The New Self

I went to a Beth Moore simulcast last Saturday my church offered relating to her recent book, So Long Insecurity You've been a Bad Friend to Us. As I mentioned in my last post I started reading her book and I've been given such an awareness of not only my own issue with insecurity, but how this is dominating the culture of women and girls today. I've recently become passionate about changing this tread through my involvement with my Aunt's awesome organization Emmie's Hope. Now I feel like this topic is all around me. Taylor Swift who I love said, her favorite song was a TLC's from a while back Unpretty. As I watched the video I was reminded of the messages that society bombards us with, whether it be in the checkout line at the grocery store, in the people we see at the gym or even more sad sometimes from those that are close to us. We live in a culture where our security is wrapped up in the opinions of people who think our outside matters more than our inside. However, I am encouraged because the world may be saying lift this and cut this, but God is saying we are fearfully and wonderfully made. So regarding insecurity, when we feel the sense of getting our significance from how we are perceived by people we must not let this be our filter. We must remember that our security comes through Christ. The God of the universe who made every single person that we elevate to a place that allows them to make us feel a lack of worth, God created. His opinion matters far more than theirs. And He thinks we were so special that He sent His one and only Son to die for us. I can't image sacrificing my beloved boy for anyone. That is true love, a love we can rest and be secure in. At the simulcast we were encouraged in Ephesians 4 to put off the old self and put on the new self. When we start to feel an insecurity rearing it's ugly head we make a choice to know we are special not because of what we look like, how much money we have, where we live or how educated we are, etc. but because we are a child of God The Almighty. He loved us enough to create us because He knows with full dependence on Him we can do great things. I am encouraged because 300,000 women heard this message last Saturday and I know that God is going to do a great work in us as a nation. We will pave the way, so our little girls know they are fearfully and wonderfully made, because we are modeling this for them in our SECURITY IN CHRIST. Thankful that God blessed me with my little girl and I have an opportunity to pursue a life that shows the world we can be the exception.

Scrapbooking ideas

January -March 2010

Dragon Trainer and Little Princess

We are about to do some serious travel over the next two weeks and part of the fun is having a birthday party with Cory's family in Texas. Grandmaw sweetly wants to throw her grand babies a bash and the theme is Dragons and Princesses. I put together these quick invites, because this is fun to me. They are not the best, but I love that they incorporate pictures of the kiddos and Caleb's art. He was totally into printing out and coloring all the dragons.

Two years with my beautiful baby girl

I think it is official that I no longer can call Makaylee a baby. However, she loves playing with babies.

She turned two on Saturday. Weighs 23lbs and is 34 inches tall. Apprently, she is tall and skinny. Every girls dream. I am still in shock. I remember thinking when I just had Caleb that moms who didn't want there little ones to grow up so fast were crazy. I really couldn't relate. Now it feels like a blink and I have a little guy wearing pants that look huge and my sweetie is truly asserting her independence multiple times a day. Her birthday was pretty low key. We haven't really developed a group of friends that I felt like I could ask to humor me as we celebrated her birthday, so we decided to just hang out with the four of us.

Blowing out her first birthday candle with a little help from Brother

First, we went to our favorite place for breakfast. Mainly because the power was out at our house, but I wasn't arguing.

The reason our power was out

Then we went to this awesome place in the mall. I really think we picked the perfect location to celebrate Makaylee's birthday. The kids loved Giggles and Smiles and could not get enough.

We decided after this fun filled event we would have some down time and then headed to church. There we ran into our sweet friends. We had planned to go out to dinner as a family for one final celebration, but to my joy our friends agreed to come along. It was such a special treat. It would have been fun with just the four of us; however, it was heart warming being surrounded with people that have made adjusting to our new lives much easier. I felt like it was God confirming that He lead us here and is guiding and providing. The staff at Max and Erma's added to the fun with a special birthday song.

Makaylee blowing out candle number 2

It is funny how I let a day that was such a cause to celebrate bring out my insecurities. It really felt like such a reminder of the longing I have for those friends that feel like family. In my insecurity I couldn't even see that we have those people here I just need to be willing to put myself out there and ask them to engage with us. In my insecurity I thought they would rather not be asked, so silly. I sure don't want to pass this on to my little ones. I frequently pray that Makaylee will not have many of the insecurities that I battled as a teenager and still at times rear their ugly head. If you have a teenager and want to know a little about some of the struggles they are battling today this blog my aunt's doing will give you some great insight. Emmie's Hope
I recently started reading Beth Moore's new book So Long Insecurity. I haven't gotten too far into it yet, but I'm learning that far more people than we might think struggle in this area. One thing she addresses is even attractive people can be insecure. It made me think of those people out there that might seem intimidating that you might think don't need a friend. I've definitely learned it is better to reach out and deal with rejection then to miss an opportunity to make someone feel special. I don't know that I would have such an appreciation for this if I wasn't in this season of adjustment. I am thankful for this knowledge. Praying for the strength to do something with it and not let my fear of rejection be a hindrance.

This Momma's Gone Mad, These Dragons Really Are MONSTERS

I am a mess. These stupid dragon toys at Mikey D's have my driving all over town trying to get the red on, no the black one, no now it is the blue one. I have frequently asked myself why? I really don't have an answer. I know it is to make Caleb happy, but come on Momma. Well, I found out at the McDonald's by my house you can get on a list. They will pull out one of each of the toys in the series and call you when they are in to come get the items you want. Oh fabulous, no more driving to 4 different McDonald's in one day. Yes, I am mad. Or, I thought it was fabulous until I found out my name conveniently got misplaced, so we won't be getting the red, teal or Hiccup and Toothless dragons. I was so upset. First, I would have to relay that mommy was wrong and we will not being getting the above mentioned dragons. Second, I would now have to communicate to my 3 year old endlessly that no we are not going to McDonald's today and even if we did they do not have that dragon. Did I mention am hating the Golden Arches. They are everywhere I have constant reminders of these monsters the dag dragons. Lastly, upset that I would not be the mom delivering sweet smiles to my boy for a mere $1.89. I usually don't like to spend money on junk, but Caleb loves these things. Don't judge me I know it is crazy. I was almost in tears today, probably hormones, but I was so upset when the lady was like, "sorry, to bad we don't have your name and there is nothing I can do." I wanted to yell and say make it right, but I knew throwing a fit was not right, nor did I want to set that example for my kids. Caleb cried when one boy on the playground hit his subpar blue dragon with the extra cool Hiccup and Toothless dragon. He then proceeded to throw his blue dragon on the floor and to tell me, "throw it away, Mom I don't want it!" When I finally got to the bottom of the behavior I realized he was a very sad boy that didn't understand why we couldn't get that dragon and he could only have another blue dragon. Great teaching opportunity, but truthfully it stunk. I wanted so bad to deliver for my little guy and the toy Nazi was not going to share her toys no matter what. Okay, so here is where I think God stepped in. I know it my sound stupid, but I really believe God had my back. I was still stewing and thinking I might go let the lady have it when Caleb came and said, "I found Toothless and Hiccup." A child that had left the play area had dropped their toy in the area underneath that you can't get to because it is fenced off. Caleb assured me I could get it, "you have really long arms." I wasn't sure but I was determined and reached as far as I could and with the help of my Go Go Gadget straw I retrieved the prized black dragon. I am so thankful. I know it's crazy, but I really am. We still don't have the red dragon, so I am sure I will continue to have teachable moments of how we should be grateful for what we do have, but at least today we are smiling.


P.S. Okay, here is an update on the dragon debacle. A sweet friend of my Lucia's, dad works for the McDonald's company and so she put a call into him to get us the red and black dragons. Caleb is really excited and wants to check the mail constantly to see if they have arrived.

P.S.S. The previously mentioned McDonald's magically found our name and now magically has extra dragons in every color.
Thankful,

Messy Missy

Well, after the following event took place we decided to move Sister into a Big Girl Bed. So it is official in order to avoid an unwanted trip to the ICU she is no longer in the crib she was climbing out of.

For a few consecutive days I would here little foot steps above my head during what should have been nap time, but thinking they were Caleb's I didn't go investigate. Finally, one day after a big crash I ran upstairs and found Caleb sound a sleep and my little curious, mischievous, sweetie in her room covered in ink and surrounded in mess.

This girls got mad skills to climb out of this tall crib

Then she proceeded to climb her changing table to find all the fun tubs of everything she could get into and the infamous ink pad, which in my naivete I never thought she would find.

Sadly, I was mistaken.

Thankfully it all cleaned up farely well.

Bins, Bins and More Bins

I thought I would write this post to encourage myself and anyone out there reading this with little ones.
I spent several hours Saturday going through 15 bins of children's clothes. I started this endeavor to get ready for a consignment sale, never anticipating how emotionally draining the task would be. That sounds a little extreme I am sure, but the process caused me to struggle on a number of levels.
First, the decision to add more children to our family was thrown in my face the entire day. I want more so badly, but I just don't feel a peace that wisdom would have us go down that road. We are almost 100% sure if we decide to expand our family it will be through adoption and yes that process has a huge list of questions associated with it. I won't go into those now, that is a post in itself. But, hypothetically if we answer all those questions and the outcome is yes we want to adopt then that leaves me with, "am I really equipped to have more children." If that answer is yes, then what age do we feel is ideal for the children we adopt. More than likely they will not be infants, which is partly my choosing. But there is another part of me that literally tears up every time I think I will never hold another one of my own little babies in my arms. Hence, the emotional issues sorting through tub after tub of clothes. As I was trying to part ways with their little articles of clothes all I could think of were the memories of my dear ones in those outfits. The outcome at the end of 12 hours of sorting was I could only send one box to consign and the rest are heading back to the basement to Cory's strong protest. So all that said, my advice and encouragement is get a bin to put in each child's closet. Get rid of anything that has a stain and each time they out grow something put it in there and when the tub is full label it with the appropriate items and then never sort through it again until you're pulling it out to put on that sweet new addition to your family. Or, when you are not looking have your husband haul them away for people who will actually put them to use before they are completely outdated. These solutions will help you avoid a long day of boring sorting and emotional melting.

Simmons Farm Easter Weekend

We had a blast over the weekend.

These little ones are hard to keep up with.

Simmons Farm was super fun.

We started out looking for easter eggs. Sissy loves her red firetruck easter basket. She is now sleeping with it.

Then we had fun painting and planting pots.

This corn sandbox was a great idea. More crafts
They also had a huge slide, so we hiked to it.
Poor Sissy, Daddy sent her down not just once,
but twice even though she strongly protested.
Not the best idea, she got slide burns.
I loved these pics in this cool tube tunnel

The fire truck was also a pretty great photo opp.

But the best part of the day for the kiddos were the tire swings.



Even Daddy had a little fun.