It's a Wonderful Life: Update on life

*ok so I had this post looking good, how I wanted it...now I can't get the alignment right. This is one of the many reasons why I don't blog often...*

It's been a long time again since I've blogged....I've been lazy about it, discouraged about it, and ignoring it over the summer...fall...ok, and winter months. Motherhood had gotten the best of me and life just did not seem interesting enough to talk or tell or type about. You know how it is... Everyday consists of the same old thing. Poop on the floor, pee on the couch, food in their hair, play dough on the bottom of your socks, spilled milk, grilled cheese, mac 'n' cheese, string cheese, and on occasion, for variety, maybe a peanut butter and jelly.

How.cool.is.that?.....

And get ready for it to start all over again the next day..............

You're probably going to tell me that I'm lazy, (I agree) or that I don't get out much. But on the contrary, I feel that I get out...maybe not A LOT, but I feel it's enough for us.

- During the spring and summer months we were traveling almost every weekend out of state with Joe and the quartet.

- Lincoln and I were outside in the sprinkler when it wasn't TOO hot. (Lincoln doesn't like the

sun or heat. *sigh*)

- I even took him to the crazy EXPENSIVE local water park once. And on occasion we went to a pool.

- We took three big trips last summer. Colorado, Wisconsin, and Michigan for two weddings and a funeral.

- We go to the library, park, and take walks around our neighborhood.

- We hang out with the quartet quite a bit where he plays with older kids.

- He enjoys church, and just recently I started swapping hours with a friend where we will watch each other's kids for 6hrs. once a week so that we can have some time to get things done. This

has helped with dr. appointments, errands, or catching lunch with Joe. It also gives Lincoln a

friend to play with twice a week! :)

There's other things in there as well like the shopping, running errands, and going out with daddy in the evenings. I'm not complaining that my life is boring. Just kinda...

stuck in a rut feeling...

So by the end of the summer I decided I was ready. I thought maybe a baby is something that would help me out of this rut. I know it's a big decision, I know what all entails with a newborn, I know the sacrifices our family will have to make...But Lincoln's getting older, he'll need a sibling,

and I had a slight case of....

The Baby Fever

By September I had a pregnancy test come out positive! By six weeks, I was buying a swing, looking for stuff on craigslist, registering my name for free baby stuff, and even house shopping! The excitement at the beginning was kinda fun! But the sickness was worse this time around. I was exhausted all the time during the first trimester. There were days when Lincoln would tell me, "mom, it's time to get out of bed, NOW!"

During those first few months of pregnancy, I started thinking of the new life that we were

bringing into the world. Was I truly ready ready to bring in a new life? Spiritually was I ready?

How could I bring in a new being when I was failing as a mother to the first child God gave me? God was challenging and convicting me in subtle ways on being and setting an example to my

children; on the ministry that God has placed right here for me. I also know that God was asking me to set some time aside for Him. In the mundane things and same old same old, I have been missing out on the blessings, the lessons, even my alone time with Him was lacking. God started pricking at my heart on getting back into getting to know Him again. How can I set an example when I'm not even in tune with God everyday?

Side notes:

Christmas came around and it was time for the great announcement/surprising the grandparents. We had a wonderful time in Indiana at my sisters with my family over Christmas weekend and loved telling them the great news!

Joe's parents even came down for a few days during their short break!

I hate how we live so far away from everyone. It makes me sad every time we have to say goodbye not knowing exactly when we'll see each other again. I've never had to deal with that feeling until we moved down here to Greenville.

And back:

So life went back to it's regular same old. God started pricking my heart even more about my attitude on motherhood and the ministry he has set before me in this house. Mostly I wanted to start living more like a God centered mom, teaching my son to love God.

I was on a mission. Lincoln is at the age where he needs to be engaging his mind more. He loves to learn new things and then teach them back to others. I was thinking back on the few days that I worked at a day care and remembering how I really enjoyed the 2 & 3 year olds. I needed to find something like a daycare program/curriculum that was organized out for me to start with

Lincoln. Through my research I found a great (free) Christian curriculum that teaches all the preschool stuff kids love and need to learn with the Bible as the core teaching.(www.abcjesuslovesme.com) I don't have a teacher mindset, or creativity, so this site and many others (Pinterest) have helped me along the way.

I don't know if it was the beginning of the nesting stages or what, but I got things all organized and ready for preschool to start! I was excited to get things started!

Lincoln loves doing the crafts and reading books with mommy. We haven't gotten as far as I'd like, I've been pretty relaxed about it, but in the next few weeks, we'll get a schedule down and start back up again. We just got back from a week of vacationing/quartet trip in Florida.

I feel encouraged as I feel as if I'm getting another fresh start with my walk with the Lord. I've found some awesome resources, books, and blogs. The Lord has put the desire in me again to read and I can't seem to get enough. I'm so thankful for my husband buying me my very own laptop as an early Valentine's present. I've only had it a week but all ready I have tons of resources that I know will come in handy for devotions/Bible reading. I love the access it gives me to go anywhere, type in a thought, read a book or passage and also send it to my phone for even more access!

I praise God for second chances, and more chances after that. We fall, fail, and forget, but God doesn't! He lifts us up, satisfies, and never forgets us! I know I'm not a perfect mom, nor will I ever be, but I hope you can see that I've just let myself go and revealed my heart out to the blog world and social media. I'm not out to show how "perfect" my "fake little family" is! I'm real and am learning as God guides me each step of the way and felt like sharing.

God has showed - is showing - me that things of this world, even people, won't ever fully satisfy

me. A baby. my son. my husband. a new house. stuff for baby...

Through all that, I've been enjoying this book that I just found on LivingDevotionally.com that's called 'Savoring Living Water, how to have an effective quiet time.' by Katie Orr and Lara Williams. Through reading the book, these verse came to my attention over the weekend:

O God, you are my God;

earnestly I seek you;

my soul thirsts for you;

my flesh faints for you,

as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Ps. 63:1

For he satisfies the longing soul,

and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

Ps. 107:9

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life,

whoever comes to me shall not hunger,

and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

John 6:35

That's just how I feel. I'm thirsty and the Lord is satisfying!

I hope to give this blog a(nother) face lift as life changes, so do blogs. I've kinda backed off of the couponing since the pregnancy as it just completely wears me out. I've slowly gotten back to it

over the past couple weeks as the energy comes back. Recently it just hasn't been that high of a

priority, but I'd like to get back to it more regularly. Our pantry suffered some, but it's nice that our beauty/bath care items still looks fully stocked after 5+months of no regular couponing! :)

So that's the update. I hope I don't sound like I'm just wasting away in my misery. Which I'm not...I'm really a laid back, quiet kind of person and I usually don't have much to say. Motherhood has it's moments and please understand where I'm coming from. I love my son(s)

(oh yeah, it's a boy!),