Blessed Summer, bad habits!!

So grateful for my time at home...Summer vacation is the biggest perk of being a teacher (besides the actual satisfaction of seeing successful kids in my class). I am trying to soak up every second with her...We have swam, shopped, walked around the block, danced (she loves to dance!), and snuggled. However, what is it about summer that makes you start bad habits?? Not just me, even little toot has started some. She is staying up soooo late..in fact, this picture was at 11:30 PM and she was still going strong...digging in my kitchen cabinets! Next..not sure where this one came from...spitting out her veggies & throwing them on the floor:( What's that all about? Finally, she won't go to anyone but me without crying(with the exception of my hubby & his immediate family.) Hmmm...I kinda like that one:)

At 11 months old she is...crawling, discovering cabinets and noses, learning "No" and "NAAAH!", mimicking, she eats solid foods all day and drinks cereal bottles at night and early in the morning. She loves baths, the refridgerator, and hair. She says Ah-DA (Daddy), MMMM, clicks her tongue, sticks out her tongue, talks constantly, thinks her own burps are hilarious, talks with her hands, and turns her head to the side if you do when you alk to her (Think puppy dogs!)......11 months of heaven on Earth...

The LOVE Walk

So, the other night while trying to get Miss Priss asleep, I turned on the TV and watched a little Joyce Meyer. I typically don't watch her, but a few things she said stirred me and kind of put me under conviction. She was talking about her commitment to do the love walk. The Love Walk. "What is this?"...I thought. Well..she explained that she is living her life defying the world's trend and our fleshly tendencies to be selfish and think of ourselves before all others. This seems relatively simple, but it struck me deeply. What if I was ALL about others, and not all about getting my own things done? What if everyone this weekend instead of flocking to malls to get the perfect outfit for Easter were helping the elderly, visiting the sick and imprisoned, feeding the hungry, or clothing the poor. WOW! Let me envision an empty mall and across town full soup kitchens, hospitals, prisons, nursing homes...etc! Full not just with the hurting, but with God's people being unselfish and doing what God designed us to do. To be HIS hands, HIS feet... Can you imagine? Wow. Conviction. What if after we cleaned our house, instead of sitting on the couch to watch a movie, we went and helped an elderly person in their house or yard..all in the name of Jesus, and out of the LOVE that HE has commanded us to have for our fellow man? I realize that devoting every Saturday to these kinds of things wouldn't leave us time to get the things done that we have to get done, but really, on a daily basis, what if you went out of your way to make sure you served others in some way rather than yourself. Like waiting to hold open a door for a mommy with full hands or giving the grocery cart guy a tip. Maybe letting someone out in traffic, or giving someone a complement or a comforting hug. MAYBE INVITING SOMEONE TO CHURCH! Just going out of our way to have servant's hearts and humble spirits.

I cant help but think that this would improve every area of your life. Not only would you get the satisfaction of giving, but also wouldn't it improve your relationship with others? Even in your marriage. How often do I get into petty arguments with Peyton because I feel like I am getting the short end of the stick...that's my selfish desires that I'm fighting for. Making it all about me. Don't get me wrong, I think I count too and I shouldn't allow him or anyone else to treat me ugly, but I think if I took out my selfish fleshly nature, that the petty arguments would just about be eliminated. Its an interesting thought though...We'll see..I'm officially on my Love Walk.

Daffodil Days - Try #1!

Okay, so its alwas been my hearts desire to have a beautiful picture of each of my children in the family daffodils that are a legacy of my grandfather. It was his passion, and it one that is a passion of all his children and of his grandaughters as well. Daffodils traditionally symbolize joy, and they truly bring me joy every year. (Daffodils mean so much to me, I planned my wedding around the blooming schedule so I could have a daffodil wedding!)

All this being said, I decided to make a trip to the blooming daffodil hill today after church, and I got maybe two good pictures. It seems that to a 7 month old, EATING daffodils is more fun than looking at them or smelling them! Grandmother (GG) tried to help, but I think the daffodils shaking in her face got her a little irritated! Really, the following two pictures are really just our afternoon in a nutshell!

We'll have to try again next Sunday I think:)

Hurts...

Have you ever had a group of friends, family, or coworkers, etcetera that you were very involved in and then all of a sudden for no known reason, felt as though you were shunned? I have recently discovered this very helpless feeling myself. The feeling of being outkast when you have sacrificed so much for those that now have nothing to say to you. Its almost belittling, as if to say "you are of little importance to me", and in all honesty it brings me to tears and sometimes sheer anger. And the worst part is, I don't know what I did to cause this. When I look back upon the history of my involvement, I realize I was putting in way more than I was getting out. I realize that I was never as significant as I thought I was. I realize that I may have even tried to be something that I never could have been. I was too dependent. I was too emotionally linked. I made myself too vulnerable. I put myself at the mercy of their actions. So how do you undo the emotional link, how do you make yourself feel un-belittled. How do you act in the presence of them? All I want to do is remove myself geographically and get amnesia, all I know to do is pray.

Stretched, Overwhelmed, and Baffled

Is it just women, or do men feel as stretched as we do? I have exactly short of a million things to do daily, not to mention all the extras I have to think about or things that I have to consider when doing for my family or my jobs (notice I said jobssssS). Do men have the burden of these things on their shoulders too? Will they ever REALLY understand what its like to be a Working wife, mother, chef, maid, laundromat, gardener, decorator, etc? (And on top of that have hormones & emotions?) I'm not bashing the male gender, I'm really not, but sometimes I feel like men and women are WAY unequally yolked on some things. My husband is a wonderfol one, and he really helps me out a lot, but I can't help but realize that I feel overwhelmed nearly all of the time, and he is NEVER overwhelmed. Maybe its just the way he handles himself, but this seems to be common when I look at a lot of couples....women carrying the bulk of the load while the man completely is oblivious to what she's got piled on her back.
Last night I realized something, and not that I have always known it before, but I definitely could not deny it after last night. I realized that men can get out of anything with the excuse that they are men. Have you ever, after asking a man to help you with something, heard "I don't know how to do that", or "I've never done that before", or just a plain "I don't do that"? I have not EVER used that excuse. I can't do that because thats a man's job. I can and will tackle anything you ask me to do. It may not be PERFECTLY done, but for the most part I did my best to get it accomplished and is almost as good as any man could do. I mow the grass, I hang pictures, I paint walls, I put furniture together, I move furniture.....I will and have done it all from time to time. I never refuse to do something just because its beneath me. Just doesn't happen. Men baffle me sometimes. (Again, NOT a bash on my husband..love him, couldn't live without him, he's wonderful...)

To do in 2009

So, some of my "resolutions" this year are just about the same as every year, but I am RESOLVING to get some FINISHED!
1. Read the Bible, the WHOLE Bible completely, by December 31st.
(I went out and bought a new translation of the Bible for this one, to help motivate me, although I really shouldn't need motivation to read The Word, should I? Shame on me.)
2. Read to Jillian often. I will not say "daily", because I know we can't fit it in daily, but OFTEN. Play with her, pray with her, and love on her daily.
(No explanation needed!)
3. Pray more.
(Always need improvement here...do we ever pray enough?)
4. Teach or get involved in another Beth Moore Bible Study.
(I went through the"Woman's Heart, God's Dwelling Place" study a little over a year age and it was exactly what I needed. In fact, I truly believe God gave me my pregnancy through that Bible study. It was a study that shook me to my knees and awakened me to God's love like never before. I think when you devote time to something "extra" in your spiritual life outside of Church, God truly blesses that and you.)
5. Learn to let some things go.
( I don't know if this is a New Mommy thing, a woman thing, a hormonal thing, a combination of the first three, or none of the above, but I know that I let two many things upset me and worry me. How I will accomplish this goal, I'm not sure.)
6. Be more of a disciplinarian in the classroom.
7. Make an effort at organization in the areas that need it. (Closets, Teacher's desk, Car)
8. Give my husband back rubs more often. (This is one thing he enjoys immensely, but Mommyhood hasn't allowed much time or ENERGY for...)
9. Say "No" more often.
10. Make molasses cookies at least once.

One of my greatest gifts

Jillian Avery Leach is here. Words cannot express what overwhelming emotions have come over Peyton and I since her arrival. I thought I would blog not only to share, but also to document for myself the past few days.



First of all, the night we were to go to the hospital we ate with some of our crew...my mom and Peyton's family. We all talked about other things, but conversation kept going back to what was to happen in just a few hours. Peyton and I decided to go in just us two at 3:30AM and let my mom and his mom come once they got up and ready so they could get a few extra hours rest in...we figured they would need it. So, naturally, I slept MAYBE an hour. How could I? I got up and freshened my toenail polish at 12:30AM because I had a vision of chipped toenail polsh in the stirrups...vanity, vanity.

So Peyton and I rise and head off to the hospital...searching for a door to get in (hospital was locked up tight!) He drops me out and I head on up because I worried about beating the other inductions and having a "good" room! I get up there and the nurse meets me at the window and immediately escorts me to a GOOD room! I was in my hospital gown in the bed doing paperwork and recieving sticks for me IV when Peyton got to me...which was only about 5 minutes! They put me on fluids and monitors but informed me that my pitocin wouldn't start unitl the baby woke up and her heart rate rose. So, my pitocin started at 5AM...Peyton took control of TV and tried to catch some zzz's on the couch. Nurse shift change happened at 7..when we were greeted with our assigned Nurse and Nurse Tech...Ashley and JANSEN! We were so excited to have such wonderful attention and care. My mom and Martha came together shortly after and brought Peyton some breakfast..I recieved....ICE chips! YUMMY:) Dr. Pharr came in about 8:15 to break my water and immediately the fun of real labor came..very painful. I requested to get on the list for epidural. I got it several hours later because of the fastly progressing women and cesareans happening around me. When I did get it - HALLELUJAH! - I was feeling good:) After a few checks they thought I was going to section, but they held out for me...and, after 45 minutes of pushing, Peyton and I, along with our little team welcomed Miss Jillian to the world. WOW! Words can't express the true amazement and the feeling that something GODLY MIRACULOUS just happened when you deliver a child, or at least thats what I felt - and still feel to this day. What an incredible blessing.


She is just perfect in every way.

(PS - thi sblog was started on July 5 - and finished on Feb 1!!!) Are you shocked? Life with a newborn is FABULOUS, but it doesn't allow for much time for extras:)