Completely Dependent on Him

While I’ve always wanted this blog to be about the awesome blessings in the lives of my little family {which I could spend pages and pages counting those blessings and am so thankful for each of them}, I also want to be real and so I am using this post as a sort of a “journal-entry” where I can look back at a certain day/phase of life and see God’s hand so clearly working even when I don’t have the capacity to understand His timing and His plan now.

I’ve never been really good at eloquently expressing myself and I have so many more thoughts in my head than what I could pen down, but a couple posts ago I mentioned how I had a disappointing kind of week. Without getting into details {although most of this does have to do with the selling of our house and my job situation, among a couple other things}, God has just really been showing me that He truly has a plan and He is sovereign. He gives and He takes away. He is never early and never late. Although my feeble mind tries to comprehend Him, I never will. I’m finally reaching a point where I’m starting to better understand surrender. Surrender to Him. All my plans are just that - they’re mine and may not be His.

It’s easy to get discouraged when my plan of how I think things should happen doesn’t go my way or at least in the time frame that I think things should happen. But, I can trust the Lord that He is good and He will work things out for His good AND ultimately my good. I’ve been so thankful to begin to rest in His peace and that He knows what’s best for me and my family.

In preparation for this semester of our small groups at church, I’ve begun reading the book we’ll be studying, “The Circle Maker” by Mark Batterson. Each fall, our church does a study on the same book in our small groups, while our spring semester is more interest-based. Our Pastor will preach on Sunday’s this fall in line with what we’re learning in the book and then we go more in depth in our small groups. Just from the first several chapters of this book, I’m so encouraged and know this is exactly what I’m needing. Its teaching me to continue to pray big, bold prayers about my dreams and to continue to have the faith to seek Him even when my circumstances don’t seem to line up with my plans. {If you can’t tell by the number of times I’ve said “my plans” – I’m pretty type A. So giving control over doesn’t come easy!}

Like I said – I have SO much to be thankful for and it would probably be obnoxious to list them all here. And I am in no way neglecting what God has done and continues to do for us. I am in awe of His mercy, grace, and love for us.

So, in hopes that you may draw some inspiration from a couple of these quotes from the first couple chapters of this book, I’m going to share some that really encouraged me to continue praying and seeking Him!

“Bold prayers honor God, and God honors bold prayers.”

“God isn’t offended by your biggest dreams or boldest prayers…If your prayers aren’t impossible to you, they are insulting to God. Why? Because they don’t require divine intervention.”

“There is nothing God loves more than keeping promises, answering prayers, performing miracles, and fulfilling dreams. That is who He is. That is what He does.”

And just for good measure - here is  a pic of my little sweetheart! Could not be more thankful for her!

Friday Night Lights

It's football season! I was never a huge fan of football before Blake and I got married, but since we watch so much of it, I figured I better start paying attention and figure out what this game is about...and now I love it! Or maybe I just love everything that surrounds it ;)

Blake's cousin is a senior this year at Community High School and plays football, which is also the highschool that Blake, his parents, his grandparents, etc graduated from so we went to cheer on his cousin at the game Friday night.

Stella is a natural at cheering for football games - she loved the crowd, the band, the cheerleaders, and pointing her finger and babbling at the football players. Cutest thing I've ever seen. I think we'll definitely have to be taking her back to most of the home games!

{trying to figure out what all those boys were doing on the field}

{having fun with PawPaw}

{Go Braves!}

{Stella liked holding that bell that made noise!}

{She paid better attention than I did!}

{Laughing at her cousin, Carson}

{They won!}

{Fun Friday Night}

Catch Up

We really haven’t been up to too much lately…but I thought I’d give a little catch-up via pictures!

{sitting on daddy's roping horse}

{Stella is so tiny compared to that big ol' horse}

{my co-worker}

{snoozing on the job}

{sassy pants with her sunglasses}

{love her with all my heart}

{napping in our bed}

{Celebrating my father-in-law's 50th birthday at Texas de Brazil}

{handsome Abbott men}

{at a reception}

{the bride's awesome bouquet}

GRITS

So….we got a new puppy last Sunday! His name is Grits and he’s a Blue Merle miniature Australian Shepherd. He’s almost 7 weeks old now and is just a little fluff ball of love. His energy level is definitely picking up, but he seems to have a good personality. You know those weeks where it seems like EVERYTHING is just a disappointment, well, that’s been this week and Grits has been exactly the diversion that I needed!

                            

First, let me say, I had no intention of getting a puppy until we moved out to Blake’s family’s land. I knew we’d have to stay with my parents while the “barndominium” is being built, so I didn’t want to impose with a puppy. But, my mom, somewhat out of the blue, told me a couple weeks ago that if we wanted to go ahead and get Stella a dog, that it would be fine for it to be at their house while we stayed there. Well, I wasted no time. I knew my friend Lauren was looking to get a puppy for her kids, so I jumped on that wagon with her and contacted the breeder she was getting her puppy from and there were still a couple pups left in the litter. There was only one male, blue merle and that was exactly what I was looking for. So, I put down the deposit and we picked him up last weekend!

We have two full grown Australian Shepherds, but they don’t seem to be interested in Stella at all. They’re actually terrified of her, so we don’t let them interact much because we don’t want their fear to turn into aggression towards her. But, with as much as she loves animals, we wanted to get her an inside dog that can be all hers to love on and play with.

I started crate training Grits from night 1 and now after 5 nights, he’s actually putting himself in his crate when he’s needing a break or getting sleepy! We’ve had a few accidents, but that’s totally expected when they’re this young.

He spends most of the day in the office {at home} with me, usually right under my desk or chair!

We love our new pup and I’m so glad Stella loves him, too!

Stella Love

My little, big girl is just growing and changing too fast. I am absolutely amazed at what a little sponge she is. She knows all her facial features (i.e. eyes, nose, mouth, ears, head) and also knows her belly and toes. And she definitely wants to see my belly and belly button if she shows me hers. It cracks me up and apparently it cracks her up too, because she just giggles as she gets my belly button! And it never gets old asking her to show you where each little body part is! She has a few other words, too:

Mama
Dada
Bye-Bye
Puh-Puh - puppy
Bak-Bak - backpack
Bah - ball

She points at the ceiling fan and does her little finger around and around. She can moo when we talk about cows and sometimes she can do her numbers when we count her little toes. She is just so happy and such a joy to be around. She's definitely a morning person and starts to get fussy in the evenings {I can't blame her! I do too!}. There's not too much food that she doesn't like, but she's kind of partial to Chik Fil A chicken nuggets. Her favorite toy seems to be her Cozy Coupe that Aunt Brigitte got her for her birthday. She climbs in and out and in and out about a hundred times. She'll bring all sorts of toys and books to her little car and climb in and wave bye-bye to me. She absolutely loves rocking chairs too and will climb in her little chair and just rock herself back and forth and sing "byyyyy byyyyy". She's quite the little dancer when her favorite "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" song comes on and she bounces up and down and cocks her little head to the side. She raises her arms up and twirls her little hands and fingers around - it pretty much makes me melt.

Here are some pics just from this week of Miss Thing playing around.

{PawPaw showing Stella how to rope}



{Stella playing on her little car-thing at Grammy's}





{When I took the carseat base out of the car Stella thought it made a really fun climbing toy}



{She cannot get enough of her backpack and will wear it around the house}



{blurry because she's ALWAYS on the move!}