Some verses to cling to

And the verse of the week is...

thanks: http://www.scriptureartonline.com/files/QuickSiteImages/Isaiah_26-3_yellow_sunflower_8x10_esize.jpg

With this one as a very close second:

Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life ,
and we have believed, and have come to know,
that You
Are the Holy One
Of  GOD.
John 6:68

Sweetest things

The sweetest thing in my whole life has been the longing to find the place where all the beauty came from.

-C.S. Lewis

"The Watered Lilies" ( a poem.)

The Master stood in His garden,

Among the lilies fair,

Which His own right hand had planted,

And trained with tend'rest care.

He looked at their snowy blossoms,

And marked with observant eye,

That the flowers were sadly drooping,

For their leaves were parched and dry.

"My lilies need to be watered,"

The Heavenly Master said,

"Wherein shall I draw it for them,

And raise each drooping head?"

Close to His feet on the pathway,

Empty, and frail and small,

an earthen vessel was lying,

Which seemed no use at all.

But the Master saw and raised it

 From the dust in which it lay,

And smiled, as He gently whispered,

"This shall do my work today:

"It is but an earthen vessel, 

But it lay so close to Me;

It is small, but it is empty-

That is all it needs to be."

So to the fountain He took it,

and filled it to the brim;

How glad was the earthen vessel

To be of some use to Him!

He poured forth the living water

Over His lilies fair,

Until the vessel was empty,

And again He filled it there.

He watered the drooping lilies

Until they revived again,

And the Master saw with pleasure,

That His labor was not in vain.

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2793026800010625527tFmSrA

His own hand had drawn the water

Which refreshed the thirsty flowers;

But He used the earthen vessel 

To convey the living showers.

And to itself it whispered

As He laid it aside once more,

"Still will I lie in the pathway,

Just where I did before.

"Close would I keep to my Master,

Empty would I remain,

And perhaps some day He may use me

To water His garden again."

-Unknown

No sleep, and loving it.

Okay, I know that I'm uber-sappy, and it doesn't take much to make me cry, but I got up and rocked my baby in the rocking chair for over an hour tonight and loved every second of it. 
I mean, I cried the whole time.
 Granted-
 it was three in the morning, and I haven't had a full night sleep in over a year, but I can honestly say, that these were tears of gratitude. What a privilege it is to have moments like this one, and I can pick him up and basically rock him whenever I want. 

Sometimes when I get lost in things like Pintrest or the mall,  I can pine away for things that can beautify my surroundings... "If only" I had the re$ources for this or that. Many times working at home means you trade in your well-tailored preferences for Goodwill practicality. And that's okay. In fact, it's better than okay; when it comes right down to it, I wouldn't trade my time as a housewife and mom for all the Pottery Barn rooms in the world. Because when it comes to beauty, it doesn't get any better than this! Bless God! James 1:17

Knows the needs

Woke up to a sweet sound this morning. Birds. Two of them. They sang and sang. And stayed and stayed. It got to the point where I said, "Huh, it's weird that they haven't flown away." Then, I decided that I would take a picture of them, but surely they would be gone by the time I found my camera...nope.

They stayed and posed. And sang for another ten minutes, which was a big deal. 

Little things

Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

Matthew 6:8

Who's that baby? Teething addition.

Oh man, poor Spence is going through a major case of the grumps. My mild mannered no-fuss baby is

going through the ringer with his teeth this week. 

Which means much discomfort and misery for him, and little-to-no sleep for me. 

-So remedy research has been bumped up on today's to-do list. 

http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/childhood-illnesses/teething

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/teething/FL00102

http://www.parents.com/baby/health/baby-teeth/baby-teething-timeline/

http://www.thenewparentsguide.com/baby-teething.htm#How can I help my baby with the pain?

Which is the culprit?

http://sh1ft.org/babyblog/index.php/2011/09/teething-bling-by-smartmum/

I can't help but cheer on people who come up with brilliant inventions. This one is

no exception.

So far, we have pretty good luck with these during the day... and we have less mess when 

we don't clip them for the actual popcicle. And he doesn't even seem to care.

Grumpy-yet-always-smoochable.

She came around

Thanks to Simple As That for this! Such a handy resource.

http://www.simpleasthatblog.com/2012/05/travel-photo-checklist-free-download.html#

As we were preparing for our trip to NY, I remember charging up the camera and getting excited about capturing a slew of precious moments. The one I seemed most excited about was capturing the expressions of the grandparents meeting Spence for the first time. I'm big on  "firsts." 

Hindsight being what it is, I realize that every "first moment" introduction is not necessarily magical or precious. 

In fact, it has the potential for being a major let down for the adults and super awkward and intimidating for the child. But the build up is there, and of course, people can't wait to hold and hug. And who could blame them? I would be one of those people. 

I wanted to see the fireworks... the magical and intuitive sentiment that would pass between the generations. 

Our loved ones, of course, did not disappoint. They wore their love and devotion on their faces as the camera was clicking away. Our kids were a different story.

-At least one of them was.   

I have one that is quite independent. That is not to say that she is not affectionate, because she is.  But if she does not know you, and you are in her personal space, she will will let you know it. 

This is strange to me. I'm a extrovert / hugger. To be clear, disrespect is a non-negotiable family No-No, so we do insist upon a polite greeting at the very least. And Selah will give you that. But don't expect the fireworks. You have to earn those. She's definitely selective with her affection.   

 I can respect that. In fact, it reminded me that some of the sweetest things in life are patiently nurtured and gradual. They are NOT thrust upon us, forced and assumed. 

Love is patient and kind; it does not envy, or boast.
It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way...

1 Cor. 13:3,4

Thankfully, I have a nurturing and patient Dad. He was born to be a Poppy. He knew that he had 
his work cut out for him, and made a commitment to chip away at her heart one corny joke at a time. So every day, he would ask her what she'd like for breakfast, and every day she would coolly reply, and ignore his tired old, "Oh, you'd like some Green Eggs and Ham?" joke. And as he walked past her, he'd twirl her little pony tail in his finger, making a new sound effect every time  he did it: motorcycles, ducks, cows, clown horns. He pulled out all the silly tricks, and she would not give him the satisfaction of giggling and playing along. She was testing him big time. It was bittersweet to watch because he kept at it, rejection after rejection.
But finally by day six, she allowed him to play superheros with her. Naturally, he was the bad guy. But he played and played and took all sorts of bad guy abuse,

and in that moment, they bonded.

And though it was a week late, we finally had some fireworks.

(Poppy's new shadow)