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's 1st Birthday!

Putting together Noah's 1st birthday party could not have been more fun. I can admit I had my moments of stress over it, but who doesn't when they are planning a party? One day Josh and I were talking about how in just three months our little guy would be turning one, so we decided we should start planning his party. We are usually huge procrastinators, so planning three months in advance was a big step for us. Ha. Then again, we ended up not getting the invitations out until a week before the party, so I guess I shouldn't be bragging too much. Hey, we tried!

We tossed around several ideas and themes for his party, but we finally decided on a monkey theme. I'm a sucker for monkeys, so I had to curb my spending for the party. There are just so many cute monkey party supplies, darn it!

So we started with the invites. I am oh so lucky to have a husband who is incredibly talented with computer design. I am not lying when I say he can create anything I ask him to make. If we find an idea that we like, he can usually make an exact copy of it or make a design that is even better than what we found. See for yourself:

Isn't it so cute! I was so happy with the way they turned out. After he finished designing the invites we printed them off at a local print shop, and then realized finding a custom made 61/2 X 61/2 inch envelope was almost impossible. In fact, it was a nightmare trying to find an envelope big enough for our invitations. But I won't go into detail about that, because who cares? It was just one of those *little* party planning stresses.

Josh also created the design for Noah's birthday t-shirt, and we made it together (another one of our projects to save money). We were really happy with the way it turned out.

Anyway, after Josh finished the invites and the design for the t-shirt, I started looking for a cake idea for Noah. I looked around for ideas online, and came across these pictures and knew I had to have it!

I sent out a few emails to local bakeries here as well as an email to the Cake Company in Canyon. We ended up choosing the Cake Company because they designed my wedding cake, and we knew from experience it would be quite tasty! I emailed them a few pictures of the design, and they got it right on! It was perfect! It turned out exactly how I hoped it would.

Of course while I was looking for ideas, I came across an item on Etsy that was absolutely, positively the cutest thing ever. And I couldn't pass it up. But I also couldn't justify spending almost $50 for it. This is what I found.

I fell in love with it when I saw it, but spending that much money for a bib is absolutely insane, no matter how cute it is. Luckily, my mother is so very talented, and I knew she could make this cute little bib in no time. The bib she made looked exactly like the picture above, except she added her own special touch to it. Thank you so much mom for taking on another one of my ideas! Here is the bib my mom made for Noah to wear at his party.

We had the party at Paramount Baptist Church in Amarillo, and we could not have imagined a better place to have Noah's 1st birthday. It's such a neat place to have a party because it has toys for the little ones to play with...

...but it also has an upstairs area with pool tables, ping pong tables, Wii's, Guitar Hero, etc. for the big kids!

Isn't this collage Chriselda made adorable? What a wonderful way to look back and remember Noah's party.

The morning of the party I was getting ready and about to leave when Noah woke up. I gave him a bottle, he laid back down, and to my surprise went back to sleep. I had to leave early to get everything ready, so Grammy brought Noah to the party around 9:30.

Poor baby. When I saw him I could tell he wasn't feeling well; I could just see it in his eyes. He hung in there though, and he managed to eat a few bites of cake and to help mommy and daddy open some of his presents. It's just not fair being sick on your birthday!

We all had so much fun, and we are so thankful for all of our family and friends who came to celebrate Noah's big day.

Chriselda took sooo many good pictures, so I made another slide show so you could see the rest of them. What a blessing to be able to look back at all of these pictures and remember Noah's 1st Birthday.

Amarillo by Morning

Literally.

We pulled out of the parking lot of our apartment at 1:3o am. I honestly think we were crazy for driving that late early. Noah used to love being in his car seat and travel in the car, but ever since he became mobile we are lucky if he is happy in his carseat for over an hour. So we no longer travel during the day, or at least we won't until Noah gets a little older and can entertain himself.

Josh got off work at midnight, he drove home, and we put everything in the car. The drive to Amarillo was not too bad; in fact, it actually went by really quick. At least the first four hours went by quick. The last two we were both really tired, but we kept each other awake.

We pulled in Papa and Grammy's driveway around 7:15 am, and we were so glad to be there. Thankfully, Papa and Grammy offered to watch Noah for us so we could sleep for while. Later that evening we all went to Kabuki (one of our favorite restaurants in Amarillo) to celebrate Noah's big day. It was so so so so so good. Before we went home we had to stop by Albertson's to get a few things for Noah's cake, and while we were there Papa bought Noah a football balloon. Noah loved it--he had a death grip on that thing, and it was hilarious.

You may cringe when you hear what kind of cake Noah ate for his birthday, but I'm not lying when I tell you it is the best cake ever. Grammy made Noah a mayonnaise cake, and he LOVED it! The mayonnaise cake is a Bonjour family tradition. Darrell's mother made it for him growing up, and then Gay Lynn made it for Josh, Joseph, and Quentin, so there would be no other cake worthy enough to put in front of Noah for his first birthday. And Josh informed me, I WILL be making it for our children too. Well of course!

And that night Noah drank whole milk for the very first time! The transition from Similac to whole milk has been easy. Noah loves his milk just like his daddy!



We all had such a wonderful time celebrating Noah's birthday! Later that evening Uncle Quentin and Uncle Joseph arrived after we had all gone to bed. We didn't think Quentin would be able to come for the weekend because he lives in Stamford, but Joseph went to pick him up and brought him to Amarillo. One of the last things Quentin said to me before we left was, "Don't forget to put me on the blog!" Haha. Here is a sweet picture of Noah and Quentin playing together.

The next morning we had an appointment to see Dr. Fletcher for Noah's one-year check up. At that visit Noah would be getting four shots, so I decided to call to see if we could change the visit to Thursday instead of Friday since Noah's birthday party was on Saturday. It wasn't possible to change it, so we went in crossing our fingers the shots wouldn't affect Noah's mood the rest of the weekend.

It was great seeing Dr. Fletcher again, and we were sad knowing it would be the last time Noah came to see him. He has been a great pediatrician, and we are so thankful for all the care he gave to Noah throughout his first year. Dr. Fletcher said he looked wonderful and was a good lookin' guy (I couldn't agree more)! Noah weighed 24 lbs and measured 29 inches long! What a big boy!

Before we left the office Noah had to get four shots, and I think these were the worst yet. After we got back to the house, Noah was ok for a few minutes, but then started bawling wanting Mama to hold him. It went on like that all day. Poor baby. We gave him Tylenol and Motrin throughout the day to help with the pain, and later in the evening he seemed like he was feeling better.

Granddad, Mimi, Megan, Nana, and Roger arrived in Amarillo around dinner time, so we met them at Abuelo's. It was so much fun being together, and it was so sweet of them to come all the way from Oklahoma City for Noah's birthday party. We ate some good ol' Mexican food, and then decided to go over to Nana and Roger's hotel room to hang out some more and open a few of Noah's birthday presents. The time we had together that evening was so special. It was like our own little party for Noah. It was so funny because Noah was so uninterested in opening any of his presents. He just wanted to crawl around the hotel room and occasionally would come over to see what he got. He really loved his sports toy Nana and Roger got for him, but I won't go into detail about that because Josh "reserved" it to blog about. Ha.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of our evening together. Again, thank you all for coming to Amarillo to see us and for Noah. We were so thankful for the time we got to spend with you!



Well I better stop for now. My new goal is to make it in bed by 11 pm every night. It has been so hard lately getting up early with Noah in the mornings, so I have decided I have to get myself in bed at a decent hour. Tomorrow I will post about Noah's Birthday Party! We had so much fun, and I am so anxious to tell you about it and to show you more pictures.

Have a wonderful night!

Our Little Monkey's 1st Birthday!

The lion may be the king of the jungle, but we all know the monkeys are the ones who have all the fun!

And that's the truth. We had so much fun at Noah's monkey themed party! We had so many of our family and friends there to help us celebrate his big day, and we are so thankful for your presence there. Our friend Chriselda came to the party and, thankfully, since she knew I would be busy running around she graciously offered to bring her camera along to snap a few shots of Noah.

Of course you know by now she got some amazing pictures, and we are so so thankful for the memories she captured for us. If you weren't there to celebrate with us, we missed you and hope you enjoy the pictures from the party!

Thank you Chriselda for the slideshow you created for us. We love it! Even Noah wanted to see what we were watching and crawled up in my lap to see it.



I plan to go into more detail about the party and the fun we had in Amarillo over the next couple of days, but as for today I just wanted to post this sweet little slideshow. Hope you are having a great day!

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.

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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!

Noah's One Year Photos!

What a lovely Saturday morning it is! It just can't get any better than spending the day with Noah and eating some cinnamon sugar toast for breakfast. I'm not sure if I've told you lately that cinnamon sugar toast has become an obsession of mine. Oh it's so good!

Josh is sleeping right now. Poor guy had to work last night and didn't get home until almost 4 am, so I'm letting him sleep in today. Not much planned for this Saturday around the Bonjour home. Just rest and relaxation. Ahhhh. I love those days.

Last night I made a slide show of Noah's one year session with Chriselda. Like I've said before, Chriselda is just a.m.a.z.i.n.g! I have a cd full of hundreds of images, so you can imagine how difficult it was picking out my favorites to fit in a song that is not even three minutes long.



What a sweetheart he is! I better go! I have a busy little boy around here.

I hope you are having a Saturday full of rest too!

I Have Some Catching Up to Do!

I am a night owl, so writing on the blog during the day does not happen very often. But today is a different story. I'm feeling a little guilty for my lack of blogs this month, so I thought since Noah is taking a little siesta I would sit down and write.

I can't believe in one week Noah will be the big O-N-E! The month of August has seriously just flown by. We are really looking forward to coming back to Amarillo next week to celebrate his birthday with all of our family and friends. Everything is pretty much ready, or at least it seems that way.

As many of you may know, Noah is very much like his daddy. I mean it really does amaze me how similar they are. However, Noah got some of my genes too. Josh always jokes and says Noah has my tendency to throw fits when he doesn't get what he wants, but he also loooovvvveeees spaghetti just like his momma does. It started out as his favorite baby food, and now it's definitely his favorite table food.

I have been so proud of Noah. He has really been doing great chewing his food and is getting so much better at bringing the food to his mouth after picking it up.

The other day Noah tasted watermelon for the first time and got to hold his very own piece.

It was funny because when he had eaten down to the rind I took it away from him to give him another piece. And, well, that was a mistake. He got so mad at me. I gave him another piece hoping it would calm him down, but oh no, he wanted HIS piece! I even cut another one to look like the one he had finished, but he wasn't having any of it. That boy knows what he wants!

Guess what else Noah has learned to do?

I can't believe it, but Noah is drinking from a straw! One day Josh had a drink from Sonic in his hand while he was holding Noah. All of a sudden we both look over and Noah is sipping coke from the straw like he had been doing it for months. It was so funny!

Now every time we go out to eat we don't have to worry about bringing his sippy cup because he is now drinking from a big boy cup! Yay Noah!

Hmm. What else do I have to share with you?

Oh yeah, how could I forget? Noah's favorite toy these days is any and every ball he can get his hands on. And you know Josh is so proud! He just knows Noah is going to become a basketball player some day.

Last night after we ate, we went to the mall to just look around. Of course being with two boys, we ended up in Dick's Sporting Goods. And we found ourselves in the corner of the store with all the balls: basketballs, footballs, soccerballs, pretty much any ball you could ever want. Well we found this little green bouncy ball and Noah was having the best time ever. Josh and Noah played "catch," but it was really Josh bouncing the ball to Noah, and then giving the ball to Noah to throw on the floor. Every time the ball bounced off of Noah's head, he just laughed and laughed. It was so so sweet! I actually managed to get a pretty good picture on my iPhone of Noah and his bouncy ball.

As much as we would have loved to buy that green little bouncy ball, we couldn't justify spending almost $10 for it! So today Josh came home with a ball from Walmart, and Noah loves it! He has been playing with it all morning. Isn't he just the sweetest little guy!?



Early this morning I caught the cutest thing on video. I was in the living room when I heard Noah bouncing something on the hardwood floors. I walked over to see what Noah was up to, and I found him as happy as can be playing with his little yellow ball.

Well I better go! I have to get my workout in before Josh goes to work tonight. Have a great rest of the day!

Wordless Night

Right now I'm sitting here drinking my Diet Dr. Pepper, searching the internet for ideas for Noah's party, and chatting on Gmail. I've had Blogger open for the past hour or so hoping I would suddenly have a spark of creativity, but I have nothing.

Actually, I do have something. Not many words, but I have a sneak peak of Noah's one-year photos. I had the hardest time picking out which pictures to show you tonight, because there are so so so many good ones. I don't know how Chriselda does it. Seriously, the day she came over to take Noah's pictures, he was not in the mood. As soon as she pulled out the big bulky black thing (also known as her camera) his head turned the other way, and it was like that pretty much all day. He was in a very serious mood that day, but the pictures she took of him are perfect in every way. She captured Noah. With that said, here are a few shots of our little man.

More to come! Goodnight.

Party Plannin'

Location reserved- check

Birthday cake and cupcakes ordered- check

Invitations made (but not sent out)- check
Address list started- check
(I guess I can check that one?)
2 adorable little containers bought for punch (only $2 for both!)- check

Noah's one-year birthday party is underway, but as I've gone through my checklist I've realized I still have a lot of unchecked to-do's that need to be taken care of. I initially started planning around two months ago, but despite my efforts to plan ahead, I'm panicking trying to get things ready for his party; it's only two weeks away! Eeek! But I just need to take a deep breath because it will all come together, and will be so much fun!

In all honesty, planning for Noah's party has gone very smoothly, and it has been a lot of fun. I just can't believe I'm planning a party for my baby! He can't be a one-year old yet! One of my friends commented on the last blog I posted saying, "You are right. They grow sooo fast, and the next thing you know he will be in kindergarten, Jr high, high school...THEN will graduate and be gone." I almost burst into tears when I read that. I'm a little emotional right now, can you tell?

Anyway, maybe a couple weeks ago I got a "First Birthday" pamphlet from Toys-R-Us and inside was a party planner check list. Um, it was a little excessive. Pinata? Seriously? It's a ONE year old's party for goodness sake. Balloons with helium tank? That's just funny. I don't know. Maybe some people go all out and get everything on the check list, but I got a good laugh out of some of the things on there.

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!