Cousin Love.

We visited my aunt's house today and caught up with my cousin, Mozelle.  Since I was a little girl I have always looked up to her, and what a beautiful woman she is today.  She is the mother of two, joy-filled boys - Xavier and Zion - and she glows.  I snapped some precious pictures of our three babies together on the couch.

I have vivid memories of Mozelle and myself playing in my kiddie pool in the backyard when we were little, and now we are creating new, similar memories with our own children; that is a blessing that is difficult to put into words!  I am excited to get home so that I can post some photos of this visit to the Cape, including photos of the next generation of cousins.

Thankful heart.

Stella and I arrived on Cape Cod this afternoon for a visit with my mom, not sure if I can download photos here but I'm too tired to even try.  Tim is at home having some well-deserved alone-time.  Tim and I re-charge in very different ways:  I love to be around people and he loves to spend time alone or quiet, reflecting on life.  I am thankful that we know each other well enough to respect how God created us as individuals.  I am looking forward to attending my mom's new church with her tomorrow morning...God is doing some awesome things all around.  Feeling very thankful tonight!

Provision.

Today, Tim and I got another amazing gift - this one was anonymous.  Tim went to his office and found an envelope on this desk.  Inside was a banker's check - made out to us for the total of...$5,000!  We do not have knowledge of who gave it to us.  Unbelievable!

I have seen God's provision so clearly since becoming a stay-at-home-mom - more than any other time in my life.  Last night, Tim went to work and found two envelopes and a package on his desk.  One of them contained $50 in gift cards to iTunes...how cool, right?  He was only disappointed because his iPod broke a few months ago.  When he looked down on his desk there was a wrapped package.  He tore back part of the packaging and saw this word: iPad.  That's right, folks, someone gave him a brand new iPAD!  For those of you who don't know, those cost about $500.  This gift, like the banker's check, was also anonymous.  The other envelope I mentioned was a card from another family we know at the church, thanking Tim for all his hard work and acknowledging that the first Christmas with kids can be financially tight - inside was $50 for us to use as we wish...now we'll be able to buy a few things for Stella for Christmas.  From the largest to the smallest gifts we've received in the past eight months, the thing that strikes me the most is God's provision through people.  We haven't formally asked for help from anyone, but people have heard of our need and have responded.  I shared the news with my mom this morning and she said, "Jenny, this doesn't happen!"  She's right, most often things like this don't happen - but in a community of people who follow Jesus, things like this happen all the time.  God is honored today by the generosity and the obedience of people who are following some of the examples set by His Son - to give as you have freely been given, to love others, and to sacrifice for others.  Just so I always remember to give credit to the One who provides, here is a list of things God has done through others since I've been home with Stella:

• Money (over $6150)
• iPad and iTunes gift cards
• 2 free Red Sox v. Yankees tickets
• 2 free round-trip plane tickets to anywhere in the USA
• car repairs
• clothing for Stella (still haven't had to spend a dime of our own money on clothes for the baby!)
• prayer
• incredible encouragement for our decision to have me stay at home, no matter the financial cost

Hospitality.

Nearly every Wednesday morning, Tim takes the baby and I have a chance to get out of the house.  Usually, I try to meet up with a friend as this is most energizing to me - adult conversation, relaxation, and oftentimes great fellowship...who could ask for more?  Today, I went to my friend Heather's house; Heather is one of my dearest friends in the entire world.  She and I met six years ago when we were in the same small group bible study.  We have a similar remembrance from the night we met for dinner at their house; as we left, both our husbands said to us something like, "You've made a new friend, I see..."  Jon (Heather's husband), and Tim could see that this connection was going to be a special and lasting one.  

Heather's birthday was this past week - I forgot it.  I was so embarrassed and angry with myself because Heather has always made my birthday feel like a true celebration.  Growing up, I hated that my birthday (January 5) was right after Christmas and New Years; it felt like everyone was "partied out" and my birthday almost always coincided with returning to school (some present...yuck!); often, my birthday presents were also my Christmas presents - or worse, wrapped in Christmas paper.  As a kid, this is the pits!  My mom always did her best to make my birthday a special, separate event from Christmas, and yet I still wished to have my own day apart from any holidays.  Now that I'm older it doesn't bother me nearly as much, and yet Heather always manages to surprise me with something delightful.  So, you can imagine my horror when I realized, on December 4, that I was a few days late for Heather's b-day.  What did Heather want this year for her birthday, I asked when I realized my mistake?  She wanted to make ME breakfast at her house and to celebrate together in that way.  How is that for hospitality (and believe me, this girl knows how to entertain)?  Her house was decorated all over for Christmas, the table was set lovingly, and the food was delicious.  I continually thank God for friends like Heather - her friendship is a gift straight from heaven above...literally.

Milestones.

Guess who is really crawling now?  I mean, REALLY.  Today, Stella put the pieces together that she can go anywhere she wants to just by crawling.  It was adorable to watch her delight in this discovery, and somewhat scary to know that I now REALLY have to childproof the house and keep a constant eye on her.  It is so much fun to experience these precious milestones.  

With the bad news from our mortgage company last week, I have started to look for some part-time work from home.  I've already had some interest from three very different "venues," if you will, but am making it clear that my first priority is to be fully present for Stella's childhood.  Seeing her crawling all over the place today affirmed in me the need to not compromise this high calling of motherhood - what joy to see your child move into these new phases of life, literally and figuratively!  Here are some fun shots of the woman on a mission:

You can see her big smile in this one...she's so proud she can make a right turn!

Drool action shot.

Just a quick break to smile at the camera!

My gosh, look at those eyes...look at those lips...beautiful!

Stella: "Oh hello, Gupta, the man made from a coffee bean root!"

The day wouldn't be complete without my old cell phone case - truly, Stella's favorite toy of all.

"Mom, you need to get out of the house more often if this is your idea of fun...playing with Gupta."

"I changed my mind, I love Gupta."

Freedom Found in the Supermarket.

Photo credit: anankkml
www.freedigitalphotos.net

My car is in the shop.  This means I'm home-bound with Stella while we wait for it to be fixed.  We are friendly with our repair-guys as they see us so often.  We own both of our cars, they are both pretty old with very high mileage, but no car payments has worked really well for us...even if the cars spend a little more time (and sometimes money) in the shop than they would otherwise.  Today, Stella and I walked to the neighborhood post office...something I will never do again with the baby.  Our street is BUSY, but I had to mail a bunch of thank you's and so I bundled Stella in her pink snowsuit (so cute, by the way) and headed to the P.O. about 0.2 miles up the road.  Tonight I went to the grocery store while my wonderful husband took care of the nighttime routine with the babe.  These two outings (post office and grocery store) were the only times I've left the house in FOUR, that's right, 4 days.  Needless to say, I was almost dancing down the aisles of Market Basket...whistling to Christmas carols (shout out to my friend, Samara, who does the same and also gets weird looks from fellow customers...) and chatting with random shoppers periodically; conversation with adults is a novelty these days - you get it where you can.  My free time is certainly different now that Stella is a near-constant part of my world, but I'm grateful that something like grocery shopping can be appreciated as a moment to breathe, to be by myself, and to accomplish a task without interruption.  It's just another example of how having a baby has changed my perspective on things!

Photo credit: Salvatore Vuono
www.freedigitalphotos.net

Baby in a Sack.

I love sleep sacks - they are so cute and I'd wear one myself if they made big ones...and if I could still walk while wearing it.  Stella has borrowed several sleep sacks from her friend, Connor, so she often looks like a little boy dressed all in blue when we put her to bed.  A new favorite bedtime book is Mr Brown Can Moo, Can You? by Dr. Seuss (thanks Abbie and Adam Keller!)...she really likes when we make the sounds in the book and usually laughs at our impression of lightening (...SPLAT, SPLAT...) - Tim does the sounds WAY better than I do, and I took great joy in listening to him read to her tonight.  Tonight I snapped some photos of her playing with the books Tim had just finished reading to her.    

Just chillin'

"Excuse me, mom, I'm trying to read here..."

Peek-a-boo...I see you.

The night just wouldn't be complete without a fake cry!