Two little princesses

This weekend we headed into the city to see our little Neice dedicated to the lord:) We had a great weekend with friends and family, and we love watching these two little princesses grow up together!!! Aren't they just precious??

She Did it!!

She slept through the night!!! Now if I can just learn to do the same:)

For Jessi

Two Months!

On Saturday miss Addy turned two months!! So hard to believe! She loves to kick like crazy now and her favorite place to do so is on her exercise mat...but from the picture below you can see she tires herself on it too:) She is 12lbs 8 onces!! and is in the top 90%tile for weight and height!! It looks like I am going to be the short mama in the house:) Her neck is getting stronger, and she likes to let us know that! She loves to look around, fall asleep in her carseat still, and now in her sling:) She loves to smile and loves to chat! He hair is getting more auburn all the time! She loves to watch praise baby and baby einstein:) She still loves her bath time!

Her gas is getting better all the time..barf is still my new accessory though:)

We love her more and more every day, and I love motherhood more and more all the time!! This truely is the best job ever:)! Even with all the poop!

Story of two Monks..

"I need oil:, said an ancient monk, so he planted an olive sapling, "lord", he prayed, "it needs arin that its tender roots may drink and swell. Send gentle showers." and the lord sent gentle showers, "Lord" prayed the monk, "my tree needs sun. Send sun I pray thee." And the sun shone, gilding the dripping clouds. "Now frost, my lord. to brace its tissues," cried the monk. ANd behold, the little tree stood sparkling with frost, but at evening it died. Then the monk sought the cell of a brother monk, and told his starnge experience. "I, too, planted a tree," he said, "and see! It thrives well. But I entrust my tree to its God. He who made it knows better waht it needs than a man like me. I laid no condition. I fixed not ways or means. "Lord, send what it needs," I prayed, "a storm or sunshine, wind, rain or frost. Thou hast made it and thou dost know."

When a Woman meets Jesus-Emptiness

Emptiness is something well all face in different areas of our lives. Not being able to have a child has got to be the extreme and one of the hardest things for a woman to face. The bible tells a story of Anna a prophetess. or what we would call today a pastors wife. At around the age of 20, she became a widow, after 7 years of marriage and no babies. Her hearts desire was to be a mom. Instead of sitting in her sorrow..and stealing others joy with her pain, she made the chose to share in others joy, and serve at the temple. She kept her arms open and waiting for God to fill them. Her one request and prayer was that she would meet the messaih before she died, and at the age of 100 God fullfilled his promise to her and she held baby Jesus in her arms. How amazing! Anna's story speaks so strong of not focusing on the area's we feel empty in our life but to trust God and find Joy in the things we do have!

I love this qoute by the author Ben Patterson..

"God is for you not against you; He feels your aches, he hears your groaning. And note: if he is silent now..it is the silence of his higher thoughts. He is up to something so big and so unimaginably good that your mind cannot contain it..what we see God doing is never as good as what we don't see!" Isnt that so amazing and so encouraging:)

So have your arms open in anticipation for God to fill them with the things you desire!

When a Woman meets Jesus

I had a coupon to House of James and figured I would put it to good use. I always like having two books on the go, one fluffy read, or fiction I should say, and one with a little more depth, insight, teaching or self help. So the book I decided to pick up is call the When a Woman Meets Jesus. Its about understanding as a woman how to experience the love of Christ..the man who will love us more than any other man. So far I am quite happy with my book and thought I would share some of the insight. It breaks the chapters down into different topics of different woman in the bible and relates them to us today. The first chapter is about the flawed woman. The pressure for perfection is sometimes so overwhelming, I know in my life it is. We compare ourselves to other moms, woman, their talents and think why can't I be as good as them? I remember in school to, getting decent grades in most subjects but I would always focus on the one subject i did not as well in. Or how at a job, if you get ten praises, and one critique, we focus on that one critique..why is it that we strive for perfection so bad?? Where does this come from, and why do we do it?? This chapter gives us a perfect example of how God can use a flawed woman..as he did with Mary. Instead of choosing a well educated, wealthy, high societed woman in the bible, he chose to use a simple young girl who had nothing to offer but herself. Mary's mentality is all I can give is my best..and for God that was and is enough.
This really challenged my heart as I struggle in this area so much. I want to be good at so much, and battle feeling like a failure so often. But what really hit me when reading this chapter was how selfish striving for perfection is. If we are so busy focusing on ourselves and what we need to do to conqure the world and make everything around us perfect where does that leave room for God to do what he wants to do? And also who wants to be around someone who's perfect..that is just intimidating and annoying:)

So I challenge myself with this and you today..walk away from perfection, get a little messy, make some mistakes, be real and honest and let room for God to start working in your life..beause that when I know the fruit will come!!

Stay tuned for chapter two!