Has it really?

That was my question to myself as I came to the realization that it had been an entire year since I had done anything with this blog. Wow. Not that I have had anyone comment on the lack of efforts. Ha! We moved into our first owned house this year. We bought it on the Internet after some gracious friends walked through it for us. It went very smoothly and we love this house! We are so grateful for being led to purchase this one. We have gotten to know a few of our neighbors. Not as many as we had hoped by this time, but the relationships we have formed with the few that we do interact with have been fun, lovely, easy, rewarding...we love to see God's hand in that. (We have also been blessed with heated floors, which I highly recommend in wintertime. We didn't know that house came with those.) A year later I still feel like I live in Versailles. The girls have a huge yard to play in with a black walnut tree, a few oaks and plenty of beautiful birds that fly through. We have a nest of red robins on the eaves in spring and summer and a family of cardinals making themselves known lately. My kitchen has many counters. I had two square feet of counter space in Italy, I have many square feet of beautiful granite in this house! And a dishwasher. I'm never leaving. Abigail Margaret has been such a fun and joyous addition to our family! She arrived on July 20 before Chris's Mom had to go home. She came for the whole month to deal with my moods and do lots of dishes. She was wonderful. The girls had such a great time seeing Uncle Tim for a week and Pop for the first two weeks of her visit.

Then, Abi came. She is so smiley and social. She screamed for very long times almost every time we put her down, so I wore her a lot. She seemed to grow out of that after a couple months. A the older girls did, she teased me by seeming to look a lot like my side of the family when she was born. But by the time her second week flew past, she was all Pelczar. Again- I look like I am a nanny for someone else's children.

Maylisa and Lisy have thought up names for each of us and dubbed our family the bug squad. May is our honeybee, Lisy is our lady bug, Abi is our butterfly (the name already suits her) Dad is a dragon fly. He agreed to this name because it has "dragon" in it and silk worm is not a bug. I am a firefly. It suits. I can be a bit fiery. I have been learning since Abi came. Learning so much about death to myself for Love's sake. Wretched self-centeredness is in the way very often. John 15 has been a meditation over the past year and a half or so. Reading, re-reading. Trying to apply. How does on do this? Abide. Such a rich word. To continue to exist in a specific state or place. Constant. Finding more than just physical being in. Abiding. How? I have been approaching Him. Asking Him. And slowly, my thick head and dim eyes are being pierced by light. I think I am learning this. Chris is learning too. Exciting to watch-to witness such deep and quiet slow growth as he seeks to please The Lord. The Lord still blesses Him with prodigal gift giving. It has been hilarious to see and experience such things from God. Still amazed that He does so much more for us. And It is Christmas time again. Already. New mercies in the morning. New birth of Mercy. New life in Mercy. Joy. Freedom. Release. Peace between God and Man. Love. May your joy be found in the place that it can be made full. Jesus.