IOWA

Today the three of us took a drive to Dubuque, Iowa and visited the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium. It wasn't the most fantastic museum ever. However, the animals were all very active and Noah was enthralled.

Dubuque is a very quaint and charming old town, built almost entirely with brick. We had such a blast driving around and seeing new places. I love it when we are spontaneous!

Catch me if you can!!Sun bathing after a fantastic morning of play...:-)Okay...rest time is over!

I LOVE HILTON HEAD!!!!

My family has been going to Hilton Head since before I was born. My sister accurately stated on this trip that the island is essentially a second home to the Goodson four. This year Nick, Noah and I joined both of our parents, my cousin Molly, Jen, and our Niece Adrienne (Lauren's daughter) for a much needed break from reality.

There was a moment of the trip where I noticed Nick was unusually talkative. After inquiring, I discovered that he was feeling the affects of genuine rest and affirmation. It did not hit me until that conversation that despite our best efforts, our life in Madison had really begun diminishing to an act of survival. Nick's joy was contagious! We delighted daily in the love of our families, warmth of the sun, and special treats like fantastic seafood and walks on the beach. It is always hard figuring out how to best manage the time spent with both families, but Nick and I thoroughly enjoyed having them together! We hope that this is just the beginning of extended family vacations.Noah was his usual delightful self - so curious, full of joy and energy, delighting in everything around him. Lest you think he is some kind of miracle child, he definitely had his moments, but often those moments can easily be traced back to our lack of consistency. When we don't get distracted from our job as parents, Noah does so well! One of our greatest joys was watching Noah spend time with his grandparents, Aunt, and cousins. He definitely knows his Grandmother, and it didn't take long for him to warm up to the rest of the family. In fact, after a short morning he was reaching out to give his Auntie Jen a hug and playing chase with Adi. I won't include too many stories, but there is one I can't skip. At dinner our second night Noah was all about entertaining. He behaved well at the table, enjoyed a blackened scallop, and charmed us all. However, whenever Jen tried to get a picture of him the smiles went away. Finally, she just looked at him and said, "could I please just get one nice long smile out of you!!" After a brief moment of consideration Noah burst into a huge grin, stared directly at her, and held it long enough for her to get pictures on her cellphone. WOW! It never fails to amaze me just how much our little toddler understands.

For those of you interested in the logistics, Noah handled the travel and transition well. We adjusted his schedule here the week before we left so he slipped into EST very well. On the longer flights, Noah slept about half the trip and we were prepared with things to play with for the rest of it. He slept and and napped very well, though it did take him a little while the first night to fall asleep. Actually, regarding the naps, his usual 2-2 1/2 hour nap turned into 3+ hours due to the added stimulation. Now that we are back we are taking 2-3 days to transition him back to central time. Even though it is only an hour difference we were up extremely early the day we flew home so it has more to do with his energy than the hour.

It was downright painful leaving; however, we walked into our home grateful to be in our own space again. We also experienced some real progress in Nick's job search during the week, and are hopeful that we may have some news in the upcoming weeks. It is impossible to know for sure what will happen, so I will not include those details for now. As we continue waiting, we are encouraged that things turned green in Madison while we were gone, some friends have offered to throw us a baby shower, and Abby's birth is nearing quickly. There is so much to look forward to!

There are way too many pictures to include in the blog, so I've just added a few. The rest are on flickr.

Good Baby News!!

First, Abby learned to pee!! Perhaps that sounds a little crude, but it is the actual truth! The kidney dilation in both pregnancies was a blockage build up from the baby not quite figuring out how to do that yet. Medically, it is a pretty insignificant issue, but with Noah it led to being induced, and now I just don't even have to worry about it. Praise the Lord!!

Second, the girl is already 5lbs! The average baby at this stage in the pregancy is 3.75lbs. It isn't anything to worry about; it's just kind of funny. It also makes me feel really good about my weight gain, because it means over half of what I've gained is Abby herself! Whohoo!!

And finally...I wrote recently about how different this pregnancy has been, and her ultrasound was no different. We never would have gotten a face shot like this from Noah. He always had his fists around his face, and when he's feeling badly now he still curls into that position. With Abby it's like she's saying "here I am, take my picture!" And, do you see the smirk!?! She was full of attitude the whole time, shaking her head, sticking out her tongue, trying to shove her fist into her mouth and generally just dancing around as much as she could.

The picture below is of her sticking out her tongue. I've labeled it in hopes of helping you read it. The ultrasound technician was really amused, saying she'd never seen a baby stick their tongue so far out and that this must be one sassy little child. Gee...I wonder where that could possibly be coming from!? Haha! If ever I needed a reminder that she will be her own unique person, I sure got it today. What a fun morning!

I have an absurd relationship with blueberries....

....But at least they are rich in antioxidants! :-) Okay...so I don't typically blog about food. Since I follow recipes more than create them, I don't really see the point. However, tonight I have to make an exception. Sunday nights we always make breakfast for dinner, but tonight I was very specifically craving blueberry pancakes from Cracker Barrel. And really...I'm sorry to say, I was being pouty about it. Finally, I recognized that I was being ridiculous and decided to just see what I could do to replicate it at home. Sure enough my research quickly revealed some websites with the recipe from the Cracker Barrel cookbook. And oh...my....the delightfully fluffy, easy, inexpensive, slightly crispy, buttery, blueberry goodness!!!! Perhaps you, my friends, are already pancake experts, but every time we try to make really good pancakes we end up deciding we'd rather just use bisquick. Not anymore! I'm so excited by this discovery that I just had to share it, so below you'll find the recipe.

• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt (heaping)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups buttermilk
• butter or oil for cooking
• A lot of blueberries or other fruit, if desired.
  

Just combine all ingredients, making sure not to over stir. Cook on medium to medium-high heat on a well greased skillet. I actually cooked some bacon first, drained the excess grease and then made the pancakes. Enjoy!

Belovedness

Today's Titus talk was about finding our identity in Christ, or as Henri Nouwen states embracing our belovedness. This is a hard topic for me. As my counselor would say, and as a friend reminded me last night...I'm way too hard on myself. I want to do it all perfectly! I know in my head that I can't, but that doesn't keep me from trying.

As I listened to our speaker today, I knew the Lord wanted me to just listen and absorb. But, even that seems so difficult! Immediately, I had a list going in my head of all the things I'm either doing wrong or not doing at all. My usual response would be to talk it out with Nick, devise a plan, and execute it. Sometimes that's helpful. As we've been challenged by our toddler and had to make decisions about discipline it was very helpful. However....it's not like I can just say...okay being the perfect mom/wife/host/person/Christian/... means too much to me so I'll just do this devotional and fix that problem.

I am in this awkward place where I know that my usual responses aren't what the Lord is asking from me, and probably what He does what from me is something much more "simple." Why is it so hard for my soul to just be still, embracing the knowledge that what is true is I am the beloved daughter of God???

Our speaker included a couple quotes today that I want to share in closing of this blog, because they spoke so powerfully to me.

"At every moment of our existence, God offers us this good news. Sadly, many of us continue to cultivate such an artificial idenitty that the liberating truthfulness of our belovedness fails to break through. So we become grim, fearful and legalistic. We hide our pettiness and wallow in guilt. We huff and puff to impress God, scramble for brownie points, thrash about trying to fix ourselves and live the gospel in such a joyless fashion that it has little appeal to nominal Christians and unbelievers searching for truth." - Brennan Manning

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior" - Isaiah 43:1-3a