politically correct?

i must warn you that this post is somewhat of a rant - really it's my way of venting over a frustrating experience i recently read about. and while i do consider myself a very considerate when it comes to the feelings of others, this is one topic that i will not back down to despite the fact that some may be offended.

a young man who attends our church posted on facebook yesterday that he had just walked out of one of his classes because he was told he was ignorant for believing in the Bible because it (the Bible) is all just a myth written by random men. he was also told that the resurrection of Jesus Christ never took place.

i thought long and hard about this situation because it bothered me for so many reasons, but mainly because of how 'politically correct' our society has become.

why is it that i cannot share my Christian beliefs with people without being 'offensive' or 'pushy' or 'close minded', but those who do not believe in God may say what they want and it is ok?

it makes no sense to me! our society is more concerned about not offending people than they are about living their lives right - the way God commands us to.

i cannot teach about God and Christianity in my classroom because, to some, it has not been proven. the ironic part of this is that i am expected to teach about other things that happened in history hundreds of years ago, even though the only reason people know about those 'historical events' is because they are in history books.

well folks, what do you call the Bible?

and finally, my physical proof that God exists:

how can you look at this angel and think that anyone other than God could have made something so amazing?

the cutest blog on the block

ok, ok, so before you think i'm being totally conceited, i'm not referring to my own blog with this title (although some may disagree).

i'm actually referring to this site where one can go and get FREE blog designs! for those of us on a budget, we like anything that's free:)


the lovely women who head up that site (Ashley & Becky) have a blog called 2 Moms Talk which is a way cool blog, geared towards moms - obviously - and they have all these fatastic giveaways!


one of these such giveaways is the reason i'm posting this.


right now, they are giving away a Blog Book!




what is a blog book? well, i'm glad you asked.

it is quite possibly the coolest thing ever - and something i had only dreamed about, but did not know exsisted! this is a book where they print off your blog and put it in a book! fantastic!

now, the reason i am posting about this is because the great ladies of TCBOTB (the cutest blog on the block) are giving one of these away. and all you have to do to be entered in the contest is blog about and then comment on their blog about why you need this!

i need this. i really, really need this!

and while i keep my blog updated, for the most part, i have not done a good job with becca's baby book. who am i kidding? i don't even have becca's baby book yet. sad, i know, but i did finally order it and it should be here soon. but let's face it, it won't fill itself out!

so, anyways! i'd love for you to go check out their sites, but please do not enter the contest because you will dimenish my chances of winning, and have i mentioned that i really, really need this?

a look back

this was me a year ago...




it's still hard to believe that we went from that, to this precious miracle in just one short year!

and while i wouldn't change anything about our life, i wouldn't mind looking like that again:)

hands

these hands are very special to me.
from as far back as i can remember, these hands have comforted me.
these hands have held me, rocked me, and wiped away my tears.
i can't tell you the overwhelming joy i feel as i see these same hands - these special hands - hold MY baby.




they comfort her,



rock her to sleep,




and give her the same comfort they have given me many, many times before.



it's moments like this that make me realize just how blessed i truly am.

happy (5 month) birthday to you!

Today my baby was officially 5 months old! We had a lot of fun taking her pictures.

Take 1

Take 2

Take 3

This little girl doesn't want to sit still...

because it's much more fun to move around!

It was hard to keep her from knocking over the bear and moving the blocks!

These sweet little hands...

put everything in this sweet little mouth:)

To my sweet Becca,

You have brought us more joy than we ever could have imagined. You are the perfect baby. You are happy ALL of the time. You still love to sleep, especiallly at night. You started eating cereal this past Saturday, and like everything else, you are a natural. You still nurse when you are home with Mommy, but take your bottles at Mrs. Nat's. Your Exersaucer is your favorite toy. You love watching Sesame Street and Barney. You smile at everyone - but you smile extra big at Daddy and me:) I don't know what we ever did without you, but we are very thankful that God gave us you! We love you to the moon and back always and forever!

life lessons

Look at this sweet smile. This baby was so happy, but this day was not a happy day.
This day was the day of the funeral of Jimmy Gist.




While this sweet girl doesn't yet understand what it means to lose a loved one, I know that the time will come where she will feel this pain. I pray that God will give me the wisdom and strength to teach her how to always trust in the Lord, even in times of dispair.

Our hearts go out to the Gist family, especially Jauneze and Taylor. We love you and are praying for you and your family. Jimmy was a great Christian man who will be greatly missed!

Free

Do you notice anything 'different' about these pictures?



Other than the fact that her face is totally covered (a big no, no) and instead of removing it immediately, I took the time to take a picture first!
Note: She was fine - breathing great- and as soon as I took the picture I removed her Lovie from her crib!
Another note: Thanks to Aunt Wee Wee for my Lovie:)

Well, if you haven't figured out my reason for this post, it is to let everyone know that Becca is sleeping in her crib without being swaddled! It's a miracle:)

Actually, we had to do something. She had started flipping over onto her stomach before she fell totally asleep, and one time we went in to check on her, and she was sleeping face down. Needless to say, Mommy and Daddy almost went into heart failure! She was fine, but we certainly were not happy about that.

We decided to try pajamas again, and what do you know - it worked!

We are very happy our sweet girl is sleeping so well! She's growing up too fast:)

Look at these second cousins!

So silly!

And beautiful!

And loving!

And photogenic!

If only we didn't have to say goodbye!

There's nothing quite as sweet as family!

count your blessings

name them one by one,
count your blessings,
see what God hath done!

Here is a picture of Children's Hospital, for those of you who have never been. While it is an amazing place that provides outstanding services for children, it is a place that I pray we never have to visit again.


Our first visit here took place back in June. A few days after Becca's 2 month vaccines, she was not herself. She didn't want to eat and was screaming uncontrollably. I called her pediatrician, Dr. Geurkink, and she told me to bring her in. Upon Dr. G's examination, Becca seemed to be very sore in her abdominal area. Because of this and the fact that she had just received several vaccines, Dr. G was concerned she may have intussusception - a condition in which the small bowel folds back inside another part of the intestine. The only way to tell if this is the problem is to do an ultrasound or x-ray. Dr. G told me to take her to Children's Hospital immediately and she would call and tell them we were on our way.
I was stunned, shocked - this was not at all what I was expecting. It took everything in me to keep it together in the doctor's office. I managed to make it to the car before I totally lost it.
I called JP, and through my hysteria, managed to tell him what was going on and that he needed to meet me at the house.
We drove down to Children's Hospital and were immediately taken back. The tech was wonderful, and for the most part, Becca did really well. After fussing for a few minutes, she fell asleep.
We had to wait a little while for the pediatric radiologist to look over the ultrasound, and were then informed that everything with her intestines looked great.
The bad news - they found an ovarian cyst.
Dr. G assured me that it was probably nothing to worry about. She attributed it to hormones, and said that a lot of 2 month old baby girls probably have them, we just don't hear about it because not many 2 month old babies have ultrasounds.
We left the hospital feeling much better, but knew that they would want to repeat the ultrasound to ensure the ovarian cyst was not getting larger.

After Becca's 4 month appointment, we scheduled the repeat ultrasound for this past Tuesday. We were told to be there by 8:30 so they could start the ultrasound by 9:00, and anticipating traffic, we left the house around 7:20. Of course there was little to no traffic that morning, so we arrived at the hospital around 7:45.
But no worries, this little girl was very happy!

No anxiety at all:)

She played with Daddy for a little while...


and then smiled for the camera a little more:)

They ended up taking us back early, and Becca was not phased by any of it.

She layed on the table, and other than trying to take the ultrasound wand from the nurse, she looked around and smiled.

We ended up with great results - nothing at all to be concerned about!


This little girl is healthy, and her mommy and daddy thank God for that everyday.

happy birthday to who?

This post is another example of my slackness busy past couple of weeks!

We celebrated my Mom's (aka GG) birthday back at the end of July. We had everyone over to the house and it was a great time.

This was Becca's first birthday party!

This was GG's first 'GG' cake:)

Becca got lots of love that night....

from her Uncle Travis and Amy,

and her great grandmothers - Mamaw and YaYa!

We had so much fun just being together!

Hope you had the best birthday ever GG!



***********************

Now just a few weeks later this sweet girl was all smiles because it was her Daddy's birthday!

Becca enjoyed helping Daddy open his cards!

She also really enjoyed playing with Daddy's gifts.

But as is the case with most kids, the wrapping paper proved to be the most fun!

Ah, what can I say?

I love my life as a Mommy & a wife:)