Wow!! What a week!!! Last Wednesday I came down with the horrindous stomach bug that Jonathan had last week, then Emory started running fever...IT WAS BAD!!! To attempt to get some rest and keep Emmett from catching our bugs I called my MAMA...So thankful for Mama!! She met Jonathan in Eatonton and took Emmett for the weekend. Sunday Emory and I went to Musella to pick him up and decided to stay a couple days. It was sooo fun! My sweet daddy took off Monday and took us to Elliot Farms with pick your own strawberries, hayrides, and lots of farm life. It was great!!! I am so thankful for our "life interrupted" this past week. I was SOOOOOOO stressed!!!! about getting the house on the market. I really think that is why I got sick. I was almost to the point of obession with it (cleaning, painting, cleaning cleaning cleaning) it was getting a little crazy and I was getting so ill!!! and GRUMPY!!! I am so glad that God stopped me in my tracks and reminded me of the simple pleasures of life LIKE.....1. the sound of a porch swing and the breeze in my face 2. the quietness of the country 3. being able to look out of the kitchen window and spot doves, squirrels, and crow eating corn and a mischevious cat about to pounce:)4. the sounds my dad makes (animal noises) as part of his every day life. I also like the sound he makes as he thumps his thumb against his coffee cup 5. my mom singing "he's still working on me" to Emmett as she rocks him to sleep....I had no idea that it was a bluegrass song:) 6. Emory asking for "Candy" over and over and over again and doing anything to get it (fish kisses included) 7. the sight of my oldest sister's blue van pulling up with her 3 sweet kiddos and getting to visit for awhile 8. dinner at Margaritas in Macon with Melissa and Scott and JS and Noelle......pure preciousness!!! 9. looking out the window to see Emory and Daddy on the golf cart and on the mower....tooo cute!!! every time Emory sees a golf cart she asks for "Papa" 10. well water 11. my dad saying things like "samich" for sandwich and "balsalamic" for balsamic 12. grilled chicken and roasted vegetables 13. golf cart rides through the bumpy wood trail 14. Realizing that I am soooo overwhelmingly blessed and all of my stresses were unnecessary....God will sell our house in His timing.
I did have quite a scare today though when Emory shut my parents door while I was laying Emmett down to sleep....the door locked with Emory, my phone, and a open dishwasher door full of knives on one side and Emmett and I on the other....SHEER PANIC!!! I kept saying :"God what am I suppose to do?" while repeatedly thrusting my body against the door to try and get it to open...I climbed out the window, comtemplated busting a window..thought I was going to have a heart attack or definitely throw up. I ended up using a chair to help me climb back in and kicking the door about 110 times with all my might to get it to open...once it opened I just sat there and cried......so grateful!!! I then had to calm Emmett down and give him some medicine for his fever. As I cried out " God I am so stressed right now please help me!" Emmett threw up all over me....YUCK!!! I got him cleaned up, me cleaned up, and both my kiddos into their beds for naps while mommy took a deep breath....several deep breaths to get my heart rate back to normal and moved on....I called my hubby and told him not to come home today without some really good food and some really good wine.....I think that there is not much in life that some simple remedies can cure.....Icecream, wine, good lovin, or good food:) Thankfully I got all of the above today so I am feeling good:)

Lessons from 2010

I feel like I have grown more spiritually this year than ever before....proof that becoming a parent changes EVERYTHING!!! Here are some things that I feel like the Lord has taught me this year.
1. I don't fully understand how blessed I am
2. I don't fully understand how unrighteous I am
3. Don't take a single moment for granted
4 No earthly human loves you like your Mama
5. CALM DOWN!!! SLOW DOWN....soak in life
6. Pick your priorities and stick with them......life will sweep you away...other people will sweep you away....stick to your convictions
7. God is ALWAYS righteous
8. God is ALWAYS faithful
9. You really can trust God no matter what example: my pregnancy with Emory and complications etc.
10. Pick your friends carefully
11. Don't gossip
12. Try your best not to say negative things about others...you really do not understand why they do what they do because you have never walked in their shoes...Don't judge, just love example: my sister Melissa: I use to talk about her alot and I know that is why we haven't been as close as we are now
13. my opinions/feelings don't really matter....what matters is that God gets the glory and that I love with action and in truth and hold fast to what God's word says.
14. Be at peace with others......I get sick to my stomach and can't sleep if I know that I am not at peace with  someone
15. Sometimes all you can do is say you are sorry and agree to disagree....love them in action anyway
16. God has a plan.....he doesn't need my plan to accomplish his plan so I need to STOP PLANNING!!!
my plans always fail....thank the Lord
17.

More lessons from 2010

17. Sometimes when you feel like you have been wronged, or someone hurts your feelings...the person(s) that hurt you won't apologize. It must be taught in like Type A personality 101 or something. We have to forgive 7 X 70 times and move on. Holding onto bitterness will eventually affect every single area of your life...it's not worth it...just let it go and move on.
18. Being a mommy is the hardest and the most fun job EVER!!
20. Having kids changes your marriage.....ours has gotten better! and so has our relationship with the Lord!

"Do you love me?"

We had Dee Brestin come to our church this past Sunday night. She did such a great job speaking. I loved her main point. She told the story of the famous play Fiddler on the Roof where the main character has 5 daughters (all jewish) who sort of "rebel" against the tradition and decide they want to marry for love instead of who they are pledged to (I am a sucker for romance). This gets the main character questioning his own relationship with his wife....in a musical way (I am also a sucker for musicals) he ask her "Do you love me?"....she then replies "For 25 years I've washed your shirts"......and on and on and on of all the things she has done for him. He keeps asking her "But do you love me?" Dee compared this story to the story of Jesus and Peter. After Jesus rose from the dead he appears to his disciples and they have a picnic on the beach. Jesus keeps asking Peter "Do you love me?" Dee said that alot of Christians are much like the wife in Fiddler on the Roof. When Jesus asks them "Do you love me?" they begin listing all the things they have done like.."For 25 years I've gone to church." This really got me thinking..I want Jesus to KNOW that I love him. I want to spend time with Him and have such a relationship with him so that when he asks me "Do you love me?" he already knows without a doubt that my answer is "YES YES YES!!"

Boy it has been such a LOOOOONNNNGGGG time since i posted....where do I start? Well I guess I will just say that when Emory was about 6 months old we thought we were feeling the call to adopt....prayed about it, filled out some paperwork, sent our application in and a week later found out that we were pregnant with number 2....blew us away!(this is a HUGE understatement)...lesson I learned....I love how God's plan is so perfect and if you are seeking Him..you can't mess it up. I LOVE being the mother of a son. Don't get me wrong....I LOVE LOVE LOVE having a daughter, but from the moment that little boy was born...he just blew me away..has my heart on a string (I think this must be how Daddy's feel about their little girls).
FAST FORWARD......Emmett is now 6 months old and Emory is 22 months old (ALMOST 2!!!) I really can't believe it!! I am one blessed and busy mama! I LOVE BEING A MOM!!! I especially love being a stay at home mom. I feel so blessed to be able to share such special moments with my children. I love that I get to see the happy and sad sides, the silly and mad sides (from "I love you through and through" book). I am so honored that I get to be there to play and share silly faces, goldfish, fish kisses, silly songs and dances with them each and every day. I love that I get to be there to love on them when they get "boo boos." I love that Emory wants to rock now with "bankie" (blankie) and one of her stuffed animals and a book before nap or bedtime. I love praying with my children and hearing Emory say "AMEN!" I love how Emmett laughs like Ernie on Sesame Street. I love how he is the happiest little boy....he loves to laugh and smile like his mama....more to come...it is late and after a very busy weekend of yard sale I need sleep!!!

Something about Mary

This blog was inspired by one of my good friends Amanda Pierce and a song that she sang at church last Sunday....I think the name of it was "Labor of Love"....don't quote me on that, I am probably wrong.

It really just got me thinking about Mary.....Jesus' mother. I had my first born this year and I cannot IMAGINE 1. having a baby when I was a teenager....out of wedlock or 2. having a baby in a barn.

I think people sometimes try to glamorize the story of Christ's birth. Even the song Away in a Manger....as beautiful as that song is....its a sloooooow, sooooooft, beautiful song about the night Christ was born.....apparently he didn't cry as a baby (I mean, I know we don't know this, but don't all babies cry...especially when they are first born...it clears the amniotic fluid out of their lungs).
I'm not really sure why we try to glamorize it, maybe to make it more appealing, or just because as humans we all like glamor. I don't know, but what I know is that Christ came to Earth to get messy.  Sin is ugly and    despicable in God's sight. Christ came to save us from our sin, to take on OUR sin, therefore He came to get messy FOR US because of His love.  I don't think it was at ALL like the beautiful picture we like to paint or the beautiful manger scenes we put on our mantles at Christmas to decorate our homes.

So, back to number 1. Having a baby when I was a teenager...out of wedlock.....
I saw something on the news last night about a show that is currently on MTV called "Teen Moms". It is about just what the title states, teenage girls that got pregnant by a high school boyfriend. It showed some of the clips from the show....basically all these girls were doing was struggling. Struggling to raise these babies with jobs that pay minimum wage, struggling to get support from their families and "baby daddy's", struggling to somehow finish high school and take care of their babies at the same time.....I mean can I say ROUGH!! I am married, have a job, have a wonderful family and support system and I will unashamedly admit that becoming a parent is the HARDEST job I have EVER tried to do (even though I LOVE Emory so much). At the end of the segment each one of the teen moms (including Bristol Palin) have started an advocacy group for abstinence....can you blame them? I am really proud that they are trying so hard to get their lives together and care for their babies. I really hope that teenagers will watch that show and decide NOT to have sex before they are married.

Back to Mary.... so there she was...a virgin....betrothed to Joseph...when the angel gives her the message that she is pregnant with a baby boy.....instead of acting like I probably would (what? why? how?), Mary simple states "If it is what the Lord wants."....that's AMAZING!!! She had so much faith!!
She trust God no matter what. It wasn't til later that Joseph had the dream and he believed her.
Flash forward to the LONG journey to Bethlehem....she probably felt 9 1/2 months pregnant if she is like most pregos I know...or anything like me in my last trimester. I don't know if Mary was anything like me, but anyone in my family will tell you that I am a planner...it's a blessing and a curse.  If it had been me I would have been like "Ok....we will go to Bethlehem, get a nice room so I can lay down, get some food, get some good rest in a cozy room" but OH NO....God had other plans (much like He does with me 99.9% of the time).  Instead, Mary has her first born in a dirty barn, no other family (like a mom) to hold her hand, pray for her, or just help her through labor. The smell of animal poop all around, blood from labor on the ground, no where to put her baby but in a food trough on some hay, wrapping him in scraps of cloth. I guarantee it wasn't pretty or glamorous. Praise God that from the beginning He has shown us that He came to get messy....to be involved in our crazy dramas of life...and to show us He is able to do anything!!!   PRAISE THE LORD!    It's Christmas!

Some things I love

These are some random things that I am thinking about this week that I love....

* That almost every ornament on our Christmas tree has a story...it's not a "designer" Christmas tree,  it's not perfect, but I LOVE the ornaments that sort of record our life's story for instance...the minnie and mickey mouse ornament that says "Just Married" that Jonathan and I got on our honeymoon, the North Augusta ornament that we got right before we moved to Tifton (North Augusta, our first home as a married couple), the one with the picture of Toby that reads "I've been good"....Toby..our first baby:), the fishing boat one that I got off of a spray of flowers at my granddaddy's funeral.....I miss him so much!,  the one of Santa riding on top of a crab that we got in Hilton Head this year when I was pregnant and we both ate our weight in crab meat....the laziest vacation we ever had, the one from NYC last year when we went with Jonathan's parents....we saw the Rockettes, Wicked, ate at Carmines, went to Times Square, the Statue of Liberty...all while freezing our booties off.....by the way...that trip almost didn't happen due to a "perfectly timed" snow storm...please catch the sarcasm here... that delayed our flights for almost two days. I especially love the latest edition to our Christmas tree...Baby's first Christmas ornament for our little Emory Faye..... yes, every ornament has a story.... a story that reminds us of God's healing, of God's goodness and mercy upon us, a story that shouts of how the Lord is able to take broken, sinful lives, and mend them together with His grace. Every time I look at my Christmas tree I can't help but thank God for His love. It is a constant reminder to me that Jesus did come so that we could indeed have a more abundant life. It is also a constant reminder for  me to put away selfishness and follow God wholeheartedly.

* I love watching Emory grow and discover something new every day. I am so honored to be her mother. She has started to roll over this week...PRECIOUS!! I love watching her reach for toys or my cell phone. I love how intently she studies everything. I LOVE all of her baby noises!!! I guess I just never imagined that I would experience this much Joy in my lifetime her on Earth. Family is truly a little piece of Heaven. Thank you Lord for every day that I get to spend with them.

*I am hopelessly in love with my husband.....Oh my goodness.....how in the world did I get so so blessed? He is WONDERFUL! There are just too many ways to count how wonderful He is. He shows me every single day a way that God loves me. He is so patient with me, so gentle, so loving, so very serving. I am so blessed to have such a handsome and amazing "other half"

*Our community group.....another way that I am blessed beyond words....Each week I look forward to the laughter that we share. I look forward to hearing about how their weeks have been and how we can lift one another up or minister to others.  They are an awesome group! I am looking forward to the next time we meet....they are the bomb!!!

*My Mama......where do I strart? It's my mom. My mom and I have DEFINITELY had our ups and downs...by no means do we have a perfect relationship, but over the past year I have just come to appreciate her so much. There is no doubt in my mind that she LOVES her children and grandchildren...so much that she is super sensitive about it...if she has a passion in life....family is it. She will drop anything and every thing to help one of us, she is always willing to answer the phone...no matter what time of the night it is. I just love my mama....there is no one like her

more things I love to come.......gotta run go take care of my sweet girl!