Oh, right... I have a blog!

Well, blog, this is awkward. How long have you been standing there...?

Perhaps I can make it up to you with a new post! Things have been... a little chaotic since last we spent time together. Since then, Evan and I got pregnant, I was sick and disappeared from most of society for about 2.5 months, Evan successfully started, ran, and completed a long distance job search to Seattle, we moved up north, daughter and I went to my brother's wedding, she learned to walk, talk and transition to a big girl bed, and got all four molars all at once (the week of the move, of course) and now we're busy prepping for our son's arrival in March! It's been a whirlwind of activity, sickness, sleepless nights, and a heck of a lot of work. (and fun!)

In all of this, I'm sad to say that nap time ended up being used for just about anything but blogging. Packing, organizing, planning, cleaning... and occasionally even sleeping when I could. Funny thing about parenting - free time is the hardest thing to come by, and still the first thing to go when time is cut short. But, thanks to the hard work of my husband, and the eventual dwindling of the "Oh my goodness these things needed to get finished two weeks ago!!!" list we've been working on, balance is finally starting to reappear.

I've had so many thoughts over the past few months that I've wanted to turn into blog posts, but unfortunately time and (especially) poor mommy memory has faded most of these ideas into broken fragments. Some of them may come back to me, but in the meantime, I think I'll just pick up writing again about the here and now. After all, who wants to spend their free time playing catch up? ;)

So, I'll write about waiting. Waiting is hard! Patience is a virtue and all, but sometimes I fail to be a very virtuous person.

December contains so many feasts and celebrations and opportunities for prayer. I love that the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe falls during Advent, because it's such a neat way of reflecting on that unique image of Mary; fully in tune with God's very will, right within her womb. Waiting. This has been my second pregnant Advent. Even though most days it's easier for me to reflect on the challenges of pregnancy rather than the joys, uniting my experience to Mary and knowing that she experienced the same period of waiting, aches and pains and all, actually helps me to focus more on the spiritual joy of Advent. Waiting for the Christ-child. I know every mother experiences pregnancy differently, and for some women it is physically and emotionally a joyful experience. Unfortunately, I fall into the category of needing to find it an emotionally joyful experience, and some days I do better at that than others. My (least) favorite phrase I've been told by midwives and OBs alike is that the cure for X problem I'm experiencing is giving birth. More waiting.

And so, like Mary, I wait. I am SO excited to meet our son in March. For every ache and pain and nausea I experienced with our daughter, it was all as nought the moment she was born. I was instantly blown away by the miracle of her tiny little life resting on my chest. My life has never been the same. I know that the moment he is born, no part of the hard journey getting there will matter in the slightest. And just as our earthly life is merely practice, preparing us for our eternal home, I know that these challenges and this waiting for the joyful arrival of my son is but a mere blip in comparison to the joy that awaits us in Him. It's Gaudete Sunday! The day to rejoice as we remember Who it is that we are waiting for. There is no greater love, no greater prize, than to be united with Him who loved us into our very existence. And so, we wait. Not with tears and with sackcloth, but with joyful hope in our Savior! Happy Gaudete Sunday everyone!