Time Marches On

I know every mother out there reading this will relate. There are many days, far too many to count, when I find myself overwhelmed. Keeping a house clean (for those of you who truly know me, you know this is no simple task). Taking care of the hair that two dogs leave and trying to make a house clean enough to appear no dogs live here can be quite exhausting. Dishes pile up. Laundry multiplies. Groceries need to be restocked. Meals planned and made. Bathrooms cleaned (I prefer this several times a week, but yet that doesn't always happen). Toys picked up, the list goes on and on.

I have learned over this past year to let some things go. But, this week in particular I have been overwhelmed with one thought. Time marches on; whether I'd like it to or not. Ady has been experiencing some serious "mommy clingy" issues. I wish I could tell you there are times she will sit contently apart from me, but rarely does that happen. I was researching online to see if this was common (which by the way, is, between 14-18 months). And, one mom had posted "enjoy it now. Someday she'll be running from you." I lost it.


I realized that what breaks my heart now are things that I silently wished away previously. Like the nights I wished for sleep, and prayed she would just sleep through the night. Oh, how I miss the tenderness of those late nights. Or the times I couldn't wait for her to be mobile. Or the times I wished she would learn to eat independently. I've observed that this baby I couldn't wait to watch grow up, grew up right before my eyes. And my heart is heavy. Please know that I enjoy in more ways than I'll ever be able to express into words, the time I spend with her. And while I look forward to milestones she will experience, I have learned the hard way it just happens way, way too fast.

This baby, this 6 lb 4 oz baby, has become a stranger to me.


How did it happen? And how can I make it slow down? I heard this last week and it struck a chord with me: " In the history of man, there has never been an epitaph that read, 'she was great at keeping home,' but there are 'great mother' and loving wife." So, I'm no longer sweating the small stuff. Because, y'all, it's all small stuff.

My job is to prepare her for heaven. Have you ever truly thought about that in great detail? I heard this today, from the book Intentional Parenting:

"we must recognize that a few hours a week of consumer-oriented church events cannot successfully compete for the hearts of young people if those hearts are not being attended to spiritually in the home. The spiritual fates of children must be placed as a matter of primary importance back into the hands of the people who have the greatest opportunity to influence them for the Kingdom of God- their parents."

Do I want Ady to look back on her life and think the most important thing is to complete a to do list? Or do I want her to remember seeing her mother drop to her knees each morning with a Bible, pen, and paper in hand? You see, what I feel many Christians today do is complete a "to do list" of church. Go on Sunday, check. Donate things to the poor around Christmas, check. But, if my lifestyle is not uncomfortable, then I'm not doing what God has asked of me. You see, Ady needs to witness what I do, what we do, with our money. It's really not our money. Where we spend our money each month will show where our value is. Do we value giving God back what is already His? I am convicted this week that Ady needs to witness a mother that is always like Jesus. Because what she watches me do will say a lot more to her precious little mind than what I say to her will.

Last week I was eating some sun chips and dipping them in a hummus dip. I had finished the dip and put the top back on it before throwing it out. She was sitting in my lap and I watched her reach her hand in the chip bag and take her chip over the top and beat it up and down, as if she were dipping it. Just as I had previously done. I realized, she is watching; really watching. Every second counts. It is my responsibility to set an example for her in truth and love. To love people I don't really want to love. To show her how to love people who have deeply hurt me. I am learning so much more about how to love like Jesus now that I have a daughter whom I am raising to hopefully one day come to accept Him as her Savior.

As many of you know, conceiving children is not our "forte", so to speak. It doesn't come simple for us, not the old fashioned way, not the way it is "supposed" to be. My deep, deep desire is to have more. Yet, I serve a God that can choose to do with my life whatever He sees fit. "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed"-Proverbs 16:3 We do not, not even for a second, take for granted the gift of Ady. All else said, "no". But, the Lord so graciously answered our prayer and said, "yes". But, it wasn't without a fight.

I can't see the road laid out before me, but I do trust and believe that "no good thing will He withhold from those whose walk is blameless."-Psalm 84:11. Praise His name for my sweet Ady. A gift I do not deserve, but am more grateful with each passing day that I have been entrusted to raise. And if I never, ever get to experience the sweet little milestones like Ady's that I already wish could come back, then I will still praise Him. God is good...all the time.

Watch out, moms. Time marches on.

It's Fall, Y'all!

Ady has become a new baby this month. It's like I blinked and once again she's growing way, way, way too fast. Last Friday, (October 7), she took her first "for real" steps. I was sitting on the floor playing with magnets on the fridge. She was over by the pantry. I looked up and she had her daddy's old Snuggle bear in her arm and she was walking! I started to scream and clap. She was giggling. She just kept coming. I kept scooting backwards. It was one of the most precious things I've seen. I will never, ever regret choosing to stay home with her. I have not missed one ounce of these milestones. Such a sweet, sweet memory I will cherish forever.


Last week we went with Gramme and Caden to the pumpkin patch. Ady has been obsessed with pumpkins since we see them at the grocery so frequently. She loved waving to them, being outside, and seeing all the animals.


She sure does love Caden :)



She loved swinging!


She loved the apple cider slushie :)


I love how sweet her expression is here!


At 13 months she's into everything! She loves to talk...all the time! She's a true girl. And...for those of you out there who were predicting she'd make the choice to get rid of the bows. She actually likes them :) She will sometimes cry when I take them off her. But, she did practically come out of the womb with one on :)


Ady loves to eat goldfish, graham crackers, chicken nuggets, fries, peaches, pears, cheez it's, carbs, carbs, and carbs :) I can't get her to eat her veggies well, so we make up for the veggie intake in the Puffs sweet potatoes :) She still loves her Bible. It's her favorite. She's starting to let me read to her now. Somedays she wants to rip the book up, but on a good night I can get her to listen :)


She really loves stuffed animals. Our house is being overtaken by them.


She has truly mastered the art of climbing. Everywhere. And she's FAST!


Did I mention she loves pumpkins? :)


The fall fun continued last weekend as my lifegroup went to a pumpkin patch and Monday night we decorated our pumpkins :) I am very, very blessed to know such Godly women. The Lord has been so good to us!


As we enter into this fall season, this season of thanksgiving, my heart is overflowing. Ady brings my life so much joy. The Lord has answered many prayers for us and many times I am overcome with emotion as I hold my sweet little miracle. This gift that, after two painful surgeries and assurance would never be possible, will always bring me such joy. God has pulled us out from the bottom pit. "Weeping may endure for the night, but JOY comes in the morning!"-Psalm 30:5


"Let us enter His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout triumphantly to Him in song. For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods. The depths of the earth are in His hand, and the mountain peaks are His. The sea is His; He made it. His hands formed the dry land. Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the sheep under His care."-Psalm 95:2