Puppies

They are growing so fast!  Kirby loves them.  She goes every morning to check them out from the window.  She says, "dawwww-g"

 The 4 that survived are thriving well.  They are monsters at just 10 days old.  

Monday was a super long day for Kirby and Momma.  It was not supposed to be, but with a 2 hour doctor visit, that is just how it goes.  Do you ever have a day where you wake up in a fog?  Just kind of gloomy feeling for no reason what so ever?  That was me on Monday.  I wasn't in a bad mood, just blah.  Anyhow, the whole day went that way.  This is how Kirby started the morning, so getting errands done before the appointment was postponed.  

 Try as I might to shake the feeling, that is just how it was.  When we got to the doctor's office 15 minutes early (so proud of us!!) you could not help but notice the sick waiting room.  It was over flowing - there were sick people waiting in the hallway where the well people walk by!  Oh no - run from them like they have the plague!  The well waiting room only had about 5 people in it, and they were all already complaining that their appointments were "30 #$%% minutes ago!"  Oh people.  So I knew it was going to be a day of this room.  That's ok for Kirby!  We just got out some toys and books, talked to everyone around the room, blew kisses to the sick people in the hallway, and escorted everyone in and out of the office as they were coming and going.  She loved it.  That was until it was her turn to go behind the closed doors.  She lost it the minute we went to the scale.  Not sure if she had flashbacks from last week at the X-ray office or what.  We were able to somehow get her weight, height, vitals, and then 2 shots.  Then another 30 minute wait in the room.  That was trying because she was DONE.  To the core.  There wasn't much I could do to calm her down.  She did look in the mirror and few times and say, "baby".  And the cords on the blinds that they tell you to stay away from entertained her until the doctor came in.  Then she lost it again.  Needless to say, her 18  month check up went "well".  She is healthy and right on track.

At 18 months:

weight: 25 lbs 5 oz.

height: 32"

head circumference: 18"

She is in the 65th percentile.  They never tell us this, but they did this time.  I don't even really know what it means to us.  I know that many other kids' moms tell me they are in the ninety something percentile, so if the higher the better, we aren't doing so hot.  It is what it is though, and I am pretty sure I don't have control over that number.  I know that she is rarely sick - allergies have kicked in this season, but clear sniffles is all thus far - eats well, runs around all the time, speaks very well, and is happy go lucky.  That is all we ask for and praise God for all of that.  CR says, "I think all that tells us is that she will not be going to A&M on a basketball scholarship."  

Then we had to truck on to Walmart and to add to our day, there were no baskets in site.  I will end our long day "wah - wah- wahs" there.

We stopped at the library on the way home so we could end our adventure on a good note.  This was her first time and she loved it.  Not as interested in the books as she was the furniture.

 These were all quick shots with my phone, so not the best quality, but you get her rambunctiousness!

" ... whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."  1 Corinthians 10:31

Yes, even waiting in a room full or upset, lost parents, do it for God's glory.

Feeding the Fervent Heart

... another new adventure.  For the longest time I have had what I think is a really good idea for a book/devotional floating around in my head and my heart.  I know the Lord will put it all together at the right time; when I need to pursue it and get down to serious business it will flow like the waters of Babylon.  Until then it has it's place here.  I hope that you will get as much out of this endeavor as I know I will.

My idea has been to have a devotional cookbook.  A place where busy men and women can have a recipe and devotional all in one.  I am not sure quite yet how it will flow, but I have some ideas.  By no means do I intend for these short devotionals to replace your daily time in His word.  You still need that.  This can be either a starting point for you (I know many people go, "hmmm, where should I read today) or a place to come to when you are dealing with something specific on your heart.  It may get down to the nitty gritty and convict or it may be light and airy, but my goal is to compel your heart to desire to have God's word intertwined in your daily life.

Follow these recipes and devotionals right here on this blog.  At the top you will now see tabs that have links to all of my whimsy.

Suffocation

This post came to me with a heavy and sad heart, but I saw the need for symbolism with how we can feel in our daily lives if we do not address a situation.  It came to me while I was doing quite time Monday morning after Dixie had her puppies.  She had twelve.  Bethany Jean, if you are reading this stop now.  When we went out and saw that she had them, only five were alive.  You see, Dixie had dug a deep hole to have her puppies in.  We guess that she got down in the hole to have them and nurse them ... well 7 of them were suffocated.  I mean squished.  I don't want to gross you out, but I do want you to get the image here and the symbolism.  When they passed, you could tell that they were just gasping for every last breath that they could possibly compel.  Ugh.  Brings tears to my eyes again.  Hang with me though.  I know I have been at a point in my life where I felt the very same way.  Gasping for air.  Panting.  Dying for just one breath of freshness.  And no, I am not talking about after a work out with Tony from Insanity or Jillian on her Ripped in 30.  I am talking about in my daily life.  This has happened to me twice.  Once when I was in college and totally living out someone else's life;  constantly saying, "who is this girl?" and dying for a refreshment of the Good air.  The second time was when I was teaching and knowing God was calling me to stay home with Kirby.  The thing that both times had in common: I was running away from what the Holy Spirit was telling me to do.  I was going the opposite direction of what I knew I was being led to do.  It was too hard to change, so I kept fighting it and fighting it, all the while running out of air.  There were days I would come home and just gasp for freshness in both situations.  I felt like what those poor puppies looked like.  It was awful.  But praise the Almighty God for saving me.  He gave me the chance to escape the depths of my pit; I looked up and saw my Saving grace.  When I chose to follow Him instead of run, my heart and breath were restored.  New life came over me.  You can have that too if you feel like I did.  It is so easy to do.  Even if you are already a child of God ( I have been since I was 8, but I have already had 2 near suffocation episodes in my 20 years of being saved) you can still cry out to Him and ask for restoration.  He is calling you to do so.  If you are out of breath, please join me in getting your fresh air and clean water from His word.

"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."  

Hebrews 4:16

Final survivors!

My oh my

how time does fly.  Click here to visit Kirby's 6 month post a year ago.  Today she is 18 months.  How?  Where is the pause button?  The above timeline of snaps is me trying to get her 18 month pictures in the big green chair.  In the 2nd and 3rd pictures, she is at least saying "cheese" through her medicine cap.  Silly girl.  She picked up on saying "cheese" with a camera last month when I was taking valentine pictures of a little boy.  His parents kept saying, "say cheese", so, naturally, Kirby started saying "cheese" while we were taking his pictures. The little boy never did, but she sure let it rip.  Now every time someone says, "we are going to take a picture," the word follows shortly after.  In fact, yesterday when we went to the orthopedic to take a picture of her hips (x-ray) she said, "cheese" the whole time we were walking over to the place.  I am definitely putting that in the cookie jar of memories.
Her 18 month check-up is not until Monday, so I do not have the specs on here like I did in her other milestone months in the past.  I guess I have gotten lazy as a mother already.  Gruff.  I am going to guess though, and will post Monday how close I was.
Weight: 25 lbs
Height: 31"
She eats: just about anything I have her try.  She loves my daddy's spaghetti and meatballs and his zucchini perrini.  She loves anything with spice to it.  Definitely a South Texan with enjoying Mexican food.  She is going through a phase where she isn't a big fan of breads/muffins.  She does eat pancakes again, though, and the other morning she walked into the kitchen, pointed to the flat iron skillet and said, "cakes".
She says: a million things all day long.  What can I make out (from the top of my head) that is new: number 1-6, 10; hot dog; thank you; bless you; more (said while signing crazily like she will die if she doesn't get it stat); please (while signing); no,no,no; baby (while signing); love you; down; up; orange; apple; beery; daddy ray; eg em (while pointing her finger - trying to teach her gig em).
She loves to run, jump, march, and drive (we live on a farm so they start before they are potty-trained).  Lately she is becoming closer to CR, which is so great.  He has been taking care of her (even if its just a ride to John Deere or to check on the fields) on Friday mornings so that I can actually thoroughly clean the house.  It is amazing how much I can get done in 2 hours with the mindset of "this is my only opportunity".  I can clean the entire 2500 square foot house top to bottom and start a workout during that time.
Here are some other things going on around the farm, taken from Instagram on my phone.  Tomorrow I have a post brewing in my mind and heart, so come back late tomorrow afternoon or Saturday morning to read about "Suffocating".

 Well, this was actually last month at Grandma's.  Not sure if you can tell, but her leggings match my shirt.  I don't do that ever - so I had to since I found something so close.  It was quite fun I must say.

 She was all ready to go to John Deere with Daddy.  Pinked out so that those men over there would not call her "buddy" this trip.

 CR is burning some junk stalks so that the land is ready to plant.  Such a task driven job farming is, but what a blessing it is to see the harvest.  "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. ³⁸ Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” " Matthew 9:37-38  This is oh so true in so many ways.  For us right now, this is a literal meaning.  We need work hands terribly bad.  The one we have full time, well, he is part time in his head if you know what I mean.  The wonderful Minninite we were blessed with for 6 months up and went back to Mexico.  So right now it is Ray, CR, and part time help.  Please pray that the Lord would send help in His timing.  He always does, but I really see it wearing on CR this year with so much more land.  I reminded him that "God does not start something He doesn't intend to finish.  He blessed you with this extra acreage and He will see it through!"

 Kirby playing with the toys at Driscoll Children's Hospital.  This is where we go for her hip.  At her 6 month update I noticed I celebrated her getting off her brace.  Yesterday they told us that it is 95% right, that we need to watch it because if it starts to go the other direction instead of towards the 5% correct direction, then she will develop a limp and not be able to open her leg the whole way.  Think of a toe touch in the air - her right leg would only go partially to the right.  Please pray that it would continue in the right path - a brace or surgery when she is 4 does not sound fun.

 This is how we entertain Kirby when we wait for long periods of time: she watches videos on CRs phone from when she was a baby.  Her favorite is a bath time video where CR says, "Kirby, your eating the L (her alphabet bath toys).  Hahaha, your eating the L out of that L."  She chuckles like she gets it.

 Going for a drive on the lawn mower.  Because of this rendezvous on an 80 degree afternoon in South Texas, we are now covered in mosquito bites.  In February.

The oat patch that has finally come up thanks to the blessing of rain the last few weeks!

Toodles,
Lauren

Facebook and worth

I am so thankful that I do not base the worth of my work or my business on Facebook responses.  It is a wonderful networking tool to help get your name out there and for help with issues you may be having, however, DO NOT BASE anything on the # of fans you have.  Of course the more you have the more people will see your page which in turn COULD get you more business.  As I started getting more and more fans I could see myself obsessing about not having as many likes as so and so, but I told myself from the beginning that it was just an additional tool for networking.  Your best marketing tools are your customers.  If they love your work, then they will pass your name on.  That is the best complement you will ever receive.  The other day after my first full paid senior session I got a call from her good friend.  She booked a consultation that night!  She had never seen me on Facebook, but her friend raved about the experience and showed her the gallery of pictures I sent over for her to choose from.  You have to put yourself out there, take risks (thank you daddy and Chel), and most importantly, remember to thank God for the blessing and gift He has given you.  No matter what your business is, it is up to you, not your numbers on Facebook, to determine how far you are going to go on your journey.  Now get off of Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter and start really working your business!

""For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?"  Matthew 16:26

And Kirby ... here are some of the learning tools we will be using this week.
We started out trying things out this morning.  She loved the pipe cleaners and hated the Play-Doh.  I rolled it out for her to see what you could do with it; she put it to her mouth and said, "Bite?"  I told her, "No Kirby, we don't eat the Play-Doh, we feel it, roll it, cut it out."  She didn't want anything to do with it.  The pipe cleaners were fun to toss up and down, but she wasn't quite interested in trying to put it through the colander.  These are great sensory tools for toddlers.  For a trip to Walmart and about $15.00 you make numerous learning tools that they see as play.  For less than the cost of one toy they will soon outgrow, I bought pipe cleaners, clothespins, paint, sponge paint brushes, Play-Doh, elbow macaroni and paper.  I snagged a few paint chip samples for when we work on colors for free.  I am excited to get to use these ideas.  Some of the inspiration came from Pinterest; others from my teacher mind.  Kirby is smart, and I see that being a challenge at times, but so much fun.  I also learned that we have a library in Bishop.  Ha, who'da thunk it!  We will be making this a weekly trip from now on.
Kirby has learned some new motor skills in the last few weeks.  I have been working on jump with her since we put her new flooring (thank you Nathan Thompson) down, and does pretty good.  I was trying march with her for a few days and nothing.  Then one day she woke up from her nap while I was working out.  We were doing high knees and march in place, so I had her try it with me.  Guess what she learned to do?  March.  And count.  And run in place.  Memory for the cookie jar: Kirby learns motor skills from Jillian Michaels.

You are my sunshine

my only sunshine.  This song came to my head immediately when I uploaded this picture from my camera.  Kirby is such a delight.  Charmer.  Brilliantly beautiful both inside and out.  She makes me laugh, and most recently, cry.  Not because I was hurt or sad - but because time is passing by before our eyes and I am trying to soak up every waking moment of memories that I can.  I remind myself daily, "This is why I am home.  This is why I am pursuing my own business.  This is why God has blessed us with this opportunity."  I thank God all the time.  I am ever so grateful to Him that I can be here for this.  The other day I sat her in the passengers seat of the car, buckled her up and we drove up the road to Kitty and Ray's.  She was so proud of herself; she looked up and was grinning at me from ear to ear.  Snapshot.  Tears.  Laughter.  Moment I would have missed if I had been teaching.
Thursday I had a FULL day of "meetings" and things to take care of.  CR had been hunting all night Wednesday (got home at 6:30 Thursday morning) and Kitty had something come up.  I knew CR needed to sleep, so little miss came along with me.  She did so well.  I didn't want to put her in the nursery because there have been about 10 children with RSV in the last few weeks.  She sat through an hour and a half of Bible study, an hour of a ministry meeting, and then we met CR so he could come along for the rest of the adventures.  I had a mentoring meeting at an elementary school in Corpus, so they napped and ate lunch in the car, then we hit the grocery store.  I must admit, I started that day off sour about the whole deal.  I had things planned for a month and then I was certain it wasn't going to go well.  A great friend of mine encouraged me just to take her along, that Kirby could do it.  I prayed to put my heart back in the right place and off we went.  What a blessing the day was, too.  She is my sidekick.  She definitely has my disposition and heart.  I need to remind myself as she grows up that I am her parent also, and not just her best friend.  I know many moms that have that issue and can't say no to them because they are so close.  Praying that the Lord would direct me with that as she gets older.
On another note, have you ever read a verse in scripture that has completely moved you to tears?  I have come across some that are so touching, especially the ones that speak of God's love for us, that get me teary eyed, but I have never had one that spoke to me like Matthew 22:30 did yesterday during my quite time.  "At the resurrection, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven."  I always have a hard time grasping Heaven as it is.  I believe in heaven and hell.  I believe in every word of the Bible.  It is just one of those faith things that I will never grasp until we are there.  It excites me, but also scares me.  Anyhow, CR was in here on the couch while I was reading this, and I said, "So CR, does that mean we won't be husband and wife in heaven, right?"  He responded, "Right, we will be brothers and sisters in Christ.  Oh hunny, don't cry."  He could see the wells of water beginning to pile up and break the flood gates.  I said, "I need to be a better wife," and lost it.  Here is my question to you, especially now around this month of love (which I think is hoshposh): Are you being the best husband or wife that you can be?  I've always said, "CR is your only husband and you are his only wife on this earth - treat him as such.  Treat him and live your life to honor him in that way."  Sometimes it is hard to always remember that, but I was especially convicted when I realized that I won't be his wife in heaven.  I guess somehow I thought I could always be the perfect Suzy homemaker for him in heaven.  Ha - oh, Lauren. Live your life in a way that glorifies God and honors your spouse.  Use Matthew 22:30 to encourage you to do this on a daily basis.  You don't get another life to surprise him at work, make him his favorite dinner, mow the yard every once in a while or give him a back rub.  If you don't do this now, start.  I promise, not only will it make him happier and probably do many nice things in return (not the goal though!!), but you will be glorifying God by doing this and He will bless you in return.  Try it out and keep me in touch with the results!  I am excited to see what it does for our already wonderful life!

"For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct.

Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

—1 Peter 2:25-3:2, 3:7 

Looking at the heart

of Jesus.  This month is the month of love.  Hearts of all kind infiltrate the stores.  What kind of heart is infiltrating your "store"?  Do you have a heart like Jesus?  That should be our goal in life as Christians.  To view others as Jesus does.  To do what Jesus would do (I actually do not like that saying do to the mass publicity it got years ago - I mean people would be wearing that bracelet while getting hammered at a bar and cussing people out.  Hmmmm) Sorry about that tangent.  Jesus loves.  Take that in deeply with a huge breath of relief.  Jesus loves.  He loves sinners.  He receives sinners just like me and just like you.  Praise the Lord!  "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28  Does your heart receive sinners?  Do you forgive and forget?  I know it is so hard to forget - the forgiving seems to be the easy part, but the forgetting part just lingers and lingers on.  How do you forget?  You get a heart like Jesus.  You read His word and see how he was beaten, denied, and trash talked to, yet he forgave.  Use His examples to purify your hearts into forgetfulness.  I am speaking to myself here loud and clear this morning.  And it isn't even anything someone did to me; it is something I did all on my own a long time ago.  I know I have been forgiven.  I have forgiven myself, yet I can't seem to forget.  Purging my mind and soul into His word to have a heart like Jesus this month.  Will you join me in prayer and on this journey to a clean, forgiving and forgetting heart?