Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Friends

What would we do without friends? Not just those people who you smile at and chat with when you happen to be at an event or get together, but true friends. The ones that in your life, you wonder how you existed without having them around to be your sounding board, the shoulders on which you cry, the people who tell you when you are being silly for being totally stupid about something, and the ones who feel more like family then friends. Now, not only are friends like that super special, but when you have friends like that as adults, then it makes that circle of love larger as not only are they are a part of your life, but so is there family! The spouse, the kiddos, down to the smallest of pets in the house (even down to the slimiest snails!).

Joshua and I are so blessed to have friends just like that perfect ideal. Thank God for our "family friends" that make life more interesting and much more fun. Just in case there is any misconception as to what this type of friendship looks like, then here would be just a sampling from an email of such a friend (who has often been mistaken as my sister, and it is the best case of mistaken identity I could ever imagine) following an afternoon playdate and watching her 4 year old son holding our little Laney Belle.

Well don't tell Jovey but there is a new contender for Parker's heart. ALL I heard, and talked about for the past 3 hours was "Laney is so cute mom." "I just love Laney mom" "Mom, do you think laney likes me like I love her?" "Mom, I loved holding Laney." "Do you think Lela will let me hold Laney again if we go on a tuesday?"

Yup, he's smitten... he prayed for her (but forgot about me, his own mother!) and before he fell asleep I told him to have sweet dreams about fishing and rollercoasters and he goes, "and laney too mom!"


God is great and it is no accident when people come together to share their big things in common, they find that it is in the small things that you see just how wonderful life can be with people beside you to help encourage, support and sometimes, even laugh at you, so that you can stay real and experience life to its fullest!

Monday, June 25, 2007

Deep Thoughts by Jovey McFarland

"Mommy, Brionna can hold her OWN bottle all by herself! Yep, she can!"

-Jovey McFarland describing a 9 month old baby at church who is in nursery with her, while I was having to hold Laney's bottle and couldn't do something for Jovey right at that moment!

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Upside Down

Where can you begin to write after entering a new phase of life? There are never the right words to truly express all you feel, all you question, or all you praise God for as you look at where you have been and where you now sit. Joshua and I are now proud parents of not one, but two, beautiful, young, ladies. Laney Belle joined her big sis, Jovey, and us on June 5, 2007. She was a bit early at not quite 38 weeks, but a healthy 7 pounds, 7 ounces and 20 inches long!

Since bringing her home just two short days later, our lives have been turned upside down. Not with the worries that I had before of loving both girls in their unique ways or worrying about humidity or anything I may have previously ventured to conjure up in my worrisome mind, but instead, our lives have been forever changed with visions of Jovey loving on Laney with great joy, all the while saying cute phrases like, "I love her! She loves me!" or "Oh, she's sooooo cuuuuttteee!" Our lives have been turned upside down as I watch my husband who just a short 2 1/2 years ago, was trying to figure out how to put a onesie on a newborn and change her diaper and now, who does it with almost the same speed and ease I have learned! Our lives have been turned upside down as we experience the quiet and peace that comes with watching Laney, who, very different from Jovey as an infant, sleeps all of the time, making cute little sounds and smiling those cute, gassy grins (although I still think God talks with her and makes her smile, no matter what the medical books say!)

In short, we are just filled with joy and awe that God chose us once again to raise yet another one of his precious creations. We aren't anything special, and in fact, mess up tons with the blessings he gives us every day, but as we vowed from the beginning, Joshua and I will forever try to follow His will for our lives, including with the most meaningful and worthwhile task we'll ever do as a couple, to raise a child of His with love and instructions from His word.

Thank you, God, for taking the doubts and the fears away. Life is good and You are so great to allow us to be a part of seeing life through the wide and wonderful eyes of our beautiful children!