Swim Lessons!

Avery has had swim lessons for the past two weeks and it has been so much fun! I'm really sad it's over actually. She will probably be asking me every day if we are going for a while. :( The class we took was at the Denton Natatorium in the indoor pool. It was really nice to be inside and not be baking in this heat! She did so well and learned so much. They taught a lot about water safety and I think she really took a lot of it in. She learned how to jump in the pool by herself, come up and find the side to hold on. (that was a little nerve racking for momma!:) She has had little to no fear of water so I was glad she learned a few things to keep her safer. She loves "swimming" under water now and blowing bubbles. She has been teaching her Little Mermaid swimming lessons in the bath tub each night and it is so funny! Such sweet memories that I will never ever forget.

I don't think she could be any more precious :)

Luke gets father of the year award for doing about half of the classes with her! It's a little harder for me at almost 34 weeks prego! We did the class at lunch time each day and he was able to come. It was all moms with their kiddos but he didn't mind. He said he felt like Cam from the TV show Modern Family, he was the honorary mom! Avery felt proud that she had her daddy with her and told me numerous times that Daddy throws her higher in the pool. ha! He's such a good Daddy and much more relaxed around water than I am so I think it was good for her. And for some reason all the moms seemed a tad more friendly to him when he did the class with her than to me. ;)

She learned to swim under water through the hula hoop by herself

to document that I was there each day:)

Motherhood

I'm sure every one has seen this because it has been posted every where. I just really liked it and wanted to have it saved so I can look back on it when I'm having one of those crazy exhausting days with a toddler. I'm sure it will only get more interesting with a newborn in the mix! Motherhood is HARD, but loving these girls is the easiet thing I've ever done. :)
Love this perspective..


MOTHERHOOD AS A MISSION FIELD by: Rachel Jankovic

"As someone once said, “Everyone wants to save the world, but no one wants to help Mom with the dishes.” When you are a mother at home with your children, the church is not clamoring for monthly ministry updates. When you talk to other believers, there is not any kind of awe about what you are sacrificing for the gospel. People are not pressing you for needs you might have, how they can pray for you. It does not feel intriguing, or glamorous. Your work is normal, because it is as close to home as you can possibly be. You have actually gone so far as to become home.

If you are a Christian woman who loves the Lord, the gospel is important to you. It is easy to become discouraged, thinking that the work you are doing does not matter much. If you were really doing something for Christ you would be out there, somewhere else, doing it. Even if you have a great perspective on your role in the kingdom, it is easy to lose sight of it in the mismatched socks, in the morning sickness, in the dirty dishes. It is easy to confuse intrigue with value, and begin viewing yourself as the least valuable part of the Church.
There are a number of ways in which mothers need to study their own roles, and begin to see them, not as boring and inconsequential, but as home, the headwaters of missions.

At the very heart of the gospel is sacrifice, and there is perhaps no occupation in the world so intrinsically sacrificial as motherhood. Motherhood is a wonderful opportunity to live the gospel. Jim Elliot famously said, “He is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Motherhood provides you with an opportunity to lay down the things that you cannot keep on behalf of the people that you cannot lose. They are eternal souls, they are your children, they are your mission field.

If you are like me, then you may be thinking “What did I ever give up for them? A desk job? Time at the gym? Extra spending money? My twenty- year- old figure? Some sleep?” Doesn’t seem like much when you put it next to the work of some of the great missionaries, people who gave their lives for the gospel.
Think about the feeding of the five thousand when the disciples went out and rounded up the food that was available. It wasn’t much. Some loaves. Some fish. Think of some woman pulling her fish out and handing it to one of the disciples. That had to have felt like a small offering. But the important thing about those loaves and those fishes was not how big they were when they were given, it was about whose hands they were given into. In the hands of the Lord, that offering was sufficient. It was more than sufficient. There were leftovers. Given in faith, even a small offering becomes great.

Look at your children in faith, and see how many people will be ministered to by your ministering to them. How many people will your children know in their lives? How many grandchildren are represented in the faces around your table now?
So, if mothers are strategically situated to impact missions so greatly, why do we see so little coming from it? I think the answer to this is quite simple: sin. Discontent, pettiness, selfishness, resentment. Christians often feel like the right thing to do is to be ashamed about what we have. We hear that quote of Jim Elliot’s and think that we ought to sell our homes and move to some place where they need the gospel.

But I’d like to challenge you to look at it differently. Giving up what you cannot keep does not mean giving up your home, or your job so you can go serve somewhere else. It is giving up yourself. Lay yourself down. Sacrifice yourself here, now. Cheerfully wipe the nose for the fiftieth time today. Make dinner again for the people who don’t like the green beans. Laugh when your plans are thwarted by a vomiting child. Lay yourself down for the people here with you, the people who annoy you, the people who get in your way, the people who take up so much of your time that you can’t read anymore. Rejoice in them. Sacrifice for them. Gain that which you cannot lose in them.

It is easy to think you have a heart for orphans on the other side of the world, but if you spend your time at home resenting the imposition your children are on you, you do not. You cannot have a heart for the gospel and a fussiness about your life at the same time. You will never make any difference there if you cannot be at peace here. You cannot have a heart for missions, but not for the people around you. A true love of the gospel overflows and overpowers. It will be in everything you do, however drab, however simple, however repetitive.

God loves the little offerings. Given in faith, that plate of PB&J’s will feed thousands. Given in faith, those presents on Christmas morning will bring delight to more children than you can count. Offered with thankfulness, your work at home is only the beginning. Your laundry pile, selflessly tackled daily, will be used in the hands of God to clothe many. Do not think that your work does not matter. In God’s hands, it will be broken, and broken, and broken again, until all who have need of it have eaten and are satisfied. And even then, there will be leftovers."

Baby Shower!

Last week was a great week! Aunt Laura came to visit and helped me so much getting things ready for Adalyn to get here. Her nursery is looking more like a nursery and I'm getting excited! Avery is too, she loves to play with her babies in there. :) She especially loved playing with Laura this week. I managed not to take any pictures but we had a blast!
That weekend my friends from church threw me a little baby shower. It was so nice and I loved it! I am using everything of Avery's for Adalyn which I love but it was nice to get some new things just for Adalyn. A lot of my family was able to come and brought Adalyn the sweetest things. I am so blessed to have such great friends and family!


The one pic I got of Aunt Laura and Aves :)

The awesome cake my friend Chelsea made!!

My sweet friends who hosted the shower. Love them!

Me at 32.5 weeks. Whoa!!!

Blessed indeed is the man who hears gentle voices call him daddy. ~Lydia M. Child,

Happy Father's Day to the best daddy Avery could ever ask for!! He truly adores her and she has had him wrapped around her finger since her first minutes of life.:)

Luke, I'm thankful for all you do for Avery! She learns so much by your example and I know she will pick a great husband one day because you show her what to look for. Avery and Adalyn are very blessed little girls!

Happy Father's Day also to my daddy!! This world is a better place because you're in it! I love you and respect you more than you'll ever know.

Daddy and Avery...

"The father of a daughter is nothing but a high-class hostage. A father turns a stony face to his sons, shakes his antlers, paws the ground, snorts, runs them off into the underbrush, but when his daughter puts her arm over his shoulder and says, 'Daddy, I need to ask you something,' he is a pat of butter in a hot frying pan." -- Garrison Keillor

Pictures

My good friend Lisa with Now and Then Photography took some pictures of us. I just love them! She always does such a great job capturing sweet moments! I wanted to get a few maternity shots and some updated family pictures since we hadn't done them since Avery was one. I love the ones of Avery and the ones of sweet Adalyn in my tummy. :) These are some of my favorites...

me and my sweet girl :)

perfect candid moment :)

this pic is SO Avery, always on the go!

LOVE these of Aves and daddy!