Wordless Wednesdays-What Forever Means

Five Minute Friday: See

Every Friday, I'm going to give five minutes to a word. I got the idea from Gypsy Mama. She's awesome...check her out. We write for five minutes without worry, just writing wherever the spirit moves you.

This week the word is

See...

I wonder what they see when they look at me...these five little lives. Do they see, "Mama" and "Wife"? Do they see "reader" and "poet"? Do they see "cook" and "cleaner"? Do they see my strengths and my flaws?

I remember watching my mother. I remember seeing what was important to her and where she spent her time.

And I know my girls are looking at me the same way.

I think about what they first see when they get up in the morning. Am I there and engaged? Or, am I buried in other things?

Do they see how much I love them?

Do they see how much I want to be a good mother for them...how much I want them to see Jesus in me?

Do they see all that I strive to teach them and have them become?

Do they see me when I'm failing or even when I'm floundering? Do they see the struggles that I go through to try to turn myself aright?

I am struck with the thought that I am their model for motherhood and that they constantly SEE...me.

Wordless Wednesday-Friends

 

 Starting another thing called Wordless Wednesdays. Just a picture and a title. We'll see what comes from it. :)

Updating the Blog

Something happened that kind of cancelled out the blog for me. We'll call her Madelynne. It just took a very back burner to life. I am finding myself at a place where I can work it in again or at least make it more of a priority to me. So, I'm going to be spending some time updating it and making changes. Looking forward to where it's headed. :)

Five Minute Friday

Today, I'm starting to participate in something to try to get a little bit of the writing juices back and flowing. Over at the Gypsy Mama she gives out a word and encourages her readers to write for five minutes and just let it come out. The word this week was OPPORTUNITY. Here's what came out for me:

Opportunity

I tell myself we can't. I tell myself, where would we put it. I tell myself. What if, what if, what if. Then I stop and I look at the five little souls already here. I think about when they came and who they are. Would they have been different if they had come to us at a different time? Would we be different? Would we have fewer? I have never regretted having so many, so quickly. And I know...I would not regret another. I told myself we wouldn't do it. I told myself that I couldn't do it.

And then I think...who would I miss. WHO am I closing myself off from?? What blessing from God am I saying NO to? What little person would we be meeting that was meant to come to us at this time?

I can't say no to that. The blessing that God might see fit to share.

I try telling myself we can and that we would make room. I stop saying What if, what if, what if and start saying, Okay.

Selling the House

So...last year, our plan was to find a new house and then try to sell our house after we moved. While holding two mortgages. We tried and tried...even going so far as to put offers in on a couple of houses. But, for whatever reason, those houses would be pulled away. We came to see that it was God's hand and we should see this as a sign that we're not meant to move right now.

So this year, we've decided to take some hard looks at our house and see what we would need to do to get our house ready to sell. Yikes.

The realtor came out and did a walkthrough the house and pointed out the areas of concern and what we'd need to change and fix. Thankfully, having just finished a round of scary spring cleaning, I felt up for the task.

Emma is Here!

After having contractions off and on for days, they finally got down to where I was feeling this was it. They were hitting about 2-4 minutes apart pretty consistently and after taking a nap, I got up and there was quite a bit of pressure. So we left for the hospital about 1:30. Once we were there, I was at a four and contractions were coming about every 2 minutes. I labored, walking around for a couple of hours, but only had progressed to a 5. The contractions were still coming pretty strong and the doctor thought breaking my water would help to progress things. (I don't know why I let them do this...for me, it really just seems to slow things down.) Anyway, I did hop to 6 right after, but then sat there only dilating a centimeter every couple of hours. Finally, just after 11:15, it was time to start pushing. It only took a couple of good pushes and she was out. Her shoulder did catch and tear me a bit, but not too badly. She was born at 11:32 and I was right that she was going to be a bigger baby. She was 8lbs and 13ozs, 21.5 inches long. So, a nice good size. As you can tell from the above video, her oldest sister, Anna loves her a lot. I think she's going to be a big help. :)