Moms Nurturing Moms

This morning I attended something new at 1st Baptist, called Moms Nurturing Moms. This ministry is just one of many amazing outreach programs 1st Baptist has to offer. I am not sure how they do it every week but today the way they did it was they dedicated an hour to a speaker and another hour to a craft. This ministry charges not one single penny for the craft, refreshments and offers free childcare for the time you are in the event! Isn't that amazing! Sounds like this church has some financial things in line and therefore they are allowed to bless others with kindness.
I really enjoyed it. The speaker, Mary Beth Gibson (I think that's her last name), has 10 children. She is 51 with a 5 year old! She has been pregnant 10 times, none of them are multiple births. I loved hearing her speak. There were two definate things that caught my attention from her speaking.
First, she mentioned the order of priority in family should go like this: God first, spouse second and child last. Mario and I are taking a class at N. Cleveland on Wednesdays called Marriage On The Rock and we just went over that last night. I guess God may be telling me to get my priorities in order.
And second, I loved to see her speak about debatable issues (such as not using birth control) so confidently. I mean can you imagine having ten kids? I think its great and I agree with a lot she believes but I know that others have to question curiously and this family is probably never looked at normal. That sounds harsh but it has to be the truth. (I look at them normal.)
The second hour was spent decorating a pumpkin. Mine is pictured below. I chose one of the baby ones (I think I was the only one). They had many ways you could decorate them and this was the way I chose. All supplies were given to us for free!!! Needless to say I enjoyed myself.
Here are a few things I know I need to work on after attending today and the Marriage on the Rock class. After hearing we are supposed to put our spouses first I know I can do that a lot better. Here are five ways I plan to let my husband know he comes first and that he is special to me.

1. Greet him at the door everyday with Dalen when he comes home after work. (This sounds really small but it impacts really big to know someone is waiting on you and anticipating your arrival.)

2. Invest more time into communicating about the small things like how our day was.

3. Make sure our date night happens weekly and make sure we do one thing he wants to do. (So often date night seems to be solely about me.)

4. Somehow throughout the day let Mario know I am thinking about him while he is at work.

5. Show appreciation for all he does more outwardly.

God Reliant

My previous post leads me to this one....you may want to read it first.

Proverbs 3:5-6

To be totally reliant, dependent on something you must trust that source. Lately I have been repenting for not relying on God, the source. He is our everything....if we let him be. I have always known that the only difference between a rich person and poor person is that the rich person has more options. Because of our financial situation I find myself panicking. (this is totally out of character for me) If our insurance doesn't cover tests or medications, I feel like ok we are going to be screwed because our insurance is what we rely on for our physical well being. I relied on WIC for a long time for formula for Dalen and now that we don't "qualify" "because we make too much" (don't get me started) I worry because thats been our source.
I have totally been missing it. With or without the government's help we will make it. No wonder our generation doesn't see miracles! We aren't reliant upon God for them. Our insurance covers one doctors office in this town and we have no other options....or so I thought. There is one other doctor we can go to God. He is our healer. He is our provider. In him will I trust.

Remember this....
the less reliant upon God you are, the more reliant you are upon something else. That something else can very easily turn into idolatry.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg??

All of my faithful readers have to know about the problems Dalen has encountered with allergies and breathing. After a skin test at the allergist the results had to be confirmed with a blood test. (Not too sure why you just don't do a blood test and be done with it but I guess they want to be as annoying as possible) I got Dalen's results back today and I am extremely bothered. They say he has a pretty decent allergy to egg. Egg is in EVERYTHING! It's going to be really rough dealing with that. What bothers me the most is, these results don't explain why he has had these symptoms since he was like 3 months old! It's not egg! Maybe he does have an allergy but the symptoms that occurred beginning at 3 months are not because of egg.
I have been really frustrated with the doctors in this area. They have been extremely unprofessional and uninformative. At the end of the day, I HAVE to remember that the GREAT PHYSICIAN is my father, my God. I am giving this totally to him. If you are reading this PLEASE stop and pray for Dalen. And pray that as a parent I will be reliant on God for every need we have.
I have a strong feeling Dalen has an intolerance (not allergy) to milk. This began not long after he was getting formula and worsened the more milk he gets. I am following discernment on this and I am going to do my own little testing on him to see if it's a possibility. Please pray that God will give me a specific answer. I am praying for confirmation and a testimony for years to come.

Taste The Nations

I think Dalen heard us say the food was free.
Mario and me. Gosh I am so pale.
Dalen walking into lunch on Sunday morning.
Dad showing Dalen Olivia.

Sunday was missions Sunday for our church. Sunday night was entitled Taste The Nations. Each ministry volunteered to man a booth that represented different countries and serve native foods from there. Many of the booths had people dressed in clothes from different countries. It was such a great idea. Although I don't have any pics from inside the event I have a few of our family.

Haunted Llamas...with chicklet sized teeth

This weekend was the Apple Festival in Cleveland. What fun! I am totally serious. It was so much fun to take Dalen around to all of the booths and a petting zoo. He is just getting at the age where ANYTHING intrigues him. Gran, Great Gran, Aunt Mary, Uncle Jon and Cousin Yibby joined us. Pop and Grum stayed back at the store.


Dalen cozying up to Grump after riding around.The llama at the petting zoo with chicklet sized teeth. He chased me OUT of the petting zoo...LITERALLY! Dalen pulled his hair and I guess he thought it was me!!!! It was very frightening.

Olivia snoozing away.
SHE'S AWAKE!

Great Gran held Dalen's hand by his stroller. If she would let go he would reach for her.
3 generations!
Dalen petting a billy goat....with horns!
Dalen petting a sheep.....or pulling its hair out...literally.
The haunted llama I CAN NOT get out of my mind. He is the ugliest creature ever known to man.

Watch at the end of the video...Dalen pulls the crap out of his hair! He LOVES animals but bless his heart he is so mean to them.

Still Loving

Today is a day Mario and I still celebrate. October 15 was the date we starting dating...6 years ago. Of course now we have another anniversary on Feb. 25 but we still celebrate our dating one too...because its fun. It's pretty cool we have been together for 6 years and we still love each other...a lot. I love being married. Mario gave me the 2 happiest days of my life....our wedding day and finding out I was pregnant. Couldn't find a wedding pic on the comp. so I uploaded one of our honeymoon. I was skinny and tan....oh the potential my body had if I tried....but I don 't.

I love marraige, love my husband and love our family. i am so blessed to have one that loves me back.

Music Lover

So its been obvious since like birth that Dalen loves music. I love it too. My sister makes fun of me because I listen to 92.3 a lot. It's the station that my mom listens to...lol. It's 70s, 80s and early 90s. I LOVE it and apparently Dalen loves it too. here he is keeping the beat to a few oldied.

Interpretive Crawl

Here is Dalen at church in the floor in the back. You can barely see him because for some reason churches like to meet in the dark now....thats a whole nother blog. Anyways...he does this spin thing now it almost looks like he is break dancing. But to this music it looks like interprative crawl instead of dance. He also claps in between spins.

50 things I have learned since I became a mother

1. Never leave home without an extra outfit....for your child AND YOURSELF!
2. Check the diaper bag before leaving and make sure you aren't forgetting essentials.
3. I can go without a lot more sleep than I ever thought.
4. Pregnancy did my body good.....until after delivery.
5. I take after my mom in the fact that I like to feel needed.
6. There is nothing that fulfills me more than being a wife and a mom.
7. My husband is not only a good husband he is a GREAT dad.
8. Babies grow and change REALLY fast.
9. Your marriage can be affected in a good way or bad way from parenthood and it's a choice how your marriage will be affected.
10. Spanking doesn't change as much as it did two decades ago.
11. My son WILL have manners and he will learn from me and my actions.
12. Temper tantrums are not attractive.
13. Wal-mart is NOT the place to go if you don't like strangers touching your kids.
14. As soon as you announce you're pregnant, somehow for some reason people automatically begin asking your questions that they feel are now their business.....about breastfeeding, about your sex life, about what type of contraceptives you were using and if your child was planned....NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!
15. Breastfeeding is NOT worth my sanity.
16. I gain my weight after pregnancy not during.
17. I hate my stomach being touched....pregnant or not.
18. Stretch marks change colors with the seasons....I'm serious.
19. Diaper Genie's do not eliminate odors!
20. I am VERY impatient.
21. I am not a people person.
22. I have a VERY extreme personality and it shows with how I parent Dalen.
23. Date nights take a lot more work, require more money spent and have to take place a lot later.
24. Three is not company it's family.
25. I have what it takes to have the BIG family I have always wanted.
26. I am the silliest when it's just me and Dalen.
27. Dalen has my smile.
28. I would rather Dalen look awesome then for me to even look ok.
29. There is no such thing as a peaceful bath unless Dalen is gone.
30. I drive too fast.
31. I am a very protective person when it comes to Dalen and Mario.
32. I have great friends who love my life just as much as I do.
33. I want everyone I love to experience the things I love.
34. A penny goes a loooong way when a kid needs something.
35. My parents will NEVER be the same and Dalen can do NO wrong in their eyes.
36. Baby showers are a blessing from God.
37. Every kid should have a dog.
38. Your life in NOT over when you have a baby....it is just beginning.
39. The world isn't so safe anymore.
40. I would choose to change poopy diapers anyday rather than cleaning the house.
41. I am NOT the stay at home type of mom.
42. Labor and delivery are painful and it takes a strong mind to get through it.
43. My sisters are good aunts.
44. My church could be more family centered.
45. Loving your child doesn't mean you love anyone/anything less but your love for everything is enhanced because you are constantly seeing things through your child's eyes and it's as though you are seeing things and people for the first time all over again.
46. Cars aren't big enough for babies.
47. You can't be a Godly parent without praying daily.
48. There are no short cuts to being a good parent.
49. Diapers are so expensive b-c they know you have to buy them.
50. I love Dalen.

I've gotta fever

Today is parent's day out. I am always rushing to get out of the door by 8:50 so I can drop Dalen off and be to work by 9 (luckily everything is about 3 blocks apart from each other). I rarely make it to work on time on Tuesdays.
Anyways, Dalen is now weighing in at a whopping 24 lbs. My back is killing me. So being the mean mom I am I decided if Dalen can walk he is going to walk. I am not going to be carrying him everywhere we go. So, I made him walk from the car to the door of Parent's Day Out. He whined pitifully the whole way and kept trying to grab a hold of my pants so that I would pick him up. I totally ignored him and keep encouraging him to walk.
We get to the door and I pick him up to make it through the door and I put him down the minute we got in. He refused to walk. So I left him sitting the middle of the floor to whine and pout. I signed him in and helped him up. Off walking we went. He purposefuly kept faling so that I would pick him up.
Out of nowhere a kid from his class (same age) comes walking by. This kid wasn't even holding his mom's hand. Literally I watched Dalen watch him and look up at me and push my hand away and he immediately took off to his class. WHAT A COPY CAT!
Hopefully he won't copy bad things. Anyways this triggered baby fever once again for me. I really want another one. Especially now that Dalen is becoming more independent. I feel like he doesn't need me as much (thank god) but now I want someone else to want me. I feel a lecture coming on when I get home....my husband reads my blog.

One of those days...

Today has been one of those days.  One of those days that you will remember forever and when you share it with your friends they laugh but you don't and they comfort you by saying you will laugh someday.  

Dalen's breathing treatments haven't been working.  So, today we had to take him to the allergist and asthma specialist.  First of all can I just ask why in the world are you always at the doctor forever!?  Don't you love how doctors take freaking forever to get you back and then you sit in the room waiting forever.  BUT if patients are ever late the receptionists try to get a attitude knowing the doctor isn't going to be ready for you for another hour.  GRRR!!!

Anyways, we arrive on time and get called back in a decent amount of time. They do a skin test and Dalen tests positive for being allergic to egg and rice.  Who even knew such allergies exist?!  Then I am told he needs to go to another doctor's office to confirm those results by having a blood test ran. Oh and that doesn't explain why his nose is runny. So here we are back at square 1.  

Dalen's on yet another medication and it's a wait and see process.  After being at the allergist for over 2 hours we finally go home.  Dalen went through 9 diapers from 9-2 because he is constantly going diarrhea.  He has been through 2 outfits.  He has no other symptoms though. I couldn't even make it to work today so I am out of pay for the day.  

Dalen needs a lot of prayer and I am just praying for a healing in his body so we don't have to deal with this anymore.   

Who Knows?

Dalen being silly on a morning drive today.

Creative Friends Making Up For An Uncreative Mom

As you all know, Dalen turned one a few weeks ago. A few weeks before his birthday I was talking to my friend Andrea and explaining all of the ideas I STILL have for Dalen's nursery. His walls are just too bare. I have canvases with animals to go on them, the paint and the letters to spell out each animal. The problem? I am just not creative. I try to be but everything comes out mismatched and crooked. I even misspell words because I think I focus TOO much.
So I was really thankful at Dalen's birthday party when he got some wall decor. Adrienne made him a shadow box with his name in it and all kinds of jungle animals that match his room perfectly. Today Andrea came in town and gave us some super cute frames she made for his wall. They have pictures of him all in them with jungle animals.

Loco-Motives

I've done a lot of thinking. I am not God and only God can see the true intensions man is compelled by. The only truth I can come to is that everything we do has been compelled by a motive. A motive is the essence of of being compelled. In other words, it's why we do something.
Before we do anything an emotion or reaction has been aroused within us and motivates these essences to surface. An action has never once come to pass without being motivated by the essence of something. For example, if you see a chil being beaten the essence of anger may motivate you to hit the child's abuser.
I'm really curious about the essence of intensions. Are they pure or impure? Was a kind act really a selfish facade so that an image could be exalted or improved in the eyes of others? I will never truly know.
We must be careful because the Bible is clear about the ways of man. The ways of men seem pure but God weighs the motives of every man's hearts. In other words, sometimes what seems so pure isn't pure at all and God knows.
I've been seen a lot of people doing a lot of work for others. Work for the poor, homeless, widowed, and orphans. We must not be so focused on the act that we forget the essence in which the act was compelled by. Keep yourself pure. Act with a purpose that has a clear essence.
Otherwise you are simply dealing with Loco-Motives.

Rencent Pics

The other day we had our front door open right at sunset. The sun was shining so bad in our living room Dalen was squinting. I tried to get his picture but this is how it turned out. he looks like an angel! Seriously! I sent it to my sister as a joke telling her a diving creature was sitting in our living room.

Here are some recent pics of Dalen.

Dalen has been going straight to sleep at night without even crying most nights. His naptime is a totally different story. He hovers to one side of his crib (the side closest to the door so he can peek out the small crack) and screams. This is the 2nd time I have peeked at him through the cracks and seen him so this. He literally screams so loud and uses so much energy eventually he falls asleep sitting up and then collapses foward. He sleeps bent in half for most naps. Its hilarious. Thank God for crib bumpers!
Here is Dalen in his Sunday outfit. He threw up all over it about 5 minutes after being in the nursery. We think we gave him 2 much whole milk.
This was taken at about 7:30 am. It's no secret Dalen LOVES his Pop. He would rather be with him anyday than me. After Mario leaves he spends most mornings screaming at the gate for him to come back.

Perfect meds for a sinus headache

Lately I have been getting what I think are sinus headaches. I have never had this problem before so I am not totally sure but I think that is what I have been dealing with. Yesterday was just one of those days. Not a thing in the world would make Mr. D happy. Here he is giving me just what I needed for my headache.

Teapots

A few months back a strange thing happened to me. Everywhere I went, I would see teapots. Every magazine I would read or movie I watched contained at least one image or the word teapot. Very strange. Maybe not to you, but it was to me.
Most of my friends classify my as crazy anyway so I guess it won't hurt to share this crazy life experience with you. As time went on, teapots were far never from my sight or hearing. I got the strange intuition God was trying to tell me something. Yes, through a teapot. I know crazy...you were warned in advance. I know this is so strange but I began to pray about it. I would ask God what are you trying to show me? Are you trying to tell me something? After sometime of this, during a pivotal time in our life, God revealed to me what he was telling me.
I heard every to I'm A Little Teapot over and over. What I got from it was that we are all equipped....for one purpose TO BE USED. I'm a little teapot, short and stout, here is my handle, here is my spout. Teapots are equipping for the storing and serving of tea. They have a lid and a handle and a spout. These are useless unless they are used.
What God was trying to tell me is that even though I don't see it he has equipped me for kingdom work. I have all of the essentials but I have to shout tip me over and pour me out. I know its kind of silly but it was a very divine revelation for myself.
Before a teapot is a teapot, its a lump of clay. It doesn't become a teapot until it has visited the potter's wheel. Thats where I am. I am being pressed, molded and shaped for kingdom work. God is perfecting me for the calling he has for us.
It's painful.

What is the world coming to?

This was my look exactly when I heard that PETA was wanting Ben N' Jerrys to change their cows milk to BREAST milk....yep, you read right. B-R-E-A-S-T milk. Seriously I was so overwhelmed with disgust I gagged right in the middle of my living room. Any of you who know me know that I can barely look at a glass of milk (real milk that is) much less think of drinking one and then to think of someone drinking breast milk.....OH MY GOSH! That is just absurd! DISGUSTING! APPAULING! Should not be aired on public television! So with all going on in the world here are a few reasons why I have been asking WHAT IS THE WORLD COMING TO?

10. Schools in certain areas of the country get a break for Jewish holidays. AND our congress. Aren't these the people who favor no prayer in school and separation of church and state? Why the heck is this ok? So, basically we will recognize religion when we can get a break....LOUSY.

9. The once $0.99 menu at Wendy's has increased. My once $0.99 baked potato is now $1.29.

8. Doctors are now saying Kindergarteners should be the starting grade for sex ed. No I am NOT kidding. They are actually trying to get this as a law.

7. Nursery duty is the highlight of my week.

6. Books like Harry Potter with witchcraft and profanity in them are REQUIRED reading in some school systems.

5. Sherri from the view confesses to talking to God and she is called crazy.

4. Before leaving home I think twice and ask myself if going to run that errand going to waste too much gas.

3. I can't read the news online without being asked if I would watch a Britney Spears sex tape if it were released....just in case you are wondering....NO! I WOULD NOT!

2. I can no longer pay my phone bill over the phone with a debit card without paying an extra fee. And believe me the extra fee is PRETTY significant.

1. I am 24 and asking what the world is coming to.