Saturday, June 30, 2012

GMG Week 7 Recap

Scripture passages for the week:
Proverbs 31 : 21 - When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
Proverbs 27 : 23 - Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds.
Psalm 46 : 1-2 - God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
Proverbs 31 : 22 - She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
1 Timothy 2 : 9-10 - I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.
1 Peter 3 : 3-4 - Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes.  Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.

The passages this week are telling me to put my family first and make sure that they are prepared for the changing seasons, or anything else that may arise in their lives.  It is also important to be a beautiful person on the inside.  God would rather us have inner beauty than flaunt outer beauty.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

GMG Week 6 Recap

Scripture passages for the week:
Proverbs 31 : 19 - In her hands she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
Colossians 3 : 23 - Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
Ephesians 6 : 7 - Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people.
Proverbs 31 : 20 - She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.
Deuteronomy 15 : 7-8 - If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them.  Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need.
Proverbs 11 : 25 - A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.
1 Thessalonians 4 : 11 - and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you,
Proverbs 19 : 17 - Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.

The message that spoke to me this week, is to lead a quiet life of ambition, minding my own business.  Too often we muddle in other people's lives.  My goal is to work on leading a more quiet life.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Beach Day

My sister came over yesterday to stay the night, and us girls went to Pearl Lake.  Annelise loves being outdoors, so I figured that she would really enjoy a little trip to the beach.  I knew that there were some trees that would provide some shade for us.  Unfortunately, I think that it was just a little too warm for Annelise and she was a little bit crabby.  Either that or she was tired.  In any event, I managed to rock her to sleep and she took a decent nap sprawled out on a blanket in the sand.
We stayed until she woke up, which was after about an hour or so.  I told Rachel that we'll have to go back when it's a little cooler so that she can enjoy it more.  I look forward to taking her to the beach next year!

Saturday, June 16, 2012

GMG Week 5 Recap

Scripture passages for the week:
Proverbs 31 : 17 - She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.
Nehemiah 8 : 10 - Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared.  This day is holy to our Lord.  Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."
Ecclesiastes 9 : 10 - Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
Psalm 118 : 24 - The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.
Philippians 4 : 13 - I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Proverbs 31 : 18 - She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.
Proverbs 14 : 23 - All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
1 Thessalonians 4 : 11 - and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life.  You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you,

This week, the scripture passages spoke to me about working vigorously on my tasks.  I need to put my whole effort into things and not do them half way.  All work is for the Lord, whether it's enjoyable or not.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Sunday, June 10, 2012

GMG Week 4 Recap

Scripture passages for the week:
Proverbs 31 : 15 - She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family and portions for her female servants.
Psalm 5 : 3 - In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.
Mark 1 : 35 - Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
Proverbs 31 : 16 - She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
Proverbs 16 : 3 - Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.
Proverbs 21 : 5 - The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.
James 4 : 13-15 - Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money."  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."

This week I worked on rising earlier in the morning.  It was easy for me since I had such a busy week spending time with family.  I will have to keep it up and work on continuing to rise early.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Busy Busy Bees

Annelise and I have had such a busy week.  Eric, Jessica, and Wesley came into town last Saturday, and after my cousin's graduation party, we headed over to Drew's parent's house so that Annelise could meet them.

Eric had to work during the week, so Jessica planned lots of fun outings for Wesley so that he would be out of the house.  On Monday, we went to Discovery Center.  I was so surprised at how much fun Wes had.  I figured that he would play in each area for a few minutes and then move on.  Amazingly, he spent hours playing!
Annelise slept the whole entire time!  She sure does love her Auntie Jess though.
On Tuesday, Drew and his dad took Wesley out on the boat.  Annelise is still too little, so we just walked around the park.

On Wednesday, Drew's parents babysat Annelise and Drew and I went out on a date night with Jess and Eric.  We went to Lucerne's, which is a fondue restaurant, and then played mini putt and laser tag.  We had such a great time.  Annelise apparently had a great time with her grandparents too!

On Thursday, we went to Midway Village.  I have been there for a reception, but I've never been through the museum.  Did you know that Rockford is home to the sock monkey?  Yeah, neither did I.
Annelise very obviously had a rough day because she passed out that night in Drew's arms.
Gosh, I just love that little girl so darn much!

Yesterday, we celebrated Wesley's birthday and had a small party for him.  Annelise wore a dress first time.  So cute!
We took a much needed break, and just hung out at home today.  It was so nice for me to be able to get out of the house and do stuff during the day though.  I loved being able to spend so much time with Jessica.  I know that I've said it before, but I really hate that she lives so far away.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

GMG Week 3 Recap

Scripture passages for the week:
Proverbs 31 : 12 - She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.
1 Kings 11 : 4 - As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
Proverbs 31 : 13 - She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.
Colossians 3 : 23 - Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
Proverbs 31 : 14 - She is like the merchant ships bringing her food from afar.
Proverbs 9 : 1-2 - Wisdom has built her house; she has set up its seven pillars.  She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; She has also set her table.
Genesis 24 : 15-20 - Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder.  She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor.  The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her.  She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again.  The servant hurried to meet her and said, "Please give me a little water from your jar."  "Drink, my lord," she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink.  After she had given him a drink, she said, "I'll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink."  So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels.

The important lesson that stuck out to me this week is to work with eager hands.  I have a tendency to put off the less enjoyable chores and grumble my way through them.  I need to work for the Lord eagerly and praise that fact that I am able to do such chores.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Two Months

Dear Annelise,

Another month of my life has flown by and you are now two months old.  I know that I said it last month, but now I really can't remember what life was like before you were here.  It seems like you've always been apart of me.  You have absolutely exploded in your interaction this month.  I can almost always make you give me a huge, gummy smile.  And your smiles?  They just melt my heart.  All of the challenges that you give me are completely washed away when I look at your smiling face.  I've also learned little things that I can do that will always guarantee a smile.  My favorite time to make you smile is when I've put you on the changing table.  It's always fun to play with you then.

Dad gave you a bottle for the first time right after you turned one month old.  You were a little unsure about it at first, but once you realized that you could get milk from it, you didn't seem to mind the bottle at all.  You definitely still prefer to nurse though, and that's okay with me.  Other people have really enjoyed being able to feed you too.  I like that other people, especially Dad, can bond with you while feeding you.  Recently, you've started putting your hands on the bottle like you understand how to hold it.
I celebrated my first Mother's Day with you this month.  You have no idea how happy that you make me and how honored I am to be your mom.  It makes me feel so good when people dote on you.

You have really started cooing and "talking" to us this month.  I will mimic the sounds that you make and we'll have "conversations".  We do this a lot when you're on the changing table.  I keep waiting for a laugh, but I know that will probably be another month or two.

We have been taking you to the chiropractor to get adjusted.  Some days you really enjoy it, and some days you don't like it all.  I can't decide if it's helping you or not.

You continue to amaze me with your head control.  You love to be held upright on my shoulder and look around and I barely have to hold your head.  You don't like tummy time very much, but will tolerate it for a few minutes.  We're really going to have to work on getting you to like it better because you have to learn the skills that are required, like rolling over and crawling.  You really like to stand up on your feet while I hold your body.  Sometimes I'll hold you up by your hands, but you usually just try to shove my fingers in your mouth.

Speaking of that, you really like to bite on my finger.  You even make a little mean face when you bite down.  Sometimes you get so into it that you shove my finger too far into your mouth and you gag.  You also drool a lot.  I was convinced that you were in the beginning stages of teething, but your doctor quickly put me in my place with that and said that it was way too soon.  Honestly?  I was glad to hear that.  I don't want you sprouting teeth yet!
At your two month doctor's appointment, you weighed 11 pounds 2 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long.  You received three shots and an oral vaccine.  You didn't mind the oral one too much.  The shots were a different story.  You were already fussing when I laid you down, and you really screamed when the nurse gave you the shots.  Thankfully, she did them really quick and it was over before I knew it.  It broke my heart to see the tears in your eyes.  I hate to see you hurting.  I scooped you up to comfort you and you calmed right down, but you were pretty out of it for the rest of the day.

You love to challenge me with your sleep.  Some days you go right to sleep without any problems, but other days, you fight going to sleep so hard.  It really breaks my heart.  I really hope that you get better, but I know that we'll always have our challenges.  We're going to start working on transitioning you to sleeping in your crib during nap time.  I'm already not looking forward to it!

My girl, you are such a joy to me.  It makes me so happy to watch you grow and learn new things every day.  I can't wait to see what this next month is going to bring us!

Love you forever,
Mommy