back. That is till this year.

When session ended in 2008, I knew that I had to get away from the Capitol for a good long time to maintain my sanity, my heart, my vision, my morality. I vowed not to be there full time in 2009, and I meant it completely. But I had no idea who would be there to keep tabs on things and make sure that the law we had worked so long to pass wasn't instantly repealed...

The Lord provided in such an amazing way that I was shocked...
"If God should open the windows of heaven, might this thing be?"
Yes.

My replacement came in the form of two very dear friends, Halley and Sarah.
They have been there day in and day out this year and I have only occasionally popped in for a few days when something more than usual was going on.

Last week was the last week of the 2009 legislative session. I spent part of it at the Capitol with Sarah and Halley, so thankful that they were shouldering the work and I was just tagging along!
On Thursday afternoon, we left the building for a couple of hours while the Senate went into recess and had a lot of fun posing for pictures all around the Capitol.

Thank you, Sarah and Halley!

Wading in the fountain in front of the Capitol.
The sign didn't say, "Don't wade in the fountains";
it only said, "Please don't step on the tulips..."
So, we pulled off our pumps and pantyhose and went wading!

The door at the top of the front Capitol steps
leading to the third floor rotunda must be about 20 feet high.
Here, we do a symbolic pose: "Free the midwives!" :)

The Capitol as it overlooks the Missouri River.
The Governor's office is located inside the high arched windows on the second floor.

The Capitol from the front...

Day is done... Caucusing in our favorite office hang-out.
The Representative who resides in this office went home hours ago.
But for us, there's still the House and Senate Journal
and various bills to finish reading,
strategy to figure out, and plans to make for tomorrow...


Thank you to my sister, Ruth, for spending her day chasing us with the camera! :)

A House Full of Girls

I don't know why our house always seems to be filled with girls. But it has... for years. We seem to attract them. We like them, we have them over, we let them visit here, even live here. It's been a haven at times for girls who have been lost in the complexities and confusion of life and broken homes.



First of all, there are five of us girls who belong here, anyway. And then there's Mom. That makes six. And then we nearly always have one or a couple more here.



We 5 sisters share a bedroom that is just a little bit over full with the beds and the clothes and the shoes and all of the other girl stuff and projects. When I spread my books across the biggest bed to study, and Liz spreads her scrapbooking stuff across the little bit of bare floor between the beds, it looks ... really full.



Since we have additional girls spending the night here as often as not, we've maximized our bed space. There's a queen bed that sleeps two when it's just us, three or even four (if they are skinny!) when extra girls spend the night. When my trundle bed (under Ruth's day bed - the only "seat" in the room) is pulled out, it touches the queen bed, and it can sleep two in a pinch. Then there is room for one sleeping bag to be laid between the two dressers, with Liz's bed on one end, and the door on the other. Getting up in the night and trying to step over all the sleeping bodies and get to the door is a feat in itself.

We've had three extra "sisters" here this past week. The room was really full some nights. But there were lots of good conversations and lots of laughter after the lights went out.

We talked about humility and rebuilding relationships with parents, about getting along with little siblings, about loving annoying people, about forgiveness, about the hard things in life, about God...

I'm glad that I live in a room crammed full of girls. So full of people that the windows need to be opened in the middle of winter. That sometimes there are tears or laughter through half the night and we don't get much sleep.

My sisters and I have so many memories from our cramped quarters that the bedroom is almost sacred space.
And the lives of many other girls contain a compartment of memories from our room.... Some of them good, some of them horrifying, some of them downright embarrassing!

As much as our room isn't much to see, we pray that life will blossom from the little space. We've lived our real lives in front of them, and they've seen the good, bad, and the ugly. Sometimes we've said far more than was necessary or shocked ourselves with our own selfishness and attitudes. But, I hope that somehow, in the midst of our own shortcomings, they've went on their journey with a few bits of lasting, eternal value that they gained in the infamous "Girls' Room" at our house!

This post is dedicated to Valarie, Melissa, Jessica, Melody, Susanne, Christina, Sarah, Sarah, Carissa, Rachel, Rebekah, and all the rest of you dear "step-sisters" who know far too much about us behind the scenes! :)

Presidential Debate in Our Home!

Joanna (13) has had the opportunity of doing her schoolwork with our homeschooling neighbors this year. Being the sociable creature that she is, she's always wanted to do school with other people in more of a group setting, so we are all happy for her chance to work together with a couple other girls around her age.
The other girls' mother, Julianna, does a great job of teaching them together and making school interesting. Back in October (yes, I'm a little late posting pictures!), she decided that they would have a presidential debate at our house. She assigned them each girl to be one of the presidential candidates and then the girls spent hours researching the platforms of the candidates and studying their mannerisms and pet words. Then (with some help from several speech writers) they wrote up their speeches and delivered them. Afterwards they took questions from the audience and attempted to out-do one another with their answers!

Joanna as Barack Obama, Azarina as Ralph Nader, and Julia as John McCain

Nader gets a bit of help from his presidential speechwriter.
Obama appears to be busy with his Blackberry in the background!

John McCain (left) is stumped for a minute on the economy and gets a bit of advice
from his chief policy adviser on how to answer the question.
Obama (right) appears to be confident of his next answer.

We didn't always agree with their positions on issues, but applauded when possible! : )

My Lovely Little Sisters

Aren't they cute? : )
Joanna (13), Ruth (16) and their friend, Christy (12) in the Wal-Mart shoe aisle!

Bestest Girlfriends

Mary, Aneysa, Abby, Jemima (Oct. 2008)

The quote, "You'll be the same person you are today in five years except for the friends you choose and the books you read..." often echoes through my head. While perhaps not entirely true, I think it's more true than many of us imagine.

I've been blessed with so many dear friends over the years who have shaped me into the person I am today, not the least of whom are my family members.

I am so grateful that God has placed people in my path to show me what I never would have seen without them, to do what I never would have done without them, and to inspire me to follow God in ways that I never would have without their encouragement.

One of those long-time friends and kindred spirits is Aneysa. As girls, the letters used to fly back and forth between our mailboxes at an astounding rate. Now as grown women, we both find ourselves living at an often frantic pace - her with Suzuki piano teaching, me with midwifery causes. Now, more than ever in the midst of our busy lives and the lack of time to write good old-fashioned letters or even call each other very often, we cherish the moments we have together.

In spite of many of my girlhood friends changing their dreams, loves and ideals that we once shared, I love the fact that Aneysa hasn't changed her love of femininity and womanhood. She and I still both love twirly skirts and old fashioned classics and girly things and love to dream about being wives and mothers someday. We love our big families and cherish the moments we have to spend time with them. Most of all, we both desire to please God more than anything else. And as different as our lives are in some ways, we find that it all comes back to that anyway.

Each of us have a sister a few years younger... Abigail and Jemima, who have been friends nearly as long as their big sisters. So, when we make time for a breakfast out together we're rarely a pair - it's usually a four-some.

Except Abigail is getting married in a couple more weeks. Wow... Time has flown! We spent Saturday at her bridal shower (the above picture was taken there) and vowed to get together at least once more - just the four of us - before Abby's a married woman.

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another:
"What! You, too? Thought I was the only one." - C. S. Lewis

Little Sisters... the Spice of Life!

Little
sisters
are such
a hoot!
They
and
their
friends
ensure
that life
is never,
ever
boring!


The Hunters spent part of last week with us,
and all of the younger girls in our family had
a blast with their two girls, Julie and Tonya.
Below, they're all having fun posing in front of
Ruth's camera. : )












And to top it off, Ruth falls through the kitchen floor....
No, really this was staged.

We have this trap door in the corner of the kitchen,
and Ruth "practiced" falling through it while Liz
video taped her. (She had a lot of bruises and scrapes
the next day since she had to repeat the fall about 15
times to get it perfected on camera!)

The girls have been talking about doing a "documentary"
about our family life "when the shades are drawn and
the visitors go away..."
They say that this would be one of the opening scenes!
I think it would be incredibly funny, but I'd definitely
want a say in what makes the final cut! : )
...And Ruth wanted you to know that she thinks that
this picture is embarrassing and she really didn't want
it on my blog, but finally gave me permission to post it,
because I told her that everyone would enjoy it!

Final (2007) Year in Review Post

I am most richly blessed...

"The Big Three" - Elisabeth (Liz), Jemima (Mice) and Mary (Mare)
Don't ask about the nicknames - they started back when we were all little kids!

God has been so good to me. Of all the things I have been given when I look back over my year, my family would rank a definite first place! I am the person I am today, because of their influence. I'm striving to be the kind of person I want to be tomorrow, because they love me and encourage me and inspire me to walk on and to grow. They are my best friends, and I can just be myself, because they love me the way I am. : )
My sisters and I make memories nearly every night as we all share a bedroom and stay up way too late, talking far too long! But our friendships are worth the loss of sleep! : )

All of the girls together - Liz (20), Ruth (15), Jemima (21), Mary (25) and Joanna (12)

Year in Review, Part 8

My sweet sisters...



They love being girls!



At left: Liz enjoying
someone else's garden : )











Below: Ruth, Liz, Joanna