Recent Pictures

Ansley's Month 10 smilebox is in the works to be sent out on her 10 month "birthday" which is February 9th (I know all of you are holding your breath in anticipation!). Ha! However, my sweet sister-in-law always has a difficult time getting the pictures to download from smilebox and she recently told me that she needs to see some new pictures of her niece, Miss Ansley. So, Rachel, here are the latest...
Here she is for her 10 month picture in her rocker. Can you tell she is anxious to climb out of the rocker and get on the move?!

I just had to post this picture. Thanks to my sister-in-law, Jenny, who so graciously loans me Sienna's clothes I never have to buy Ansley any clothes. The Children's Place had all their winter clothes on sale for $2.99 this past weekend. I could not pass up this amazing opportunity to get Ansley a few sweaters and things she can wear the next few months. I got $210 worth of clothes for $50! What a blessing!

Check out her two little bottom teeth...

Here she is doing her new favorite thing...getting into cabinets in the kitchen!

Here she is in a rare moment of "stillness"! She really does love books!

10 Things That Make Ansley Happy...

In light of my last post, I thought I would share the top 10 things that currently make Ansley one happy little girl!

1. Puffs (Her favorite are the apple cinnamon ones)

2. Going shopping (She loves to sit up in the cart and "ooohh" and "ahhh" over all the things in the store)

3. Walking toys (She loves pushing her grocery cart or car around the living room making "car" noises with her lips)

4. Her Bottle (Yes, she still loves her bottle...we are currently trying to transition to the sippy cup one feeding at a time but she does not like it)

5. Seeing her Mommy or Daddy walk through the door or into the room (Her little face lights up)

6. Books (Her current favorite is her bedtime Bible story book)

7. Bath time (She could play in the tub forever...she especially loves chewing on her ocean animals...they must feel good on those two new teeth!)

8. Singing (If Ansley is crying or unhappy you only need to start singing to cheer her up...Her favorite two are the "ABC" song and the "Ansley" song)

9. Kids (She sees kids and pretty much anything they do makes her giggle and laugh...she does this mostly with kids older than her)

10. Her Girlfriends (Kaitlyn and Claire are Ansley's two BFF's at school. She loves to climb through the tunnel with them in her classroom and together they like to drag dolls into the tent and hang out together...how cute!)

10 Things

After reading my friend Leslie's top 10, I was inspired to write my own. Here are my top 10 things that make me happy in no particular order...

1. Time spent with my family...all of them. I.LOVE.FAMILY. My family are my closest friends. First, I can't tell you the joy I find in spending time with Jon and Ansley daily. They make me laugh and together we have purpose. Time with Jon, Ansley, my parents, my grandparents, my sister and her family, Jon's parents, and Jon's siblings and their families energizes me. We are all very close and share a love I believe few families ever come to know. We encourage one another, pray for one another, Skype each other, write long emails to one another, call each other often, make it a priority to visit one another and really truly enjoy spending time together!

2. Prayer and God's Word...every morning when I spend time reading the Bible and praying I find a renewed sense of purpose for the day and my life. My worries wash away, peace comes over me, and I am challenged to know Jesus more. I can honestly say that every morning when I come into school early, close my classroom door, read God's Word, and pray, it is time well spent. My days are more joyful and my frustrations seem to pale in comparison to His goodness. I also love praying with Jon and Ansley every day. It's my favorite part of the day. We haven't always done this as a couple but in the past two years it has really made our relationship grow.

3. Teaching/Learning... It is my passion. I enjoy training young people to influence their world. I especially love teaching Ansley and watching her learn new things from me and others. Of course, I love teaching my students. I thank God for the gift of teaching He has given me. It's hard work but it's rewarding work. Some people teach because they have to, I teach because it's what I was created for. I also love learning. I think that is a huge part of what makes a good teacher.

4. Reading...I love to curl up with my blanket and a good book or magazine. I love reading for information. Books on parenting, teaching, knowing God more, and marriage all make me happy. My life has been changed by the books I have read. I love sharing what I learn from books or magazines with others. You don't have to be around me long to hear me say "The other day I was reading..." or "I learned that from a magazine!" My family sometimes laughs at me because of this!

5. Eating out...yes this makes me very happy (just ask Jon). I love the atmosphere, seeing other people, relaxing, eating yummy food, and most of all not having to clean up the kitchen. If you add a sweet tea or Coke to the "eating out" that makes me extra happy!

6. Traveling...I love going places (especially new places). The worst part of traveling has to be unpacking your suitcase and heading back to the "real world". I love that my Mom and Dad instilled in me a love for traveling. Seeing God's creation upclose is a blessing. There is so much world to see and so little time to see it! I am so glad Jon and I share this love.

7. Babies and Kids...they make me really happy. They don't even have to be MINE. A lot of people find time with their own kids to be a treat but I love being with any kids. Kids teach you so much. They are funny, inquisitve and the world is a beautiful place because of their presence!

8. Organizing/Planning...to know things are orderly and everything is in its place makes me smile! I share this love with my Mom and sister. I am very organized at school and a little less organized at home. Planning ahead makes me very happy. I love seeing goals accomplished. I love seeing results. I love marking things off a list. I love seeing my calendar fill up with memory making moments and those things that just "have to be done". "Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance" is one quote I like.

9. Singing/Worship...Whose day is not better when they sing their way through it? I love to sing (in the car, shower, while walking, around the house, to Ansley and especially with other people in worship). Singing makes my heart happy.

10. Relaxing after working...Isn't this a wonderful feeling? I love lying down on the couch and looking around the house knowing things are clean, laundry is done, groceries are in the pantry, Ansley is fed and bathed, mail is sorted, dishes are put away, and for a short moment there is nothing that needs to be done!

Adios

This past week Ansley said goodbye to her nap and nighttime friend, her pacifier! It only took two nights of crying and she was over it. She still sleeps great and soothes herself back to sleep if she wakes up early. It is so nice for Ansley not to have any "sleep props" now! Do you think it's a coincidence that she gave it up just before Valentine's Day in hopes that she would get something much sweeter(i.e. see above picture)?! Perhaps "visions of sugarplums" are now dancing in her head?

Update on Ansley

Little Ans had to go to the doctor today. She had a rough weekend :( We found out she has another ear infection (#4) this time in her left ear. I feel so sorry for her but she is really a trooper and you would not really know it by her energy and easy temperament. We go back for a re-check on her ear in 10 days. If the infection is not cleared up or if she has another infection in the next two months they will refer us to an ENT to put tubes in her ears. Tubes seem so common these days but they sound much better to me than continuing to give her antibiotics. Thankfully, we have two good friends who have given us great referrals to ENT doctors. The good part of going to the doctor is that we get to see how much Miss Ansley weighs again. We had her 9 month checkup 11 days ago and she weighed 18 1/2 lbs. and today she weighed 19 lbs. 2 oz. I can't believe she gained 10 oz. in 11 days! I guess she is having a growth spurt! We are so thankful for a great pediatrician and that despite teething, a runny nose, and an ear infection our sweet girl is all smiles these days! :)

Yearning for God

During this fast, I have been checking out the daily blogs on jentezenfranklin.org and they have been very thought provoking. The post written by Blake Harmon challenged me and I thought it was worthy of posting on my blog so that my fellow fasting friends could benefit from it as well. It's a little on the long side but really only takes about three minutes to read...it will challenge you and change you.

"During this fast I have been listening to a song every morning that is simultaneously crushing yet encouraging my heart….sounds like a spiritual paradox doesn’t it?

It’s the song “Yearn” by Shane & Shane. If you haven’t heard it before, I’d like to encourage you to listen to it before the end of the fast.

It’s a simple prayer that merely says, “Lord I want to yearn for you. I want to burn with passion over you....and only you...Lord I want to yearn”.

Sure, we’ll joyfully enter into a time of passionate worship and prayer on a Sunday morning when the worship team is singing the right song, and even on a Wednesday night. Or how about on the days when the Sun rises precisely when we’d like it to and we wake up on the “right side of the bed”? It’s slightly easier to enter into a moment of selfless worship unto our God when the moments and situations are right, isn’t it? But what about the days when it seems as though our stomachs are screaming at us because of the fast; maybe you’re somewhat discouraged because you’re not having the experience you’d hoped for during this fast; or maybe nothing is necessarily wrong, we’re merely not in the mood to worship...

My very simple question to you is this: “Do you YEARN for the living God?

The initial and immediate answer to that simplistic question is, “Of course I do!”

But do we truly YEARN for our God?...

During this fast I’ve been paying a lot of attention to the Psalms, and as I do I attempt to think as David thought. “As a deer pant and thirsts for streams of water, so my soul longs for you O God. My soul thirsts for God. The living God. When can I go and meet with God? (Psalms 42:1-2)”

I don’t question for a moment that we all love to enter into the presence of God with passionate worship…..but do we yearn for Him? Are we ok with not taking time out of our day to sit down with the living God? Are we truly ok with waiting until a Sunday morning or Wednesday night to step into His presence? I’m not talking about the moments when you’re day has lacked any and all enjoyable moments and you hear that perfect song that just warms your heart as you lift up your hands in worship and thank God!

…Do we YEARN for God?”

One thing I’ve come to realize during the fast is this: A true yearning for God knows no past, or present circumstance. That’s not implying that those circumstances are non-existent, it merely implies that no circumstance will have a hindrance on the praise I give my God. The increase/decrease of the intensity or severity of our circumstances should have no affect to the intensity of our worship unto God.

I believe a wonderful example of that type of yearning and worship is displayed in Job 1:20-21:

At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised

Do we yearn for God?

My prayer not only for myself, but for you as well, is that we would develop a craving for God beyond what we thought was possible; that our hearts would ache until we have encountered God....that in the midst of difficult times – whether big or small - our yearning for Almighty God would stir up a zeal and passion that would cause us to cry out in utter worship at all times – regardless of our circumstances.

God give us a yearning for you. Burn within us a passion that can never be subsided. God, that we would not become complacent or content in our relationship with you, but that every day we would seek to chase after you with more passion and zeal than the day before. Let our yearning for you overflow out of our hearts and into the lives of others."

Love Is In The Air...Already?!

Is is just me or are you excited about February being right around the corner? January always seems dreary and blue to me and February brings glimmers of red, purple, pink, hearts, love, hugs, kisses, cards, cookies, chocolate, cupcakes and candy! Wow, I think I just got a stomachache and a cavity typing that sentence!

I don't really know why I am so excited about the upcoming holiday...maybe it's because we have a precious little cupid named Ansley to celebrate the day with! It's funny because it's not even February yet and I've already made a red velvet cake and taken Ansley's Valentine pictures this week. Holidays just seem to be even more special when you are celebrating them with your child for the first time. It's so cool to think that our Heavenly Father delights in loving us just as we delight in loving our children, our spouse, and others! I was wondering if anyone out there in blog world has any great ideas or traditions that you do with your kids during the month of February that you would be willing to share with us since this is Ansley's 1st Valentine's season?

I know we are commanded to love God and others everyday but there is something special to me about having a month dedicated to just that...LOVE...what fun! One thing I have decided to do next month is to find some small (or big) way to bless and "love on" someone each and every day...whether it's Jon, Ansley, one of my students, a co-worker or a complete stranger. This got me excited. So, today I decided to do a keyword study in the Message Bible on "love" and I found some really neat verses. So, I thought I would share three of them with you that stood out to me and challenged me...
1 Corinthians 13:3
"If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end."
1 Corinthians 14:1
"Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does. Give yourselves to the gifts God gives you. Most of all, try to proclaim his truth."
Mark 12:29
"Jesus said, 'The first in importance is, 'Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.' And here is the second: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' There is no other commandment that ranks with these.'"