Merry Christmas

I can't think of a better way to start our Christmas weekend.

As Noah and I snuggled on the couch this morning to watch this video,

Noah kept signing something to me that I couldn't understand at first.

Then it hit me.

He was signing "Jesus" every time he saw the baby.

There is nothing that blesses my heart more.

Truly it is all about Jesus.

Hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas!

Reason We Celebrate

Oh I just love all of my lovely Christmas decor.
Isn't it pretty?

But what I most look forward to bringing out
every Christmas is my Nativity set.
Let me show you a bigger picture of it
so you can see it up close.



Isn't it beautiful?
So often we forget the true meaning of Christmas.



The reason we celebrate is

Thank you God

Thank you for these three boys.

Thank you for being faithful & true.

You made the Heavens, the earth,
the trees, the flowers, & the birds.

You made me, my family, my friends.
You made everyone important to me.
Thank you God.

You are my provider.
You give me freedom & peace.
You give me a hiding place.
You give me a rock to stand on.
You give me life.
Thank you God.

You are my deliverer.
My strength when I am weak.
My refuge when I am afraid.
You are my joy when I am sad.
You are my hope when all is lost.
My light amidst the darkness.
Thank you God.

I worship you my God.
I raise my hands to you my King.
I shout to you my Lord.
I cry to you my Savior.
I praise you my Creator.
I sing to you Almighty.

Because of who you are,
I give you you thanks.

Update on the Hubby

This post will be short tonight, because well, Noah had another rough day of teething and this momma is tired. No, I would say I'm in a pure state of exhaustion.

I've been meaning to share with you some exciting news about Josh. He is now the Associate Pastor for New Life Deaf Fellowship, and I couldn't be more proud of him. {Actually, he's been working as Associate Pastor for a little over a month now, so I'm a little behind on giving everyone the news.} Before he accepted the position, we prayed about it together, and both felt God opened up this ministry opportunity for us. We are excited as a family to be a part of New Life Deaf Fellowship, and are ready to serve the Lord however he leads. We have also felt such a warm welcome from all the members of NLDF, and we are very thankful to all of them for making us feel a part of the family.

Noah and I are very proud of you! You are a wonderful husband, father, & provider. We are so thankful for you and love you!

My bed is calling my name. Night!

I Love the Moments

I love...

... the moments when just my presence in Noah's room with a hug around his little body calms his fears when he is crying at night.

... the moments when Noah crawls to me wanting to sit in my lap and we snuggle together for as long as he will let me.

... the moments when Noah comes crawling as fast as he can when he hears me put Einstein's leash on so he can go outside with us.

... the moments when the wind blows in Noah's face and he starts laughing with a huge smile across his face.

... the moments when he crawls in Einstein's (filthy) bed without hesitation to wake Einstein up.

... the moments when he stuffs too many apples or prunes in his mouth because he loves the way they taste, and he looks like a little chipmunk.

... the moments when he pretends to be gagging just to get our attention (he knows it will work every time!)

... the moments when I arrive home after being gone for a while and Noah crawls over to me as fast as he can to meet me.

... the moments when I'm reading to him from his story Bible before bedtime, even though he loses interest as I hold the book in the air as I read to prevent him from tearing out the pages.

... the moments when he puts up a fight to prevent me from brushing his teeth or changing his diaper.

... the moments when I tell him to say, "Mama" and he proceeds to say "Dada" instead.

... the moments when he tries to put his finger in Einstein's nostrils out of curiosity.

... the moments when we put Noah down for a nap and he lies there and talks to himself for 30-45 minutes before he actually falls asleep.

... the moments when he throws every single toy he has out of the bathtub just so he can watch them drop to the ground.

... the moments when I go in his room and find his bottle on the ground after he chunked it over his crib when he was finished with it.

... the moments when he discovers new places to hide such as the dryer or the kitchen cabinets.

... the moments when I go to pick him up after my women's Bible study and I find him conked out in a swing.

... the moments when he thinks it is so funny to push Josh's face away when Josh gets real close to him. That's their little game they play. It's so funny.

... the moments when I lay him down for a nap and he doesn't protest. He just grabs his blankie and lies there calmly until he falls asleep.

... the moments when I look over at Noah while I'm feeding Josh something and Noah has his mouth open like a little birdie wanting to taste whatever Daddy is eating.

... the moments when I am sleeping and Josh brings Noah in to wake me up; Noah is always so excited to wake me up.

... the moments when I tell him to give Mommy a kiss, and he just smiles and leans forward a little bit to let me kiss his sweet face.

... the moments when Noah stuffs down Daddy's "unhealthy" breakfasts like he hasn't eaten for weeks.

... the moments when he throws the ball for Einstein to go catch it.

... the moments when Noah stares at one of us when we are eating (including Einstein) and he starts making a chewing/smacking noise with his mouth.

I don't think I could even come close to listing out all the moments I love about Noah. I can't imagine our lives without him. He brings so much joy, excitement, laughter into our lives, and I praise God for the precious child He has entrusted us with. We are truly blessed.

A Heart of Praise

Psalm 100:4 says, "Enter His gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name."

I could not think of a better scripture to express the praise and gratitude I have for our Lord. This past week and especially this evening my heart has been filled with thanksgiving for the blessings and answered prayers God has poured out on us. I wanted to share my thankful heart with you tonight.

Fall has arrived in Fort Worth! Yay! I have never appreciated the coolness of the Fall weather until we moved here. The past couple of weeks it has rained and rained and rained, and oh how wonderful it is! I am praising God for the rain he has provided. Over the past two days we have even been able to turn our air conditioner off, open up all the windows, and enjoy the cool air. I thought we'd never be able to do that here. Ha. But I praise God and thank Him for the cool refreshing weather. It has been wonderful!

About a month ago, just after we celebrated Noah's birthday in Amarillo, Noah starting having issues with constipation. To make matters worse, the constipation led to Noah having a sore little bottom. Well, sore would not be the correct term to explain how much pain he was in. He was completely miserable. We decided to add more fiber, fruits, and vegetables to his diet hoping it would resolve the problem. It definitely helped; we noticed a big difference. But the constipation would get better over a couple days, and then would come back. It seems like it got worse and worse every time. We decreased his milk intake, but that didn't help. So we decided to switch to soy milk, hoping it would be easier for him to digest. Nothing worked; Noah was still constipated and miserable. The skin on his bottom began to break down even to the point of bleeding. How frustrated and heart broken we were for Noah. Honestly, I started to worry thinking there might be a underlying problem. I started looking on the Internet to see what else we could do to help Noah. We were getting to the point where we felt Noah should go see a doctor. It was that serious. But during all of this, God our Healer was right there.

One evening while I was cooking dinner Josh came in the kitchen and said he felt like we should lay hands on Noah and pray over him for healing. He said that we had done everything but spend serious time in prayer asking God for healing, and that was the first thing we should have done.

So later in the evening while Noah was sleeping, we quietly went into his room and laid our hands on him pouring our hearts out to God asking Him for healing for our child.

Psalm 30:2 says, "O Lord my God, I cried to You and You have healed me."

That is exactly what God did for Noah. He healed him completely. I cannot even tell you the relief and joy it brings to see my child free of pain. And I cannot thank and praise God enough for hearing our prayers and answering them. Since the night we laid our hands on Noah and prayed for him, Noah has not had one day of constipation, and his sweet little bottom is completely back to normal! I know some of you were praying for Noah as well, and I thank you.

Lastly, I am so thankful for God's provision. He has taken care of our every need, and continues to do so daily. We have been through a few rough patches since we moved here, but God has taken care of us. Josh told me the other day his work is having to cut back everyone's hours, so when he signed up for hours he was not sure exactly what he would get. But despite the company's cut in hours, God has provided more than enough for us. I am so thankful and my heart is full of praise for God's care and provision for us.

"Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts" -- 1 Chronicles 16:9

Hope you are having a great evening, and I hope you are reading this post meaning our blog issues are resolved!

Noah is...

Oh how I've neglected our blog this week, and I seriously haven't meant to. This week has zipped right on by, and it's hard to believe I haven't sat down any this week to write. I told Josh tonight while we were eating dinner that if I didn't sit down and get busy we'd have two grandmas on the war path. So I'm back!

My goodness. Where do I start? There has been so much going on around here lately, and I have so many new updates on Noah. This post is going to be pretty random, so in no particular order, here we go:

Noah is...

...talking. He has definitely become more vocal lately. I love to hear Noah talk, and often we have some very interesting conversations throughout the day. Some of Noah's favorite words to say right now are "Mama," "Dada," "Uh-oh," and "Oh." He is starting to identify me as "Mama" and Josh as "Dada." The other day, Josh was about to leave the house to run an errand, and as he was walking to the door Noah crawled after him saying, "Dada." It was the sweetest thing ever! When we are driving in the car together I always have Christian music playing, and lately the sweetest voice I've ever heard has been singing along to the music. What a blessing, even at such a young age, to hear your child singing praises to God with his sweet little voice!

...singing the ABCs. Well, he's not really singing the ABCs, but he smiles and laughs every time the song comes on. It's his favorite song these days; he loves it! The other day he lifted his hands in the air when he heard it. We are going to have to work on that because we're a Baptist family, you know.

...a Momma's Boy. But occasionally he will let Daddy hold him without crying.

...starting to stand on his own. He is starting to gain confidence in standing without support, and a couple of times has taken a few steps towards me. It was so funny today because he was trying to balance himself, but he looked like a sumo wrestler in the way he was standing. I'm thinking it might not be too long before he is walking all over the place.

...growing curly q's. I can't believe how much Noah's hair has grown. It is so funny to look back at old pictures of him when he was a baldy. Now we have so much hair we don't know what to do with it! No really, his little curly q's are so cute! We have been going back and forth on whether we should get his hair cut or not. We have decided to wait on the hair cut, and when it gets to a certain point where it becomes unmanageable (like Josh's hair) we will go get his first hair cut.

...locked out. Of the cabinets, that is. Josh graciously took 5 hours out of his day to baby-proof 3 of Noah's favorite cabinets. Those cabinets just so happen to contain all of our cleaning supplies and Einstein's food and treats. So now that Noah's favorites are no longer accessible, he figured out something even better. Watch.



...eating like a grown man. I am not kidding. Noah can eat and eat and eat. So far he has done really well eating what we place in front of him, but I hear everything changes around 18 months. Noah's faaaaaaavorite food is graham crackers. Papa (Darrell) is quite a fan of graham crackers himself, and he has apparently passed that gene to Noah. Noah loves loves loves graham crackers. One weekend when Papa was here, he was eating some graham crackers, and Noah crawled over to him and stood there in front of him wanting to taste what he had. So Papa broke off a piece and gave it to him. (Of course, it wasn't long before both Noah and Einstein were sitting in front of Papa, staring him down for pieces of graham crackers) That day Noah discovered his favorite food. I'm not kidding when I say Noah could eat graham crackers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Oh, and of course at snack time too.

...is not a fan of juice. To our surprise, Noah prefers water over juice. We have tried both apple juice and orange juice, but Noah just takes one or two sips, and then he's done. He pushes it away making it very obvious he does not want any more. I guess that's a good thing that he likes water, right?

...back on the wagon. We have not been successful with weaning Noah from the bottle. I just don't know how we are going to do it. Noah never took a pacifier (thank the Lord), but I realized the other night the bottle is kind of like his pacifier. It is the only thing that will settle him down when he is crying. So we are back to square one.

...wearing a size 5. In diapers. More food means more, well, you know. I can't believe he is already in size 5 diapers! (I change a lot of diapers at work, as you can imagine, and it's hard to believe Noah's little hiney use to be in those newborn diapers!)

...getting to be a big boy. Is it really true my little baby is laying on the couch all by himself?

...going to Wee Care. Recently, I have started a Women's Bible study on Thursday mornings at Christ Chapel Bible Church. The Bible study I've joined is called, "Shout to the Lord." We are studying and focusing on specific Psalms throughout the week, and then meeting together in small groups and corporately to study God's word. What a blessing it has been; I've grown so much already. God knew exactly what I needed. And God knows exactly what Noah needs too. I was so excited to find out there was a program for Noah on Thursday mornings too. Noah has been going to "Wee Care" which is Christ Chapel's nursery. They provide a fun place for the children to stay while the mother's are in Bible study, but the most exciting part of it is their mission which is to "come along side the family in reaching kids with the gospel of Christ and growing them up as Christ followers." The first week was kinda scary for Noah because of the unfamiliarity of it, but he is starting to adjust to the new environment and people around him. I'm sure the more we go, the more he will feel comfortable there. I'm so thankful to God and I praise Him for what He has done for us.

Before I go, have you ever heard of Playgrounder.com? Josh found this website not long ago, and it has the coolest stuff for kids. If you haven't seen it, check it out!

Have a wonderful evening!

On the Wagon

I have to admit I had a really hard time coming back to Fort Worth. Well, we all did. We love our home, but being in Amarillo for a couple days for Noah's party really affected us more than we thought it would. It almost felt like we were home, and that we had only been on a 3 month vacation. But Sunday came along, and we had to get in the car and go back to Fort Worth. I think I told Josh a hundred times on Sunday, "I don't want to leave Amarillo; I miss living here." It was hard leaving, but now that we are settled back in we feel at home here in Fort Worth again. Both Josh and I know God has us here for a specific purpose, and we are excited to see His work in our lives here.

We had a great time in Amarillo! It was so so nice to be back, and to spend time with our family and friends. And Noah's party was so much fun! I will go into more detail later. Thank you everyone who came to help us celebrate Noah turning one!

The "Weekend in Amarillo" post will probably be a long one, so I am going to save that for another night because tonight Josh is home with me! Yay! So instead of sitting here on the computer, I would rather be snuggled up next to him on the couch.

What a sweet husband I have! Listen to this:

He went to Walmart to buy groceries, cooked dinner, and even got us a movie to watch together. And to make this evening even better all of us sat down together as a family and had a rare dinner at the table. Sometimes it feels like we don't ever get to sit down together at the dinner table because our schedules are completely opposite. And most of the time, if we do actually have a night to eat together, Noah has already eaten or gone to bed. It sure helps that Noah can eat table foods and is now beginning to feed himself. It was wonderful to sit down and share that intimate family time.

---------

So guess who's on the wagon? Or is it off the wagon? Either way, tonight we began the bottle weaning process with Noah. Fun. We have been putting it off for a while now but decided it was time to start. Noah loves the bottle. He took to the bottle like a champ when I stopped nursing him at about five months. Tonight Noah did not have his bottle to go night-night with, and well, you could say he was not very happy about it. I had to listen to my poor little baby cry himself to sleep. Breaking a routine we have been doing for seven months is not going to be an easy task, I'm afraid.

Here is a picture of Noah drinking his milk from a sippy cup before we put him in bed. He kept pulling the cup out of his mouth like, "This is not my bottle." We have been dreading this night, and poor Noah had no idea that he should have been dreading this night too. Look at that sweet smile behind the sippy cup. {Insert sad mommy face here}

I think the first night of weaning was successful. It was hard for me to listen to Noah cry in his room, but he really did fall asleep within 15 minutes of laying him down. Hopefully we will have him weaned from the bottle in no time!

Well I better go! It's movie time!

Goodnight!

P.S. Here's a sneak peak of the next post. I'm sooo excited about it!

Happy Birthday My Sweet Baby

One year ago today, my precious Noah came into the world. I can't recall what I did during the day of August 27th, 2008, but I vividly remember that evening. It was a Wednesday, so Josh was at the church finishing things up for Bible study that night. It was my first pregnancy, and I didn't know what it would feel like if my water broke, so I hoped it would be very obvious. I remember calling Josh around six that night saying, "Josh I seriously think my water broke." I didn't know for sure, but I just had a feeling.

Josh's response was, "Well if you think it broke, why don't you call the doctor." I don't think he actually believed me. Haha. Anyway, Josh told me he would be home shortly.

Meanwhile, I called the doctor's office and talked to Dr. Freeman, the doctor on call, and I told him I was pretty sure my water broke. He asked me a few questions, and then he told me to go to the hospital to get checked out. I will never forget that moment. My heart started pounding in my chest. "Could this really be it?"

At that point, Josh arrived home, and I told him we were going to the hospital. I jumped in the shower, because I knew if this was really it, I wouldn't get a good shower for a while. I knew I'd be having a c-section, because Mr. Noah decided he was comfortable in the breech position. I always had his little head poking up at the top of my big, round tummy.

So, we got our stuff together, and Josh patiently walked with me as I waddled to the car. We were so excited as we drove to the hospital, because we knew that we would be meeting our precious gift from God that evening. But I remember my heart was still pounding in my chest. I was going to be a mommy. Was I ready? What if I didn't know how to be a mommy?

We arrived at the hospital, and sure enough we found out my water had broke. Noah was ready to come! And we were ready to meet him! Within a couple of hours, I was being wheeled into the c-section room, and at 8:59 pm, I heard Noah cry for the first time. I can't begin to express the emotion I felt hearing his sweet cry. Our little Noah was here and just by hearing him cry I already felt a connection to him. Tears were streaming down my face; it was one of the greatest moments in my life.

I waited for what seemed like a very long time to meet him and kiss his sweet face. Kim Clark, one of my co-workers and Noah's nurse, brought him over to me, and and I met my sweet little one for the very first time. Oh, what an amazing privilege it is to hold the child God has created within you.

Today Noah turns one. It seems like just the other day we were in the hospital room holding our tiny little baby. How does a year go by so fast?

It may have gone fast, but it has been the best year of my life. God has poured out his abundant blessings in our lives, but the greatest blessing of all is Noah.

I made this slide show the other night to show our first year with Noah. When I heard this song, I couldn't hold back tears. There is nothing more I want for Noah's life than for him to know Jesus as his Lord and Savior. This is my prayer for Noah.



Happy Birthday Noah Bear! Daddy, Mommy, and Einstein love you so much!

Missing in Action

I have very much missed my blog the past couple of days. Whoa. Actually I think it has been more like a week. And you are probably wondering what the heck I have been doing all this time. Well I've been at the Texas Baptist Deaf Youth Camp all week as camp nurse. And yes I did leave Noah for five whole days! I can't even begin to explain how much I missed my baby. Especially when I called to see how Noah was doing and I would hear his voice in the background, or I would talk to him and then hear his precious voice saying, "mama." You can imagine I got very emotional. But knowing he was in good hands with my Mom and Dad made it just a little easier being away. Thank you SO much Mimi and Granddad for taking care of Noah all week; we really appreciate it and know Noah loved being with you!

As much as I (and Josh too) missed Noah, we really had a great week at camp. The theme for the week was "Live out Loud" with the focus of being set a part for God and wholeheartedly living for Him. God was definitely at work in my heart this week and I left with convictions and a renewed passion for Him. I want to know Him deeper. I desire to be a godly woman, wife, and mother and I pray God will continue to mold me to become more like Him. I am so thankful for this past week at camp.

But, I sure am happy to be home, and I have loved every minute being with Noah today. I missed every little thing about him while I was away. And it was so hard for me to lay him down for naps today and bed tonight because I missed him so much all week and I have to go back to work the next two days. When I saw him today it looked like he had grown in just a couple of days. It's amazing how fast little ones make changes so quickly. Speaking of growing, Noah will be a year in 16 days. I think I just shed a tear. A year has come and gone so quickly. It feels like just the other day when I was holding a 7 lb 14 oz Noah in my arms. Sometimes it's hard to believe he was ever that small. What a joy and blessing he is in our lives this past year. I can't imagine our lives without him.

Noah a couple days old

Noah almost One!

I am anxious to share Noah's most recent pictures with you! I have a few already, but they are hidden away until his invitations to his party are sent out. They are the cutest things I've ever seen.

Have a fabulous day!

You've Got a Friend in Me!

What?! No post in the past three days. What have I been doing!? Well, actually, I've been working, so I guess I have a good excuse for not keeping up lately. After a long day at work I'm practically useless. All I want to do when I come home from work is kiss Noah's sweet face, shower, slip into my pj's and eat some dinner that my wonderful husband has cooked for me. I honestly haven't forgotten to blog; I'd never do that! But after a loooooong day at work, my creative blog writing just doesn't happen. It's not like I don't try though. I'll sit down, write a couple sentences that don't make sense, and end up deleting every word I wrote. Then I'll realize I just wasted thirty minutes that I could have been sleeping. So that's why you have opened up our blog the past three days with nothing new to read.

Anyway, work has been more than I could ever have imagined. I thank God every morning I go into work for the job He has provided. Not only is it a job, but it's the exact thing that I love doing. And that sure makes it easy to work when you love what you do, right? I have never gone through an orientation as smooth as this one has gone. I have learned so much in the five days I have worked, and I am starting to feel at home there. One thing about North Hills is everyone is SO kind. Even the doctors are friendly! Ha. Every time I go into work, God makes it clear to me North Hills is exactly where he wants me to be. It's been wonderful, and I thank you for your thoughts and prayers for us as we have gone through many changes the past couple of months.

Before I say goodnight, I have the sweetest little video to show you. The other day Noah and Einstein were playing in the living room together, and it was seriously one of the cutest things ever. The yellow tennis ball in the video is one of many scattered throughout the house. Einstein has quite a collection of tennis balls, so there is always one to play with. Often Noah will grab one to play with, and Einstein will excitedly waddle over to play with him. When I watch the two of them interact, I can't help but smile. They are precious! Make sure you turn the volume up for this one.



Hope you are having a great week!

Back to the Grind

Blog-Nazi? Are you beginning to see the trend? Ha. And for the record I did not give Josh a three-day deadline to post about his Father's Day. I asked him kindly if he would write a blog, and he willingly agreed to it. One day passed, no post. A second and third day went on by, still no post. It's not that he didn't want to sit down and write, but if you know my husband at all you know he is a procrastinator! A hORRible procrastinator. So a Blog-Nazi? Well by the end of the week I probably was. The whole week passed by without a single blog post. Unacceptable! Anyway, I thought you needed my side of the story.

Today was my first day of Orientation for my new job at North Hills for newborn nursery, and I am plum worn out. For the past month I have been a stay at home mommy with Noah; taking care of him and the household is certainly a lot of work, but I totally forgot how exhausting work is at the hospital. Hopefully it won't take me long before I get back into the routine of things, but whoa, I'm tired today.

This job is such a blessing from God. I have heard and continue to hear how so many hospitals are not hiring, but God provided me a job. The director who hired me told me she had an employee who had just had a baby, and she was not able to come back because of certain reasons unknown to me. But isn't it neat how God opened up this opportunity for me? I am so excited and believe God has a specific plan for me here. Let me explain a little to you about how perfect this job is.

I will be working PRN, which means I basically set my schedule when I can work (in medical lingo, PRN means "as needed"). It was important for me to find something flexible so I could work around both Josh's work and school schedules. I only have to work two days out of a four week schedule, but can grab pretty much anything available. I plan to work about one to two days a week and be home with Noah the rest of the time, but what a relief to know I am not bound to anything more than two days a month. In addition to that, I don't have to work weekends, and the best part: NO holidays! It's a pretty big deal to be employed at the hospital and not have to work holidays. Sounds pretty good, huh?

I will be working with newborn infants, as well as infants who need antibiotics, oxygen, and other areas of care that can be managed at North Hills without having to send the baby off to another hospital with a full Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. I love working with healthy newborns, but I am so excited to be able to care for the infants who need a little help getting to a complete state of wellness. I am also going to be trained to do post-partum nursing, so if they need help in that area I can also help out there. Most of you know my heart is with the babies, but I look at this as a great opportunity to grow and learn and become an even better nurse.

As much as I dread the long days of Orientation and learning the ins and outs of a new hospital, I left with a much clearer picture of what North Hills Hospital is all about. There are so many hospitals that are just a building with no heart. Today it was completely evident to me that North Hills is not one of those types of hospitals. North Hills is about serving and caring, and that is the type of hospital I want to be a part of. God knew exactly this when he provided this job for me. I am so thankful!

You know I can't leave you without a picture. Noah will probably kill me someday when he sees this, but it's just too funny not to post. Of course, as soon as I put the sunglasses on him, he pulled them right off. Do babies actually keep sunglasses on?

The (waaaayy overdue) Father's Day Post

Occasionally, Libby will give me assignments and deadlines for blog posts, and when Father's Day rolled around this year, I was given a 3-day deadline to post about it. Those 3 days came and went with no Father's Day post, and, surprisingly, no bodily harm to myself. However, I dare not test the Blog-Nazi's patience too long, lest I provoke her to wrath.

So, here it is: The Father's Day Post.

This year was my first Father's Day, and I took the time to think back on how being a father has changed me. I've changed most in my understanding of God. Now that I'm a dad, I cherish the intimacy of the word "Da-da" in Galatians 4:6. I can understand the joy in Zephaniah 3:17. I can fully appreciate the sacrifice in John 3:16. Thank you Lord for the opportunity to be a father.

You may recall Libby's Mother's Day gift from her 3 boys. Well, when I woke up on Sunday morning, I had a pleasant surprise awaiting me on our computer:



I was speechless. In a good way. Making videos is my thing; never in my wildest dreams did I expect Lib to make me a slideshow (with music!) for Father's Day. Turns out, she'd secretly been peeking over my shoulder as I made various videos, and she figured out Adobe Premiere all by herself. What an awesome video. I am still so impressed.

Wait, that's not all! I also got one of these:

A shower head! To call the original shower heads in our apartment "low-flow" is a compliment. I literally haven't taken a shower with such low water pressure since I was in the staff shower at a Ukranian youth camp. In both cases, it was necessary to jump around to get wet.

But it's amazing how much a shower head can make a difference. We had replaced Libby's shower head the week before but decided to wait on replacing mine. So, imagine the rush of joy I felt as I installed my new shower head. I couldn't dream of two Father's Day gifts better than the two that I got.

Where, do you ask, did Libby get the shower head? I'm not sure, but I imagine a scene similar to the one below.



You never know.

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of Noah and me on Father's Day.

I had an awesome Father's Day. Thank you Libby, Noah, and Einstein for everything. It's a privilege to be the Dad in our family.

It is Hard to Believe...

... Noah is 10 months old today!

Is it possible that 10 months can come and go so fast and that in two short months he will be a year old? No way!

Sometimes I look at him and think, "How did you get so big?"

I look back at this picture of Noah when I was 8 weeks pregnant,

and I can't help but think of the following words:

"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be." - Psalm 139:13-16

Do those words not leave you in awe of God? They do me.

God knew my precious Noah before he formed his little body. He loved Noah before we even knew him and loves him now more than we can even comprehend. Sometimes I think, "how could God love Noah more than ME??" But He does.

Honestly, sometimes it's a struggle for me to completely place Noah in God's care. I worry about this and that and often think, "what if??" But when I take the time to reflect on the scripture above, I am reassured and am reminded that God is in control. He loves us, He created us, He sent Jesus to die for us, so why would He not protect us?

Thank you God for creating my little man. Thank you that I can trust in you and have peace knowing Noah is in good hands with you.



P.S. Thank you faithful blog readers for all of your sweet comments! I loved reading them. For those of you who are still in hiding, come on out! Don't be shy.

Goodnight!

I Still Can't Believe...

... I am 26 today!

For some reason 26 hit me a little harder this year. I guess it's just that I'm that much closer to 30. Oh well.

Despite the mourning over turning 26, I had the best birthday! I got to spend the day with my three favorite boys: Josh, Noah, and Einstein!

We originally planned on a trip to the Fort Worth Zoo today. I know. Why would a 26 year old want to go to the zoo for her birthday? Well I can't give you a good explanation why, but I thought it would be a fun family activity. Josh thought it would be fun too, but he still gave me a hard time about it. Imagine that.

We decided it would be better to get up early and go so we wouldn't leave the zoo completely wet from the humidity later in the afternoon. The weather is something we are still trying to get used to, and I think it is gonna take us a while. I thought the weather would affect me more, but it's funny because Josh is the one always complaining about it. Anyway, to make a long story short, we ended up sleeping in a little too late. Oops. So we decided we would go either this weekend or first of next week.

So, my birthday was filled with swimming, mexican food, and a little bit of shopping! Both Josh and Noah were good sports and let me drag them around the mall. We all had so much fun together. It doesn't matter what we are doing. We could have done absolutely nothing today and I would have been perfectly content. All I wanted for my birthday was to have my family together, and that's what I got! Here is a picture of me and Noah at dinner:

Oh and by the way... I got the job in the Newborn Nursery at North Hills Hospital!!! I couldn't be more excited. I called to tell my grandmother, Gigi, about the job and she said to me, "it is God's birthday present to you." I couldn't agree more! God provided, and I am so thankful for this opportunity to grow. What a blessing to see God at work in our lives here. Thank you so much for your prayers and for being my faithful blog readers!

Before I go I have some exciting news to share with you. My younger sister, Abby, is getting married! I still can't believe it! It seems like just the other day I got married, and now it's Abby's turn. We have a lot of fun wedding planning ahead! Congratulations Ab! Love you!

I guess tonight I resumed my title as the "Blog Hog!"

Sneak Peak

Is it Wednesday already!? I am still trying to grasp the reality that we are moving this Sunday. And I also can't believe I actually scheduled myself to work this Thursday and Friday! What was I thinking? That just means the rest of the packing is in Josh's hands. Oh great! No, really everything is coming together and we are basically finished.

This week has been kind of sad because it is our last week in Amarillo. Amarillo has always been home. But it is also exciting because we are about to build a new life in Fort Worth. I believe our move to Fort Worth will be a good thing. We will only grow stronger. And I know God will be with us through it all. Lots of exciting times ahead!

So Monday was Memorial Day, and, like I said before, we didn't have much going on. It was really nice though because we were together as a family. Neither one of us had to work, which doesn't happen very often these days. We did however meet Chriselda later in the day and had our family pictures taken with her. We love hanging around with her. If you haven't met Chriselda, you need to. She is such a sweet, outgoing, loving individual, and what a great friend she has become to our family. She has been a part of our lives since Noah was two weeks old. We are so thankful for her, and she will be missed.

Anyway, Chriselda was nice enough to send us a sneak peak of our family session. We love this picture, and it was actually an accident. Isn't it funny how that happens. We were all just playing around, and Chriselda caught it at the right moment.

We are anxious to see the rest, but until then we will just enjoy this one! Hope you are having a great day!

I'm a Mommy!

Finally I am posting the pictures from Mother's Day! What a special day it was for me! That morning I thought to myself, "I am a mommy now!" It's not like I haven't realized that over the past eight months, but it really hit me that morning. I had a whole new perspective on Mother's Day. God has given ME the awesome privilege of being Noah's mother. What a blessing!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend! We don't really have a lot planned except for packing and getting things finished up around here.

Sounds fun, huh?

Before I say goodnight, I want to wish Darrell "Papa" a Happy Birthday! Hope you had a wonderful, relaxing day! We love you!

Catching Up!

Oh my goodness! It has been so busy around our house, especially this past month. Last week I was beyond stressed out. I looked around and all I could see was stuff EVERYWHERE! And I'm sure Noah being sick contributed a little to my stress. Poor baby. He was sick literally all week and I could tell he was just miserable. Today was Noah's last day to take his antibiotic, and I'm so glad he is starting to feel better. By the way, Noah weighed almost 22 lbs when we went to the doctor last week. Such a big boy! Here are a few pictures of the sweet little guy. Isn't his smile contagious!?






Packing is coming along, and has actually gone smoothly. Our house is looking so empty: full of boxes and nothing on the walls.




It kinda makes me sad to see it this way because this was Noah's first home. But, the more I accomplish around here and the closer we get to moving (9 days!), I get very excited about the new adventure we are about to take. Will you please continue to keep us in your prayers as we finish up everything around here.

Before I go, I have wanted to share with you for quite some time about Baby Dedication Sunday our church had on May 3rd. It was a very special Sunday. Before God and our church family, we dedicated Noah to the Lord. Both Josh and I committed ourselves to teach Noah about Jesus, to teach him the Word, and to bring him up in a godly home where he is loved and protected. Noah has been such a blessing in our lives, and as parents, God has given us a great responsibility to teach Noah the truth and to be godly examples in his life, and we pray for God's leading as we do so. Here is a picture of us on Baby Dedication Sunday.



I have a lot of catching up to do, so keep a look out! Have a great night!

The Church Showing Us Some Love

This past weekend at church we had our annual Bible Conference; what a blessing the weekend was, and it's so neat to see God at work in so many lives. Along with all the activities this weekend, our church family held a going away reception for us. The amount of support we have received from our church family has completely blown me away. We had so many friends and family, young and old, show up to show their love and support for us. God has blessed us so much through our church family, and we will greatly miss them when we move to Fort Worth in June. Here is a slideshow of all the pictures!

Happy Easter!

Hey! I just wanted to write a quick post and wish everyone a Happy Easter.

Libby and I were talking this evening about the importance of Easter. I know what you're thinking, it's obvious that Easter is important. But it's actually not that obvious anymore. Don't believe me? This is what comes up when you search for 'Easter' on Google Images.

Don't get me wrong. I love Peeps. And I'm addicted to Cadbury Creme Eggs. But something is majorly wrong when they take precedence over Jesus. Our faith, our life, and our hope all depend on Jesus walking out of the tomb on Sunday morning 2,000 years ago. Forgive us, Lord for forgetting that.

Here's a video I made for church with a song about the importance of the resurrection. I hope the song speaks to you like it did to me.



Again, Happy Easter!

-Josh