Fall

I sit here looking out my girls bedroom window and watching the leaves fall so delicately from our large ash tree in our front yard. I take a moment to breathe it in before mommy hood beckons me back to reality. I just had baby #4. Her names Praise Elizabeth and she was born on 10-7-2017. As far as we know, she is our last and although I am exhausted I am trying to soak in every inch of newborn. I love this stage and I will miss it. But things come to an end. Like the summer season recently has. I believe a new season is coming and I await the breakthrough God has for us this Fall! Just as the Astros came in victory for us after the terrible flood of Harvey. As we have sought God this past hard season, He will be found in this new one and show us His Glory! Short on time but I just had to jump on here!

It is time

I need and want to get back to blogging. I love it. My life is just short on time now. Since my last post I had yet another baby! :) His name is David Jax and he was born on 8/7/2015, weighing in at 7.7...my biggest baby yet! He is such pure JOY! The girls love him...especially Lillie! He is 8 months old currently and is always smiling, crawling everywhere, saying Mama and Dada, pulling himself up, into everything and a little cuddle bug! These pictures are entirely out of order but at least I got them on here and they are a brief catch up on our lives! Since i last wrote...
-Steven finished his clinincals and is now a paramedic! He was a full time firefighter/EMT until February of this year and then went down to part time and is now full time at the church we attend. Right after I had Lillie we joined a new and local church plant called, Antioch and we love it! This past year they offered Steven the job as full time college pastor and we felt God say yes! Its a great job and much better for our family time! Steven still also has a passion for acts of mercy/the health field and will still pursue that in some way. But he and I both have a deep heart for ministry so serve currently at our church. We love our new community and thank God for them! I serve our church through the college ministry as well but also through listening prayer ministry with them. We just celebrated our five year Anniversary in March!
-Lillie turned 3 (at Disneyworld) and then 4 (Alice in Wonderland themed tea party at a park bday party!) She has taken swim lessons and can swim pretty good. She is also in ballet and tap and loves to dance! She starts 2 days a week pre-kindergarten this coming fall and is so excited for her 1st school (I stay home with the littles.) Lillie loves to watch cartoons and movies still; loves to learn; loves to go places...anywhere; is a servant, a great and loving big sister; caring; outgoing in a crowd and no stranger isn't a friend (but quieter at home) and prophetic.
-Jubilee turned 1 and then 2! She is shy in a crowd but the most loud and rowdy at home! She never sits still, is very compassionate, a prayer warrior already, loves to play with babies and read books, follows her big sister around, and loves to eat. Her name defines her perfectly! She is a force of life and joy!
-And as I said earlier, David joined our lives 8 months ago and we are all in love with this little gift of life!

That's all I got time for for now but I at least somewhat caught up! Will write more when time allows...if anyone even still reads this...haha. Peace and Joy to you all!

I'm Still Here...

Hello! So there is WAY TOO MUCH to try and catch up on and I felt convicted that I needed to start writing again so, providing my 2 babies allow me time too, here I go.

First of all, yes, I said 2 babies! Lillie Joy is now 2 years old and just plain awesome! She is smart, funny, beautiful, a little diva (unlike her momma); However, loves to be playing outdoors at all times (just like her momma) and just plain and simple a character! 8 months after she turned 1 we had another baby girl and her name is Jubilee Charis! She is ever so different from her big sister. She is tiny, barely sleeps, tags along wherever we go very peacefully, is 95% of the time very happy, a huge snuggler and a doll! She was born on 11-22-2013 and much more easily than Lillie! I will attach a few pictures of them both. I am a stay at home momma and my days consists of taking care of our girls 24/7! I am exhausted but love it and wouldn't have it any other way!

All that said, Lillie is up from her nap so blog time is already over. :) I will move on as to why I felt that I needed to start writing again (that is if I still have any more readers now...haha) in my next post (that won't take over a year!) :) I do have a purpose (other than updating you on my daughters.) Can't wait to dive in again!

Update on Lillie

Lillie is 16 months now and finally fully recovered from her bad cold and then immediately following UTI. Here is what Lillie is up to now a days...

*Lillie is beginning to talk up a storm (as best as you can understand her but I think she's pretty clear!) :) She says the following:
no, yes, up, amen, momma, daddy, papa, Aggie, sings the "ee...ii...ee...ii...oo" part of old macdonald, sissy, Lisa, makes lots of animal noises, baba (bottle), bye, hi, ball, makes car noise & firetruck siren noise, apple, shoes, Uh oh, woah, there, boo, bubble, again, grace, hot, "pizza box" for pizza, that, hat, sshh, thank you, please, ow peas (out please) & more. She is turning into a little parrot.

*Lillie loves:
Disney Jr cartoons; reading books; people coming over to her house; taking baths; going for stroller rides; going for walks now on her own; water & "swimming;" her cousin, grace; yogurt; going "bye-bye," hiding items around the house; going to my parents house and seeing the chickens; playing chase and jumping on our bed with Daddy; snuggling with mommy when 1st wakes up; and playing with her toys!

*Lillie, you are:
funny, silly, sweet, already testing your boundaries, attached to Momma, loveable, beautiful, a great sleeper, tan already; easy going, quiet, and about to be a big sister! I pray that you love your little sister from the moment she gets here! And I pray that you live up to your name and life verse...among so much else! Above all else, "May your love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself!" I love you so very much, baby girl!

Sorry not more pictures but here you go! :)

Snow Fall in July

I'm more of a realist than a dreamer. Therefore, I can lean towards thinking more negatively at times than positive and it's a fight for me. These past few weeks have been hard! After my last uplifting post (ha), Lillie caught a bad cold that I figured would pass quickly but it ended up lingering for over a week and during that time I caught it too and so we were both house bound, congested and feeling crummy! Just when I thought she was on the mend from that, she awoke a week later with a high fever that persisted for a couple of days. This past Saturday we took her to an urgent care clinic and they found no signs of infection from cold in Lillie. Praise Jesus for that but didn't take away the fact that she was still not eating, drinking, filled with a high fever and so weak. Dr. said that she had probably caught a virus after the cold and if the fever was still there Monday to take her to her Dr. b/c she could have a UTI. Well, it was still there yesterday so to the Dr. we went. I brought in my own urine sample of her so they wouldn't have to cath her and I was happy to find that they accepted it. Still no signs of infection in her so they tested her blood. No bacteria in blood (praise Jesus!) So off to the lab her urine went and we should find out results tomorrow. In the meantime, we still have a very weak, fever laden, little girl on our hands and it's dis-heartening. I was complaining to my husband about it yesterday...all the circumstances that are seemingly out of whack around me: A very expensive a/c unit on the fritz, my congestion still lingering, Lillie still sick for over 2 weeks now, sacrifices that abound surrounding pregnancy...you know...the normal woes of life...so he sweetly decided to leave work early yesterday and let me head to the gym for a much needed work out and break after 2 weeks! (Long sentence!) :) The first 30 minutes in were rough. I was still in complaining mode in my head, I was coughing so much that I had an asthma attack and then peed myself a bit (due to pregnant with 2nd child...hahaha...no shame here!) But I pushed through, blared the praise music into my headphones and finally felt some peace. Afterwards I headed to the grocery store to get a few, needed items and thats when I saw it...snow in Texas in July! Ok, so it didn't really snow. However, my part of Texas is known for it's Crete Mertel trees in the summer and they sure are pretty! This particular grocery store that I frequent has white ones planted on its premisis and yesterday was an unusually windy day so the little, white flowers were just gliding in the wind and looked just like snow! It was spectacular for me! I've been cooped inside for awhile now if you can't tell! :) Anywhow, thats when I felt God whisper in my spirit, "Child, I am not ignoring you. There are so many blessings among the difficulties right now that you are just choosing not to see and if you did, you would hold your head a little higher. For example, you always complain that Lillie doesn't cuddle but for the past 2 weeks that is all she has wanted to do with you. Furthermore, yes, your a/c unit is old but a repair man doing a courtesy check told you it was about to break. There are actually no problems as of now and your a/c is running fine. No need to worry. You have a/c. And in a few years when life gets crazy, you will long for the days when you could just sit and rock a sick baby, all the while feeling another one wiggle inside of you, with no demands of anywhere to be. In the mundane, I see your faithfulness and it matters." Aaahh...nothing like a sweet rebuke/gentle reminder from Jesus. I get it now, God. Thank you, Jesus! And it was then, that I danced in the snow...among all the heat and mosquitoes! :)
P.S. Prayers for Lillie still appreciated. Thanks! Updated pictures soon to come. Oh and we found out that I am having another girl by the way!!! Lillie will be a big sis sometime in November!

Sunscreen, sweat & off...is that all?

I've been yearning to write lately but either don't have the time or just don't know what to say. I never wanted this blog to just be an update on my life. I wanted it to be inspirational. But I guess I have felt un-inspired. However, I hate to admit that because I have the greatest inspiration at my disposal...Jesus! And not only that, my life is not bad. Yet I have been "blah." I don't know any better word than that and I have no grand reason as to why so I feel guilty about it. But I guess there are a few things piled on top of each other that have not helped that feeling. First things first, I am 17 weeks pregnant!!! Yes, a surprise to us but a good and God one! I am due November 29 but will either be induced or scheduled for a c-section a week before that (due to complications with my last delivery with Lillie.) We find out the sex of the baby in 2 weeks and I can not wait! With that said, I really do have easy pregnancies (praise Jesus!); However, I do seem to project some "grouchy hormone" that just doesn't enjoy being pregnant...ha. I hate to admit it but its true. And on top of that, it doesn't help that my main source of community these days is my 15 month old baby, Lillie! Please hear me...she is probably the greatest joy in my life next to Jesus! I love her to pieces and hourly thank God for her! However, it does make for long days when it's just mostly her and I all the time. Steven works a lot unfortunately (life of a fire fighter) so he is not able to be home as much as the "normal" husband/dad...or as much as he would like. Another cause of "blah." So my "pregnant, stay at home mom, chasing a baby, and doing most of it alone self" is struggling with the mundane right now. Most of Lillie and I's days consist of being lathered in sunscreen, sweat and Off as we play outside with the dogs. I am a blessed girl and thank God daily, but this is my lot right now and I am still human and just being honest. I guess I miss community...with my husband, day to day with adults, etc. We have a great church that we joined not to long ago (Antioch) and that was an answer to prayer! It has helped. But this is still how I feel. Sorry for the depressing/non inspirational post. But I wanted/needed to start writing again so I just did and this is what came out. Aren't you lucky? :) That is, if anyone still reads this. I thank God for the diapers and the more about to come! In the meantime, I am asking God to show me His Glory in such a way in this phase of my life that it rushes Living Waters back into my soul and restores me! I know this is just a phase and one that I will miss when all is said and done. Lillie is about to wake up now and my pregnant self is hungry so I must hop off.

I officially have a toddler!

This past week has been busy for my family and I! On March 19th we celebrated my mom's birthday (which was also Steven and I's anniversary.) Then the next day, on March 20 was Lillie's 1st birthday! I opted out of the big, 1 yr old, birthday celebration trend and just kept it simple. The pictures tell the story. We spent the day doing everything that Lillie loves-as of right now. We woke up, played around the house, had bfast, then she took a nap. After her nap, Lillie and I headed to Froberg's (our nearly local Farmer's Market) with Mimi and the cousins and picked strawberries. Then we headed to Menchie's for some frozen yogurt. After that it was home for another nap, then that night we celebated with Daddy and my family over her favorite dinner of Pei Wei and her 1st cake! She was spoiled and loved all of her gifts and all of the attention! The next day we played with all of her toys and then some of Daddy's family came over for cupcakes and more celebrating! The following day was supposed to be Steven and I's celebratory anniversary outting (with Lillie spending the night out for her 1st time at my parents); However, plans sadly backfired! Steven, Lillie and I all took 24 hour shift turns with the new stomach virus that has been going around! Ugh! But today is a new day and we are ready to get in full swing as we prepare for Easter! So much hope fills my heart as well as sadness. But that is for another post that hopefully I will have time to write soon. Lillie keeps me busy these days! And on that note, I will end with all that encompasses Lillie in this first year of life!

Lillie, at one years old you love...
*your sleep
*to eat-especially strawberries, noodles, frozen yogurt, peas, mum mums and your bottle
*your cousin, Grace
*Disney Junior cartoons
*reading
*bath time
*being pushed on any kind of device
*animals
*the outdoors
*going to Papa's to see his chickens
*and anyone who gets on the floor and plays with you-giving you their un-divided attention

You still look just like your Daddy and are like a day away from walking on your own. You can say: Mama, Mom, Daddy, Dada, Papa, Grace, out please (ow pea), Uh Oh, Baba (bottle), and Bath. And you also love to make animal noises. You are: unique, independent, smart, beating to your own drum, funny, beautiful and sweet. I can't believe that it's been a year! We both survived by God's grace! :) You are so loved, Lillie Joy!