Category Archives: An Ordinary Mom

CUTE!!!!!

A favorite from the recent Birthday party

Nag, nag, nag

Two Awesome Books –And I Know the Author

James and Jax

I’m linking up with my friend Jaime again this week.
The Hiccupotamus and The Chuckling Duckling are beautifully written and illustrated children’s books by Aaron Zenz.  I would say that even if I didn’t know the author/illustrator…but I do, which makes them even cooler.

I have known Amity, Aaron’s wife, since before they were dating.  We went to college together.  I remember when they started dating.  Then I lived around the corner from their first apartment after they got married.  They are an amazing couple!  But enough about them, truly the books themselves stand on their own merits.

The Chuckling Duckling is a great book that teaches kids animal names.  Names I had never heard, like Cria, which is a baby Llama, and the familiar, puppy, which is a baby dog.  The illustrations are spectacular.  This book is not only educational, it is cute!

And we can’t forget the Hiccupotamus about a hippo who gets, you guessed it, the hiccups.  His hiccups make a mess for a lot of his friends, so they set out to get rid of them…

The art and color in this one is breathtaking.  Some of the words are tongue twisters.  Trust me, you will love it!

Both are available on Amazon.  My friend Ali has an affiliate link if you are looking to do some shopping!

Cider Mill Snapshots

We went to a cider mill a couple weeks ago.  And here are just a few of the pictures we took.

Linking up at What I Love. And Amy Blogs it All.

Please also stop and see how you can pray for my friend Ali.

Jump, Jump Fun

We had a great time at a birthday party last week.  It was at Bounce U.
Caitlyn was extremely outgoing and played with the other kids though most of them were several years older than her.  Sue was a little more cautious and chose to bounce alone quite a bit.  I think the weight of having the others bouncing around her was unsettling.  She is only 26 lbs at almost 4 years old.  Caitlyn, by about 45 minutes into it, said she was tired…I say that’s not a bad thing!

Please head over to Ali’s and see how you can pray for her family.

Blueberry Picking Again

Blueberry picking this year

 Looks a little different than last year…

I was 38 weeks, 6 days pregnant with Patrice when we went last year.  This year we are are just hours from celebrating her first birthday.

I love having my three girls.  There are no words that will ever express it fully.  I also cannot find the words to express how bittersweet her birthday is.  So I think I will ignore that for a moment and share a few more of our blueberry picking adventure.

We got rained on…not horrible, but we were wet.

The heavens opened up as we were driving away.  We happily drove home with our 10+ pounds of blueberries…just a few minutes into our drive we also had two sleeping little girls…I think Patrice as too excited to sleep!  This time around had to be more fun for her than last year…though she was hanging out in a “swimming pool” last time…hmmm, wonder what she was thinking today…

Saturday Snapshots is understandably on hiatus.  Please head over to Ali’s and see how you can pray for her family.

I Am No Theologian

I am no theologian.  Let’s just get that out there.  But I am a Christian.  And there are a few things I believe to be true.

I believe Jesus is the Son of God, that He was born a man of the virgin Mary, that He lived a sinless life, died on the cross for our sins, rose from the grave after three days and ascended back into heaven where He sits at the right hand of God the Father.

I belive in the power of prayer.  I believe it is important to have that communication with God.  I believe He always hears us.  I believe He answers in the way He sees fit.  I know it is not always the way I think He should answer.  I believe He is able to heal us of all diseases and does so.  I believe sometimes He heals without the use of medicine, I believe sometimes He waits until we are in heaven to heal us completely.  And I believe sometimes He uses medicine to bring about healing in our lives.

And I believe that sometimes that is not the way I wish He would do things.  I most certainly wish the postpartum depression were gone.  I wish it would have never come in the first place.  I could have lived my whole life without experiencing the depression and anxiety of the last 9 months.

When it became apparent the postpartum depression was not going to leave on it’s own, my midwife and I began talking about possibly using an antidepressant.  I really struggled with that.  I really struggled with not being able to read my Bible enough or pray enough to get rid of the depression and anxiety.  I worried about what needing medication for my mental health would do to my witness as a Christian.  Would people see that as a failing in my faith?  Would it make non-believers, and believers, think my faith wasn’t strong enough or my God wasn’t big enough?

To be honest, I still worry and wonder.  Am I weak?  Am I not allowing God to work mightily enough in my life?

My friend Ali talked about postpartum depression in one of her recent posts.  She asks some very important questions, including am I overtired, am I exercising enough, and the tougher ones, how is my prayer life, am I spending time reading my Bible.  Everything she asks are valid questions.  And important to ask.  And I have asked them.  And they are a key place to start before making any decisions.  We do need to be taking care of ourselves in the basics of our physical life and our spiritual life.  Things go sideways when we are not doing so.  Rough times gets rougher if we don’t take care of ourselves.

And I will admit, I am lacking in some of those areas.  Could this time with postpartum depression be easier if I weren’t?  Maybe.  Do I wish I could pray my way out of this?  Definitely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But after asking myself the questions Ali brings up, I found something was still needed.

Right now the Lord is working in my life through medication and treatment, through help from other Christians lifting me up and carrying me, through introducing me to other ladies who are walking the same road of PPD.  I don’t know why I must go through the PPD, but through it seems to be my only option.  So I walk through it.  I cast my burdens upon the Lord.  I ask others to lift me up in prayer.  And I learn to trust the Lord more.  He knows the plans He has for me.  He knows why I am walking the road I am on.  He knows He is not punishing me.  He knows what the future holds.  And I know I will be okay because I know He holds the future.  And He holds me.

I pray you are able to let Him hold you in whatever joy or struggle you are living right now.  I pray He is drawing you closer to Himself regardless of the circumstances of your life.  And I pray my struggle with PPD has not confused your view of God.  He is all powerful to heal and to save.  I am frail and weak, but He is not.  Please know God wants to know you personally.  He wants to walk with you throughout all that is in your life.

Please let my blog, thoughts and Christian walk point you toward God, not away.  I am by no means perfect, but I desire to see the Lord working in my life and in yours.  Please ask me questions if something you see in my life is confusing, please ask if there is something I can join you in praying about.  Please know my heart is to see His glory, no matter how I might be acting!  Please.

Welcome to my 1 year Anniversary Post!!!!

I am sitting here wishing I had something totally fun and profound for my 1 year anniversary post, but I got nuthin’!  Yup, a lot of  nuthin’.

I am ever so thankful for blogging.  It started as a fun hobby to share pictures and random thoughts and support some blogging friends.  It has become so much more.  I have “met” some fantastic people through blogging.  And gained some amazing prayer support from those other bloggers.

The Lord has also used the blogging mightily as I walk through postpartum depression.  It was one of the things that became a struggle to continue to do as I withdrew into my darkness, but also became a path back into the light.  It started with the Saturday Snapshots over on An Ordinary Mom’s blog and from there I found other blog hops for inspiration and ideas.  I will be forever indebted to these bloggers and the encouragement they were to me.

Blogging has also become my way to share some information.  While I was expecting Patrice, I shared some information about breech presentation babies.  I am hoping it helps other mamas if they end up in a similar situation and then when I decided I would share about the PPD, I hope other mamas will find my posts and maybe it will help them walk through the darkness.  I have benefitted greatly from encouragement from others in the on-line world and hope I can contribute the same for others.

Overall, I see this blog as something the Lord has used in my life and I hope He will use it for His glory as I continue sharing here.

Many blessings to you on my blogaversary!