on the occasion of her tenth birthday~

How time flies...

To My Dearest Anna, on your tenth birthday...

Do you know how much I love you? Do you know how proud I am of you? Do you know that I love you with my whole heart?

The day you were born was one of the most joyous days of my life. How I had longed for you and waited to meet you! Did you know I wanted to be your mother my whole life? You bring me more joy than any friend, any vacation, any book, or any thing. You are the joy of my heart and the light of my life. You are a treasure straight from the heart of God. You are my Anna. I am so thankful God allowed me to be your mother. I thank Him for you every single day.

I want you to know that you are always a delight, and a blessing to Daddy and me in so many ways. Sometimes I wonder what I would do without you. You are my right arm! It gives me joy to work side by side with you, spending time talking, laughing, and discussing fun things as well as serious things. Always remember that God gave us to each other. I am always here for you, to listen, to help, to encourage, and to understand. You can talk to me about anything. God intended mothers and daughters to be best friends, and you truly are one of my very best and very favorite friends.

You are also a blessing just by being you. The way you help our family is a blessing, but your light, your laugh, your hugs, your kisses, your songs, your poems, your dances, and just who you are is even more of a blessing! You bring such joy and life and laughter to all of us. We love you, Anna Rose.

As you stand here on the brink of becoming a woman, I want you to know what an important time of life you are entering into. It is now that your beliefs, your love, your heart, your God-given gifts and talents, your character, and your love for the Father will really begin blossom and grow. It has brought me indescribable joy and peace to see your passion for God, and your desire to know Him, to love Him, to honor Him, to obey Him, and to follow Him with your whole heart. I see your heart, I see your love, and I see your desire to please not only God, but Daddy and I as well. Daddy and I are so proud of you and your decision to trust Jesus as your Savior. We are so glad you are going to be in Heaven with us!

Anna, everyone makes mistakes, everyone has hard times in life, and everyone feels overwhelmed and challenged, but always remember that God looks at your heart. Even though you may sometimes fail, what matters is your love for God. He has only love toward you. He forgives, He helps, and He keeps His promises. You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. He promises to work all things for good in your life. Even the hard things. The hard things in our lives are what God uses to make us more like Jesus. They teach us the fruit of the Spirit...to be patient, to be kind, to be gentle and faithful, to have self control.

It's the hard stuff in life that makes us grow. If life was easy, we wouldn't need Jesus! I encourage you to spend some time asking the Holy Spirit to give you some verses that can be for you. Ask Him to cause you to open His Word and see the verses He wants to give you -Words that speak of God's love, His faithfulness, and His promises. The devil, your enemy, will always try and tell you lies about God and lies that make you feel bad, that make you frustrated, sad, discouraged, and afraid. It is so important to know what God really thinks about you, to know what His promises to you are. I encourage you to start a journal where you write down what the Holy Spirit tells you and Scripture He gives you. Write down what it means to you. Then you will always have a weapon against the devils lies.

I love you, Anna. With my whole heart. I look forward to being best friends for our whole lives. You are a treasure, a precious and rare jewel. You are the only one like you, and God made you exactly the way He wanted you to be. It is mine and Daddy's privilege to call you our daughter.

Be joyful, Anna. Be happy. Be encouraged. Be loved. And be blessed. Trust the Father with every part of your life. Every joy, and every frustration. Daddy and I pray the Father will show you His love for you, that He will pour out His favor and His abundant blessings on your life. Walk with Him. Stay close to Him. Love Him first, above all else. He has saved you, and He smiles on you always.

Love Always,
Mama

(this is a letter i wrote for anna before we left. i gave it to her today along with a mother and daughter willow tree figurine. i wrote what is in my heart for my precious daughter, as even at the tender age of ten, she really is on the brink of entering her womahood. she is an old soul, and has always been wise beyond her years. some of it probably seems a little odd given her age, but it was written with much prayer and thought, and truly does speak to many things she seems to deal with in her life. i pray it brings her encouragement and opens her eyes to how much she is loved. and yes, out of all my children, she is the only one who calls me mama.)

blue mountain beach 2008days 1 & 2~

After waiting "forever," and dreading spending 8+ hours in a car with a baby who hates with unbridled passion doesn't care for the car so much, our lovely children talked us into leaving for Florida on Friday night. We weren't so much looking forward to the car ride either, so, with desperate hopes for a peaceful trip, we left around 11pm.

Parenting Tip #4:
Babies who love their beds don't appreciate being expected to
sleep in an upright position for eight hours.


Parenting Tip#5:
Ipods, books on tape, and earplugs are often good investments.
So is Benadryl.


Parenting Tip#5:
Checking the weather is helpful.
If your destination is in the middle of a tropical storm advisory, and you
are arriving at 6:30am and check in is not until 4pm, a plan is good.
And prayer. Lots of prayer.


Parenting Tip #6:

Sleep is not overrated. Sleep is quite valuable.
Children who have slept all night in a car and have been anticipating vacation for months
don't have much of an appreciation for parents who were up all night with a screaming baby.
They think naptime shouldn't apply to vacation.

Parenting Tip#7:
Naptime mostly definitely applies on vacation.
Especially if you're seven weeks pregnant.


Parenting Tip#8:
Don't forget the aluminum foil.

In all seriousness, we are having a very nice, restful, and peaceful time so far. We did leave at 11pm, and Haven, after he got past the initial "hey we're having a party" excitement and realized he was trapped, was not happy. Thankfully, the other children weren't bothered by him and were able to sleep, but Glen and I had to take turns sitting by him and neither of us got any sleep worth mentioning.

We arrived in Blue Mountain Beach (right by Destin) at 6:30 am to be greeted by seventy degree temps and lots of wind and rain, the remnants of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Fay. We had a lovely breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and spent quite a bit of time on the porch there deciding what to do. Our check in time wasn't until 4pm, and there is absolutely nothing to do indoors here. Even the mall is outside. Last year we arrived a hour or so early, and when we inquired, we couldn't check in early as the condo was still being clean. So without much hope, we decided to call, and received evidence number one of the Father's favor...the people who were in the condo before us decided to leave a day early, so we could check in right then! That essentially gave us an extra day, allowing us to unpack and Haven, Glen, and I to get some much needed sleep. Thank you, Lord :o)

After our nap, the rest of the storm had pretty much moved through (evidence #2 of the Father's favor as the storm was expected to linger for most of the week,) so we were able to do some swimming and take a quick trip to the beach before heading out for dinner and the grocery.

I forget how uncommon our family can look to people. Where we live, large families are not the norm, but there are quite a few. I guess they're pretty rare here as during dinner and at the grocery, I could see people counting us, pointing, and whispering. Like we don't notice :o)
Thankfully, no one blew drink bubbles or had french fry fights over dinner, so I think we made on okay impression :o) Another major plus was the place we ended up for dinner had a gluten free menu, and the server actually knew what we were talking about. Anna has decided that is where we are going for her birthday tomorrow night. I had a yummy jerk chicken sandwich with the best teriyaki broccoli I've ever had. I'm going to have to figure out how to make that.

In past years, we've eaten out every night, but this year we decided to only go out three times. I planned our meals and made a grocery list before leaving, so we pretty much had to do a full out grocery trip. We had two full carts, complete with spur of the moment kite purchases. (Tropical storm winds make for great kite flying :o) Four kites and kids running all over the place make for tangled kites. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.) And yes, after all the great planning I did, I neglected to get aluminum foil. Note to self: When a recipe calls for vegetables to be covered for the hour they are baking, there is a reason. So dinner tonight turned into kind of a grab what you can find sort of event, but that's okay. I tried.

This was before we tried to eat the vegetables...

Kite flying with Dad...

He just couldn't seem to understand
why the water kept knocking over his sand castles...

So far, Haven (and Mom)
are enjoying the beach much more than last year.

Well...most of the time anyway...

Fun in the sun...

No matter what I do,
I can't escape the laundry.
Thankfully, I have an abundance of laundry helpers...

For our family devotions, Glen planned out this really cool thing of teaching the kids some verses about speaking kind words, gentle answers turn away wrath, harsh words stirring up anger, etc.
Before we left, we prayed, and Glen read them the verses. Our first night here, he read the verses again, having the kids work on learning them, and talked about what they meant. He also had made a bead necklace for everyone, and every day, he is taking notice of kind words, encouraging words, helpful words (yes ma'am, yes sir, no arguing, etc.) and they can earn beads for their necklaces. How fun :o) I was very impressed. You should see them falling over themselves to out "nice" each other. Very good idea. He wins major dad points for that one. He even picked out nice muted colors for the beads, knowing my instense dislike of primary colors :o)

I haven't earned any beads yet,
seeing as how I'm so mean...

Needles to say, we're having a great time. My sister is arriving on Tuesday, so we'll have an extra pair of hands, and Glen and I can have a date night. Anna's tenth birthday is tomorrow, so we'll be having dinner out and I think she wants to go to Dippin Dots. Yum :o)

A nice evening walk...

Another benefit of not eating out so much is that tonight we were able to go for a walk during the sunset. We've never done that before as we're always out eating. The kids ran in the surf, and of course, ended up completely soaked. Laundry: take three.

thanks for asking~

Several of you have asked me how I'm feeling and how everything is going, knowing that I was concerned about a possible miscarriage.

Everything seems to be fine. You're probably going to think I'm obsessive, but my little home method of seeing if my hcg levels were increasing (they should double approximately every two days in early pregnancy, if all is well) were more pregnancy tests. The first day I had a positive test, it took close to three minutes to turn positive. For four days I took another test first thing in the morning, and timed it to see how long it would take to turn positive. Every day the time was significantly less, and by the fourth day, it only took 13 seconds to turn a very strong positive. To me that is pretty strong indicator that my levels are rising, not falling.

Not to mention I am feeling pretty blah, yucky, tired, and nursing as little as possible. My plan in that department is to give it until I'm approximately nine weeks (which is often when your milk changes and babies (uh, toddlers?) will stop on their own. If Noah doesn't stop on his own, I am planning to wean him. He is already asking less and I can just tell it's different. It's a little bittersweet for me, but as I know he's not at all dependant on me for nutrition, I feel that it's time. This new little one needs my energy and health more than Noah needs to nurse at this point.

So anyway, thanks for asking :o)

capturing the moments~

Thankfully, I finally finished up the bulk of my cooking. It took me three six-hour days in the kitchen, but I completely filled a 22 cubic foot freezer. That seems like such a huge amount of time. It did take longer to adapt some of my recipes to be gluten free, but seeing as how those meals will last probably six months, it was totally worth it. We won't discuss how much money Costco made of the Hutchison family this week, but it will make for reduced grocery bills over the next months. There are a few more things I would like to make if time permits, but the focus of this week is a major house clean and leaving for vacation Friday evening.

I spent the entire day out yesterday running errands, visiting two friends that just had babies, visiting the chiropractor (a result of last week's mishap), and going to my book club. I'll have to tell you about my unusual, wildly fabulous book club sometime. We often stay out until the wee hours of the morning, occasionally even 3am, but last night was an earlier night and I got home a little after 12 :o) I am going back to the chiropractor on Thursday and taking Anna and Haven as I figured if our accident has bothered my back this much, then maybe they could use a little adjusting as well.

Today my sister Kristen has everyone except Anna at the zoo. She's also taking them for haircuts. I don't know what I'm going to do when she goes to Ireland for her DTS next year...

I just wanted to mention again how much I am loving the Holy Experience blog. If you didn't check it out last time I mentioned it, I highly encourage you to do so. She has a way of conveying deep meaning and profound truth that often gets overlooked in the busy-ness of life. She causes me to stop and drink deeply from a well of peace and to be still and know that He Is God. She has also posted a couple of times recently of watching her son shedding layers of his boyhood and growing into his manhood. I so identify with this as I am beginning to see that in Caleb increasingly. It is sweet beyond words, and though my heart aches, it is a good ache. Visit there. Savor it. Drink it up.

Here are a few fun photos from last week...

A little hide and seek fun as Dad puts the cabinets together...

Suddenly, out of nowhere...
Superman, Superman, and Batgirl appear to save...
Well, whoever needs saving...


The moon one evening last week as Glen went for a walk...

We also went to my grandparents' house in Kentucky on Sunday. My Dad is from there and all his family is still there. We visit four or five times a year. My grandparents have a working farm, even now into their late seventies. One of the hallmarks of their farm is that my grandfather does a good majority his work with Belgian draft horses instead of modern machinery. Belgian horses are exceptionally strong and willing work horses, yet they are very gentle. They are huge! I remember as a little girl sitting on top of these huge horses, but I was never scared as my Papaw would hold me tightly, and his horses listened keenly and responded to his every word. Some of my best childhood memories were made there.

Two little boys and a Dad...

Growing into a young lady...

A boy and his fish...

Patiently waiting...

My sister Kristen and Moriah...

A Dad and his girl...



Nothing says country like homemade ice cream
out of the back of a pickup...




My Papaw...


My Nanny...



Cousins...

I know I've mentioned it before, but I am so, so thankful my children are growing up with the same fun memories of going to Nanny and Papaw's house that I have. I am very close to my grandparents, they pretty much raised me until I was two or three. They are such an example of strength, hard work, and faithfulness to each other and to the Lord. They have been married over sixty years, and you can just feel how in love with each other they are to this day :o) I am so thankful my children have their influence and love in their lives. My dad will take over their farm one day, so I hope my grandchildren and hopefully even great-grandchildren are able to enjoy visiting there as well.

Family...it's what life is made of.

i heard you, i heard you~

Okay, already. I heard you, I heard you. No one can read the black. I asked you all earlier, you know...

No one said anything, except Rachel, and she liked the black...

Next time let me know before your eyes fall out! You didn't have to suffer for so long :o)

Gee whiz...I ask for opinions, advice, your thoughts, etc...

No one ever says anything...

Talk, people!

Is this better?

stocking the freezer~

Upon finding out the news, my brain kicked into prepare mode. I have this thing that upon finding out I'm expecting, I do major mass cooking in order to have meals stocked up in the freezer for those days where I don't want to smell, cook, or taste anything, not to mention the days I feel exhausted. I am usually able to do enough cooking to have main dishes prepared to last approximately five or six months of using two or three per week. I just have to pull it out, cook it, and prepare whatever veggies, salad, etc. I want to go with it. I will do another major cooking round two months before I'm due. OCD, I know.

I felt a little silly making a grocery list and major grocery run so soon, but I knew it was now or probably never. Seeing as how I knew my family probably would want to continue having dinner over the next few months, I decided to go ahead. Next week I will be doing a major house clean and packing for Florida. The following week we will be gone, and when we return, I need to jump back into school. By that time, I'll be about eight weeks, and probably will not be up to schooling and mass cooking.

So, yesterday afternoon, Anna, Haven, and I made a run to Target, Costco, Whole Foods, Publix, and Jason's Deli for good measure. (A girl's gotta have her broccoli cheese soup, sandwich, and pickles you know.) Throw in getting rear-ended and that about sums up our night. No joke, I have been rear-ended four times while pregnant, I think. And I've never been rear-ended while not pregnant! Weird.

So today I spent all day in the kitchen. I think I sat down for 15 minutes. Today's tally:

*One gallon of chicken soup with lentils

*Two gallons of white chicken chili

*Two pans of chicken enchiladas

*One gallon tomato basil soup (thanks, lori!)

*8lbs bbq beef brisket

*10lb bag of onions chopped and in the freezer

*20lbs chicken cooked and chopped (I will use this to make chicken casserole, bbq chicken, tacos, etc.)

*5lb hamburger meat browned with onion in the freezer

(all gluten free, thank you very much!)

Whew. I'm exhausted. Glen and Caleb spent all evening working on putting our cabinets together for the school room, while Anna and I spent most of the evening cleaning up the kitchen.

Tomorrow we're going to visit my grandmother.

Friday's plan is to make and deliver a meal to a friend that just had a baby. I also need to finish my cooking plans, and on Saturday I am making meals for three more friends that have had babies. I normally do not make this many meals for other people, I just happened to have four good friends have babies within a few weeks of each other. Sunday we are planning to go to my grandparents' house in Kentucky.

Sing with me....

"Food, glorious, food..."

The other meals that I'm planning on making for us are:

*at least one more pan of chicken enchiladas

*5 more lbs browned hamburger w/ onion (spaghetti is a staple around here and having the meat already browned makes it like a ten minute meal)

*3 meatloaves (w/ shredded zucchini...shhh...they don't know) mixed in gallon bags in the freezer

*4 chicken & broccoli casseroles

*4 pans of sesame chicken

*20lbs marinated chicken breasts (I'll put a family sized portion in a ziploc w/ various marinades....thaw & grill...yum!)

*i have lots of frozen broccoli and stir fry veggies as well

I may do some more after I go through my recipes. I have a lot of gluten free recipes saved that I'm wanting to try. Kind of hard to commit to making them in bulk. Mostly everything I've tried so far has been good, though. I also just discovered this blog of a woman who is using her crock pot every day this year....and it's all gluten free! Yes :o)

When I found out I was expecting Haven, I went to Super Suppers, but now with the celiac issue in our house, that's pretty much out. We didn't care that much for most of the stuff anyway, and it's much easier to just make what we like in bulk. It sounds excessive and obsessive, but it comes in sooo handy when you're not feeling well. (I actually do this even when I'm not pregnant as it's really nice to spend a couple of long cooking days and not have to worry too much about dinner for the next five or six months. I still do make fresh dinners, but it's great to just pull something out of the freezer as well.) I don't usually have a problem with being nauseous, but I am usually completely wiped out until about sixteen weeks. (That's what clued me in that I might actually be pregnant. Normally, I do not like naps. Four days in a row of really, really wanting one mid morning was a big sign. That, and being freezing cold. I freeze when I'm pregnant, regardless of the time of year. I sleep in pants, a tank top, a sweater, with a heating pad and quilt. I think my body diverts all its energy to growing a baby. I can never seem to get warm. :o) Anyway, being tired along with starting a new school year, and well, I can use all the help I can get in any department. I'm so glad I got our new job schedule worked out already.

On a side note, I'm abandoning my Atkins diet. I am glad I did it, and by no means am I going back to my previous way of eating. Cereal, drinks other than lemon water, junk food all tastes pretty gross now (yes, I tried all of it - ha ha). It feels so good to have some self control in the food department. I've never been a super unhealthy eater, but I liked chips and the occasional Dr. Pepper as much as the next girl :o) I've been enjoying lots more fruit and veggies the past two days, though, and I am really looking forward to making a yummy green smoothie in the morning!

Happy Wednesday...

Good Night :o)