Wednesday, September 30, 2009

WEEEEEEE!

I'm grateful for my birthday boy husband
who leads the way or teaches me,
almost every day,
a new way to trust God,
with my life,
in His hands...

But I am trusting you, O LORD, saying, "You are my God!"


My future is in your hands.



-Psalm 31:14-15


Sunday, September 27, 2009

So grateful

for stuff like this...
After just coming out of a year of my life "as it was" to life being "as it is now",
it's so refreshing to hear of other real live women out there
who have to learn to re-situate the face of their timeclock with Jesus, hubby and kids.
Enjoy this honest gal's sorting through it all
and her receptivity of God's understanding and un-boxed-in grace.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Would someone please...

tell this OCD mama that "DIS"organization is the first step to learning to organize????
Little poky on the blog updates cuz we're still busy setting up or "un"setting up house!
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Thursday, September 10, 2009

These are the moments...

(photography by Captivating Photography & Design Co.)

With the impending doom of the next major transition, since just 12 short months ago when little A-bug arrived, namely...the big move to the new pad, my intrinsic nature to dread change has of course risen it's ugly head. I don't know what it is about it and I oh-so-wish I was like so many out there I know, that just rejoice with change and gracefully move along with every wind of it that comes their way. But I'm not and I don't. It's just not me. And I'm learning to understand the fact that although God wants to free me from the many things in life that hinder me from moving forward, He also accepts me and loves me right where I'm at.
So to add to the "big move" in 2 days, lil A has decided that now that she's a big 1 year old girl, she will resume a sleep pattern like a mini newborn babe, waking up MULTIPLE times a night and then for the day between the hours of 5-6am, after she'd been going down dreamily at 7:30pm until a wonderful 7am the next morning (which so blessed this survives-on-8-or-more-hours-of-sleep kind of girl.) SO knowing that D-Day is coming and knowing we both need a full tank of steam for the moving, unpacking, setting up and playing the "new home and many projects" game (with a toddler underfoot this time), while Will is also re-entering fall schedule of church life with Wednesday kid's church and football coaching to boot, and Anna and I will also be having to get situated with not having 2 extra sets of hands around during day and night when daddy's away (what every mama has to deal with daily I know, but we've been so blessed with help at the grand-rents house over the past 10 months, that it's just going to take a little adjusting for the both of us, in many ways)...we have both needless to say, felt a little bit streeeeetched with what is to come in the next couple of weeks.

As I woke up (or more like stumbled in) to rock my darling girl back down from her wailing stupor this a.m. at 5 something (I can't even read the clock that early in the morning and with the impending transition, I just don't have it in me to deal with sleep training right now when we're gonna have to re-deal with it again in another week after the move), I was reminded of the many forms of sweet peace and contentment that Jesus CAN and WILL provide even in the midst of the chaos that is about to ensue...
While we rocked together,
all snuggled up in the warmth of our fleece shared blankie,
in the quietness of the dark that was still settled over the land,
a sweet and innocent voice,
still hazy with sleep,
peeked into my ears and heart through pacifier covered lips...
"mama".
It wasn't a question,
but just a quiet statement of contentment,
that she knew who I was and knew who she was to me,
and as long as we were together,
just dreamily rocking back to a sweet slumber,
it really was all going to be okay.

As trite as it sounds "Home really is where the heart is." And there is where my heart will stay, over these next few days that will turn into weeks and then months, and then I will once again just wonder what all that fuss was all about anyways? Because as long as we are all 3 together, nestled in close and even closer to our ever-present God, knowing who He is and who we are to Him, we lay back and re-discover that place of sweet rest. And the remainder of this season's winds of change? They will all pass and we'll be even better on the other side, after they've all blown by.
Thank you Lord, for moments like this. Just a few more doses of them are sure to get me through this season, as the leaves turn for the Irwin 3, once again.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Love for the Father...


I am loving watching this lil bug admire, gape in awe of,
laugh her head off with and gasp with excitement
when her daddy enters the room from a long day of work.
And she's exactly the same way when her pop-pop is anywhere near her in the house.
Just vying for his attention...babbling, squealing, just to get him to look her way.
She just wants him to know that she is there and desperately wants his admiration in return.

And I was thinking today, is this how I desire to be in the presence of my Heavenly Father? Craning my neck around my high chair (or big girl chair now),
to desperately peek in the adjacent room to get the reminder that He knows that I'm here still?
Dying to just be in position so that He'll have to stumble over me when He walks into the room, just so I can sit in the same room as Him?
Playing chase and squealing in absolute delight, simply enjoying His existence in my life?

Or am I too busy, just being a grown-up girl, and going on with the "necessities" of life
to even remember I have a Father who wants that
exact same simplicity and ecstatic joy of this pure relationship with me too??

We're those same little girls still, you know?
Just in big girl bodies now.
And then I remembered, He's still there.
He always has been.
Just waiting for me to come partake in the delight and joy He takes in my presence too.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

And a little preview...

of what's to come soon!!
A viewing of all 11 months of photos of the lil bug's life,
THANKS to the Captivating Photography and Design Co...

(this one's an 11 month-er with a dress mama concocted with her raggedy sewing skills and some cowgirl-ing boots from Will's Uncle Mack--a baby after her cowgirl-lovin' mama's heart!)

This just in, from the Anna Frontier!

Just an FYI...I'm sure you're all just DY-ing to know each and every new thing Anna is doing, since a lot of you don't have kids (or grandkids) of your own to oogle and awe over each learned thing, haha!
So on that note, I just thought I'd mention that a lot of my little blog posts like this are actually for A's blog book that I am converting from blog-to-book each year of her life, I've already made 2 others from the past 2 years thru blurb.com (little plug for an AMAZING and VERY affordable book making site) and I've been pleased as punch with them! A great option for the non-scrapbookers of the world!
So, anyways, if you are still interested in the current updates on the Anna-can-do's, after that disclaimer, here they be:

SHE SPEAKS:
Meow
Woof (emphasis on the "fff")
Whoa
Hellooooo (just like Horton the Elephant does)
Dad
Mama
Pop Pop
Byebye
Yeah! (with great enthusiasm)
Wawa (for wall or water)
Ooooh Ooooh (when the phone rings, just assuming it's for her, ha)
Mmmmm (still hummin' away whenever music starts)
Wow!
And just a mimicking little monkey with lots of different sounds, coughs and laughs (especially the courtesy laughs she inserts at appropriate times in conversations)

SHE SIGNS:
More
Please
Milk
Eat
Blows Kisses
All Done or All Gone
Waves Hi & Bye

SHE PLAYS:
Where's Anna peek-a-boo
How big is Anna?
And many many more

And NO SHE DOESN'T QUITE WALK, not yet anyway. But she's getting real close! She stands well on her own (even better if she's holding a toy in her hand) and regularly does squats!
And most importantly she'll be ONE YEAR OLD, tomorrow!!!! We've almost made it, wahoo!