All better!

Being in daycare three days a week, we've had our share of sickness. We've done double ear infections and stomach bugs. Sophia is always a trooper and makes the most of it, seeming to bounce back quicker than it took to get sick! But not last week...

After a few scary days of high fevers not relieved by medicine, not knowing the cause or the effects of this mystery illness, she slowly came around. We have never seen her feel so bad, never felt such fear at the unknown. Of course, I can say all this now, because she's better. ;)

In the midst of it, I found my heart warring within me. I felt helpless. But it was no different than any other day, was it? Am I ever in control of how healthy she is? No matter how many vegetables she eats, no matter how many times we wash her hands, wipe down grocery carts, or try to keep her away from germs, she's going to get sick. And some sicknesses have no means of prevention. And some have no means of a cure.

I know this all the time. But isn't it easy to forget about it when everything is good? Don't we start to believe that we are in control? That we are the reason for the good things in life? We have the lives we do because of the good choices we've made or the good things we've done? All it takes is one big fever to blow it all up in my face. My good mommy skills are not the reason Sophia is healthy most of the time. God's grace is the reason she's healthy.

The real war wasn't Am I in control? I knew I wasn't. I knew God was. The real war was this: God will do what He wants to do. Is what He wants to do good? Is He good? Always no matter what? Is He good if this is a blood infection? Even if it causes bacterial meningitis? Is he still good if this goes the absolute way I don't want it to go?

Yes. I believed it. But I confess I didn't always feel it. The real question I was asking was Does God really love me? And He does. I know He does. And He promises to always do what is for my very best. Even if it's not what I want. Even if it hurts.

I know this as a parent. I do the same thing for Sophia. I held her down as she kicked and screamed and cried while they put a catheter in, drew blood, x-rayed her chest, injected antibiotic. We needed to find out why she was sick. I knew it would hurt, but I wanted her to get better. Temporary discomfort for the more lasting comfort of getting better. God is willing to do the same for us. Temporary pain for the more lasting joy of getting more of Him.

He is good. Always and no matter what. Thank you to everyone who prayed for Sophia's healing! We will never know what she was sick with. But we did learn some good lessons along the way.

Admit it, eating healthy feels good!

Since Sophie was born, I have found myself deeply devoted to eating well. This was easy at first, because I made our own babyfood. (Which I highly recommend doing, both for the health of your baby and your wallet!) So while Sophia ate pureed carrots, I snacked on potato chips. :)

Fast forward a couple months and things get a bit trickier. It's after school, I'm sitting down at the table with our girl and I offer her some broccoli with parmesan cheese sprinkles. She starts eating it up. I reach into my bag of cheddar bunnies. Sophie reaches for them. I hand her broccoli. She pushes it away and wants only what I'm eating. Of course, I don't give her any. I put the cheddar bunnies away and reach down for a bite of broccoli. Yuck! I smile anyway. She eventually finishes the broccoli reluctantly...the next day we both sat down to a bigger portion of parmesan broccoli to share. My life with potato chips was officially coming to an end.

Now, for the most part, we eat the same things at every meal. Don't worry, I still sneak in Little Debbies or Oreo cookies during her nap time every once in a while. Luckily, Sophia is a better vegetable eater than me. There are several she likes that I don't: mushrooms or butternut squash, for example. But I used to not touch many vegetables with a ten foot pole not too long ago. Now, I happily eat broccoli several times a week. Carrots are great too. Spinach and lettuce is an easy one for me, and I l-o-v-e bell peppers, but am still working on hummus. Needless to say, I'm always on the lookout for ways to incorporate more vegetables in our meals and snacks.

During one of Sophie's nap times last week, I found myself researching types of vegetables, because it's important not only to eat a variety of vegetables, but a variety of types of vegetables. There are five! Who knew? Here is a convenient list of vegetables organized by type- I keep it on the inside of the pantry door.

I also found this great printable that is also on the inside of our pantry door. I use them both in creating our weekly meal plan, or for serving snacks on the fly.

Dark, leafy greens are easy for me to get in, but Sophie is less of a fan. I have found, the best way to sneak them in is to drink them! Here's the recipe for an all time favorite snack: Green Monster Smoothie.

1 cup chopped spinach
1 cup chopped kale
1 cup berries
1 refrigerated banana

Combine in a blender or food processor, and then pour in your favorite of the following until desired consistency:

almond milk
apple juice
vanilla yogurt

(if you use the yogurt, you will need to add some of the apple juice or almond milk to help thin the mixture, unless you want to feed it like you would normal yogurt, with a spoon. I'm thinking of trying that myself!)

Happy healthy eating for the love of kids!

Make it. Keep it.

I have never been a fan of New Year's resolutions. Here's my thinking: if you know you need to change something, don't wait for an excuse like January 1st to do it. If something needs to change, change it now. Besides that, I hate how it starts out so adament, and a few weeks in, people all over the country are caving. Why do we keep doing it? It's never proven to be very successful. In fact, when we come up with our resolutions, we do so expecting them to not last.

I just finished writing a Christmas letter to sweet Neema. We have photos of her up on our walls. We sit in wonder as her drawings to us show how she is growing before our very eyes. I cry when I read of her prayers for me. She prays for me more often, and no doubt more fiercely, than even I or most of my friends and family do. God has used her to change the way I see things. She is ten years old and lives in Tanzania. I have known Neema since she was six, when Andy and I became her sponsors.

You can make a New Year's resolution this year and keep it. You can sponsor a child from Compassion. Writing letters to your child is worth its time in gold, for your child's heart, but even more for yours. Compassion makes it easy. You can go to their website, type out your letter, upload some photos and click send. They'll do the translating and mailing for you. This New Year's resolution comes with an eternal impact. And just in case you feel failure lurking in the shadows of February, sign up for automatic payments. You'll never miss your $38... we never do.

With this one act you can:

- love a stranger in the name of Jesus
- begin a new relationship
- change a person's future
- break the cycle of poverty
- help spread the gospel to the ends of the earth

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Matthew 25; 34 - 40

Resolve to make a resolution you can keep. Sponsor a child today!

Thanksgiving in December!

So yes...Christmas is this week. But I never got around to posting about Thanksgiving. There's no better time than now to do what should be done. ;) Here's just a few photos from our great Thanksgiving with Grammy and Bumpa:

as close to a group picture as we could get...

Sophia is lovely, but what I like most about this picture is the background ;)

Berkley and Sophie are not the most willing or obedient posers

I love this dress. I got it last year at the JBF sale for $8. I bought it specifically for Thanksgiving, but also got to sneak it on for my cousin's baby shower.

Precious girl- I love every inch of her!

just like her mama..."No shoes, no grass!"

these were the cute little bloomers that went with the dress. Once inside, we let her take off the dress and put on her cheetah cardi...I thought it was adorable. Clearly she's much more interested in eating Christmas decorations...

2011 Ornaments

When I left home I left with an ornament collection. Since I was born, my aunt made me (and all my other cousins, which became quite the feat each year) an ornament for the Christmas tree. My first Christmas with Andy could have left us with a bare tree, but because of my special collection of personalized ornaments, our tree held colorful decorations and memories of Christmases past.

Our collection has grown wonderfully over the last five years, but that original collection still remains close to my heart. I wanted to continue the tradition by making Sophia an ornament each year, so that when she leaves home (hypothetically speaking...that day is frightening and much too far away to think on now) she will have a personalized collection of her own.

However, last year slipped by me. I had only intentions. This year, I knew the same would happen unless I got serious about it. So, I joined Pinterest! I found several ideas for ornaments that I loved. Because the budget is super tight this year, I picked the cheapest one to make, and headed to Hobby Lobby. I was so pleased with how it turned out, I've been back to Hobby Lobby twice for more supplies so I could fashion a few more as gifts.

Here is the one I made Sophia:

Sophia's name means wisdom. I want her ornaments to be something more than pretty decorations. So I bought a simple mini photo album. Each year when I make her ornament, I'm putting a picture of it along with a note explaining its meaning or a prayer for her that year. This year, our prayer is that Sophia would be filled with the wisdom of God, through his loving Word to us.

One of my favorite things about this ornament is that you can make it so many different ways. Here are a few I made for some of Sophie's sweet friends:

Merry Christmas!

Joining Pinterest

I kept hearing about Pinterest from friends. Everyone not only was on it, but was loving being on it! I was curious, but thought I don't have time for that stuff. I was right, by the way. ;)

I had this plan to make Sophia a homemade ornament from me each year. As I started searching online for some inspiration (Let's be honest, I was going to straight up steal an idea. My creativity tank is constantly on empty) I found myself wishing for a more organized way of searching; something where similar ideas were all clumped together, rather than having to go to 30 different blogs to find one item at each.

Enter Pinterest. I asked for an invite, then waited a few weeks before I finally received one. But since then, it's been happy pinning! (in moderation, of course) I've created a Christmas board with ideas for ornaments, recipes, advent calendars, decor, and gift ideas. I'm so glad to have my favorite things recorded. Next year, I'll be able to go straight here to pick an ornament to make, no searching required.

I'm not a techie. I tried to take a snapshot of my board to show you some things on it. But after 20 minutes of failing over and over again, I decided to install a "Follow me on Pinterest" button. It's a little premature, since my Christmas board is the only one that's filled. But if you're on Pinterest, check out my board by clicking the link on the sidebar. If you're not on Pinterest and want to be, let me know. I'll send you an invite. :)

P.S. I did get around to making Sophia's ornament and I'm so excited that the tradition has officially begun! It's at the bottom of my Christmas board, by Brown Paper Packages.

Let Advent begin!

One of the great seives of sanctification that children bring is intentionality. And as Sophia grows older and becomes more and more aware, my desire to be intentional rises to new heights. So for the past few weeks my mind has been racing with ideas for the special season we find ourselves in. Yesterday marks the first day of Advent, one of my favorite celebrations each year.

I want to create meaningful traditions for our family. Things that look like, smell like, feel like, taste like Christmas. Tangible memories that point to something much greater than presents under a tree. In the next few weeks, I hope to post some things that we'll be doing as a family, like a homemade Advent calendar, ornaments, and recipes. (hope is the key word there- we'll see if it actually gets typed out!)

These are things I don't usually do. Most Christmases of the past are filled with gift planning and buying, parties with coworkers, friends, and then family, and by the end of the month I find myself exhausted, ungrateful, broke, and wondering why I get so excited for this every year, because it all feels a bit like a letdown. I've spent all this time (and money) just scratching the surface.

Christmas is about Jesus. Advent means "coming," so in this holiday we celebrate the fact that God came. He came as a baby. Fully God. Fully man. Teaching, blessing, healing, suffering, delivering, redeeming, forgiving, dying, rising! We find ourselves in the middle of two promises of God. One already fulfilled in Jesus' first coming. We now await the fulfilment of the promise of His return.

I want to groan with the anticipation of it. But I don't. I want to say with John, "Come, Lord Jesus!" But I don't. What keeps me from it? My hope is in the now. I cling to the things I have here and now, forgetting the greater things that await me. Instead, I say, "Come, Lord Jesus! In 15 years! After Sophia gets the chance to know and love you, after I've had time to slow down and be more like you, after I finish the joys of my 20s and 30s. Come then!" But then I read verses like these:

"When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:4)

"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also." (John 14:1-3)

"So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him." (Hebrews 9:28)

"For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord." (1 Thess. 4:16-17)

And all the loves of my life seem to dim in the face of Jesus, my first love. And my hands open from their death-grip and I give over to God what was already His. And I have to confess that I don't know how it is all supposed to work, but that I trust Him, for He knows best. He is good, He loves me, He will take care of all my needs.

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." (Romans 8:18 - 25)