Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Simeon-Rolls and Lijah Bear
Thanksgiving Challenge
Saw this on facebook and thought I'd do it on my blog. Every day until Thanksgiving I will post one thing that I am thankful for! I think this will be a good reminder of all that I am blessed with and often take for granted. Please feel free to comment and say things that you are thankful for every day too. I would love to hear them!
Friday, November 6, 2009
Unexpected Opportunities...
I have been absolutely amazed at how many unexpected opportunities God has placed in my lap to share with people about my relationship with Him and all that He has done for us!
Update.
- Lots of changes with Matt's job (hopefully you got our newsletter). This has led to lots of dreaming and conversing together about what God may have for Matt and our family in the future. Its been exhausting and refreshing all at the same time! ;)
- Elijah has learned all his letters and the sounds they make. (my Language-therapy side is so proud of him)
- Elijah is doing great with potty training and is very close to being ready to wear his big boy undies out of the house. Woohoo!
- A group of ladies and I have started going through Beth Moore's study of Esther. It has been a great journey so far and I'm really enjoying my time spent doing that. Beth Moore writes great studies...I would highly recommend them!
- Something clicked a few weeks ago while playing outside with Elijah and I realized I'm 27 and losing weight and being healthy is just going to get harder as the years go on. I needed to change my lifestyle and break some bad habits! After some encouragement from my good friend Paula, I decided that night to join WeightWatchers. Its been a little over two weeks and I've already lost nine pounds! :) Hooray! I feel like I have a fresh outlook on life and feel empowered to make good decisions for my health. It really has been a great experience so far. My husband and two boys are totally my motivation and inspiration. I want to be healthy so that I can take care of them and have an active and fun life with them. I know I can't do that long-term if I'm not taking care of myself. The way the Weight Watchers diet is set up is great. I can keep track of my points, but also don't feel tied down to a diet. (granted I have yet to go out to eat since being on it). I have been to four places with dessert the last two weeks and have had it every time. I just make better decisions at other times to offset the dessert. WeightWatchers, I guess, has just given me more of an awareness and a limit for me to follow. I'm really wanting to continue to just view this part of my life (nutrition and fitness) as an act of worship to God and an act of love towards my family. I want Eli & Sim to grow up with a good example not only of character --but also a good example of how to care for yourself and eat healthy and have balance with food (which includes eating dessert). haha! :) Well...only about 30 more pounds to go and I will just have to focus on maintenance! Yay!
- On October 26th, Matt turned 30. I threw him a surprise party and got him the new Vince Flynn novel. It was fun! I like to tease him about being in his 30's now, whereas I will remain in my 20's for quite some time still. =) Thanks Bill & Jen for all your help with the party and for hosting. You guys rock!
- Been really praying and thinking about what it will be like if I get another part-time SLP job in January. It sounds appealing (the work and the pay), but the thought of leaving the boys for ten hours a week makes me sad. I just love all my time with them. We'll see what happens and what opportunities come about.
- Simeon is so smiley now and loves to interact and coo. He also really enjoys toys now, which is fun to watch. Eli gets so excited when he pry's Simeon's hands open to put a toy in them and Sim actually holds onto it for awhile.
- I am totally amazed by how much Elijah loves Simeon and is so sweet to him. I constantly am praying that they would have a life-long friendship and always be close. I think they will!
- For Halloween, Eli was a monkey and Simeon was a banana. Eli was going to be a fireman, but at the last minute I saw a banana costume for 50% off at KMart and it was so cute. So I ran to Walmart and found a brown hoodie. Sewed some ears and a tail on it and made Eli a monkey. He was excited about it! We bought him a fireman costume too just to have to play dress-up. He looks adorable in it as well. Apparently we missed the memo that all the alternative indoor trick or treats were on Friday the 30th instead of on Halloween...so we ended up going to the only indoor place, Walmart! Eli had fun because he was with his buds Emerson and Braeden...but trick or treating at Walmart is pretty lame. We took him to the Hamiltons and next door when we got home to do REAL trick or treating. We decided next year we were doing it the old-fashioned way and just going to all the houses on our street ---no matter how cold it was! We survived as kids without all the indoor carnivals. Regardless of the venue...the boys looked so cute and had a good time! Eli enjoyed his first experience with candy too. It took him three days to eat one lollipop, and he sure enjoyed it.
- We've managed to keep our two goldfish alive for almost a month. Mostly thanks to Eli always reminding us to feed them. I always forget!
- Hmmm....what else has been happening? Eli is currently under the weather. That has been rough and I feel so bad for the little guy!
- Not sure what else has been happening. I need to blog more! I promise to try to do better!
Monday, October 5, 2009
2 Months Old
Monday, September 28, 2009
The words I've been trying so desperately to find!
The last five months have truly been a whirlwind of emotion ---disappointments, victories, total amazement, stress, excitement, pain...you name it and I've probably felt it! Through it all, Matt has been my rock! He has been consistent, loving, sacrificial, encouraging and has had an amazing heart to serve me. His love has been unconditional and extravagant. At times I have fought against this. I have allowed myself to feel guilt and shame, instead of accepting him as my husband and his desire to take care of and love me.
the greatesthe hands me a cup of water & i spot her drool on his arm. i lay here & he glances my way while rushing through our house with her in his arms. his eyes are tired, but it would take a lot for him to actually admit his exhaustion. he pushes through the unique challenges of our new way of doing life with such humility, determination, & love. at the same time, he's honest in the difficult moments. he schedules the baby's week with moms-day-out, grandparents, friends, & sitters so he can attempt to work & oh, i don't know, make a living in the midst of this. he comes home from work. he lays on the floor so she can crawl over him, around him & then up to his face. they laugh together & play for a while. he empties the dishwasher, then fills it. all the while with the little girl pulling on the leg of his jeans that really need to be thrown in the wash. he prepares my dinner, he prepares her dinner. he feeds her, bathes her, puts her to bed, then actually feeds himself. he picks up from her dinner, sweeps the millions of cheerios from underneath her highchair, then does more dishes, then a little laundry, then putting away the toys.all the while, i sit & i watch. he does that which i currently can not. i watch him do the routine daily things with her that i took for granted & now miss terribly. i watch him serve me & wonder what it now looks like for me to be his wife when all i've ever known is what i now can not do. it's only a short while. in my head i know that, but my heart is having a hard time adjusting to my role as a mom & wife completely redefined...even if it's only a short while. i wonder a lot. my mind goes all kinds of places & most of these are places that blur the picture before me.in front of my very eyes is something spectacular that i've been too immersed in myself to see.yes, it's matt.yes, it's the greatest, out-of-this-world daddy.yes, it's the greatest husband who relentlessly loves his wife.but really, when the picture focuses just a little, i see that it's actually Jesus. it's been Him all along. (theatypicallife.com)