ten on Tuesday

1. I read this powerful post this week and it has my heart thinking and praying.

2. I found this site and this  site that have tons of creative activities for toddlers. We have tried a few activities out and will have to share with you how some of our craftiness turned out.

3. David is working really hard this rotation. He wakes up at 4:30 a.m. and gets home close to 8 p.m. most nights including this past weekend. We are really looking forward to his upcoming weekend off. So proud of how hard he is working.

4. Residency in Texas is no joke. Two weeks ago I cried through the entire worship part of church. And it is not that I don't want to be here or I am unhappy but it is still quite an adjustment. I shared this with Brittany and she got hit with the same flood of emotions that Sunday as well, which made me feel better that I was not alone.

5. My friend Hannah just got engaged! I am super excited for her!

6. We tried this new recipe tonight for dinner tonight at the advising of David's brother Brian. It was a hit. It is similar to comfort food casseroles you grew up on but is much healthier with quinoa and homemade cream of chicken soup with a punch of curry. You should try it.

7. Owen and I are planning to take a mom-and-me swimming class next week at the YMCA, pretty pumped about that.

8. Somebody is turning 2 next month, and you can bet a tractor birthday party is in the works.

9. I am currently reading The Power of a Praying Wife and really enjoying it and the study guide that accompanies it.

10. I am married to rockstar of a dad. If you don't believe me check out the images below. These two boys are my world and nothing makes me happier than seeing them having fun together.
Happy Tuesday everyone.

new book

This weekend, this beauty arrived in the mail:

I am sure no one is as excited over this as me, but 894 pictures later and 437 pages long...it was a labor of love. I had been putting it off, but when David worked nights I couple of weeks ago, I tackled this project and it was worth every hour.

This blog serves as our scrapbook of our life and the neat thing about blogging is that is makes it so others can see. I know our parents, aunts and uncles and even grandparents read along each week. This way they can feel connected even when we can't see each other. 

Blurb makes a great program for turning your blog into a book. It is really easy to use, I just like to change the layout of my pictures...so that is what took a little longer. I went with a larger book than last year. I also did image wrap for the cover and think I like that much better. 

I was very happy with how it turned out...forgive the shadows in the pictures of the book, the actual pages look excellent.

It is fun to look back over the year, Owen has had fun looking at the pictures too. 

Hope one day Owen can look back and see how much he was loved and have the pictures and stories to go with it. 

Or if I grow old and can't remember, someone can read to me about how beautiful our journey really was : )

finding joy

The days leading up to our beach trip had been a little stressful, as have some other moments in the past few months. I don't know why I let myself feel stressed. God has shown himself through this entire process of moving. He provides. He provided the residency program, the people, the realtor, the house, a good home inspection, lenders, moving company, etc. He provides. Why then do I let those little moments creep in or worry?

I got to finish a book I had started months ago sitting on the beach having a little alone time...which is a gift in itself. You have probably heard of the book, One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. She has a very unique style of writing. It is a very thought provoking book and for some reason I had not been able to get through it until this week. And finally I really heard what she was trying to say, I got it. Maybe I wasn't at a place that I could really "hear" before or maybe my heart wasn't ready to let go of trying to do it all myself.

Why do I still feel stress? Why don't I have more joy in my life?

She brought to my attentions some important points, let me share some words from her book:

How can I help this son of mine when I can't see? The parent must always self-parent first, self-preach before child-teach, because who can bring peace unless they've held their own peace?

Practice. The discipline of thanks only comes with practice.

We don't have to change what we see, just how we see.

The secret to joy is to keep seeking God where we doubt he is.

Stress isn't only a joy stealer. The way we respond to it can be sin.

"Don not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. "John 14:1

"Oh the joys of those who trust the Lord." Psalm 40:4

I can't fill with joy until I learn how to trust: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and you trust in him, so that you may overflow." Romans 15:13

The feeling of joy begins in the action of Thanksgiving.

"Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy" James 1:2

My own wild desire to protect my joy at all cost is the exact force that kills my joy. Let go of trying to do, let go of trying to control...let go of my own way, let go of my own fears. Fullness of joy is discovered only at the emptying of will. 

Counting his graces awakened me to how He cherishes me, holds me, passionately values me. I am empty because I am full of His love. I can trust. I can let go. 

Grace is meant to fall like rain...again, again, again.

So I am counting my blessings, each day, putting them in writing. So I can see them. So when I feel stress...I will remember.  He provides bread. His blessings overflow. Seek Him to be fulfilled. So I will learn to think differently and learn to see Him and be filled with joy. Hoping that joy will overflow and I will give grace again and again and again.

The beach trip was good for my soul. I even thought for a moment, why start something like this now in the middle of a transition. But I think that is just the perfect time. Take the discipline of finding joy with me, take that comfort with me, find his blessings everyday and give grace. 

I may share a few pages from my journal every now and then, but tonight I wanted to share the story behind it.

Peter Rabbit

Meme's house was home base during our two week excursion. She is always so kind to just let our crazy life into her house and make it her normal routine.

Owen and Meme established a little routine of their own.

Each night at bedtime, Owen and Meme would read the story of Peter Rabbit.

Owen eagerly went upstairs to get to read this special book with Meme.

It has special pop-up pages.

That are just right for little hands to play with.

Somehow I think this time wasn't just special for Owen, but very memorable to his Meme...as it should be.

Good Sleep

So I feel the need to update you on the happenings at our little home. Guess who is sleeping soooooooooooo much better?

Yes, it is that little man eating bananas! A week ago tonight we gave a real effort at teaching Owen to sleep. Little Bit would rather be held the entire nap or sleep in between me and David...but that just wasn't cutting it. So with some hesitation we started sleep learning ( I prefer to call it that). A friend recommended this book: The Sleepeasy Solution.

And well my friends, it is amazing it actually worked! I will tell you the first few nights and days were not easy. You can ask my neighbors who saw me and Owen looking a little rough and weary by about Thursday, but by Saturday Owen went straight to sleep by himself after 15 minutes...you just don't know what a big deal that was. And every night since he has done well. He sleeps so much longer and harder when he falls asleep by himself in his crib. He is also doing so much better with his naps. We are seeing real progress and so happy for our little fellow. If you know anyone that is dealing with sleep issues, it is a great book for ages birth to five years old.

Besides sleep, Owen has been doing alot of this: pointing

His favorite thing to point to is the fan. Each time you enter a new room...points straight to the fan (it is pretty fabulous and all). 

Other than the fan, he points to lights and if you are a special person in his life he just might point to you : )

But back to my main point (haha) of this post...Owen is making real progress with his sleep!! Yay

(Update: I feel I must update this post in case anyone ever ran across and read about our sleep dilemma. Owen is one year old and sleep is not what my baby does best. It really took him until he was 11 months old to sleep through the night (as in from 8 to 7 in the morning). He just was not a baby that could cry it out. It literally would make him sick to his stomach. And no one can handle that. This book's suggestions worked for a few weeks and then traveling and sickness put us back to square one. And then we just did whatever worked to get through some colds, teething. etc. And then one night he just didn't wake up. I don't really know what the secret is or was. He still has nights he will wake up. Right now he is working on getting his molars in, so I think it is harder when he goes through lighter phases of sleep in the night. I think every baby is different and different things work for different babies. We still rock when we got to bed and he usually falls asleep and slightly wakes up when he lays down. He can sleep through the night but some nights are still rough. So this book may or may not be an answer for sleep deprived mamas and daddies. Every baby is different! )

blog book

So look what came in the mail yesterday! It's our blog book! We decided that it would be great to make a scrapbook out of our blog each year and this is the perfect way to do it. It was so simple and we are very happy with the way it came out. We used Blurb http://www.blurb.com  to make our book. It "slurps" your posts into a book. You can choose the size (we chose 8X10) and whether you want hard cover or soft (we chose hard) and customize your book. You can add or delete pics or posts from the blog and change the layout if you want. We tweaked ours just a little to make some pics bigger but it was very easy.

What a special keepsake!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

This is Owen's very favorite thing to do right now...pull up on his crate of books!

This is one of our favorites...The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Your mama loves reading books with you baby boy!

Baking, Yertle, and an Adorable Owl

This past weekend we went home to Greenville so Daddy could hunt and everyone could see Little Bit. He has changed so much since Christmas! He is growing up so quickly, sitting up and playing. Saturday we spent the day at Gammy's house baking in the kitchen and playing. Some of my most favorite times are in Gammy's kitchen...lots of laughter, smiles, licking the batter, etc.

How many great-grandmothers do you know that crawl down in the floor to play with their great-grandson. Gammy continues to amaze me.

We decided to make these "Delicate cupcakes". Gammy used to make them when my mom was growing up. They have a slight lemon flavor to them. I like the bright flavor of the fresh lemon juice in the icing.

Do you see at the top of the recipe it says "serves 18"...well we missed that little detail and put all the batter into 12 cupcake tins. Needless to say we had 12 Large Delicate Cupakes! We made a note at the bottom of the recipe to remind us that this makes 18! 

one LARGE Delicate Cupcake! (with some sugar sprinkles)

You might remember this lovely little favor from a certain wedding in 2007. 

The recipe on the inside is for Tea Cakes, my mother's favorite cookie. This recipe was from Ms. Martha Claire Wall....a family friend. We never seem to fit everything we want to do in at Christmas, so we made these cookies this weekend too.

Owen lit up and squealed when Caroline walked in the door Saturday night. He was so excited to see her, who can blame him...she is a beautiful girl. They read and looked at the pictures in Yertle the Turtle.

Caroline made these adorable Owl cupcakes. They were so cute and tasty. You don't have to be a Chi O to love these sweet treats!