Eden's 8!

Eight years ago today, I came home from the hospital following Eden's birth. Which means that this past weekend we celebrated EIGHT years of Eden's life!  Blogging slacker that I am, I somehow manage to at least give the kids a blog on their birthdays!  The weekend began with a slumber party.  I can think of about a million things I'd rather do than host slumber parties, but its a small price to pay to see my kids have such fun.  Eden and her friends danced and danced, and when I thought I'd heard enough music and smelled enough perfume, we loaded up in the van and went to the park.  Everyone came home thoroughly dirty and exhausted. Showers, a movie, ice cream, and sleepbags on the floor rounded out the evening.

Saturday was Eden's day.  She took full advantage of it by starting most sentences with, "since today's my birthday can i..."?  After a much needed nap, we loaded up to take the party to Uncle Dougie's house.  Luke was in to help Doug work on the roof, so they watched the party from up there, but the rest of us had a glorious evening watching the kids play in Doug and Virginia's back yard.  I think I was more excited than she was for present opening because I was so excited to see her face when she opened her present.  With six kids, its impossible that any one kid gets an expensive electronic (or even non electronic) gadget. Plus, I'm just not into kids having their noses in a screen all day.   Cana bought her own IPOD touch.  They all share the Wii, and the time spent on both of those is pretty limited.  All Eden has wanted for birthdays and Christmas for the past two years is a Nintendo DS.   I have looked at them, and I knew there was no way I could ever spend that much on just one kid.  Again this year, it was her only request.  So, I began looking on ebay, and I finally found one that was reasonably priced and like new!  And it was PINK...Eden's favorite color!   It came in the mail a week before her birthday, and I was just giddy all week thinking of how excited she would be.  And excited she was...

And now to boast on Eden, my little Edie Beetle.   Eden is a spitfire of a girl who doesn't have much fear or inhibition at all.  Being the personality I am, I sometimes try to curb that temperment in her, but I also am beginning to see that she will get things, know people, and experience things in life that I probably never will because she's not afraid to ask questions.  She doesn't fear rejection or being told no.  She is bold and full of courage.  Eden is as compassionate as she is bold, and has a tender heart especially for animals and children (and men over 60, but thats another story).  She can spend hours creating games for her younger siblings, and is very creative.  What Eden lacks in size she makes up for in personality and love for people. I am thankful for her life and for God's gifts in her. 

Happy Birthday Eden!! 

Placenta Tree

The inspiration for my next tattoo has been the "placenta" tree that grows across the road from my house.  I have been fascinated with this tree for six years and have never seen another that so closely resembles the "tree of life" that is found on the inside of a placenta.  My original plan was to get the tattoo before I was pregnant with Nadia.  My sister in law drew some tattoo ideas for me, and I ended up pregnant sooner than I thought and had to postpone the tattoo.

Plan B was to make a print of my real placenta after Nadia was born and then get a tattoo of my placenta print.  I had photographed my friend Brandy's placenta when her son was born in 2006, so I knew what a perfect tree of life could be found on the inside.  I studied how to make the perfect print of my own placenta.

However, after Nadia was born, my placenta was less than ideal.  It was shredded and had to be fished out of me in pieces with extra large tweezer-looking things.  Thankfully it sustained Nadia's life, but there was no way it would make a good print for a tattoo!

My placenta after Reuben was a bit "old" to make a good print, and while I planned to keep it to plant it or dehydrate it, it somehow came up missing from my refrigerator.  (Could that be b/c I have a husband who LOVES to throw things away???)  So now I'm back to plan A of using the inspiration of my neighboring "placenta" tree and Rachel's creativity to come up with a tattoo design.  The tree of life on the inside of a placenta is one of the most marvelous mysteries of God.  I have tree of life shirts, earrings, pictures, necklaces, but I do believe it needs to be a permanent mark on my body.  To me it represents the miracle of birth and the truly miraculous design of God.