2 days and counting

We are 2 days away from the arrival of baby Joyner.  Still no name.  We probably think about names more than we really should.  The children are really excited to welcome their baby brother.  I look pretty awful in the photo, but I really don't feel too badly overall.  The doctor said this week that the baby looked to be in the 9lb range, but nothing off the charts.  Well, that's good!
We have been enjoying 2 weeks off school.  The weather is not too spring-like, so that has been a bit of a challenge.  We have put in lettuce, spinach, potatoes and onions into our garden.  I'm hopeful that the really cold nights we're having won't kill everything off.

The kids have enjoyed playing together.  Here they are with "police motorcycle helmets." They added pipecleaners and cotton balls to their bike helmets and spent quite a while talking to each other :0)

Kevin told Philip that while his tooth was loose, it would probably be at least another day or so before it fell out.  Interpret:  it's loose, but not that loose.  Interpreted by our literalist:  I can pull it out tomorrow morning because Daddy said it would be one more day.  So, despite there having to have been some pain, Philip removed his own tooth (and said it didn't hurt).  In a few days, the second one followed.  He was VERY pleased to have joined the crew of those without teeth ;0)

A lovely tea to welcome Baby Joyner!  The ladies of our church hosted a lovely tea morning to provide an opportunity to pray together and sing as we prepare to welcome the new baby.  The food was delicious, the table was beautiful and the time of prayer was so encouraging.  I really enjoyed all of the time for fellowship and sharing together.  The body of Christ is a beautiful thing, in many different ways.
I just finished reading "Girl Talk:  Mother-Daughter Conversations on Biblical Womanhood" by Carolyn Mahaney.  That was a really encouraging and insightful book.  I enjoyed reading it as we prepare to have teenage daughters of our own.
I'm currently reading "Stars in God's Sky: The Extraordinary Lives of Ordinary Christians" by Faith Cook.  It's a short book with different biographical sketches of Christians through the last 500 years or so.  I have become increasingly burdened about the persecuted church and am praying more faithfully for those who suffer greatly for their faith.  Persecution is in our modern-day world, but it has never been absent from our historical world either.  The verses from Rev. 6 are so sobering:  "When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been."