My Beautiful Girl

Josh and I cannot get over how cute Tali is these days. She has a head full of curls and the things she says and does are just hilarious. We are constantly shaking our heads in disbelief at how just plain adorable she is! Here are just a few of the sweet things she's been doing lately:

*This morning when I went in to get her up, I walked into her room and she quickly stood up in her crib with a huge smile on her face and exclaimed, "Hi!"

*All day long, any time that she walks by Owen she nonchalantly waves at him and says, "Hi." Occasionally, she will stop long enough to shake ("rock") his bouncy seat or to give him a quick kiss on the the tummy.

*When we correct her for doing a "no-no," the first thing she says with tears in her eyes is "Baby! Baby!" (Her baby doll is a source of great comfort for her. Her baby never tells her "no.")

*She likes to walk backwards and say, "Beep, beep" like a truck backing up.

*She likes to lay on the floor and say, "N-eye, N-eye" (Night, Night) and pretend to sleep.

*Her primary form of entertainment is her myriad of dolls. She calls each of them, "baby" and she carries them around the house, gives them bites of her food, kisses them, plays peek-a-boo with them, reads books to them, rocks them in the car seat, and covers them with blankets.

I'm sure that my explanation doesn't even remotely capture how cute she is. Hopefully, we'll get our new video camera up and running soon so I can stick a video on here to better demonstrate the cuteness in action. :) But you've got to admit, that pink pea coat is pretty adorable on her.

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Is This January?

I can't believe that Christmas has all ready come and gone. Having a newborn near the holidays seems to make it zoom past even faster than normal. Now, we're supposedly in January but given that it feels like April, I feel really disoriented. Did Christmas really come and go all ready? Did Josh's family all ready come and leave for the holidays? Did the piles of snow that were outside last week really melt all ready? Where did the time go?

Having Owen has made me even more sentimental about the passing of time. I asked the Lord before my little guy was born to help me gain perspective about how quickly time passes. I prayed from Psalm 90:12, "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom." Let me just say that He has answered that prayer a thousand times over. Each day, I get up and look at Tali and about cry. Where did my baby go? How is it that she's big enough to walk, talk, pretend, etc? Then I look at Owen starting to outgrow his newborn diapers and I'm in awe again. It just goes by so quickly! He's all ready sleeping 4 consecutive hours a night and starting to hold his head up more strongly. Time really does fly by...

I can't believe that I'm 26 years old, married, and enjoying two sweet children. Sometimes I still feel like I'm in high school. My days are numbered and only the Lord knows their length. I want to enjoy each day that the Lord gives me and live it to the fullest for His glory...because the time truly is short and every day is a gift.

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More Than I Deserve

My wonderful husband and my cute son

There's this old Sandra McCracken song that I love about marriage and our relationship with Christ that sings again and again, "And this is more than I deserve." That refrain is what my heart is singing to the Lord again and again for the gift of my husband. To think that God has given me the gift of my husband, despite the fact that I am a wretched sinner, is a breath-taking picture of the love of God.

Josh simply goes above and beyond in the ways that he serves me, especially in this new season of caring for two babies. Since Owen was born, Josh is gladly asking me to wake him up at any hour to help change diapers and rock Owen back to sleep. He is taking time away from his own morning routine to get Tali out of bed and started in on her day. He is constantly asking me if there's any way that he can be serving me better or any way that I need more help. He's been doing all of the dishes, helping me with picking up the piles of toys around the house, and has taken numerous last minute trips to the grocery store. He is compassionate when I'm overwhelmed, speaks loving truth when I need corrected, and has been encouraging me to spend time with the Lord even when I feel there is no time available. That is only a sampling of how he has been blessing me. I am just so grateful for my husband!

The thing that strikes me the most about it all is that I don't deserve Josh. Really, I don't deserve Tali or Owen or this beautiful home we rent, or the incredible church that we are a part of. I don't deserve to be breathing this minute but God, in His mercy, has given me all of these gifts. None of them would be possible apart from Christ dying on my behalf. If not for His sacrifice, I would still be an enemy of God, an object of His righteous wrath. What I deserve because of my sin is hell, but God has given me a right relationship with God and the hope of heaven. How can I not praise Him for this gift and so many others?

Lord, thank you for giving me so much more than I deserve! Thank you, especially, for my husband.

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God Wants Me to Do Hard Things

I know that this is a little long, but it was really helpful to me so I'm passing it along. Below is an excerpt from Alex & Brett Harris over at the Rebellution.

"All of God’s commands in Scripture are hard. Of course, our tendency is to just say that God’s commands aren’t “easy” or that it’s only by His grace that we can obey any of them — and both of those statements are 100 percent true — but why can’t we ever come out and say that God’s commands are hard?

Everything God commands is hard. Repenting is hard. Forgiving is hard. Turning the other cheek is hard. Overcoming sin in our lives is hard. Honoring our parents is hard. Sharing the gospel is hard. Reading our Bibles is hard. We could go on.

In James 1:2, we’re told to consider it “pure joy” when we’re faced with challenges, trials, and obstacles, because they test our faith and makes us stronger. Think about that. The God who created you and loves you cares about your growth — and the way He has designed you to grow is through challenges.

In order to do hard things we need to get over the idea that God’s love means He wants us to go through life with as little effort or discomfort as possible. This is similar to the mistaken notion that we don’t need to change because God loves us just the way we are. God does love us just the way we are, but He also loves us too much to leave us the way we are. He wants us to grow.

Of course, none of this is to say that God wants us to live joyless and pain-filled lives, but it’s a joy that’s rooted in more than our temporary circumstances, and at times pain is necessary in order to gain something of greater value."

So when Owen is screaming in pain from his tummy hurting and I can't get him to stop or when he's still awake an hour and a half after his feeding and it's 3am and I'm exhausted, or when Tali is saying "Up, up, up, MaMa" but I can't lift her because I'm feeding the little guy, I can take heart. God calls me to do hard things. They aren't a mistake and they aren't something to run from. Hard things are good because they make me grow. They force me to see my need for a Savior instead of thinking I'm ok on my own. Hard things show me that I've got a lot more learning to do in this being molded into the image of His Son. Following Christ involves a lot of doing hard things.

Lord, thank you for the hard things today. Help me to praise You in them and look for what You want me to learn from them today.

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Sweet Baby Boy

In My Arms (by Plumb)

Your baby blues
So full of wonder
Your curly cues
Your contagious smile
And as I watch
You start to grow up
All I can do
Is hold you tight
Knowing...

Clouds will rage and
Storms will race in
But you will be safe
In my arms
Rains will pour down
Waves will crash around
But you will be safe
In my arms

Storybooks
Are full of fairytales
Of Kings and Queens
And the bluest skies
But my heart is torn
Just in knowing
You'll someday see
The truth from lies
When the...

Castles they might crumble
Dreams may not come true
But you are never all alone
Cause I will always
Always love you

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Always in Need of Grace

There is nothing like getting less than two hours of consecutive sleep a night to make you see your need for grace up close and personal. Hi. My name is Katie and I am a sinner.

I have this knack (otherwise known as the "sinful nature") to think that overall I am a pretty good person who reacts much better to challenging situations than your average Joe. After all, I'm a Christian! (And a prideful one at that.) But the truth is, when I'm trying my best to be a "good girl" all of my deeds leave me flat on my face, especially when the circumstances/heat around me get a bit rough.

Over the past week I have gotten impatient with my parents who are pouring out their own lives to serve us as we adjust to two babies. I have gotten angry with my husband who is waking up along with me to help with diaper changes so that I can rest more. I have gotten bitter at Owen for crying so much and thought that things were much better before this big change. I have spoken harsh words, been difficult to bring correction to, gotten discouraged and annoyed, and blamed others. Simply put, I am a wretched sinner, desperately in need of God's grace. And when I indulge in that remaining sinful nature, trying to "be good," I simply crash and burn, leaving others in the wake of my destruction.

But, thanks be to God, there is a Savior whose grace is greater than all of my sin. He poured out His own blood on the cross that I might be forgiven for all of the above sins and all the ones yet to come. The only righteousness I have or ever will have is found in Jesus, who purchased it with His very life. That is what I am clinging to today for that is my hope.

I would love prayer that I would seek to live for His righteousness and not try to conjure up any of my own. I want to recognize my absolute desperation for a Savior and lean hard on His grace.

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Tali & Bear

Tali and Bear

Tali loves bears. She is constantly putting her hand to her ear (her sign for "I hear something!") and when we say, "What did you hear," she smiles and growls. She does this off and on all day long. It's very sweet, especially considering that we live in Illinois where the only bears we'll be seeing are in the zoo.

Last Christmas, my brother, Jason, sent Tali this big stuffed bear. As you can imagine, she loves this bear and always wants to walk upstairs to her bedroom to see it. She will hug it, lay on it like a pillow, and "read" it books. A couple of days ago, my parents and Josh & I were in our room with Owen and Tali decided to do something new with the bear. It was hilarious! The bear is bigger than she is but she was determined to carry him all around our room.

We love our little girl so much. She continues to crack us up daily!

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