Yo yo yo

Here are some pics of the boys together! Sam loves his big brother. Also, my kids might watch too much TV.

random thoughts

It's late.  I should be sleeping, since my kiddos are asleep, but we are under a tornado warning, and well, the EXCITEMENT keeps me awake.  What can I say?  I guess I am turning into my husband.  Honestly, they've been screaming "RAIN" for hours today, and I have yet to see a drop.  So I guess I'll believe it when I see it.  Haha jk. I believe the radar. I am a nerd.

Last week, when we were in Alabama, we drove through a subdivision (less than two miles from my grandmother's house) that had been destroyed by a tornado.  It was psycho.  While driving through the mess, I was actually thinking that I had seen a real tornado before - then I remembered that no, that was only in my pregnancy dreams.

I struggle on this blog - about whether to write about what I want to write about or to write about what you may want to hear.  Since I don't really know who "you" all are, I end up writing about what I want to write about... or not writing at all.

Also, I often sit down and write like 10 posts at a time and schedule them out over the course of a week.  I might just start publishing them immediately... cause really, who cares?  It's not like I'm trying to be professional over here.

Tonight I caught up on over 450 unread posts in my feed-reader.  I mean, seriously, that is a lot of catching up.  But, I had to skip over some of the posts that were over three weeks old.  I scanned the reader for interesting titles and read some of those.  Apologies for those of you whose posts I skipped.

What other randomness can I share?

Speaking of weather related drama... my house this afternoon looked like it got hit by HURRICANE HENRY!  And it was one of those days where I just didn't clean up... I mean I just let the mess multiply.  Thank goodness Matt saw the hurricane damage not only on the floor, but all over my face, and he cleaned up for me.  What a great hubs.

I got off Pinterest like a month ago.  I miss the pictures of yummy food, but I don't miss everything else.  I'm over it.

Laundry never ends.  Cleaning never ends. NEVER. EVER.

Pictures and Updates- Feb and Mar

Happenings... I broke down and bought a double stroller. (pictured)

We actually drove cross country with two kiddos... 14 hrs and back to Alabama to see Honey and the cousins. The pictures of Henry and Sam crying in their carseats were taken in the car on the way home. I celebrated our accomplishment of traveling across the country by getting my hair highlighted the next day. (Which, thankfully, did not end in disaster.) ;)

Sam can now play in his exersaucer... And Henry likes it about as much. Hammy also likes the bumbo and yes, Henry still calls him Hammy.

And we all wore green on St. Patty's day- except Matt.

We've been to the pediatrician about 5 times in the last month-ish.. Sam's well check, Henry's well check, Henry's first ear infection followed by Henry's allergic reaction to amoxicillin followed by Henry's second ear infection... which will soon be followed by another ear check up and by Sammy's 4 month well check. So yeah, I might as well pack a tent in the back of the pediatrician's office.

And that's all for now, folks!

1000 testimonies

In my mom's group at church, we are taking turns sharing our testimonies, which is a fancy word for the story of how God showed up in our lives and saved us from our sin through Jesus.  I shared mine last Tuesday and as always it was great to remember the big "ah-ha" moment when the good news about Jesus became good news for me.  Maybe sometime I will share it with you. (I probably already have, but maybe I'll do it again.)

Anyway, it's always great to look back and see how God showed up in my life in a BIG way.  But since sharing my BIG testimony last Tuesday, I've realized that I don't have just one testimony (singular), I have a thousand little testimonies: answered prayers, freedom from sin, freedom from fears, reconciled relationships, forgiveness (some of these things happened instantly, some took awhile, and many, many have yet to happen). All of these testimonies point to the fact that God is making good on his promise to never leave me.  Jesus was forsaken so that I would never have to be, and there are millions of stories in my life that testify to that very thing.  And well, to be honest, it would take an eternity to share all of those testimonies.  I think I know what we might be doing in Heaven...

Conversation with Henry

Mommy:  Are you pooping?
Henry: No!
Mommy: Are you lying?
Henry: Yes!

And, for the record, he was actually pooping.  And, no, he doesn't actually know what it means to lie.

just love God

Sometimes I just don't want to do what I'm supposed to do.  Wait.  Let me rephrase.  Most of the time, I don't want to do what I'm supposed to do.  What I know God wants me to do.  Typically, I want to want to do it, but often I don't want to do it... not from the outset at least.  Example for this post: loving and forgiving someone who unknowingly drives me bananas instead of "venting" (nice way to say gossiping) about them to my best friend.

Sometimes I will try to force myself to do what I'm supposed to do anyway, but usually I end up having either a) a bad attitude about it or b) a "look at me" I am soo good and a "bigger person," prideful attitude about it or c) I will eventually burnout because I really don't want to do that thing. (Like, I can overlook someone's annoyingness once or twice, but if it happens three times, then I might have a fit of rage.)

Even though I might temporarily succeed in making myself do the "thing" (in this case, forgiving and bearing with the person), I can't succeed at changing my own heart.  Man it's hard not to forgive just to "be the bigger person." Satan is so sneaky... if I am forgiving someone because it makes me feel better about myself, then I'd say I'm probably even worse off than if I stayed angry. Pride is always worse than [fill in the blank].

In scripture, God says that the the problem with me is that my love for Jesus is too small.  If I love Jesus, says the Bible, then I will do what he wants me to do, and it won't feel like a burden.  If I love Jesus, I will want to love someone and cover their annoyingness, instead of exposing their annoyingness to my best friend.  If I'd rather hold a grudge and not forgive, then I need to love Jesus more.

But how do I love Jesus?  We aren't born loving Jesus.  We don't do it naturally.  We are born loving anything and everything but Jesus.  If I love Him, it's because HE (the only one strong enough to do it) has helped me love Him.

God says in His Word, "We love because He first loved us."  So the way to loving Jesus is knowing that He loved you first.  Not just knowing it in your head, but believing it in your heart.  And, like I've posted before, we know that he loves us because he lived and died for us.  He took our punishment for us on the cross. When we experience that love, we want to obey Him.

So when you come to a point in your life when you don't want to do what you know that God wants you to do, then let that be an indicator.  A flashing sign.  You have a bigger problem - you don't love God enough.  I don't love God enough.  Sounds like really bad news until we remember that 1- He loved us while we still hated Him and 2- He really wants to help us love Him and 3- He's mighty enough to do it. 

Don't try to muscle through without loving Jesus.  Let him help you.  He can take you from not wanting to obey to wanting to want to obey, to actually wanting to obey, to actually obeying.  Maybe I'll share an actual example of this in the future, too.  "The one who calls you is faithful.  He will surely do it."

Happy Friday.

our very own bermuda triangle

Missing: Car Keys.  Last seen December 20th.
Missing:  Henry's immunization record.  Last seen before his 18 month birthday in August.
Found:  One puzzle piece!  Found inside a VHS player.  Who still has a VHS player anyway?  It had been missing for like two weeks and Henry knew where it was the whole time... he led me to it today.

I used to take pride in the fact that I don't lose things.  But I can't claim that anymore.  I've been using spare car keys since the week before Christmas, and we cannot find my actual keys ANYWHERE.  We can't find Henry's shot record.  I blame it on two kids and not enough time to put things back where they belong... and a toddler who puts things in odd places for fun.  Who knows what is hiding under our refrigerator, between our couch cushions, behind our bed, etc.

Matt and I figure that all these disappearing items are hiding together somewhere.  But where?  Time will tell, I suppose.

head to heart

It's March, and I am just now sharing with you guys my new year's "resolution" which is really just my biggest prayer for myself this year.  Back in December, God put it on my heart to ask that all the knowledge I have in my head would become real and active in my heart.

It's been a theme in my life that I have seasons of knowledge and learning, followed by seasons of frustration that I cannot apply that knowledge or make things happen on my own, followed by seasons where the Lord shows up and makes himself known to me in an intimate way that makes everything "click" and all of the sudden head knowledge turns to heart understanding, and I am able to live out what I've been learning... because of God.  Does that make sense?  Well anyway...

1 Corinthians 8:1-3 says, "...this “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God."

In short, knowledge for knowledge's sake leads to pride... it leads to me thinking that I am better than I actually am.  If my knowledge is not coupled with LOVE- for God and other people, then I am really just "imagining that I know something." Ugh. That's gut-wrenching for me.

So that's been my prayer for this year- that I would love Jesus (and therefore other people) more.  That my knowledge about Him would be turned into love for Him yet again.  That everything in my head would be real in my heart.

And there.  I not only finished a post, but finished a post about something that's not necessarily easy to share. :) Progress!

nine drafts

There are currently NINE unfinished "draft" posts in my blogger.  I so WANT to post more.  I really do.  Blogging can be therapeutic for me.  But it takes a lot of time, and the posts I end up having time and energy for are the "easy" ones about my kiddos because, let's face it, kids are easy to talk about. 

As much as I want to write about other things and just get it all "out there," most of the time it is not the best use of my time.  Writing is truly something I feel like brings me a lot of joy.  Anyway, since I am mostly with Henry and Sam all day, I feel the need to write and/or connect with other adults more than probably ever in my life, and yet the ability and time to actually do that just isn't there.  Even when we have play dates or I hang out with my mom's group or with other friends - it feels like there's just never enough time to really share everything we want to share or learn everything we want to learn about each other because our kiddos never stop needing us.  Someday soon, I'm sure...


There!  I finished a post during Henry's nap.  He's awake now.  Till next time, friends.

burrito baby

Henry would sleep just about anywhere, anytime, and we stopped swaddling him really early on... like when he was 6 weeks old.  He just didn't like it or need it to fall asleep. 

Sam on the other hand... well, Sammy is a different story.  This kid's hands haven't seen the light of day - he is swaddled like 90% of the time.  It is like a magic charm.  I don't even know why I have cute clothes for him because he "wears" the swaddling blanket nonstop. 

It is also great, though, because when he starts to get tired, I just swaddle him, shove the paci in his mouth, and he starts to nod off.  Easy as pie, my friends. (Most of the time... he's not sleeping as much like a newborn anymore.)

Here's my burrito baby.