Because of Motherhood...

One of the blogs I read recently asked the question what has changed in you because of motherhood. I thought that was a really great thing to think on and here is what I came up with some fun/ most serious.
Because of motherhood...
~ Sleeping in is past 7:30.
~ I have learned what it means to be selfless. Even though I have learned it kicking and screaming. I had no idea how selfish I was until little Eden came along and rocked my world. I was shocked when I could no longer do what I wanted when I wanted
~ I value a nap more than I ever thought possible
~ I have seen Christ pull out some really ugly sin in my life
~ Realize how much I need the Lord's grace...daily or more like hourly
~ I know a different kind of love than I've never felt before... can't fully explain it, but I feel it when my babies come and kiss me or Eden out of no where says, "Mommy I love you so much"
~ Realized how important this job is... the Lord has given Don and I precious little lives to mold and take care of.
~ That the house is not always going to be clean!! Messes are worth it
~ I know what it is to suffer to bring a life into the world. Not anything in comparison to what Christ did for me, but I know what pain is.
~ I love my husband more
~ I am thankful that I get to spend my days cleaning, playing, cooking, comforting, teaching, being creative, instructing and loving on my children all day. Didn't imagine that it would change my life the why it has
~ Unfortunately, I know the feeling of guilt that I have messed things up and had horrible mommy moments. Again, thankful for the Lord's grace to forgive and keep going.
~ I understand the mom in the store with a crying child. Been there and I know what she is thinking...
~ I have learned and still learning more what it means to trust the Lord.

I could probably have kept going, but those were the top ones that I wanted to share. It was a good reflection and I encourage you if you are a mom to do this sometime. Feel free to share any things that have changed in you because of motherhood. Have a wonderful rest of the day!!

5 years ago....

I cannot believe it has been 5 years since I married the best man in the world. I am amazed at the Lord's goodness in blessing me with such a great husband. I love him more than I ever thought I could. I loved our wedding day. It was wonderful. Yes hot, but wonderful :) Here are a few of my favorite wedding pics.

Memorial Day

We celebrated Memorial Day with a potluck cookout with some dear friends. I love love having friends over and eating good food and having great conversations. It was a lovely evening :)

i love don's laugh here

Celebrating 5 years!

June 2nd will be our 5 year wedding anniversary. We celebrated a weekend early because of different schedule conflicts and such (June is already becoming a busy month!!) The kiddos went to my mom's in Covington for Friday night and Saturday night. 2 nights!! We started the weekend by grabbing a quick bite to eat at Kwik Chek. They have amazing food! Then we headed downtown for Trolly night and walking in and out of shops downtown.

Saturday was our big celebration. We had a wonderful picnic at Botanic Gardens. Don did a wonderful job with the food... as always. We had crab dip, Goat cheese with honey, Manchego cheese, fig spread, raspberries, watermelon, baguette and a chocolate croissant for dessert.

We finally got to eat at Andrew Michael's Italian Kitchen. (we have tried to make reservations there 3 times and they are always booked). We started with Antipasta and a cheese plate. Yes, we like nice cheeses... a lot. I had the Red Snapper and it was so delicious. It was one of the best dishes I have ever eaten... ever. It was so worth the price and I cleaned the plate! Seriously, there was not even a lick of sauce left.

Don had the Soft Shell Crab and of course he said it was amazing. I think I won though on the best entree

For dessert I ordered the Marscapone Cheesecake with maple caramel and almonds. Delicious!

Don had the Chocolate Torte with Popcorn Gelato. He won for best dessert. That popcorn gelato was incredible. I love salty sweet and it was perfect!

After dinner we headed to the Dixon to see The Glass Menagerie. To be honest at first when they announced that the first act was 70 minutes with a 15 minute intermission and the second act was another 60 minutes. I was like goodness we are going to be here all night. It was already a late show. But I will have to say it was so good! The acting was great and had my attention the entire time!

We had the most enjoyable time celebrating our anniversary. 5 years have flown by. I am more in love with my husband than I ever thought possible 5 years ago. Blessed beyond words by that man.

For the City...

About a week ago I finished a wonderful book called For the City by Darrin Patrick and Matt Carter. They are both church planters one in St. Louis and the other in Austin. Through the book they share their experience, advice, confessions and much more on planting a church and being a church for your city. It is by no means only for church planters. I was so encouraged and stirred by every word in this book. I highly recommend it for anyone that longs to see their church be more for their city  I wanted to share a few things from the last chapter. Really I just want to copy and paste the last chapter for you to read, but I can't do that... too long.  They end the book with how we as Christians are all so much like Jonah. They explain how we are Jonah because we are a rebellious, self-righteous, comfort-loving, people-avoiding people. They go into depth about each one and I identified so much with each. I know all those things sound like a hard pill to swallow, but i often need to be humbled. However, you are not left feeling utterly useless. Through the Gospel they go on to explain how we are: 

• redeemed community experiencing the daily blessings of God's salvation
• a strategically placed community seeking God's purpose for our city
• a counter cultural community 
• a called community in possession of a dangerous message that God intends us to take beyond the walls of the church and into the lives of the lost. 

They zone in on one phrase that Jonah realizes, "Salvation Belongs to the Lord". I find an immense amount in comfort in those 5 words. I am a planner. I want to see things "succeed". And I tend to do this with everything. But as I read that phrase and really thought on it and let it penetrate my heart I was broken by it. Salvation is the Lord's. There is no great plan or tactic to see salvation or a church to "succeed" those things are the Lord's. While at the same time being faithful with our lives and and the specifics that the Lord has called us to as a church. "A church for the city is willing to dream big and take scary risks because the God who began a good work in and through the church is the God who will use the church to bless cities, nations, and the entire world." Amen and Amen

I desire with so much of my heart to be for the city... through our church and through our family. Oh, Lord use us up for your glory!

Happy Birthday Owen

Yesterday was Owen's 2nd Birthday. I cannot believe he is 2! He blesses our family so much. He is so silly, sweet and just full of so much life! We love him greatly! I wanted to share his birth story. I wrote this a few days after he was born. Enjoy! 

 

Owen’s Arrival

First, I am so blessed to have had 2 wonderful pregnancies and deliveries. I am so thankful for that.

I was 3 days past my “due date”, so I was very anxious for Owen’s arrival and not to be pregnant anymore.  On Wednesday May 12^th, I had told Don that I felt like Owen was so low and could basically fall out at anytime. That night as we were about to go to sleep my water broke at 10:50pm as I was lying in the bed. And it was a lot of water. I asked Don to change the sheets because I wanted to go back to sleep and I wasn’t having very strong contractions, but after talking to Dr. Wilson she urged me to come to the hospital. As we were driving to the hospital my contractions started to come about every 3-4 minutes. They were growing in intensity, but still not too bad. As we waited in the emergency room I had to start concentrating on my contractions more. I would close my eyes and envision my contraction growing and then going down. It helped me through Eden’s labor, so I figured it would work with Owen’s and it did. It was 12:30am by the time we got checked into our room and they checked my dilation. Dr. Wilson was surprised that I came to the hospital. I think she thought that I would just stay home and have the baby. I was 7cm and about 90% effaced. So, I had progressed pretty quickly.

I sat on my birthball for about 10 minutes as Don put warm pressure on my back with a rice sock. And as my mom and Chris gave my legs support when a contraction would come. After about 10 minutes of that I felt very sick. I had to spend the rest of the time in the restroom. I will spare the details here. But Don was in there with me and I knew I was almost complete. Once all that had passed the nurse came in and said she could check me again, but I told her I knew I was complete and he was ready to come. She checked me and I was right. I was at 10cm. The hardest part with that was lying down in the bed. I hate being in hospital beds and hate being on my back for labor, but it was quick.

Dr. Wilson told me I could start pushing whenever I was ready. Sidenote… She is a wonderful doctor! I love how she doesn’t rush labor or try to do any unnecessary interventions. I pushed in a squatted position with Don in front of me. Pushing with Owen was so hard! At one point I had rather just endure the contractions than push. But once I got in a good rhythm with it and was making progress I was encouraged. Once he was about to crown Dr. Wilson wanted me on my back, which I was fine with at that point. I kept my eyes closed through the last few pushes and I remember saying I just want him out! Once his head was out they told me to stop pushing because the cord was around his neck twice. Dr. Wilson quickly removed it and placed our beautiful son on my belly. I warmed him and wiped him off and we waited until the cord stopped pulsating before the cord was cut. He was born at 2:17am on Thursday May 13^th. Only 3 hours and 17 minutes of labor. One thing that was different with Eden is that her whole body came out so quick, but he was much slower and I had to push his body out…. Probably because he was bigger. It was a beautiful delivery. I just praised the Lord that he was here and safe. It did take Dr. Wilson about 30-45 minutes to stitch me up because as she described it, my tore was “creative”. It was a 2^nd degree. After she was done he easily started breastfeeding. He was 8.8lbs and 20 ¼ inches long. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! I wanted to reflect on being a mommy. This morning our pastor recognized all the moms and then read Proverbs 31: 28-31,

Her children rise up and call her blessed;
        her husband also, and he praises her:
    “Many women have done excellently,
        but you surpass them all.”
    Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
        but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
    Give her of the fruit of her hands,
        and let her works praise her in the gates

A classic and very timely verse for the day. As he read those verses I had so much emotion come over me. I really realized that I cannot do this on my own. No way. I am far too selfish and lack patience to do this "job" of being a mommy on my own. I am so thankful for the Lord's help to make it through everyday. At the same time I was overwhelmed with how blessed I am at getting to stay home and be a mom to two wonderful children. As I have shared before I never thought I would be a stay at home mom and now I could never imagine doing anything else. I love getting to teach, play and guide my children everyday.

As always my husband had a sweet day ready for me. Started with homemade poptarts! They were amazing! He got up at 5:30 to start on them. Homemade dough. He is always amazing me. We didn't get a pic of the finish product, but this was the making of it. No, I was not up to take the pic.

The kids made me some sweet cards and the wonderful Don Gale wrote me the sweetest card as always. Along with some chocolates and a cute ring from Spruce. So sweet! Now, he is cooking up some deliciousness. Not sure what all we are having, but he keeps giving me tastes and I feel like I am in the kitchen of some gourmet restaurant. I do know he is fulfilling my request for a tuna salad sandwich... i know random, but it is going to be awesome! I know I am bragging a bit on my hubs, but he deserves it. He blesses me so much!!

Lastly, I requested a picture with the kids and this is the best we could get... Owen is not very good at pictures at the moment. Just can't keep that little guy still. I didn't get to spend the day with my mom, but I did see her yesterday and I am so thankful for her Godly example over the years. She is the best and I love her so much! Hope you all had a wonderful mother's day :)