short and sweet family time

The Lord has been very gracious in the last several weeks of my life! Baby Harms #3 has decided to stay put and let life settle down in our home before he/she arrives.

Last week, Rodney ended up getting the stomach flu (not fun). I am happy to report that he is fully on the mend.

And on Monday, Rodney started his PICC line treatments for Lyme Disease. I'm happy to report that he is handling the treatments so far. And aside from some discomfort from having a 42 cm line permanently in his arm (read -- not sleeping as well as one would hope), he is in good spirits and easily fitting this inconvenience into his daily schedule. Praise God!

Yesterday, Rodney finally got our tomato, pepper, cauliflower and broccoli starts planted (he took a day off!). Sickness and rain last week prevented this necessary task. It's good to have it behind us. Now we just need to pray for rain, sunshine and growth!

And yesterday we all got to spend the day with my brother and dad. I hadn't seen my brother for almost a year, as he lived and worked in a remote area in Africa. He's also getting married in June to a lovely European lady and attending graduate school in England in the Fall, so time with him is truly a treasure.

Abigail especially really enjoyed having her Uncle Dan here for a visit. And a visit from her Papa is always welcomed with great joy. We can't forget about him!I don't have any pictures of Papa this time because he was tasked to mow the lower field. Thank you, Papa for your help! Gracious Papa treated his very pregnant daughter to lunch AND dinner yesterday. I cannot begin to tell you how marvelous it was to have a break from cooking:)

In the meantime, I'm still waiting on Baby. I've been 3cm dilated over a week and 75% effaced but certainly can't guess when our little one will arrive.

Hope you enjoy all of the pictures. I keep thinking it will be the last time I post in a while. The Lord knows!

Round 1 of games -- Sequence for Kids

Uncle Dan was handedly beat in about 5 minutes! I've never witnessed such a short game of Candy Land.

My girls love their daddy's Jeep :) Rodney was gracious enough to pick me up at the house and drive me down our steep hill. No slipping and falling for this pregnant momma!

I'm delighted to see our raspberry bushes leafing out. I've been even more delighted to see several bumble bees hard at work, even though the raspberries haven't flowered yet:) Our raspberry jam reserves are dwindling.

simple pleasures...

Rodney planted several rows of potatoes, 30 tomato plants and many peppers, cauliflower and broccoli. I'm also happy to report that all of the trees we planted last year survived the deer, drought and winter! Our rhubarb is thriving, as is our asparagus!

But I'm not sure how we're going to get to the trees without getting wet. There used to be a gradual bank and a rock path that we could traverse on foot or by Jeep. The flood waters were rather destructive and completely flooded the bank. All of the rock boulders were washed away by the forceful flood waters, and the stream redirected on a new path, leaving a pebbly beach behind, where it once flowed.

 My girls both have colds :( ...hence the runny noses. Unfortunately, Rodney and I are both fighting off whatever they have, but I feel "okay".

I love this girl! Here you can see how lanky she is. I have a hard time finding pants that fit her around the waste. She even has a belt holding up her capris (barely).