Making Plans

I love to do it.  I make plans for weekend adventures.  I've got a system to schedule, organize and track a cross country move.  We just planned and then bought plane tickets for all of us to head back to sunny California for a week's vacation in March.  We even dream about plans for a romantic, extravagant European vacation for our 10th anniversary.

In the bigger picture, we are settling into a great family groove.  We've got a great little three bedroom house that fits us all perfectly WITH a guest room.  Our dining room table for four, though a bit rickety and worn, already holds a special place in our family's routines.  Mils and Si LOVE each other and have become inseparable playmates.   Heck, I've stopped buying diapers in bulk with the great looming dream of Si being potty trained any minute...

And so God laughs.  And reminds us that our plans are just wishes, ideas, dreams.  HE directs the path of our lives.

HE decides that we should be a family of five; keep on buying diapers in bulk; ask our guests to sleep on the couch; dig out the long-buried infant gear and prepare to WELCOME ANOTHER BABY.  Yep, I'm pregnant and we're expecting a new little one this summer!  The due date's a bit in flux...officially it's early  August...but I'll need to deliver a few weeks early...but Christopher might be far away on an aircraft carrier...but it all makes my head hurt so for now I'll keep focusing on the joy and the exhaustion and keeping my breakfast down.  The kids are thrilled and have named the baby 'cookie' (very gender neutral, though Millie is dearly hoping for a sister.  She told Christopher the other night the she couldn't handle having "two rascals").

Now, more than ever, I'm holding tight to my favorite verse, Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."