Day 279: Moms' Day out

Ah, what a great day. The dads watched the kids while a group of us moms from our Mothers' Fellowship small group went to Stillwater and enjoyed a day away. No toddlers to chase around or strollers to navigate through the tiny aisles at the antique shop. So nice. Above we had a bit of tea (we actually had iced tea since it was warm out) and below we took a cruise on one of the Andiamo boats. Below are Lea, Charisse, and Jen just after we went under the bridge. It was a dinner and jazz cruise-- great food and a lot of fun.

Day 247: Mothers' Fellowship last brunch

Today was the last official day of Mothers' Fellowship for the year, and it ended, as always, with a brunch. This is a bit of a wide view. On brunch days, each group decorates their tables and it's a big potluck with more fellowship time. We don't do the usual worship and speaker. I'm a little sad to be done for the summer. I certainly plan to come back, but I know it will also be harder to make it regularly with 3 kids.

Day 225: MF Baby dedication

They had another baby dedication at Mothers' Fellowship today (Zaria was dedicated back in late 2007). I had the chance to hold the little girl at the end, who was less than 2 weeks old and adorable, and I also met Nancy, the woman near the middle holding her two sons in MN Twins shirts. Yes, they are twins and they are fraternal. Talking with Nancy after MF, I'm starting to feel less scared about the possibility that I could be carrying two boys. They'll be fun and a lot of work regardless of whether they're boys or girls.

Day 190: Ashes and visits

We had a special Mother's Fellowship today, an Easter celebration service. One of the activities we did was to write down our burdens and nail them to a cross. Then, without looking at what was written, a couple of the leaders pulled all the slips of paper off and brought them outside to be burned in the fire pit outside. There are some large windows that look out into the garden area that includes the fire pit, so we were able to watch as our burdens went up to God in smoke. It was amazing. I wept a little, probably partly due to pregnancy hormones kicking in. I am just so grateful to God that instead of the possible horror I was dreading of an ectopic pregnancy, I am blessed to have two healthy growing babies inside.

In the evening we had a chance to visit Jamin's folks along with Dan, Naomi and Gwendolyn. Marla pulled out a box of musical instruments, which were fun to bang around with for both Zaria and Gwendolyn, but I think they enjoyed playing a "duet" on the keyboard even more.

Day 183: Traveling with music

At Mothers' Fellowship, there was really only one song we sang that needed the tambourine, but I also broke out the dc Talk tape today to listen to while I did some cleaning. I had it out yesterday when Cassie and Kami came over to play Pop 5 with Jamin and I. None of them had heard of "soap-on-a-rope" as a true fad, but Jamin remembered that dc Talk's "Luv is a Verb" mentioned putting "soaps on a rope cuz they ain't worth hopin'.

Day 158: Bake sale cookies

You saw on my last Tuesday photos examples of how to do cookies for the annual bake sale for Mothers' Fellowship. Well, today I baked some. I didn't do very many-- Zaria and I were battling a cold and actually stayed home instead of going over to Jen's to bake together. It was tough to make this many as Zaria was very clingy today. As fun as it is to have her "walk" with me by grabbing onto my pant legs, it takes much longer to get things done in the kitchen. We'll just have to meet up with Jen and company tomorrow since she has neighbors that go to North Heights Lutheran Church (where the bake sale was held).

Day 155: Labeling your cookies

Day 148: Serious bake sale

A few of the leaders at Mothers' Fellowship "demonstrated" how to make chocolate chip cookies for our annual fund raiser bake sale. I don't think anyone wanted to try out the dough after they mixed these concoctions up.

Day 134: Orthodoxy and second cousins

There's a cool-looking Russian Orthodox church near North Height Lutheran Church, where we have Mother's Fellowship. I went to Russia in college for a January term, and I still really have a love for the place. I also love the onion domes on their old churches.

My cousin's wife Melissa and kids came to Mother's Fellowship for the first time today, and the second cousins had a little fun when we all went out to eat together for lunch afterwards. They had almost-matching gold coats and Anja enjoyed pushing Zaria around in her stroller out of the restaurant.

Day 107: Stockings are hung on what?

Zaria just got her own stocking tonight, a gift from "Auntie" Cassie. It's very lovely, but perhaps it's strange that we've hung our stockings up on our china cabinet.
"Their stockings were hung on the China cabinet with care, with hopes that the dishwashers soon would be there."
On another note, Zaria was very sick today. Too much partying, perhaps? Anyway, she ralphed a few times, but seems to be out of danger now, and didn't show any dangerous signs of dehydration. It was interesting because at Mother's Fellowship this morning we volunteered at Feed My Starving Children, and my poor baby couldn't eat today!