Baby Girl

We had our official sonogram a week or so ago and the tech confirmed that it looks like a girl. We are so excited. We are planning on naming her.... Jubilee Resounds Sandra Sheffer.

The bible talks about the year of Jubilee, which come every fifty years. It is a year when land should lay fallow, should be restored to its rightful owner and when slaves are set free. The biblical word in of itself doesn't give the meaning for joy. But it seems like the when you say the word people equate it with joy (probably because of jubilation). For me, Jubilee means joy that comes from freedom. In the past 3 years, God has taught me so much about grace and the freedom that Christ gives to his children, it has transformed my life in many ways and so I love the name Jubilee for our last little girl because if nothing else parenting has/is teaching me that I am free in Christ and that my righteousness comes only through Christ. The reality of this truth is something that I want to go shout from the rooftops, hence Resounds.

Her second middle name is Sandra, in honor my mother-in-law, who will soon know the real freedom that Christ brings when she enters his kingdom, free from sin and suffering, welcomed as a child is welcomed home. She will be greatly missed and always remembered.

Parenting

Karis has lots of thoughts on parenting. A few weeks ago she told me that she was never going to have her children clean up and that she would wait until after they went to bed and then clean up for them. I told her I would be sure to write that down and show it to her children when she asked them to clean up. So now she has come up with a new list of "Rules" for her children, she wrote them out for me.

1. Bring your bowls to the sink.
2. Clean up your toys when you're done.
3. Do not tease.
4. Think of others first.
5. Ask only once.
6. Read your Bible every day.
7. Don't tackle Daddy when he gets home.
8. Always go to Grandma's on Wednesday.

Not bad, they sound a lot like the rules I'm always harping on.

From Scratch

Today is my Grandmother's birthday, she passed onto to be with Jesus several years ago but I've been thinking about her today. Both of my grandmothers were wonderful woman and I was blessed to live very close (blocks away) from both of them so they were always very much a part of my life. The grandmother whose birthday is today was my mother's mother. She grew up in Alabama and went to school with no schools. She knew how to skin a squirrel! She worked as a librarian but I still spent lots of time with her.

It is impossible to comprehend the impact that one person has another person. Some of my memories of her include: learning how to sew in her basement on her sewing machine (which I loved); eating toasted cheese and tomato (grilled cheese with her on the porch; how clean her how always was; her always reading (in my genes I suppose); playing with my cousins in her attic and basement; sneaking peanut butter out of her basement pantry (which is now in my garage); her baking (also in my genes) apple pie, blueberry muffins, oatmeal cookies- yum; her slaving all day to make homemade perogies that were gone in 20 minutes; making sauerkraut soup (which I never ate) on Christmas eve only for everyone to discover when I was in my 20s that she hated the stuff and so many more.

This song, like no other song, makes me think of her (don't know the people in the video just love the song). I love the last line, "She gave us much more than we thought, from scratch." Very profound, when I think of how much I took my grandmother for granted. As a stay at home mom, I wish I could call her when I want to know how many cups are in a quart (the kind of thing she knew off the top of her head) or how to clean silver (not that I ever do that), she would have been better than google any day!

Happy Birthday Grandma, you are missed!

She loved to hold her grand grandchildren!

With my grandfather, who adored her, and her two children.

Four Generations (Karis was just a few weeks old)- boy do I look tired!