...A pretty pink, pudgy bundle came home with us from the hospital.

It took 2 full years to get our Miss Jennifer. We had lost our first girl, Stephanie Michelle, at 36 weeks gestation with CMV, pre-eclampsya and Placenta Previa and were told it would be best not to have another baby until my body had gotten back to normal. We waited that next year and then tried again. Must have been a half-hearted, worried attempt on our part because it took another year to get pregnant....and if you know me at all, you'd know that I am jokingly referred to as 'fertile Myrtle' so a year of no babies was rather unusual, or so we know now looking back!

With our previous pregnancy troubles, I was a doctor's nightmare this time around.   If they said it was 'normal' to sneeze 3 times a day and I only did it once, I was on the phone in a state of panic. I worried about all manners of things that seemed different this time around. I worried about every little thing concerning pregnancy and babies in general. Ahh, those young, ignorant years.

The day before Miss Jennifer joined us, my Mom and I had done some shopping and such. Dewey had classes that evening, and it was snowy and nasty out. I had promised him a big pot of chili for dinner when he arrived home. However, things changed a bit from the plan of the day. Around 2 pm I started having some back pains. Mind you, this was pregnancy #3 for me, but I wasn't thinking about anything other than what might be out of the ordinary. I ignored the back pains until I couldn't stand for more than a few minutes or couldn't walk but a handful of steps. Note to new moms-to-be...if your back hurts and you are close to your due date, just head to the doctor :o)

As the day progressed, my back hurt even more, tightening and loosening almost constantly. I finally broke down and tried calling Dewey at school. Being night classes, I had to call the security office and they would send someone over to his class. I waited and waited and finally someone called back -- Dewey wasn't in class. He had left earlier, they assumed because of the roads getting bad for the night.

Nice. My husband wasn't in class. We lived out in the boonies basically, a good 45 minutes from the hospital if the day was bright and the roads clear as a whistle...longer with a solid covering of snow and more still falling, let alone if the roads in the boonies hadn't been plowed clear yet.

I put a bag together for the hospital and wandered about, wondering where Dewey was and how I might end up at the hospital if no one showed up at home. We had had to make arrangements with the fire department for emergency transportation already, due to my high risk issues, but I just couldn't see a helicopter landing in the ice and snow covered fields at night.

Finally Mr. Missing-in-Action pulls in. He takes forever to get inside...his arms are loaded. So were mine...I had my bags for the hospital and my coat on. He brought in the mother-lode of baby goodies -- diapers, receiving blankets, bottle liners, formula, some outfits and doo-dads, and a cute little baby doll, all soft and squishy. I love my husband dearly, mind you, but a less-oblivious-to-his-surroundings man you couldn't find, at least that night! He's showing off this and that with a smile, tickled at the idea of a baby coming...

...then notices there isn't any chili on the stove.

...then notices I'm in my coat and have my bags.

I promised he'd get his chili soon enough but we needed to leave. LOL...gotta love a man who buys baby things, right?

We got to the hospital and within a couple of hours, here was Miss Jennifer Annette, all pink and pudgy and a bit on the cold side. We had issues with the doctor on-call, from previous experience, but he came in only long enough to play catcher for the nurse so all was good. Jennifer was cold and needed an incubator and warming lights...and we had issues with that as well, but finally things were taken care of and all we wanted was to go home with her.

I tend to have issues with hospitals...I have a plan in mind, they like to do things their way and by their books. I'm really more of the sort to try and re-write those books. Generally it's best if we just collet baby and head for home as soon as we can ;o) Saves wear and tear on all concerned because I don't give in easily at all.

All turned out well and Miss Jennifer flourished :o) She is spending her second time away from home right now, in Arkansas with Dad on his job until Thanksgiving. She gave him a stern talking to about not eating, hardly anything really, and certainly not very decent foods, and made him go shopping Monday evening. He said she did us proud, shopping as she did. She packed a lot of food into that buggy for a very good amount. Other than to drive -- and pay -- he wasn't really needed at the store at all. She planned the menus out and bought what she needed for him :o) He'll feel just like he's at home...minus the missing 8 people ;o)

Miss Jennifer will make a great wife and mother one day if The Lord moves that direction in her life. She has common sense, panics very little over anything (remember Jacob and David being burned so badly a year ago? She remained totally cool and calm through it all while we raced to the hospital, and she managed the homestead while I was gone at LeBonheur for those weeks). She askes questions and fully expects to get decent answers from folks (like doctors...). She can plan a menu and see it to fruition, and save money in the process.

She was Grandpa's Girl right from the trip home from the hospital. He loved her to pieces ;o)

She's a Daddy's Girl in many ways...and he's fully prepared with a dating contract and plenty of shotguns and ammo to defend her when the tomcats start making the rounds :o) Right now, we all get a laugh out of that country song by Rodney Atkins, Still Cleaning This Gun. The chorus is this:

I'm not voicing in on the political history that has been made.  It's done, and all I can say now is May The Lord God bless our President and lead him in His Path, Guide his daily steps with prayer and thought, and Direct him with His Spirit in the leading and protecting of our country.  May God have mercy and bless all of us through this time.  Now, more than ever, is the time for prayer for our country and our future.

I am still having issues adding pictures in here.  I have several just waiting to get put in place.  We have pictures of the hogs -- which I sold to a friend at church and don't even have to attempt to load up for butcher myself.  I'll use the proceeds from their sale to go buy someone else's pork at the butcher.

I have pictures of our visit with Christina and her family last month -- all our combined children gathered on the swing set, and some beautiful scenery on the way over the Tennessee River.

Yesterday we rearranged the main room here.  Being a double-wide mobile home, the living room is rather open and large -- ours is about 18x24.  Would be a great living room if the dining room wasn't such a joke in size.  Our main room is kept as living room and dining room here.  The true dining room houses the school shelves and desk, computer and all the sewing needs.

The move around was done so the cookstove could be set in place for use this year.  I am not construction-skilled in the slightest.  I can hammer nails, drive screws and make attempts at cutting wood correctly, but I'd be afraid to live in something I had constructed aside from popping up a tent.  The enclosure of the front porch into living space just wasn't going to happen on my watch.  And without some properly done constructing, the cookstove cannot be used out there without subjecting it to all manner of weather.

However, I think I can manage to close off the back window and seal it properly, then sleeve a pipe through there and mount it for use.

So, the cookstove, however misplaced it may seem in the "living room" of my house, is there now, waiting for the materials to do the task at hand.  Of course, I might just wait on thanksging weekend when Dewey comes home for that installation part.  I do believe I can do it without him, but I wouldn't want to deprive him of the joy of blessing his wife with the use of her cookstove.

This weekend -- barring that rainy forcast -- we will begin emptying, sorting and purging the workshop building here.  It's a mess.  No.  It's a disaster area out there.  I'm bringing the trailer up here and we are going to begin loading everything onto it, then sorting and cleaning the building, getting some areas set up for the mass of tools we have accumulated over the years, and then we'll put things back in place in some sort of order.  That's The Plan, anyway.

I guess that's about it.  Despite all that's turning about in our country, we are just moving along at the usual pace around here.  Although I will admit to a slightly deeper pull to prepare for the future of my family here, mainly our needs and daily living survival things.