Just For Fun

Just for fun, here are a few comparison shots of Catherine and Will at the same age:

Catherine at her 1st birthday party:

Will at his 1st birthday party:

Catherine walking with the school bus at Christmas. She was 12 months old.

Will learning to push the school bus (11 months old).

Will definitely has more hair than Catherine did at this age. And he's obviously much thicker. But you can certainly tell that they're brother and sister. The part that doesn't make sense to me is that even though Will is bigger than Catherine was when she turned one, I feel like he's still more of a baby. Maybe it's because everything he does is now being compared to a 2 1/2 year old, so it seems more baby-ish. I don't know, but I do know that it's so much fun to watch them grow up.

Will's Birthday Party

On Saturday, we celebrated Will's First Birthday with our families and a few close friends. We had a fire truck birthday party at the park. It was so much fun to celebrate the wonderful year God has given us with Will. Will is such a special little boy, and God has given me joy through having a son that I didn't anticipate. I love this little man beyond description.

So here are a few pics from the party:
The birthday boy!

I had planned a fire truck birthday party theme. Much to my surprise, Jay arranged for a real fire truck to come to the party. The kids thought it was great, but I was probably more excited than anybody!

Will eating his first cupcake--at first he just liked to mush it up in his hand, but then he caught on that he was supposed to eat it. He seemed to enjoy it (surprise, surprise).

Is it all gone?

Will's true birthday isn't until Wednesday, so I'm sure I'll have a few more pics and things to share then.

When You Have a Big Sister....

When you have a big sister, you sometimes end up with Princess panties on your head at 7:30am!

Catherine really is such a great big sister. She loves her baby brother so much and helps take care of him. I love to hear her talk with him when she thinks I'm not listening. She definitely likes to be the little mommy and tell him what he can and can't do. She also lovingly refers to him as "chunk-o" and "chunky man". We'll have to do something about that before Will is old enough to be self-conscious about it!

They are so sweet together. I'm such a lucky mom!

Seeing Spots

Yesterday morning Will developed a few spots on the back of his neck. By the afternoon, he had a few on his stomach too. By last night he had probably 100 spots. And this morning, there are a lot and they're bigger. I talked with our pediatrician and he said it's probably a viral rash. Will doesn't seem to feel bad, he isn't running a fever, and they don't itch. So as long as he doesn't start having swelling on his lips or trouble breathing, he should be okay soon. He does look a little funny though. Poor guy!

Spots all over!

Ring around the belly button

If you look closely, his entire ear is actually red and swollen too.

The Truth #18

Truth #18 from Lies Women Believe is Personal holiness is more important than temporal happiness. My happiness is not the highest good, nor is it my right. God did not save us to make us happy or so that we can live for ourselves or our own pleasure. He saved us so that we can be free to live for Him. We were created for His pleasure. Holiness requires sacrifices of our own personal comfort and convenience. But any sacrifice we make cannot be compared with the joy and fulfillment we will gain in eternity.

Ephesians 5:26-27 "...to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless."

I think this is one of the areas our current culture has been terribly deceived about. Everyone thinks that the goal of life is to be happy. And people are willing to do anything that they think will bring them more happiness. More money, bigger house, new car, different spouse, better job, on and on it goes in the search for "happiness". None of those things will ever make you happy. You'll drive yourself crazy if all you do is frantically search for happiness. That longing in your soul for "happiness" can only be filled by God. And it's not really an ache for happiness, but for holiness.

The first time I really started to understand this was after reading Sacred Marriage. The basis of the book is that God uses marriage to make you holy, not happy. That very much goes against most people's reasoning for getting (or staying) married. But as I grow in my marriage, I am learning how true that really is. And marriage is just one example. Really, all experiences and relationships here on earth are designed for the purpose of glorifying God and drawing you closer to Him.

The Truth #17

Truth #17 from Lies Women Believe is that In the will of God, there is no higher and holier calling than to be a wife and mother. True joy comes from discovering why God made us and embracing his purpose and design. God made women to be a helper to her husband and a bearer and nurturer of life. To make a home, to be united with one man in glorifying God, to nurture and tend the lives of children and grandchildren, to deny oneself and lay down one's life on behalf of others--there is no higher calling and no greater joy.

Titus 2:4-5 "Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God." This is actually the passage of Scripture our new Mentor Mom study is based on. I think it's very interesting that the reason a woman is to do all of the things listed is in order to glorify God and point people to the gospel.

Some of my other favorite wife verses come from Proverbs 31 "A wife of noble character, who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life...She speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed, her husband also and he praises her. Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate."

It is my prayer of thankfulness that God has given me Jay, Catherine, and Will to care for. It is my joy to be Jay's wife and Catherine and Will's mom. There is nothing in this world I would rather do.

This Time Last Year

This time last year, I was very, very pregnant and sooooo ready to have a baby! I was already 3cm dilated (even though my official due date wasn't until Oct 9) and was rather uncomfortable. It had been a very long pregnancy and I was ready to meet this little baby. We still didn't know if we would be welcoming baby Will or baby Claire to our family. But we still had 2 more weeks to wait.....

Union Birthdays, Part 2

On Sunday, we celebrated Mama Belk's 82nd birthday. We are all just so glad that she was having a birthday to celebrate and that she has recovered so well from her stroke in July. Praise the Lord!

Here's the birthday girl. I still think she looks much younger than 82!

The whole family went out to lunch on Sunday after church. Here are Catherine and Will with their cousins. From L to R: Riley (my sister Kelly's stepdaughter, 8 years old) holding Will, Brooklynn (my sister Amanda's middle daughter, 2 1/2 years old), Catherine, Maddyson (Amanda's oldest daughter, 6 years old) holding Kennedy (Amanda's youngest, 8 months old)

My mom and Brooklynn at lunch

After lunch, we spent the afternoon at my mom's house. Catherine loves to play with the baby dolls there and we went for a walk down Main Street. We had a great weekend in Union.

Union Birthdays, Part 1

We were in Union this weekend for Kay's birthday (my stepmom) and Mama Belk's birthday (my grandmother). Here are a few photos from Kay's Surprise 50th Birthday party on Saturday night:

Blowing out the candles, with lots of help from all of the grandaughters:

Kay, my dad, Logan (Kay's son) and the grandgirls (Will had already gone to bed)

The birthday cake had very lovely black 50th birthday icing on it. It was quite a hit with Catherine and Brooklynn. They got that icing everywhere.

Catherine was having a great time eating cake. Right before cake time, she also drank a Mellow Yellow. I'll just say that I learned my lesson. At 3am when I was still saying, "Catherine, please go to sleep" and she was saying "Can we get up and eat bacon?", I realized that a 2 year old shouldn't have caffeine and birthday cake at 8pm!

My Personality ID

I just did a quick Personality ID profile. I think it described me pretty accurately as a "deep thinker" who is analytical, logical, organized, and precise. I laughed when I read about my communication style, "You tend to communicate impersonally through the logical presentation of well-thought-out ideas and facts. Often, the explanations of your thought processes go far deeper than others wish to explore." It made me think of my 12 page birth control paper. That would be a pretty deep thought process that most people wouldn't care to explore!

If you want to look at my results or make a Personality profile for yourself, just click on the link below:

View my Career Direct personality profile

The Truth #16

Truth #16 from Lies Women Believe is that the greatest freedom I can experience is found through submission to God-ordained authority. When we don't submit to authority, we become more vulnerable to Satan's attacks. When we are under God's authority, we are granted his protective covering, we show the world His beauty of created order, and we cooperate with God in establishing His kingdom.

Ephesians 5: 21-24 tells us "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything."

The word "submission" immediately brings negative connotations to many people's minds. They think that it puts you in bondage or slavery. But really, it's the opposite. By submitting, I am trusting God by trusting the authority He has placed me under. It takes the pressure away from me trying to do everything myself. It frees me to do the work God has given me to do and not to try and do things I wasn't created for.

Once I finally caught a glimpse of how God wants this to work in marriage, it made me love and respect Jay so much more. Never have I felt enslaved or in bondage. Submitting to any authority on earth is really a test of submission to God himself. If you can't submit to your husband, for example, then you probably aren't submitting to God either.

One Big Ponytail

Today Catherine decided that she wanted to wear her hair in "one big ponytail in the back". We've never tried it before because the pigtails have worked so well. I think she was inspired by her friend Abby's ponytail though :) and she really likes it when I have my hair in a ponytail. So here's the result:

Such a cute little head of hair! She liked it so much that she already declared she wants to wear a ponytail to school tomorrow. She thinks her teachers will like it very much.

It makes the front of her face look so naked though! She looks much older to me. (and as you can see, the bruise is healing. It's now green and yellow.)

Will's First Day

One of the reasons Catherine is going to preschool is so that I have some one-on-one time with Will each week. So today Will and I went to Bouncing Babies at the library for the first time. I used to take Catherine faithfully every week from the time she was 4 or 5 months old. Poor Will, he's 11 months old and today's the first time we made it there. He loved the stories and music, and I loved watching him in a new environment.

Will, ready for story time. Don't you love that sweet smile?

Enjoying a book during bubble time

He was very happy to crawl up and down this ramp during play time

Will loves having Mommy all to himself!

Catherine's First Day

Today was Catherine's first day of preschool at Aldersgate. She'll be going on Mondays and Thursdays this year. She has been so excited about it, so I was hoping today met her expectations. When I went to pick her up, she said, "I had a great day at school, Mommy!" They painted, made a glitter fish, read stories, listened to music and danced, sang songs, and played dress up. It reminds me that it's good for her to go because I wouldn't have been able to do all of those things with her today. She also met some new friends and enjoyed seeing her friends from last year again. I can't believe she's such a big girl!

Today was "blue" day, so Catherine wore a blue dress, even though she cried because she really wanted to wear her pink dress. But the blue dress at least matches the nice bruise on her forehead! (She fell off the recliner onto the brick fireplace....lovely)

Catherine with her new teachers, Ms. Kimberly and Ms. Shaney

Starting the day with some play-doh

Just for comparison, this is her picture from her first day of school last year. She was just a baby! And she didn't have much hair at all. I can't believe it's already been a year.

The best part of the day, for me though, was how excited she and Will were to see each other. They were hugging and crawling all over each other and she kept saying, "I missed you Baby Will." It's so much fun to watch them interact with each other.

The Truth #15

Truth #15 from Lies Women Believe is The pathway to true joy is to relinquish control. We attempt to be in control of others and our environment. But no matter how hard we try, we are not in control. When we try to control everything, we are really trying to be God. Why is it so hard to let God be God? The truth is, He is in control. Freedom comes from relinquishing control of our own lives, our families, and our circumstances. Then we will see Him do what only He can do.

We can trust God to be in control and not be anxious about it. 1 Peter 5:7 "Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you." This is always very hard for me. I like to be in control. I like to know exactly what is going to happen and I try to manipulate and control the circumstances to be sure they fit in exactly as I think things should go. My prayer for many years has been that God will change my heart to be like Mary's and that I will simply reply "I am the Lord's servant, Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." (Luke 1:38)

It is hard to let go of our control. We fight so hard for it. But it has never been ours to control in the first place. We're fighting so hard for something we can never hold onto. If we just let go of that and trust God to be God, life becomes much more peaceful. Relinquishing control doesn't bring about slavery or bondage, it really brings about freedom. I am now free to do the work God has given me to do and I can quit wasting my time trying to do things I was never intended to do. So I will just keep praying that my response will be "I am the Lord's servant...May it be to me as you have said."

The Truth #14

Truth #14 from Lies Women Believe is I will reap whatever I sow. The choices I make today will have consequences down the road in my life and in the lives of others for generations to come. Every sinful, selfish choice is sowing a seed that will reap a multiplied harvest. Every act of obedience, however, is a seed that will produce a multiplied harvest of blessing in my life and in the lives of those I love. The harvest may take a while, but it will come.

Galatians 6:7-9 "Do not be deceived; God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest is we do not give up."

This is one of those truths that we like to say, "sure, that's how it works" but we don't really like to think through it. To really think about how my selfishness and my disobedience will affect not only myself, but my husband, my children, my grandchildren, and others around me puts a huge responsibility on my shoulders. We prefer to think that we can just live in our own little bubble and that our obedience and disobedience only affects ourselves (if we even acknoweldge that our disobedience affects us at all). But I have seen this played out too many times. I have had consequences in my life of the generations before me. And conversely, I have had blessings in my life because of generations before me.

I'm just now getting to be old enough, I think, to really start seeing how my own obedience and disobedience is creating a harvest in my life. It does take time, and we tend not to be very patient. We live in an "I want it now" society where any type of delayed gratification or delayed blessings are not deemed worthy of the wait. But they are. There is something very sweet and very precious about seeing blessings in your life that have come about through long periods of trials, suffering, prayers, and the pursuit of holiness. To walk with God through those times and then see His fruit in your life makes it all worth it.

My friend Eddie

Jill and I took Eddie and Will with us to Kentucky. (Catherine stayed at home with Jay.) The boys thought it was fabulous and were very on the go all weekend. So what do you do in Georgetown, Kentucky to entertain 2 little boys?

First, you ride in the wagon and watch Roy cut the grass. That was entertaining for at least 30 minutes.

We walked down Main St to visit a few little shops, but the highlight was the fire truck parked there.

Logan's brother Rhodes provided great entertainment with his trombone. Will was totally mesmerized. I don't think he blinked the whole time.

We had a great trip and hopefully can do it again soon when Logan is home to visit again.

Logan and Amie

My college roommates, Jill and Sara, and I went to Kentucky this past weekend to visit our friend Logan who just had a baby. She has been in Africa for the past 2 years and will return there in a few weeks. We figured we should take advantage of her time in the U.S. to visit and see this precious new little one. Amie (pronounced "ah-me") is now 5 weeks old. She is adorable.

Amie's first time in the pool.

such sweet, peaceful sleep