The Voice...

I'm a stay-at-home Mom and I love it. I'm thankful God has allowed me to be home with our children. I know this is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing and there's peace in that, but one of the things I've been struggling with over the past few months is this little voice in my head. It's saying things like: "Am I doing enough with Amelia?" "Is she bored??" "She needs to be around other children on a regular basis." "Should I put her in MDO??" "What about Little Gym??" "Art classes would be good!!"

Bless Alex's heart, I'm sure he's tired of me talking about these things and he has been so patient with me as I have prayed and talked and talked and prayed and finally realized what God has been trying to tell me in all of this.

I'm a homebody and really enjoy just being here at the house with Amelia. We can go a full week without going anywhere. That's why a tank of gas will last over 2 weeks in my car. I have zero desire to fill up a calendar with social events for my 2 year old. I'm not huge on regular play dates, not that there's anything wrong with them, I just don't like to commit to being at play dates twice a week or even once a week. We have commitments to our church twice a week and she gets to play with other children at that time, but "the voice" came to a point of really getting on my nerves and I needed to take care of it.

I've looked into taking her to The Little Gym or to art classes or to ballet and everything I've looked into tells me she's too young. Three years old seems to be the age all that starts. Little Gym takes younger kiddos but the parent has to be right there and able to run and chase them.

I'm 8 weeks from having a baby - no one wants to see me chasing after my toddler right now.

After reading THIS BLOG, which has been such a blessing to me as a pastor's wife, I realized that there's nothing wrong with spending more time at home. There's nothing wrong with my child not being involved in numerous activities outside of the home. There's nothing wrong with just being still. Being quiet.

God's Word actually encourages it.

I say to Amelia a lot, "be still." I say this because I'm trying to get her to be still long enough for me to speak to her and her actually hear what I'm saying.

I've always said that I have my most meaningful conversations with my Heavenly Father when I'm in the car or in the shower...times that I have to be still. Those quiet moments where Dora the Explorer isn't in the background...Amelia isn't saying, "Mommy, I want jello!"...my phone isn't ringing...my computer isn't in front of my face...and on and on and on.

It's so easy to look at others and feel like I'm not doing enough with my child. I'm not keeping her busy enough. Truth is, I don't want to keep her busy for the sake of saying our calendar is full, or to give myself a certain amount of "free-time" every day. She really needs time with me and her Daddy more than anyone else right now. The next 16-18 years are some important ones and though I do hope to see my little girls in a sweet tutu and ballet shoes someday, bi-weekly play dates, ballet classes, and mothers-day-out are not what will shape my children into what I pray they will be one day.

Young women who can be still.
Young women who can be quiet.
Young women who can hear God and truly KNOW WHO HE IS.
Young women who could care less what the world says is important.
Young women who are sold out for Jesus and make others want what they have in HIM.

That's what I pray over Amelia and Sydney.

And it's my and Alex's job to teach them these things - no one else's.

I have a hard enough time hearing others and being attentive in my relationships above all the noise that every day life brings. I sure can't hear my Heavenly Father if I'm always on the go. If I'm never in His Word. If I'm never still/quiet enough to know exactly what He's telling me to do - telling me what not to do - telling me what to say - telling me what NOT to say.

I love where she says:
"Religion has accepted the monstrous heresy that noise, size, activity, and bluster make a man dear to God. But we may take heart. To a people caught in the tempest of the last great conflict God says, “Be still and know that I am God,” and still He says it, as if He means to tell us that our strength and safety lie not in noise but in silence."

"Life is in the silence because God is there. If we will just listen."

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
-John 16:6

Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.
-Psalm 46:10

I don't ever want to get to a point of constant wishing for more hours in a day because I've filled mine to the max. God knew exactly how many hours I need in my day to accomplish what truly needs to be accomplished.

I'm thankful to say...the voice is gone.

Love to all,

Amelia's 3rd Verse...

Brought to you by the letter "C"

"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."
-Psalm 51:10

This is Amelia's 3rd verse out of her ABC scripture memory book.



I'm really loving teaching her scripture verses because I'm learning them as well! :)

Love to all,

A Baby Shower For Sydney...

My sweet LG gals gave me a baby shower on Monday evening. They brought Sydney some diapers, wipes, lotions, baby wash, etc.

My friend, Heather, made this cute onesie and tutu...I just love it!!



They also made this book and each person wrote something to Sydney in it - such sweet words and prayers for our baby girl. So special. I love this group of ladies so much. We share our lives with each other, pray for one another, encourage each other, laugh at/with each other. They're a blessing in my life. I'm very thankful for sweet/thoughtful friends.



I made buffalo chicken tacos again last night...they're just so good and easy to make. We'll probably have these every week. :)

I tried a new recipe for Apple Cherry Oat Bars. I've been wanting to make these for a couple of weeks now. They were yummy! A few changes I made/will make next time: I only used all purpose flour in the recipe because the two stores I went to didn't have almond flour, I added fresh lemon zest to the recipe, and I will leave out the allspice all together next time - it's just too strong for my liking. The bottom and topping were SO GOOD and I loved the tartness of the dried cherries in the filling. I'll make these again and will probably change up the filling every so often too...you could use any fruit that you like best.



Happy Wednesday!

Love to all,

A New Look & A New Recipe...

My sweet friend, Faith, gave my blog a face lift and I love it! If you're interested in a new blog look for the New Year - click on her button on my sidebar. She's the best!

I tried a couple of new recipes over the weekend - both from Evil Shenanigans. I made the Soft Taco Stack for Alex on Saturday evening and he really liked it. The only thing I added was chopped jalapeno (the kind out of the jar) to give it a little more heat. I loved this recipe because it's for 4-6 people, so we can have leftovers for lunch/dinner the next day if we want. I'll be adding this to our regular menu!

The other one I tried was the Big Evil Cheeseburgers. My parents came into town, so I made these for them last night. They were ok. It was a cheeseburger. Nothing too special about it. I wasn't crazy about the special sauce that went on them. To be honest - I probably won't make these again - I'll just stick to making our usual cheeseburgers. This isn't to say you shouldn't try them - I just won't be adding them to our regular menu.

My parents are here for a couple of days - which I love! I'm pretty tired these days so it's nice to have help. I know it's silly but something as simple as cleaning the kitchen makes me feel so spoiled. Mama also helped me clean out Sydney's closet and room - it's not near as overwhelming to me now. Parents are the best. Amelia loves having them here too. She loves company and thinks everyone is here to see her. :) She also loves her Granny's reading glasses. She wants to wear them all the time. I'm hoping she doesn't need to wear glasses when she's older because she wore reading glasses too much as a small child. (HA!)



Love to all,

Date Night At Home...

When sitting down to discuss our goals for the New Year, Alex and I wanted to make sure we did a better job of having date nights. We had that on our goals for last year and sadly, it just didn't happen as often as we would have liked. We promised that this year we would have a date night at least once a month. You wouldn't think that would be very hard but when you have small kiddos - it's harder than you would think. I don't know why but I hate asking people to babysit...I feel like it's a lot to ask. I take Amelia to all of my doctor's appointments so I don't have to ask for a babysitter. There will definitely be times this year that I ask someone to babysit so we can get out of the house, but we both agreed that date nights at home would be fun too. So after putting Amelia to bed last night, we had dessert and a movie!



I wanted to fix a meal that would be special for Alex since it was date night and all. I made buffalo chicken tacos. He LOVES buffalo wings so I knew he would love this. I found the recipe HERE. They were very tasty and easy to make! The only thing I did differently was salt the chicken as I was frying it - the recipe didn't call for any salt and needed it in my opinion. I'll be adding these to our menu calendar for sure. I'm excited to try some other recipes from this site as well.



I also made Pioneer Woman's flat apple pie. We watched her make this pie on her show last Saturday. Alex mentioned that it looked SO GOOD and that it wouldn't hurt his feelings if I decided to try that recipe out...or something subtle like that. I usually make a no-sugar added apple pie and let me tell you - this is most definitely NOT sugar free. I didn't have shortening for the crust so I made it with butter. So that = almost 3 sticks of butter in this pie. It was AMAZING. I don't know if I'll ever buy a pre-made crust again. Or make no-sugar added apple pie ever again.

Or be my pre-pregnancy size ever again.

It was nice to put the computers/phones away and just spend time together. Even if it was in our living room and not a fancy restaurant and movie theatre. I just need time with my sweet man.

Love to all,

Meal Planning, Recipes, Etc.

One of the things on my list of goals for the New Year is to meal plan and cook at home more than I did last year. I'm happy to say that I sat down and planned two weeks worth of meals while Amelia was napping and then went on the longest grocery shopping trip of my life.

That last part about the grocery store wasn't the happy part.

Thanks to my sis, Joy, for watching Amelia! I'm not sure she would have enjoyed sitting in the grocery cart for that long and it made it a lot easier on me. Joy gave me a notepad that's made for meal planning - it even has a place for your grocery list off to the side that you can tear off and take with you. Except I used a notepad because my grocery list was 5 pages long.



Don't judge the lack of nutrition on my calendar for this week.

Maybe that will be a goal for next year.

Plan more nutritious meals.

Or maybe not.

I make cinnamon rolls every Saturday morning and we have donuts every Sunday at church. I see no reason to change tradition.

One area I would like to change is lunch/dinner for Amelia. Girlfriend is quite picky these days. I need some more ideas on getting her to eat different veggies. She likes green beans. Sometimes she'll eat raw carrots. She loves tomatoes. And that's about it.

It was so much easier when I could just feed her baby food. :)



See this happy girl in the picture? Remember how I told you she was doing so well in her big girl bed? Well she's still doing well - she sleeps all night - BUT she has started realizing that big girl bed = I can get up whenever I want. And she wants to get up at 6am! Or sometimes 3am, in the middle of the night, just to come in and take her Daddy's hand to say hello in a soft (semi-creepy) voice. She walked into our room this morning at 6am and said (in the loudest voice possible) "Mommy, have you seen my rabbit!??? I need my rabbit!!!"

I jokingly told Alex that if she's going to wake me up that early, the least she can do is learn to make a cup of coffee (we have a Keurig - it wouldn't be that hard) and bring it to my bedside.

And greet me with a softer tone. That would be nice.

I can just tell she needs more sleep than what's she's getting. She has always been all smiles in the morning and now she's waking up a cranky-britches. We just can't have that. I'm having to sing Psalm 118:24 to her several times a day - so things obviously have to change. I'm so thankful my parents sang scripture verses to me. They're coming in quite handy now that I'm a parent.

So we're still in the transition stage of the big girl bed and I'm so glad we started this process early. Way before Sydney arrives.

I was going to make strawberry muffins this morning but Amelia's mood called for something extra special, so I made applesauce puffs. These things are so easy to make and aren't too bad for you - until you dip them in melted butter and cinnamon sugar.



Look at the joy on her face. Can you say, "early nap time is a comin'?"



I'm trying out some new recipes over the next few weeks. Last night was the Queso Chicken Pasta from Evil Shenanigans. It was DELICIOUS. I think next time I'll make half with chicken (for Alex) and I'll just have the pasta with sauce. The sauce was amazing. I'll also use two jalapenos next time instead of just one. You should definitely try this recipe!

Love to all,

A Valentine Party...

I asked Amelia a couple of weeks ago if she would want to have a Valentine party. Her answer was quickly "YES!" She has no clue what Valentine's Day is but she knows very well what PARTY means. Party to Amelia = CAKE. (LOL) I thought it would be fun to invite a few of her cousins and little friends over to eat/craft/play for a couple of hours and who doesn't love a holiday that's all about love/hearts/pink/red things??? So we asked Alex if we could throw a party and with a smile on his face (because he knows this is just as much fun for me as it is for Amelia), he said yes!



I love Valentine's Day because you can be super cheesy and use paper hearts, balloons, go all out pink and red, and all that fun stuff. I've let Amelia choose the plates, napkins, invitations, etc. I give 4 or 5 choices and let her choose which one she likes best. She has even told me some of the food she'd like to have at the party. :) She picked out valentines on Saturday to give to her guests...I think she would have slept with them if I had allowed it. Now when she spots anything valentine-related in the stores, she says, "I need that for my Balentine party!" She can't say the "V" sound just yet.

All of the images below were found on Pinterest.



I've found so many cute printables online and there are lots of parties to draw inspiration from. I hadn't been on Pinterest in quite a while but have been on there at some point every day over the last week, looking at the cute Valentine ideas.

I found this printable HERE.



Amelia asks at some point every day, "is it time for my Balentine party?" We're keeping a countdown - we can't wait!!

Love to all,

Amelia's 2nd Verse...

Brought to you by the letter "B"

"Be kind to one another and build each other up."
I Thessalonians 5:11



Love to all,

New Year's Goals & Hopes...

Alex and I sat down and discussed our goals as a family and individually over the weekend. We went over our goals for 2011 and realized we met 50% of them...not too shabby! :) I'm really excited about a few of the goals we've set this year. I thought I would share a few of my personal goals for 2012.

1. Read through my Bible. I've tried this before and seem to get behind at some point and then fail to try to catch up. Not this year!

2. Stay in a devotional all year. I'm currently reading Jesus Calling. It's perfect for the season I find myself in as a Mama to a toddler and soon to be Mama to a newborn. Hours of "homework" in a Bible study just isn't realistic for me right now. I just desperately need that one-on-one time with Jesus in my day. That may be while sitting and reading my Bible/devotional. It may be while loading the dishwasher or folding towels. It may be while feeding Sydney at 1am. My heart just desires to have that time with Him and this year I'm not putting it on the back burner because I'm too busy or because I'm behind in my reading. I'm keeping it on the forefront of my mind at all times.

3. Make special time with Alex each evening. It's amazing how fast our evenings fly by. Once Alex gets home from work: we have dinner, he spends one-on-one time with Amelia, bath time for Amelia, read/pray/rock Amelia to sleep. By this time, we're both tired and ready for bed. I've realized it doesn't have to be a date night (though we're going to do better about having those once a month this year), it doesn't even have to be an hour together. It can simply be lying on the couch, talking about our day for as long as we can stay awake. :) It's just important that we stay connected on every level - it's what makes our marriage a happy, healthy marriage.

4. Record sweet memories in my Mom's One Line A Day journal. It's so easy to forget the cute/funny/sweet/silly/precious things that Amelia says each day. And these days it's EVERY DAY that she makes me laugh for some reason or another. She says the funniest things.

5. Respond to Amelia with soft speech. I actually started making a conscious effort last year to respond to Amelia softly. I would watch 19 Kids & Counting and was constantly amazed at how Michelle Duggar responded to her children. Always with a soft, loving, calm voice. I don't yell at Amelia but her delayed obedience (which is direct disobedience in our home) would bring me to a point of raising my voice and I didn't like that.

The Bible speaks quite a bit about our tongue/speech, so it's obviously important:

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue..." Proverbs 18:21

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." Ephesians 4:29

"A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger."
Proverbs 15:1

"A gentle tongue is a tree of life..." Proverbs 15:4

I always want to stay calm with her and I can honestly say her response to soft speech vs. raised voice is like NIGHT & DAY. It has become natural for me to respond to her in that way now and I like that. I also want her to respond to us and others with soft speech and she will only do that if we teach her through our actions.

6. Have more friends into our home. I didn't do a great job with this last year and I'm not sure why. I know this year will be crazy with having a newborn but as long as my friends/family don't care to come over to a dusty house - I still want to entertain on some level. Sharing a meal with someone in your home is where true friendships/relationships begin.

7. Do at least one fun project with Amelia each week. She needs this - especially after Sydney arrives. It can be the most simple thing in the world - she could care less. She just needs that one-on-one time and I plan on making it a priority.

8. Cook at least 4 times a week. Now this may mean sandwiches and soup some nights but I live with the least picky man in the world. In the way of - he will eat the same thing every night if that's what I choose to fix. He doesn't have to have a four course meal every night - he just needs me to take care of him in the way of planning/fixing our meals. He's good to me and always takes us out to eat on the weekends. I'm thankful for that break and the least I can do is cook the rest of the week.

9. Show love/encouragement in some way to someone every day. I have lots of friends/family that are all going through different things in their lives. I want to love on them whenever possible.

10. Stick with the budget. I'm excited to say we're going to the cash system in 2012! I think this will be great for our family and allow us to save more than ever before. I want to be the best steward of the money God has given us and I truly believe this is going to be GREAT for our family. I just have to be diligent in sticking with it.

11. Watch less television. I made a point to start this last year and also made a point to cut out any "reality" television that was on my DVR. God just kept convicting me of what I was allowing in my mind and home. I have a little girl that watches everything I do. I want to set the best example possible for her and I had no business allowing that junk/attitudes/drama/language into our home.

12. Give more. We give our tithe and to charities but I don't just want to give more in the area of money, I want to give more of my time and attention as well.

I was reading Passionate Homemaking which led me over to girltalk where Nicole was talking about New Year's Resolutions: things we want to change. She also talked about New Year's Hopes: things we can't change but are hoping and praying that God will allow to happen in the New Year. I encourage you to go read, especially if you have some New Year's Hopes of your own...a baby, a husband, a new home...you'll be encouraged and blessed...go read. :)

Love to all,

Big Girl Bed...

This was the weekend for Amelia to start sleeping in her big girl bed. We went back and forth on what to do - keep her in her crib/buy another crib for Sydney, make her crib into toddler bed/buy another crib for Sydney. She climbed out of her crib twice and Alex feared her trying to do it again and potentially hurting herself. And the thought of a little toddler bed wasn't appealing to me - it would look so small next to the other furniture in her room. We finally decided it would be best to give Amelia the queen size bed that we already had in storage. It also goes with the other furniture in Amelia's room. Alex took the crib apart on Saturday and put the new bed up while she was watching tv/playing in the living room. We told her that we had a surprise and she came running.

She LOVES it.



She took a 2 hour nap on Saturday afternoon and slept 12 hours on Saturday night. *HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF*



She insisted on sleeping with rabbit and "big baby" the first night. Amelia names her babies by size. Big baby, little baby, teeny-tiny baby, etc.

She makes me laugh.

She has asked about her crib the past two nights and always comes to the point of saying, "Sydney going to sleep in my crib?" I tell her yes and thank her for being such a great big sister and giving her crib to Sydney. Oh to know what's going through that mind of hers. She is so precious to me and will always be my baby.



We're still waiting on her new duvet and shams. I'll be doing a few new things in her room but everything else will pretty much stay the same. I'll post pictures as soon as it's all finished.

This has been a much easier transition than I thought it would be - for Amelia and for us. So thankful for that! :)

Love to all,

As For Me And My House...

I started my One Year Chronological Bible on January 1st. I'm determined to read my Bible the entire way through this year. Alex reads through his at least once (if not twice) a year. The man reads way faster than me. I also started a book called Jesus Calling - it's a short devotional for each day. Joy bought me this for Christmas and I LOVE IT. If you don't have it - I highly recommend it. Or if you do have it - buy it for some of your friends and family. What a great gift idea!



Another thing we're doing in the new year is teaching Amelia scripture. She's at an age where she soaks everything up and remembers EVERYTHING. If she can remember the words to "Jesus Loves Me" - she can definitely memorize Bible verses. I want to make it fun for her, so I put little motions with it which helps her remember. Her Aunt Sara made her an ABC scripture book for her birthday - there's a verse for every letter in the alphabet - cutest idea. We've been working with her for five days and she has already memorized her first scripture verse! Our goal will be to make it to the letter Z by the end of the year. If you're interested in printing a set of ABC scripture cards for your little one - you can find them at www.icanteachmychild.com No better gift you can give your child than the gift of God's Word.

"So love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, and strength. Memorize his laws and tell them to your children over and over again. Talk about them all the time, whether you're at home or walking along the road or going to bed at night, or getting up in the morning." -Deuteronomy 6:5-7



Here's her first scripture verse.

Brought to you by the letter "A"

"...As for me and my house we will serve the Lord." - Joshua 24:15



"How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." -Psalm 119:9-11

Love to all,

27 weeks...

I cannot believe I'm in my 3rd trimester already! I've started shopping for crib bedding. I've found a few that I like. I'm not going custom made this time around. I don't have the energy to go to the fabric store. That was one of the hardest decisions of my life - choosing fabrics for Amelia's nursery. Too many choices...too many options.

We'll start cleaning out Sydney's room (currently the guest room) this month. We're having the crib painted. It has several teeth marks on it from our sweet Amelia. :) Amelia will move to a queen size bed. I'm just praying she loves it. She keeps asking for her "big girl bed" and seems excited.

I'm thinking I'll keep the color in the guest room the same for the nursery and just give it a fresh coat.

Or I'll paint it gray.

But probably not.

I love color. I don't know that I could walk into Sydney's room every day if there weren't color on the walls.

I have a look in my head that I want for her room and I'm determined to do it on a budget.

The only thing Alex has requested is a comfortable chair. He loves to read to Amelia and rock her to sleep every night. He has spent HOURS UPON HOURS in the chair that's in her room. It's not the most comfortable - so he's requested no matter the money - it must feel like a LA-Z-BOY.

I need it to be cute.

So we'll see if we can find something that meets both our needs.

I still can't imagine her being here with us. Outside of my belly. She kicks so hard and so often and with each kick I think to myself, "we're going to have another baby!" Yet it's hard to imagine her actually here. I'm excited though. I can't wait to see Amelia with her. She has started calling her Baby Faith and talks to her and gives her kisses. Pure sweetness. We talk about her helping me feed Sydney and helping me change her diapers. I want her to feel a part of the whole process. I told her that Sydney would be arriving at the hospital and Aunt Joy would bring her to see us while we were there. She thought for a minute and said, "is Sydney ok?" We have spent many hours at hospitals over the past several months, seeing family members who were there for quite some time. We would tell her they are sick and we were going to the hospital to see them. I think she immediately put that together and was concerned about our new baby. I'm amazed at how much she understands. She's going to be a wonderful big sister - I have no doubt.

Lots to do in January. Let the room transformation begin!

Love to all,

Happy New Year!

We brought in the New Year watching "While You Were Sleeping", "The Santa Clause", and "Caillou." We also ate, played on the ipad, napped, and ate some more.

All while wearing a tutu.



Around 11:00, we went ahead and toasted the New Year with our non-alcoholic sparkling peach beverage. Amelia didn't make it much later than 11:15, Alex went to bed around 11:30, and I watched the ball drop at midnight.



I'm not big on resolutions but Alex and I are big on goals. We sit down together at the beginning of the New Year and list our goals as a family. I went over our goals from last year and there were several we reached - several we did not. I'm sure several of the 2011 goals will end up on the 2012 list as well.

I'm always excited for a new year and this year is no different.

I'm excited to meet our new baby girl in March 2012 - not very far away.

I'm excited to clean/organize house to prepare for her arrival.

I've been praying about my goals for the new year. I know life will be busy with a new baby but I want Him to be my focus in 2012, even with a new little one who will need much of my attention and time.

He has already laid a couple of people on my heart that I know I'm supposed to reach out to...show them His love every chance I can get. I find it so easy to get caught up in my wants, my needs, me-time, me, me, me. We're naturally self-absorbed, but living for self goes against everything His Word teaches. I don't just want to talk about wanting to spend more time in His Word or wanting to live a life that honors Him. I want to HAVE it and LIVE it daily. I have a vital role in how much I grow in the Lord...that's all on me...no one else.

My brother-in-law preached his father's funeral last week and part of what he spoke on was dying to self.

Dying to self leads to LIFE...an abundant life.

I want the first thing on my mind to be someone else other than myself when I wake up in the mornings. What can I do for someone else today?

Many days it will simply be what I can do for my husband and daughter. Just putting my own wants/desires aside and putting them first. As much as I love Alex and Amelia, some days are easier to do that than others. Usually the days that I'm really tired are the days that it's hard.

This season of life that I'm in brings a larger size than I care to wear, dark circles under my eyes, unmanicured nails, untweezed eyebrows, super-sized amounts of coffee to function, and when Sydney arrives - very little sleep. But this I know...I can still reflect Jesus to my family and those around me during this season. It's not always easy but it's what pleases Him.

To live the life of Christ and not my own...that will be my #1 goal.

Wishing you a blessed New Year!



Love to all,