JOY IN THIS MOMENT

Yesterday was a bad day. It started out good...I had time to shower and have a long quiet time with Jesus before Liza woke up. We had a fun morning and she went down for her nap easily. Sophie was feeling better finally, after over a week of being very ill with Salmonella. And I had an eye appt at 10:00. Wes was watching the girls and I got to go by myself. I swung into Walmart quick to grab a few staples and ran into some dear friends I hadn't seen in awhile. That totally blessed my day. I had adult conversations with people at the eye doctor which seemed like a mini vacation, and I got done in time to take the girls to storytime at 11:00. I needed to get gas for Wes's little gas tank so he could mow the lawn, so I was trying to be as quick as possible. A little old lady asked me for help pumping (she had grabbed the diesel pump and couldn't figure out why it wasn't fitting into her car). Sweet dear women. Anyways, amongst pumping and helping her, I must have left my w...

When Liza was an infant, she would wake up around 2 or 3am and no matter what I did, she would stay awake for a solid two hours. Every night. It was like as soon as the 2 hour mark hit she was fast asleep, but could not fall asleep before that. When she was about 6 months old I started to do some serious research on sleep training and finally realized crying it out was an option and worth a try. It had never occurred to me before, I think partially because I would run into her room at the first sound she made when she was first born, because I didn't want her to wake up Sophia. And then for some reason, I just continued to do that. Well after a few nights of sleep training, I had a baby who became an excellent sleeper. We can lay her down wide awake and she can talk herself to sleep and if she happens to wake up at night, she is able to put herself right back to sleep. She doesn't need a nuk, she doesn't need a bottle, she doesn't need rocked. But, after I got her sleep...

Last night Sophie woke up to a really loud thunderstorm around 3am. Thunderstorms are her biggest fear. And fireworks. Every night before she goes to bed she asks me if there will be any fireworks or thunderstorms that night. And when they happen she quickly becomes hysterical. We are at my parents right now, and I've been sleeping in their newly renovated basement so I had no idea what was happening but quickly heard her sobs on the monitor and ran upstairs. This was probably the most scared I've ever seen her because it was one of those thunderstorms that booms and roars and lights up the sky. So when I got upstairs and looked at my weather app to see that the storm wasn't going to stop anytime soon, I asked if she wanted me to stay and sleep in her bed. Of course she said yes, so I ran back downstairs and got Liza's monitor and cuddled up next to her. She stopped crying immediately and within the minute she was back asleep. Even though it was so loud and bright, beca...

For as long as I can remember my dream was to be a stay-at-home-mom. And then around my freshmen year of high school, I knew I wanted to be a nurse. And now, the Lord is showing me, I am both. And this is my dream come true. Although, lately it often does not seem like I am living my dream when I am up a lot of the night tending to my sick babies, wiping noses all day long, and dealing with constant fussiness. So I'm so thankful to the Lord for this reminder! Last night, Wes and I went for a walk on Purdue's campus and we walked by the nursing building. Such great memories from Purdue and I'm so thankful for my education that I received from there. I've been missing my work as a nurse. I know the Lord called me to it, and I love helping people feel better and serving them when they are sick. But I also know for this season it's so important for me to be home and to focus 100% on building my home and family. So last night, as we sat outside of the nursing building,...

Some nights, Wes gets home from work at crazy hours of the night. It's like I become Jekyll and Hyde- you never know what girl I'll be when he gets home. And I don't like that about myself. I wish I could always wake up and be cheerful and happy but most nights I am stressed about not being able to fall back asleep and the amount of sleep I'm missing by being awake. I wish I could wait up for him, feed him, and sit across the table from him while he told me about work. But this is just not feasible. So I'm working on at least being respectful. The other night I was so beyond tired and just not myself and Wes told me "you are just mean". That really struck me. I never ever want to be a mean person, let alone a mean wife!!! Probably the best book I've ever read on marriage is "Love and Respect" which is based on Ephesians 5:33, "However, each of you must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. " It ...

For awhile I've been wanting to get to Ollie's Bargain Outlet to get some more books for my girls. They are both loving books right now and we can't seem to have enough books. I mean we have plenty, but since they love it so much I was wanting to get some new ones to feed into their interest. We go to the library on a mostly weekly basis getting about 20 books at a time, but I am not exaggerating when I say we read that pile every day. I just haven't seemed to be able to get to Ollie's. And then a friend of mine sent me an email inviting me to a "book party". She had recently cleaned out her girls's closet and wanted to give away some books that they are no longer using. Wow! I couldn't believe the timing of this email and the generosity of my friend. So yesterday we went to her house and had a great time playing, and left with two big bags of wonderful, beautiful, enriching books. As I was leaving, my friend also asked if she could send home s...

In college, a few of my friends and I were obsessed with Elisabeth Elliott and mostly her book, "Passion and Purity". I remember Betsy talking about how when she was lonely she looked for opportunities to serve God by loving and serving others-  and that cured the loneliness. I've thought of this often since then and have found it true in my own life. Yesterday, my doctor's office called and said they saw two different subchorionic hematomas on my ultrasound. This was totally out of the blue and something I have never heard before. I felt confused and in shock. I've already been a little on edge this week as I'm 11 weeks along. That's when we lost our second baby. So I've just been living with a dark cloud over my head for the past few days with a fear of impending doom. I was pretty emotional and so I tried to explain it to Sophie that we just really need to be praying that the new baby stays healthy and strong. She told me as we prayed, "Mom...