One last kitchen update

The countertops went in today. Tomorrow we'll work on the vent hood and flooring. For dramatic effect we won't post anything else until it's finished!

What a glorious day!

We have a sink and a dishwasher again!!!

Edith's post

Äntligen!!

Ikväll hängde vi upp de första skåpen. Vi börjar se ljuset i änden av tunneln.

Birthday cake

Thanks to Fammo, we had some delicious birthday cake today.

Hanging drywall

Tonight we put in insulation and now we are hanging drywall. Very exciting!

Baby loss and motherhood

Here are three great blog posts about baby loss and motherhood.

This one expresses my feelings very well. How I wish I was exhausted from having two little ones and being pregnant with a third. Instead, I get to sleep through the night most nights, laundry is a breeze, and the house never gets too messy. "So while my friends struggle with another round of diapers and all nighters, I struggle with missed due dates, death dates, and anniversaries of things I never wanted to know about." I would switch any day.

Today it's one month since we found out that baby Jesse had died. The grief was very intense the first few weeks, but the distraction with the remodeling the last couple of week has made it a little easier. It is of course different to lose a child early in the pregnancy than carrying one to full term and getting to keep one for a while, but this loss matters too and hurts. This post explains why a miscarriage matters. "Do you really believe life -- personhood -- begins at conception? If so, standing up against abortion is understandable. But so is treating a miscarriage as a real death of a real person."

Finally, I love this post by a dear friend of ours. Losing a child really teaches us who is in control of life and death. It is so easy to fool ourselves when we have the children we want when it fits our plans, but there are many who don't get the children they long for, and many who have lost one, two or even more. In the end, we will all have to confess with Job: "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Snö och åska!

Tacksamma för vår nya terassdörr som vi fick i fredags, då det snöar, haglar och åskar (samtidigt) idag!! Har aldrig sett blixtar och snöfall - visste inte ens att något att något sånt existerar.