Bringing It

• Over the weekend, we had a family come over to play Settlers of Catan (during Aolani's nap time!), and our friend from Asbury just came for a four day visit! Our souls were nourished and refreshed :)
• Micaiah has "found" his hands and feet. He likes to check his feet out more than his hands though! He is really filling out his 0-3 months outfits; maybe we'll move to the next size soon. He is still taking four naps a day, and I am waiting for it to go to three, so that a routine can become more evident. We are doing the eat, wake, sleep routine right now about every two hours or so. Ever since we moved the crib into the bedroom, he has begun to sleep a total of 15-16 hours a day compared to 13 hours a day. Micaiah (and I) went to church for the first time since his birth over the weekend. Besides being late and missing worship, most of our time actually there was spent with me rocking him to sleep (in the sling).
• Aolani is really on her A-game this week -- playing with butter knives, pulling over plants in vases, pouring out essential oils, waving scissors, dumping hundreds of cranberries on the floor (and almonds and chocolate-covered raisins and prunes), wearing the baby's clothes, unloading the refrigerator, ripping my book, (almost) breaking the recliner, knocking over her wardrobe, touring the bins under the bed, standing on her donkey, locking me out of the bedroom, and the list certainly goes on but I'm stopping... OH MY. You would think that we are lax and sloppy, but everything is well-childproofed. She is just sneaky, fast, and way too smart! I.e., the drawers and cabinets in the kitchen each have two different childproof locks on them, yet she has figured out how to jerk them open really hard until they hit the lock so that the contents in the drawer slide forward some. She will do this repeatedly until she can reach her hand in the small opening and pull something out!
• On a good note, Aolani is speaking a lot more today. Putting several words together. She always runs to me when she has something to say because she knows that I understand her the best (and can, therefore, get her what she wants!) Also, she put on a pair of her shoes today by herself for the first time -- the shoes may have gotten on the wrong feet, but still :)

• Getting down pat last week's memory verses: Romans 4:20-2 ~ Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”

The Spirit Searches and Teaches

And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.

My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,

so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.

None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived” —
the things God has prepared for those who love him —
these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.

This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.

The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,

for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?”

But we have the mind of Christ.

~ 1 Corinthians 2

A Change in the Making

• My parents came for a visit over the weekend, and I always feel like it's a race against time when they are here -- so much to do! We celebrated my mom's birthday by driving to the delicious Tupelo Honey restaurant and surprising my mom by having her aunt and cousins meet us there.
• My sinus infection (self-diagnosis) got better, returned, hit everybody in our family, went into my eyes, and is lingering :( To breathe again...
• We moved the tall, baby crib from the main room to the (family) bedroom. It's a big change. I still have a lot of figuring out to do as far as nursing, diaper changing, holding/playing/working, eating, napping -- for two little, nonverbal children. Plus, a wheelchair! Yeah, a lot of figuring out. There is no routine yet, but it will come with time :) When it does, I'll share. Right now, Aolani is napping in the bedroom and Micaiah is sleeping in the sling on me while I type.
• Since the crib is in the bedroom, the bedroom door is unlocked as Micaiah naps frequently. It used to be locked. Now, I have to teach her bedroom etiquette, like don't pull out all of the tissues in the box or play with the heating blanket cord or throw all of the clothes from the dressers into the main room... We just put a lock on the closet to avoid that hassle.
• All was going smoothly this morning with Micaiah awake but peacefully sitting on my lap in the sling, and Aolani and I playing with post-it flags on the oven door. I thought how great this day was going to be. Five time-outs (should of been 20) and many tears later...
• I don't know if this is a common problem, but whenever we keep Aolani up past her normal bedtime, she wakes up earlier in the morning. So, the later we put her to bed, the less sleep we all get :(

• Verses to memorize this week: Romans 4:20-2 ~ Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”

The Easy Child

I do not feel that wonderful today (some sickness), and I need to go lie down. I really want to develop this thought more, but I'll just pose the (rhetorical) question that I keep asking myself this week. [Or, what I remind myself of to silence my fumes when Aolani misbehaves!]

Why do I think I deserve an obedient, easy child? Am I obedient or easy for my Father? Yeah, I deserve hell and that's about it.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ~ Ephesians 2:4-7

Chocolateyes!

• Ricky is working in our county this week (woohoo!), and I am a little under the weather. [Aolani even laid down on the couch with me for 15 minutes and gave me a kiss before leaving ;)]
• We are having so much fun using these simple, frugal activities for little ones! Great ideas: Having Fun at Home. We did chocolate pudding finger painting over the weekend (we don't eat pudding, so we just mixed some yogurt and cocoa powder). We, also, pulled Aolani around on a blanket, and she loved it so much. She is constantly pulling her teddy bear around on blankets now.
• Micaiah is three months old today! The newborn days are gone already :( He still sleeps 10-12 hours at night and, thus, he nurses every two hours during the day to get enough calories. He weighed 11.5 pounds last week with a long body and long feet. Such a stud-muffin! He wiggles all over the place, rocks his hips, and rotates even 180-degree turns. He loves his family and is so happy :)

• Aolani's antics: obsessed with bugs and loves to point and tell us Bug!, says runty as we call her that sometimes, banana is mema (don't know why as she can pronounce her b and n), loves nap time (and often begs me for it) and will race to the door with her teddy bear [this is mind-boggling to us!], says wuv u! wuv dejus! a lot, enjoys her refrigerator magnets, knows most her colors (for others, but gets them wrong for me -- on purpose, I'm sure), and counts 1, 2, 5 ;)

• Verse to memorize this week: Romans 13:14 ~ Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.
  

Straight to Daddy

Note: If you have never seen Disney's Little Mermaid, it's okay. I think you will still get the point.

No, I have not viewed the Little Mermaid recently (since the 90s), nor do I think of it often. But, as I was lying in bed Saturday morning, it came to mind. I'm thinking something jabbed my squishy self, and up popped the visual recollection of the prince steering the pointy bow of his boat into the inflated evil sea witch, which "popped" and deflated her. Anyway...

If you have not seen the movie, all you need to know of the plot is this: A mermaid, daughter of the mermaid king, falls in love with a human. She bargains with the evil sea witch and is granted legs for three days to try and win the human's love. The mermaid fails. The sea witch wins and grows with power. The human kills the witch. And, the mermaid king grants his beloved daughter legs, instead of her fin, so that she can marry the human.

Isn't this so like us?! Instead of going straight to God in the first place, our heavenly Daddy, with what we want, we try to get what we want through selfish or evil means. We barter with evil! We should know how foolish that is -- evil has its own plans and just uses us to increase in power. We will never win that battle (trying to beat evil by ourselves in hopes of gaining what we want). And, after that battle is lost, it is the good King, the father, that grants the wish.

How about we just skip the whole middle mess, bargaining with evil, and take our dreams straight to Daddy, the King of the Universe?

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ~ Romans 8:32

Note: I am not saying that the mermaid king reflects God the Father, as the mermaid king has many faults and shortcomings. I am trying to emphasize our similarity to Ariel, the mermaid child.

Games and Groups

• Ricky is working long hours this week in another county, which means late dinners and late bed times. But, thank You, LORD, for help! Changing diapers, picking up toys, making lunch...
• Ricky and Aolani have returned to church this past month. Although the flu season officially began February 24th, Micaiah and I hope to join them before Easter :)
• A few months ago, I joined an online group about pregnancy (parenting) and FA (my disease). We share questions and ideas and concerns... While I often feel inferior or discouraged, it is nice to read how other women are making life (and/or parenthood) work!

• Aolani's antics: if it's not the usual "NO," then it's the seldom "O-tay"; while she loves to say boy and girl, she is still having trouble differentiating who is what gender (pointing to girls in pictures and declaring, "Boy!"); Ricky and Aolani threw their first tea party over the weekend (while Mommy cleaned out files and prepped for filing taxes), see picture below; then on the Sabbath, we did a pillow jump and stuffed animal mountain.

• Verse to memorize this week: Romans 12:20-1 ~ “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Clinging to Truth, the Person

As you may know, I am an intense person. Passionate, extreme, black or white. This is not one of my favorite traits as it can cause friction, put me at odds with others, and make me (what I call) a "not likeable" person. My hubby = everybody loves him.

Anyway, whenever I held a certain viewpoint on a matter, I was gung-ho. I believed what I thought and couldn't be convinced otherwise. I stuck to my guns. Mix this with my stubbornness -- yuck.

All through high school and college I was like this. And then, I graduated.

Since then, I have found that my viewpoints (on nonessential matters) change, some frequently and easily and repeatedly. As I read more, mature more, discuss more, my views evolve. Ideas I had married, I divorced months or years later. Possibly wanting to reunite later on down the road!

And after I changed my mind, I would feel embarrassed. Looking back -- what was I thinking? Getting all huffy and puffy in discussions (at least inwardly) and clinging to my opinion. For what? It's not like I'm talking about essentials (you know, the Trinity, salvation by faith and grace, Jesus' divinity and humanity...).

So, this is one way in which I have greatly changed. I hardly ever get die-hard about a nonessential matter. Yes, I have a take on it but, chances are, it will probably change in the future ;) Now, when discussing an issue, I listen with open ears and pray for an open heart. And never judge.

Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry... ~ James 1:19

Basically, I just try to know Scripture and pray for the Spirit to help me apply it in my being and life. I don't want to cling to an idea but to a Person because I am not engaged to thoughts but to my Lover, Jesus.