Catching up on life...

I feel like the month of May and June have been nothing but a big blur. I have written a few posts here and there but haven't had that much time to sit and write and now that I do have a moment I'm not sure where to begin.


Well, school is out and that means summer is here. This still changes my world because all of my teacher friends are not working. I went from pretty much talking to my mom and sister, occasionally Matt for a moment here and there, during the day- to having a barrage of peeps to chat with. I've been hesitant to make to many plans after such a busy past few months though. 


I've got Brooke all week and that is helping me stay plan free. We do have a play date for Wednesday, like normal, but this one is to see a kids show/concert type thing. I'm hoping it will hold Lauren's attention and doesn't make me want to poke my ears out- lol. I can handle a lot of things, but I'm nervous about this one. We'll have to wait and see.


I've finally felt motivated to finish the door we had installed a few months back. I haven't gotten around to painting it. Mostly because I haven't felt too motivated and also because we've been so busy that nap time equals me sitting on my butt time. OR more likely it's been me getting more stuff done time. I really need to finish up a cross stick project and get started on the LebCamp small group devotionals. But, ha, instead I've decided to write a post. You see where my priorities are.


We just had the best weekend ever, because we had NO plans. That's right we enjoyed not doing a thing and not doing it together. I've been running myself ragged with all the things going on, I even told Heather I wasn't going to run this weekend. I just didn't want to have to run off, lol no pun intended, anywhere. I wanted to be home with my family. I do have to say I felt a little lazy after having such a slow weekend. But I got a few house hold things done, and it was nice to just do it without feeling rushed or scheduled. 


It was also a great weekend because we got to honor Matt for being such a great  and wonderful Dada. Sunday was all about Matt. Both of us enjoyed the day so much that when we went to bed we both said that it felt like going to church that morning was a different day. The day seemed to drag, but in a good way. Sometimes the best time are just being with each other. Lauren played in the water all weekend. We even noticed how much less diapers we used since she was outside in her bathing suit all weekend. We ate outside and I even took a nap out there. Amen for the perfect weather to enjoy the outdoors too. Sometimes we'd like to go out but it's too hot, or cold, or rainy. But this weekends weather was perfect.


So many blessings to be thankful for. Some time to slow down and enjoy each other, as well as honoring what a wonderful dad my husband is.


All God's people said...AMEN!

Happy Feet or should I say Fins?

After two crazy busy weekends in a row and a busy week I feel like I've got some light shining through. Just thinking about the many blessings I have to be thankful for. 

First Lauren is saying more and more words. She blows my mind as she looks at me and just blurts out yet another new word. I also feel like the words she already says are getting more audible too. I keep looking at her in awe of how much she has grown, just in the past month. I feel so blessed that I'm able to stay home and soak it all up, everyday.

She also has a new love. She is in love with fish. Any fish will do but Nemo is her true love. She has always enjoyed watching fish. At my friends house, they have a fish tank and she would just watch it all day long. She has had the sign for fish down for sometime now. She can say "dish" for fish too. 

I noticed it go from a like to a love though because of her most recent sleep patterns. Lately she has been getting up so early. She use to sleep until 7ish most days. Sometimes 6:30 and others 7:30. I liked this schedule and had no problem getting up when she did. However, more recently she has been waking up at 5:44-6 am. This is too early for mommy. So most days I transfer her to our bed, where she will read books and headbutts or kicks us as we try and pretend we'll get more sleep. On Saturdays though I've been putting in a movie on the TV in our room, giving her a sippy cup of water, and a snack cup of cheerios. She doesn't watch the movie for long, but it gives her some background noise and she goes and plays with books or what not while we lay there like bums. 

She had picked out the Lilo and Stitch movie forever ago from the closet we keep movies in. She would just carry it around the house like she does her books. For this reason I tried this movie first. Then we noticed she was obsessed with the fish in movie so Matt suggested we put in Finding Nemo. Well, if I would let her, she would watch that movie over and over- everyday. She is always asking for me to put it on and walks around says "dish, dish" and pointing at the TV. I'm not a fan of having the TV on all day, so most of the time she doesn't get her wish. 

I also have the sound track to Lilo and Stitch so I put that in her radio one day and she loves listening to her "dish" song on repeat all day long. There are some moments I think I might need to be checked into a padded room if I hear the song one more time, but she loves it. She also walks around with the DVD paperwork for Finding Nemo and call it her "dish book." She just cracks me up. How precious it is and I know I will look back and remember this stage in her life and have these same feeling rush back. She is just taking in so much. I can't get over it. So today I'll end with a quote from Nemo that reminds us all what to do when life gets us a little grumpy...

Dory: Hey there, Mr. Grumpy Gills. When life gets you down do you wanna know what you've gotta do? 
Marlin: No I don't wanna know. 
Dory: [singing] Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim.
Marlin: Dory, no singing. 
Dory: [continuing] Ha, ha, ha, ha, ho. I love to swim. When you want to swim you want to swim. 
Marlin: Now I'm stuck with that song... Now it's in my head. 
Dory: Sorry. 

The Wonders of this Life

Today I got the joy of celebrating a wonderful man of God. Our, soon to be, former youth pastor. Our church had our annual "One Service." This is where we bring the morning service (9 am contemporary) and afternoon service (11 am traditional) together for one 10 am service.


It was two years ago I remember our first "One Service" since it was when we announced to the church that Lauren Shea was on her way! I enjoyed today too because before Lauren we would be lazy and sleep in on Sunday's, attending the afternoon service. Now that Lauren has us up at the crack of dawn we attend the early service. It was nice to see and visit with the late service friends we don't see as much these days. I truly miss them and get excited when I get to have fellowship with them.


I also enjoy the musical blend they did today with having both the praise band and choir performing together throughout the service. The hymns the music director selected were oh so wonderful too. A side from the sermon, the music is a close second in the things I enjoy about every Sunday's service. Nothing like a song to remind you of your faith and love for Jesus or convict you of not being as faithful as we should be.


Anyway, back to honoring Jason and his time at our church. I should give you a little background. He recently married a wonderful women Megan. They both work in the ministry, him as a youth pastor, and her as an associate pastor. Her position in the church is appointed, while his is hired. So, she is staying and he is moving to where she is. Hence, causing him to have to leave us.


We've known this is coming for sometime now. In fact, I wrote a post about it not that long ago- Ripping off a Band-Aid. Once he proposed to her and the news was out it didn't take us too long to figure out that we were going to be losing a fabulous youth pastor. But today we didn't weep over the fact that he was leaving, although many tears were a rolling, we celebrated the impact he had on each of our lives. It must have been such a surreal experience now that I'm thinking about it. Having those you are closest to tell you how much your life has impacted them and their faith journey. So many amazing people had such phenomenal things to say. One of the other adult helpers, Josh, and I got the youth together these past few weeks and they made a video goodbye. They did such a great job and it was neat to watch what they all said.


Our faith journey is touch by so many people. Sometimes it is people like Jason, whom you will never forget the positive impact they made. I wish him luck with his new endeavors. I know he and his wonderful wife will enjoy living a married life in the same house/town/zip code. I know he will enjoy getting his hands and feet working in his new church. I pray that this transition brings him nothing but joy and happiness. I pray that we, who are still here, continue to honor him in how we pitch in and help make for a smooth transition with our new youth pastor. I pray for what has been and what is to come.

Lauren and Jason at work camp last year. (She's so tiny!)

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sign psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God." Colossians 3:16