Friday, March 21, 2014

God Is So Good!

My daughter just did the most incredible thing ever - my heart has surely melted and I will never recover. I am in love with this child. We were sitting and playing with her toys and she just climbed into my lap. She snuggled her little head into my arm, like she did when she was a tiny baby, and went to sleep with a little smirk on her face. Granted it was time for her nap, but it was the best thing. She just curled her little self up, safe and secure with her Mommy, and went to sleep.

As I was holding her in her room and praying over her I had this thought that she used to fit perfectly into my arms, she's a little bit bigger now so the fit isn't quite as  "perfect" anymore. But she will always have a place in my arms, no matter how big she gets. She will always fit perfectly and she will always be my sweet, sweet blessing. She is pure joy - every time I look at her I'm just in awe. I mean, TJ and I made her. She grew in my belly... Our God is such a wonderful Creator, although she grew in me, He made her - He formed her tiny, but strong hands - He molded her precious face - He thought up her whole being and allowed TJ and I to be her parents. He worked in the best parts from TJ and I and He also work in some of the not-so-best parts so that we can learn to rely on Him. Oh, Lucy Paige is strong-willed and determined - some traits (of mine!) that can be harmful if they aren't directed towards the right path. God is going to do such great things with our girl, I just know it. She is such a ham, so tender-hearted, determined, smart, beautiful, strong, brave, kind, sweet, loving... I am so grateful to have been chosen to be this little girl's Mama!

And if you can't tell, I ADORE the coral and white stripped shirt with the green collar. Don't judge me if I put her in the shirt just about every other day! :) 

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

I'm 8 Months Old! What, What?!?!?!?



I am 8 months old guys - time sure does fly when you're having fun! And I am having the absolute best time. I love every day and I sure do love my Mommy and Daddy. They are the best. Again, I've been a whirlwind of silliness this month. Here are the deats!! (that's short for details...)

So last month I was learning about this thing called gravity... I would say that I have mastered this art form fairly well. I could pull up and stand on just about everything, getting down was the hard thing. Like I've said though, I've got gravity covered. It takes me just a minute and I cry hoping Mommy will come and help me but she just tells me that I can do it and to try really hard. Who does she think she is?!? She's supposed to be my helper! Oh well, I don't really need her... I'm a big girl! Eventually I do sit down and go wherever I please. It's nice, this whole pulling and standing up and sitting down thing... I can go and do whatever I want. :) Speaking of going wherever I want, I can cruise the furniture! If Daddy and Mommy set my stand-up-thingys in just the right place I cruise around the chairs. I use the furniture and bench to cruise too! Mom thinks I'll be walking by the end of the month. Daddy got me this really neat jumper/walker thing - it is AWESOME! Apparently you're supposed to jump up and down in it - but I walk and spin in it. It makes me laugh and I love it so much!

Yes, this is my 7 Month photo, but Mom used it for VDay too. She forgot to take a Vday pic. 
On February 13, I made a big trip to Tuscaloosa to celebrate my Aunt Rikki's 29th birthday! It had snowed the day before so there was snow everywhere but it quickly melted and was around 65 degrees that day. This crazy weather - Mom says I just need to get used to it here in Alabama, that's how its been and will always be. Mom told me that on this day exactly one year ago, she and Daddy found out that I was a girl! It was a very cold day and she said they could not wait to see what I was going to be. I knew that I was a girl the whole time, I mean what else is there? A stinky boy??? No way! Hahahaha!! That day I also found my Henry!! :) I was so very excited to have him back. He's my buddy that sleeps with me - here is his story. The next day was Valentine's Day. Me and Daddy took Mommy out for lunch and surprised her with a gift certificate for a massage. She loved it, said it was the best gift ever. I told her that it was all my idea, that Daddy had nothing to do with it. I also told Mommy to get Daddy Kit-Kats for his gift. He, of course, loved it. That's his favorite. We had a fun day!

Me and my friend, Courtlyn!
Something awesome I've learned to do is whistle! It's so much fun, I love it! I make my mouth into this face :O and suck in and blow out and I whistle! Mommy and Daddy were so surprised when I whistled at first... I'm not sure why though? I stayed up all night one night practicing. Another cute thing I do is wallowing. Mommy LOVES it when I wallow with her. One night, while Daddy was at school, me and Mommy wallowed for 30 minutes. We just laid on the couch and rolled and sang and talked. I love to throw myself back and let Mommy catch me. It is the best ever. I am proud to announce that I have not one, but TWO teeth. And I'll bite you with them! Stick your finger or your nose or anything in my mouth and you'll pull back a nub; ask Aunt Megan or Skeeter or Mommy, they'll tell you I'm not joking. I am also in love with this song. Mommy will play it and I come running (crawling as fast as my little legs and arms will take me). I jump up and start dancing! Mommy likes to pick me up and dance around the living room.
                    


One last thing from this month that you all should know about... Did you know that slavery still exists? No? Well it does. And it's not just in these far away third-world countries. It's here in our back yard. Women and young girls are being used for bad things. And all over men, women, and children are being bought, sold, used, abused, traded, trafficked, and lots of other bad things happen to them. I don't know a whole lot about slavery but from what Mom tells me, it isn't good. And Jesus wants good things, not bad things, for His children. When Mommy and I pray at night, we pray for all those people trapped in slavery. We pray that they will be set free and learn about Jesus and that the people using them will stop and learn about Jesus too. If they just knew Jesus and freedom He gives, they wouldn't do bad things to people. Mom says we need to tell people that slavery still exists and that they should go to End It Movement to see what all they can do to stop these bad things from happening to people.

That's it guys! I've had a great month and I've learned so much. I can not wait for my next month! I have a birthday party for my friend to go to, a pageant to be in, more aunts birthdays to celebrate, a beach trip, and soooo much more!! Much love guys! See you in a month!

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Hymnal Wall - How To Apply Paper (that's not wall paper) to A Wall

TJ and decided to redo the youth room this weekend to surprise the kids (and also because the room was pretty awful - colors were chosen hastily because of the even more awful colors that were there before). We painted the room a beautiful neutral green and trimmed it in gray. It looks awesome with the natural wood tables my crafty husband built! :) We choose to do the tv wall as a focal wall - the wall has two large windows and a tv between the two windows. That wall needed something different - something other than paint. So, cue an awesome idea... A wall that has hymns on the whole thing! And this is how we did it and the supplies we used...

Supplies: Paint Tray to pour the Paste in - Wallpaper Paste (we used the paste for high humidity because the wall has two windows) - Wallpaper Scrapper for the bubbles (a metal spatula works great too!) - And Your Paper, we used my Granny's hymnal (side note - I saved my very favorite hymns to do a project with)

First Hymns Going Up!

Add a little paste to the back of your paper.

Spread it like butter! :)

I added a little paste to the wall too, for good measure! 

Apply paper. 

Use the scrapper to get excess paste from the paper and also to coat the top with a light layer of paste. 

Continue until you get all the bubbles out and all the excess paste off the paper. 





Use the excess paste that you scrapped off and apply it to the wall.  And that's it guys! Continue until the whole wall is covered! 

I chose to do random placement instead of a pattern - I think it looks better, especially for the hymns. 


A fitting verse from the front of the Hymnal that was very appropriate for the youth cafe. 


A favorite of mine! 



There you go! I'll have a picture of the whole wall as soon as TJ finishes up tonight!