Tuesday, December 13, 2011

That Mom. TOTALLY That Mom.

I realized today that I'm so going to be that mom who thinks she has super sweet moves, but totally doesn't.  Any dancing coolness that I once possessed has run far, far away from here.  Avery is only 2 and she already doesn't want to learn her momma's moves.  WHAT happened?  This is not the level of coolness I envisioned for myself.  Back when I found out I was pregnant with Aves I was positive that she would think, for her entire life, that I was the ultimate role model of coolness.  But, at that point I wasn't THAT far removed from impromptu roomie dance parties & 6th Street.  My how the times have changed.  And FAST...

I fear what each passing year will do to my image...  My poor children :)

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Colossians 3




Source my mom & pops gave me a little pink leather-bound book almost a year ago, on my 26th bday.  It's The Message translation of The New Testament.  I have never really taken the dive, as I've always preferred reading my traditional translations of The Bible.  I DO, however, live cross-referencing the different versions, as just a single differing word can leave me with a totally different perspective.  Pretty cool.

Well... just now I checked out the 3rd chapter of Colossians, The Message style.  Col 3 (particularly verses 12-15) is one of my go-to, almost-daily reads.  Totally  a guiding passage for me.  It reminds, encourages, convicts, & excites me every time! 

Go read Colossians 3 in The Message version of the bible. My prayer is that it inspires you as profoundly as it does me!


Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Bootcamps {indoor!!}

I am currently working on securing indoor locations for bootcamps in the North Dallas area {specifically: Lewisville, Addison, Flower Mound}.  Let me know if you're interested in joining us starting in January OR if you have a suggestion for an indoor space!  I'm looking for open (or empty...that'd be even better!) space where we can move around a bit!  All equipment is provided by yours truly :)

2012... you're almost here.  YIPPEE! :)

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Jesus: Toddler Style

I spent some time today trying to entertain the girls with the story of Jesus' birth.  I started with our little nice, heavy, pewter nativity set.  I started with how the beauuuutiful angel came to visit Mary and told her she was going to have a sweeeeeet baby.  Well... before the first sentence was completed, I was wrestling one of the lambs out of CamCam's hand so as to avoid any head trauma to poor innocent Aves (Camo has a bit of a violent streak...).  So.  I hastily dropped the nativity set back onto the mantle, out of my little peas' reach and tried another approach.  This one much less pretty :) 

After a quick trip to the playroom, I came back with scissors, a bunch of colored construction paper, some tape & a pencil.  We made our little Jesus story into an art project (if you can even classify my hasty & seriously abstract masterpiece as artwork!) and with much more success, I got to share the birth of Jesus with my little nuggets! 

When daddy got home, Aves showed daddy out pretty pic and pointed out the angel, Mary, "baby God", the three men with their "presents", and... "who is that?"  She had trouble remembering Joseph's name.  I think I kind of threw her off with the whole idea of 2 dads.  A little outside the mental capacity of a 2-yr-old I think :)   SO cute.  There are few things Brian and I love more than hearing our lovebugs talk about God & Jesus.

So.  Avery is super excited about "Jesus dirthday!!  I sing happy dirthday to Baby Jesus!"  and keeps asking where Baby Jesus is.  She knows God lives "in my heart", but can't seem to figure out where Baby Jesus is hiding. 

And while we're on the Jesus-Toddler topic, Cameron has fallen in love with Avery's little storybook bible.  She ran around for an hour today saying, "bobble! bobble!" and begggging us to read it to her.  If there's any way to make me drop what I'm doing and cater to my children's wants, this is it.  Little CamCam has got it all figured out :) 

If there's anything in this entire world I want to leave my kiddos with, it is knowledge of who God is and how MUCH He loves them.  Completely.  Unconditionally.  Of course I WANT them to know how overwhelmingly I love them and want the very best for them too.  But it all points back to Him.  What better time to remember & put some on that than during this season that we celebrate His most perfect gift to us!

Motherhood

The knowledge that God chose ME to be the mother of my 2 sweet girls is humbling, baffling, encouraging, and at times overwhelming.  My journey to motherhood has been pretty typical.  Brian and I conceived both of our children.  That seems normal.  So normal, in fact, that the miraculous part of it gets completely lost.  God decided when to create those 2 little lives.  He saw them through to a healthful completion.   He allowed Brian and I to experience their lives beyond just a few minutes, weeks, or months.  He chose for us to be their parents from Day 1. 

I realize that this is NOT the journey to Motherhood that many of God's children will experience.  For some, He has chosen the gift of a child who was conceived in another womb, maybe even another country.  But still, He created that little bundle of cells knowing who would raise her.  He saw her development through to a perfect completion.  He chose who would deliver her and where she would be delivered, knowing all the while when she would be passed into the hands and heart of the one she could call "mommy".  And for this mommy, He has worked and chipped and prepared her heart for THIS child.  No part of her story, nor her child's, is a mistake.  It's not a broken story, who's pieces He needed to clean up.  It's a jigsaw puzzle of perfection that He had planned from the beginning.  This journey is almost even more miraculous than a journey like mine.  That God uses so many people to get a single one of his children into the hands meant to hold them forever... is one of the most telling pictures of the way He loves us.  His love goes so far beyond any definition or picture we can use to describe it, that its playing out often leaves us confused and dumbfounded.  But the truth of its perfection remains.

Motherhood.  The opportunity to love, hold, teach, encourage, provide for one of His own, is never anything but perfectly planned, and flawlessly purposed.  By Him.  Our Father.  Our Creator.  The Lover of our Souls.  He is Good.  In all things, He is Good.