A Very Happy Bird-day

Well, Maddy's first birthday has come and gone and so has my very first attempt at party planning...seriously.

To say that it was an amazing week would be a pitiful understatement. I have experienced a range of emotions this week that has allowed for some healing that needed to take place.

As I looked back on this past year, everything we have experienced since that cold April 7th morning, I felt both grieved and excited. I see God's hand at work in our lives so much now, because I have chosen to actual observe it rather than just assume He was there. I have seen His faithfulness through Maddy's fast healing and rapid growth. I have seen His provision throughout our dire financial straits. I have seen His joy in the family and friends we are so blessed to do life with. And mostly, I have enjoyed a refreshment of my personal salvation through the moments of fear and doubt that have been turned into rejoicing.

How humbling! How completely humbling to know that with all the world upon His shoulders, my sweet Lord has carried our little family safely through this year with a promise to never leave us or forsake us and to give us life ABUNDANT!

I am excited to see Maddy grow in the coming year. I am in love, not so much with the "act" of mothering, as the adventure that is Maddy. I love mothering...don't get me wrong...but it is not my ability to parent, or my passion for it that gives me cause to praise. It is the active and ever-changing life that I am responsible for in Maddy. It is Maddy that excites me. How could you not be excited about this?

There are a few things I have learned that I will carry with me forever!

•  I will never, ever know all of the answers to all of the questions in pregnancy or parenthood...my disappointment in such an obvious fact is humorous.

• I CAN survive on less than 4 hours of sleep a night due to teething and ear infections and no, it will not kill me.
• A marriage under great duress can actually be quite sweet and tender when the energy is directed towards encouragement and peace rather than solving all of the problems.
• A burp cloth can become a security blanket for a reflux baby and it is okay that they aren't all adorable.
• A 102 temp is considered "healthy" for baby.
• A husband tested and practically beaten down by the world can rise up and mount his noble steed and still come to the rescue.
• My heart's capacity to hold love really knows no bounds.
• Going out of the house without makeup is not an unforgivable offense.
• Forgetting that my shirt and pants are covered in spit up and going out to eat in them is a sign of hard work...not neglect.
• Holding onto my sweet baby, feeling her breath and warm skin, whispering prayers over her is the only job I really want to have for the rest of my life.
• Quality time with my husband is sometimes just Wendy's on the run or a late night knee to knee chat on the bed. Dating means something completely different now that we scarcely have a moment to steal together. 
• Healing is in His hands and I feel like maybe I have found my way out of the little hole I had dug. I know my worth now.
• I am a hot mom...right hubbs?

For now, our little family is savoring every moment....every precious second together....for life is fleeting, as this year has shown and I refuse to miss it.

I hope you all have a blessed week and thank you for your continued support of my meager blog!