The Waiting Game

"Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies." (Phillippians 4:6-9, The Message)

In case you have had better things to do over the last two months than counting down the days until May 1 like we have, allow me to let you in on what's about to happen. We're expecting the release of the Bar results in the next 36 or so hours. 'Whoop-dee-do' you may be thinking, but for us, this is the day we've been striving toward for the last four years. Ever since we've been married (and probably before that, even) we've been longing for this day to arrive: the day that we're able to finally put this behind us and 'move forward' as Jeff and I like to say.

So at the onset of this particular day, I decided that I wanted to write down all the words that Jeff and I've been speaking to each other throughout the week, before we receive the news. I wanted to write it down so if the news is great or not so great, I'm reminded of Who allowed it to be that way... and His faithfulness, regardless of our circumstances.

I read sometime ago in a Beth Moore book, I'm not sure which one, where she said, "God was faithful yesterday, He will not be unfaithful today." Isn't that so true of our lives? I've realized the beauty of getting 'older', as I am now truly able to reflect on past circumstances in my life where I probably thought "Lord, what the heck are you doing here? My heart is breaking, stop the hurt!" but now on the other side I see God's soveregn hand and how much He was protecting me from by allowing those hurts into my life. I could have certainly chosen to see that as unfaithfulness... but He had (and doesn't He always) better things for me than I could see in my comparably insignificant view.

All this to say, that as I was praying over Jeff last night (and no, that's not a nightly occurence or anything), I prayed that whatever the results are, we would accept them as sovereign. That we would realize that God can see further down the road than we can and His hand is in this - as long as we allow it to be. Sure, we may be tremendously excited this afternoon or tomorrow or we just might be seriously disappointed... either way He has been faithful... even when we aren't.

When Becky sent me the above verse this morning, I felt compelled for some reason to look it up in The Message translation. Boy, did this so hit home with me. 'God's wholeness' is real, is it not? He does promise everything for HIS glory, does He not? And don't you love the part about God working us "into His most excellent harmonies?" I want Jeff and I to be worked into His most excellent harmonies, don't you want the same? I want Him to do with us, whatever He wants... even if it means hardship in the moment... and I want us to have the attitude of acceptance, not question His intent... because of He has been faithful.

So, if you think to pray for us this afternoon and tomorrow... we don't want you to pray that Jeff passed the Bar (although it would be tremendous if he does), but that we would accept the results graciously and honorably... like Christ would have accepted them. I must say that regardless of the results, I could not be prouder of my husband and the hard work he put in over the last four years of his life... and I would not be happier for him than for him to reap the fruit from his labor. But more than that, I'm proud of his perspective on this and the way he's changed my perspective and calmed my anxious heart.

We shall keep everyone posted.

Mommy is a Trickster!

That's right, I tricked you, Little B.

Tuesday, last week, we went for B's 1-year shots and check up. We had to cancel and reschedule a few times after Brady got sick and then a nurse was out, etc. and I had determined that I would hold off weaning from a bottle to a sippy cup until after that round of shots - which was supposed to be horrible.

Brady has notoriously done great with his sippy cup - with water and juice, that is. I'd tried milk a few times before and he would throw his sippy on the ground and cry and look at me like, "Momma, are you crazy? Milk does NOT go in there!" So, Wednesday morning I was going to be done. Cold Turkey.

It was a mad house. Temper tantrums galore. He wouldn't do pack and play time, he wouldn't play by himself he wouldn't eat his breakfast, he wanted his bottle. I knew this was going to be the worst time of day to give it up because we like to cuddle in bed and I drink my coffee, he drinks his WARM bottle, we watch cartoons and play with Georgia for 30 minutes or so before starting the day. So, he was not having any part of the sippy.

Finally he got over it and at lunch, he did a little better about throwing a fit for the bottle, but he still wouldn't take the sippy with the milk. I even got a different sippy cup and put juice in it, but I guess he now didn't even want that. (I am out of my mind afraid of dehydration again from our past experiences).

During his afternoon nap, I was making some chocolate chip cookies, and as I ate one fresh out of the oven, I thought to myself... "I need a glass of milk to wash this down with... AHA!!!"

You guessed it. When B. got up from his afternoon nap, the cookies were still warm and I gave him one for a snack. He devoured it (while making a mess) and thought it was so fun. He kept making 'yummmmm' noises. When he was all done, I gave him his sippy cup with ice cold milk in it. Guess what... he chugged it!! Yay for warm chocolate chip cookies!

"Look what I have, Mommy!?"

The milk tastes so good!

(I love his little curl).

"Wait a second - I think this was a trick!"

Book Worm.

I think I've said in an earlier post that B. has all of a sudden taken a huge interest in reading books - by himself!! He'll let you read them to him, but he's not as interested as when he looks at them all by himself. What a big man!

This morning, I was folding some laundry and looked over and saw that he had taken all the books out of his 'book basket'. Such a cutie pie. I'm working on getting the camera out more during those random moments... can you tell?

Splash Table

I'm a Big Boy, Now!

Over the past few days, I've been realizing that my baby boy is turning more and more into a little boy. I love it, love it, love it! It's so fun watching him explore new things and learn new skills. He has all of a sudden become a huge Bookworm. He'll sometimes sit with me to read one (besides at 'night night time'), but most of the time, he enjoys looking at them by himself. My mom keeps her books on a little kiddie table in the kitchen, and he always goes right to them. She tells me that he picks through them and has a favorite one (it's about a grandma, of course). He's so funny when he looks at them. He points to things in the pictures, and I can't figure out why he points to certain things and not others.... I guess he's just exercising his pointer finger skills!

Here are some iPhone snapshots from the last few days:

Big Boys driving a jeep at the Mall!

Colin's checking his blind spot

Bible Study wore Little Man out!

Reading a book on the road!

First Juice Box at Nana's

(I absolutely love his little fingers in this picture!)

Poor, Sick Brady Bug

Whew. As much as I've been looking forward to this week, it turned out nothing like I planned. (Isn't that how God works sometimes?) On Sunday night, Brady began having 'loose' diapers (if you know what I mean) that smelled something terrible, and he started threw up twice. At first we thought it was something that he ate. So I racked my brain to think of something he ate that was new for him.

Monday he was fine, then Tuesday it started all over again and he started not wanting anything to eat or drink. He couldn't hold anything down. On Wednesday morning he woke up and was simply not himself. Super lathargic. He wouldn't eat or drink anything so we went to the doctor. In the midst of all of this, I got sick too. So was it a virus or was I just making myself with worry? We still don't know!

When we went to the doctor, we decided that he had a virus that had worsened with dehydration... so if B. threw up one more time or didn't wet a diaper by bed time we would be headed to the hospital. Thankfully, he had a wet diaper that night... so we slept much better. But Thursday, again, there was no appetite and my sweet boy was not himself. He had no appetite and would again, not eat or drink anything. In the afternoon, he finally took some pedialyte but then it came right back up, so our doctor told us to go ahead and take him to the E.R.

He did great at the hospital, and they told us he actually didn't look that bad. The doctor actually made me feel silly for bringing him in! But we were like, "You don't understand, something is really wrong! Last week he was eating everything in sight and he's not touching anything!" They took all of his vitals, and by the time they were going to do an IV, he decided he wanted a bottle! (After we paid for it, of course!)

He's been getting progressively better ever since then and today was much better... and he finally started waking up hungry yesterday afternoon. Poor guy, we miss his sweet laugh!! Too bad our first trip to the Emergency Room wasn't for something "cooler", we were there for a tummy virus!

Daddy's Done!

As much as Jeff told me not to make a big deal about this, I'm going to. He became a modern-day Noah for Brady's birthday party!! A few weeks ago when we were talking about B's party, I told Jeff that I wish there were some way we could get an ark for all the stuffed animals. He nonchalantly responded with, "well, why don't I build one". I have to admit I kind of laughed and I shamefully admit that I told him that he really wasn't that handy.

And off he went to Home Depot that afternoon! What a wonderful job he did... he totally surprised me (and I think he honestly surprised himself as well!) Too bad he showed me how how handy he really is - now I have all sorts of projects for him around the house!

B. Boy's Birthday Party

Sweet Boy's birthday party was this weekend! Too bad, the first time B. decides to get sick in his whole life was the week of his birthday! He was feeling much better on Saturday, but still wasn't his 100% self!

The Cupcake Table

Little Man's eyes were so droopy, poor guy!

After the party with all the animals for Scottish Rite!

Sweet Curl.

Brady Bug.

Sweet Brady Bug.

Happy Birthday, Punkin. I am so excited that this day has come and it is YOUR special day! One year ago, I could not imagine the unspeakable joy, heartache, laughter and love that someone so little would bring into our lives. It has been a privilege for me to be your mommy, watching you grow up day by day, little by little until you've reached this huge milestone. It may be more of a milestone for daddy and I than it is for you! You're just excited that you got balloons in your bed this morning and pancakes for breakfast!

I have loved watching you as you learned to reach for toys, then as you learned to hold the toys, and now as you learn to play with the toys. Your wheels are constantly turning, sweet boy. You are always trying to figure out how things work and why things make noise and what kind of noise they will make! You are like your daddy in that respect. I can just see the day when the question of "Why" is a question that hurts mommy's ears!

You have become your own little bumper car lately. You wrestle with all of your stuffed animals, your blankey in your bed and especially your daddy! When he comes home, that is all you want to do... be right by him and wrestle with him. I can already see that you so admire your daddy and want to be just like him. It absolutely melts my heart when I see your face light up as he comes through that door. You are such a blessed little boy to have a wonderful daddy who loves you with all of his heart! (I'm richly blessed too, sweet Brady).

You and Georgia have become the best of friends! The other night, we came home and you had to go straight to bed... so I put Georgia outside to go potty and put you in bed, turned out the lights and shut the door. After I let Georgia back inside, I heard her whimpering and scratching at something. Turns out, she was scratching at your door! I hadn't let her say 'night, night' apparently, so we turned on the lights, I let Georgia kiss you goodnight and then you both went straight to bed! She knocks you over sometimes, but you just laugh right through it. I have loved watching her become your very best friend!

Sweet Brady, you are not a baby anymore. Before long, you're not going to need my help to go down the slide at the playground and you'll be able to blow bubbles all by yourself! You'll be able to use your spoon by yourself and sooner than later you'll be in a big boy bed too! I can't say that I can't believe it, because I can. You are growing up right before my eyes and instead of being sad, I'm choosing to be excited.

Precious boy, I'm excited for you to experience the joys even along with the hurts of life. Excited for you to know Jesus like your mommy and daddy do. I'm excited for you to explore and play outside and make a mess. I'm excited for me, too. Excited that I get the awesome privilege of helping you as your learn all of these new things, and excited that I am the one that gets to pick you up when you fall down. I have to tell you that I am in absolute awe of the fact that God made you to be our son and us to be your parents. He has so richly blessed our lives with your precious life. Thank you, Lord for our precious son.

Happy Birthday Brady. We love you.

Opening Day

Early last week, The Hubbs surprised me in an email asking me to get someone to watch Brady all day on Monday because we were going to have a Mommy and Daddy Day. What? I asked. He had bought us tickets to Opening Day at The Ballpark! To make a sweet day even sweeter, George threw out the first pitch! The whole day was nostalgic for both Jeff and I. I had never gotten to go to an Opening Game before, but I used to be a huge baseball fan! We even had season tickets to the Rangers while I was in high school. I don't really know what happened, but I would not consider myself a fan in the least now, except that I really like Josh Hamilton... but not for his baseball skills. Anyway, it made Jeff and I both want to 'get back in the game.' Hopefully we'll have a team to cheer for this year!

Thank you, sweet Hubbs, for taking me on an all-day date! It was so fun to spend the day with you, eating our weight in funnel cakes and nachos! I love you!

What's Your Daddy Working On, Brady?

I guess you'll have to wait to find out....

Sydney's Birthday Party