So tired... been ill for the past week, and at home. Not fun lugging around 8 mths worth of baby whilst struggling with dry, unproductive coughs. Everytime I cough or wheeze, feels like he's going to come shooting right out...oh well, it would save on the epidural!

Nothing much to say today... haven't been keeping up with my bible reading since the illness came on, which is a crummy excuse, I know.

There's much to be grateful for - my husband's offer came through. What he'll get, on a monthly basis, will cover our current combined incomes.. this, without including the guaranteed bonus at the end of the year. Wow. But we decided we'd think about my continuing work only after one or two months with the baby, just to see how things go.

Tired... thought about painting again, last night.. would be nice to do a series on poems that I really like. Interesting- cause a poet tries to capture and pin down a thought, idea, or moment in his writing; but is he ever completely successful in communicating his thoughts exactly as they are? Cause every reader brings their own perspectives and experiences when they read the poem, which affects their intepretation, and the images that end up being conjured in their minds as they read...

And its those images that get transmitted to me that I want to capture... a third reflection of the original thought, like when we play broken telephone. Will the resulting image be completely alien to the poet? Probably! Will it be corrupted, worse for the wear? Doesn't have to be...

I already have a few poems I'd like to do... Dylan Thomas' The Force that through the Green Fuse...maybe, Death shall have no Dominion, although that could get very cheesy. Hopkins and his poem about the 'darksome burn' - I always forget the title of this, though I love to read it! I think he did a great job with that poem, though, the image I get is clear and unmistakable - a stream personified as a wild, galloping horse.. maybe I'm wrong, and someone needs to correct me : P. Some of the other 30s poets, maybe. Auden's Lay your sleeping head...

It would be nice to do an experiment just using a piece of simple prose.. something even highly descriptive, and ask ten different people to try and sketch out the scene the words build up in their minds... I wonder how different they would all be? It would be fun to find out...

Eep. 34 weeks pregnant!!!! Anytime now... can't believe it.

Anyway, this can't be a long update, but just wanted to squiggle down some stuff...

God has been so gracious to us... you know, re: baby, we were so concerned about financials. Dreadful to say, when there are large families that get by perfectly well on less than what we earn. However, based on our current lifestyle, definite sacrifices had to be made. Beyond that, no way I would be able to consider stopping work to take care of baby full time. Anyway, we prayed and committed those worries to the Lord - mentally, we were also prepared to make those cuts and determined to cling to our faith and joy and NOT NOT NOT compare / covet / complain with other people we knew.

Well - in the space of two weeks, my hubby has heard from two headhunters on possible job openings that would help considerably... if we were prepared to make slight lifestyle adjustments, it would even be possible for me to leave work... Even at his current position, there has been promises of pay adjustments. Its not all been smooth smooth sailing - for the last instance, for example, they committed to making the change this month, and they were all disappointed because of some internal hiccups... but these are small things : ) - it just shows God really is soo good and longs to bless us, and I am so grateful for the way He has taken hubby's career under his wing and given him such protection and blessing along the way... we don't deserve any of this grace, but he gives it to us so generously... Its a bit out of context, but in James it says about God, that he gives generously without finding fault... He really does.

: ) Okay, and I've long been interested in a job doing research..wanna find out about people and what they think... so an X company ad comes up a few months ago, and am amazed, because for first time, they are actually looking for pple with BA (okay, "or up", but better than, "masters in social sciences or up"). But I thought, nah, I'm pregnant, so passed it. Then the ad came up AGAIN. Again I passed it, for the same reason. This weekend, the ad returned once more, in the newspapers, this time. Last night, on a whim, I applied... didn't bother to hide anything on my cv, or my current condition... so anyway, we'll see.

Okee, enough. Gotta do my paper...