Praises, Milestones, and Growing

I can’t believe I haven’t posted in 2 months. Wow!  The writing bug has taken a back burner, the urge to write just hasn’t been there and I’m okay with that. I feel like its just not the season in my life to make it a high priority, there are much important things going on in this busy life right now!

1. Last I updated in March, we were going through some hearing issues with Savannah. As I said in that post, we trusted chiropractic care to correct the issue instead of surgery and we saw dramatic results within just days.  She since has had her hearing testing several times and its back to 100% awesome hearing! Praise the Lord! We’ve also decided not to take out adenoids/tonsils at this point. She’s doing great, enjoyed her first soccer season with friends, and is anxious to start Kindergarten in August!

2. Jaxson turned 18 months old last week. What happened to my baby?! I gave him a hair cut yesterday and it instantly looked like a 2 year old to me. He is saying so many words, communicates with signs as well, and has such a great personality.  I cannot believe that its already been 18 months since his birth, yet it seems like it should have been years ago too. Hasn’t he always been in our lives? 18 months also marked a big milestone of making it this far still nursing. I never imagined we would make it this far, my goal was a year but it continues to be his comfort at least once a day.  I know many people in this society has its qualms about it, but in other societies its not abnormal to breastfeed for years! Its in many Bible stories, too :-) We’re doing what works for our family, and going about weaning very slowly. And the child SLEEPS now! He takes 2-4 hour naps and then sleeps all night long usually. Praise God for rest!

This was at Easter, he’s grown so much even since then.

 

3. Mark and I celebrated 5 years of marriage! Again, seems like it should be even longer because it feels like we’ve known each other forever.  We had a very low-key anniversary with dinner out with our little family (it was mall food at that. ha!) and then we watched a movie at home. Its just what I needed, just to be in his arms, since I wasn’t feeling good anyway. Its been neat to sit here 5 years later reflecting on our life together, how we’ve grown in so many ways from those 19/20 year olds, how God has blessed us in those years following from our jobs, to our home, to kids.  We absolutely are even in more love now and feel accomplished to be beating the statistic that young couples end up divorced.  God is so good and tangible in our lives! We both made each other gifts, mine was inspired off pintrest and involved a map and the places important to us. His was this:

4. Well, this is pretty big news you might be excited to know, cause we sure are!

(Yes, I know there is a misspelling. Please ignore)

I’m 7 weeks a long today and  Baby #3 is due sometime in mid-January (I refuse to set a date for myself this time because babies don’t work like that!). We are all very excited about this last addition, Savannah thanks God for this baby every night in her prayers and is praying for a girl, of course.  I’m anxiously awaiting my first midwife appointment in June and trusting God to hear a strong heartbeat since we opted not to do an early ultrasound this time.  Just as with Jaxson’s pregnancy I have struggled with fear of a missed-miscarriage again but He has given me an unnatural peace when fear rises. I refuse to let Satan steal my joy of this little life, no matter the outcome!

I’m overall feeling pretty good, just extremely tired and constantly nauseous!  I have to nap every single day when Jaxson naps, and if I don’t, then I have to go to bed very early.  The nausea can be kept at bay if I eat protein and carbs all day long, so that’s good news. With Jaxson nothing helped and I was gagging at everything all day long. Either I just haven’t hit that point yet, or I’ve just learned how to manage it this time around. Or, maybe this little one is taking it easy on me and will be the easy going third child. Or, its a girl.  My girls were easier on me with the nausea!  We aren’t finding out the sex this time until birth so it’ll be a long time to know for sure :-)

So that’s all the big news that’s been going on in the 2 months of silence. I hope to do more updates more often, especially since I love to document my pregnancies and the beloved belly!




Action Jaxson

I was rocking Jaxson this afternoon as he nursed, watching him practically doing a handstand as he’s attached to me. The boy never sits still it seems. The world is too exciting to sit still, there’s always a new challenge and adventure to go on in his mind. I caught myself thinking, “I just knew he was going to be this active! I remember him tossing and turning so much more than when I was pregnant with my girls.”  Its really no wonder why he had the cord wrapped around his neck four times when he was born…he really cannot stop moving.

Maybe I’m stereotyping a bit (I know girls can be just as active) but he’s proving to be so different than the girls in my life. Savannah just laid still while nursing, except to reach up and play with my Kaylee necklace or something. Savannah never got into the toilets, or threw things down them.  She never climbed on the table constantly. She never got into cabinets much. While she was active and loved going outside, she was and is also content to sit and be on one task for a while. Jaxson does not stop moving.  He doesn’t color on paper, he runs with the crayon and colors on the walls (another thing Savannah never seemed to have a desire to do as a toddler until she saw her brother doing it recently!). He’s a whirl-wind of activity, moving from one thing to the next.

What’s been the biggest adjustment with having a little boy in our lives is his climbing abilities. It amazed me how quickly he learned to climb before he was even a year old and now its like his goal in life is to see what he can climb on. How high he can get. He’s often found on top of our kitchen table, flinging things off like King Kong in a city slinging cars. We try to keep it clear all the time unless we want broken dishes or spilled water!

The “Savannah never did that” list above isn’t to say Jaxson is “bad” and Savannah is/was “good.”  I know Savannah did other things that drove me bonkers (and still does!) and I still have to watch her in other areas. We have battles in other ways. They simply are different kids. Different challenges, different interests.  Its such a blessing, and so much fun, to watch them grow up into different people with different personalities.

This picture captures his personality perfectly, the way he climbs up and looks around seeing if I’m watching.  His little smirk and the joy in his eyes. I think its one of my favorites of him so far in his 16.5 months of life!

His nick name is Action Jaxon. Not only because it rhymes, but because it just is him.




He Heard, She Hears

A lot of has gone on this past week. Actually, its been only about 5 days of roller coaster emotions.  But really, its been going on longer than I realized.  Are you confused?

I was, too. And shocked.

Savannah has lost some of her hearing. I say lost as if it was simply some of her favorite Strawberry Shortcakes toys dropped at the grocery store, or something. But its not.

Listening
It became very noticeable this past month after we all had a bad lingering cold. We were having to repeat ourselves over and over (more so than the normal “selective hearing” kids normally have), make our voices louder and louder for her to hear us. The TV or music had to be blaring loud. She’s always kind of liked her TV and music loud, but this was different. Even her Grandparents noticed something wasn’t quite right and encouraged us to get it checked out, so I did.  Last Thursday she had her hearing tested and was seen by an ENT, who told us that she hears as if she is 10 feet underwater. Everything is muffled. Well no wonder we were always shouting and having to turn things up!

The good news? Its temporary and its just fluid behind the ear drum that has been building up for years (yet amazingly has never been infected, or painful, so we didn’t know there was an issue). The bad news? Oh, by the way, she needs tubes in her ears and her adenoids and tonsils should be taken out, too.  I was shocked, I was expecting an earwax build up (you should see the earwax that runs in the Daddy side of the family!). I cried. I didn’t want my baby hurting. Surgery?! And what do adenoids and tonsils have to do with this? Well, she apparently has huge tonsils that may be causing her some sleep issues like maybe a mild sleep apnea (she does snore…) so they should come out. (I’m still not convinced…)

For those that know me or have been around this blog a while, I like to do things a little more naturally. Especially, ya know, before slicing holes in my child’s eardrums, cutting out body parts, and spending thousands of dollars (no offense to those who have chosen the surgery route, I know it has its purpose and can be a huge help!). But more so than that, I believe in a Great Physician that can heal. I trust that He created our body and its functions for a reason. But, I also trust that if the way He intends to heal Savannah is through surgery, then that’s okay, too.

I felt lead though to try Chiropractic care first. We’ve been seeing one for about a year now, he corrected the migraines and vision issues I had been having daily (Praise God!). I asked if he would help us try to avoid surgery and he said yes….for free. Payment was a concern of mine because, well, Mark is skeptical. I’m lucky I even get to go once a month! Let alone taking Savannah 3 times a week for several weeks to do a series of adjustments for her ears? That would be quite a chunk of money. Praise God for our chiropractor’s generosity and caring. I have peace knowing we have nothing to loose simply in trying a different approach first.

Tonight though, I feel like we got our confirmation from God.  She was adjusted specifically for draining her ears on Friday and again this afternoon (Monday). We hadn’t noticed much a difference in her hearing, though we were told it could take weeks or might not even work at all if it was caused by something else. I got Savannah ready for bed,  turned on her night time music that plays over and over all night long. Its so loud that I can hear it all the way in my room with my door and her door shut.  We snuggled, giggled, talked about her new soccer practice experience, and said our prayers. She then got up to go to the bathroom one last time and something must have happened inside. She looked at me and said, “Mom! Why did you turn the music up so loud?! Its too loud! I can’t sleep like that!”  I flashed a huge smile and said, “Savannah its always this loud.”  I knew in that moment God heard my heartfelt prayers, that Savannah could hear better. Something shifted to drain the fluid naturally. She argued that it wasn’t always this loud even though I assured her that nothing had changed but her ears. After she turned it down to where she wanted it, I asked her if this is how soft she has always heard it and she said yes. She also said the “booming” she’s been hearing in her ears for months that she thought was “monsters coming” had gone, which I’m assuming was the sound of fluid in her ears popping. 2 adjustments, folks. God heard. God answered.

Mark is still skeptical, as I’m sure other people will be, too.  I know this is just the beginning, I accept that surgery could still be in her plans if her second opinion check up still shows fluid in a few weeks. However, I will say, that I have expectant faith that her hearing will continue to get better and surgery will be avoided all together. Its a fine balance between having strong faith that God asks us to have, yet also leaving room for His answer. And that’s why I’m writing this, to document how God works. That He does hear. He does answer…sometimes in the way we ask and sometimes not. I’m ready for that either way.

I also really wanted to share this for the many, many kids I know that doctors are telling them to put tubes in their ears to solve an issue.  I know its not a super major surgery, but its still surgery non-the-less involving emotions, pain, and money. I wanted to share so maybe others might be open to the idea that there are other options out there to pursue before opting for surgery. I used to be a skeptic in chiropractic care, too (looks kind scary watching it be done!). I’m totally a believer now in chiropractic care between this experience and my own issues with migraines that are now non-existent. God totally knew what He was doing when he designed our bodies and I truly feel like chiropractors are tools to keep our bodies in check when we throw them off.

Our story isn’t over, I know. But regardless, God is certainly using this time for some awesome things to bring Him glory. Even if its simply bringing me and Savannah closer to God, or helping Mark (and others) understand why I trust in the things I do, that’s pretty big.





FIVE? Really?!

I would say the cliche line, “it seems just like yesterday she was born…” but its simply not true. It doesn’t feel like yesterday she was born, but it does feel like she should still be toddling 1 year old like Jaxson is now. I cannot believe she is FIVE. A whole five fingers. The girl who counts to 20, pumps herself on the swing, rides a bike, draws pictures, writes her name? How is that possible? It really feels like I  blinked and suddenly she is a big girl ready to go off to kindergarten in just a few months.

She is absolutely excited up to the moon and past the stars that she is finally 5. So excited, in fact, that she woke up at 3 am to start her birthday. That’s worse than Christmas mornings folks, where we have to wake her up to start the day. Still, while we were all a little tired from a rough night and early morning, it was a fabulous day full of family, friends, and her favorite things. We started the day out with our favorite Chicfila Breakfast, played with a few of her favorite friends at the park, and later had pizza and a homemade cake with her Grandparents. And, of course, opened presents. She also was an excellent listener, because according to her, now that’s she’s 5 she will be a great listener when we ask her to do things like clean up her toys. Sweet deal!

I feel so blessed that she is in my life. While our relationship may have its struggles at times and I question my parenting skills, I know overall she’s a great girl with a caring heart.  Her birth 5 years ago was one that gave me the role of a Mom, it taught me so many things about myself, and even my perspective on birth. She’s helped shape me to be the woman and Mom I am today, its her presence that keeps me clinging to God for guidance so that I can be the best Mom and wife I can be. She’s the one helping me to become”childlike” again and find joy in simple things in my days. I’m so grateful that our relationship is one that is open enough that we teach each other things about life.

Happy Birthday, Savannah! I have a feeling 5 is going to be awesome for this girl :-)

 

(P.S. Sorry if some parts don’t make sense or misspellings, etc. I’m half asleep on cold medicine but felt the need to write before the day was over)




Doubts

So often I doubt myself as a Mom, like I’m not doing enough…not trying hard enough.

To control my temper and instead respond to Savannah with a gentle answer.

She watches too much TV.

Doesn’t eat enough fruits and veggies and instead eats too many sweets.

I forget to start our day in prayer, or even give thanks before our meals.

I don’t discipline her consistently.

I don’t make the time to just sit and play with her each day.

I don’t make the effort to do crafts with her (not that that is a mom requirement! But we both love crafts, WHY don’t I do more with her?)

I don’t spend time in the Bible with her each day.

But then, there are moments that make me realize I don’t give myself enough credit for what I do, like this one today. In the car she had me turn off the radio and paused her DVD player (again with the too much TV!) so she could excitedly say:

“Mom! Last night I had a really bad dream that a lobster came alive and was trying to snap me! But then, I prayed to Jesus and He gave me a good dream.”

Sure, I may not pray before meals, but we say a heartfelt prayer before bed each night, dishing out our worries and thanks to God (praying for a gentle answer, patience, joy, and love between us is a common prayer!) .  When she wakes up with a bad dream I always say a prayer with her for comfort. We talk about God throughout our days, because ultimately life around us always points back to Him. I make it a priority (now) to get our family to church when we can. That’s something.

And really, isn’t that what this motherhood journey is about? For me, the fact that Savannah’s heart is fill with God’s love is top priority. Who cares how many crafts we do or if the food she eats is organic if she knows God. If she can truly know God personally from an early age, and see God in me, the rest will outflow. I find comfort knowing that she is soaking up good things even if I don’t feel qualified at times due to my own sinful, selfish words and actions. Of course, there is always room for improvement in my life…

….but sometimes I need to look past all the I don’ts and open my eyes to the I do’s.


Those doubts aren’t from God, quite the opposite.

I am good enough.

So are you.




Butterfly Kisses

Savannah has been trying to get a butterfly to land on her finger for weeks.  Many days I’ve seen her chase around a little butterfly, trying to tell it that she’s nice and wants to be her friend, but with no such luck. Finally, this beautiful one gave her a chance at Stone Mountain Park last week. I guess its used to people since it lives at the park and wasn’t scared, eh? Anyways, she was thrilled! And I’m thrilled with the pictures we got to capture that memory.




Momma’s Boy (and Girl)

May 2010- 6.5 months old. His cheeks look so much better than that now :-)

Jaxson is a Momma’s Boy. I remember Savannah being a Momma’s girl to as a baby (and still is…when she isn’t calling me “evil” because I discipline her!)

Maybe it’s this baby stage. Maybe it’s the fact that I have the milk. But, he absolutely loves being close to me and especially loves being wrapped up extra close in a carrier. Before this  summer weather got super-duper hot, we would take nightly walks to the mail box and around the neighborhood with him strapped to my back. He would kick his legs and chew on the fabric to ease his ever expanding gum line (he now has SIX teeth,  half of those came in just in the past 2 weeks. Talk about some sleepless nights!). Eventually he would lay his fuzzy head down on my back and just rest as he watched the world from behind my shoulders. Nursing has a similar effect most times, I absolutely love how he finishes many of his meals with a content sigh or squeal. It makes those middle of the night feedings a little more bearable!

I used to have moments like that with Savannah as a baby, I treasured them away in my heart, too. Now they’ve transformed into our nightly ritual of prayers, scratching her back, and snuggles. It’s different than the baby bonding, but yet the same. It’s those moments that make up for her calling me evil when I tell her no to something. It’s in those moments that peace settles in after the emotional-4-year-old-storm and all is okay again. The slate is clean, just as rain washes away the dirt she’s played in off our front sidewalk.

It is moments like these I want to remember forever with my kids. The complete contentment they have just being close to me, the peace inside both of us that for a moment all is right. The silence that nothing has to be said. Just us, enjoying closeness and bonding together our parent-child souls.

I love having a momma’s boy and girl. Thank you, God for our little blessings! Some days I have to remind myself that they are blessings, especially grumpy days like today. Like I said, sweet moments wash it all away.




She Wanted to Be There

(Just so you aren’t confused…I wrote this the same night as the last post, Forming the Adoption Puzzle, but this deserved its own separate post. Plus, I wanted to space out posts since I’ve been slacking lately :-) So, pretend its Friday April 15th again!)

Pregnancy, birth, and all things tiny-newborn-cute  has started to consume me again. I know, I still have a completely adorable and happy 5 month old baby upstairs blissfully sleeping, but I can’t help myself. There is seriously some hardwired momma gene in me I can’t just turn off. And no, I’m not pregnant. But, after months of talking Mark has finally officially agreed to having a 3rd child down the road, so just the thought that I will get to experience the amazingness of pregnancy and natural birth again (God willing, of course) has had me doing a happy dance all week. Of course, ideally I’d like to wait awhile to let my body heal and to enjoy the sweet baby that Jaxson is so don’t expect a baby bump on this blog any time soon!

That said, tonight (along with our adoption talk) Savannah revealed something else to me that I hadn’t known she thought about in her little girl mind. I told you, it was a serious discussion night during our snuggle session. In the book we were reading, the sister goes to the hospital to visit her Mommy and new baby brother and she stopped me while reading.

Savannah- “Mommy, why did she go to the hospital?”

Me- “Well, that’s where she went to have her baby. Just like when I went to the birthing center to have Jaxson.”

Savannah- “But, why didn’t I get to go to the birthing center?”

Me- “Did you want to?”

Savannah- “Yeah, I wanted to watch him come out.”

Whoa!  Like, whoa in a good way. I debated whether I wanted Savannah in the room or not when Jaxson made his debut, but I hadn’t done the whole natural-birthing-thing before and I didn’t even know what it would be like myself.  I didn’t know how I’d react to the contractions, the noises I’d make, if I would be straight up scary to be around, etc. and I just didn’t feel comfy with anyone else in the room except my husband and midwife. But, it melted my heart to hear her say that she wanted to be there. It makes sense to me that she would want to, after all she was there for every prenatal appointment, she felt his kicks and sang to him every night, we watching baby stories on TV and talked about birth. She was very involved with his pregnancy and it fascinated her, why wouldn’t she want to see her baby brother come out?  Next time, I think it would be neat for her to experience it. I feel like I know more now that I’ve lived it, that I could do my birthing thing with her observing the miracle nearby. I want to raise her to not fear child birth, that it’s a natural thing that God so beautifully designed. I want her to know that it isn’t painful if we let our body do its thing. What better way to teach her that, than to show her that? Society teaches about birth differently and in a much different light…I’d rather her see it for what it is, not what the way culture would have her believe it is. This article explains why its beneficial to have children present. Yeah, its not a choice for everyone just like natural birth isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but its one I’m willing to explore.

Also, every time we talk about having another baby she insists it will be a girl. Tonight when I told her she might be able to watch next time, “Then I’ll have a baby brother AND a baby sister living with me!” Hopeful? Or intuitive? Like I said though, don’t expect a baby bump around here any time soon!




Forming the Adoption Puzzle

There is something about this 4 year old age and adoption. Wheels in their little heads start turning and they start to put the puzzle pieces together. They seem to start understanding who is who, the roles they play, and kinda-sorta understand what it means in a 4 year old way. I’ve seen it blossom in Kaylee in our visits since about this age (The defining moment in my mind was when I walked in the door and she shouted, “My birthmother!” instead of “Miss Leah!”) and now Savannah is reaching this point, too. Its interesting to watch her take in this information and begin to process it in a new light of better understanding…and its also heartbreaking to watch.  Because now, Kaylee isn’t just a girl she calls her sister for the fun of it, she’s getting why she is her sister and perhaps even the life they could of had together if she lived with us. She’s understanding that she really is her sister, but doesn’t live with us and she seriously misses her. I do too, baby, I do too.

Most days our talks about Kaylee are happy conversations. Usually they involve talking about Kaylee’s clothes or shoes because we have her entire hand-me-down wardrobe and Savannah proudly wears them (and if we want Savannah to wear or do something we say, “This is Kaylee’s FAVORITE!” Oh, the tricks of parents). But tonight? It was serious.  Tonight we read a book about adoption called  Sam’s Sister by Juliet C. Bond and while this story isn’t our adoption story, I think it still helps Savannah understand why Kaylee is her sister and how special their relationship is. In this book, a little girl tells the story of when she was five her mommy had a baby boy and chose an open adoption. So, its kind backwards from our story in that Kaylee was placed first and then I parented Savannah, but it still talks about the adoption choice, the emotions that go along with it, how they are connected, and always will be siblings even if they don’t live together. I could tell though when reading, as she stopped to ask questions, she was experiencing for the first time (to my knowledge) truly feeling the sting of adoption just as the sister and mother were in the book.  We sat in her bubble gum pink bed, snuggling and reading this book with a heavy heart missing Kaylee just as the little girl and Mom in the story were in one drawing. Yes, I boast about the blessing that adoption can be and how wonderful our relationship/experience is…but it comes with a price. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt sometimes, that we aren’t sad, or never miss her.   We do, and it comes in unexpected moments like this. Still, I pray as she is understanding how adoption works in our lives, that she sees the many blessings it has provided not just for Kaylee, but for us as well.

After all…how cool is it she wears her sister’s old clothes and shoes even when they live in different homes :-)




The Silence, The Struggles

I know it’s been over a month since there have been any posts…we’re alive, I promise!  As Mark and I have grown closer to God these past few months we’ve both felt convicted about idols. Guess what mine is? The computer. His is the Xbox and we’ve both been making an effort to back away a little bit and focus on family time more.  The moments when I do have time to write I’ve felt the call the read the Bible or something else more productive in my day (do the dishes and laundry ever end?!), or sleep. I wish I could find the perfect balance for life so it wasn’t so one sided, whether is too much me time or too much focus on the daily duties and not enough me time. If any of you figure out that balance, let me know how to do it!

So how have we been? Of course, my standard answer to anyone who asks has been, “We’re all good!” And yeah, in the grand scheme of life we are good because we’re all healthy, well fed, warm, loved, etc. but I admit some times that’s just a Supermom cover. I’m not always good. Jaxson is almost 3.5 months old now and the months of sleep dept has caught up to me. Gone are the days where I can get up every hour, run on adrenaline, and be happy all day long because I’m so in love with life (aside from that baby blues period!). Instead, I wake up all night long frustrated that both kids are waking me up several times a night just because they need Mommy to put them back to sleep again and therefore I wake up grumpy, which makes for a long and grumpy day for all. It’s a vicious cycle that obviously affects me personally, but also how I parent. I hate it, I don’t want to be a yelling mommy. I want to be a patient, gentle, loving-like-Christ-loves-us kind of Mommy. Consider this my cry for help. (Help! Books? Websites? Ideas? Bible Verses? Discipline ideas appropriate for a 4 year old?).

I’m going to be real honest here: My relationship with Savannah isn’t all that great, and especially has taken a slide since Jaxson has been born. Our relationship consists of lots of whining, yelling, tears, frustrations, etc. on both ends. Which, is another huge reason why I’m trying to step back from what I want to do during quiet moments like nap times and spend it with her. I’ve started doing some homeschooling with her on days she isn’t actually in preschool and making more of an effort to do things she likes, like play board games together. I know deep at the heart of our issue is love and respect; she wants love and I want respect (Anyone ever read that book? Who knew the parenting relationship could be similar to the marriage one!).  I need her listening ears to be turned on and I need my unconditional loving heart to be turned on! I don’t mean that I don’t love Savannah, that’s far from the truth, but I’m praying for a heart that can reflect that love even when it isn’t easy. I honestly feel like I’m failing her some times. But then, she’ll wake up the next day and magically have listening ears, polite answers, and a desire to be a helping hand AND sleep through the night. I know God must be hearing my prayers to have some good days every now and then!

As far as Jaxson goes, besides his sleep habits, he’s a fantastic baby. Everyone comments on how content and happy he is, and it’s so true. I could watch his big toothless grin all day long, he’s such a smiley baby! He’s growing very fast, already up to 14 pounds and definitely not newborn-ish anymore. He loves to sit up to look around (with help, of course) and he is really into grabbing things now (I considered growing my hair back out until he started grabbing it!). Its cute to watch him play with toys now! He is starting to show teething signs already so we have some odd cranky moments and lots of drool now. We are still cloth diapering and I still love it. I have a post I started over a month ago waiting to be finished all about the details of that. But long story short: I hate using disposables  now on the rare occasions I use them.

On the spiritual front though, besides feeling like I’m being attacked from all sides in my tired weakness, I feel like Mark and I are finally growing our roots as a family in God. He’s been going to a men’s small group each week, and I’ve been going to a women’s.  Getting to church each week is a different story though, I feel like The Enemy attacks the hardest Saturday nights when I need to rest to be able to function on Sundays! Despite that though, God has really opened doors to opportunities to get to know other believers in our area and like-minded Mommies for me and Savannah to hang out with. In fact, Mark has decided to finally answer the tugging at his heart about going to seminary to be a youth pastor. It’s still in the planning stages of how and when to go about this, but just the fact that he’s made the decision to do it and research it more is great in my eyes!

So that’s where I’ve been and where we are now. Some days I feel like I’ve got this parenting thing down and the next I wonder what in the world am I doing being responsible for 2 other lives! As Mark told me at 1am last night…”this too shall pass.” I know that while this is a busy and tiring season of life,  I’ll look back and miss it.

And while I’m in this season, this is my prayer. It makes me feel stronger every time I read it!

“I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through His spirit. Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.” Ephesians 4




Momma O

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