The Decade Challenge

A couple months ago the Decade Challenge was filling up my social media page. People were posting side-by-side photos of what they looked like at the beginning of the decade compared to the end. It was fun looking at everyone's pictures, even my own, to see of how they physically transformed. It really got me thinking about how much I have transformed on the inside over the last 10 years.

There are some pretty obvious transformations that I have gone through in the last 10 years. Becoming a wife, a mother, a New Bernian, and beginning a new career are some pretty notable ones but I wouldn't say that any of those were my greatest transformation.

I grew up in church and went through the motions of  baptism, first communion, and confirmation but I had never cultivated a relationship with God. I didn't know what that looked like or how to do it. I believed in God, I knew the famous bible stories, I just didn't know Him. I just didn't get it. After college was when I started to feel a longing for more but didn't know where to start. I went to church by myself and tried to get connected, but nothing really clicked for me. With not many people to talk with about it, I felt lost. I put too much stock into relationships and what people thought about me and was often left disappointed.

Ten years ago I was offered the opportunity to move to New Bern, North Carolina. This was completely out of my comfort zone and sounded crazy, but I felt a nudge. A nudge that wouldn't let up. After much thinking and talking about it and even having a friend pray with me one day in my backyard, I decided to go for it. I felt an unexplainable peace about my decision. I had no idea what was in store for me, but it knew it had to be something good.


It wan't until several months after my move that I realized it was God who was nudging me to make that move. For the longest time, I had felt like something was missing in my life and it was in New Bern that I found it....or should I say, Him. He perfectly placed people on my path t lead me to Him. On May 31, 2013, I decided to commit my life to Christ through baptism. Since then, He has used me, yes me, to lead other people to Him.

I am so thankful for a God that leaves the 99 to find the 1. I am thankful for a God who loved me enough to put that longing in my heart for Him and for never giving up on me. I am thankful for a God that will let me walk through the dark times all the while never taking His hand off of my shoulder. I am thankful for His grace that is immeasurable, His mercy that is inexhaustible, and His peace that is inexpressible.

I am by no means perfect and I fail Him almost daily, but I do try my hardest. Walking with Christ doesn't mean that bad or difficult things will never happen to me. It does mean that I can trust completely that He will guide me through anything and use my experiences for His glory. Over the last several years I have learned to let go, to trust, to forgive, and to love, even when it's hard. I pray that this life that I am living will help others come to know Christ. Striving to live a life that glorifies God has been my greatest and most important transformation of this decade. Without it, I wouldn't be where I am today. Without it, I wouldn't have all that I have. Without it, nothing else matters.

Keep It Simple

I was humbly reminded by my toddler last week that kids don't need all the things and to be doing all the activities to be content. My mom was here visiting and it was her last full day with us. I took the day off from work so we could spend the whole day together. We spent the morning visiting a local coffee shop, taking a walk downtown to the church playground, and picking up a few lawn and garden items from the store. It was a great morning. By the time we returned home, Luke was ready for a nap and mom and I took advantage of this time to re-pot some plants. I always love a productive nap time!

Now for part two of our day. We discussed afternoon plans and decided it was a little too hot outside to go to the pool like we had talked about earlier. Instead, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to go to a small play gym in town to beat the heat and expel all of the energy that comes from a freshly napped and fed 16 month old.

We ate lunch and headed out the door. It wasn't until we were down the street from the gym that it hit me...they are closed on Mondays! 🤦 I was so disappointed that I had forgotten about this. Luke was getting antsy in the back seat and I felt bad that I couldn't deliver on the promise that we were going somewhere fun and that we were almost there. I didn't think we would make it the 25 minutes back home without doing something....anything! Mom and I brainstormed any fun indoor places we could go and came up empty. The other indoor kid place in town is also closed on Mondays, he is too small/young for the play area at Chic fil A, and it was just too hot to go to an outdoor playground. UGH!

The only place I could think of was the mall. If you are not familiar with the mall in New Bern, it is small and not very crowded at all. It has a long carpeted hallway and lots of windows to look into. You wanna know something? Luke loved it there. He ran around, exploring, waving hi to everyone that he saw. We went into one store where he made some new special friends and another where he had a blast checking out all of the toys in the toy section. He laughed and he smiled and he ran his little legs out just enough to nap on the way back home. He had the afternoon of his life, in his eyes.

The same goes for toys. Luke is just as happy, if not happier, playing with an empty Amazon box, a paper towel roll, or in the dirt outside. Yet, his room is FULL of toys, books, etc. We have already discussed going through it all and downsizing. He wouldn't know any different at this stage in the game. I honestly think that he becomes distracted when he plays because he has so much to choose from.

I can already see, as a new mom, how easy it can be to fall into the trap of wanting to buy all of the latest and greatest toys and feeling the need to want to constantly be on the go and staying busy. The truth is, all kids really need are our time, love, and attention. Luke didn't need to be anywhere special to have a good time with us. He made his own good time in an empty mall, being silly with his mom and Grammy. Honestly, he would have been perfectly happy staying home that afternoon playing in his room with us. New and outside experiences are a fun treat but we don't have to feel like we have to entertain that way all of the time. New toys are great, but don't let what they do and don't have determine the quality of their childhood.

Keep it simple, my friends. Be present, have fun, and know that you are doing a great job!

No Time to be Sad

As I sat there, on the eve of my firstborn's first birthday, I was filled
of gratitude.  This past year has been a whirlwind and when I think of all that we have been through - the good, the bad, the ugly - I realize there is far more good than anything else. When I think of this past year, all of our happy moments come to mind first. Sure there were plenty of moments, hours, and days of frustration, tears, exhaustion...you get the idea. But no matter how difficult those times were, no matter how long the sleepless nights seemed to last, they are not what define the last 365 days. They are mere blips on the reel. The highlights are what stand out the most - the smiles, the laughter, the family time, a year full of firsts. A year that I say went by way to quickly even though it had the same 525, 600 minutes as every other non-leap year. It was certainly a year well spent.

I rocked my baby a little longer at bedtime tonight knowing that he would wake up a 1 year old. Many have asked me if I am sad that he is 1 already. Truthfully, I am not. I am thankful that we have made it to this day. I have enjoyed every stage of motherhood so far but I don't really find myself mourning the passing of each one.  I feel a lot of emotions as Luke turns 1 - happy, relieved that we all survived our first year, proud of the awesome person he is becoming, thankful for God's unending grace that I receive daily, hopeful for the future - but sad is definitely not one of them. I'm thankful for a happy, healthy, growing, and thriving boy who is reaching his milestones at his own pace. Every stage and every season will bring its own joys and memories and I don't want to miss any of them. Especially fun ones like his very first taste of cake, his first kids meal at a restaurant (which he devoured), or the look on his face when he figured out he could walk.

If there is anything that this past year has taught me, it is to enjoy the little things.  I try my best to embrace each day as the mom of this sweet little boy. He is changing every single day and it is the most amazing thing to be able to witness. His brain is processing things at high speed trying to figure out how everything around him works. He is a big chatterbox, trying so hard to communicate with us and it is fun realizing that he understands some of what we are saying to him now too. He is also very much on the move and exploring everything. I did, however, recently reminisce on the "good ol' days" when I could put Luke down on the floor and he wouldn't go anywhere haha. I'm not sad to see him grow a year older because, well, that is what he is supposed to do and it means we are figuring out this whole parenting thing. It is fun and exciting to watch him grow into the person God has created him to be. There are big plans for this little boy.

It is a privilege and a blessing to be Luke's mom and I thank God every single day that he chose me for this job. I pray that Mark and I will do all that we can every single day to make sure he knows that he is loved and cherished and that God's love for him is even greater than that somehow.

I know that one day I will miss him being little, but for today, I won't be sad. I will enjoy the snuggles and be ready to celebrate a pretty awesome 1 year old.

We love you, Lukeman! Happy 1st Birthday!

Forever in My Heart

This past week has been an emotional one for me as Facebook shows me my memories from a year ago. These photos are what would end up being the last pictures and memories I would end up having of and with my sweet girl, Lilo. 12 months. 52 weeks. 365 days. Today marks 1 year without my best friend. Not a single day has gone by that I have not thought about her. Some days I miss her so much that it still brings tears to my eyes. I often made the comment that she would live forever but in her final weeks here with us, I knew in my heart that our time was quickly running out.

I remember the day so vividly and it is something that I have shared with very few people. That Friday night, Lilo had another seizure. This would be her third in about a month or so. With each seizure her physical appearance seemed to age by years. They were taking a major toll on her body. When Lilo had seizures she would spend the next several hours wandering around seeming disoriented. She would bump into furniture and find herself stuck in places, like under the bar stools or under the desk. I stayed out in the living room with her that night where neither one of us got much sleep.

The next day, Saturday, her and I spent the whole day together while Mark was at work. We took a bunch of short naps and in between, we hung out together outside in the sunshine. She walked circles around the outside of the house while I painted some furniture in the garage for Luke's nursery. She would check in with me with each lap she took. I washed the car while she remained close by, carefully avoided the water hose.  I even mustered the strength, at 31 weeks pregnant, to give her a bath in the tub that afternoon. We spent the rest of the day relaxing inside and snuggling. We had a great day, just me and my sweet girl.

That evening was like most of our evenings during this season. Mark and I had gone to bed and Lilo paced around the house for most of the night, as she often did, with her nails clinking on the hard floors. One of us would get up every few hours to let her out to use the bathroom, a symptom of her late stage kidney disease that we had been managing. This particular night when I woke to let her out, I noticed she had pooped in several spots and tracked it around the house. I let her outside so Mark and I could clean up the mess. She was used to going out by herself at night and would often walk around the house to be let in through the front door. As we cleaned, I noticed Lilo had come back to the back door ready to come in. We had a few more spots to clean so we left her out for a minute or two longer. When I went back to the door to let her in, she wasn't there. I assumed she had just made her nightly yard patrol trek to the front door, but she never came around. We both grabbed our shoes and head out to find her. Every once in a while she would wander to the empty lot beside ours, so we looked there first. Nope. We went back in to grab our flashlights and then checked neighbor's yards, ditches, the edge of the water behind our house, drainage pipes. We had literally saw her just a couple of minutes ago, where in the world could she have gone? What made it worse was that her hearing wasn't that great anymore and often times couldn't hear us calling for her. I started to feel panicked. Mark hopped in his car to drive around our small, yet very open neighborhood. I texted some friends who immediately headed over to our house to help. We drove along the edge of the woods, out to the main road, down the road a mile each way, and rechecked all of the places we had already checked more than once. Nothing. I knew in my heart she couldn't have wandered too far, after all she did not move very quickly these days. But where in the world was she?! After hours of searching tirelessly, we went back inside to try and rest with plans to go back out in the morning.

I couldn't sleep so I stayed out in the living room praying that she would walk up to the back door. Oh how I wish I could go back in time and let her in a few hours prior when she was standing there. I dozed on and off until the first sign of daylight. We went back out and continued our search, still hopeful that we would find her stuck somewhere. Our wonderful neighbors joined in to help. We rode around in a truck to the undeveloped part of our neighborhood. We road around the edge of the treeline looking for any signs of her. It wasn't until we were driving though a neighbor's yard, along the edge of the water, when I asked him to stop. I saw something in the water and was sure that it was just a fallen tree or something but I had to rule it out. As I walked closer, my heart sank. What I saw was not a tree, it was my sweet sweet girl floating ever so peacefully in the water. I completely lost it. My amazing neighbors took it upon themselves to retrieve her body from the water and bring her home to us. They then came to help us bury her. The love and generosity we were shown that day is something I will never forget.

 That day, 1 year ago, is to date the worst day I have ever personally experienced. The day seemed to drag on forever. For weeks, I cried more tears than I thought it was possible to cry. Hours upon hours we had searched for miles and she had never even left our yard. Lilo had never shown any interest in the water behind our house. My only thought is that she wandered back there in the dark in her disoriented state and slipped in. There was no way she was strong enough to swim. My hope is that, in her already weakened state, she did not struggle and passed quickly. I will never unsee that image I have of her and it's difficult not to think about how things could have gone differently that night.

Whether she knew what she was doing or not, I believe God did. I know Lilo did not have much time left and I was already questioning what quality of life she currently had. I think that God knew that I wouldn't be able to make the difficult decision that was most likely heading our way. She was old. She was tired. She was weak. She stayed loyal through it all. I think this was His way of letting her go peacefully without the build up of having to say goodbye to each other. I have to believe that. For 12 years, Lilo took care of me just as much as I took care of her. The timing of when she left, just weeks before welcoming a baby into our lives, can't be a coincidence. She has served her life's purpose and it was time to go.

I will forever have a Lilo sized void in my heart that can only be filled with wonderfully sweet memories of her and I. I am thankful to have many. 💕

Eating My Words

I'm sure it's normal for any woman who has ever dreamed of being a mom to have an idea of what kind of parent they would be. What they would or wouldn't do when they have a child of their own. Before I became a mom, I was careful to try and not have opinions about different parenting styles and tried to avoid saying, "I will never..." After all, how could I have much to say about something that I had no experience in?

Of course, I am not perfect and one situation that I thought I would know exactly how I would handle was going out places with a baby. Before having a baby, Mark and I would say that we wouldn't let the baby's schedule keep us from doing the things that we want to do and were part of our routine.  We had friends that would leave a get together early to put baby to bed or decline lunch plans because it was baby's nap time. Couldn't the little one just sleep wherever we were or sleep on the way home in the car? Surely it couldn't make that much of a difference. Could it? I suppose that some babies can handle that well but it most certainly is not for everyone.

In the first few months of Luke's life, it didn't matter as much. After all, he woke up every 2-3 hours and often slept while being held by one of us anyway. Once he began napping and sleeping in his crib with an actual routine, that all changed. We learned that Luke's morning nap is key and if he didn't have a good, morning, crib nap, we would be in for a looong afternoon. We can get by with an afternoon nap that may take take place in the car as we head to or from a destination, but we are a little more reluctant to do something that may cause us to miss that morning nap.

Luke's evening bedtime routine is pretty solid too and we learned Labor Day weekend how "off" he can easily become if we stray too far from that routine. We stayed out later than normal that Sunday night and that evening was a rough one and so was the next day. Our so called day-off haha.

So yes, I have become that mom that I said I wouldn't be. I am that mom that now politely declines invitations if it doesn't fit into nap time or leaves early to be home for our nightly bedtime routine. It isn't always easy to say no, as I miss that time with my friends and very much being involved in a weeknight Small Group at church. But I also recognize that this is just a short season and saying no is what works best for our family at this moment. So my takeaways from this are: never say never and as a mom, I will do whatever I have to to maintain peace, calm, and regularity at home. I'm thankful to have supportive friends who understand this yet continue to invite me anyway. I'll be back again.💜

As the World Turns

How is it already October?! I have heard people say it for years, "The older you become, the quicker time seems to go by."  That statement couldn't feel more real than it does now.

Mark and I will celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary next week. It feels like just yesterday that we stood at the outdoor alter at Christ Church with our closest family and friends. I know that 3 years isn't a terribly long time, but still. We have experienced so much together in that time. Mountain and beach vacations, trips to Boston at Christmas time, building our home, saying goodbye to an incredible dog, welcoming Luke into our family, adopting Lucy, and evacuating for our first major hurricane are some notable events. I've had a lot of people tell me that the two most challenging things for a couple to go through are building a house and having a baby and that if we could survive those events then we will be good. We survived the house building process and so far we are still standing as new parents.

But honestly, the only reason we have made it this far is because of God's great grace. We are far from perfect but we try our best to communicate with one another no matter how big or small an issue may be. The Lord has been so so good to us and we will continue to seek Him as we continue on this amazing journey together.

Another event that I believe speeds up time is having a baby. Luke will be 7 months old next week! SEVEN! I have no idea where the last 7 months have gone. With every new season we find ourselves in with Luke, that season becomes my new favorite. In just the last few weeks Luke has become proficient in rolling over in both directions, enjoys sleeping on his belly, has become strong enough to sit up with his hands supporting him on the floor, has eaten and enjoyed oatmeal, sweet potato, and banana, has tried avocado and egg but didn't care for it too much yet, drank water from a straw, had his first haircut, was dedicated at church, and is making more clear sounds when he talks (his favorite is dada.) Luke continues to brighten our days with his contagious smile and brings so much joy to our loves with his budding personality. I cannot imagine this world without him in it.

Lucy continues to settle in nicely in the 6 months she has been with us and we love her so. We are still getting used to having puppy energy in the house but she is a good girl. Luke is becoming more interested in her everyday. He likes to reach his hand out if she is close by to try and touch her and she loves to lick him every chance she gets. It won't be long before he is throwing the ball to her in the yard and they are running around together. All she wants is to be around her humans and love on us.




On the other side of that, it has been a little over 8 months since we lost our sweet girl, Lilo. It still feels so fresh some days. It doesn't take much for me to have a memory of her that snowballs into everything leading up to her passing. I hold back tears often. She sure was something special and impossible to forget. I'm thankful that we were able to honor her life by saving another.

I'm 36 years old and being a mom has been my absolute favorite job yet. I continue to struggle some with the whole working mom thing. I've been back for about 5 months now and it is difficult to drop him off at daycare each morning, although the tears have faded. I have no major issues with the actual daycare itself. His teachers are great and he is always happy when I arrive to pick him up at the end of the day. I just miss him so much and often feel like I am missing out on big things with him. He is changing so quickly and I want to be the one feeding him, changing him, playing with him, and putting him down for naps. I didn't realize until I actually became a mom, how difficult it would be to be both a mom and go to work full-time. Selfishly, I would love to spend my days with Luke but me working truly is what is best for our family at this point in time. I keep reminding myself of that and try to see the bigger picture. I admit that there have been days where I have allowed comparison to steal my joy and it is a real battle. Sometimes those days allow me greater opportunity to dig down deep and grow stronger in my faith. I pray for peace daily and am trusting God that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. I've said it before but I am thankful that I work for a wonderful, family friendly, organization and with great people. That support is what helps to get me through the rough days.

Just this week, this quote was part of my daily devotional that stood out to me:

"Occasionally weep deeply over the life you hoped would be. Grieve the losses. Then wash your face. Trust God. And embrace the life you have." - John Piper

I love my life and know that I am greatly blessed with an amazing family. I am working on and learning to embrace every moment of this beautiful life I have been given. After all, time goes by way too quickly and seasons of life are just that, periods of time that eventually transform and make way for something else. We only get one life and I want to live mine filled with JOY. (Although those crazy hormones still try to get in the way.) 😉

The Season of Transitions

We have seen many transitions in our family in the last few months.

Asleep in his crib

The transition that I am most excited to share is that Luke is sleeping in his crib now, even for naps!  He has even slept through the night a hand full of times. Generally, he will sleep a good 6 hour stretch, wake to eat, and then right back to sleep for a couple more hours. I think the question that I am asked by others most frequently is if I am getting any sleep. I happy to be able to answer that with a happy YES! Fingers crossed that this is a habit he sticks with.

My transition back to work full-time was very challenging for me at first but it has gotten better week by week. As much as I would love to be able to stay home with him, I do feel that being a working mom has helped me be a better mom in some regards. I cherish every moment I have with him...the good, the bad, and the ugly. I think I am more patient with him and am more intentional with our time together. I don't take anything with him for granted. We have our little morning and evening routines now and look forward to that time together. His smile when he sees me at the end of the day melts my heart every time. It also helps that I enjoy what I do and am surrounded by great people all day long. The encouragement and support from my family and friends makes all the difference.

Jma and Lukeman loving life!

Grammy's are the best!

For the last 7 weeks it did help that Luke was spending his days with family. This has been an incredible blessing and we are thankful that he didn't have to go to daycare at 2 or 3 months old. J Ma (Mark's mom) helped us early on with getting him into a nice little routine during the day. I love that they have been able to spend all of that time together. We were also blessed to have my mom, Grammy, visit and stay with us for 3 1/2 weeks this summer. They had so much fun together and had some good time to bond. She even discovered the trick to get him to enjoy bath time. He needed to be able to splash his feet in the water and have the scary running water turned off. Having my mom here was a huge help to us in so many ways. I am able to appreciate my mom in a whole new way since having Luke and it was so special to share this experience with her. Being a Grammy suites her well.

Rubber Ducky, you're the one

Tummy time is hard work!

Both grandmas have played a crucial role in helping Luke with his physical therapy exercises each day. He continues to show progress and is gaining neck strength daily. His head control is significantly better. We have been working on neck stretching, tracking exercises, reaching for toys and bringing them to his mouth, good alignment with tummy time, and most recently, rolling over. his pediatrician told us to start baby proofing the house because he will be scooting around before we know it. I'm not sure I'm ready for that just yet!

Lucy girl checking out the ocean

Luke has spent a couple Sunday mornings in the church nursery. He seems to enjoy it back there and it allows us to hear the message with our undivided attention. Another first for us was a family vacation to the beach and oh my how vacations have changed for a while. The pre-mom me would have spent the whole day at the beach each day, soaking up the sun.  We spent a lot of our time sitting on the front porch, in the shade, looking across at the water. It was still super relaxing to not have anywhere to be and to spend time with family. Lucy even joined us on this trip and was a very polite house guest.

Our next big transition began this week with Luke starting daycare. I know that he will be fine but I am still nervous to send him. He is just so little and won't get the one on one attention like he has been. I worry about his exercises during playtime not being done correctly and him regressing with his physical therapy. I worry about him not napping well and crying and me wondering how they will console him. And then there's the sicknesses that come with being around all those kids everyday.  I need to let go and trust. The first day started better than I thought it would. I, of course, cried when I kissed him goodbye. I did sit in there with him for a good 15 minutes and fed him a snack sized bottle before I left. Leaving him with strangers (who will hopefully soon become friends)  was one of the

We survived the first day of daycare!

hardest things I have ever had to do as a mom. It comforted me to see how the other babies were doing in there. They all seemed happy and very curious about the new kid in class. I thought about him all day long and wondered what and how he was doing. I didn't call though. I felt it would be better for myself to not constantly check in. At pick up, I could tell he had been crying, which broke my heart. I was hoping to walk in to see him playing and smiling. When I asked the girls how he did they both just looked at each other, as if to decide who to break the news to me. The one girl said , "Uh, he did ok. He was fussy today." I reached for him and he clung onto me and my eyes filled up with tears again. They reassured me that all babies have a difficult time initially and that he will adjust. He was all smiles by the time we got to the car and he talked to his elephant on the ride home about his day. I think that once he adjusts, I feel feel a whole lot better leaving him each morning. I have no doubts that he will make some friends and learn lots of new things by watching them. He is currently the youngest baby in the classroom so he will see a lot of new things. Maybe I'll even make a new friend or two.

Finally, and most importantly, one transition that no one really talks about is how dynamics change when you go from a couple without children to one with. There is nothing easy about bringing a baby home. Of course we love Luke more than I can describe and wouldn't trade him for anything in the world, but it is not all rainbows and sunshine all of the time. It is hard, never ending work and it can take a toll on your relationship if you aren't careful and intentional. This new tiny person enters your world and demands all of your attention making it hard to make time for each other.  There have been many days in the last 4 months that I have been exhausted, hormonal, frustrated, and a million other things, including not very nice. I don't know why it is so easy to take things out on the ones you love the most. There have been days when emotions ran high and we have become annoyed with one another, resulting in even worse communication between us. It is in those difficult moments that we need to practice giving grace more than ever...to ourselves and to each other. It's easy to blame it on the lack of sleep or crazy schedules but if I am being honest, I believe that for me it has more to do with my lack of spending time with God. Thanks to constant encouragement and support from one beautiful sister in Christ in particular, who also happens to be a new mom herself, I am getting back on track with spending time in the Word and making that AND spending one on one time with Mark a priority.
We were able to spend a couple of hours out together this past weekend and it was nice to be together, just the two of us...even if part of that date included a trip to the grocery store. It is so important to continue to intentionally grow and nurture your marriage after a major life change like bringing a baby home.  I've always heard people talk about putting your marriage before your kids and I better understand why now. Obviously this is a season where Luke needs a whole lot of attention but we are going to do our best to take the time for the two of us. If we aren't working well together as a team then the whole family suffers. All that Luke will become begins at home. I know that there will most likely be more challenging days and seasons down the road but if we work to keep God at the center of our marriage and remind each other that we are a team then we will be just fine.

Thanks for reading! I'll be back when I find a few minutes to spare 😉