Thankful Thursday || Family

Lately my heart has been overflowing with love and thankfulness for  

my family!

 

I am thankful that...

• I have a wonderful husband who loves the Lord and takes care of our family by working hard.
• I have a wonderful husband who loves me so and makes me feel beautiful.
• I have a lovely, healthy daughter who strives to make me smile and laugh.
• I am a mommy! I love being Norah's mom. She can now say "momma" and it melts my heart every time.
• I have the assurance that the Lord has everything in control -- including my family!

I am so thankful to have a beautiful family all under the headship of Christ.  With Christ we are able to serve and look out for the good of each other above our own needs. I am thankful. 

Graduation

Over Mother's day weekend, my dear husband graduated! I think back to the short time we were in college together and the classes we took sitting by each other.  The Lord has used Emmaus to shape us in our Christian lives immensely!  We have both grown so much through our years at Emmaus and I am so thankful that the Lord brought us together there. We share many sweet memories from our college experience together and I wouldn't trade it for the world! Being a student was fun for a time, but it became difficult when Jesse started working full time at Emmaus. He has done such an amazing job as "Webmaster" at Emmaus. (A funny job title, but it just means he takes care of the website)

Norah fell asleep

In the two short years that he has been there he as completely reshaped the website, and it looks beautiful!  Being a student became a little more difficult when we had our sweet daughter, Norah. Not that she was a difficult baby, but it was hard for him to say good bye and walk out the door each day to go to work.  The upside of that is that he gets to see her face light up when he comes home.
 He did such a great job taking the time to be a good husband, dad, and student.  I am truly amazed at his drive to not only get things done, but to make sure things are done to the best of his ability. I am glad that he is done with the "student" chapter of his life and that he doesn't have any more homework, finals, or projects due. I look forward to our homework free summer that will be spent with family, and friends! 

"Satisfied in You" by The Sing Team

"I have lost my appetite
And a flood is welling up behind my eyes
So I eat the tears I cry
And if that were not enough
They know just the words to cut and tear and prod
When they ask me “Whereʼs your God?”

Why are you downcast, oh my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
I can remember when you showed your face to me

As a deer pants for water, so my soul thirsts for you
And when I survey Your splendor, You so faithfully renew
Like a bed of rest for my fainting flesh

When Iʼm looking at the ground
Itʼs an inbred feedback loop that drags me down
So itʼs time to lift my brow
And remember better days
When I loved to worship you and learn your ways
Singing sweetest songs of praise

Let my sighs give way to songs that sing about your faithfulness
Let my pain reveal your glory as my only real rest
Let my losses show me all I truly have is you

So when Iʼm drowning out at sea
And all your breakers and your waves crash down on me
Iʼll recall your safety scheme
Youʼre the one who made the waves
And your Son went out to suffer in my place
And to show me that Iʼm safe

Why am I down?
Why so disturbed?
I am satisfied in you"

My 1st Mothers Day!

Sunday morning my family of three celebrated our first Mother's day. I am honored to take part in this special day. For the 9 months that I have been a mother I have grown immensely. I have come to understand that  the Lord has entrusted to me one of his greatest possessions, an eternal soul.  The Lord has blessed me with my sweet little bundle of joy and I have to see each day as an opportunity to help her see His love.
 

What an honor! 

  

I have been reading Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp, and I have been so blessed. I love reading this book because it gets straight to the point and gives a lot of scripture to back up the methods explained in the book. I have come to understand that I am the authority and shepherd of my child, as God's agent, based on His example, for His glory! I have found a practical portion of the text that I use as my mission statement for parenting.

"As the shepherd, you want to help your child understand himself as a creature made by and for God. You cannot show him these things merely bu instruction; you must lead him on a path of discovery. You must shepherd his thoughts, helping him to learn discernment and wisdom" (p.xxi).

Obviously there is not much instruction going on yet, but the sweet cuddling and laughter that we share each day is one of the numerous ways to show her how her Heavenly Father loves her. Being a Mother is hard work, but I would have it no other way! My daughter is worth every sleep-deprived night, every early morning, every dirty diaper, every spit-up-stained shirt and so on!

On Mother's Day, Jesse woke up early with me and we went for a family walk. I have to mention that this is a very big sacrifice for my husband because he is not a morning person, but he woke up early for me and we had a fun, silly, sweet, chilly walk. ilovehim.  We then had breakfast with his parents and were off to Church. The Church always holds a sweet service where the children hand out flowers to their mother's and it was so sweet to be involved with that tradition. Norah accidentally broke off the stem of my flower as she tried to eat it while handing it to me, but it was sweet, none the less. After church we had lunch with Jesse's parents, and I had to head off to work for a couple of hours. We then went to my good friends' wedding which was beautiful! We had a sweet day together as a family and I look forward to many more Mother's day celebrations!