beauty{full}: some house keeping and a quick thought

I'm here to interrupt your regularly scheduled blog post with a little bit of house keeping. I know this will throw you all for an extreme loop since you've been coming in droves to hear me ramble on existentially about beauty (kidding--my readership triples every time I write about the twins, so I'm well aware of what you're coming for). At any rate, a few little things that we need covered, and then I'll give you a quick thought on beauty at the end. And bonus: there will be pictures.

So, first off, celebrate with me: we've reached the 30 week mark! There is no turning back now! As if there was the possibility of turning back before...hmm... Seriously, though, it's pretty fun being in the home stretch, even though now my belly is so big I have to take my belly pictures in landscape:

It's a joke. Laugh a little. 

I have however, officially out grown every single maternity shirt I own and am now living solely in dresses (and one lovely bright-orange muumuu from Africa). Okay, I guess what I'm wearing right now is sort of tunic-ish, but, unless my memory fails me, there was a day (long ago) when I wore it with leggings, and I'm not of the tribe that believes leggings are an appropriate substitute for pants. In more fun pregnancy news, this is the first time my wedding rings have ever stayed on this long, which is proof that the twins really are taking every bit of nutrition from me.

Yesterday the boys dragged me (against my will) to the fall festival on base. And then made me stand in line forever (also against my will) so they could ride a horse. Here's my knight in shining armour. He gave a huge grin the second I put the camera down. Stinker. And yes, that child is fearless (even braving the massive bouncy-slide, though he required a little help getting to the top), but his ability to stay straight in a saddle is non-existent.

And here is the Little Man (literally), finally getting the gumption to ride the horse after spending the last two fall festivals just watching from the side lines. Seriously, all he did the last two years was sit and watch the horse. At any rate, I am unbelievably proud. I may have teared up a little. Shut up: I'm hormonal. Much like his brother, little dude kept accidentally attempting to ride the side of the horse instead of the back. What is it with my children? They obviously got their poor horsemanship skills from me. And for the inquiring minds desperate to know, Littles rode first; I'm just too lazy to reorder the pictures.

Also, just so credit is given where credit is due, I totally bloused Little's pants with rubber bands. And his pants are being held up by a file clip. That is ingenuity at its best, my friend. Also, are those kids cute or what? Even if the Little Man didn't have his eyes open the whole way.

Lastly, I'm nesting like a crazy woman right now. Which is hard to do when you're massively pregnant with twins, but I'm hoping to have some nursery progress to show you, sooner rather than later. I'm also  being good and writing out my birth plan, the boys' schedule (for whoever is with them), and my needs-to-happen-before-twins To Do list in case I go into labour early and someone else is finishing those last few things I haven't quite gotten to. The productivity level around here is sickening.

But to close you out with one beauty related thought, this morning I read Isaiah 61:10 which says, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." 

I find myself asking in response, "Am I truly allowing the Lord to clothe me in beauty or am I demanding my right to beautify myself in my own way?" Perhaps the ultimate Artist has a different plan for my beautification than I do. Can I trust him to know the specific details of the garments of salvation he has for me? Can I rejoice in him, even when he adorns me with different jewels than the ones I would've picked? Can I exult in him, when he has placed on my head what seems to me a maid's cap instead of a magnificent headdress?

Just thinking. In between everything else of course, the To Do lists and the mommying and the nesting and the growing of brains and lungs and hearts. And inviting you, as always, to think with me. And laugh with me. And occasionally laugh at me.

{If you're looking for the rest of this series, all the links can be found here. Thank you so much for joining with me this month.}