"Kaeley-Belle Squarepants"

It has been a long time since I blogged...the schedule of this new mom...well to be honest the word schedule isn't even in our vocabulary these days much less our daily life. I can say the word "SLEEP" comes up frequently! ANYWAYS... we have a new, precious gift that has been added into our lives!!! DELIGHTED is an understatement as to how we feel about our daughter Kaeley-Belle! She is absolutely amazing! We simply adore her!!! She is truly an example of the power of prayer! In the beginning of our pregnancy we had a pregnancy scare...and this was very scary to us bc we had already lost one baby prior and took awhile to get pregnant again! (or it sure felt like it anyways!) This child had ppl all over prayin for her! I had a ruff pregnancy in the first half..I couldn't take ANY vitamins the entire pregnancy w/o gettin sick and for those of you who know my diet of french fries and mac & cheese are def. not the healthiest!!! So Kaeley-Belle has God's autograh written all over her! God is so good bc when I was worried about her due to the lack of vitamins,this sweet n precious pastor's wife from another church in the community we were minstering in, who brought her oldest child to the preschool I worked in, Just SO happened to tell me with her newest baby she couldn't take ANY vitamins either and he did just as well as her 1st child on the testing they do in the hospitals when they are born! Only GOD knew I needed to hear that story to ease my mind! I love when God Just SO happens to put the right person in your path for the day especially to help drown out the lies that the enemy loves to tell. Today I have another example of this Just SO happens stuff...Kaeley-Belle is sometimes known as Kaeley-Belle Squarepants in our household, and another one 'My Man' started to call her is Kaeley-Belle stinkypants! He even in the appropriate times likes to make up different lyrics everytime he changes her to the tune of the spongebob song! (Are you starting to get a visual as to why the word schedule isn't a part of the vocabulary in our house?!) If you can't tell we run a tight ship and everything is Oh SO serious!! Kaeley-Belle has been teething since we moved back to Indiana 3 weeks ago..Me being the typical "New Mom" that I am has been observing other babies around K's age! I have been noticing how opposite of a "self-soothed" baby K is! She is def a HIGH NEEDY baby! She is a spaz and sassy just like.... ME! = / In the midst of my observations, I started to do the "New Mom thing" where I started thinkin that perhaps I was doing something wrong and thinking what a lousy job I was doin as a mother! And you bet the enemy ran with it! So on top of the teething and me wallowing in the FUNK, these last few weeks have been a lil crazy! The last few nights..."SLEEP" has once again been on our dream list! SO you bet, during the days I am in mommy-zombie mode! As I was wallowing in the FUNK in mommy-zombie mode, GOD Just SO happens to have me run across Dr.Sears' website. As He highlighted characteristics of a high needy baby for me...I realized that Kaeley-Belle has every characteristic! ;) As God began to have me read more into it...the goosebumps ran from my head down to my toes! Here is my notes I took:

1. Intense babies feel deeply and react mightily...have a DRIVEN personality

2. Hyperactive babies, (in our world-a baby gymnast) as Dr. Sears puts it, "Some highly

creative, world changing people were at one time or another labeled hyperactive as a child."

3. Draining days should be called "giving" days

4. Feeds Frequently.. Rigid Schedule isn't even in high needy babies vocabulary! (sounds

familar!!!)

5. Demanding babies are DETERMINED.. determined babies often develop into leaders

who will not just take the easy, popular route!

6. Awakens Frequently... "Needs everything BUT sleep!"

7. Unsatisfied: what works this time might not work the next!

8. Unpredictable =Never boring; No middle emotion-(extreme mood swings); TRANSPARENCY

9. Super Sensitive- "Easily bothered" Doesn't accept substitute caregivers- They are

"tuned-in" to surroundings. They become kids who care/ sensitive towards others needs.

They develop great discernment. The ability to think through choices.

10. "Can't put baby down"- they love touch and physical contact.

11. "Not a Self-Soother"- they want interactaction with ppl not things.

12. "Seperation Sensitive"- they have great discernment; can form deep attatchments;

they fuss loudly bc they care deeply.

*www.askdrsears.com

Talk about Psalm 139:13-16!! And let me tell you not only do I pray those scripture verses over Miss Kaeley-Belle Squarepants but I also now pray God would use those "HIGH NEEDY" characteristics for the One whose ways are HIGHer!


"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. You eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:13-16

DETOUR....

Our Faith Journey has been far from boring...and I can't honestly say I'd want it any other way! It certainly has had its share of up's and down's, high times and low times...but following God's call has truly been the greatest adventure of my life! Detours, a.k.a different plans than mine, in this adventurous Faith Journey are starting to be anticipated! You'd thought a LONG time ago that I would have just EXPECTED the detours as a given!!

A recent detour is one that I'm absolutely thrilled to share... I get to be a stay-at-home wife/mom! Honestly, this is something that I never thought I would do full-time. Part-time has crossed my mind, but full-time was just something I had not really given much thought to! Over the past few months God has been pressing it on my heart to stay-at-home and to get back to the BASICS! Sadly to admit, I kept ignoring Him!! To begin with, Brad being at the time, bivocational, financially it was not even a possiblity! Needless to say over and over again, God kept telling me I needed to stay home and be more of a help to my husband and also to his ministry. And for starters, my own ministry starts in the HOME!!! God began to make our household so chaotic; Our house has been a disaster, I have had tons of laundry I can't get caught up on, the dishes have been piled high (it just so happens that our dishwasher broke in the midst of God trying to get my attention!), I still have boxes that are sitting in my downstairs closet that need unpacked, I haven't went to the grocery store to stock up in months...you get the picture! Our household has had VERY little organization and been far from a serene environment! Those of you who know me, know how much I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE organization!!! Saying that I LOVE having a clean house would be an understatement! God, used the fact that I have been working and going to school full-time, being a wife and a pastor's wife, and being in the last months of my pregnancy to get my attention! Did I mention that on top of my husband working over full-time in ministry every week, and working at the hotel, that he was picking up MY slack, all the while I thought I was "JuGgLiNg"!!! Talk about a "BoZo on this bus"!!! God was yelling loudly that I can't juggle it all no matter how hard I kept trying!!

During this time, I also did NOT have peace about sending our baby to daycare (even though she would have went to work with me and where I work is the TOP childcare center in this area)! The baby would have been in GREAT hands, but 'My Man' and I felt TONS of conviction about having someone else raise our child throughout the day, which ultimately would mean they would be a primary influence spiritually in our child's life! That just seems so BACKWARDS to us!! 'My Man' and I want to be the primary influence in our child's life, and felt God telling us, "When it is all said and done-you both will be held accountable for how faithful you are even with this child!!!" Believe me, in all areas of our life, we want God to be able to say, "Well done, my good and faithful servants!"

After God having to use all of these things together as a megaphone to get my attention, I finally fell on my face before Him! It was obvious I had to rid things out of my life and get back to the basics!! With-in a week of 'My Man' and I praying that God would make a way for me to be able to be a stay-at-home wife and mother, God opened up a door which would allow 'My Man' to be full-time at the church without having to continue to work at the hotel- which would also allow me to stay at home! God kept giving me signs all around that it was the right choice to stay at home! Satan of course kept trying to put doubts in my mind... even to the point of trying to use christians who would ask me how we would be able to make it! Satan tried to use any possible way to make us question God...me mostly!!! I kept praying and praying, and God kept reaffirming over-and-over again!!! Yes, we will have to live tightly, but we both know it is the right thing for us to do!!! This detour will force us to trust God even more, that we wont be able to rely on secular checks to provide! I'm excited to see how God moves and makes a way! This detour is one that surely came by suprise, but it is one scenic route I don't want to miss!!

A Valentine from Heaven...Glitter and ALL!!!

Today was just one of those days!!! Drained, Tired, ANNOYED, ready to go cRaZy (or all ready there-not sure what the case may be!),... is just a few ways to describe my mood!!! This evening we had Hang Time with the youth at church. The little kiddos were hanging out in the gym while their parents had "Parents' Night Out!" One of the little girls came running up to me, gave me a HUGE hug, and then said, "I pray for your baby!!!" Talk about TEAR ME UP!!! As if the hug wasn't enough to put the biggest smile on my face...that was just icing on the cake that pierced my heart to it's core! It was convicting and precious all in one! No doubt a great BIG, GIANT hug from GOD; a real Valentine sent by Him through the arms of a child! That sparkly Valentine that shined so BRIGHT for HIM , was no doubt one of the best ones I have ever received! Thank You God for reminding me to have faith and love like a child, and to always shine like stars in the universe--boy do I have TONS of work to do!
~ Luke 18:17, " Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."
~Philippians 2:14-15, "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like the stars in the universe"