Author: Ellie

Week @ Large

Hey, so, about our week …!  Because I know you’ve all been dying to know …

Right now, we’re spending a lot of time with my little sister who is in town for the week after doing this:

Aw, isn’t she pretty?  Don’t be fooled, she’s also a bratty little sister.   Sidenote: She’s flanked here by the parental units who flew to LA to make sure she did the dirty deed and actually graduated.  And another sidenote [because they’re fun]: that bling she’s wearing is a lei made out of chocolate candies.  I wish I’d graduated from her school.

Care leaves for a summer ministry position tomorrow morning.  Stay tuned on this story.  As I’ve been talking with her, this ministry makes me want to cry because it’s so amazing and I’m looking forward to writing more about it sometime this weekend or next week.

On a pretty major note, we started off the week with a little of this:

Meet “E4” — 4th child and 3rd boy, due in the Fall.  Isn’t he cute?  He has his father’s fuzzy features, don’t you think?  Haha! …ahem.  Anyway…

On an (almost, but not really) equally major note, we’ll be finishing the week with this:

For those of you who might not know this if it slapped you in the face, this is PIZZA.  Chicago-style pizza.  Everything-else-you’ve-ever-eaten-pales-in-comparison pizza.  From Lou Malnati’s.  I think I’m actually drooling a little. [Mike Blackburn, wherever you are, eat your heart out]

We’re also looking forward to the long weekend in which we hope to be doing a little of this:

This is us at a Memorial Day parade …about a hundred years ago.  …which was apparently the last time either of us took a camera to a parade.  Plans to rectify that this weekend … so you all can see how much more mature we are [ha!] and also how many more children we have now [hahaha!].

More from the Ewoldts at large (or the large Ewoldts?) very soon …

Child of Grace

March 5th: The baby could be anticipated with joy …

And what is left of this story?  The baby …

Darcy (“the one who dwells in the stronghold”) Charis (“grace”) was born at 6:59 AM on Tuesday, April 18th, 2006.  My prayer for her has always been that she would live to fulfill her name: that she would dwell in the shadow of the Almighty and forever be a testimony of His Grace.  She was and is a child picture of my grace as well.

And so I began … raising my daughter while working full time to provide for us both, trusting God to meet our every need, and feeling completely led to stay single and reach others for Christ with my story of God’s faithfulness.

More than once, I was told with well-meaning intentions (or so I choose to believe) that others were praying for a husband to “rescue” me, but I really didn’t consider myself a person to be rescued.  God loved me and provided for me more and better than any human husband could and between that and the many promises of the Word to the fatherless, Darcy and I felt incredibly covered in this season.

Yet …

“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps” ~ Proverbs 16:9

This was not the end of a story, but the close of another chapter.

 

**Missed the rest of the story (so far)?  It’s right here!**

Story of My Life (update)

Hey!  If you’re new to e-family or even if you’re not new and you just haven’t had a chance to catch up on this, here are the different chapters from my testimony of God’s faithfulness over the last several years.  Make sure to come back tomorrow as well because there’s another chapter that I’ve been working on … short and sweet … but NOT TO BE MISSED.

Prologue: It Confounds Logic

Is There Another Way?

The Dual Road

A Moment of Insight

A Time of Joy in Shifting Sand

The Peaceful Decision

If You’re Lucky, You Get A Phone Call

March 5th, pt I

March 5th, pt II

Coming tomorrow [05/23/2011]  … “Child of Grace“

 

Skinned Knees, Runny Noses, and Pots

I’m happy to report that we survived the start of our pot* garden on Friday!

*just to be clear, I’m talking legal pot, or potS rather … as in the terra cotta kind.  Or really, fake terra cotta because I’m cheap.

It was not without it’s small bumps (literally and figuratively), but now, after one trip to the plant store (virtually disaster free …ha!), ever so many snack crackers used to bribe the children, 4 skinned knees, 15 nose wipes, one disciplinary action (we SHARE the toy car, we do not extricate our little brothers and/or pull the car over on top of him), three showers, two small sun burns, and one missed nap (and possibly a partridge in a pear tree?) …

TaDa!

[Hey, you can also see my gorgeous Mother’s Day rose in the background … an idea my hubby got from the Pioneer Woman …well, don’t look too closely actually, it had a pretty hacked-up pruning experience yesterday, poor thing]

Darcy picked two veggies: yellow pepper and cucumber, Aidan picked his nose, and Chase tried to pick something sticky off the cart (ew).

I picked some herbs.  I’m so excited about growing herbs!  Have I mentioned this?  I plan on spending some time this summer reading exactly how to utilize the plants beyond “Wow, they smell great!” and “I feel so cool for growing herbs!”. Know of any good info?  Pass it along, please. 

I’m especially excited about the Lavender.  I love Lavender.  I have a little crush on it and utilize it as much as I possibly can.  (Think: healing/relaxing, household cleaners, air freshening, etc, etc … more on that later)

So this is our start … off hand I’m thinking of adding tomato, peas, and lettuce.  (Be impressed with my impressive planning ahead skills)  Wishing I had enough room for some things like squash and pumpkins!

Have some suggestions for us?  Please … I’m always in need of suggestions … share away!  Have a favorite veggie?  Share that too!

Cliches, Bribes, and Gardens

Today is the day …

I’m pulling myself up by my bootstraps, I’m putting my nose to the grindstone, I’m … well, I’m having a cliche party at the moment, but today is the day I’m finally going to attack my gardening dilemma.

Living in a condo makes this aspect of life a little more challenging for us.  We’ve explored the possibility of community garden plots, but sadly, our community auctioned off a majority of it’s plots for the high school LaCrosse fields and so that option is out.  We have also discussed a porch garden in pots, but our home faces due North and we only get early morning and late afternoon sun … ah, a moment of silence for all the things I wish I’d considered before we bought this place … although!  I will say, I do save on my cooling bills in the summer because we almost never get direct sunlight in here.  (it’s like a cave)

Moving on …

So, at this moment, I’m leaning towards putting a couple shade-loving plants in pots on our porch.  Because we NEED (NEED!!) green things around here!  And then begging my parents (who live across town) and possibly also promising to wash their dishes or take out their trash all summer in exchange for putting some pots of veggies in their yard — which gets crazy sun all the time.    [Mom and Dad, if you’re reading this, I never promised to wash your dishes and take out your trash.  You never saw this post.  Repeat after me …]

Sound like a garden plan?

Wish me luck!  Maybe not so much on the “gardening aspect” as in the “getting three kids through the gardening store without spectacular disaster” aspect.

Stay tuned …

[Disclaimer: my garden will look nothing like this garden.  I’m just saying … consider yourself warned …]

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