Beauty in the ordinary

Today has been long, and I'm tired.  I should change into my jammies and go to bed, but I just needed to get this out.  Tonight.  This week. All ordinary.  All great.  Maybe nothing spectacular happened, and it probably seems boring to an outsider.  But tonight for the first time in a while, I am excited for tomorrow.  I'm excited to set my alarm for 7am and try once again to wake up before the kids.  I'm excited to meet with God and let Him set the tone for my day.  I am excited to quietly unload the dishes in the morning (if I actually get up), while the rest of my people sleep.

Tonight I snuggled with Shepherd on the couch as he had his bedtime bottle.  I just kissed his head and rubbed his fingers.  I thought "Ya know. He's probably old enough to get rid of his bedtime bottle".  But then I thought "Eh, I like our night-time ritual, and I'm gonna enjoy this little snuggle session as long as I can".

During this time Inara was having her bed-time snack of cereal.  She's obsessed with cereal lately and pretty much asks for it all day long.  She's just like her Dad.  So she's eating at the table and I hear "oh, no! Momma. I spilled my milk on my chair and undies". (Because yeah, she eats her bedtime snack in just her undies).  I reply "Its ok baby.  Just grab a dish towel, wipe off your chair, and change your undies".  And then it hits me. 1) God has done a good work in me to allow me to not reply in frustration at the mess she's making, but to reply calmly and with grace. Guys! This. is. huge.  2) I have a big kid.  Big enough to eat her snack unattended. Big enough to not freak out and be emotional when something doesn't go her way.  Big enough to receive 3 commands for what to do next, and then DO THEM ALL WITHOUT BEING REPEATED.  It was like an out of body experience.

I put Shepherd in his crib.  Covered him up with his 2 blankies, gave him his doggie stuffed animal, turned on his mobile, one last face stroke, and left the room.  I went into Inara's room where she requested a story from the Jesus Storybook Bible (seriously though, why have you not bought this yet?).  It's about the 10 Commandments.  She informs me she doesn't like the way Moses looks because "That's not how Mr. Langford draws him".  So we discuss that for a while.  Then we discuss The Law and how its good (Thank you, Peter Laruffa, for your last sermon).  Somehow we get talking about how not everyone has a Bible and knows about Jesus.  She doesn't understand how that can be possible and keeps asking "But why, Mom?"  I love her child-like faith.  We finish our conversation, we pray for kids without Bibles, and I sing "Come Thou Fount".

And Scene.

It is simple.  It is my life.  And it is good.











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I had the best day

Today was simple, but I had a really great day on my first Mother's Day to 2 kids. Can I share it with you? Ok, thanks!

It started out wonderful and I got to sleep until 7:30!  I climbed into Inara's bed with her for a few morning snuggles.  We then played with her dollhouse for a while.  This is a new stage for her actually letting me play with her instead of just watching her.  Its fun to see the world through her eyes as she pretends with her dollhouse family.

After about 20 minutes Shepherd woke up.  Let me tell you something.  This little boy has stolen my heart like no one else.  He is just the sweetest thing. So I walk into his room and staring up at me is the sweetest face I've ever seen.  He instantly smiles the biggest smile I have ever seen a baby smile. I scoop him up and shower him with kisses. Side note- I am not sure how I will handle him being too old for me to kiss his chubby neck and cheeks. Justin wakes up we spend semi-uninterrupted time together on the couch. Ps, I really miss him these days.  We get ready for church and we are out the door.

Today was the baby dedication at church.  Our names are called.  We are encouraged by our pastor and I get teary eyed thinking about the 2 tiny blessings in my life. I succeed in not having a complete sob fest in front of the whole church (Thanks Jesus!).  More celebration of new life as we watch 5 or 6 people I don't know get baptized. The great thing is...it doesn't matter that I don't know them.  Seeing people being made new is a beautiful gift and for the second time today, I fight back a complete breakdown.

The rest of the day is spend with Justin, the kids, my parents and we got to facetime with Justin's parents too.  Nothing spectacular, more pretending, more cuddling, LOTS of smiles from my youngest baby, some fun (and not so fun) teaching moments with my oldest baby, and the day ended with bedtime talk about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit....um yeah...trying to explain the Triune God to a 3.5 year old is a bit tricky. But I am so thankful for her inquisitive spirit and even though sometimes it drives me crazy, its a huge blessing and such a joy for her to ask "why" about Jesus and his creation.  I get up to leave her room and Inara says "Momma! I need another hug!"  Typically Inara uses bedtime stalling techniques, but I can tell she genuinely just wants another hug.  I give her a huge squeeze, kiss her snotty face, another squeeze and tell her "Buenos Noches".

As I am nursing Shepherd and I see his bright blue eyes staring back at me, a huge smile, and then some droopy eyelids...I think "I had the best day".  Which then made me think of "The Best Day" by Taylor Swift. I am totally not ashamed to say that I really love her.  Anyway, so I listen to the song...and finally sob.  I finally get it.  I get how much my Mom and Dad loves me because that's how much I love Inara and Shepherd.  I sob because I don't think I really ever knew they loved me that much.  I cry even more because I think how incredibly heartbreaking it must have been to parent at times.  I cry out to God and beg him to not let Inara or Shepherd treat me the way I treated my parents. I wipe my nose as I realize these days I have with Inara and Shepherd are so fleeting. It's so cliche, but it really does seem like just yesterday Inara was signing her first words. I blink and almost 4 months have gone by and my last baby is already so big.  Today has been the best Mother's Day yet. Granted I have only had 3, but still...today has been the best day.

If you are a glutton for punishment, then you should definitely listen to this T. Swift song.  You'll probably want some tissues and to be in a room alone so you can ugly cry.

*Ps, once again I have zero pics of me WITH my kids...mom fail*

Spring Party

Last year I saw this idea for a Spring Party from OhAmanda and I loved it. We had our own little Spring Party last year and I managed to throw one together this year too. It was really fun to do all the secular Easter things.  We don't want to take the fun out of those celebrations, but we just wanted to make sure that on Easter the right things were celebrated.

We prepared by dyeing eggs.  I really had to allow my self to have fun :) I am such a freak and didn't want colored dye everywhere. I soooo wanted to just dye them my self, but alas I was a fun mom and let Inara do it all. He really had a lot of fun.

We sang songs while we let the eggs sit.
Inara grabbed Justin's hand and held it the whole time.
She loves her daddy!

And while we were waiting for the eggs to dye, we also stumbled upon this awesome gem of song/video. Inara was obsessed with it and watched it over and over.

We invited some friends over and had some brunch together. I also made this yummy Blushing Mimosa Mocktail for us all to have. It was delicious. I just substituted the champagne for sparkling apple juice...YUM!

Source: Allrecipes

Next week hid the baskets for the kiddos.  After they found the baskets, then the looked for the eggs.

Girls making a craft

Fun loot from her basket

Marley is pretty much in love 

They made bunny noses...although they kind of look like spiders.

Even this little guy had fun

I mean seriously. What a cutie :)

Holy week

Last year we did some holy week activities. I really wanted to do more this year, but with a new baby around...I just couldn't get much planned. I didn't want to not celebrate at all just because we couldn't go all out, so we did what we could...which I am learning is my new way of life with 2 kiddos :)  Also, no pictures...also something I am learning with 2 kiddos...its rather hard to document life!

Palm Sunday, I read the story of Jesus riding into town and then we watched this video from Crossroads. She really liked it and wanted to watch it over and over.

Monday, we didn't read anything. I forgot..oops!

Tuesday we read about the woman who washed Jesus' feet an anointed him with the alabaster.  We read from our Jesus Storybook Bible.

Wednesday we read about Jesus washing his disciples feet and the last supper.  We read the story last week too (we read from our Jesus Storybook Bible pretty much at ever meal, so we go through it pretty quickly), and she really was taken that Jesus was more interested in other people than himself.  Last year when we did this, Justin washed her feet and we had our own little last supper.  But this year, I thought she could follow in Jesus' footsteps and be interested in serving others.

I thought we could make some muffins for our neighbors who are having a rough time right now, let them know we have been praying for them, and invite them to church on Easter. Normally when we make muffins for other people, we make enough for us to have some too.  But I told her this time, we were going to be only thinking of our neighbors and were not going to have any. She did surprisingly well  and only asked a few times to eat some.  We also spent some of our time cooking praying for our neighbors.  When we were stirring the batter, we asked God to stir up in their hearts a desire for Him.  When we filled the muffin cups the batter, we asked God to fill their hearts with the Holy Spirit.  It was so good! Why have I never thought of doing this before?! Our neighbors also have a little girl Inara's age living in the house, so I thought Inara could use some of her own candy and make the little girl an Easter basket.  We used a basket my parents gave Shepherd and Inara was not happy at first.  She said "Mom, that is his basket".  Then I explained how we are all going sacrifice and think of others first...so Justin and I took candy from our basket too.  We took them over, and it went really well (more on that later)

Thursday we read about the Garden. I had planned on reading it in the dark to add some more dramatic effect, but that wasn't possible.  I figured reading the story was the important part, not how it was read.

Friday we read about the crucifiction.  I really wanted to focus on it being called "Good Friday".  We had a really good conversation.

Me: Inara, why do you think it is called "Good Friday"?

Inara: Because Jesus died?

Me: Yeah, that's right. Why is that good?

Inara: Because he died for my sins.

Me: Yup!  And do you know what a sin is?

Inara: Sin is when you disobey God.

Me: That's right.  Do you always obey God?

Inara: Well, sometimes I do. But sometimes I don't

Then I tried to explain how I don't always obey God either and that's why He came for us. To rescue us soe can love and obey Him now.  After a few minutes she got distracted by a new toy, but it was still a nice conversation to see how much she is learning.

Saturday, we purposefully didn't read anything.  On this day, Jesus' disciples were scared a confused. They probably felt alone...their best friend was gone.  So I tried to explain this to Inara, so she could try to understand how they felt. I am not sure she understood and I think didn't make as much sense the day we did it as much as it did in my head...does that make sense?

Sunday, we made resurrection rolls like and a little resurrection craft just like we did last year.  It was fun and the girls were covered in butter and cinnamon/sugar mess, which led to a quick bath during which this happened:

Poor guy!  I was so busy with them, that I kind of forgot about him chilling in the swing.  I walked by him and burst out laughing! The really funny thing was that he LOVED it.  When I un-did his swaddler so his entire face wasn't covered, he got so pissed! Funny little boy :)  Then we went to church.  We all made it to church on time with 2 toddlers (who helped me cook, received baths, and were all dolled up), an infant, and a tired hubby who slept all morning from working all night! I really don't remember the last time we made it to church on time. Last year I remember being thankful we kept it low key and stayed together at home, but I also wanted to make a bigger deal this year.  Well this year that didn't happen...so maybe next year we will try to make it more celebratory.

Poor Inara and her crazy hair (she won't let me do anything with it.
Don't you just love MK's curls?! I was kind of jealous
after seeing how beautiful her hair is after a bath, no combing or products added

I was telling Justin that whenever I do things like this for her, I feel like I always end up getting more from it than she does.  When I was putting together the basket/muffins for our neighbors, I was going to take a picture and post it here.  (which I forgot..surprise surprise) I had the muffins and basket next to each other and then the invitation to church propped up on them.  The front of the invitation just had a cross and simply said This. Changes. Everything.  I stopped there and stared. It does change everything!  Without the cross my life would be radically different, really in every single way.  Without the cross I wouldn't love (or even care) about my neighbors.  Without the cross, Easter would be all about the bunny and not about true joy.  Without the cross, I would just survive each day instead of having joy in everyday. The cross really has changed everything. Has it changed you? I pray it has!

A change will do you good

We are having a lot of changes in our home over the past 2 months. Here is the run down

New van

New baby

New jobs for both of us

While Justin was on leave with me for 2 weeks he got a really fun promotion.  He will be transferring to the Enquirer building downtown as Digital Editor/Producer. I am super proud of him and so thankful God answered "Yes" to this job. We have been praying for a new job for him for a few years and God's answer had always been "No".  We realized this summer that we were both idolizing getting a new job, but for different reasons.  Its been wonderful to be thankful for his new job, but to ultimately be more thankful for Christ.  

This job has a very interesting schedule- 4:30pm-1:30am and is off on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  At first I was kind of nervous about his new schedule and not having dinner together much anymore. But with his previous schedule with lots of evening meetings he missed dinner and bedtime anyway. Plus, we will now have lunch together every day.  We will actually have more time together as a family since he doesn't have any meetings with his new position.

But because of his new position I couldn't work nights, weekends or really ANY shift with my current position. That was a real bummer because I really liked where I worked, the staff, and I actually like working nights.  I looked around and found a few positions that might fit me, and that I might be a good fit for too.  I applied for 4, and in 1 week had interviews for 3 of them. It was kind of crazy since I am still on maternity leave and nursing pretty frequently too.

So when I go back from maternity leave I will be going to Same Day Surgery. I am pretty excited about it. No weekends, no holidays, and the hours are perfect for us.  I am really excited to be off on Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Most people are, but as a nurse I have worked nearly every major holiday for almost 7 years. Plus no one, I mean no one, ever leaves SDS so it must be a pretty amazing job! And as a bonus I already know a few of the nurses there :)

All of our changes are totally a God thing (although, being told "no" to new jobs over and over is also a God thing too).  When I was interviewing for 3 different positions, I wasn't nervous or worried at all. I knew that God would have me where he wants me. I think I just need to remember that as it gets closer to the end of my maternity leave.  My shift in SDS will start as early as 6am. Currently I am still getting up to feed Shepherd 2-3x a night...so up all night + 5am wake up time to work all day = even more exhausted.  I just need to remember that God knew what he was doing when he gave us a newborn and new jobs.

So this is a very exciting new chapter in our life. I typically don't like change, but I think this time (well every time it is good, but this time it feels like it will be good too).  Also the lack of blogging is directly correlated with my lack of sleep. I feel like a ton of posts swirling in my head and some half written, but as soon as Inara goes to bed...I have been relaxing/snoozing on the couch with Shepherd until his last feeding of the night. Maybe one day I'll actually get sleep again...yeah right! :)

Welcome home!

After Shepherd came home, my friend Jenn from J Monitbon Photography came over to snap some newborn pics of our little guy. We had some cute poses in mind, but when you are working with a newborn and his toddler sister (around nap/lunch time) you kind of take what you can get. I honestly didn't think we would have very many good pics, but I was wrong. Thanks Jenn for capturing our crazy growing family!

Don't let this sweet picture fool you, it took 45 minutes to get this sweet shot :)

Winter fun!

Here are just some snapshots of some fun stuff we have been up to these past few months. Enjoy!

BFFs during the Christmas service

Holding hands :)



First snow of the year



We had a lot of fun with Dad while he was on vacation



Mommy date to see Monsters Inc

Fun times at the Mall

Snuggle time with Pap-Pap



Riding Sandy at Meijer

Attempts at a family pics at The Festival of Lights



She loves her Daddy!

Independence Christmas Walk

BFFs reunited Princess style

HUGS! They love each other so much!