Haven't done one of these in a couple of weeks so I wanted to take time to share some things I'm loving around here. Yes, some days are discouraging right now, but no matter the hard times I've come to realize there's always lots to be thankful for. So here goes some of our loveliness.....
~ Spontaneous hugs from my (big) little boy who is growing up way too fast.
~ The whole family watching my stomach move into weird shapes and everyone taking turns trying to figure out what body part it is. :-)
~ Hearing Darcey's vocabulary multiply every day.... especially when she says things like "I love you" and "momma's baby".
~ Listening to funny, crazy music and "dancing" around the living room together. The kids love it even though none of us actually know how to dance! (which is just fine with me:)
~ Delancey helping clean up something, cook with me, or doing other things....without even being asked.
~ Buying the exact same father's day card as my brother did. Priceless. :-)
~ Snuggling on the couch with the kiddos.
~ Heart to heart talks with Blake about life stuff.
~ Love notes from my biggest girl, baby arms wrapped around my neck, and seeing how excited Dathan is to be having a little brother.
~ Riding in the van by myself singing about the Lord and feeling the Holy Spirit right there with me. Totally worth whatever the people I passed thought if they saw my raised hand or tears. So very thankful to serve such a wonderful Saviour.
~ Going through little baby boy clothes and getting them ready for a new one to wear. (can't believe it's been almost 9 years since we had our first!) Best part was seeing how excited Delancey was about them all. :-)
~ Hugs from my hubby, just because. Back and shoulder rubs when I'm hurting. And the special times with his hand on my stomach feeling our baby kick around.
~ More food and clothes than we need. A nice, cool house in the heat. More blessings than I can really count or could ever hope to deserve!
Well, there's my list for today. It's amazing how much stuff I end up taking for granted when I let myself get caught up in all the bad instead of looking at the good. Thankful that God is still faithful and merciful though and just keeps blessing even when I'm not grateful for it!
What do you have that you're loving at the moment?! Please feel free to share! :-)
June 28, 2012
June 25, 2012
Grace and Glory
It seems like most of my posts lately have a similar theme. Lots of allergy issues for everyone, pregnancy stuff, lack of sleep, and me being super tired from it all. But alas that is just life at the moment for us I guess. My emotions tend to be all over the place some days, but I'm trying to work on the times I feel totally overwhelmed and remind myself that it will get better and that until it does we'll make it. The only problem is that I also know it's been worse before so I tend to let fears of that sneak in and discourage me even more. Ah!
I'm also trying to remember that most importantly is me seeking the Lord for help and grace to get thru these hard times. Days that I do that are definitely much better than the ones I forget to. I've been thinking alot about those verses in 2 Corinthians that says, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Now let me just say that I have not fully arrived at the "gladly glorying in my infirmities part" most days. But I am learning more about His grace and want more than anything to lean more on His strength when I'm weak. My hearts' desire is to show my children that we can trust and praise Him during the hard times as well as good and pray that I'll let His power rest upon me so that they can see more of Him and less of me.
I hope maybe these verses might help someone else who is struggling today. Regardless of what comes our way let's just focus on His grace in our lives and choose to glory in the hard times with gladness that we can have His power on us. Now I'm off to try and do just that with the rest of my day!
I'm also trying to remember that most importantly is me seeking the Lord for help and grace to get thru these hard times. Days that I do that are definitely much better than the ones I forget to. I've been thinking alot about those verses in 2 Corinthians that says, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Now let me just say that I have not fully arrived at the "gladly glorying in my infirmities part" most days. But I am learning more about His grace and want more than anything to lean more on His strength when I'm weak. My hearts' desire is to show my children that we can trust and praise Him during the hard times as well as good and pray that I'll let His power rest upon me so that they can see more of Him and less of me.
I hope maybe these verses might help someone else who is struggling today. Regardless of what comes our way let's just focus on His grace in our lives and choose to glory in the hard times with gladness that we can have His power on us. Now I'm off to try and do just that with the rest of my day!
June 15, 2012
Pregnancy Update Week 30
Linking up again with Sarah for the pregnancy updates. Be sure to click through the picture above to read about other stories!
~ I'm 30 weeks and 1 day. (although I should probably change that since I really think my due date is later and I tend to go over anyway!)
~ Had my first official check-up with the midwife since we decided to switch care. Everything looked great with the baby and Blake and I were both impressed with how they answered our questions, etc. Very excited to be having another "homebirth" experience!
~ Not sure about weight gain since I really don't keep up with it much here at home. I'm measuring right on schedule baby wise though. Although, according to alot of
~ I'm struggling with not feeling good alot of days. Not really sure how much is pregnancy related and how much is from our allergies. We have MCS and they are spraying the crops around here lately so it's throwing us for a loop! My blood sugar is still a challenge most days although I'm managing to keep it in a pretty good range. I'd rather not have the added stress of having to eat so strictly but I know it's good for me and the baby right now. I know things really could be alot worse health wise so I'm trying to be thankful for that rather than focus on the bad.
~ Glad to be in the 3rd trimester and SO ready to be finished with the pregnancy and meet this little guy! The kids are excited as well, with Delancey requesting that she be allowed at the birth since we're using a midwife. We aren't too sure about that part though! I'm thinking she would do okay til the end and start freaking out over my other-worldly screams during pushing. haha Not sure what the actual plan for the kiddos going with us will end up being but I guess we have a few more weeks to decide.
~ In answer to this week's discussion questions: we have decided not to have any more biological children after this one. Between my health and the health problems all of our babies/children deal with it is huge struggle to add pregnancy on top of all of that. With us also trying to homeschool we feel that I can better care for everything, including the 4 children God's already blessed us with, without continuing to have more. I know alot of people feel that means you aren't trusting God, accepting His gift of children, or even are actually disobeying His commandment but we choose to look at it like being responsible for the gifts we have rather than allowing the fear of doing wrong be the only reason we have more. Also, the whole "be fruitful and multiply" and "having a quiverfull" ideas are kinda debatable in my opinion since there's no actual number mentioned....amoung other things. But that's probably a discussion for a whole 'nother post! :-)
That's all for now though. Please be praying for our health as me and the other 3 children are having a hard time right now. That also causes me to worry about the health of the baby when he's born since we tend to have alot of issues right from the start. Trying to trust that God will take care of it all!
Tyra
June 14, 2012
Mixed In Blessings
I'm not gonna lie, ya'll. The last few weeks around here have been tremendously, horrible more than a little rough. But I just wanted to take a minute and share some blessings we've had in the middle of all the other. 'Cause there's a reason why the Bible has verses like "in everything give thanks", right?! :-)
We went out for mexican food at Cantina Laredo last week and ended up getting a totally free meal! It was really due to a mix-up in seating and we had to wait for awhile before they realized no one had taken our order yet. At first the shift manager just gave us a free appetizer and dessert (which was great!), but then the general manager ended up writing off the whole check. Woo-hoo! This all happened after our van broke down and we found out how much it was going to cost to fix so that just made it a double blessing.
The naturopath allergy doctor we go to has hired a new receptionist who is super sweet. We've been going alot (due to all these crazy reactions we're having) so I've gotten to chat with her a little the past couple weeks. Today I was there for a treatment and as I was leaving she tells me that she does some photography on the side and wondered if I would let her shoot some pictures of the kids sometime? For free! I was like, um, yes that would be pretty great. She says she knows how expensive it can be to get family pictures sometimes and since we're having so much extra financial stuff right now anyway she wanted to help us out. I thought that was pretty amazing!
Those were a couple things that might seem kinda little in some ways, but just helped me to realize that there usually is something good in our lives to encourage us, even in the midst of bad times, if we just let ourselves see it. And of course it made me more aware of all the other stuff I can look around and see every day too. All the good food we've eaten just this week, laughter and playing from the kids, prayers and talks about the Lord, some days even just sleep, and the list goes on. I'm very thankful for those mixed in blessings God chose to give us to show me that. Again. :-)
What kind of blessings have you found mixed into your life lately?!
We went out for mexican food at Cantina Laredo last week and ended up getting a totally free meal! It was really due to a mix-up in seating and we had to wait for awhile before they realized no one had taken our order yet. At first the shift manager just gave us a free appetizer and dessert (which was great!), but then the general manager ended up writing off the whole check. Woo-hoo! This all happened after our van broke down and we found out how much it was going to cost to fix so that just made it a double blessing.
The naturopath allergy doctor we go to has hired a new receptionist who is super sweet. We've been going alot (due to all these crazy reactions we're having) so I've gotten to chat with her a little the past couple weeks. Today I was there for a treatment and as I was leaving she tells me that she does some photography on the side and wondered if I would let her shoot some pictures of the kids sometime? For free! I was like, um, yes that would be pretty great. She says she knows how expensive it can be to get family pictures sometimes and since we're having so much extra financial stuff right now anyway she wanted to help us out. I thought that was pretty amazing!
Those were a couple things that might seem kinda little in some ways, but just helped me to realize that there usually is something good in our lives to encourage us, even in the midst of bad times, if we just let ourselves see it. And of course it made me more aware of all the other stuff I can look around and see every day too. All the good food we've eaten just this week, laughter and playing from the kids, prayers and talks about the Lord, some days even just sleep, and the list goes on. I'm very thankful for those mixed in blessings God chose to give us to show me that. Again. :-)
What kind of blessings have you found mixed into your life lately?!
June 11, 2012
Yummy Garden Veggies!
My parents gave us some vegetables from their garden this weekend and then Blake was able to stop at a local farmer's market and get a few more things. Tonight's supper consisted totally of food fresh from the garden and it was so good! Even the kids were crazy about pretty much everything. We will definitely be getting some more fresh veggies in the near future to have other yummy meals like this one. :-) And now for some pictures, just to make you drool.......
{fried green tomatoes}
{fry-baked squash}
{corn on the cob}
{boiled red potatoes}
{red cabbage slaw}
{raw, sliced cucumbers}
{first time eating corn on the cob!}
{showing her teeth.....that aren't there! lol}
{he's enjoying the corn too!}
Doesn't all that good looking food just make you hungry?! :-)
Doesn't all that good looking food just make you hungry?! :-)
Pictures of 3-D's! ;-)
A few fun moments to share in the middle of these crazy, hectic days!
(please excuse the unfolded clothes.....the picture was just too cute to care! haha)
(this girl is growing up so fast and is currently missing her 2 front teeth which makes her look so different!)
(poor baby had a rough week and not much sleep....she finally gave it up on the couch one day and got a little nap)
(bouncing fun on the birthday inflatable!)
Love these 3-D kiddos and can't wait to add another little D into the mix in a few more weeks! :-)
.
June 10, 2012
Some Crazy Days!
Last week was so all over the place I'm not sure I can even remember it all to write about! But I figured I might as well make an attempt at it anyway. So here goes....
Sleep was practically non-existent most nights due to Darcey waking up and crying several times. We still aren't totally sure what all was bothering her but it definitely was no fun for any of us! Thankfully she has done a little better the past couple nights so that is a huge relief.
Allergies are at an all time high here as well with all of us dealing with reactions in our own yucky ways. I know most people picture allergies to just be sneezing, runny nose, etc (which we do have sometimes too for sure) but for someone with severe allergies it can be so much more than that! I think our biggest problem at the moment is all the chemicals they are spraying on the crops around here. It just weakens us down to where we react worse to all our other ones on top of it. Frustrating to say the least!
Between those two things and the fact we also made several trips to the allergy doctor to try and get some help, it definitely made for a looooong week at times. Add in super tired to feeling bad and let's just say there was quite a bit of irritableness and not so great attitudes going on. (and to be honest some days where the kids watched way more shows than I would prefer just so we could all get a break!) Now that we have the not so fun moments out of the way though let's move on to some of the good parts.....
We kicked off our Bible Bee studying this past week and enjoyed doing the daily stuff it recommended. I will say that it's alot to cover though and due to the kind of week we had we didn't get it all done each day but it was still nice to get started on it and we are looking forward to hopefully getting into it more in the next few weeks. Has anyone else been involved in that before? It's a new thing for us this year so I will try to update more later on how it goes or if we liked it.
Thursday our van decided not to start back up while we were out in town. (yeah, huge bummer!) Thankfully my parents were there as well so we caught a ride home. It ended up being a bigger deal to fix than what we were hoping so not the best news but then again I guess it could have been worse. On Friday we had just found out how much it was going to cost and I was a little down about it but trying to just not worry over it. (wasn't alot I could do anyway!) We were out in town and decided to grab a bite to eat at Cantina Laredo before heading home. It was kinda the early supper shift starting when we got there so due to some miscommunication we ended up having to wait awhile for someone to come take our order. They felt so bad about it that they gave us free appetizers and a dessert to begin with....then the head manager ended up just covering the whole meal! It was definitely a nice blessing after being upset over bad news. :-)
After eating the kids asked if we could check into riding one of the boats they have there at Bridge Street. (it's a local outdoor mall with a small, man-made lake) We decided to see about it and ended up renting a small pontoon for 30 minutes. So fun! The kids all loved it, at least until Darcey saw the carousal in the distance and wanted to ride that instead. She coudn't understand why we couldn't just get out and walk over there on the water. lol We did let her ride after getting off and she had a blast doing that too. It was great enjoying time with the kids and seeing them have so much fun but I was definitely ready to get off of my feet and head home by then!
Saturday was a lazy day mostly with me trying to recuperate from the week. We did pick up the van and carry my parents vehicle back to them. (where the kids of course had to swim for awhile and we ate supper before coming back home.) Today, I am shot and trying to rest and keep my feet up some to hopefully feel better. Not sure if it's just all the stress and business of the past few days or what but this pregnant momma is more than tired! Blake is off at the moment visiting a new church we had heard about while I am trying to pray that we'll find God's will in that area of our lives soon. I know He has the perfect place in mind for us and wants us to be there as much as we do. Sometimes it's just the in between times of actually finding it and getting there that seems the hardest!
But there's aimpossibly long post run-down of our hectic week. Hopefully this didn't seem quite as long as it did! haha I am trying to remember and post some cute things the kids are learning and doing lately but it seems like by the time I get around to writing about them I've forgotten what they are. Maybe I should take notes?! Anyway, more to come soon and until then I am definitely hoping for a quieter, slightly less stressful week starting tomorrow. :-)
Tyra
Sleep was practically non-existent most nights due to Darcey waking up and crying several times. We still aren't totally sure what all was bothering her but it definitely was no fun for any of us! Thankfully she has done a little better the past couple nights so that is a huge relief.
Allergies are at an all time high here as well with all of us dealing with reactions in our own yucky ways. I know most people picture allergies to just be sneezing, runny nose, etc (which we do have sometimes too for sure) but for someone with severe allergies it can be so much more than that! I think our biggest problem at the moment is all the chemicals they are spraying on the crops around here. It just weakens us down to where we react worse to all our other ones on top of it. Frustrating to say the least!
Between those two things and the fact we also made several trips to the allergy doctor to try and get some help, it definitely made for a looooong week at times. Add in super tired to feeling bad and let's just say there was quite a bit of irritableness and not so great attitudes going on. (and to be honest some days where the kids watched way more shows than I would prefer just so we could all get a break!) Now that we have the not so fun moments out of the way though let's move on to some of the good parts.....
We kicked off our Bible Bee studying this past week and enjoyed doing the daily stuff it recommended. I will say that it's alot to cover though and due to the kind of week we had we didn't get it all done each day but it was still nice to get started on it and we are looking forward to hopefully getting into it more in the next few weeks. Has anyone else been involved in that before? It's a new thing for us this year so I will try to update more later on how it goes or if we liked it.
Thursday our van decided not to start back up while we were out in town. (yeah, huge bummer!) Thankfully my parents were there as well so we caught a ride home. It ended up being a bigger deal to fix than what we were hoping so not the best news but then again I guess it could have been worse. On Friday we had just found out how much it was going to cost and I was a little down about it but trying to just not worry over it. (wasn't alot I could do anyway!) We were out in town and decided to grab a bite to eat at Cantina Laredo before heading home. It was kinda the early supper shift starting when we got there so due to some miscommunication we ended up having to wait awhile for someone to come take our order. They felt so bad about it that they gave us free appetizers and a dessert to begin with....then the head manager ended up just covering the whole meal! It was definitely a nice blessing after being upset over bad news. :-)
After eating the kids asked if we could check into riding one of the boats they have there at Bridge Street. (it's a local outdoor mall with a small, man-made lake) We decided to see about it and ended up renting a small pontoon for 30 minutes. So fun! The kids all loved it, at least until Darcey saw the carousal in the distance and wanted to ride that instead. She coudn't understand why we couldn't just get out and walk over there on the water. lol We did let her ride after getting off and she had a blast doing that too. It was great enjoying time with the kids and seeing them have so much fun but I was definitely ready to get off of my feet and head home by then!
Saturday was a lazy day mostly with me trying to recuperate from the week. We did pick up the van and carry my parents vehicle back to them. (where the kids of course had to swim for awhile and we ate supper before coming back home.) Today, I am shot and trying to rest and keep my feet up some to hopefully feel better. Not sure if it's just all the stress and business of the past few days or what but this pregnant momma is more than tired! Blake is off at the moment visiting a new church we had heard about while I am trying to pray that we'll find God's will in that area of our lives soon. I know He has the perfect place in mind for us and wants us to be there as much as we do. Sometimes it's just the in between times of actually finding it and getting there that seems the hardest!
But there's a
Tyra
June 4, 2012
Update and Outfit!
Wow, I can't believe another week has passed already! (although I will admit a few of the days did drag by a little since I wasn't feeling well) I actually have a couple other posts in the works but just never finished them so I guess I'll go ahead with another pregnancy update. Seems that's about all I'm getting around to posting these days. Also wanted to include a picture to share about my outfit and let you see how humongously big I've gotten much the baby's grown! :-) Check out the links at the bottom to see who I'm linking up with today as well. Now onto the latest news....
I am now in my 3rd trimester which means I'm a little over 28 weeks along! Woo-hoo! Part of me is amazed that we'll be having another baby in just (approximately) 12 weeks and then another part of me is thinking that day will never get here. Yep, I'm definitely in the last trimester I think. Ha!
The biggest news to share today is that we have officially decided to change from OB to midwife and deliver not at the hospital but a birthing house! I'm so excited to have the opportunity for another "home" birth and can't wait to see what kind of experience we have this time. :-)
That being said, this also somewhat changes the type of care and treatments we will be doing the rest of the time which thankfully includes no 3 hour glucose test! I am being very careful with my eating now though and keeping a check on my sugar levels here at home. Prayers for it to stay regulated are very much appreciated since it tends to make me feel awful when it flunctuates. The awesome thing is that my midwife is very knowledgeable in this area herself, not only from training but because she is actually a diabetic as well. I was very encouraged just from talking with her!
As for other issues, most are still pretty much the same. Pregnancy isn't normally very easy on me physically so I'm not entirely surprised to be having some problems but it can definitely be hard to deal with at times (especially needing to care for the other kiddos) so prayers for grace and strength are my daily routine at the moment. I'm greatly hoping to finish out this pregnancy without any more major issues and that my own health won't adversely affect the baby. I will be writing more about that later and asking specific prayers for after he is born but for now just praying that God's will is done for us both and that I am able to trust He's taking care of it would be great!
Now on to the picture. This was taken last week so I was one day away from being 28 weeks.
~ I found this shirt on sale at Motherhood Maternity and loved the color. I would prefer a little looser fit but if you've tried looking at any maternity clothes lately you'll know that is something hard to find!
~ The scarf came from Target (another sale item!) and I thought it went perfect with the shirt. I've also worn it with a white blouse as well so it's nice to be able to use it with more than one thing.
~ This skirt isn't actually maternity and I can't even remember where I got it at the moment since it's been a few years. (sorry!) It's one of the bubble skirts and has a stretchy waist so can still be worn underneath my growing belly.
Overall I'm pretty pleased with how this outfit turned out. It isn't always easy finding things that fit and are modest so it's always fun to have something you like while pregnant!
So there's my update and outfit post for the week. Looking forward to these next few weeks going by and hopefully getting some things done before Daxton arrives! I will be updating until then though so stay tuned. :-)
(Linking up with My Joy Filled Life and The Modest Mom today. Be sure to go read some of the other great posts on those blogs as well!)
I am now in my 3rd trimester which means I'm a little over 28 weeks along! Woo-hoo! Part of me is amazed that we'll be having another baby in just (approximately) 12 weeks and then another part of me is thinking that day will never get here. Yep, I'm definitely in the last trimester I think. Ha!
The biggest news to share today is that we have officially decided to change from OB to midwife and deliver not at the hospital but a birthing house! I'm so excited to have the opportunity for another "home" birth and can't wait to see what kind of experience we have this time. :-)
That being said, this also somewhat changes the type of care and treatments we will be doing the rest of the time which thankfully includes no 3 hour glucose test! I am being very careful with my eating now though and keeping a check on my sugar levels here at home. Prayers for it to stay regulated are very much appreciated since it tends to make me feel awful when it flunctuates. The awesome thing is that my midwife is very knowledgeable in this area herself, not only from training but because she is actually a diabetic as well. I was very encouraged just from talking with her!
As for other issues, most are still pretty much the same. Pregnancy isn't normally very easy on me physically so I'm not entirely surprised to be having some problems but it can definitely be hard to deal with at times (especially needing to care for the other kiddos) so prayers for grace and strength are my daily routine at the moment. I'm greatly hoping to finish out this pregnancy without any more major issues and that my own health won't adversely affect the baby. I will be writing more about that later and asking specific prayers for after he is born but for now just praying that God's will is done for us both and that I am able to trust He's taking care of it would be great!
Now on to the picture. This was taken last week so I was one day away from being 28 weeks.
~ I found this shirt on sale at Motherhood Maternity and loved the color. I would prefer a little looser fit but if you've tried looking at any maternity clothes lately you'll know that is something hard to find!
~ The scarf came from Target (another sale item!) and I thought it went perfect with the shirt. I've also worn it with a white blouse as well so it's nice to be able to use it with more than one thing.
~ This skirt isn't actually maternity and I can't even remember where I got it at the moment since it's been a few years. (sorry!) It's one of the bubble skirts and has a stretchy waist so can still be worn underneath my growing belly.
Overall I'm pretty pleased with how this outfit turned out. It isn't always easy finding things that fit and are modest so it's always fun to have something you like while pregnant!
So there's my update and outfit post for the week. Looking forward to these next few weeks going by and hopefully getting some things done before Daxton arrives! I will be updating until then though so stay tuned. :-)
(Linking up with My Joy Filled Life and The Modest Mom today. Be sure to go read some of the other great posts on those blogs as well!)
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