You sure have your hands full.

Every single time I am in public.

EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

I was at the grocery store with my kids just the other day. 2 kids in the front basket by me, 2 kids in the car in the front of the cart and 1 inside the cart/on top of the car (both of which are frowned upon by the grocery store employees.) I’m casually strolling through the store, grabbing free fruit for the kids and every so often glancing down at my grocery list on my phone.

Naturally, whether or not my kids are being “good” on that day or if they are rambunctious and loud, we are being starred at. I’m used to it by now.

We round a corner and an employee exclaims, “Wow! You really have your hands full!” I just smile and nod.

I never know what to say. How do I respond to that?

We don’t even make it 10 feet around to the next aisle and another worker says, “You sure have your hands full.”

Dude… did you NOT just hear your coworker say the EXACT same thing? Yes yes, my hands are literally full, I get it.

And I kid you not, a few minutes later, walking down another aisle, a fellow female shopper walks past us and you guessed it…. tells me my hands are full.

Is there nothing better for you to say to me? Is it SO necessary that you got that out of your system upon seeing us? I just don’t get it.

Until the day… I said it to someone.

A few years ago, a friend was expecting her 4th child. She had an older child and then twins and now was expecting the next baby. We were chatting about it and what it would be like to add another one while the twins were still so young. And like word vomit I spewed out to her, “You will really have your hands full.”

She paused for a moment and had a slightly strange look on her face and said something like, “Well, not really, it’s just  how life will be.”

And I felt like a total idiot.

Besides the fact that I already had 4 kids myself at that point, I had no idea why I muttered those words. I wished so bad I could be back in time and THINK before I SPOKE. All those years of my mom and dad warning me and here I am, a total loser just spitting out words before I process them in my brain.

I didn’t even mean what I said, it almost just felt like something you should respond with. Like an involuntary muscle. Just doing what its supposed to do. I was on total autopilot and didn’t know how to shut it down.

And at that point, I realized I should have more grace with other people.

I didn’t even mean to say those words. It’s not even what I really thought. I had 4 children myself (5 as I write this), and although my days can be crazy, my house can be loud and messy and my arms can literally be overflowing with holding kids in them, I love it all. And also, it’s not ALWAYS like that. We have moments of peace and quiet and times of free-flowing unity in our home. And times where my arms get a rest.

If I myself, a mother of 5, accidently said that to someone, not even meaning it, maybe some of those other people just feel like its something to say. Maybe they aren’t trying to be rude or negative, but just trying to make an interaction. Or possibly a sort of compliment. It may not always be that way, but I want to try to not always assume the worst.

Like when you are driving, and someone swerves in front of you and cuts you off. I don’t want to automatically assume that they are a road lunatic with no concern for others. Instead, I will explore the possibilities. Maybe they didn’t even see me there. Maybe they are having a hard day and were crying and didn’t notice my distance from their car. Maybe their car isn’t working so well so they need to adjust their driving. Maybe a child in the back distracted them.  I try to stay pretty calm and not assume the worst in those situations. That can carry over into other areas of life as well.

While at the Young Living Essential Oils convention in Utah this summer, Gary Young, the founder said something I loved.

He said, “I trust people until they give me a reason not to.”

I loved that. It was a great reminder for me to try to see the good in people first  and not always assume the worst.

And I try to apply that in my daily life. I don’t know what the intentions are of the people telling me how full my hands are. And I’m not going to assume that they are negative.

Most of the time I reply with, “Yes, but we have a lot of fun!” or “Yes, and it is so great!” Because it really is.

I would love to know what you respond with when people say that to you? I would love to hear your thoughts if you have ever said these words to a mom yourself.

I would love to have a friendly witty comment to respond with. Or just something uplifting (but not super cheesy like, “Yes, and my heart is full too.) << insert winky face.

Anywho, it’s all part of the journey. Yah, I totally have my hands full. And there is always room for more.

 

 

 

Homemade Moby Wrap.

I’ve had a few people recently ask me how I made my Moby Wraps. Which leads to this blog post.

 

Listen folks, you can spend $30-$80 on a brand new Moby wrap at the store. They are fantastic. Such great back support. And I will go on record saying I have even carried a 3 and 4 year old in them as well. The thing I realized after I borrowed a friends wrap for the first time was that: it is just a long piece of fabric.

 

So began the journey of making my own!

(Excuse the dim lighting and red face- it was 8pm and I had been working out prior).

So- there are two ways to go about this. An average Moby is approximately 4-6 feet long- however long you desire and want it to wrap around you. Most of my own Moby’s are about 4 1/2 to 5 feet long and I am usually a size medium.

Now, you can go to the fabric store and buy yourself 5 feet of fabric and cut it in half lengthwise and you are good to go! And you have 2 Moby’s out of it! That is all there is to it! A Moby wrap is about half the width of the piece you get cut off at the fabric store so you just have to try to cut in a straight line all the way down the fabric (lengthwise) and the end result is 2 really long pieces of fabric that have now become your Moby wraps.

 

But if you are like me, I had to get the red tag fabric. And I had to get it when it was 50% off the already red tag prices. Which, depending on what fabric I chose, brought me to $3-$12 per Moby. What a deal!

And what’s more than that is I wanted to taper my ends so I wouldn’t have to buy as much fabric. Meaning, I bought only 2-3 yards of fabric and then cut it, sewed it and tapered the ends. It is nothing fancy- really not my best work but it holds up and I have used and abused this piece of fabric for years and it still holds strong!

It just depends on what you  like best. You can have the squared off ends or taper it yourself.

The awesome thing is that you get to pick your fabric and chose a great selection of designs!

Here are my 4 Moby’s I have- I made them all years ago and feel I need to update them but they still all work so well! The red and blue one is a MUCH thicker material and so I only use it in the winter.

When choosing your fabrics, you want to make sure there is some stretch in the fabric. Not too much elasticity but you want some. Check to see if it stretches in 1 direction or in both directions and decide how much stretch is best for you.

Too much stretch and you will need to really wrap it up super tight to make sure baby is snug enough inside. Too little stretch and it could be way too tight for your baby and will be very uncomfortable.

 

These are my two favorite fabrics and I feel are quite gender neutral as well. And there is sparkle in both- always a plus. I mostly use my orange one though because it has the perfect amount of stretch in it and I am most comfortable in that one.

It’s nice that I have a few different to choose from and it was so affordable! I mean, really, $3-$12 per wrap?! How can you NOT make more than one?

So there it is- all you need to make your won Moby Wrap- FABRIC! Use your coupons and get an even better deal too!

Or go with a friend- pick out your favorite fabrics- go home and cut them both in half and switch one so you get 2 different fabric wraps! How easy is this though really? Just cutting a long piece of fabric!? Just make sure, if you choose not to do the tapering option, you WILL NEED 4 1/2 -6 yards of fabric to be long enough to wrap around you.

And just go on to Youtube to see how to wrap your babies in them. Practice it a few times and you will get the hang of it!

My hubs… looking so amused. Holding our 1 1/2 year old last summer at the State Fair- in the foward facing position.

Also great to wrap babies in for newborn photos!!

 

Love this pic of my sister with my daughters. And she is carrying a tiny little newborn Shiloh in this wrap- nice and snug!

You can also put babies in the cradle position in the wrap and breastfeed while they are in there!

Message me or comment if you have any other specific questions about the wrap or how to make them!

Be blessed, friends!

 

 

Hold them close…

With a new baby in our house (our 4th child at that)- the transitions are endless. The adjustments are abounding. The childhood “phases” are unceasing.

It’s all good stuff, too. We deal with different circumstances as they come.

After we had our 3rd child, I purged of all unneccesary baby items- such as bouncy chairs, high chairs, swings, those huge mats you put on the ground with things hanging from it, bassinets, walkers, exersaucers, etc. It was all just too much. Took up way to much room. Didn’t use them enough to warrant me keeping it all. I kept only 1 bathtub, 1 neutral colored bouncy chair, and a pack and play.

Little did I know, that my 4th baby likes movement and being close. So…. as I have no where else to set her to give her constant movement because I got rid of everything- I hold her. She is next to my body 24/7. She breastfeeds…. a lot. And she has great alert time. But most of the time… she sleeps. As any 3 week old baby does. But my little Shiloh girl, she can tell within minutes…. nay… within seconds, if I set her down- even if she is in a deep sleep.

I hold her in my arms all day long. I rock her to sleep. I nurse her. When she is not in my arms, she is wrapped up in my Moby- held close to my chest. As I type this, she is sleeping on my lap, wrapped up in a blanket. When my 1 year old goes down for a nap, I set her on my bed and I have about 5 minutes to take a quick bath before she wakes up. As soon as I pick her up, she is happy again. I hold her while I cook supper for the family- I hold her while I clean up supper. She rocks in my arms as we snuggle in my recliner in the evening hours before bed. Then we go up to bed and she sleeps in my arms all night long- snuggled up beside me.

Sometimes… I’m tired. Sometimes, it’d be nice to get a tiny break. But really…. I love it. This little tiny baby needs me. She desires to be close to me. She yearns to be held close to my chest and rocked in my arms. God gave her to me to take care of. This is what she needs. I am so blessed to give it to her.

And you know what, this will not last forever. There will a day when she no longer needs this intense closeness.

I love when my busy 5 year old asks me to snuggle her for a while. I cherish the moments my 3 year old still falls asleep in my arms. And when my precious 1 year old son climbs up into my lap, my heart melts. I never grow tired of snuggles.

I remember having a conversation with my grandma not so long ago. She was commenting on how my 3 year old, Samaria is very attached to me. She is my “3-year-old baby” as I like to put it. She likes to be held, cuddled, and yes… even fed. She just likes when people feed her… I know… it’s weird. Anyways, I admitted to my grandma that I do, in fact “baby” her because that is the kind of attention she craves, and just because I love her and want to give that to her. She told me something that I don’t think I will ever forgot.

She said, “You know Meghan, when I was raising my kids, I loved rocking them, even when they were older. I knew that I wouldn’t always get to do it, so I was going to rock them for as long as they would let me. And your grandpa said to me once, ‘Alice, one day you are going to regret doing that.’ And you know what, I never did regret it.”

You will regret NOT rocking your kids enough. You could regret NOT holding them enough. You may regret NOT giving enough attention or time to them.

But you will never regret holding them too much, you will never regret all the snuggles, you will never regret giving all of the love inside of you and pouring it out on them.

I have them for only so long. Though things may not always be easy. I may not get a shower in each day. The house might be a mess. I just may not be able to give every kid every single thing they need each day. I might not put on make  up for a week or even step outside my house. We might not get out of our pajamas some days. I may serve pb and j’s at 3pm for lunch, but I will not be short on love. Or snuggles. Or rocking my little loves to sleep. I am going to choose to hold them close… for as long as I can.

Just a mom?

Ahhh… the never-ending question:

“So, what do you do?”

My response always USED to be, “Oh, I’m just a mom.” As I would then try to fill more information in with what else I do. “I also do hair on the side, and serve at my church, and homeschool my kids, and… and…. and…”

I don’t know when that day happened. But one day, it did. It finally clicked.

I always knew what an honor it was that I was “just a mom.” I always felt immensely blessed that I got to stay home and raise my kids. I always told my husband how grateful I was that I literally got to live out my dream of being a stay-at-home mom. Yet, when it came time to answer that question to strangers, somehow I was unable to relay how I truly felt about it.

To the world, I never felt it was enough. Like I was failure. Like I wasn’t doing much with my life. But since when do I ever care what other people think of me. Especially when it is something I am SO PASSIONATE about. It was like I was ashamed of something I’m not at all ashamed about. (I know that doesn’t make sense but hopefully you are following me here.)

I know how many people, in the world, and even Christians feel about women who chose to be stay-at-home mothers and wives. And they are completely entitled to their opinions. My husband and I have gotten the comments, the looks, and the questions regarding our choice in that. But one day, all the squemish looks and comments just didn’t matter to me anymore.

I chose to walk in the calling God has for me and be proud! I chose not to let the enemy hinder my love for being a wife and mother and to live it out fully for Christ. What a freedom I felt.

Now my response to the question is always a little different but  oh so joyful:

“I’m a mom!”

“I get to stay home with my kids every day!”

“I’m a mother and a wife, and get to homeschool my kids!”

“I’m a stay-at-home mom and I love it!”

I say it with pride. I say it with a beaming smile on my face. I get to thank my husband for working so hard to provide for us so that I can stay home to raise our children in the Lord.

Every day… every single day… I try to take a moment just to soak in the moment. Watching my daughters sweetly play together, staring into my baby boys eyes as I lay  him down for a nap, serving lunch to my 3 munchkins, vacuuming the 4 levels of our house, cleaning up the endless amount of toys, doing the unending loads of laundry, teaching my children our homeschool lessons, having a mid-day dance party… And I praise and thank God that I get to be in those moments. That I get to spend these precious moments of time at home with my children. What an extraordinary blessing I get to receive every day!

I’m not “just” a mom.

I am raising the next generation and I get to be with my kids 24/7 and to me… there is nothing better.

 

 

Halfway through the year.

Do you remember January 1st and every one was talking about and posting about those well-known “New Year’s Resolutions”?

Maybe you even had some yourself? Maybe you don’t like to call them that but you may have just decided something you wanted to do different or something you wanted to change for the upcoming year. You may have chosen some goals you wanted to achieve or try something you’ve never done before, or really work on improving a certain character flaw.

Well, come the time for ringing in the new year of 2013, I had some things I wanted to do for the year as well. But this time… I actually wanted to do them. I didn’t just want to think about it, maybe stick with it, and forget about it a couple weeks or months later. So, I wrote them down and I hung them up in my kitchen for me to see all year long.

And now it came time for me to check back to that list and see how I’ve done. Did you know that today is the 201st day of the year? And that we are 53% done with the year 2013 already? So… if you remember your “new year resolutions” but you’ve lost sight of the things you wanted to achieve this year, its never to late to pull out that list and start now! We’ve still got a whole half a year left!!!

Here was my list:

1. Read through entire Bible. I (try) to spend every single day in the Word- fellowshipping with God but I realized that I wanted to be able to say that I have read the Bible from cover to cover. I got on a Bible plan using the Bible app on my iphone. Sometimes I use it on my phone but I really like sitting with my actual Bible in my hands. Either way, it keeps track of my reading every day and I am halfway there!

2. (Paraphrase- Lose weight to weigh between 120- 125). If you haven’t read my weightloss blog, you can find it on my blog page here. I DID in fact meet my goals of weightloss and it has been a lifechanging experience. It’s a lifestyle change and I just want to be living healthy and taking care of the temple God gave me. It’s been a really cool testimony of God and His faithfulness.

3. Be 100% mom and wife (Daily New Adventures). I wanted to really flourish this year in the role God has given me as wife and mother and I have to say that the Lord always has and always does teach me each day how to be more patient, loving, kind, and just more like Jesus. And I am so glad that there will always be something I improve on. There is always a way I can be a better wife, a better mother, a better woman, a better Christian. There is no cap on it or on my faith. I just thank Him for continually teaching me and even in those hard moments- He is growing me and stretching me.

4. Join/get involved in homeschool/mom groups. I’ve done so much research on groups I can join that have “like-minded” women and families in it. I have to say that as I’ve searched online and asked around, God taught me another new thing. First of all, that He will make it all work out and He will bring those people/things/groups into my life in His perfect timing if He chooses to. And second of all, that I am just plain happy being a stay-at-home mom, having my church community, and friends and family. I think the world tells us we need to be involved in so many things in life- community sports, community programs, school programs, sports this, sports that, group this, group that. And what I have heard from God is to just chill and to just be. Just be me and enjoy every moment I have of life. Enjoy every day I have home with my kids and use moments as teaching opportunities and learning experiences. So, in a way, I realized that I don’t necessarily need #4.

5. Organize/arrange/design house. (Make house our home.) We have had SO MUCH construction at our house since we moved in almost 2 years ago. I can safely say that I have made a good amount of progess as far as purging unneccesary items, keeping a basic theme for all our rooms, decorating, and knowing that this house is our home and I am just blessed to have it. Less is more. And it’s been kind of fun picking out the few things I want hanging on our walls verses a ton of mayhem. Although, some mayhem is fun. It’s all on how you look at it.

6. Create cleaning schedule. Believe it or not, I have not created a cleaning schedule yet. But I am actually really excited for my plans to do it. I think I am going to make a nice print out sheet and frame it and have it hanging up by a cleaning supply closet. Trying to get more organized is always super fun for me! So, I actually have this task written down in my planner and ready to accomplish. I still have half a year to do it anyways! This is just something I always wanted to do, I enjoy a clean house and I want to teach my children the value of taking care of the things God gives us. At the same time, I’d like to quote an awesome pin I saw on Pinterest of a sign saying, “Please excuse the mess- we live here.”

7. Make birthday board (years in the making). I have always wanted to make a birthday board that had all the months on it indicting everyone special in our lives’ birthdays. I have wanted to make one for years and just never made it a priority to do. Well, finally, JUST LAST WEEK, I made one and I LOVE IT! I used a long board of wood, stenciled words on it, and used scrabble tile pieces and velcro for all the birthdays. Mission accomplished! I can cross you off my list #7! It’s something so small to have on a “New Year’s Resolutions” list but this really was something I wanted to do for years and just never did. It deemed worthy of being on the list.

8. Write in journals at least once a week. I own about 9 different journals- one to talk specifically to God, one for Bible studies/teachings, one that I write letters to my husband, one for each of my children that I write letters to, and then also up to 3 baby books so far. Plus other knick knack journals and scrapbooks, etc. When the new year came around, I knew that I wanted to write in them more. I want a legacy to leave behind for my children (and husband if I die first). It may sound morbid to some people, but in case I were to go to heaven before my children are old, I want them to have something of my words to look back on, something specifically written to them. And plus they just have so many cute moments and say the darndest things that I want to keep record of it all for myself and family to look back on in case I get to live until I’m old and wrinkled! I just wasn’t getting enough writing in, so the goal I gave to myself was to write in AT LEAST 1 JOURNAL AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK. Doesn’t seem to difficult, but it has proven to be a bit more challenging than I expected. I did AWESOME the first few months and was writing all the time, and lately just haven’t found the time but PRAISE the LORD, looking back on this list has got me ready to go again!

I look at my list and see where I slacked or what I didn’t achieve but I’m going to choose to learn and grow through it and keep on praising God for His goodness and grace! And it’s been such a great reference to achieve certain things I may have otherwise overlooked.

All in all, at this halfway point of the year… WOW it’s been an incredible half a year and WOW we still get a whole half of year of 2013 left! What are YOU going to do with the rest of your year?

Cheers to 28 years!

First of all… I just have to say… THANK YOU  JESUS for a new computer! I have been unable to write any new blog posts for what seems like forever because of rundown laptops. Now, because of my husband beginning school again, we were able to get a simple desktop for our home. Anyways, glad to be back in the blog world!

Now to the purpose of todays post. My awesome husbands birthday is today. The dude is 28 years old! He always jokes that he is so much older than me (2 years) and that he had a full-time job by the time I was born but today… I get to poke fun at him because he is in is upper-twenties now and I am comfortably in my mid-twenties still. Ha!

I wanted to write a simple post today to express my abounding love for my hubs and decided to call it: (drumroll please)…………………

“10 reasons why I love my husband”

I know… I built up the anticipation for something big, but this is all I’ve got for ya.

Now, let’s get to it: (in no particular order)

1. I chose to love him each day.

2. He is a strict disciplinarian to our children yet the most loving snuggly dad.

3. He is secretly a super awesome singer and can bust a move like you’ve never seen.

4. He is so ambitious, passionate, and loves to try new things and stretch his boundries (he is currently teaching himself how to play guitar).

5. He always knows how to make me laugh. I am a huge goofball but sometimes he is an even bigger goofball than me (sometimes…).

6. He leads our family in Jesus Christ and is always listening for the Lord’s voice- he is such a great man of God.

7. He wants to make lots of babies with me!

8. Sometimes I catch him doing the strangest things (like making weird faces in the mirror to himself) and it just makes me admire him more when he discovers I’ve been watching him.

9. He loves me and he loves our children and he protects us, guides us, provides for us, and always is thinking of us first.

10. He is Seborn Nathaniel Yancy and he is my husband and his is super big and tall and I can sit in his lap comfortably. (I had to squeeze a couple into that last one).

I love you Seebz, my Tootsie Roll. You amaze me and I am so incredibly blessed to be your wife! YAHOOO!!!!!!!

This was a picture from maybe 4-5 years ago (an oldie but a goody) but it’s one of my fav pics of the 2 of us

Be fruitful and multiply.

As I sit here with baby #3 kicking away in my big belly, I can’t help but smile at the amazing life God has created in me. It absolutely blows me away each time I think of it, feel him kick, get the hiccups, or completely crush my bladder sending me running to the bathroom. I SERIOUSLY LOVE pregnancy. Every single minute of it. As I’m getting to the point in this pregnancy (35 weeks) where I can no longer see my feet, I’m STILL enjoying every day I am blessed with a baby in my belly.

While I was pregnant with baby #1, I was already loving the idea of being pregnant with #2. As I was pregnant with #2, I was dreaming of when I’d get to be pregnant with #3. And now, as I am fully loving being pregnant with #3, I am excited for the day I am pregnant with #4. I just freakin’ love being pregnant and being a wife and mom!

When I am out and about with my 2 girls (ages 3 and almost 2), I always have people asking me what gender I am currently pregnant with. I excitedly tell them a boy and they squel with delight and then proceed to ask the inevitable question, “So are you going to be done after this?” I simply look at them with a smile and say, “Heck no! We want as many children as God will bless us with!” Some are caught off guard, some say that it is great, and some are quite puzzled as to why I would ever desire such a thing.

Up until about a year ago, my hubster and I had our lives pretty planned out. We wanted to eventually get a house with lots of land and get a few animals and I could start a huge garden and our 5 kids could all play together each day in our vast open fields. I wanted at least 7 kids and my hubby wanted more around 4 or 5. We were pretty happy with our plans. But then… Holy Spirit decided it was the perfect time to BOOM in our lives. Yes, I said, BOOM! It just felt right.

It was first revealed to me in my women’s Bible study coming straight from my mommy whom the Holy Spirit had already spoken into her these truths. From then on, I prayed how to approach the topic with my husband. The truths I learned that day was basically that we try to intricately plan our entire lives out. Some things we go to God and ask for direction but other things, we just handle ourselves. The “world” has had SUCH a strong affect on the way Christians make decisions nowadays. WHY, oh WHY was I going to God in prayer for such things as my husbands job, or a new house, or even just smaller things like how to approach controversy, but I wasn’t going to him when it came to our family and childbearing. Shouldn’t I leave that in God’s hands? Why were we trying to control this family structure of HOW MANY kids we should have, WHEN we should have them, HOW FAR should we space them apart? It sounds so ridiculous to me now that I have been letting this truth marinate in me for some time now. Did I REALLY used to think like that? I mean, I literally weighed the pros and cons of if the kids were 1 year apart in age verses 2 or 3 years apart? I really sat down and wrote down  how long we should wait before we start “trying” again?

I wasn’t fully trusting God. I wasn’t fully relying on Him for His plans for our lives, I wasn’t being faithful to him, I wasn’t surrendering EVERYTHING! I was taking into my own hands (once again), and planning everything out for myself. The Bible has so many references as to what an intense blessing children are and how we should fully trust in God. Let me just quote a few scripture versers for clarity on the topic.

Proverbs 23:24 “The father of a righteous child has great joy; a man who fathers a wise son rejoices in him.”

Genesis 9:7 “As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”

Psalm 127:4 “Like an arrow in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of the youth.”

Psalms 127:5 “Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.”

Psalm 128:3 “Your children will be like olive shoots as they gather around your table.”

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

1 Timothy 2:15 “But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.”

Okay okay, I so want to keep going but I’ll stop there. That’s not even addressing all the women that God blessed by giving them children when they were barren. It is the BLESSING to be able to bear children. Yet… we have an unlimited list of ways we can prevent pregnancy now. Strange how that is, huh? Seems we have it a bit backwards.

Now, I’m not trying to say that if you don’t have a huge family then you are not following God’s will. I am, however, saying that our lives should be completely submitted to God’s authority and sovereign plan for us. Whether He chooses to continually bless us with children or chooses to give someone none, 1, 2 or 3 kids, but just knowing that we trust Him either way. That we trust in Him to provide, that we seek His Word and will and that we whole heartedly yearn for more of Him.

I hope I have explained where I am coming from and what Holy Spirit has taught me clearly to you. It was an eye-opener to say the least, for me. And the thought of even bringing it up to husband was freaky at the time because it seemed like such an extreme concept. Now, it just seems so normal and all the birth controls seem absolutely INSANE to me! Praise the Lord, my husband had open ears and an open heart to hear, listen, and eventually understand everything  about the truth of God. He let Holy Spirit work in him and let the truth marinate (I SO LOVE that word… maybe because it reminds me of beef, and I LOVE beef!).

Now, with this new understanding of God’s glory and intricate plan for our lives, we give it all to Him. We will never again try to “plan” when we should conceive our next child, or decide when to stop. God will maybe give us 15 more kids, or He might give us the 3 precious children we have now.  But whatever He chooses, we will follow Him and trust in His guidance. Sure, my husband still DESIRES only 5, and sure, I desire to have as many as possible but the difference now is that we aren’t planning out those desires but surrendering all to Jesus. Honestly, it’s a pretty cool feeling. We never have to worry about what to do next, or what is the best option, or how will be make it work. We are just trusting and believing and leaving it in God’s hands. Just brings a smile to my face!

Yes, I fully understand that I am becoming the “weird lady who does everything so weird.” You should see the looks I get when I tell people that we want as many kids as God gives us, that we want to do waterbirths, that we want to homeschool all our children, that I love being a stay-at-home mom and wife. And the “weirdo” list goes on. Yah, they are probably right, we are crazy. Crazy for Jesus- I’ll take it! Our approach on life is very different from the worlds, and even very different from many other Christians, but I’m so thankful that we continually get to grow in our faith and get new revelations from Holy Spirit and can change the way we live, think, and believe.

Until next time- be so ridiculously blessed today and I pray Jesus makes you smile! WOO HOO!

Update as of August 3rd, 2013- We are currently expecting our 4th child in March of 2014. God’s AMAZING BLESSING TO US AGAIN! Just living life one day at a time and trusting in Jesus for His provision and His plan for our family! Little baby will be 20 months younger than our little Nehemiah! Praise God!