Sorry!

I have to apologize to my readers (the fabulous, but few) because that last post was grammatical a mess! Jacob had to go back and fix it for me. I will admit that I have never been good at writing. So if you see future blogs that are a mess, you will know that Jacob hasn't gotten a chance to read and fix my blog:) He keeps what I mean to say, but puts it in a way that people can actually read and understand what I am trying to say! Sometimes I just get so into what I writing about that I don't realize that it doesn't even make sense! Seriously, I read through them before I post and it makes sense to me because I know what I meant to say. Just another reason why I love my Jacob so!:)

Breastfeeding

Today I was at Babies r us finding a few things for our growing girl. I saw a lady walking around nursing her baby. She had a nursing cover over her, but still I thought it was really cool that she could just walk around like that. I don't think I could do that. First of all, I don't think I'm coordinated enough. Second, Bella is a little too big for carrying her like that. Seeing that made me wish that mothers could breastfeed in public more often and not feel like an outcast. I'm not saying we should just have our breast hanging out for all to see; but it would be nice if there were more areas where we could feel comfortable feeding our child. That's what our breasts were created for anyway!

Why don't public restrooms have chairs? After all, they have changing stations to help out mothers. I have had to sit on the restroom floor to feed Isabella before. I don't seem to think it's as gross as many people do. I do sit on a blanket and I wash my hands afterwards. I just feel more comfortable sitting alone to feed her.

Even odder than breastfeeding is how people don't flinch now seeing a half naked girl on every magazine cover at the grocery store! It just shows how sex obsessed our society is. It's very annoying to me! Almost every TV show and commercial has something in it that hints at sex, if it's not just going on and on about it. Why can't their be any normal family shows on anymore? With shows like the Cosby Show, Gilmore Girls, and (as cheesy as it was) Full House, you could just relax and enjoy watching TV with your family - kids included! I don't even want to think about how much more downhill TV and society in general is going to go by the time that Isabella is a teenager. EEK! Don't get me wrong, I don't want to come across pessimistic about everything. I know that their are "good" kids and parents out there. Sometimes it just gets a little hard to find among the bad news you see on TV. I hope and pray that with God's help that we can raise her and subsequent children in the Lord. That they will know what's good and right.

The Un-devotional

So we had a pretty good day. The weather was beautiful. I managed to sit outside for a few minutes and read while Bella was napping. The only problem was after a few minutes of reading in the quiet I wanted to take a nap too! I started to read the Bible from cover to cover. I have tried different reading plans and quickly failed. I don't get to read everyday, but it's coming along. I have 5 more chapters to finish and then I'll be all done with the book of Genesis. After that, it might get a little tricker with some of the following books! Reading through in order should help me see the cohesiveness of the Bible and all the random stories I know that are in there. Then I can see the big picture that God has drawn out for us. Once I told Jacob that I felt kinda bad because I can never stick to a daily devotional plan. He said "doing devotionals is not just a little thing you read and you're done. It's growing in Christ in all sorts of ways. It's living in Him." I thought this was so well put. So, now I don't stress out about it too much. I try to read the Bible, but mostly I try to live how Christ would want me to live. I have all these little ideas of things that I would like to do sometimes (scrapbooking,reading, cooking, cleaning, going on a date with my husband) but I can't fully devote myself to much of anything right now. But I'm actually okay with that. This time is precious and goes by too quick. So, I'm just enjoying the ride.

the long trip

It's amazing how fast this week went. I went to visit my family over the past weekend, so Monday was spent driving back and Tuesday was major laundry day. I left last Thursday to surprise my little sister for her college graduation. I think since I was excited to see her and see her reaction (as well as my whole family) the drive on the way up wasn't bad at all. The way home seemed very looong! Don't get me wrong, I was happy to come home to my lonely hubby. Hence why the next time we go up ( in a mere 2 weeks, again!) he's coming too!
So anyways, Bella was amazing in the car (both ways!) She just slept the whole 7 hrs. Can I tell you how much I love this little girl?! More everyday, actually! I figured I just had to get there and then I wouldn't be short of hands to help hold this little love bug. Boy, was I right!
Graduation festivities all went well. I'm glad I could be there. I also had my first mother's day there. I got a box of Cheerios (I love cereal, so somehow I always end up with a box for a gift!) a Berenstain Bear book, sippy cups ( ooh tupperware!), for some reason I feel like I'm leaving out one more thing- blame it on baby brain. On Monday I made my way back to good ol Ohio. I stopped at the first rest area and realized that I forgot to pack some extra diapers in the diaper bag before leaving my mom and dad's. Thankfully she was only a little wet then. So I just left it on. Then I had about 2 hrs left in the trip and I was getting very sleepy. I decided to stop and feed Isabella. At this point the diaper situation was a little worse. So I thought to my crafty self what can I use to make a diaper?! Here's the play by play of what I was thinking/doing. I had some cloth diapers that I use for spit and such. That should work. So I have that under her butt and she pees in the whole thing before I can figure out what to do with it. Oook.. what else now? A light flannel blanket. So I folded it as best as I could and quickly put the onesie back on and the pants over it to try and hold it in place because I obviously didn't have any safety pins to secure it. Oh, I should have taken a picture. She looked so funny! All bunched up all around her bottom:) I was laughing to myself as I was doing this in the bathroom. Then I put another blanket under her in the carseat and hoped for the best. We'll she was wet and dirty when we got home, but hey it worked! And it makes for a quite funny story if I do say so myself.

Birthdays for the fam

Isabella is 4 months as of yesterday. Time is flying! It is so fun to see all the things she is right on the edge of doing. She has rolled over once. She has laughed twice. I'm just waiting for more! Today she was very fussy. She had only a few cat naps-no long normal naps, therefore grumpy:( Thankfully it landed on a weekend and Jacob was very helpful with her. He had to carry her through the mall and then she would be quiet. I had to push an empty stroller;) I was excited to get out, but not so much when she was like that. Most days I guess I take it for granted how well she does. She is getting into a routine which has its perks but it has downfalls on days like this- when we're out. Even still, one little grin from her and it just lights up the room and makes it all better.
Jacob is now 27 as of Friday. I wanted to post something on the 1st, but time got away. Jacob is such a great husband and has helped me in my growing into the godly woman that I try to be. He is patient with Isabella and loves her so much. I love his inventive, silly songs that he makes up for her. He is also very diligent in his Biblical studies. All in all, I just wanted to take this time to say how blessed I am to have him for my husband and a great father to Bella and I love him more every day:) Happy birthday, honey! I'm excited to see what God does with us this year!

What's your idol?

This question has been on my heart lately. A lot of people nowadays think that idols are a thing of the past. Like the Egyptians bowing down to a golden calf or something. We think "well that's stupid! God is obviously not a calf! " But really we have many idols. An idol is anything that we value over God. I go through phases of what mine are. Lately it has been a house. I think that phase is waning now. We had to sign our lease for another year. So I'll probably start looking again next year. (Maybe we'll actually be able to move by then!) Many people value money, looks and intelligence. I know that I value my safety and my family very highly. I know that God has given me those as blessings. These things are all important in life, but we just have to know the placement of them within our lives.
This weekend at church, we had a different speaker than our regular pastor. His name was Efrem Smith. I really liked him. The topic was bridging our suburban lives/church with the city. He said this awesome thing, which I'm going to share with you. "God has blessed you more than you realize. He has blessed you to the point of overflowing so that we can be a blessing to others." Isn't that the coolest?! So with this blessing, we are to go out and use the talents and skills He has given us to help others. Instead of these talents taking time and importance over God, use it for Him! These things won't be an idol but a way to show glory. This can be in a myriad of ways. If your heart is pulled toward the mission field, then go! "Missions" doesn't always have to be across the world either- it can be just across town! If your heart is in music, research, children or the arts-use that talent for God. Sometimes you might not feel like every calling is what you would want. You have to listen to God and where and what He wants you to do. You have to be ready to let go of things that are in your safety zone (possibly those idols) to follow Him. Now just because I have written about this, doesn't mean that I have this all under control! I'm still growing, too!