Easter 2011

This year was sweet and simple.

sleeping in
blueberry pancakes
lovely service at Kensington
good naps for Bird
big dinner at my parents
ice cream for every one
phone calls with uncles
Easter basket full of goodies + a bunny for a special girl + awesome throwback toy (Slinky!)
matching gold shoes for mom + baby (dream come true)

Thank you Lord. We are truly blessed.

Easter 2010

Because I can't not talk about it

We found out March 6^th. Very early but very clearly.

In a matter of 10 days, things went from normal to awesome to normal again. But a different normal. A new normal.

One day, it was there. And now its not.

You were wanted. We miss you already, but we'll be OK. A different OK, forever changed -- but OK.

I choose to talk about it because I know this is normal. Not a great situation, but far more prevalent than people wish to acknowledge. I know I'm not alone. That I am one of many that experience, this but I won't do it quietly. I know we are not the only family that is going through this or will go through this. So I talk, when I'm ready. And I listen to others and their stories because that is what we need. To talk and to be listened to.

For the rest of the afternoon, after the news sunk in, we played with Bird, so so grateful that we have her. All her laughter, smiles, giggles, curls, steps, kisses, everything, made it feel OK. We are so very blessed and know that God has an amazing plan for our little family. His plan, His timing.

We are ready for the ride.

What I wore Wednesday...and why

Lots of bloggers show off what they wore on Wednesdays and I thought I'd jump in and show you what I wore in my hair today and why.

Don't mind the smudges in the mirror, c/o Bird

I have a serious love in my heart for children, babies especially, as anyone who knows me can attest to. Becoming a mother was one of the greatest joys of my life and I love the moments I get to share with my little Bird.

One of my new blog friends, Crystal has been writing about her best friend that just lost her baby at 23 weeks gestation and about another friend that lost her 4 month old the same day. I cannot begin to imagine the heartache these mothers and families are going through right now. I'm crying just typing this out.

The Staats, that lost their little girl Maddie, asked for people to wear bows today in honor of Maddie to remember her on the day of her burial service. I didn't really have any bows, but today I adorned my hair and the hair of my daughter with rosebud pins to remember Maddie and all the other kids that we lost too soon; the pins became little reminders to pray and be thankful of the time we have with each other and here on earth to do God's will. It was just such a little thing but it kept me prayerful all day, kept me thankful and reminded me to extend grace because you really never know what someone else is going through.

 Bird's hairpin - via Flair in Her Hair (my friend Andrea's shop!); my hairpin - via heart of light

SGS Dedication + present reveal

Last weekend we had the pleasure of seeing this little bundle get dedicated.

K and B reading a letter to SGS

Their letter to her was so touching and honest and it was an amazing moment to witness. Little SG behaved so well during the ceremony and looked so beautiful in her gown. Afterward, we were invited back to their house for food, drinks and good times with friends as we celebrated together. Of course there was cake and presents too! Here is a peek at the little gift I crafted especially for her:

Custom belt with matching pouch for all her baby bits and things

Cause she's always on my mind

Since becoming a mother in a great community alongside many of my friends that have also become first time moms, when I'm not thinking about my little Bird, I'm doting on, praying for, and wondering about my friends' little ones.

Little Julia Cook has been on my mind a lot since she first appeared on the scene in late September. And because of that I thought I'd share a little prayer request that her parents have for her.

Take a moment, I know I have.




Check out the Cook's blog to follow more of Julia's story and the adventure this amazing family is on.

Baby's first Easter

We're happy to be celebrating Easter as a family of 3 this year.

It will be a low key Sunday, with church in the morning, some yummy food, and an Easter basket for Bird! Getting Bird all dressed up is going to be a highlight for me, I always love little girls Easter dresses.


Happy Easter everyone!

The weight has been lifted

The debt updates will have to wait because I have even more exciting news:

After my meeting with the other directors at my job two weeks ago, I decided to resign my position on Wednesday, 4/1/09! On top of that I have a new job!

I don't want to give away too much about my new job but I will say that I am grateful and excited about this new opportunity and it couldn't have come at a better time. I start this coming Monday, 4/6/09.

You know what this means...time to update the budget.

In a mini update, CC #4 is 75% of the way paid off with the ax dropping on it sometime this month after the new budget is in place. More concrete numbers to come.

Learning of the day: He's always on time.

Tonight I pray

Tonight I'm thinking of Mrs. S. I love you and I pray for your desires to come to fruition. We will all wait for that day of joy and until then, we'll stay close to you with our love and prayers to keep you strong and encouraged at this time.

Blessings...

Being too hard on myself

Today has been a rough day spiritually.

See, I've decided to volunteer to lead a high school girls small group at my church this fall. While I'm really, really excited about it, I'm also really, really nervous. I know that I have the support of my husband and the church staff and that I wouldn't commit to this if I didn't feel called to do something like this. I think it is more of a reflection time that I'm going through, which in all honesty is a great thing at a time like this.

Also, I ran across this today on a random blog and it was crazy to hear my thoughts echoed elsewhere regarding children, timing and the Lord. T and I have talked about kids and timing off and on for the past year seriously, and sometimes this comes up. Who are we to tell God, "We don't trust you with this decision quite yet. We have our own plan for now." and then call on Him later when we need Him to keep our children safe. It is as though we are only giving Him reign over certain parts of our life, when really we want Him to be at the center of all the things we do and feel, guiding us, showing us the amazing plan He has for our lives.

Hmm...

Struggling

I'm having a hard time dealing with a "friendship" situation in my life.

In truth we're not friends anymore, and I honestly don't know why. I know there was a point were everything came to a head and then there was nothing, no resolution, no conversation, no real reason for no more friendship. Both parties are at fault for the reasons leading up to the fallout.

I guess what I'm struggling with is why this still matters to me. Honestly. There are times that I am compelled to contact this person and try to make amends, or at least figure out truly why we don't talk anymore or what really happened. Every effort is thwarted though, including my last effort where the person's fiance simply hung up on me after announcing who was on the phone. Then there are times when the friend never crosses my mind for months. I just don't know why I try in the first place.

If we became friends again, that would be great. If we never did, that would be great too. I guess I just don't know how to deal with being called to do something that perhaps isn't easy or what you think you want to do. That's how it feels sometimes, that I'm being compelled to contact the person despite my better judgment, and then the want goes away as quickly as it showed up. Sometimes I pray for an answer, a clear "one way or the other" and this is the plan that He lays out for me. Arg.

I second that, the first

I decided to show off anything that I found on the web that I liked during the previous week on Fridays, so here's my first installment of "I second that..." Enjoy!

The honesty from Forest about starting over was refreshing...

This article on batch processing on ProBlogger's site has made me re-evaluate some of my efforts at work...

I've always thought about this idea of invisible money and how it all is just a symbol for a number...I guess Frugal Finance did too...

This end of the road post at Debt Sucks makes me wonder how you get that far in...

I never think of gifts to get people until its too late...over at DEBT SMACK, she has a clever way to start gift lists...

I'm thinking of having a garage sale this summer and Finance Gets Personal had a great post with tips on how to have a successful one...

Stuff Christians Like has a list of Prosperity or 28 ways Jesus blings that made me laugh for quite a while...

That's about it...in for a long weekend with my in-laws up north...more on Monday.

Lessons learned about life from grocery shopping with my husband

Every week we go grocery shopping together, and almost every week some minimal "discussion" comes from the shopping trip.

Someone decides on food the other doesn't like.
Someone puts food in the basket that isn't on the agreed upon list.
Someone wants to cut costs and go generic.
Someone really likes cookies, expensive chocolatey cookies.

Despite the several tactics that have been put into place to avoid such "discussions", such as creating a list together, shopping only the aisles with items on the list, and even prayer before entering the store, without fail the "discussions" keep coming.

This past trip, the "discussion" left us both exhausted with shopping together. It also left us with this lesson on life and our marriage: the more communication, the better, always.

We learned that even when we are saying things the other doesn't want to hear, at least we are saying them and not bottling them up inside. Whether it be about beer choice (Miller High Life or Coors Light?) or babies (are we ready or not?) or even what to do with the $5.50 in bottle return money, openly communicating with the other person in the moment can help a great deal.

Faith in hard times

This evening I plan to take a significant period of time out to just pray for some members of my family. I've never really done this before. Though I always pray for the Lord to bless my family and watch over them, this will be the first time that I'm primarily praying for them for an extended period of time.

If anyone reads this and would like to join me, please feel free and I thank you in advance.

"We're called to hold our hands against the wounds of a broken world, to stop the bleeding."

I wish for them to know that I'm standing by for whatever they need and that I love them very much.

The lates...

So not too much has been going on lately since I was unemployed and harboring dollars like a miser.

The best news is that I have found a new job, and I'm really excited about it. I start work on Monday 3/24, so I'll have more news about it then, but its about 25 minutes from our house and in a part of town I've never worked/played in before.

The basics are that the organization is a faith-based org, that deals with church planting and ministries around the world. I'm excited to be part of an organization that is helping people instead of making them part with their money...except that this org solicits funds as well, but how else are you going to help someone in need...help costs money sadly, otherwise, I'd be giving it out by the handfuls!

Please stay tuned to see how this affects my life's path and our new family.

Also, on the PF note, I'm excited to get our debt reduction plan going, now that I have found a new gig and we can stop holding tight to the funds we have.

On a spiritual note, this was something that was prayed for over the past two months and the Lord totally provided for us. We saw small signs over the past two months that just told us to trust Him and it was such a great feeling to be able to follow your faith and see results, both good and bad!

the end of an era...sorta

2007 is almost over and with that I wanted to recap some of the amazing things that happened this year...

My best friend had her first baby

Two of our good friends got married

We got married

We moved back to Michigan, after surviving some time in Los Angeles

We bought a house

We joined our church and met some wonderful people through our small group

We found new jobs that we actually like

I get to spend time watching almost 2 year olds every other weekend

My parents celebrated 37 years of wedded rollercoaster

Reclaimed the joy of napping

I'm sure there is more that went on, and if you were close to me, you probably saw this all and more occurring...

Here's to the best that 2007 had to offer and to the amazing opportunities to be had in 2008!

L'chaim...


P.S. Today, so far, we have only left the house to walk to the mailbox (across the street) and back...sadly inside was a returned to sender Thank You card we had sent to my cousin and a Science Fiction Book Club order packet...