Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Whom shall I fear...

I've had chills all afternoon, listening to this song and thinking on the truths that it talks about,
 


God holds the whole world in His hand.  It's such a comforting, exciting, peaceful thought.  No matter what, no detail passes his vision.  He is all powerful, commanding armies, and right next to me as I walk through each day.  I don't know what the future holds, with our country or my life or my family, but I can rest fully and completely in my Father who is holding it all together. 

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Finding Ourselves

The older I get the more I am convinced I have no idea who I am, what I want or what is best for me.  This realization has forced me to lean harder on God in the uncertain times.  Although I have to admit that this doesn't always happen and the inevitable breakdown happens.  Living life one day at a time and trusting takes intention, it takes work.  In the journey, it's probably not as important how far you go, but that you don't give up, reset and put your focus back on the Strength that is faithful. 

We are all learning and growing and being stretched. But through it all God is faithful, I think that will always be the most precious trait of God to me.  When nothing else in life is stable, when I constantly fall and get back up, He is ALWAYS there.

As I think about what I was doing 11 years ago today, I am reminded of this even more.  As I sat in a doctor's office waiting for my mom's MRI to be done, watching the event of the day unfold in the waiting room...not understanding  how earth shaking the devastation that lie ahead would be to myself or the rest of the world but God was faithful then and He had a plan for me and our family and still does, just because sometimes it gets a little foggy and hard to see the next step, it's there.

Lola reminds me so often of that faithfulness and better plan.  She is growing like crazy, talking a ton, saying oh, oh, oh, oh yeah, nana (banana), apple, bubble, shoe, peas (please), book, Elmo  and will give high fives and fist bumps.  She loves being outside and reading books.  She is eating lots of rice, beans, almond butter and jelly sandwiches, waffles, yogurt and bananas.  She is really developing such a cute personality and loves to copy whatever I do.


She loves the park, though she plays more with the wood chips that anything else!



Eating is now a full body experience but she enjoys herself.  Haha.


We are learning more and more what God has for us and who we are in Him daily.  It's a long and crazy journey, but in the end a truly good one.  



Sunday, June 24, 2012

Growing

So it has officially been a LONG time since I have posted anything.  I could say something like, "things here have been crazy", and while life has it's moments that wouldn't be entirely true.  We are learning, being stretched, dragging our feet, but mostly just enjoying this journey that we are on.  Bryan has been traveling a lot so that has been a big adjustment for us.  It has been great though to see God's hand in the details and using friends and family to encourage us and help out.
Lola is 14 months old already and time is truly flying.  How does this happen...

She is growing like crazy and now walks pretty much everywhere.  She says "hi", "yeah" (perfectly timed to answer any question :), "Papa", "uh oh" (when anyone within view drops anything), "Mama", "Dada", "Nana", and "duh"(which is short for Judah, her cousin)  She loves people, especially kids and gets so excited when she has a friend to play with.  She loves to take your finger and show you around, even though she can walk perfectly on her own.  She also loves to "dance" and bounces and sways whenever she hears music.  She is eating mostly veggie burgers, puffed Kamut cereal, almond yogurt and almond butter, Wasa crisp crackers, veggies if they are well disguised, bananas, berries, apples, oats and almond milk and I believe is the best hydrated baby because she will drink water constantly. She is sleeping a TON better and now will sleep through the night every few days with the rest of the nights up 1-2 times.  Plus a 2-3 hour nap daily, score!

She loves giving kisses too :)

All in all we are enjoying this phase of our life and really continuing to seek what and where God is leading us.  This is a daily process and we are encouraged by His provision for all of our needs.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Sweet lil moment

I went to get ready to put Lola to bed and came back just in time to catch a little hidden camera video of Daddy dancing with his Cinderella Lolarella :)

 

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Our Continuing Journey

I hate to make excuses, but my lack of posting for over a month is because of Lola.  She is now the proud owner of 6 teeth and I have the bags under my eyes to prove it.  She will put whatever is within reach in her mouth...
 I read somewhere that celery has natural numbing properties, so we gave that a try, she seemed to like it.
We finally gave in and bought a mesh teether, you can put frozen veggies or fruit or even ice inside and they can chew on it without worrying about anything breaking off.  We tried some peaches and banana in it.  She absolutely loves it and gets mad when you try to take it away from her. 

It's been rough to say the least, but I find that through each new phase I learn more about her as a person, her personality is really starting to show and I am so excited to see more of it each day. 

She loves kids, not so sure of adults though.  Anyone besides Bryan or I, has to really work to get a smile anymore, she has this very pensive look on her face when she is around people, like she is analyzing the situation.  We could have another melancholy on our hands!

She is getting more daring with her standing and will now move around things while holding on and even go to one hand.  She has tried no hands a few times, but her balance just isn't quite there yet .

She loves to pull up on the book shelf and pull books off.  Funny thing is it is usually the same books.  She might be trying to send a message, with this one...


We are adjusting more and more to being here and starting to feel a little more at home.  We are committing to a church ( you can check it out by clicking here )  for now to just see where God is taking us. 

Bryan will start to travel some starting in March so that will be another adjustment, but we are learning to trust God that His plan is perfect, every detail is orchestrated by Him and He will supply all that we need for life and godliness!




Thursday, January 19, 2012

Our New Life

It's weird, but it is still hard for me to believe that we are living in Pennsylvania right now.  We talked about it from the time we first moved to Tulsa, just keeping our options open, seeking continually what God had in store for our family, but the reality of it hasn't quite sunk in.  I personally have gone through so many life changes since living here only 2 and 1/2 short years ago.  Getting married, being a wife, being pregnant, having a baby and learning about being a mom, it feels like I lived another lifetime in Tulsa.  That being said, coming home brings a sense of comfort and familiarity that no other place on the planet ever could.  Spending time with my family has been a huge blessing already and I love that they are just a short car ride away.

This past week has been busy, with trying to change our driver's licenses to Pennsylvania, which is no easy task, especially with a wiggling 8 month old and almost 2 hour wait time and just getting more things settled and feeling more like our home.

Lola is getting another tooth on the top in front, so she has been getting up every 2 hours or so at night and taking very short naps during the day.  She is growing and changing so much each day though.  She pulls up on anything she can and wants anything that isn't a toy :)
 
This week we tried green beans, which she liked and next up is quinoa.


God has been so good to us up until now and we can't help but trust that His plan hasn't ended.  There are so many things for us to learn and ways we can grow closer as a family and ultimately closer to Him.  One verse that I have really held onto lately is Psalms 37:23-24:
If the Lord delights in a man's way, He makes his steps firm; Though he stumbles, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with His hand.

These days are full of change and new things, thankfully God is faithful and He will provide for our every need and help us through each day.  We are blessed!