Life circa January 2012-ish

New year, time to update!  I’m finding bullet points to be pleasant on my mom-addled brain lately, so I shall soon digress to that.  I have completely gone off book today and decided to update the blog look and add a new post and hopefully keep adding.  My goal is once a month-ish.  Ha ha, we’ll see.  This year I have lots of exciting things planned.  I have decided to focus on my top priorities which are:

• Keepin’ the love alive - Aaron is the best thing that ever happened to me 
• Loving the kids on purpose. [inspirition from the book by Danny Silk]
• I want Ephesians 4:32 to become a part of who I am
• Cooking more
• Getting healthy – working out, detoxing my life
• Living life to the fullest as sleep deprivation slowly but surely becomes a thing of the past.  Again.  hahaha
• Keep home school both a priority and balanced.  Whew.
• Take more pictures with my awesome Nikon D300s.
• Titus 2 & prayer group & Life group

This is probably what the bulk of my posts will be about, and I’m thinking that is an abundance of topics!  Those are things I can go on and on about.  I’ll be making my own lotion soon, and I want to blog about that and all my new health endeavors.  Currently I am doing the Wii Sports EA Active for a workout four times a week as a start, and it’s kicking my rear.  I am wanting to make all kinds of changes little by little for a healthier family detoxing a little at a time.  I am so thankful that Madelyn is one year old now.  Aaron and I agree that the first year for any baby is “survival mode” for the parents.  I am glad to start seeing the end of this stage.  Currently it is only the teething that makes life [and sleep!] a challenge.  I don’t really mind the constant re-arranging of all our things in the house because she is becoming more and more able to self entertain.  Yay!  Now I’m thinking that soccer starts up again in a couple of months.  Whew!

My my my my… how life has changed

You know, I bet a lot of people say this, but I really reflect and cannot believe how my life has gone.  If someone would have been able to tell me all of this on my wedding day I would have thought them crazy.  It is now May 2011 and I am just now getting my thoughts together again.  Madelyn is beyond awesome and so are my kiddos who ALWAYS love helping with her.  Does it sound like a utopia?  It practically is.  We are all so in love with Madelyn.  There are normal baby struggles, etc, but having a baby with older children to help and to love is simply divine.

Here is one of the best pics from Easter 2011.  I am SO excited to have a picture this good of all three.  I just  LOOOOOOOVE Madelyn’s smile!  She is such a sweetie pie.

The Madelyn saga continues…

Well, Madelyn was due Wednesday and now it is Saturday and still no labor!  Thats okay, I am choosing to be okay with it especially since my babies tend to come after their due date.  It would have been a really fun surprise to have her on time or early though!  Thanksgiving was so fun this year and I was very thankful to be able to participate.  Really, there are several memories I would have had to pass up if Madelyn had come already.  For instance, yesterday morning’s pumpkin pancakes.  Mmmmm!!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah, those were A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  Also, it was lots of fun to go pick out a completely gorgeous Christmas tree @ Hillman Outdoor Living with the kids and Haygood kids.

I will post pictures of our gorgeous tree soon!  Yesterday we decorated this house for Christmas faster than I ever dreamed and most of the boxes are already back in the attic!  I do have the MOST amazing husband of course, he is completely dedicated and always has been to making my pregnancies as pleasant as possible.  I could never rave about him enough, he is beyond perfect.

So, I have been waking up anywhere between 5am and 7am completely awake.  I have tried many things to make this work to my advantage somehow but consistency at the end of this pregnancy is ever elusive.  I am loving the things I have time to do and the memories made since Madelyn hasn’t been born, but I am ready to get on with life!!!!!!!!!!!  Either way, life is good and I am working to keep my mind stayed on that.

Ridiculously proud mama here…

Today – Friday October 15th, 2010

Omg.  I am totally exhausted this morning.  Completely drained.  I think my drive to keep working on the house may be completely gone… I’m a little sad about that b/c I REALLY enjoy looking @ what I have done.  It has made our house so beautiful.  Frankly, after removing tons [it felt that way] of wall paper and painting I just don’t want to learn how to spray texture on the wall.  *insert whining here*

On a happy note, I am surprised and delighted with home schooling.  Teaching the kids is rewarding and fun and they are so good!!!!!!!!  More importantly I am afforded the opportunity and luxury of time to really learn about letting the Holy Spirit change me from the inside out.  [without this, home schooling would not go so well]  The grace based hearing and grace based teaching @ Gateway is really setting me free.  I can just FEEL layers of junk and ‘striving’ to be a good Christian falling off me all the time.  I am LOVING the Titus 2 Bible study and truly wish every church had one.  The theme is Titus 2, trained by grace.  Oh, that every mom could have the opportunity that I have to go to this Bible study.  It is changing my life week by week.  I am learning how to have a REAL relationship and prayer life in God.  My prayer is that the Holy Spirit change me from the inside out [instead of my own striving] so that I don’t run the race only to hear that without love, it was all for nothing.  I can’t even imagine gathering all the knowledge and parenting strategies and marriage conferences and missing out on 1 Corinthians 13 love and then it all being for NOTHING.  Thank God for the Holy Spirit and the gift of praying in other tongues.

Upward soccer – fall 2010

Last weekend the kids played their first soccer games for this fall.  They had so much fun and all of them played well!  Aaron is coaching Caleb’s team and really loving it.  What a great way to reach out to kids!

   

Nathan Mark Haygood

He is such a cute little baby!  I am still thinking I cannot believe we are going to have another baby in our house too!

   

I witnessed the MOST adorable thing today

Caleb is nearing the end of soccer season with Upward and it has been great fun.  Today we played a team that has stomped us without shame three times now.  The most adorable thing about children is how much fun they are having and how unaware they are of their parents desire to WIN!  Most everyone in this league is pretty calm and good natured but there is always that inward parental desire to watch your kid go out and dominate the field.

All that aside, at the end they always line up to slap hands and say “good game” a hundred times or so.  They did the line and then circled back again and did it again which cracked me up.  When it got downright funny and adorable was when on the third time around it just turned into a mass of jerseys laughing, part roughhousing and a few “good game” statements still interspersed.  How completely adorable.  Both teams were messing around with each other, both completely unaware that one ridiculously stomped the other.  I wished I had those moments of utter childhood innocence recorded.  It made me laugh and tear up at the  same time.  Kids are great.

Randomness…

Here is an adorable picture my sis took of my kids and her oldest son, Luke.  It was during the second snow.  The kids had such a blast playing, making snow angels, eating snow from the sky [obviously], and throwing wanna be snowballs @ each other.  Kids are so fun to watch.  I was not envious of their wet clothes when they were finished!

Wow have we ever had drama at school today.  My administrator really excels at cutting to the heart of the matter and dealing with it.  I shoveled it all to her and she completely handled it!  That was so nice.

I finished my modules!  YAY!!!!  Now I just have to pass the online practice PPR, then pass the real PPR and I’m all finished with certification!!!  Yeeha!

As with every season after Christmas it is time to assess weight gain.  I lost a beautiful 7 pounds during the first part of the teaching year.  During Christmas I QUICKLY put on two pounds.  UGH.  It doesn’t sound like much until you consider that it is a pound per week!  I started to notice my pants fitting not so loose anymore.  Depressing.  Well, the good news is that I am managing my time better and able to start incorporating some sort of workout at least twice a week!  We’ll see if that doesn’t knock that out.

Things that mean a lot to me right now…

I have been thinking about my principal’s morning devotion this week where she quoted our Pastor Bob by saying, “I’m more thankful than I am happy.”  Hmmm… food for thought.

Scriptures that I find very helpful and meaningful:

Proverbs 25:21,22 – ESV

¹ If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat,
and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,
²²for you will heap burning coals on his head,
and the LORD will reward you.

Romans 12:9-21 – ESV

Marks of the True Christian

⁹ Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. ¹⁰ Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. ¹¹Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. ¹² Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. ¹³ Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. ¹⁷ Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. ¹⁸If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. ¹⁹ Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ”Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” ²⁰To the contrary, ”if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.