10 Smile Tuesday

Time is a flying and here we go again with the past week of some things that added a bit of extra joy to my day!

1. A big baby clothes garage sale type thing put on by a local MOPS every year. I spent $40 and got 3 pairs of maternity pants, a maternity jogging suit and several shirts plus a whole bunch of winter clothes for the peanut next fall and winter. Good deal!!

2. My herbs are popping up! Yeah! I was so concerned as it has been chilly willy here lately but I went to check them today and they are itty bitty but so there! I can’t wait to start picking from my herb garden, love it!

3. Two of my nephews had first communion this weekend so my husband’s whole family was there for the after party and it was crazy loud! So much fun though to see that they enjoy each other so much and want to be together. Can’t beat that!

4. My sister was in the hospital unexpectedly this week so my niece stayed with us for a few days and she and the peanut had some fun together. After she left, whew, we had a HUGE nap as the peanut was one tired girl!

5. New lawnmower. My brother in law brought us the riding lawnmowever from KY that he sold us for $300. It is only two years old and has all these fancy attachments. We just can’t believe he sold it to us for that, it was such a blessing. We would easily have paid $3000 for it had we bought it anywhere else. You gotta love family! It has made mowing the lawn a snap and kind of fun too!

6. Pregnancy news. It has been so fun telling people about the pea in my pod. Everyone is so positive about it and shared in our joy. It’s been wonderful and we are thankful!

7. Flowers. My trees are all blooming and the one in the front yard is full of all these bright pink flowers. I don’t know anything about trees but this one is fabulous!

8. Leviticus. I know this is not a normal smile but I’ve been reading it lately and praying God would help not to make it so dry. I really have been getting more out of it than I thought and enjoying the fact that we don’t have to live by so many little laws like that anymore!

9. Cracker Barrel pancakes. After the shopping on Saturday my sister and I went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, and let me tell you, they have THE best pancakes there. I had no idea as I never order pancakes out as they are so easy to make at home I hate to pay so much for them. I was missing out though, yummo!!

10. Having breakfast with my sister. No kids, no spouses, just us. That NEVER happens so it was just really fun. We sat and talked, yes, quite a bit about our kids, but we never had to wipe mouths, help reach for a drink or deal with bathroom breaks. We just talked. It was great!

What are you all smiling about today?

Oh What a Night, Late December back in 2008, what a baby, what a night!

So yeppers, I’m preggo! Our due date is December 28th.

I know that most people wait until they are 12 weeks to announce it, but please, I’ve never been good at keeping secrets and this is so huge for us! I feel like I share so much of my life with all of you in my bloggy world, why not this too? I wanted to say thank you to you all too, as I know so many of you prayed for me when I shared with you back in March what a hard time I had turning 33 as I hadn’t gotten pregnant again, that I only felt it fitting to say thank you and allow you to celebrate and share in our great joy!

Psalm 127:3 says, “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward.” As I saw so many people around me getting pregnant I kept asking, “God, why don’t you want me to have this blessing again?” I felt hurt and disappointed for so long. I mean, I want you all to know, I am so very thankful for my daughter, so please don’t think otherwise. I am more than in love with that child. However, I longed to carry another child and experience the blessing again. I wanted to have a baby at my breast again, I wanted to feel the movement of a little someone in my belly and I desired for the peanut to have a sibling to share her life with. So, to see so many others being able to have children and it just not happening for us, I was jealous. I would be smiling on the outside but getting in my car and crying out to God on my way home. I was covetous and wanted what they had!!!

I didn’t want to celebrate with them, I wanted them to hurt with me. Then, I began praying to God to give me joy for these women around me who wanted babies too and to celebrate with them instead of crying inside. I prayed for my heart to change, and it did. My jealousy did turn into joy. I was able to be honestly happy for them and want the best for them and their children. Then, funny thing, God opened up my womb again.

Coincidence? I honestly don’t believe it is. In Romans 8:28, it says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” and I believe that. I believe I needed to get through my own issues with jealousy an unkindness in my heart before God could move me forward.

I’m not saying this is why any woman who is struggling with infertility, this is the reasoning, but I can’t help but believe that God has a plan and purpose for me, for my family and for this child for which we have prayed. And, I will never be the same again!

Wordless Wednesday – SURPRISE!!!

10 Smile Tuesday

Sorry, I meant to have this post yesterday but blogspot wouldn’t download my pictures so I had to wait today. I hope you all had a lot of smiles yesterdy too!!

Ah, is it Tuesday already again? Time sure has been flying by lately. I think being outside and enjoying life just makes it go so quick!

Anyway, without further ado, here are my 10 smiles for the week…

1. The baseball game we went to last week. We have a minor league team here with a great field and it was just the perfect day to be out. The peanut loved it and, altogether, it was a fabulous day!!

2. The peanut is in a big girl bed now. We’ve been talking about it for awhile, and my next smile will tell you why we finally made the switch. It is kind of sad but happy too, she’s just a growing too fast on me!

3. The bed was free! Yeah! We were just about to buy a bed when a friend from MOPS asked me if I wanted her daughter’s bed, that she had never used. Of course I was not going to say no, free is my favorite price after all!!

4. Along with the free bed my friend also gave me a 4 foot tall bookcase that looks like a dollhouse. It is adorable and the peanut loves it! I was using her changing table for a bookcase so this is much better. LOL!

5. Last week Michael took two extra days off so we had a 5 day weekend to spend together. The peanut loved having him there as they worked in the yard together. So sweet!

6. We finally got the hammock up and can I tell you how much I love it! It is so fun to sit outside and swing in the warm weather. I can’t wait to have leaves on the tree to really enjoy it!

7. My herb garden is complete. Although it is not as big as I originally planned, as I didn’t realize how much work it would be, I still have a variety of 6 herbs (oregano, basil, rosemary, dill, parsley and one other??) plus the chives and mint that grow by the house, so it will be great. I’m excited to watch them grow!

8. The peanut handed out tracts for the first time this week. You want to talk about melting my heart? After seeing Michael and I do it for so long I asked her if she wanted to do it too. She said, “Yes.” And then took one of the million dollar tracts up to a woman in Wal-Mart, handed it to her and said, “Million bucks”. I had to explain to the woman, who thought it completely adorable, that she was trying to say, “You look like a million bucks.” After that, she wanted to hand them out everywhere. I felt like Mary, Jesus mother, who hid all of the wonderful things Jesus did in his childhood in her heart.

9. A day of scrapbooking with my best friend Carrie. We spent the entire day at this meetup thing and it was so fun. Of course we talked a lot more than we scrapped, but I still got 7 pages done, which is way more than I’d done in months and months. Too fun!!

10. A new camera. I actually still have my old camera, which I love, but it’s a professional grade camera with attachments and so on so it’s not practical to just take everywhere. So, with some birthday money I got, I bought a Kodak Easyshare that I can keep in my purse and just take anywhere. Good stuff!

Covered with the fingerprints of God

Have I told you all lately how much I love being a mommy?

Take me out to the ballgame…

Look who went to the first game of the season!! My husband took his team from work, and their families, to the game yesterday and we had an absolute blast. Such a good time and the peanut absolutely loved it! She got to meet the mascot, who was just loving all over her, be on the Jumbotron twice and play on the lawn with other kids. It was a 72 degree day, sunny and the park was slow since it was at 2pm on a Wednesday. The peanut loved it!! We can’t wait to take her to the next one!!

10 Smile Tuesday

OK, so before the day gets away from me again, I want to post my 10 smiles for the week. The peanut is still sleeping so I’m going to try to make it quick before she wakes up and the world bursts open!!

1. Painting. I gave the peanut watercolors and a paintbrush for the first time yesterday and it was love at first sight! She just kept painting and painting and painting. She probably spent a good hour and a half doing. It was lots of fun!

2. Family. My stepfather’s family came to visit my parent’s the weekend and it was so fun to see them again. We always have a good laugh and it was just a fun time.

3. Play kitchen. I found a Little Tikes play kitchen for the peanut on Craigslist and she is loving it! She loves the idea of cooking and baking and it has been fun!

4. Cookie making. The peanut and I made cookies for the first time last week. I usually don’t make them here as I can’t control myself to not eat all of them so this was a special treat. She had so much fun doing it you can’t help but want to do it again!

5. Sermons. I’ve spent a lot of time in my car lately and so I’ve had an opportunity to listen to some of the sermon podcasts that have been sitting there forever. I really enjoy verse by verse (expository) preaching and I’ve downloaded some good ones so they’ve been eductional and thought provoking. And that is super good when you are a stay at home mom and your day can consist of wether to watch Dora or Diego!

6. Money Saving Mom. Thank to my friend Amanda, at Blessings all Mine, I was introduced to this website Money Saving Mom. She has got some great advice for saving money, getting things for free and coupons. Love, love, love it! I put her link in my sidebar if you want to go save money too!

7. Puddles. The peanut has discovered the joy of puddles. She loves to jump and splash in them and will just giggle and call out “Puddle!!” Seriously adorable!

8. Potty training. We’ve been kind of laxed lately as we’ve been so busy but yesterday she did go poopy for the first time on the chair. Holy cow, I almost cried!! Good stuff! OK, except for the fact that I had to clean that out, that’s just not cool. Ewwww… Unfortunately, due to her very small size, the big toilet scares her so she won’t go on it. Oh well, one step closer is a smile for me!

9. Deals. Kohl’s (my favorite store besides the GAP) was having a super great sale this weekend, my in-laws gave us their 30% off your entire order coupon. We got the husband a bunch of new polos for work and I got my new summer t’s and we saved a bundle. Good times!!

10. Buds. My trees are really finally budding. Two of the trees have got little bitty leaves on them. Summer is coming!! I think that is my biggest smile of all!!

What are you smiling about today??