Eclectic Eleven and a Successful Saturday

I know I say this every time I do a "month older post", but where does the time go?  I have been home with Kirby for almost 2 months and it seems like just yesterday was the last day of school.  We are so busy together that the time just flies by.  She is (still) such a bright, sunshiny, happy little girl.  The last 2 days she has been a little on the fussy side because a tooth is trying to come through (being really stubborn and taking longer than the others), but she is still my easy going, happy-go-lucky Kirby.  I guess the name fits her spunky personality that she is coming into.  Everyday she cracks me up with something new.  Today it was her hand in the air next to her head as if to say, "What?"  Precious and I freeze framed time for a bit.  This last week my mom came down for a few days before she heads out to California to visit her mom (my Nanny).  Kirby enjoyed my mother's enthusiasm and a "notch higher than everyone else" voice.  I am not sure how she gets her voice that high, but man does Kirby love it.  She giggled more this past week than she ever has.  Grammy taught her how to be "so big" and that she had "ears, eyes, nose, mouth, and a chinny, chin, chin, chin, chin".  At one point Kirby even cried when mom went outside and left us for a moment.  I am glad she remembers and enjoys her so much.  Wish we could do that more often.   

I have decided to be more organized with my blogging thoughts.  There is so much I always want to say and then when I sit down my mind is going all over the place.  Now, I will have a specific something to write about each day to help me organize my thoughts.  Kind of like chapter titles in a book ... they help you to not go off on a tangent.  So here is the breakdown:
Moving Mondays (out and about), Tenacious Tuesdays (holding on to Kirby moments forever), Wordless Wednesdays (stole that from a friend), Thankful Thursdays (small or big things I/we are thankful for), Freedom Fridays (free to blog about whatever!), Successful Saturdays (success on what we have worked on throughout the week/day), and Sermon Sundays (reflections on Sunday school and Bill's sermons).

 Since today is Successful Saturday, we will talk about this week's milestones and successes.  Today I introduced Kirby to her very own bowl on her tray.  It has a suction cup on the bottom so she can not get it off.  She was quiet intrigued ...

 She loved getting her food out of her bowl all by herself.  Such a big girl. 

 She kept going back so fast I thought she was about to choke on her cheese. 

 And then when it was all gone she had to make sure it was all gone over and over again.  She couldn't believe there was an end to all that goodness!

 She can also stand at the windowsill all by herself.  This isn't necessarily something we have been working on, but I can't slow it down so I might as well embrace and encourage her.  We heard a tractor outside so we went to her bedroom window to see what it was.  She stood up on a pillow so she could see it all ...

 "Mom, do you see who I see?"

 Yep, it was Daddy Ray working on the water line.  Don't worry, we haven't been without water for the last year ... just without our own city water.  At 10:00 tonight, we are officially hooked up and CR is showering with our own city water.  Only 2 attempts, way to go team Lauren, Daddy-Ray, and Granny!

The other successful moment today was her monthly chair picture.  I knew it would be a chore to keep her from trying to get out of the seat by myself, so I got some props to help us out a bit.  I think she called a few people in the meantime, but our picture ...

 eventually ....

was successful!

And most importantly, God's key to success: "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;"  Romans 10:9

Motherhood Is a Calling (And Where Your Children Rank)

Motherhood Is a Calling (And Where Your Children Rank)

I loved this article. You really should read it whether or not you are a mother. I have felt exactly the way she has, even with only one child. Especially when I decided to be a SAHM. You should have seen the looks that I got from some of the people I told. You should have heard what some of the people said. They definitely like to share their opinion, whether they think you would like it or not. "What in the world are you going to do all day? You are going to get so bored and come running back to school!" Um, no. Not unless finances end up requiring it. And I believe the Lord is taking care of us, so um, no.

Trusting God

The book of Philippians is such an encouraging passage for Christians to rely on, especially with new or uncertain happenings. In 4:6 it says for us "not to be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known to God." This is a verse I know by heart but it is harder to live out than it is to repeat. I try to not be anxious because I know that to worry is to make Him less than God. Being a Christian is about having a relationship with the Almighty and what comes with all relationships? Trust. Why is it so easy for us to trust a friend with our child for a day out, a man with our heart for the rest of our lives, or the mail man with our bills, yet we have such a difficult time trusting the Lord with our lives? Don't we know that the God of all creation always looks out for us and has the best of intentions? I have prayed this verse over and over in my heart at least 50 times in the last 9 months. Once Kirby was born I changed my mind about going back to teaching and wanted to stay home. That was not an option with insurance junk and with out some financial planning, not having my salary would not work. CR and I prayed about it together and we knew in our hearts that some how it would work. I put in my letter of resignation with the district the day before Spring Break so that they could start early to find a replacement. I was able to train the new teacher and go over everything. I even gave her most of my school stuff. Hang tight, the coolest part is yet to come. Some asked why I was leaving so much and I let them know that "I feel the Lord has something different in store when I come back to teaching". I really want to teach elementary, and even if I do have to come back to high school I am sure the curriculum will change yet again. I saved all of "my creations". The last day we had students CR came to me with some awesome, God is so faithful, news. He is going to be partnering up with a farmer here in Bishop to farm all of his crops. This adds quite a bit more land, so now he is farming about double. God. Is. Always. Faithful to His promises. All along while I prayed I would feel the Holy Spirit lifting everything off of my shoulders. I never worried one bit that something would come up to take care of us. I just find it so neat how it happened just as one door was closing. If all things go as discussed, CR will be able to eventually buy out this other farmer. Farming is a tough ride all around. It is hard work and it is even harder to live on these days. I did not understand the slightest bit about all of this when we first moved down here. I still would say I do not understand it all, but I know that God is good. I know that He is blessing us because we are following His commands to "not be anxious" and to sit back, listen, and let go. The end of Philippians 4:9 says "-practice these things and the God of peace will be with you." just after telling us to think about "whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely and commendable". The God of peace is alive and abundant and we are ever thankful. I am thankful that God gave me a man that leads his family according to His wisdom and not the worlds.

Kirby Kisses

Monday, Monday. This morning when I woke up I heard thundering in a distance and just prayed that when I opened my eyes it would actually be pouring down right outside our window. Not the case. I just wanted it to be one of those lazy days today around here. It wasn't, but that was just fine because Kirby was up, chatting in her bed, and ready to roll. We had our usual walks and then she fell asleep on the way home. That never happens! Like I said, it needed to be a lazy day around here! This post is all about Kirby (what's new) but I am going to have a separate post about life on the farm these days. Lots of changes are about to take place, and we need as many prayers of support and encouragement as possible!
You may think that the picture below is all about Kirby and her adorableness (word?), but it isn't. I would like you to look into the floor ... yes, that is her reflection. CR pointed out that our floor was so clean that you could see her reflection. Thank you SAHM (stay at home mom) career!Well, it has happened. Kirby has discovered how to ham it up when the camera comes out. This was her expression as soon as she noticed what I was doing: And then I wanted to capture her pulling herself up on the giant paper towels she entertains herself with while I put dishes away:

While I was getting dinner ready Kirby was all over the house in her walker. I heard that she had stopped and was talking away. I came over to see what she was talking to:That is Nathan, my best friend Bethany's little boy. Nathan and Kirby are almost 3 months a part. We get them together when we can, but not as much as we would like. She must remember him, though, because she had to have his picture. This is what she did when I handed it to her:This weekend we started working on her giving kisses to her animals and us. After she actually gives kisses we always clap, so I guess she thought she deserved a round of applause:
CR was the least bit amused by her kissing Nathan's picture. Oh protective dads! Here are some more kisses I saw her giving out today:Her baby dolland then she had to add her cow in there as well. She is so much fun and yes, hard to keep up with. She is such a joy in our lives and I can not remember life before her. What is sleeping in? What is picking up and going on a whim? What is sleeping through the night without waking up just once to go peek in on the sleeping beauty? Who cares!
"Every good and perfect gift comes from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." James 1:17

It's been awhile!

My last post was Father's day! As you can see, this news even shocked Kirby! During the day I think of all of these great things I am going to write about and now that I have time to actually sit down and type, the creative words are vamoose. Now that we have Internet in our house (!!!!) I will be able to post more regularly ... like when I have an aha writer's moment. For now it is all going to be about Kirby. Maybe tomorrow I can get in-depth and all philosophical for "Our next chapter"; stay tuned. Kirby is now 10 1/2 months. How ... do not ask this gal. I am so blessed to get to be home with her at this point in her life. Yes, I was sad to have missed so much of her daily happenings months 2-9, but this past month and half has made up for all of that in my mind. Daily she is doing new things that crack me up and amaze me. They don't amaze me in a way that I say, "oh my gosh my child is the next Dougie Houser", but I am in such awe every night as I lay my head on the pillow about the awesomeness of God. How can people deny that God created us? Kirby discovers new things (lately the different fluctuations in her voice and facial expressions) that only God could have made. I am daily reminded of God's love and grace for us. I also see His mercy through the "mercy" we as parents give to our children. Of course there is not even a comparison and the depth of His mercy for us versus ours, it is just something that comes to my mind through our daily adventures. Here are some pictures of our recent happenings around Patrick Farms. Like I said, stay tuned for some better gab! My attempt at getting a staged 4th of July picture. She loves to read books. Her favorite book is the one that Kyleigh gave to her that grandpa use to read to Kyleigh just about every night. It is called Where is Baby? She just started saying baby this week ... wonder if there is any correlation.

This is one of her new facial expressions that I can not get enough of!Checking out her new car seat ...and in her new car seat! I say she likes it!

Happy Father's Day

What a special day! I love that CR was off from harvest today so that we could enjoy him all to ourselves! Kirby and I were tired of sharing him with the farm crew. Today we got to go have lunch with Granny, Dat and Kitty's side of the family. It was nice to visit with them because it has been about a month. Granny had surgery on Friday so it was wonderful that she was able to be there to celebrate with us.

It was hard for me not to get to see my daddy. I did get to talk to him for a few minutes, but it still does not take the place of being with him. I did get to visit last weekend (I know, I have so much to catch up on here) and I get to see him again this weekend, but this is almost like a tease. I wish we could see them every weekend! I thank my dad for always teaching me that you have to earn what you want. I thank my dad for teaching me from the time I could work that I needed to work hard. I thank my dad for instilling in me the sense of always being busy and not idle. I thank him for giving us so many opportunities to grow as people. At the time (most of the time) we were more than likely annoyed with having to do certain things, but in the end it taught us so much. I am sure he did not always want me to work in college all the time, but I am thankful that I was in charge of my bills because it taught me so much about money and time management. I know how to budget and live on little thanks to the lessons learned from working since I was able to. I thank him for moving us to Montgomery even though I fought it when we were first there. There seems to be a pattern with me having a hard time moving! That was the best thing that could have happened to our family. We were blessed with having our grandparents right around the corner, living on a golf course and a lake, and only 15 minutes from where we could raise animals for the county fair. Who could ask for a better place to grow up? Thank you, Dad, for all that you have given of your heart to our family. Seeing you as a grandfather to my daughter is a whole other set of glasses that are so wonderful to look through.

I am also very thankful for the father-in-law that God has blessed me with. My mother and dad's dad always had such a great relationship and I remember thinking "one day I hope I have a father-in-law that treats me just like his own daughter". That is for sure what I got and I love it to pieces. He comes in sometimes when I am still bright-eyed, bushy tailed and in my jammies and neither one of us minds. He has spoken some great words of wisdom to me about being married to his son. He knows how CR works and has given me so much perspective about this whole farming ordeal. He is a wonderful father-in-law and a fun to the max grandfather!

Seeing CR as a dad is the best thing in the world. There is a whole other level of love for him. I had read about that, but now that it is here and real it is so amazing. I love how he lights up when he sees Kirby. The same with Kirby ... she thinks he hung the moon already. Since I have been home he has been in the field so much and we do not get much time with him. When we do, though, it is all about us. I love how God uses even the small moments to make them seem so big. Each one is such a blessing. The love and devotion that CR has for Kirby and I can only come from Him above, and it is bountiful out here on Patrick Farms.

**I have so much that I want to write about ... this new chapter in our life .... Kirby's fun new things ... visiting with family and friends last week .... BUT I promised CR I would be quick up here so we could spend the rest of the evening together watching the Aggies BTHO South Carolina. Our internet is still in the works (has been for 2 months now) but I am sure when you start seeing daily posts you will realize it is up and running!

Nine months .... whoa!

How is Kirby Rose already nine months? There is no way ... I blinked and all of a sudden here it is. This is a few days late, so let's pretend it is the 23rd. Nine and a half months ago (at 34 weeks) Kirby was already in position and I was between a 2 and a 3. I prayed and prayed I could make it to the start of school so I could meet all of my students. She stayed there for another week. I had contractions and then I thought for sure I was going to have her when my father-in-law flew over what I swore was the roughest railroad tracks in the whole wide world. I prayed some more as the first day of school came that I would make it through the day. I left 7th period early, but darn it I met all my kids. That night, 9 months ago, we were blessed and completely surprised with a darling little girl. How our lives have changed in so many wonderful ways! Here is what taking her chair pictures at 9 months looks like ... not quite as easy as before!Kirby surprises me with how she changes every single day. Just when I think she is focusing on one thing (crawling for example) boom, she is on to something else. Literally 2 days after she had "mastered" crawling, she was pulling up and standing while holding on to my legs. Usually every morning she is waiting patiently at her crib, standing and holding on for dear life like she needs to be let out of jail. It is the cutest thing I have ever seen. We hear more and more "words" daily. She for sure says "momma" in a long drawn out accent. Kind of says daddy. Sounds out "all done". Says, "hey", very clearly. And this morning I could have sworn she said, "hey boots" to the cat. She has the most energetic spirit I have ever seen. She takes wonderful naps and still sleeps well at night, but when she is awake she is all over the place. Even when I hold her dearly to rock, she is still moving her booty and hips with the rock. Love it! Here are a few snaps of her talking to Boots through the window ... her new favorite activity!

Busy and blessed

I do not even know where to begin with everything that has been going on the past few weeks. It seems like Thursday Elizabeth got married, Friday Megan got married and yesterday was Mother's Day. Well, at least yesterday was Mother's Day. I love that it is getting closer and closer to June 3rd, but I want to put Kirby's growing up on pause. It is going by way too fast. She is such a happy go lucky baby. Even yesterday when she only had 2 , 30 minute "car ride naps" she was still a happy girl. I am so thankful that she is well rested most of the time, so that when her Sundays get thrown for a loop she is still fine. Yesterday was baby dedication at church. The moment that Kirby was born I prayed and dedicated her to the Lord; this, though, is an outward expression of us as parents dedicating her to the Lord and the church, and for the church to also give us their word that they will help us grow her in His word. Kirby is very blessed to have such wonderful church moms and dads.
Kitty made this dress. It is A-DOR-A-BLE! You must see it in person. Kirby felt like a princess in it because when we set her down, she kept holding it up and down, up and down like she was so proud. Too cute.

There were 15 babies (1 set of twins) dedicated yesterday.

Saturday we had family out to celebrate Mother's Day. I am so thankful that the Lord has allowed us to have a home that can host everyone at our house. CR and I both LOVE to be the host, so Saturday we were loving it! Granny, Dat and Les made it from Kitty's side.

And my grandmother came down all the way from Montgomery. I was so excited! I have been trying to get her to come down for a long time, and now since we have a better house for guests, it worked out wonderfully!!! Kirby loved having Grammy, Paw, and Gigi over for a slumber party for 3 whole nights!

A friend of ours at church gave us 3 kittens. Only 1 has survived. 1 met Mr. Spare Tire and the other met Wylie Coyote. Boots is friendly and Kirby loves him. I won't let her touch him because we aren't sure just how friendly he is. They sure do talk to each other all the time, though.

CR and Kirby were worn out from being the hosts of the party, so they chilled on the hammock for a bit. We love our hammock! The South Texas wind is perfect for it, too.

For Mother's Day, Kirby got me a porch swing that hangs on our porch. We love being outside, so this was a wonderful addition to our porch. We built our house around our porch basically. That was our main non-negotiable ... we had to have a covered, wrap around porch. We scrapped some other things, but this was not going anywhere and we are so glad we did it that way.

This is my mother being mother. She is a goof ball and will do anything imaginable to make someone laugh. When I walked in from the laundry room Friday she was bending over and saying "hiyachanchongching" with the place mat on her head. When I told CR the story he said, "oh ya" like he was there and knew she was doing it. I said, "Oh you were in there?" "No, but that sounds like something she would do." Kirby and Kyleigh are so blessed to have a grammy like her.

Kirby loved playing with Paw. She thinks he is so funny and likes to grab at his face. She loves it when he gets her tummy.

Now that Kirby is big time crawling, her toddler tub does not contain her. So, we now take a bath in the big tub. She loves to go from one side of the tub to the other. She talks like crazy to her frog spout cover.

Kirby loves to take walks in the afternoon when I get home. It is usually really windy and the road is very bumpy, but she hangs on and we book it.

Thank you Lord for blessing me with this precious child. Thank you for giving me the chance to be a mommy. It is the best gift in life. "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him." 1 Samuel 1:27