Newly Wed

I was cleaning our oven the other day and it made me think of when Joshua and I were newly weds. Here's the story. We lived on campus at Oklahoma Baptist University and we were learning all sorts of things about being grown ups! One of those things was about getting utilities turned on. Joshua called the gas company way before it got cold in the fall to have them turn the gas on for our heater. A few weeks went by and it got cold one night so we turned the heat on. It clicked and nothing happened, so we turned it off and thought we'd wait a few more days. The gas company had given a range of something like 10-14 days for the gas to get turned on, so we thought they must not have gotten to us yet. So we just used an extra blanket that night and the next few nights. I'm sure we tried the heat again a few times with the same results. So Joshua contacted the gas company again, we thought maybe we just got overlooked and maybe they needed another request to come turn the gas on. So we kept waiting. It was getting colder and colder though. It was probably October. As we kept waiting for the gas to get turned on, we took heating our small apartment into our own hands....I'm sure there are tons of warnings against doing this but it was November and we were getting cold! We would turn the oven on and get it really hot and then open it up so the heat would "heat" the apartment! We did this for a while, maybe a couple of weeks and finally we asked our friends that lived below us if they were having any problems with getting their gas turned on. They weren't and they had had their heat for several weeks. Our next step was to have the fix it guy come look at the heater since Joshua had talked with someone at the gas company and they were certain that the gas had been turned on for weeks. The fix it guy came and turned the heat on, it clicked just like we had already noted it would do and then we just waited for about 3 minutes and the heat came right on! We had not been waiting for the heater to "warm up". Nothing was wrong with the heater and the gas was probably turned on the day after Joshua had asked them to do it! We felt really dumb but we had a good laugh then and we still continue to laugh at ourselves over that one!

DIRT!!

Happy Easter!!

"He is not here for He is risen, just as He said!"

My Little Boy

Daniel had a birthday not too long ago and it's hard to believe that I have a 3 year old...but I do!

Daniel is turning into quite the fun little boy. He's lost much of his babyish looks and he certainly talks up a storm! He has developed quite an imagination and it's fun to have him say, "Mama, let's 'tend this, that's a good idea isn't it?" I think his middle name is play! His favorite color is green and I think it's a toss up if pizza or chicken nuggets are his favorite food. He loves chocolate, just like his Daddy. And his favorite sport is soccer or baseball, I'm not sure what dictates which is his favorite when! He finds the mud puddles outside almost instinctively and he loves to get dirty! He also loves to help me make dinner, although I'm pretty sure that cooking is not what he's most interested in--it's the food he gets to snag while we are making it!

He loves his little sister so much and does all sorts of silly things to make her laugh.

He is quite strong willed, which we pray God will use for His glory as our little man continues to grow and mature. We are so thankful for the interest that he has shown in spiritual things and we pray that that will continue and that he will come to love and trust in Christ.

He is a sweet little boy and I am thankful to be his Mama.

When Things Don't Go As Planned

We have been here at my parents house for about 2 weeks and we have loved every bit of it. The hubby was back at home taking comprehensive exams. Whew! They are over and we are heading back to him. We have really had a great time but we are ready to get back to hubby/daddy!

My parents have a pool and we have had a blast in the warmed up water of the hot tub! I was reminded today of God's grace in Daniel's life as I saw the scar that he has on his left shoulder blade area. He had surgery to fix a coarctation of the aorta when he was about 12 days old. I wrote a lot about this and actually his birth in the scrapbook that I have made for him, but I think that for the next few weeks I'll write some thoughts on the things that I learned during that time and some of the things that I have reflected on now--3 years since that time. I want to do this in hopes that my experiences may help someone else to hope more in God.

So, stay tuned!!

The Long View

It's been a little over nine months of adjusting to two kids. The longer I am a parent the more I realize that parenting is just one of the many things that require one to take the long view of things. Babies don't just eat solid foods well overnight. Kids don't learn to sleep in a big bed overnight. Kids aren't potty trained with the snap of a finger(ok there are some exceptions out there!). And all of those practical things which are important for me to teach my kids just scratch the surface. My kids don't learn the truths of the gospel quickly and they certainly don't come out of the womb knowing how to obey. So taking the long view of things means keeping at it. It requires endurance to do the same things over and over and over and over. It requires patience. It requires reliance on God. It requires wisdom. For the most part it requires not taking the path of least resistance. I have found that what requires less work now does not take the long view into consideration. When I am tempted to just "ignore" the temper tantrum or the "No way, did he just say that to me!?" moments, I have to remind myself that 1) If I don't do something about it now, I will miss many opportunities to point out the sin in my kids and the reason they need the gospel. 2) I will miss the opportunity to establish that God has given me authority of their lives for a season, that will be really important when they are older---the teenage years come to mind! 3) I would be sinning by not doing now what God has given me as my responsibility in nurturing and training my kids.

Is taking the long view hard? Yes. It takes more work. Is is worth it? Yes, but boy am I glad that I don't have to do it alone!

Baby Fat

So I think everyone would agree that baby fat ON THE BABY is super cute! Here's an example!



Baby fat on the mommy....well....that's not so cute! As a mother of two...and post pregnant going on 4 months...this has been on my mind, or my hips rather! In an age where the magazines are plastered with skinnies and all the women's magazines have a new wonder diet, it's hard to think truthfully about my weight. But here are my thoughts.

First of all, if you are the kind of girl who looks better than before you had your baby, when you walk out of the hospital with your newborn, it's not encouraging to us girls that have to work at getting the weight off to hear about how quickly you lost it. I will work on being happy for you, you can work on keeping it on the DL about how fast your metabolism must be.

Second, it's not my job to be model-like but it is my job to take care of what God has given me...that includes my weight. I read a facebook post a girl had put up quoting Jessica Alba and how her post pregnancy diet was to basically starve herself. I don't know if Jessica Alba really said or did that or not but I know that it's my job to be healthy and feed my infant. I can't starve myself and expect to nurse for long...besides I could never starve myself. Some ways that I have decided to live healthily are to 1) Reserve eating sweets for special occasions, like parties. 2) Exercise 30 minutes a day, 5 times a week 3) Remember that food is fun(I really like to cook and bake) but that it is energy so what I consume must be used or turned into fat for later. This is helpful for me to remember when I really want to eat that sweet something. It's just poor stewardship to eat more than what my body needs. 4) Learn what is in your food. I was randomly looking at the nutrition facts for a cake that was sitting on the counter(by the way there is another person in the house that buys most of the sweets and I don't have any control over that...it's not Joshua!) and the serving was 1/16 of the cake and it was something close to 400 calories!!!!! WOW! The only useful thing that I could think of that I would be getting from that would be a grain serving...maybe! So it has helped me to just think more about what I am eating. 5) Eat things that are good for you and find things that will fill you up. It takes a lot more cookies to make you feel full as opposed to, say, an apple or carrots, and it's pretty obvious what's better for my body!

Third, as I want very much to get back to wearing smaller clothes and not feeling like a frump-o-la at times I have to remember (a lady at church has graciously reminded me of this) that it took 9 months for your body to make a baby so it's ok for it to take a while to go back to normal. That is so good for me to remember. As with most things in life the things that you have to wait for are usually worth that wait. So I can give myself a break while at the same time pushing myself to persevere in much of what I wrote in #2 because I guess like most people the weight is not going to fall off of me.

Fourth, much of these thoughts come from a very helpful book that I just read, "Loving the Little Years". Let me just say that this book was SO encouraging and convicting at the same time. I would recommend it for any mom with little kids. I would say don't read it before you have kids though...it might scare you off! Anyway the author talks about being joyful because your body is used and maybe even scared because you have had kids. I had never thought of this before, but that should be my response. I can be joyful in the fact that the reason that I have gross stretch marks on my tummy and that I weigh more than my husband is because of the HUGE, WAY MORE IMPORTANT THAN MY WEIGHT BLESSING THAT IS MY SON AND DAUGHTER!!! This thought is at cultural odds. Our culture tells us to worry about number one and anything that we give of ourselves better be repaid to us because that's fair and we shouldn't have to suffer. Christ calls us to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of others (He calls us to do this in many ways) and one way he calls mothers to do this is to give up (for a season) being your ideal weight. Put that on a magazine cover and see how many copies you will sell!

I thought I had a lot more...maybe I do but it's getting late and I didn't take a nap today...it was too nice outside to stay in while the kids slept! I guess the only other thing I've thought about is to set goals. So for me. 1) Run a 5K in Sept. 2) Run a 5K in Dec. 3) Only eat sweets for special occasions. 4) Get back to pre pregnancy weight by the new year. 5) Remind myself often that while this is important it doesn't need to be consuming and there are more important things in life.

When your kids are sick

Anna is not feeling well tonight. I'm not sure what is wrong and where she may have picked it up but her tummy seems to be upset. So as I've been sitting here I've been thinking.

1. Be thankful for her cuddles right now since she is not normally very cuddly.
2. Be thankful that I even have a sweet baby girl to hold and take care of...some people don't have babies to take care of.
3. Learn to joyfully give up my own desires in order to serve my daughter. (I wanted to work out, among other things)
4. Learn to give sacrificially and do it without grumbling or complaining. (I expect to not get much sleep tonight)
5. Use this opportunity to teach Daniel to have compassion for his sister and teach him to serve his sister.
6. Look forward to the new creation, when there will be no more sickness.
7. Pray that Anna and Daniel will be saved so that they will experience life in the new creation.


That's as far as I got thinking last night about this, but I thought I'd share it for what it's worth!

*She's feeling better today

The Coolest 91 Year Old I Know

Just over a year ago we moved into a house with Betsy. She turned 90 the weekend we moved in and we have now lived here a year! I've been reflecting on the blessings of living here with her and thought I'd share them! I don't know any other 91 year olds but even if I knew more, she'd still be the coolest! Here's the list of what I've learned from her and how we've been blessed by her and funny things about her.

1. She lets us live in her house and loves our kids like they are her own grandkids. What 91 year old actually enjoys having a two year old tearing around her house and leaving toys around? And what 91 year old gets excited that we just added another kid to the mix?!

2. She doesn't worry. Or at least not much at all. She said to me once how much of a waste of time it is to worry about what you have no control over.

3. She is generous with what she has. Whether Betsy had much or little she would be generous with it. She enjoys giving people things that would be useful to them and she gives much. She has said more than once that she's not taking her money with her so she might as well use it here. I admire how willing she is to give it away.

4. She loves flowers! Betsy is a great admirer of flowers and she doesn't tire of marveling at how beautiful they are! One thing that she has taught me is the joy of giving your flowers away. I don't know why I had never thought of doing this but Betsy loves to cut the flowers in her yard and bring them in the house and also give them to friends. I had always thought the flowers are in the yard and we should keep them in the yard but Betsy is of the opinion that we can enjoy them more inside on our table! I agree. I also love how she has taught me to give flowers away. She will call her friends and tell them to come over and take a bloom from the latest flower gracing her yard. This is a simple act but brings such joy to her and others!

5. If you want to know the best place to get a particular food just ask Betsy! If you want a pork chop go to KT's, shrimp is at Longhorns, shrimp and grits are at Cafe Lou Lou's, any kind of seafood, go to Captain's Quarters. The list could go on and on!

6. She says really funny things. Here are some of the best.

1. In reference to Daniel, “He’s cuter today than he was yesterday.”
2. “The problem with all those liberals is they’re liberal.”
3. “How’d it get so late so early?”
4. “I don’t know how people could be against wine, after all, it all through the
Bible.”
5.“You do not pick on flowers; they are delicate – like me!”
6. “I’m not stubborn; I just know that when I’m right, I’m right.”
7. “We have a lot of frozen dinners; no one is gonna starve to death.”
8. “I repeat myself because I must believe you don’t remember too well.”
9. Just let him go out and play between the yellow lines
10. “Ya know, it just does not know whether to raid today or not.”
11. “You know, the problem with criminals is that they’re stupid.”
12. “Let me put my hearing aid in so I can see you.”
13. “If you are going to get by in this world, then you have to learn to get along with
liberals.”
14. “Speaking of peanuts, I don’t care too much for Jimmy Carter.”
15. “Only nice people camp.”
16. “The only good moth is a dead moth.”
17. “This knife would not cut hot butter.”
18. “I would rather have a piece of crust outside than a banquet inside.”
19. “Oooooo, wonderful!”
20. “Blessed are those who go in many small circles, for they shall be called big
wheels.”
21. “I never met a blueberry I didn’t like.”
22. “As I always say, ‘I would rather leave the house without my undies than my
earrings.’”
23. “I don’t feel like doing anything – and that includes everything.”
24. “Luck in cards, unlucky in love.”
25. “You know what they say, ‘Dinner is ready when the smoke alarm goes off.’”
26. “You know what they say, ‘If a man answers, hang up.’”
27. “Ya know, God doesn’t give us more than we can handle, but sometimes we wish he didn’t have so much confidence in us.”
28. “You'll recognize me in Heaven by my long legs and curly hair. I'll be on the dance floor.”

I am so thankful for Betsy and the time we have gotten to live with her. I look forward to more years!

Small Victories

Joshua and I were just about to fall asleep the other night when we woke up to Daniel coughing really hard. He just couldn't seem to stop coughing, so I went in there, picked him up and offered him water. As the coughing went on and I could start to hear him wheezing I could feel the vice-like grip of fear squeezing my heart. Daniel stopped coughing and we put him to bed but I could still hear the wheezing. I decided to sleep on the guest bed in Daniel's room so I could keep an eye on him...his breathing wasn't getting worse but it wasn't getting better either. There are a lot of awful things to listen to in this world and one of the worst I think is listening to someone struggle to breath...and it's 100x worse when it's your child. So while I am thinking of what I can do to help him that fear just begins to grow. "What if he gets worse?" "Do I know what to do to help him?" "What if we have to go to the ER?" "What if the ER is really full and we have to wait a long time, will he stop breathing?" "What if Anna gets sick?" "What if Anna or Daniel die?" Yes, that really is how my mind works.

The small victory is that even though I did ask myself all those questions, I realized I was being fearful and worrying and knew that I needed to pray and ask the Lord to take all that fear. Daniel has been memorizing verses and one of them is Psalm 56:3, "When I am afraid, I will trust in You [God]." That verse helped me so much that night. I recognized that I needed to do what I could to keep helping Daniel, even take him to the ER if needed. But ultimately I could trust God for everything involved in this situation. As I put my trust in God that hold the fear had on my heart slipped away. God is kind because I can't trust Him without Him giving me the ability to trust Him. So it's small but encouraging to me!

We had a Baby!!!

Her name is Anna!

Garden Fun

We will be moving into a house that we will be sharing with the lady that actually owns the house and I will probably post more on that later...but this post is about the garden that she has in her back yard. We spent a few days over at her house (we haven't moved yet) and I spent some time picked gobs and gobs of weeds. Daniel had a fun time exploring the garden and we got some cute pictures!!

Daniel Update

This summer is going to be a busy fun one! Daniel is walking around and loving to explore. It's been great fun to have him toddling around the backyard and parking lot of our apartment complex. Everything is new to him and it's so fun to see him learn things about his world. It amazes me how he knows things that I don't even think that I have taught him. Like, the other day we were out in the parking lot and he picked up a pine cone and held it up above his head and pointed with the other hand to the trees. I don't remember ever telling him that the pine cones come from the pine tree, but he picked it up somewhere.

What is it about dirt that is so exciting for little kids? He loves to just play in it! And eat it!

His favorite word is "UP" right now. He repeats "UP" over and over as he is going up the stairs. He comes to me and holds his hand up and says "UP." He wants to go "UP" on the bed. He wants to go "UP" on the grass from down in our patio area. He says "UP" when he's going down the stairs!

With Daniel's new ability to walk has has really come to enjoy the park. So we are finding out about different parks in the area. Daniel has learned how to go down the slide on his tummy. And he thoroughly enjoys walking back and forth over the bridges on the jungle gym. There are a few parks that have water spouts, which is fantastic because it has been getting quite hot.

Daniel has gone strawberry picking...of which he was a fan!


Today he experienced blueberry picking...his favorite part is sampling them....by the fistfuls.


We will get to see family off and on throughout the summer and of course Daniel is the highlight for everyone that we go see!

Joshua and I have decided to start bringing Daniel up to the first part of the Sunday morning worship. We have noticed that he does not know how to sit still very well. So we decided that since he likes music, and the part of the service before the sermon is mostly singing, that we would start helping him learn how to sit quietly. We have books for him to look at and I think we have a long road ahead of us! We've done this for two weeks, so I know that I shouldn't expect much but I just need to keep that in perspective! I have started making a quiet book for him to look at during this time. I have had a great time making it!

*My next post I am working on is going to show the progress that I have been making on a quiet book for Daniel.

Quiet Books

Have you ever heard of a quiet book? I had not until I was looking at this friends website. I am so inspired to make one for Daniel. She had this other site linked to her blog and it has so many cute ideas! I think I'll start out simple though and do something like the colors book and then maybe move on to more ambitious pages!

Thoughts on Running

How does running glorify God?

If we are as Christians supposed to live to glorify God, and I think we are, how does running and spending time training for a half marathon bring God glory? There must be a way to run that doesn’t glorify God. It’s probably the easier way, it doesn’t take thought or effort to not run for the glory of God. At least for me, it takes thought to see how I run can be something that glorifies God. This may seem like a strange question to a non-Christian, it must sound mad, but I guess as a Christian that’s what I am supposed to do. I should be thinking differently about life because I am different. Maybe this is apart of what it mean to be a peculiar people. Running is not just running. People are complicated so I guess I would say that for all people at the most basic level, running is not just running. We all have motivation so I can run for myself or I can run for God. Some would say that is why you should run for a cause, like cancer research or orphanages in Africa; those are good things, and I think give meaning to something as hedonistic as running. But I think that although running for a cause is good and adds to the depth of people’s motivations, it still misses the mark.

Running reminds me of the passages in the New Testament where Paul uses the image of an athlete to encourage us on in our walk as a believer. Running takes effort. So does the journey of a Christian. Running is hard work and walking according to God’s ways is not easy. Running requires endurance and perseverance, as does the Christians walk. This scratches the surface of how running reminds, encourage, and challenges the Christian in their walk with the Lord.

As I run I feel the pain of the strain on my muscles. It made me think of how my body is not perfect. It’s not perfect because of the fall. I am wasting away. My body is not naturally able to run mile upon mile. I have to work hard to run any short length let alone 13.1 miles. This makes me realize that I am not God. If God were to run, he would be able to run forever without hurting or getting tired. How does remembering my humanity bring glory to God? God is glorified when I realize that I am not God because I then realize that He is God.

The frailty of my body also makes me remember that I am not going to live on this world forever. Even though I can run and get in shape my body will always be going downhill. So I will be reminded each time that run that I am destined for a new home.

I also thought the other day about how my body is created by God to work. I decide in my mind that I want to run and start putting my legs one in front of the other and I want to go faster so my mind sends a signal to my brain to speed up. Obviously this is a very simple explanation of what goes on, but it just shows that God created me and sustains me. The complicated way that my body works when I run is a testament to the power of God.

Thinking on these things helps me love God and glorify him more. Running can be done to the glory of God.

Plans Change

I was going to do a day in the life of Daniel through pictures today. But he woke up screaming just about every 2 hours last night for some reason that I have not a clue about. So I am tired and in a non happy go lucky mood, so we'll shoot for tomorrow.

Snow Pictures

New Year's Resolutions

I worked at the hospital New Years Eve. I try to find interesting things to talk about with my patients while I'm in the room with them. I asked one patient if he had any resolutions for the new year. He said, " I gave those up 20 years ago." He's not the first person that I've heard remark condescendingly about new years resolutions. In my short life I've vacillated between should I or should I not make new years resolutions. I've been cynical about making resolutions because I've thought, "How contrived and constricting to make a goal to do...(fill in the blank)", or I've said to myself, "it's not spontaneous enough" or I've just thought it's cheesy to have grand and lofty aspirations at the beginning of the year that mostly don't get accomplished. But I think I'm changing my mind.

I think part of the reason so many are so cynical about making goals and resolutions to change is because they have failed so often in the past. But is that a reason to not try again? I was really encouraged by this post on the girltalk blog. One reason we don't reach all of our goals is because we try to do it on our own, apart from strength from God. But that should not stop us from trying again, asking humbly for help from One for whom nothing is impossible. Whether people specifically recognize it or not, I think people give up making goals because they realize they are weak, lack motivation, and are given to failing.

So why make goals? My father in law had a great post on making goals. I would encourage anyone to read it.

I am going to make goals for this year because I see ways in which I can use my time more wisely. So my goals will be an effort to evaluate how I spend my time and look for ways that I can spend it better. I am also going to make goals that will hopefully challenge me. I also want to make goals that are measurable and attainable. As I've stated before, I can have the tendency to make really lofty goals. I also think that I will get more accomplished by having goals. I think that evaluating where you are and what you want to do may help identify things that have or could become idols in my life. I think I will have more freedom by disciplining myself to accomplish certain goals.

I have been reading "Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life" by Donald Whitney. In it he talks about how discipline brings freedom. I had to think about this one for a bit because it goes again my free natured self. But it's true. He used the example of someone who is able to use scripture throughout their prayers. The freedom to know and use scripture in prayers comes from the discipline of memorizing scripture on a regular basis. That is just one example but the of freedom through discipline has many applications.

So with God's help I make resolutions for the coming year. With His help I will keep them. I am sure I will not keep all my resolutions because I am a weak human, but I will try. Here they are:

1. I will only watch LOST and 1 hour of other TV a week. (I watch too much TV and love it too much)
2. I will train for a half marathon that is in April. (Physical activity is good, it's something I can do with Joshua and Daniel and I think it's attainable)
3. I will read through the Daily Bible. (I have never read through the Bible in a year)
4. I will memorize the scripture that is suggested to be memorized for small group and bible study. (I am lazy about memorizing scripture, but this is worth working on and totally doable.)
5. I will read Daniel's Bible to him every day. (I want to get into the habit of reading Scripture with Daniel)
6. I will make a book list to read through this year. ( I have time to read, I like to read, and I'll read more if I have a list)
7.I will wait 15 minutes after eating a first helping of food to decide if I am still hungry and want more. (I eat fast and feel hungry and then eat more only to realize that I'm not really hungry and am then too full)
8. I will attempt to have someone over for dinner once a week (This has been something Joshua and I have wanted to do and have not done a good job at, so we'll try again this year.)

So, I think that's it for this year. I might add more. We'll see. What do you think about making resolutions? What are yours if you've made them? If you don't make resolutions, what is the reason?

Snow!

Yesterday it snowed here! I was at work so Joshua took Daniel outside for a few minutes, but the camera batteries were all dead, so when Daniel gets up from his nap, we'll go out and play and hopefully get some good pictures.

Daniel and I went to the track again to today and ran 2 miles in 20 minutes! Not bad I think for a second run!

Pictures to come...

miniMarathon Madness

Two years ago Joshua ran the Derby marathon and I got inspired to consider running a half marathon. Needless to say last April was not a good time to try and run one as Daniel was 3 months old. But this April I think is a good time to attempt it! So, with 100 something days left until the Derby Festival miniMarathon I officially started training today! Joshua tells me often that I need to make attainable goals--I think this one is attainable. I tend to make really grand, crazy goals and don't end up finishing them--like making the goal to read through an entire encyclopedia set. Or making the goal to bike on a stationary bike to equivalent of riding from Maine to Washington! I think I got to the middle of the "A" encyclopedia and I rode about 200 miles. So is it madness to run 13 miles? Quite possibly. But I think this goal is reachable!

Joshua is going to train with me so we are going to be pushing Daniel in the running stroller. Daniel likes going on walks so he should be content to "train" with us!

It's been in the 20s here so today I went to the seminary and ran on their track, which is on the 3rd floor and an inferno! Note to self: No more wearing running pants...it's gotta be shorts. I'm following the training schedule that is on the Derby Festival run website. So today Daniel and I embarked on a 2 mile track run. It wasn't too bad...I haven't really run since the beginning of December so it was a little slower than I would like, but hey, there's room for much improvement!

Part of my madness is in how I'm trying to get two college friends to come run it with us! You know who you are are girls...you should do it!

I was reading a friend's website today and he was talking about training to run a half marathon and possibly a marathon and doing it raise awareness/money for a worthy reason. So that got me to thinking. A friend from church had already talked about maybe getting our small group to run it together and raise money for a specific person...So I thought of that again today and I think it's a good idea. I'll have to talk to a few people and work out details before I'm sure if this specific idea will work, but I think it might.

i work tomorrow and I'll practically walk a marathon (not really), but there is no way that I'm coming home from work and running. So Friday it's another 2 miler and Saturday it's 3.