The last few weeks

So It's been quite a few weeks in my immediate family - with my mom with some health problems. Without going into too much detail - she had surgery and is recovering very good from that. And we were thankful to find out that the tumor she had was benign so we did not have to face Cancer. She had her surgery in Altoon PA (3 hrs from here) so I drove down there for a few days and helped her and mostly just kept her company. I loved the 2 days I took off of work and the extra time to read and make jewelry, plus I got to see my sister and her boys.

Carson still is not walking - although he likes to walk on his Knees. hahaha. He'll walk all the way across the room on his knees without even going onto all 4s to crawl. His shins have bruises on them from walking like that, but he is starting to even refuse to try to walk when we try to have him stand. Oh well. I guess it will happen when it happens. For months now he has been walking along furniture and holding on to things, but everytime he realizes you're trying to get him to let go and stand on his own or take a step towards daddy, he falls to his knees. I thought that he would be walking by Christmas time b/c he went from crawling to standing so fast, but i guess I was way wrong.

I was starting to think that Carson would never learn to do things b/c he just doesn't pay attention when you talk to him or try to teach him things - but finally he is clapping and kissing (which by the way - the cutest thing ever) and sometimes I think he is trying to imitate words that we say, like "boo" or "dadda" or "mamma" or "bravo" or "yeah". but it seems slow going. (coming from the impatient mother hahahaha). He is developing such a cute personality and loves attention, Gets into anything he can - but knows his boundaries. he moved up to a bigger kid nusery (not the baby nursery) and I peaked in last Sunday and he was sitting at the little table eating animal crackers with the other kids - I can't tell you how my heart skipped a beat with love and adoration for this little guy that is getting bigger and cuter every day. :-)

I know I say this every post - but I just absolutely love spending my days with him and being his mother.

For Valentine's Day we had a big weekend. :-) Richard had asked Melissa (his sister) to watch Carson overnight and we went to a place in the poconos and spent the night. I was super excited about it, but as it got closer I got more and more anxious about leaving him. I was fine after we left him and he really did fine without me. :( we had a great time by ourselves and really just relaxed a lot. We watched a movie (When in Rome) which was cute. Went out to eat, and then shopped at some outlets. it felt like how it used to be before Carson was born. But boy did I miss him and we were fighting over who was going to get him first once we picked him up. hahahaha. I was so thankful to get away like that and relax and not wake up to feed someone else breakfast, and I'm so thankful for a husband who planned that for us. Of course we don't have any pics b/c Carson wasn't with us - and i didn't buy any clothes except for him - I guess b/c I'm a mother now. hahahah

So that's the update on us Gardners.

Reading

Another thing along with the hobbies that I decided to try to do is reading. Richard is reading a lot these days for school and has suggested quite a few books that I should read. This year I decided I really do want to read more. I like reading but it is so easy for me to find something else to do instead. But I'm determined to at least finish these two books this year. :-) (I put low expectations on myself so that I don't fail hahaha). (again one of the things I am notorious for is starting a ton of book and not finishing them)
One books is By DA Carson - "A call to Spiritual Reformation" - Very convicting book on Prayer

The other one is The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges. This book is a very easy read and very convicting. One thing I read that I wanted to post and also have around my house as a reminder is this: 1 Cor. 13 as action statements -

• I am patient with you b/c I love and want to forgive you.
• I am kind to you b/c I love you and want to help you.
• I do not envy your possessions or gifts b/c I love you and want you to have the best.
• I do not boast about my attainments b/c I love you and want to hear about yours.
• I am not proud b/c I love you and want to esteem you before myself.
• I am not rude b/c I love you and care about your feelings.
• I am not self-seeking b/c I love you and want to meet your needs
• I am not easily angered by you b/c I love you and want to overlook your offenses
• I do not keep record of your wrongs b/c I love you and "love covers a multitude of sins".

This is in the context of our view of ourselves in light of the gospel, how we tend to look over the "refined sins" and then he goes over the seriousness of sins. Right after that he lists this as one of the positive Character traits the NT talks about - and how missing the mark in the positive character traits is the reason we are sinners in need of God's grace. This is very convicting to me - there were a few of those bullets that really hit me hard especially in regards to my relationship with Richard. God please help me love him.

hobbies

So i decided I really needed a hobby. A lot of my other friends scrapbook or sew or do cool things with their time. I really didn't do anything. :-) In my life I've knitted, quilted, cross-stitched and tried to do scrapbooking - but I'm very notorious for starting things and not finishing things. I sorta get bored and I wouldn't say that I'm creative in any way, and most hobbies require a lot of supplies (which is not really in our budget). I'm a pretty boring person - I just go about my day - cooking, cleaning, taking care of carson. But I need something else to put my efforts into. When Richard is doing homework I just watch TV or something. Which I knew was not always a healthy thing since richard does homework a lot. :-) I am pretty efficient at doing all the household stuff through out the day so that after supper, it's relaxing time. But now what do I do? I need to put my brain to better use, I need to challenge my brain instead of let it go to waste and a hobby seemed to be a good outlet.

So I (with some help from my sister Juli at new years trip) embarked on my trail of making jewelry. It seems to be relativelly inexpensive to start out and keep going, if i just look around. I enjoy the idea of making jewelry and having it for myself, or gifts etc, so we will see how long it sticks. I had a very minimal tutorial by my sister, and have tried to figure more out. This week i have successfully made 2 necklaces and a pair of earings, and look forward to learning more and doing more. if anyone has any ideas or helpful hints I would much appreciate it. :-)

Grandparents 50th Anniversary

New Year's weekend we took a road trip to northwestern IL.(Richard and I's relationship pretty much developed over road trips he was from western CO and I was an MK so we had to drive to many places. We love to take Road trips) It was a quick trip to say the least but way worth it. Thursday we left early in the morning and drove to Cleveland to meet my sister who was at her inlaws house. We met up with them and left our car there and drove the rest of the trip with my sister and brother in law. It added a little bit more to our trip but worth the savings with gas and tolls. We got to IL about 8:30pm and enjoyed celebrating New Years Eve with my entire immediate family. Carson did so good on the trip out there.

WE had a lot of people in a small house but the kiddos did great. Friday was New years and we had a good old time with my grandparents and my immediate family. There were some siblings in town of my grandparents also so they joined in on the festivities.

Saturday the 2nd was the party day. My parents and my Aunt and Uncle put a lot of work into planning this from a distance and the party went off without a hitch. (My mom is super experienced with these things b/c she had to do 3 weddings in 6months all from a distance :-)) I really think that my grandparents enjoyed the time. There were quite a few people that they knew from their long life of ministry that really made an effort to be there for them even if it was a long trip and that really meant a lot to my grandparents. They have been a wonderful example of faithfulness in marriage and ministry to all their offsprings and their friends. It was a wonderful time to celebrate with them. they really enjoyed all their 10 grandkids and 3 great grandkids there with them too.

Then Sunday we drove back with my parents. We left at 5AM expecting to be in by around 9ish. My parents had to drop us off in Cleveland again which added a little more time again -but it really helped us out a lot. Due to traveling with kids, stopping in cleveland, weather and minor car window problems we didn't get in until midnight that night. Needless to say Richard and I were wiped out and both had to be at work the next morning, but thankful for safety. When we started plannign this trip it seemed like a major ordeal and wondering if it would work out for us, but it was neat that every thing worked out and we didn't even use all the money we had saved for the trip :-) (and since when does that ever happen)

it was a wonderful time with family and a wonderful tribute to my grandparents and we are so thankful we made it.

Carson was an absolute angel the entire trip, always slept good, ate good, loved all the people, and was a great road tripper just like his parents. He fits right in. It really allowed me to enjoy myself the entire trip b/c he didn't stress me out at all.

As we were comign home I said - "we dont' have any more trips planned on our calendar" which hasn't happened since we were married. We have had a trip for a wedding or family event in the future our entire marriage (which is only 3 yrs) and now there is nothing. :-( But we were both quick to state we should try to make it to CO for Christmas next year :-)

Christmas 2009

This month of December was so enjoyable but went by so fast. Richard finished his semester (and it is a complete miracle that he got everything done) and for almost 2 weeks now we have really enjoyed the days with no worry about getting homework done. Although since school has been out we have been so busy I feel. Work for Richard always gets busier when he is out of school. Right due to the weather and pipes freezing a lot more in houses and the fact that he doesn't say no to working late as often b/c he doesn't have homework. So he has been out late a lot of nights. Good for the budget, but bad for the family. He always amazes me with how well he does at handling everything and still trying to think and take care of his family.

I had a cookie exchange with ladies from my church and may I just say that a cookie exchange is the very best way to do it - you only make one kind of cookies but you bring home a lot of different kinds, but you don't have thousands of cookies.

We also attended Richard's work party which is always a nice time for me. It's about and hour and half away at a very nice retaurant and the boss always lets everyone order whatever they want - so we really enjoy ourselves. This was the first year that we had to get a babysitter and the longest I left Carson with one. he did fine and it was ok - but I do miss him a lot.

We had a birthday party for our nephew Chase near christmas and that was a fun time.

Now that I try to sit down and write out everything we did this month - it's hard to think of anything work writing down - but we are busy every week. :)

This year we had christmas eve dinner here with Richard's sister Melissa and her family. We made homemade pizzas and had a wonderful time together. But I'm sad i didn't take any pictures of that. then that night we drove down to jerelyn's again and spent Christmas with my family. My parents were there with my brother. It was such a wonderful time with the 3 boys together and Christmas time :-) I always love Christmas and feel just as giddy now as I did when i was a kid. This year seemed extra special to me because of Carson. I love the anticipation of it all. It was just great to be away with Richard and our family to be together.

Today I spent the day taking all the Christmas stuff down and now have to wait a whole year until Christmas again. :-)

I just Can't explain the overwhelming love I have for Carson. I love to spend each day with him and watch him all day long. I never thought I would say this but I love to be a stay at home mom. I was always one to love going out and was hardlly ever home -but now I just love days that I can stay home and do things around the house. :-) I guess it's the motherly instinct in me now:-)

Carson will be walking very soon. He is "talking" up a storm. He is doing great with all our traveling and is so pleasant.

Now our next trip - this thrusday we are leaving for IL, for my grandparents 50th anniversary party. it will be a long road trip for only a short amount of time - but my whole family will be together so we are really looking forward to it. After that i don't think we have any more trips in the future at all which is the very first time in our marriage I think. But as I said that to Richard we said we should probably go to CO for next Christmas so we are going to try to plan for that. hahahaha, what can you say - once a travling MK always a traveler. :-)

More things

I didn't want to put everything into one post for fear that people will thing it's too long and then not read the whole thing.

The other weekend we also got to see the Scranton Santa Parade. it was much better than the St. patrick's day (mostly b/c there wasn't drunk people everywhere :-)) We met some of our good friends the Vandalens and had a great time there with them. Carson didn't really care about any of it, but it's still free and something fun to do as a family. :-)

The month of November is also the month we celebrate our anniversary. (November 25th) We have been married now 3 years. I couldn't be happier with Richard. We love marriage (at least so far) and honestly so far having Carson has just made our love grow maturer and stronger for eachother. Richard constantly shows me unconditional love. He makes me feel secure (as secure as a human can) and is so good to me, I always feel like I don't deserve him, he always puts me first. He loves me even though I have a lot of quarks about me. :-) We have our "moments" and most of them i think have to do with Seminary related things, but even in those difficult times Richard shows me his unconditinoal love. I just hope that I can show him the same thing and make him as happy as he makes me. :-)

For thanksgiving we went to Jerelyn's house, she lives 3 hrs away. So wed after we both finished work we packed up the car again and took a drive to her house. This was our actual anniversary so we stopped and ate out at a "nicer" restaurant. Carson is on a good schedule, but is also very flexible when he has to be, so that is so nice. He does wonderful when we eat at restaurants and just sits in the highchair and chats with us. :-)

Jerelyn and I did the big thanksgiving meal and her in laws came (who i think have to be some of the nicest and thoughtful people I know). Mrs. kurty brought some things and I cooked teh turkey and stuffing and Jerelyn did the mashed potatoes and green beans. It was fun doing that with jerelyn. the food all turned out wonderful and we had a great meal. She has 2 kiddos now and it was so fun with the 3 boy cousins. Her house is layed out so nicely for kids. Wide open spaces and lots of toys. Carson didn't whine or complain one bit the entired weekend. he loved being there and Daniel was so good with him and theyn just played togerther a lot. It's fun to be in this stage together with our children. We both are pretty layed back about our kids too so we just had a wonderful relaxing time. Richard did a little school work and helped bryan out with a project on the house. Richard and I did do a little black Friday shopping (but just for one thing and then came back to bed) but we did get what we went out for so that was good. later on Friday Mrs. Kurty came and watched the boys during nap time while jerelyn and I went shopping. Neither of us are big shoppers so it was fun just to go peruse around without kids and spend time together.

We left on Saturday morning and met up with some wonderful friends of ours that used to live here in Scranton, but moved away, but were in the area for thanksgiving. So we spend a little bit of time with them, and then drove home. We stopped for some shopping on our way home and I got a few more christmas presents and then got home. Carson did pick up a cold, but b/c we did stay in the house most of the weekend, he didn't get off his schedule too much, so it shouldn't be hard this coming week. I'm always a little nervous about taking trips but Carson constantly shows me how great of a kiddo he is. :-)

Carson is crawling and standing and moving around so much. He babbles all day long (and sometimes even says "dadda" although not intentionally. Everyday his personality develops a little more and Richard and I are amazed at how much fun we have with our little family.

We love traveling around and seeing and visiting people, but were just saying how much we love coming home to our house as a family at the end. But now we have 3 weeks left in the semester and Richard has a lot of homework to do in these next 3 weeks. So no more fun and games and trips. I will be busy with baking, shopping, decorating and fun things like that while Richard plugs along in his school work. Hopefully I can find enough things to distract me from distracting Richard. December is really fun month, but also lots of things to do and remember to do. :-) God is so good to us to let us enjoy things in this life. God keep our focus on you and your plan for us and the world. Teach us to love you more every day.

Month of November

So Life just keeps plugging along. Sometimes when i stop and take a step back and look at my life - i wonder how do i ever get frustrated or anxious about things - we have a great life and God really shows himself faithful. Sometimes it feels pointless to be here in Scranton when seminary is slow going or seemingly endless, but God in his sovereignty planned for me to marry Richard who is the epidemy of patience (especially compared to me) and Richard just has to remind me of the greater goal for our lives and how much this really is preparing us for the rest of our lives. He has truly given us everything we need and blesses us daily.

God has placed us into a wonderful church - although at first not exactly what we had expected but as we spend more time there, we really are growing to love it and feel a part of a church body where the purpose is being accomplished for what the church was meant to be. It just requires patience. :-)

The middle of November we took a very fast trip to MA. I have a lot of family there and that is where we got married so we have quite a few friends there. My cousin is having a baby and they had a shower there, so we left as soon as we could after work on friday and drove the 5 hrs to MA. We stayed with my Auntie Terre and we always love seeing her and spending time with her and she is so so fun and thinks of so many fun things to do for guests. She planned the shower with some other poeple from church and Saturday morning I went with Carson to the shower. That turned out to be a great time for me to see people from the church and for them to see Carson for the first time. I didn't hold him the whole time b/c other people did and he had a a great time time with all the strangers and didn't mind a bit. He is so fun to have around.

After the shower was over we went to visit some friends of the family, the hilperts, and had a great time showing off carson. And in the evening we went to my very dear friend's house Lydia Marvin. We have been friends since we were kids and through all of my moving and traveling we have stayed close. We got married less than a month apart and we love love love eachother and the friendship that we have. :-)

Needless to say Carson didn't really sleep all day, except for the blurps of the car rides, but he was so jolly and in a good mood all day and laughing all the time. Sunday we went to church and again saw a lot of people that we used to know well. Carson did great in the nursery with strangers. Then we went to macaroni grill with my Auntie Terre and my cousin and wife. We can't wait until the baby comes and we are so excited for them, they will be great parents.

That afternoon after visiting Lydia's mother went packed up and came home. whew fast trip but very well worth it.
Carson got to meet Great Grampie Spence too and I'm so thankful that Grampie could meet him.