Not to mention Wegman’s shopping carts! #1: Grocery Pick-up. Thanks to Covid, I can do my grocery shopping from anywhere at anytime. Amazing, when you have two tiny babies who need to eat almost as soon as you finish the last feeding. Also, really good for when you just want to get out of the house for a bit but can’t quite face the loading and unloading involved in a long shopping trip. Pop ’em in their car seats, pray they go to sleep, and buzz to Walmart. You may even get a few minutes of quiet to listen to a podcast. Now that my babies are a little bigger, and usually don’t mind some quiet ..read more

If you’re like me, they build up on a shelf in your fridge. That almost dried out crust from a loaf of store-bought whole wheat bread, these couple breadsticks that just aren’t as good as when you first made them, this half of a hamburger bun that no one is ever going to use… They annoy you, because you don’t want to just throw them away, but neither do you want to eat them with butter. Or peanutbutter. Or even jam. I’ll tell you what to do. Get out a knife and a cutting board. Cut all your bread scraps into neat little cubes and put them on a cookie sheet with sides. Drizzle them liberally w ..read more

Just a few of my favorites… I may not be writing about my life, but it is rich and full nonetheless. Here is proof. May your Christmas season be blessed ..read more

My mom, seeing my delight, said I should share a picture of my bread on my blog. She was sure I could come up with a moral to go with it. Upon careful thought, I found I could. Because that bread represents my life a bit right now… I can jealously view other people’s sour dough creations and artsy, detailed housekeeping and strain myself trying to keep up, or sit down in defeat and say, “Excuse me? You try taking care of two babies and let’s see if you have time to clean and make bread!” Or I can take what God has given me, be it only one talent when my sister has five, or fifteen minutes ins ..read more

Yes, weekend meetings was a struggle. Yes, I don’t even know where to start with my housework this morning. Yes, I am tired. I even stayed in bed one time in the wee hours when Ellie cried, and she got her daddy instead of me. But it is surely all worth it. And one day, even tiny twinnies must sleep through the night. The End. #blessed ..read more

Today, finally, we put into action a plan of several weeks… I am sitting in a coffee shop with a toasted marshmallow latte beside me (decaf, of course), and my babies are far, far away–the distance of about 1.6 miles. Ben is babysitting right now, while I for a few moments do not revolve my life around the needs and wishes of the two cutest little humans in the world. Even though I had been wanting to do this for weeks, to see if I still know how to write, Ben had to practically command me to leave this morning. He settled in the nursery with the two sleeping beauties, showing me that he was ..read more

Meet Edmund Daniel and Ellie Brooke! They were born on February 6 at 7:37 and 7:45 pm. Despite all my fears, I was able to have a natural, complication-free delivery. Edmund needed NICU time because he weighed a tiny 3 lb 15 oz as compared to his sister’s birth weight of 5 lb 2 oz, but both babies are doing well and are now home with us. So many prayers answered, so many blessings we don’t deserve… Tonight I saw the children in their rooms, Little flowers all in bloom, Burning suns and silver moon… And somehow in those starry skies the image of the Maker lies, Right here beneath my roof tonig ..read more

IT WAS A PRIVILEGE It was a privilege, little man, to celebrate your fourth birthday with you–just like it was a privilege to do Christmas with you and see the excitement of gifts, good food, and “Away in the Manger” reflected in your eyes. We are not the ones who have been here for all the special days in your life, and we don’t know how many more of them we will share with you… But for now we are honored to light the birthday candles again, so you can blow them out for the fourth time, to be the ones who tuck you into bed afterwards and ask you if you had a good birthday, to be the people y ..read more

Note: random picture from pixaby, not my babies… It’s funny how dreams sometimes combine who we are with who we once were–and who we hope to be and who we fear to be. Last night I dreamed I was in school again, and my teacher kept me in at recess with a bunch of boys. He kept me in even longer than the boys–grilling me after they left about how late I go to bed and how much I’ve been sleeping. I tell him irritably that I usually listen to my mom reading to my younger sister and then go to bed, that I’m fine, but inside I’m thinking, “Of course I act tired! I’m pregnant with twins!” Back at my ..read more

I’m really not sure what I am going to write about today. I am sitting in a coffee shop in my little city of Wilkes-Barre, my favorite coffee shop here and one of the few where I feel comfortable spreading out chai latte, random papers, and planner. There are times when I think that Wilkes-Barre must be one of the most low-class, crummy, smelly cities in America–but here in this coffee shop the people are always sweet to me, the atmosphere is pleasant, and the hot drinks are good. I suppose every city has its sketchy Dollar Generals… And every place we go there will be the good, the bad, and t ..read more