Wednesday, October 17, 2012

....the cord.....

.....I love visitors.....I always have.....I love a full house.....loud laughter, children giggling, fragrant aromas waffling from the kitchen.....I love the anticipation of friends or family arriving.....love the planning of activities and the preparing of food for the festivities.....I live for it and it is during those times I am thankful for a full family because the greater your brood, the more your future will hold of visits.....they are splendid.....

....Stefan's youngest brother and family were in tow for my birthday weekend.....and prior to our lovely fall harvest, we ventured into my beloved city for a visit.....and dare I say that I am having a hard time separating?......yes, I do love our new town and all that is has in store for our family.....but I also jump at the chance for a visit to Manhattan....I believe in 5 weeks time since moving, I have been back 5 times.....can't cut the umbilical cord yet.....actually, I am not sure there are scissors that could even do the job....

....rain or shine, Manhattan always delivers......




....it was impossible to keep the whole clan dry.....the rain pounded on us as we weaved in and out of an unforeseen parade route.....but the babes were troopers......




.....even after living here all of their lives, they still become awe struck by the energy of the city.....peering out from their rain covers, they are still asking questions, still inhaling the bustle, still bewildered by the sky line......and then they tell me they miss it....and my heart breaks......until I also hear in the same breath, that they also really like CT, too......and then my heart feel lighter again.....perfect, all four of us are on the same page.....we are still working on my middle sprite....


.....we had some pretty girls playing dress up at our favorite rainy day hide out.....



....and we tuckered them out by calling it a day and headed back home on the train.....another advantage in living close to the city.....the trains always make it an adventure.....


                              .....I have always loved the glory of Grand Central.....

....and not even a week later, we were back again for more visiting with friends who traveled from afar.....and this time, the weather fully delivered.....a bright, crisp fall day in NYC is one of a kind.....

....and this visit was unique, too.....I am not even sure there will be a way for me to articulate the sentiment behind this story....the short version is that when I was pregnant with Brody, I woke up one morning weeks away from my due date with a passion for having a quilt made for him.....a quilt.....call it my nesting instincts because I don't sew or even have an interest in learning how to sew.....but after waking and pondering this thought over my coffee, I quickly opened my laptop and began perusing etsy for the perfect quilt maker to deliver this work of art that I imagined for my baby.....I scoured stores forever and then I found her......her work jumped off the page at me....her detail, the designs, the colors, the patterns.....she had the best quilts out of all 4,220 options my etsy search provided.....

....what happened next can only be explained as an act of God opening doors for people to meet and connect for reasons that may or may not be revealed to us.....yes, Stephanie would be happy to make my quilt........although, she too was expecting and warned me that labor and a newborn may delay the process.....didn't matter.....any idea I had about wrapping up my newborn in the quilt went out the door because she was the only one I wanted to make this quilt.....this talented seamstress and I went from  email exchanges regarding quilt talk and swiftly changed to personal, yet virtual chit chat......in no time at all, I found out that she had two girls close to Elsie and Callie's age, she was hysterically funny, our due dates for our third babies were one day apart and that she was a woman, mother and wife striving to live a life of grace and longing to serve the Lord.....

....and then we both delivered our sweet boys 9 days apart.....and the emails became even more frequent....

.....the quilt arrived and it was more than I imagined.....I remember spreading it out on my apartment floor and placing my brand new baby down on the soft fabric......the quilt stirred up so many emotions upon seeing it stretched out on my hard woods.....many of those joyful tears were the sweet sentiments I had for my new friend who I had never actually met.....before long, we started praying for each other and chatting about our newborns......we shared how we basked in our love of baby boys.....we exchanged recipes, requested specific prayers in times of struggle or thanksgiving, started clicking like on each other's pictures on facebook and repinning favorite things on pinterest.....without even knowing what my friend looked like or sounded like; she had become someone who was frequently on my mind and always in my heart....

.....I will fast forward to this past Saturday when Stephanie, her husband John and their girls all jumped on a train amidst a family get together in DC and met our family in Central Park.....I did not have any nervous jitters.....I was thrilled and excited, yes; but I did not have any panic about meeting and spending the day with a family we had never met....I already knew it would be the way I had envisioned it in my mind a million times....and once I saw her and she saw me, we huddled in a sweet embrace that combined tears, laughing and euphoria; all while our endeared husbands introduced themselves to each other in the background.....both John and Stefan got the team player award for allowing us to rope them into this visit, but they both enjoyed the day as much as Stephanie and I did.....

.....as she best described it......

.....the.best.day.ever.....


....I think our four girls would agree too.....




....and the visit wouldn't have been complete without a picnic on the quilt.....









.....followed by more play before the tearful goodbye imminently arrived.....




....and now she is my real life friend....and I know she'll be a friend forever, because sometimes you just know.....and I am also chomping at the bit to get my hands on her little boy who I will meet next time......

.....so here's to a home always full of the little things that add up to one big, grand thing......






.....our blessed and beautiful life....