I Have a New Sister!

My brother, Isaiah, married Heather a week ago! I've seen lots of couples that seemed perfect for each other, but I'm not sure I've EVER seen a match made in heaven like this! Isaiah and Heather "finding" each other has reminded me over and over that God is SO GOOD and He makes all things beautiful in His time! Why would we ever doubt His Wisdom?!

The Five of Us, Soon to Be Four

The five of us sisters are the best of friends...
I don't know what we'll do when Jemima's gone!
L-R: Mary, Jemima, Liz, Ruth, Joanna
(taken Sept. 09 at Bakersville)

As most people are busily wrapping presents and stringing the last of the Christmas lights, our house is abuzz with activity, too... except it's more like the sewing machine humming over yards of midnight blue satin and dresses and sashes hanging everywhere. Seventy-five of the pies were baked last week and are in the freezer. The ribbon and tulle and candles are stacked in boxes in the bedrooms and we are busily checking off to-do lists daily. I know it won't all get done the way we want it to by the wedding day (January 2), but the point of the wedding is celebration of what God is doing in joining two lives. So, if everything's not perfect, it will be okay! Jemima keeps reminding us that she would much rather have her family and family-to-be happy on her wedding day, than everything be completely perfect and us stressed out and irritated with one another. I think it's a great goal. :)

People keep asking me how I'm handling losing Jemima. Honestly, reality hasn't hit yet that she's going to be gone forever. We talk about it and even as we help her pack up her things, it's hard to imagine her not coming back. It's really not very real yet that she will have another life and family ....that she will be more interested in her own new family than our cozy nest. We'll just have to have her visit often to keep ourselves from getting too depressed!

For now, I'm rejoicing in the things that God has given me. Josh and Jemima found a house... of all places, three blocks from my new office in Springfield!! I didn't even wishfully ask God to do that for me... but He did! I can walk over to her house for lunch in between prenatal visits or we can walk around the block on nice afternoons when I'm waiting for the next pregnant lady to show up. I can't say how excited I am about this fun surprise! :)

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. :)

Like...um, Serial Killers Picking Up Trash?

The "little" girls (Ruth and Joanna, who really are completely adult-sized but haven't shed their title from years gone by) and I hit the road early this morning.

They were going to catch a ride with another family from church to a Revival Conference in Oklahoma this morning, so we got going bright and early. I also had milk deliveries to make in Springfield to our milk customers. Anyway, the girls finished packing their clothes and I packed the coolers of milk and we headed off to Springfield.

We had been driving for nearly an hour, uneventfully, singing along with songs, talking, laughing... all the usual stuff we do during car rides. Joanna was staring out the window at a crew of guys in orange reflective vests cleaning up the side of the highway. You know, picking up trash, trimming bushes... nothing too out of the ordinary.

The silence was broken.

"Mare?" she began.

"Yes?"

"Those guys cleaning up the roadside... did you say that they're prisoners or something?"

"Uh, yeah... They are. I mean, they're probably on a work-release program or something. I mean, they're the kind of not-so-bad guys who have been behaving themselves in prison, so they get taken out to clean up the roads... At least I think that's how it works..."

Joanna stared thoughtfully as we passed another one who stole a glance at the passing car.
"So, um... they're not like, um... serial killers or anything, right?"

Uh.
"I don't think so. But you know, I never asked."
Maybe the guy wielding the weed-eater was indeed just that...?

Come to think of it, did you ever ask? Maybe if even the worst guy is really good in prison, they let him go clean up the roads?

Just a question Joanna was wondering...

And I've been chuckling about ever since.
It never crossed my mind to worry about that.

Moonlit Photos!

Last night, I spent a few minutes walking around outside with the three youngest, taking pictures in the dark. (We used to call the three youngest "the little kids", but seeing as they are all heading towards a few inches shy of 6 feet tall, or have already reached that height [Sam], that doesn't really work anymore.)

Above: Sam took pictures of us from the roof of our guest house. But mostly he admired the moon and the stars and the night, and tried to convince me that it would be a good night to camp out on the trampoline!

Above: I'm still the tallest of the girls
(not something I'm particularly thrilled about),
but Ruth is so close to being the same height!

Above: Joanna... my baby sister who isn't much of a baby any more!
She's a teenager now! Amazing!
I do think she and I look the most alike of any of us girls...
Agree? Disagree?

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! :)

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