So, I’m tired. And prioritizing like nobody’s business. Making real time for real life people. Slowing down, being more present, staying healthy. I’ve cut out unnecessaries like Facebook, television, a perfectly-ordered home, pride, selfishness, and feelings of inadequacy. And instead I am focusing on my children, my husband, and our extended families. That’s it. Sometimes so many people need me and the only way to be there for everyone is to stop, slow down, and be brave. To go forward lovingly and intentionally knowing that everything that doesn’t matter will fall away. This concept makes more sense in my head than on paper, I think. But the idea is simple. Life is too precious and people are too important to let busyness get in the way. I am grateful for this lesson.

So if you are looking for me online, I am still here at Crunchy Cursive, of course. And I also keep my Flickr photostream fairly up to date. If there is one thing in my life that never stops, it’s all the adorable photo opportunities that Poppy presents in her quest for eternal cuteness.

Our dear friends, The Team, helped Poppy to make this finger-painted print for Mother’s Day.
Each member of our family is represented by a bloom, including even the tiniest bloom growing on me.

Yes indeed. God is good to us.

In this month-long hiatus from blogging, I have missed writing very much. But it’s with grateful hearts that we have lived the last few weeks under careful guard of our minds and bodies. It has been a very private season for us, but a very good season of life. We’re growing together as a family in new ways that I can only begin to understand.

You see, in February we found out that we are pregnant again! We waste no time around here. It’s just that we got so abundantly blessed the first time around with Poppy that we figure, hey why not? Let’s give this world another amazing human being! And so in October, little Boots Wadenpfuhl will be making her/his debut. Jacob and I are not the guessing or predicting type, so we think it’s baby with two eyes, two hands, one head. No idea if it’s a boy or girl. I feel much more protective of this pregnancy and I’m not sure why. I wasn’t even that excited to tell people. It was like a secret I wanted to keep, which is so unlike me. I don’t know how much I will or won’t blog about this go around of pregnancy. Maybe a lot, maybe a little. Right now, I am really guarding how much I say about it. Maybe I wish I had done that with Poppy’s, and so I am making up for it a bit.

One thing I’ll never not tell you is all about being sick! My all-day-sickness is really rough with this pregnancy and am about to enter the second trimester with no end in sight. With Poppy, my sickness lasted into the late teens weeks, and I am anticipating the same here. So that’s one of my big reasons for not writing here much. All I can think about is puking and getting through each day without losing my mind. The bright spots are few, and I am grateful. Poppy keeps me awake and on my feet. She has no time for this silly sickness nonsense. And I don’t want to miss a second of her toddler life, so I drag myself along, hoping to soak up every last ounce of our final days as The Lone Ranger and Tonto. Pretty soon our dynamic duo will be a trio! I can’t believe it!

In March, we found out that Jacob is losing his job. We are faced with the care of a baby-in-the-belly and a toddler-in-the-world without health care or a salary. The job hunt is on, though it goes slowly and without much promise. We are holding onto a lot of faith. And we know like the sparrows, we will have everything we need when we need it.

And now it’s April and spring is finally here to stay. My tulips are popping up. I am eager to get outside and plant more loveliness. Poppy brings us her shoes every chance she gets and says “Out! Out!” She is quite the spunky little girl-child we always knew she’d be. She gets into everything and never sits still for more than a second. If she’s not tearing through the yard, she is dancing. If she is not climbing up and down the stairs, she is opening all of the kitchen cupboards and making herself a snack of brown rice and old croutons. It is truly a whirlwind to be in her presence.

So that’s where we’ve been. A good season of life, but a quiet one. Carrying our family through difficult storms. It’s not fun, but it is the sort of time that make me better. All hardships are only for a short while, right? Nothing lasts forever. And so I write again to give you a small peek into my head. Because some things in life do have to be shared. Some don’t, but some do. And I’ve missed the partnership of writer and reader. It is sort of really nice, so I hope you’ll continue coming back to Crunchy Cursive as I open myself to write more. Not everything, but some things. Amen?

*stayed up late last night to do the dishes

*got up early this morning to shovel the driveway

*spent nine hours at work to provide for us

*came home to a stir-crazy baby and wife and still has the energy to make this amazing memory…

We wish you a Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas

And a Happy New Year!

With all the love in the world,

Jacob, Leanne, Poppy, Miss Penny, and Captain

There are so many special moments I would like to share for today’s Weekend Moment, but honestly, the one I will remember forever and always is waking up on Thanksgiving day to watch the Macy’s parade with my own little family. Just the three of us, snuggling up together on the couch on Thanksgiving morning to watch the floats and marching bands. Poppy soaked it all in and especially loved watching the Rockettes perform. This girl has got some aspirations.

Happy Thanksgiving

This is my sister Amy during the wedding reception of good friends on Saturday. Isn’t she beautiful? She can really tear it up on the dance floor too.

Despite the heart-attacking stress of dressing and grooming a family of three and getting out the door looking dapper and dolled-up, I absolutely loved being guests of Steve and Liz at their wedding this weekend. It is so wonderful to watch two friends commit to a lifetime of unreserved love to each other. Mmmm. I just love it.

Happy Monday!

And I am clinging to this Eskimo proverb:

“Perhaps they are not stars, but openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.”

with crisp leaves of fruitful green

and showers of cash

i’d travel so far

seeing family and country

with my boy and babe

need a money tree

to bring home all the children

trying to get home

without a mere dime

things will get better with time

not a money tree

hand in hand with you

across waters of deep blue

paying bills with dreams