This & That

*1/11/11* A day marking new beginnings..."Do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!" Isaiah 43:18. So happy that God is a God of new beginnings. I'm hoping this year is a year of new things in our lives in our spiritual lives, and wouldn't it be cool if we had a baby on 11/11/11? Just saying:)

Just a few random thoughts...
**Life has been good lately. I haven't been super consumed with the infertility thing--still counting cycle days, contemplating future treatments, etc., but my emotions have been stable:) Last night's hanging out with 3 pregnant women in the same room brought a little emotion, but nothing I can't handle. I think it helps when I know these friends are all in stable marriages and will be great mothers, though it's still hard. Such is life. Today's wall post on 999 reasons to laugh at infertility was "Your fertility daily challenge: Do not glare at pregnant women today. Good luck!" Luckily, I'm off today and don't plan on leaving the house:)

**January 9th marked 5 years since my Grandma Manske died, which means that in two weeks, I'll observe the passing of my Grandpa Manske 4 years ago. In the words of one of my aunts on FB, "...it feels both like it was only yesterday, as well as forever." So crazy how life goes on after someone you love leaves this world, but there's always that ache. I can't believe all those years have passed since I've heard their voices or seen them thriving. Such sweet, amazing grandparents they were and what great memories I have. I was their first grandchild, and I have the cutest pictures of them on their first time meeting me--I'll have to scan those in and share sometime. One blessing I'm so thankful for is that they got to see me get married. None of the other grandchildren had gotten to that point in their life yet, and I cry every time I watch our wedding DVD and see them walking down the aisle to be seated. Love you and miss you lots, Grandma and Grandpa.

**My parents got me Photoshop for Christmas (YAY dad!) and I am going to see if I can load it on to my PC today so maybe I can work some photo magic! I'm excited to play around with it, and hopefully I'll learn quickly.

**I'm loving our warm cozy home that's heated with a wood stove. Conrad and I usually have a few laughs while cutting/loading the wood (like on Saturday, when he was holding the chainsaw/climbing up this spindly branch/and then hanging on by one arm because the branch gave way). Sounds dangerous, I know, but it was sure funny. Plus, the chainsaw wasn't running. Our kids usually follow us out to cut...well, Gracie does right away. On Saturday, Jack appeared right when we were ready to head back after an hour or so of cutting. He's a little slow sometimes:)

**I'm glad I'm not a man. I love my husband, who does the dirty work, literally. We've had some problems with our sump pump lately. The float seems to get stuck, so it wants to pump whether there's *stuff* to pump, or not. Conrad had to disassemble it yesterday to bring to town and I almost died laughing as he was explaining his experience. He's such a good sport. Hopefully the repair job will last longer than the 6 months they guesstimated, for Conrad's sake.