Haddie's Favorite Books

Well, I've tried to post this blog post at least three times in the past couple of weeks.  Our daggone internet is horrible, and half the time it literally won't even bring up my blog home page.  Sometimes, I almost cry because I wanna be a "real blogger" so bad, and I've been making the time for it but can't get on.  And call me old-fashioned, but I just can't post too many posts from my phone ... the screen is just too small, and everything is more time-consuming.  Ha!  Anyways ... I think I can finally post this, so I'm so excited!

Over the past few months, Haddie has been developing a love for books.  At this stage, she mostly likes to eat them.  Haha!  But she does like to look at books with us, point at the pictures, hear the words and/or sounds. ... My friend, Emily, over at The Thought Spot shared a post like this with her daughter's favorite books a few months back, and I loved it.  So I am fully admitting that this blog post idea is totally stolen.  I don't think Emily will mind. ;)

My First Word Book is probably Haddie's absolute favorite.  It is full of colorful pictures with a single word describing several of the pictures on each page.  It teaches littles what specific objects, foods, animals, and so on are called.  Haddie especially likes the farm page because we make the animal noises ... she just laughs and laughs.

Haddie received this Peek-a-Boo book at her 9-month doctor's appointment, and she has loved it ever since.  It is such a cute, little book with baby faces and a few phrases.  The phrases correspond with the face each baby is making.  Haddie loves to interact with other babies and kids, so she giggles or yells with delight every time we open this book for her.  We keep this book in the car to help occupy her during car rides. ... She especially likes the little boy who is yawning ... haha!  So cute!

Haddie received this book, That's Not My Snowman, for Christmas from Gma (Darrell's grandma).  I am a huge fan of snowmen, so I think this book is a keeper.  It is a touch-and-feel book.  Haddie enjoys touching the different textures on each page, but I think the reason she likes this book so much is because she sees a cute, smiling snowman on each page.  We keep this one in her crib, along with other toys, so that she can play for awhile each morning before waking mommy up.  I recently found a chunk chewed out of the binding.  Nice, kid.  A little digested cardboard never hurt anyone, right? ;)

It's a good thing I'm not a real blogger because I can't figure out how to crop this picture to make the book sit upright.  Oh, well. ... This Fisher-Price Colors book is one that Haddie will hand to me to read over and over again in one sitting.  She loves pointing to the animals, food, and objects and hearing the names of each.  One side of each page is a color; the other side of the page has a picture of an animal, food, or object that is the same color.  Super simple.  Super great for teaching littles their colors.  This is one, as you can see, that Haddie has eaten the binding off of; it is literally falling apart.  Haha!

Yeah.  Same story.  How do I crop this thing? ... This Fisher-Price counting book is so cute.  Littles only learn how to count to five, but hey, they aren't anywhere close to preschool yet, so I say, that's awesome!  Each page has cute, little animals (the number of which corresponds to the number being learned ... imagine that!) and a rhyming question asking how many animals are found on each page.  Haddie likes both the animals and the rhyming.  She also likes the fact that we make up silly stories for each page a lot the time instead of reading the actually text.

I can't wait for her next set of favorite books ... heck, I can't wait for the day when she stops EATING her books!  Haha! ... Which books do your kids like?  Let's cultivate reading minds in our children, shall we?  It can only help, right? :)

Haddie is 11 months old!

Well, I'm only 2 weeks late posting Haddie's 11-month post. Ha!

What Haddie is doing and learning ...
Taking a step or two here and there, but no walking yet ~ Loves walking with her walker and holding our hands ~ Giving kisses ~ Biting! Yes, we are staying on her about that one ~ Practicing with her sippy cup and getting her drinks all over herself ~ Wearing 18-month clothes and has been for a few weeks ~ Loves being outside ~ Fruit is still her favorite food from what we can tell ~ Waves at people, even strangers, all the time ~ Continues to love music, especially when she can see and touch the instruments ~ She even dances a little and likes to watch others dance ~ Likes pushing and chasing balls on the floor ~ Likes to be chased ~ Loves games like peek-a-boo ~ Baby Einstein is still her favorite show ~ Starting to climb on things and up stairs ... yep, we've been using the baby gate consistently for a few weeks

What Mama is doing and learning ...
Thankful for my family ~ Physically exhausted most days ~ Extra emotional ~ Struggling with finding some balance but striving to maintain a positive perspective ~ Struggling not to put too many expectations on myself ~ Still learning that I am not saved by what I do but only by God's grace ~ Learning that being faithful is about the motivations of my heart, not about what I do ~ Still so thankful I can stay home with my baby girl ~ Excited and nervous about baby #2's arrival in November ~ So, so thankful God gave me a patient, understanding husband who loves me through everything ~ I am unceasingly thankful for God's many lessons and great patience with me :)

FOTS: Goodness

For several months, probably a couple of years, honestly, lessons in my walk with the Lord often point me back to this issue of the heart called ... my motives.  And it's got me thinking about goodness.  The dictionary defines the word good as being "morally excellent," "virtuous," "righteous" ... things like that.  While those are decent definitions, I've been learning that goodness has so very much to do with grace.

Ya see ... no one is good (Romans 3:10-12).  Only God is good.  Even Jesus, who was God in the flesh, didn't consider Himself good ... but pointed to God, alone, as being good (Matthew 19:17).  But the longer I exist on this planet, seeking after God and striving to know Him better, I continue to learn that although we are not good in and of ourselves, we are good according to God.  Once we put our trust in Jesus, God sees goodness, not sin.  I think another definition of goodness is "without blame" or "blameless."  And that's exactly how God sees us because we are washed by the blood of Jesus!

Is this hard for you to swallow?  Well, get in line!  I have struggled for over 10 years with this thing called grace.  It's for everyone but me ... at least, that's what I've somehow brainwashed my mind into believing.  But by God's GRACE, He is retraining my mind, slowly but surely, teaching me to embrace His grace for myself ... specifically, He is teaching me "practice instead of perfection."  He is showing me in His Word and through my daily encounters with Him and through teachings at church that I am good.  I'm not good because of anything I've done.  I'm good because of what JESUS has done.  And His grace is MORE than sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Quickly, I wanted to bring us back to my first sentence about motives.  Another key Truth that I want to share concerning goodness is our motives.  The motives of our hearts also reveal whether or not we are allowing goodness to reign in our lives and grow as a Fruit of the Spirit.  Yes, we are good because of what Jesus did for us on the Cross and because we have accepted His free gift of grace.  But I think we manifest goodness in our lives by examining the condition of our hearts and choosing pure motives and actions rather than our fleshly desires.  We are human beings, so we are going to sin ... I get it.  But what are our motives?  I can honestly say, that from a young age, my greatest desire has been to honor God with my life.  Have I messed up?  Heck, yeah!  But my motives are almost always pure.  I want to please Him.  And I think that is something else God considers good.  At least that is what I'm learning ... it all comes back to this phrase: it's a heart issue.

FOTS: Kindness

I've been thinking about a couple at our church whom I so admire.  They are amazing folks with hearts of Jesus!  And I've been thinking about them for this kindness post for awhile, so let's go!

Brent and Rene' Lacy.  This couple started coming in to my mom's cafe' a few years back, and they were so friendly and open ... and they became regulars.  Well, my mom sat and chatted with them as often as she could, and one day, she was bold enough to ask them about where they stood with Jesus.  They put their trust in Jesus during that conversation and have been coming to our church faithfully ever since.  And wow!  What a blessing they have been!

To me, the word kindness goes so much farther than just being nice to someone.  Kindness is about putting yourself in the other person's shoes, trying to see where they are coming from and then serving them just where they are, no matter who they are.  I guess I think of kindness being a synonym to servanthood.  Just my opinion.

Well, Brent and Rene' are servants who exude kindness.  Ever since they started coming to our church, they have found countless ways to serve our church family.  They pretty much ran the church garden by themselves last year ... I know Richard Smith helped, and forgive me for any others who may have helped ... but I know Brent and Rene' put in a ton of work in the church's backyard last year.  Rene' reaches out to families in our church on a weekly basis, helping them take care of chores and projects and anything else they may need.  They have helped my parents with projects around their house and at my mom's cafe'.  They chip in and help at all kinds of events at Calvary on a regular basis.  And I know there are so many other things that they do.  And I know for a fact that they do it because they love people, and they love Jesus.  That is what kindness is all about: serving others in love.  My family and I have been so privileged to get to know them and call them our friends.  I am so grateful for their salvation and for the hearts of kindness God has instilled in them.  They truly do share kindness wherever they go.  And they go a lot of different places because they literally do not eat any meal at home! ;)

Haddie is 10 months old!

What Haddie is doing and learning these days ....
Finally holding her own bottle! ~ Drinking lots more water from her bottle ~ Drinking much less formula and eating more table food ~ She hardly ever eats from a spoon because she wants to feed herself ~ Learning to clap ~ Has a new face that is to die for ... she bends her head down so you can barely see her eyes and then grins - so funny and precious! ~ Standing on her own a lot more ~ Using her walker a lot more and getting fast! ~ Likes to make us laugh ~ Starting to play games and responding to games like peek-a-boo and leaning your head back and forth ~ Loves Baby Einstein more all the time ... Meet the Orchestra is her favorite! ~ Loves music, especially musical instruments ~ Has been introduced to the show Daniel Tiger a bit, and we can tell she already likes it ~ Likes board books, especially ones that have objects you point to and say the name of ~ Carries her Little People around with her everywhere ~ Still a big fan of her pacifier, especially when she's tired or riding in her car seat ~ Quite the daddy's little girl ... she's been dismissing mommy for daddy these days! (Daddy sure doesn't mind) ~ Tries to climb the stairs a bit ~ Loves to eat food (and other things) off the floor .... mommy needs to sweep more often - haha! ~ Haddie just found out last week that she's gonna be a big sister ... around November 3rd of this year!

What Mama is doing and learning these days ....
I'm pregnant again!  Happy birthday to me! :):):) ~ Still working at this thing called balance ... learning that it's a never-ending battle ~ Trying to work out more of a routine for me and Haddie ... as best I can ~ Slowly reading the books on my 2016 reading list ~ Starting a study called Fervent with the Ladies' Tuesday Morning Bible study - so excited! ~ Trying to find ways to make money as a Blogger .... probably should find more TIME to blog first, huh?  Ha! ~ Loving to read my friend, Emily's blog ... it's awesome!  Check it out at www.emilymacd.blogspot.com ~ Excited that we are paying down our debt and making plans for the future ~ Been using the myfitnesspal app, and I really like it ~ Continuing to learn that dependence on God is my purpose ... so I am doing exactly what God wants for me when I choose practice instead of perfection :) ~ Still practicing cultivating a heart of thankfulness ~ So thankful for my cleaning job and job at The Porch ... they are tremendously helpful to us ~ So thankful for a husband who loves me unconditionally, is always willing to work at communication and finances and overcoming struggles TOGETHER, and who is working so hard to provide for our family in multiple ways ~ So thankful for my beautiful Haddie girl who challenges me, warms my heart, and makes me laugh ~ So thankful for my parents and Darrell's parents who help us with Haddie in so, so many ways ~ I'm so thankful for this season to live with my parents ... we are paying off debt and making plans for the future that would not be possible without their help ~ I'm thankful that Haddie is actually taking a NAP, IN HER CRIB, so that I can get a few things done (yes, if you can't tell, this is not a normal thing for her) ;) ~ Can't wait for the warmer weather so that we can go for family walks/bike rides at the park ~ So hopeful for God's workings in our lives and marriage and family ... excited to see what He's got up His sleeve! ~ Absolutely loving being a mom, and it's growing all the time ~ And excited for our new baby a comin' :)

Haddie is 9 months old!

Haddie girl turned 9 months old yesterday ... I love watching her face mature in our monthly pictures.  She becomes more beautiful everyday!  She is such a good girl, full of smiles and growing personality.  We think she's gonna be a bit stubborn, but she is as sweet as can be, independent, and full of life and new noises.  Just love being this girlie's mama!

What Haddie is doing and learning these days ....
Teething!!!  And no, it's not very fun for anyone ~ likes her pacifier quite a bit ~ making new noises: spitting noises, "mama", "dada", "nahnah" ... just lots of babbling in general :) ~ starting to understand how to drink out of a sippy cup ~ eating much less pureed food and more table food ~ she really likes to feed herself ... she'd prefer that most of the time ~ in the 66 percentile or higher for length (28 inches) and weight (21.7 pounds) ~ standing up all by herself from time to time ~ taking naps in her car seat ... this girl barely takes naps during the day, but when she does?  She's in her car seat! ~ likes playing with daddy ~ likes mommy to hold her best when she's upset ~ drawn to facial expressions, mouth noises, clapping sounds ~ doesn't like weird noises like aluminum foil crinkling or the Nutri-bullet grinding ~ loves looking in mirrors ~ extra clingy and a little extra fussy lately ... wants to be held a lot more often (probably from the teething?) ~ still totally sweet and lovable ... growing like a weed and soaking up knowledge like a sponge!

What Mama is doing and learning these days ....
Practicing thankfulness :) ~ trying to figure out how to get the girlie to nap so that I have more time for prayer, reading, blogging, etc. ... just wanna have some time to do things that are truly important and good "me time" but that I can't do while she's up and goin' ~ Slowly reading some really good books and excited to start the rest of my reading list ~ still going to counseling, and it's really providing good tools for communication in my relationship with Darrell ~ wondering about God's timing with another baby ... just curious :) ~ trying to shop and eat more whole and organic foods and get motivated to try new recipes for better health and more variety ~ working out more regularly but struggling to stay motivated ... and struggling to exercise with the girlie hanging all over me - she always seems the most clingy when I wanna get my workout in - haha! ~ learning a lot about practice, thankfulness, dependence on the Lord, remembering what's most important and doing those things, and not trying to control everything ~ growing more in love with my husband and my baby girl all the time ~ so thankful for our season of life ... time together as a family, staying home with Haddie, being apart of a wonderful church family, God's provision, learning lessons ... God's just cool! ~ excited to see what God's got in store for 2016 and beyond!

Journey with Jesus: Day 40

Tuesday was my last day for my sugar fast and posting about my Daniel Plan eating.  It is good to do fasts from time to time.  At least for me, it helps me see just how addicted I am to certain foods and such.  Sweet tea is probably my favorite worldly pleasure, so that's the thing I usually fast from.  And yes, I'm addicted.  "Hello, my name is Mical, and I'm a sweet tea-aholic."  Honestly, at this point, I have no plan to ever get rid of sweet tea completely, but I would like to keep working at drinking less of it.  Sugar IS bad for you, so I need to really limit how much I put in my body. ... I HAVE tried all-natural sweeteners like stevia, but ... yuck.  I've decided I'm going to have some sweet tea ... I just need to drink less of it.
On the positive side of things, I've discovered that I can not only stomach salads now, but I'm beginning to really enjoy them.  I'm so thankful for that because I get some good veggies like spinach and cucumbers ... but as I grow to put more veggies on my salads, I'll get even more veggies in me!  Now, if only salad dressings were healthy for you.  Sheesh!  I'm pretty picky about my dressings.  And I'm not gonna eat my grass without dressing ... just saying! ;)  Vidalia Onion from Sam's Club is my current favorite ... but sadly, it's not organic, and it has a few preservatives in it.  Boo!  But I've decided something with that too ... sometimes you gotta take the good with the bad, ya know?  I'm making progress; that's all that really matters to me.

So I'm a sweet tea-aholic, salad-eating, gonna-keep-trying-at-this-healthy-eating-thing mama.  Here's to practice!  Forever practice ... I love it!

Journey with Jesus: Day 40
Breakfast - bacon and oatmeal
Lunch - potato soup and salad
Dinner - smoked sausage, rice, and beans

Journey with Jesus: Day 39

Every other Monday, I clean house for a pretty cool lady at my church.  Most of the time, my mom has been so gracious to keep Haddie for me while I clean, but she needed to get some grocery shopping and cooking done for The Porch yesterday.  So Haddie came with me to clean.  I am so grateful for my baby's sweet, independent, happy personality.  She did so great playing in her saucer and pack 'n play, watching Baby Einstein.  She only lost patience in the last 15 minutes.  It was amazing!  I was so grateful for her "help."  'Cause it really helps me when she's good! :)  So grateful I can bring in some extra money for our family.

Only one day left!
Journey with Jesus: Day 39
Breakfast - bacon and oatmeal
Lunch - tater tot casserole and salad
Snack - almond crackers and cheese
Dinner - chicken and noodles and broccoli and cauliflower
Snack - apple with peanut butter and mixed nuts
64 ounces of water

Journey with Jesus: Day 38

Sunday was a busy but wonderful day!  Church is our favorite place to be, and we have lunch with my parents after church every Sunday.  Always good times.  But we had our third counseling session, and that is something I am truly thankful for.  I started going to counseling back in the summer time for my struggles with self-condemnation, and those sessions helped me see that that a lot of what I condemn myself about has to do with my relationship with Darrell.  A lot of it was beating myself up for things that we BOTH need to work on together ... mainly communicating the right way.  So we've started going together, and it has been great for our marriage.  I'm so grateful for the strides we are making in our communication and how our love is growing even more through it all.

Journey with Jesus: Day 38
Breakfast - bacon and eggs and orange juice
Lunch - beef chimichanga, rice, and beans
Dinner - grilled chicken salad and french fries
64 ounces of water

Journey with Jesus: Day 37

I worked as a waitress at The Porch today.  Usually, I'm upstairs working on online posts, packaging tea, and any other office work mom might have.  I found out that when you haven't waited on tables in a while, it can be CRAZY!  I think I only had five or six tables, and I was totally overwhelmed.  There's so much to remember as a waitress, and I want to give people great service ... and I'm a recovering perfectionist and self-condemner ... so it can be pretty rough.  I did well, I think ... but I was pretty flustered.  Man, that is one thing I don't like about myself - I get flustered so easily, and once I'm flustered, I have a hard time coming back from it.  I guess it was another opportunity to lean on Jesus, huh?  My dependence lesson. ;)

Stop in The Porch sometime soon ... 2411 E. Main St. Danville, IN 46122.  It's a pretty cool place with yummy food, delicious teas, and all kinds of neat merchandise.  We're open Tuesday through Saturday from 11am to 2pm!

Journey with Jesus: Day 37
Breakfast - Reese's Puffs and milk
Lunch #1 - tater tot casserole and orange juice
Lunch #2 - salad, apple, mixed nuts
Snack - popcorn
Dinner - chicken tacos, tortilla chips and salsa, and refried beans
64 ounces of water

Yeah, as you can see, today's meals for the first half of the day were more for convenience than anything.  It happens.  I'll do better tomorrow. ;)

Journey with Jesus: Day 36

Journey with Jesus: Day 36

Breakfast - bacon and eggs and kiwi and milk
Lunch - Salad and cottage cheese
Dinner - chicken, baked potato, and salad
48+ ounces of water

Yeah ... kind of a boring post ... but encouraging!  Fruits and veggies for me! :)

Journey with Jesus: Day 35

In Wednesday's post, I mentioned that I'm learning about dependence on God.  Yesterday, I had a meltdown because I didn't have that lesson "down" yet.  Ha!  I love the perspective my husband always seems to give me. :)  I was super stressed out and starting to cry because I had been a bit prideful with my mom at work that day.  She was being rather particular about how she wanted her menu redone, and I kinda have a bad habit of having a less-than-great attitude about doing things that I don't understand.  I've kind of always been that way ... it's a pride issue, and yes, it needs to be dealt with.  I'm working on it.  Well, I was in a tizzy about my pride ... beating myself up for being ungrateful for my job and questioning what mom wanted.  And on top of it, I was mad at myself for not letting it all go and remembering that my sins and struggles drive me to depend on God.  Thankfully, my mom was super gracious and honestly didn't even see me as being prideful or having a bad attitude (even though I was and did).  And Darrell was there to put things in perspective for me.  He asked me, "When did you start learning that lesson? ... Yesterday?  Oh, well, then you don't need to 'have it down' yet because it's going to take time, right?"  Of course I sheepishly said, "yes."  Thank God for a husband who is way better at perspective than I am!  So yeah ... I'm a RECOVERING self-condemning - it's still something I'm working through, but I've made progress.  Holla-lujah! ;)

Journey with Jesus: Day 35
Breakfast - bacon and oatmeal and milk
Snack - almond crackers and cheese
Lunch - chicken pot pie and salad
Dinner - tater tot casserole and broccoli
64 ounces of water