Labor Day

So it's Labor Day and I havent' updated in what feels like months... though in reality it's only been less than two weeks.  Today I find myself thinking more and more about "Labor" you know... the kind I'm going in for soon enough. 

It can be a little "unnerving" at times... Probably more because I'm not sure what to expect.

In fact, though even Shaun will admit that overall I've been very good...

..Today... I finally had a mini-break down today on poor Shaun (who has really been such a wonderful husband through everything).  He's off fishing for a little while and you would have thought when he left that he was on his way off to war!  I wanted him home with me SO badly, partly because I just love his company, partly because I knew I couldn't sit at the lake with him like I used to because I swell up so fast and get too tired... and partly because I feel like my own "Labor day" is SOoooo close and didn't want him far away at all!!! 

I know it's selfish of me because he already does so much and has VERY little time to himself.  So... after a mini-minor-breakdown, I called him back, apologized, hoped I hadn't completely ruined his chance at any fun and realized that I just needed a bit of a nap.  Pregnant women... sheesh!!!  What their husbands have to put up with!

To update you all, over the past two weeks, I've finished up nannying for all the little munchkins I've had over the summer.  Enjoyed it so much, but realized by last Friday how much harder it's getting for me to move around, how much more tired I am (though I hate to admit it) and how sore and swollen I am.  I gave them all kisses and hugs goodbye, sent them off to school and looked forward to the next few weeks of preparation for my own little one to come ...SOON.

I was so worried when Hurrican Irene was coming that I'd be kicked into labor by the barometric pressure changes.  I already have an overactive imagination and that was just getting me going even more.  Instead I looked around our lovely home and while Shaun was preparing for her coming (Irene's that is) by putting things away and "battening down the hatches" I was taking pictures of our flowers (thinking they'd be all blown away afterwards).  Here are the last of the season... aren't they lovely???

 Phlox that were given to me by a dear old friend from her garden last year

 Our Morning Glories that I planted last Summer (thinking that this year I'd be married to Shaun & enjoying them in MY yard) and returned again this year.

 The last Hydrangea of the Season.  This is the first flower Shaun ever gave me.  It had bloomed late that year and he brought it to me one day in late-September.  I still think of Hydrangeas and think of him every time.

 Rose of Sharon

 Black eyed Susans

 Our window boxes that burst into pillowy fullness as the Summer went by.  I just think they're beautiful!

 even the bees like them...

 Gladioli that I also planted last year between the Hostas and which all returned this year!

Someone else is blooming too!  This is me just before the Hurricane.

Well, it turns out Irene took it easy on us.  We were VERY well off here.  Extremely minor damage and no loss of power.  We'd been wanting to top off one of the trees in the back and she did it for us...

...placing it neatly between the garage and the arbor.  Didn't even damage the grapes!  Shaun quickly cut it up and it was gone in a couple of days.

Following the storm, I was asked to speak at the school where I'd taught for many years (but gave up my position to stay home with Ava) due to their assigned speaker not being able to make it.  I was so happy to do this and speak to the children I'd watched grow for so many years (at least 1/2 of whom had passed through my classroom) about beginning the school year well, keeping Christ with them each day and being aware of the power of their words and actions. 

It's so beautiful to be able to go to a SCHOOL and speak openly about Christ instead of being afraid of "breaking the rules" or the law... How sad that we live in a country where we proclaim freedom and yet live in fear of speaking openly about our faith.  (FYI: For more info on this great school go here!)

Shaun & I also celebrated on August 30th the TWO year anniversary... of our first date. 

We'd known each other for four years before this came to pass and I remember that day very well and how quickly he won me over.

This year on Aug 30th in the morning we both woke up and looked at each other and he said, "Happy Anniversary" ...I said "I'm SO glad I said "yes" to you two years ago and gave you a chance.  Thank you for waiting for me."

He picked the last hydrangea from the garden and brought it in to me later that day... a reminder of the first flower he'd ever given (it's so nice when they remember!)

We both remember this day because after we'd been dating a little while we realized that our first date had taken place on his grandmother's birthday... the same one whose home we live in now and who had brought Shaun to New Bedford.  Ironically we were also married on her wedding day (not knowing when we planned it that she also was married on January 1st) AND later found out that she too was blessed with a "honeymoon baby"... the very "Auntie Louise" I've mentioned in other posts. 

(here with Shaun's Mum, her sister Germaine... aren't sisters FUN???)

Anyhow, we've felt Grama Mary's been praying for us all along.

I also recently found out that a friend of mine who had suffered from brain cancer after many years passed away.  Steven's death and passing was a reminder to me of how short life is and how our lives are touched by others for only a brief time.  None of us know the day or the hour.  He had been such a witness to the value of life even in the midst of suffering that I was moved deeply by how many people filled the church for his wake and funeral services and how filled with hope they were!  It was truly a "Christian" burial in the sense that even in the midst of mourning, there was such profound hope!  Even with this new life inside of me, I couldn't help but think while I was there praying for Steve, that my job in this life is now to make sure that this little one I've been given, finds her way back to the one who gave her to me.  This is quite a steep vocation.  (Please pray for me that I am a good mother to her.)

We'd been meaning to plant flowers on Shaun's grandmother's grave and intended to do so for her birthday, but Irene was coming and we weren't sure how they'd fare. 

We waited and did that yesterday and prayed a rosary for her and his grandfather... thanking her for her prayers for us and for her help in bringing us together.  Before we left I looked at him and said, "You know honey... if it wasn't for her, there would be no YOU... and without you there would be no "Ava" and without her... my life would be very different."  It's funny how our lives go around in circles touching so many as we go, isn't it?