Trusting Him

Sean and I are in the midst of attending a 3 day conference at our church put on by a man named Michael Cumbie. Last night we heard his history and conversion story. He is a former Protestant minister, was one for about 15 years, before he converted to Catholicism in 2001. What struck me as amazing last night as I listened and laughed (he’s quite witty and humorous) to this man’s story is his faith and trust in God. Here is a man who spent his formal education years in seminary, preparing to be a minister, and then ministered in various protestant churches before hearing the call to Rome. He couldn’t become a priest because he was a married man with 3 kids, but the man is gifted in the preaching department, and on top of that, he had no other degree in anything nor had he ever had any other type of job not affiliated with a church, and he was about 40 years old when his journey from the pulpit to parishioner really took off.

Why am I so amazed about this? Because this man followed Christ’s Will before his own. You know he had to have doubts. He was jobless for a LONG time. His family was on government aide, living in government housing for some time. What a strong, godly wife he must have to follow him during this time! And this man desired to preach the Word. He could not imagine going from being a minister for so long to being the anonymous guy sitting in the third pew with his family. Still, he wanted to do God’s Will. To make a long story short, he has been traveling around the country for the past 5 years preaching Christ’s story and his own to various Catholic Churches and organizations. He doesn’t charge anything for his talks, only takes donations, and he and his family are doing well, not Joel Osteen well, but BETTER!

A great story about trusting our Father that he told when laying it out for us last night:

There was once this little girl who was such a daddy’s girl! She just loved her daddy more than anyone in the world. On her 5th birthday, her daddy presented her with a strand of plastic, colorful beads. The little girl loved the necklace so! It was her favorite gift. She wore the necklace every day and slept with it tucked under her pillow each night. A few weeks after getting the gift, her dad came into her room to tuck her in for bed, as he had done every night since she could remember. On this night, before turning the lights out and leaving, the daddy asked his daughter if she would give the necklace back to him. “Give it back? But I love the necklace so much, Daddy,” she pleaded. Still, he persisted that she give it back to him. She just couldn’t imagine. It would be too hard, so she refused. Her daddy kissed her goodnight, turned the lights off and shut the door without getting the necklace back. Each day the daughter continued to wear and treasure the necklace, and each night she would place it under her pillow for safe keeping. Still, each night her daddy would come in to tuck her into bed and would ask for the necklace back, but she would always refuse to hand it over.

Months went by like this. Finally one night when the father asked for the little girl to give him the plastic necklace back, she reached her small hand under her pillow, pulled the necklace out, and reluctantly handed it over to her father. Her father put the plastic necklace in his pocket, then went into his other pocket and pulled out a genuine strand of pearls to replace the plastic beaded one he had taken from his daughter. The little girl’s heart was filled with joy. What a treasure she had received for being an obedient daughter!

This little story and just hearing about this man’s conversion last night has really got me thinking: What plastic beaded necklaces am I holding onto in my life when if I would just TRUST HIM, I could exchange them for strands of pearls?

TRUSTING CHRIST is such a hard thing when I treasure what I already hold and am convinced that it can’t get any better. Doubts and fears have clouded my head before when I have struggled with doing HIS WILL. Still, every time I listen, the clouds dissipate, and my God has never failed to reward me with something better than what I could have ever hoped for myself.

So I’m looking forward to these next two nights listening to this man, Michael Cumbie.

She's Breakin' My Heart!

Yesterday evening Hattie and I went for a walk with Sean's mom. Along the way we stopped at a baseball field and sat in some bleachers while Hattie ran around to burn some energy before bedtime. At one point, my 21 month old BABY ran to a tree a few feet from where we were sitting, looked at us, and clearly proclaimed, "I'm never coming back!"

Oh, my heart sank. Where she picks this stuff up, I haven't a clue! I guess she's watching soap operas when I'm not looking......or maybe she's caught on that a new baby's about to move into her territory.

Luckily seconds after breaking her mama's heart, she ran back over to us yelling, "I'm BAAAACK!"

Oh, thank goodness!

Blessed

I absolutely love being a mommy, and I love the different stages of mommyhood that I am in the midst of right now.

I love being a mommy to a toddler!

I love how Hattie cracks me up on a daily basis with the funny things she says and does. Watching her little brain in motion, trying to come up with answers and reasons for things is such a delight! Her sense of humor is so much like mine.

I love how much she trusts me. She is at an age where she understands what I’m saying and never questions the answers or reasons I give her.

I love how curious and amazed she is of the world around her. Everything is new and exciting; everything is worth taking note of and experiencing fully.

I love how affectionate she is, always wanting a hug and freely giving me kisses. She is my cuddle-bug, and I hope that never changes.

I love how proud she makes me with the new things she does and says. Her verbal and mobile abilities are booming, and I am constantly swelling with pride when she does or says something new.

Being a mommy to a toddler is such a delight!

But……

I also love being an expecting mommy!

I love the kicks and stretches that I feel throughout the day. This little girl in my belly constantly reminds me that she is with me. Sometimes the kicks are so strong that I burst out laughing. I’m already so proud of her. I already love her so much.

I love the hopes and dreams that fill my head of who this little girl will be. This little one gets only a fraction of my thoughts during the day because I’m so busy, but in the evenings, when it’s quiet and my world stills, she dances inside of me, and my hopes and curiosities of her dance around in my head.

I love having a round bulging belly. There I said it! It’s not too big yet, so it’s easy to love. I love that people notice my pregnancy now and easily strike up a conversation with me about it.

I love being such a vital part of God’s creation. I love that God made me a woman, so I can more fully experience the miracle of life. He uses my body to do His work. I love that.

What a wonderful season of motherhood I am in right now! It definitely has its difficulties and challenges, but my heart is so full. I often think, “Who am I, oh Lord, to be so blessed?”

Perfection

This morning after church we were eating lunch and just talking, and Sean, trying to make a point of his perfection to me (eyes roll here), asked, Hattie, does Daddy have any flaws?
Yeah! she quickly replied.
I chuckled, so he asked, Hattie, does Mama have any flaws? Again she answered, Yeah!
So then we both asked, Does Hattie have any flaws?
Her response: Yeah.....I mean NO!

She's right, you know. She's not at all flawed. In no way does she carry my irrational gene, and she's not at all quick to get frustrated like her daddy. We're lucky that God gave us the perfect child :0).

It's so funny. One thing I strongly admire about my husband is his confidence. Maybe Hattie got this gene that is so deeply rooted in Sean's family :0)?!?! It will come in handy during those awkward middle school years, the stage that Sean swears he never had to go through (eyes roll again).
BUT just in case.....
I think our focus this week will be on humility.

Dear REM Sleep Cycle,
Thank you for keeping my child asleep while the rainstorm rolled in this morning around 4:30. I was sure she would wake up when the electricity went out, her white noise fan died, and the thunder and lightning began to shake the whole house, but she stayed fast asleep. Then when the lights came back on at 5:00 and our house alarm went off in panic style....LOUD! LOUD! LOUD!......I was sure I was doomed, but you kept her in quiet, peaceful dreamland somehow......amazing! Talk about being in the right place at the right time. You are my hero.

P.S. Could you please work overtime in my sleep tonight since I've been up since 4:30 a.m.?

Hopefully yours,
One grateful but sleepy mama

My favorite sleeping picture of Hattie. She has slept like this since 2 months old. One thumb in her mouth and one hand on her ear. It reminds me of the king lion in the Robin Hood cartoon movie.

Happenings 'Round Here

We've been busy around here since Spring has sprung. Sean and I decided to tackle a couple of our flower beds with the help of my mom, brother and sister a few weeks ago. We completely ripped out a bunch of big, ugly bushes and planted lots of new flowers in the beds. What do you think?



Now I just have to keep everything alive!

In Hattie news, I feel like we're definitely embarking on the terrible twos! Lots of fits and whining have filled my days this past week and most of that has been from her, not me :0). She gets frustrated alot easier now than she use to, and my sweet darling has figured out that she has her own opinions about everything. For instance, look at the red shoes she's wearing in the following picture:

They are her "princess shoes" as she calls them. Her Aunt Missy bought them for her girls and then passed them on to us when they outgrew them. Hattie LOVES them and insists on wearing them every. single. day.

I have also caught her on several occasions looking at her reflection in the oven door, practicing such phrases as, "That's all mine," or "Mine, mine, mine," or screaming "Nooooooo!" Yes, we are in the terrible twos a little early, I'm afraid. I just hope that means we'll be outta them a little early, too!

Luckily, we have glimpses of her sweetness each day, too. She is very affectionate and will often come up to me for no reason and lay her head on me and say, "I love you so much." Those moments help me get through the bad ones. Just this morning, she told me she loved me and then added, "I love ME, too." Ha!


And finally, I've just been thinking a lot about having two little girls. I am so excited! I couldn't help myself last week when I went shopping, so I bought some things for the new baby's room and also bought these for our girls:


Button is still nameless at the moment. I have 3-4 names that I really like, and I just can't decide, so I told Sean he could pick the name from my picks. A good compromise for us since I didn't like any of his girl names. He seems satisfied with that set-up, too.

So that's what's been goin' on 'round here since I last blogged about a week ago. Hope you are all well and enjoying the beautiful spring weather because it's gonna be humid and hot before we know it!

Well.........

and I am shocked but so pleased! The tech typed "girl" on the screen, and Sean said, "Are you sure?" We just couldn't believe it. She confirmed that she was "100% sure it's a girl." A few of you know that I secretly wanted a girl more than a boy. Sean was so sweet and emotional about it. He's the perfect daddy to have two girls!

One minor thing that you can pray about for me is that I have a low lying placenta, which means I will have to have a c-section if it doesn't move up. No big deal as long as our little girl is perfectly healthy, but I would rather get the chance to have her naturally. The doc said that 90% of the time, the placenta moves up, so odds are in my favor. Thankfully everything with the baby looks GREAT.

It is such a blessing to know that we're cookin' another healthy baby girl! God is good!

Interesting Article

Sean sent me this article this morning. I liked it. Every time I am out with Hattie and Gracen now that I am obviously pregnant, I get the rudest remarks about all the kids I have. When I reply that one of the three isn't mine, there is always a sense of relief in the air. It gets to me.

Anyways, I think my favorite quote from the article is,
The way we figure it, one day our children will be grateful for what we didn't give them -- and what we did for them instead.
Right on!

Tomorrow's the big day that we hopefully find out if Button is a boy or a girl. I'll definitely be posting tomorrow after we know. I can't wait to find out!!!!

{21 Months}

Hattie is 21 months old today, so to celebrate, I thought I’d use Cheryl’s idea from a few months ago and list 21 things I love about my Hattie Ruth. So here goes:

1.)My most recent favorite sentence she says while hugging me is, “Hattie’s lovin’ on her mama,” or “Mama’s lovin’ on her Hattie.”
2.)I love the way her breath smells when she wakes up from a nap or in the morning – a little stinky, but I love it :0)
3.)I love the way her whole room smells like her when I go in there in the morning to get her.
4.)I love the way she mimics the way I sing and sway with Gracen before Gracen’s naptime. She’ll stand in the doorway with her doll and copy what I do.
5.)I love the way she says, “thank you” any time I hand her something.
6.)I love the way she reminds us to “pray to Jesus” before a meal.
7.)I love how she squeals with delight when playing “I’m gonna get you!” with Daddy.
8.)I love her little fat feet and hands.
9.)I love that she has her daddy’s lips and my nose.

10.)I love that she has her Mimi’s kind eyes.
11.)I love that when she’s crying, she’ll come up to me and prompt me by saying, “What’s wrooooong?”
12.)I love the way she says, “Yeah!” when I ask her a question.
13.)I love that she is such a mama’s girl.

14.)I love how she will gladly follow a direction I give her (most of the time!).
15.)I love that she will still let me rock her and sing to her while she rests her head on my shoulder.
16.)I love how girly and prissy she can be.
17.)I love how cautious she is. She won’t attempt anything that is remotely dangerous unless she’s sure she can pull it off. I guess the apple didn’t fall far from the tree!
18.)I love how she’ll come up to me or anyone and say, “Hi! Whatcha doin’?” It seems so grown up to me the way she says it.
19.)I love how her hair curls in the back and the way her little head and neck look when I put her hair up in a big girl pony-tail.

20.)I love how intense her face looks when she’s looking at one of her favorite books.
21.)I love how she dances when her daddy plays music for her.

Gosh, I can’t believe my precious baby is 21 months old today. How time flies!!!!!! What a blessing my little Hattie Ruth has been to her daddy and me! We are just so completely in love, and somehow that love just keeps on growing with her. She’s an amazing gift to us.

You Might be a Redneck

The mornings are sometimes long for Hattie and me. Gracen comes over around 7 a.m. and goes right to sleep if she's not sleeping already and then will sleep until around 10:30. I like having this time with Hattie since she doesn't nap in the mornings anymore. It gives us some good quality time together, but it can make for a LONG 4 hours of being in the house for her and me.

Today I rigged up a little contraption for her outside with the hose trickling water into her unused potty "bucket." She had so much fun playing for over an hour with my make-shift sink. I even got a few pics of her playing with it.



When downloading the pics I couldn't help but think, "Gosh, we're such a bunch of rednecks!" She sure had fun, though. And then I remembered something my best friend's husband, Creighton, said not long ago, "You're only a redneck if you do that kind of thing in the front yard." Whew. We were definitely in the backyard!

Lovin' the baby chub in this one:


I guess the saying is true that You can take the girl outta the country, but you can't take the country outta the girl! Motherhood has definitely helped me realize how much I cherish the simplicity of the things I had growing up. I guess it has a lot to do with the fact that I want Hattie to learn to use her imagination in play like I had to do. By George, my child will not be corrupted by the 21st century of gadgets and being indoors infront of the t.v. or computer all the time.

Yeah, that's an easy statement to make when your child is 20 months old and loves being outside more than candy. I know the tide will turn when Miss Prissy becomes a teen, but this mama has hopes! Afterall, she has some redneck in her from her mama's side.