Random.

I have lots of posts swirling around in my head, but until I get them from my head to the internet, I will leave you with a few random things that are on my mind these days.

1. Date nights with the hubs are my jam.  We got two this week because our small group met for dinner (totally counting it!), and my love surprised me with another night out with just the two of us last night.  I had a rough mommy day yesterday, and he blessed my socks off with a quiet dinner away.  A date with Chris can pretty much make any bad day immediately better.

2. Valentine's Day is coming up, and I know I am not the only person who thinks holidays become infinitely more fun when you have children.  I was never in love with Valentine's Day, but I am kind of getting into it this year.  I actually even decorated a little bit for it for the first time ever.  I am loving searching Pinterest for cute valentine ideas for the kids to give to their friends, and I even bought special plates just for Valentine's Day. 

3. Micah was sick at the beginning of the week with tonsillitis, and she is feeling way, way better now.  That poor girl has had it rough this winter.  She is a tough one and bounces back in no time.  I am so ready for this "sick season" to be over.

4. Another thing I am ready to say good bye to is winter.  My word, it has been a cold one in Texas.  We have had way too many days with highs in the 30's, and I'm done with little ice pellets raining from the sky.  Where did the mild Texas winters go?  I love the extra snuggles on the couch with my kids and all, but it's official.  I'm over it.  Spring, anyone?

5. I'm thankful it is the weekend.  I am pretty much in love with weekends with my little family.  Lots of rest, lots of playing, lots of coloring and drawing, and lots of being together.  I love it.  I also love the feeling of restoration I have after a weekend--God's grace.

6. The Olympics!!!  Love em.  This is one of the few times that the adult dwellers of the Fieldhouse feel fairly patriotic.  USA...USA...USA!

Have a wonderful weekend!  Hope it is filled with people and activities you love.

Weekend Scenes.

We had a great weekend.  It started out warm on Friday with the kids wearing t-shirts and shorts, and it ended in the 30's on Sunday with a fire going in the fireplace.  Lots of celebrations (Chinese New Year and the 100th day of school), lots of excitement over the new house (foundation was poured on Saturday!), and lots of time to relax and play as a family.  It was truly a lovely weekend.  

How was yours?

On Expectations.

 
For as long as I can remember, I have struggled with expectations.  Whether it be unreasonable expectations of myself or others, I often have found myself disappointed by unmet expectations. Of course, I carried this whole deal into marriage, and you can imagine how well that went.  In my immaturity, I have spent much of my life living in disappointment due to unfair expectations I have placed on people and situations.  This has sometimes led to having very, very low expectations and the assumption that everything will always turn out worse than I hope.

Thankfully, the Lord has done a lot of good work in my heart on this matter, and I have matured enough to begin to find a balance between the unrealistic and the hopeless.  Begin would be the keyword in that sentence.  It is a journey, and sometimes I am running forward.  Other times, I trip on a root along the way and have to get up, shake the dirt off, and trudge forward.

Our Christmas was incredible.  Like one of the best ever.  And, I wasn't expecting it.  In fact, I almost missed the greatness because I was awaiting disaster or disappointment.  You see, many adoptees have a very difficult time with holidays for lots of different reasons.  I was worried that the same would hold true for Famous, and that his fears would play out in some dreadful way that would ruin the holidays for the rest of us.  I also like to place unfair expectations on my sweet husband when he is not supposed to be working, but let's be real for a moment...when you run your own business, when are you truly ever not working?
So, in the midst of all the worry and expectations, I almost missed the magic.  The wonder.  The holiness.  The love. The celebration.

I'm so glad that the Lord redeemed that for me because it was a truly magical Christmas.
Famous loved every moment, and you would have thought he had been celebrating Christmas with us his whole life (minus the sheer excitement that can only come with seeing this holiday through fresh eyes...it makes me teary thinking of it).

Any doubts of Chris giving us his undivided attention were a waste of my thinking space.

I think I will look back on this Christmas always and reflect on God's goodness.

I'm just so thankful that my expectation issues didn't allow me to gloss over the blessing of what was right in front of me, and I am planning to keep pressing on with grace.

Lately.

It is one of those days that is dreary, drizzly, and chilly, and it is getting colder outside by the minute.  There is a chance of "wintry" precipitation beginning this evening and continuing overnight, and dare I say, they claim we might even get a light dusting of snow.  That is big time in this neck of the woods, folks.

Therefore, all I want to do is wear sweats, curl up with a warm blanket, and do a bunch of nothing.  How do you people that live up north survive the winter and get anything done at all?

In light of the fact that I am anti-productivity in this cold weather, I am going to keep staring at the laundry that needs to be put away from my spot on the couch, and I am also saving my heavy thinking posts for another day.  Until then, here are some good ole iphone pictures of what we have been up to lately.

Celebrated Mercy Project's second rescue with pizza, cookies, and a movie!

These two had a sleepover in Micah's room together.

 

 We've spent lots more time outside.

 Took a day trip to Houston and surprised Chris by picking him up at the airport.

Witnessed the most amazing sunsets.  Isn't God incredible?

 Went on our first training run for the Girls Just Want To Have Fun 5k in March.

 Currently, I'm poring over paint samples trying to decide on the perfect "warm" gray for the main living areas in our new house.  Anybody found a really great gray that wasn't too "cold" but also wasn't too beige?  Please do share!

Stay warm out there!

Motherhood.

Chris left for Ghana on Wednesday, and within hours, Micah was running fever.  She caught a tummy bug and was so sick and sad for about 24 hours.  Those 24 hours were a battle for my heart.  I was overwhelmed.  I wanted the week to be easy and smooth. Instead, sickness and chaos entered our home. I have not always been gracious in these situations (which seem to happen every time Chris is gone), and I tend to let frustration overtake me. I get cranky and impatient, and I forget that being a mom, even when I am parenting solo, is my gift. 

Being a momma to littles is hard.  It is tiring.  It makes your bones and your heart weary.  Some days it feels like you have nothing to show for your mothering. It is easy to forget that I chose this whole motherhood thing when I am in the trenches and feeling alone and frustrated.  It is easy for me to dwell on my loneliness and how hard it is when it seems as though your two year old screams about everything all.day.long.  It is easy to feel defeated when my kids still act disrespectful and are disobedient (ugh, sinful nature).  It is easy for me to look at my husband and feel like he has it easy because he doesn't have to do this correcting, rebuking, disciplining, shaping all day.  It is easy to somehow start to feel entitled to more help and more time away.  It is so easy to fall into the pit of resentment and to wallow there for hours and days.

 Lately, the Lord has been teaching me a thing or two about this season of being a momma to these little people.  He has been teaching me how to experience joy in the midst of it all. He has been reminding me that this work of disciplining is really molding their hearts and their character.  Every day, I am mothering their souls.  I get to point them to Jesus, and in the midst of that, I get to point my own heart to Jesus, a million times.  That is a pretty amazing job, and my three little people are pretty amazing too. He has been teaching me to reject the lies and the resentment and to fall before the Lord on the days when I feel desperation creeping in and grabbing hold of my heart. He has been teaching me to look at my people and find Jesus in them, even in the midst of the hard parts.  There are still days when the yucky parts of my heart win, and I forget to be thankful and loving and compassionate in the thick of things.  However, I am so grateful for the journey I am on in learning to just love motherhood and to embrace and soak in this season.

So, this week while Micah was sick, I fought hard to choose love instead of bitterness. To enjoy the cuddles and snuggles instead of worrying about and dwelling on the sickness.  To choose embracing motherhood instead of enduring it.  The Lord offered me victory, and it was sweet.  Last night, we celebrated Micah's recovery with an awesome dance party after dinner, and we laughed and danced until we were breathing hard and enjoyed each other.  These are sweet days, friends.

Bike Riding In The Sunshine.

For Christmas, all 3 of the kids got 1 big gift from us--bikes.  Chris and I were so excited about these gifts and had been planning this surprise since the summer.  The kids were shocked and ready to ride, but it has been super cold around these parts since Christmas.  We have still managed to take them out to ride in short bursts, but no one lasted long in the cold.  So, when the sun came out and the temperature rose to almost 70 the past several days, we took full advantage of the beautiful bike riding weather.

For those wondering...yes, Famous taught himself how to ride a two wheel bike upon arrival in the US.  He went to a friend's house to play and promptly figured out how to balance, pedal, etc. without having ever used a tricycle, training wheels, or anything.  Amazing, I tell you.

Also, Micah and Beckett got balance bikes.  They don't have pedals and only have two wheels and came highly recommended for the transition to a big bike.  Beckett still prefers the old tricycle!

Our Favorite Muffins.

All three of my children love muffins for breakfast.  They may actually devour muffins more voraciously than they eat up donuts.  Our very favorite muffins around this house are banana bread muffins.  The kids would probably eat a whole batch in one sitting if I would let them, and Chris and I are pretty big fans too. Micah and I made a batch of mini muffins just this week for a play date with one of her best little friends from preschool, and they were a big hit.

We follow this recipe for banana bread from one of my friends from college.  My grandmother has a great recipe as well, but honestly, I think Kerbi's is my absolute favorite that I have ever tried.  I have made both loaves of banana bread, regular size muffins, and mini muffins with this recipe, and they never turn out dry but perfectly moist and delicious.  The only change I make it omitting the nuts because we prefer our banana bread sans nuts in this house (and sometimes I add chocolate chips!).

For the mini muffins, we cut the recipe in half (except the vanilla...my philosophy in baking is that vanilla makes everything more delicious), and it yielded 30 mini muffins.

We also added a handful of mini chocolate chips to the batter.

 

I sprayed the muffin tins with baking spray and filled them 2/3-3/4 full of batter.  Bake the mini muffins at 350*F for about 15 minutes or until the muffins are set and tops are light golden brown.

 Enjoy!