Sunday, March 25, 2012
No place like home.
People say home is where the heart is. If that's the case, then I have two homes. Of course, my home is wherever Jeff and our sweet boy are. But I suppose my second home is at mom and dad's. I seriously love my folks and always have the best time visiting them. They are so good to let me, Benjamin and Osa take over their house when Jeff has terrible hours or is out of town and we're looking for some company. Last week Jeff had to take a trip to New Orleans and I didn't have the courage to go there with a very active 19 month old, so I loaded Ben and the dog in the car and made the 400 mile trip back home to see mom and dad. Our visit consisted of hugs, chats, eating out, walks, parks, ice cream, church, puppies, relaxation and lots of laughs. We'll be taking advantage of the shorter drive back home as much as we can before our big move to Missouri. We are sure going to miss our frequent visits to grandma and grandpa's house. You can see why.
I love you, Stinky Feet.
Quite some time ago, Jeff started playing a little game with Benjamin just before bedtime. It goes like this. Sniff Ben's feet. Shake head in disgust. Make some kind of exclamation about how stinky his feet are. Giggles ensue. We played the game tonight and I happened to have my phone handy, so here's my sweet silly boy and the goofy game daddy made for him. We'll all have to enjoy the fun before Benjamin actually gets big boy stinky feet because when that happens, GAME OVER.
Friday, March 23, 2012
That's a kidney? I had no idea.
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| Our baby :) |
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Simple pleasures
It was such a blessing to be able to spend the afternoon together as a family today. Jeff has been working nights and as a result we haven't been able to see each other a whole lot. Fortunately he was able to get enough sleep so that we could have an outing to a great local park.
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| Benjamin exploring |
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| Looking mischievous (he gets that from the man in the black t-shirt) |
Learning the fine art of climbing from daddy
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| I own this park |
Sliding!
I am so thankful for my little family and for the simple pleasure of a beautiful afternoon spent playing together.
Enough?
Something I shared with an amazing group of gals a few weeks ago...
Good morning ladies. My name is Sarah. I grew up in Grand Forks, ND which is just on the other side of the border. I lived there my entire life until I moved here with my husband for his pediatric residency in the summer of 2009. I am possibly the only woman in this room who was ecstatic to find out I was moving to Rochester, MN. It’s bigger, hillier, and warmer than my home town. I know some of y’all are from the south and may have found your first winter here to be a bit on the chilly side, perhaps even unbearable, but the winters I’ve experienced here have been the warmest winters I have ever known. You first year gals don’t know what I’m referring to when I say people think the winters here are chilly because this winter has been tropical in my opinion, but if you stay here for any length of time you will have a better understanding of what the word cold means. I’d also like to add that when we moved here I was pleasantly surprised to see how hilly it is. I know some of you think it’s flat, but it’s not. You haven’t seen flat until you’ve been to the Red River Valley. The only hills in my hometown are 2 man-made overpasses. I know I’m nearly back home when can see the sign at the local truck stop from 5 miles away.
My husband Jeff and I were set up during his 2nd year of medical school through mutual friends. They thought we would hit it off. When we first met I told my mom that Jeff was really nice and funny but that he was a little bit of a nerd to which she replied “Well you’re a nerd too, Sarah.” I guess that made us a match because we got engaged 6 months later. Now we have been married for nearly 4 years and we have a fun-loving 18 month old named Benjamin and a little brother or sister in the making.
I grew up in a Christian home. My folks became believers a few years after they got married and taught all 4 kids in my family about God and His Love for us. I asked Jesus into my heart when I was 7 years old. I grew up going to church, Sunday school, AWANA, Bible Camp, participating in worship team and so on. I was a good girl and I didn’t give my parents much grief. My single act of rebellion was getting a third piercing in my left ear when I was 18 years old. I’m not sure if my “good girl” lifestyle is a result of learning from others’ mistakes or the Holy Spirit keeping me under His wing. Probably a combination of both. That’s not to say I haven’t struggled through life here and there….it’s just that I haven’t landed myself in jail, at least not yet. I used to think that my testimony wasn’t dramatic enough to be powerful until my old pastor helped me understand the power of my testimony is in that the Lord has been protecting me from a life of darkness from that tender, little age when I first decided to follow Him. I like that.
My parents did a really good job of teaching me where my worth comes from….it comes from the Lord. I know that. But there is a vast difference between knowing something and believing something. And there have been many times in my life when I’ve questioned my worth, wondering whether or not I was enough. I think it’s human nature to be concerned with how we measure up against the world. When I was young I remember constantly comparing myself to my big sisters. They were pretty and talented and everybody told me so. As I got older I learned to compare myself to my friends. Some were more popular (well really most of them were), some were more intelligent, some were funnier (I know, hard to imagine, right?). Then I became a grown-up and got out in to the real world where I measured my success in my career against that of my colleagues. They worked longer hours. They were more respected and if you know me at all you won‘t be surprised when I tell you they were most definitely more mature. Then, at one time, I was an extremely overweight woman who had no trouble finding my external flaws every time I looked in the mirror or turned the corner and saw another skinny girl. I was the girl who walked into a room and immediately knew she was the biggest person there. The girl who hid behind humor. The girl who was certain that nobody could ever fall in love with her. Then I became a skinny girl….a really skinny, athletic girl and I still wondered if I was enough. Skinny enough. Fast enough. Fit enough. And now I’m a stay-at-home wife and mom and even though my life is full, I still find myself measuring my value against the world around me. There are stories of babies sleeping through the night at 6 weeks old and moms who wore their pre-pregnancy clothing out of the hospital. Well Benjamin didn’t sleep through the night until he was 5 months old and I still can’t wear my clothes from before I was pregnant (never mind I‘m back in maternity pants now). And then there are the doubts that I’m not nurturing my family as well as other women are. This one’s kid doesn‘t pee down the air vents (yes, that really happened), and that one’s kid doesn’t throw tantrums. Or there are thoughts that I’m some kind of homemaker when there are 7 pairs of shoes sitting in the entry way and I only cooked dinner for my husband 2 times last week and that it is not rare for my child to hand me dust bunnies that he finds about the house. I guess I should be thankful he’s not eating them, but you know what I’m getting at. There are the feelings of inadequacy when I realize that I’m supposed to be a grown woman, the wife of a professional, and I show up to gatherings wearing a hoodie, no make-up and no product in my hair while all of the other girls seem to be all done up and they look amazing in their cute clothes. So am I pretty enough? Smart enough? Funny enough? Successful, thin, nurturing, girly, yada, yada, yada enough? And here’s my conclusion. No. I am not. I am not enough. And yes, yes I am. I am enough. You see, according to the world’s standards I will never be enough. There will always be somebody who is more talented than I am. More successful, a more nurturing mother, a more attentive wife, and better at keeping their floors clean. But, thankfully, from the Lord’s perspective, I am enough….not because of who I am or anything I’ve done, but because He has made me “enough”.
2 Corinthians 5 says…“Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.”
God has made me in His image. He has rescued me from the miry clay. He has redeemed me. He knit me together. He sent His Son to die for me and then He drew me to Himself. He has a plan for me. If the Lord God Almighty has done all of this for me, then surely I must be enough. And this is why the Lord is reminding me to stop basing my worth, my substance, my very being on what I see in the mirror or in my laundry room. Because in His grace and mercy He has deemed me worthy of His love. Now this is not an excuse to ignore the dust bunnies or my family’s needs. I cannot simply say, “Hey, this is who I am and God loves me so deal with it.”
Colossians 3:23-24 says…“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”
I should do my best, be my best, as a gift to the Lord. But it is a relief to know that when I fall short of my expectations of myself or the standards I think the world has set for me I can take comfort in knowing that I am enough for the Creator of the universe, and that’s good enough for me.
There are so many passage in the Bible which illustrate that none of us are enough on our own, but through Christ’s redemptive power we are enough. Here’s on that spoke to me.
Ephesians 2:1-10
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been save), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift if God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
Now I am reminding myself that God is enough as we prepare to head to Missouri this summer where Jeff will be completing a 3-year fellowship in neonatology. It will break my heart to leave my sweet friends and to be so far away from family, but I know that God has chosen this place for us for this time. Please pray that we will find a church and good Christian fellowship quickly, that I will be able to adjust to life in the big city, and for our growing family.
Good morning ladies. My name is Sarah. I grew up in Grand Forks, ND which is just on the other side of the border. I lived there my entire life until I moved here with my husband for his pediatric residency in the summer of 2009. I am possibly the only woman in this room who was ecstatic to find out I was moving to Rochester, MN. It’s bigger, hillier, and warmer than my home town. I know some of y’all are from the south and may have found your first winter here to be a bit on the chilly side, perhaps even unbearable, but the winters I’ve experienced here have been the warmest winters I have ever known. You first year gals don’t know what I’m referring to when I say people think the winters here are chilly because this winter has been tropical in my opinion, but if you stay here for any length of time you will have a better understanding of what the word cold means. I’d also like to add that when we moved here I was pleasantly surprised to see how hilly it is. I know some of you think it’s flat, but it’s not. You haven’t seen flat until you’ve been to the Red River Valley. The only hills in my hometown are 2 man-made overpasses. I know I’m nearly back home when can see the sign at the local truck stop from 5 miles away.
My husband Jeff and I were set up during his 2nd year of medical school through mutual friends. They thought we would hit it off. When we first met I told my mom that Jeff was really nice and funny but that he was a little bit of a nerd to which she replied “Well you’re a nerd too, Sarah.” I guess that made us a match because we got engaged 6 months later. Now we have been married for nearly 4 years and we have a fun-loving 18 month old named Benjamin and a little brother or sister in the making.
I grew up in a Christian home. My folks became believers a few years after they got married and taught all 4 kids in my family about God and His Love for us. I asked Jesus into my heart when I was 7 years old. I grew up going to church, Sunday school, AWANA, Bible Camp, participating in worship team and so on. I was a good girl and I didn’t give my parents much grief. My single act of rebellion was getting a third piercing in my left ear when I was 18 years old. I’m not sure if my “good girl” lifestyle is a result of learning from others’ mistakes or the Holy Spirit keeping me under His wing. Probably a combination of both. That’s not to say I haven’t struggled through life here and there….it’s just that I haven’t landed myself in jail, at least not yet. I used to think that my testimony wasn’t dramatic enough to be powerful until my old pastor helped me understand the power of my testimony is in that the Lord has been protecting me from a life of darkness from that tender, little age when I first decided to follow Him. I like that.
My parents did a really good job of teaching me where my worth comes from….it comes from the Lord. I know that. But there is a vast difference between knowing something and believing something. And there have been many times in my life when I’ve questioned my worth, wondering whether or not I was enough. I think it’s human nature to be concerned with how we measure up against the world. When I was young I remember constantly comparing myself to my big sisters. They were pretty and talented and everybody told me so. As I got older I learned to compare myself to my friends. Some were more popular (well really most of them were), some were more intelligent, some were funnier (I know, hard to imagine, right?). Then I became a grown-up and got out in to the real world where I measured my success in my career against that of my colleagues. They worked longer hours. They were more respected and if you know me at all you won‘t be surprised when I tell you they were most definitely more mature. Then, at one time, I was an extremely overweight woman who had no trouble finding my external flaws every time I looked in the mirror or turned the corner and saw another skinny girl. I was the girl who walked into a room and immediately knew she was the biggest person there. The girl who hid behind humor. The girl who was certain that nobody could ever fall in love with her. Then I became a skinny girl….a really skinny, athletic girl and I still wondered if I was enough. Skinny enough. Fast enough. Fit enough. And now I’m a stay-at-home wife and mom and even though my life is full, I still find myself measuring my value against the world around me. There are stories of babies sleeping through the night at 6 weeks old and moms who wore their pre-pregnancy clothing out of the hospital. Well Benjamin didn’t sleep through the night until he was 5 months old and I still can’t wear my clothes from before I was pregnant (never mind I‘m back in maternity pants now). And then there are the doubts that I’m not nurturing my family as well as other women are. This one’s kid doesn‘t pee down the air vents (yes, that really happened), and that one’s kid doesn’t throw tantrums. Or there are thoughts that I’m some kind of homemaker when there are 7 pairs of shoes sitting in the entry way and I only cooked dinner for my husband 2 times last week and that it is not rare for my child to hand me dust bunnies that he finds about the house. I guess I should be thankful he’s not eating them, but you know what I’m getting at. There are the feelings of inadequacy when I realize that I’m supposed to be a grown woman, the wife of a professional, and I show up to gatherings wearing a hoodie, no make-up and no product in my hair while all of the other girls seem to be all done up and they look amazing in their cute clothes. So am I pretty enough? Smart enough? Funny enough? Successful, thin, nurturing, girly, yada, yada, yada enough? And here’s my conclusion. No. I am not. I am not enough. And yes, yes I am. I am enough. You see, according to the world’s standards I will never be enough. There will always be somebody who is more talented than I am. More successful, a more nurturing mother, a more attentive wife, and better at keeping their floors clean. But, thankfully, from the Lord’s perspective, I am enough….not because of who I am or anything I’ve done, but because He has made me “enough”.
2 Corinthians 5 says…“Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.”
God has made me in His image. He has rescued me from the miry clay. He has redeemed me. He knit me together. He sent His Son to die for me and then He drew me to Himself. He has a plan for me. If the Lord God Almighty has done all of this for me, then surely I must be enough. And this is why the Lord is reminding me to stop basing my worth, my substance, my very being on what I see in the mirror or in my laundry room. Because in His grace and mercy He has deemed me worthy of His love. Now this is not an excuse to ignore the dust bunnies or my family’s needs. I cannot simply say, “Hey, this is who I am and God loves me so deal with it.”
Colossians 3:23-24 says…“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”
I should do my best, be my best, as a gift to the Lord. But it is a relief to know that when I fall short of my expectations of myself or the standards I think the world has set for me I can take comfort in knowing that I am enough for the Creator of the universe, and that’s good enough for me.
There are so many passage in the Bible which illustrate that none of us are enough on our own, but through Christ’s redemptive power we are enough. Here’s on that spoke to me.
Ephesians 2:1-10
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been save), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift if God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
Now I am reminding myself that God is enough as we prepare to head to Missouri this summer where Jeff will be completing a 3-year fellowship in neonatology. It will break my heart to leave my sweet friends and to be so far away from family, but I know that God has chosen this place for us for this time. Please pray that we will find a church and good Christian fellowship quickly, that I will be able to adjust to life in the big city, and for our growing family.
Monday, March 05, 2012
A lot can happen in 30 minutes.
I have been spending quite a bit of time working in the staff daycare at my church. It's an ideal situation really. I get to spend the entire day with Benjamin, I get out of the house and I make a little extra cashola for the family to boot. Generally I enjoy my time working childcare, but I will be the first to admit that almost everyday I am there provides a period of time, as brief as it may be, in which I find myself praying for strength or patience or to be teleported to another place entirely. Today was no exception.
The day was pretty busy off and on, but I was having a good time working with the kids. We read lots of stories, played kitchen, had snack, played in the gym, sang songs, read more stories, built towers, and the kids ate lunch. I sat down to start my lunch and made it about halfway through my Jimmy Johns sandwich when I realized it was just about nap time so I had better take a break from eating and get the kids ready. I was in the middle of changing diapers for naps when the sweet little baby I was caring for decided he was starting to get hungry. No problem, I thought. I'll just finish up this diaper change and start warming up his bottle. Then things got hairy. One of the older kids came up to me to say that one of the toddlers had wet through her clothes and it had gotten on his shirt. I quickly checked out the situation and determined that the toddler did not in fact wet through her clothes so much as she had another type of situation going on (you know what I mean). I called the office to get a new shirt for the older boy and decided that I had to take care of the blow-out situation right away before the mess got on anything else in the room. I could move on to getting the bottle ready for baby once I had cleaned everybody up. I won't describe the diaper situation any further except to simply say that while I was cleaning up the toddler the word "epic" came to mind. As I was trying to manage all of the mess and rock the hungry baby with my foot another toddler found my partially eaten Jimmy Johns sandwich on the table. Her interest overcame her and she climbed up onto the chair where I had been sitting and reached for it. Just as I was telling her "No, no," the sandwich slid out of her hands and onto the floor. There was shredded lettuce and tuna everywhere. I managed to help her off of the chair with one hand as I secured the child I was changing with the other hand. I moved as quickly as I could to get dirty clothes bagged, children cleaned and everybody dressed that needed to be dressed. Whew. Onto preparing baby's bottle. While warming the bottle I realized that we were 15 minutes past nap time and nobody was napping. I stopped rocking the baby for a few minutes as I got the little kids ready for nap. After rushing back to feed the baby I was somehow able to get the big kids situated for rest time. And then the chaos turned to calm while everybody happily rested and the baby ate.
This 30 minute window of time was just a small part of my day and the rest of the day went rather beautifully, but those 30 minutes were long and tiring and stressful and were a good reminder of why I'm glad I don't do daycare full-time. I worked hard for my money today, and I'd be willing to bet that your childcare provider did too, so give her a hug the next time you see her :)
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