It has been 3 months since my last blog. There has been this thing called life going on. I will excitedly tell you all about what has been happening. You might want to stop here and get a cup of coffee, this is kind of long.
The last mention of our search for a new church was in my blog "God is working on me daily and I love it!!" Soon after that blog our family joined Doorway Baptist Church. We are all so happy to be here, learning under Dr. Beck, and just being surrounded by Christians who are living and loving like the Bible speaks of. We have found what I had been missing since the day we left Faith Assembly. We were quickly welcomed into this amazing church family, and know God has a plan for both the church and our family. We love serving people and just being a part of a church that really wants to grow and share the gospel. There are so many ministries and events to be a part of. Mateo's Sunday school class has sponsored the local Fire Station. They take pizza once a month, and do things in between to reach out to them. Our Sunday school class had the opportunity to volunteer serve in the concession stand at the Fort Dorchester High School football games every other week. The other young adults Sunday school class has taken on My Sisters House, which is a shelter for women to be free from abuse. This class has taken up donations for the needed toiletries and also volunteered to repair and clean up their facility. The Women's Ministry has met on several occasions to sew pillow cases for both the deployed military and for the kids at MUSC Children's Hospital. Our newest and most recent outreach was the Chops for Cops dinner. Dishes were provided and served by the members of the church for the North Charleston Police Department. There are so many more ministries, I mention these because I have had the pleasure of taking part in these events in the last few months and they have all been very humbling. It is amazing to see the members pouring out God's love into our community, I am so happy God placed us here.
My journey with reading and studying God's Word continues daily. I started January of this year on a 90 day journey to read my Bible front to back. Well, this didn't happen. I soon realized after the first month that as a fairly new Christian this goal was unachievable for me. I couldn't understand and put into practice everything I was reading if I just read through it without taking the time to study and ask questions. I am now in Luke, leaving me with 24 books to read after this is complete. I have to say though, after lots of prayer, and taking away the pressure of completing the 90 day challenge, the Holy Spirit is revealing so much to me that I would have missed if I were still just reading to complete it in 90 days. Over this last year I have tried to have my Bible time at different times of the day, but I have found getting up 30 minutes before everyone in our house and having that alone time with God, is what starts my day off right. I noticed when I did this in the evening before bed my day just wasn't right. Plus if I was super tired or had a bad day, I would neglect my nightly readings because I just wanted to go to bed. If I have learned anything from this Bible study time it is that when I put God first everything else just seems to flow. He gives me the tools to get through each day, and I am not sure how I lived before.
Now to talk about my husband, David. For those that don't know he has been in school at CSU full time since we got married and also working full time in the evenings for the US Air Force. He will be done with his bachelors this December and graduating at the beginning of next year. I couldn't be more proud of everything he does. Not only does he take the time to pray with me in the mornings, he goes to school, then work, and most evenings manages to still come home to eat dinner with the family. On days he is exhausted he still finds that last little bit of energy to play baseball outside with Mateo. My husband has always been a sarcastic, honest, and funny man. He keeps the humor going in our house. After he read a facebook post from his friend yesterday morning before church he comes to me while I am getting ready and says "Girl are you a biblical method of baptism because I'm immersed in your beauty?" I just looked at him and asked "where did you read that?" He then told me where he got it from. This was almost as memorable as the first pick up line a guy ever used on me. "Are you from Tennesee??" My response: no, why? "Because you are the only ten I see." On to the next bit of humor. David has been off from work for a week, he gets excited being off work for many reasons but one being he doesn't have to shave. hahahaha the little things in life that we look forward to. Today he returns to work and in celebration of "Movember" and not wanting to shave his week long facial hair, this picture tells all of how he looked when he came downstairs leaving for work. We all laughed.Yes, he did leave the house like this. I explained that if I go into labor I have a razor in my hospital bag and he can shave this off at the hospital before we take any pictures. Oh how God has truly blessed me with this man. He is a great husband, amazing father, and on days I am not wanting to laugh he finds a way to make it happen.
Mateo, is another blessing in my life. I currently am homeschooling him in Pre-K. Some weeks we do school 5 days, but do to "life" and him learning Pre-K most weeks it is 3-4 days a week. I really enjoy this opportunity for so many reasons. I was struggling before with someone else basically raising him while I worked, and then I was there to feed him breakfast, dinner, bath time, and bed time. Now we learn together, play together, go on other play dates, lunch dates, and field trips. People ask me all the time if I will continue to home school in the future. We have every intent to continue while we are here in Charleston, and might revisit the idea when we move to another state. We might look into a few other curriculum's to make sure this is what's best for Mateo. He is so smart and I really enjoy each milestone he reaches when he finally gets something that was really hard the week before. Mateo has one of the kindest hearts of anyone that I know. He tells me how beautiful I am all the time. He requests and even tries to pick out a dress for me to wear to church on Sundays, since he thinks I am more beautiful with a dress on. He is a great helper, especially at the grocery store. He loves pushing the cart, ringing everything up at self check-out, and then even swiping my card. He says he will help with Jacoby when he comes, but will not be changing any dirty diapers. His favorite thing to do outside lately has been learning how to play baseball with David. He is super excited about starting T-Ball next season. This little boy tugs at my heart strings daily and there are few nights that it is easy to tuck him in and run out of his room. We both linger at bed time, and I enjoy every second of it.
Danielle is another blessing in my life. For those that don't know she is my step-daughter. She is a beautiful, smart, and very strong willed 7 year old. She is living with her mom in Arizona but she stayed with us for a year up until this last May. During the time she was with us I learned so much about being a parent, having patience, and my trust in God. There are days that I couldn't handle being a parent and would call David crying after the kids were in bed. There were days that we all laughed so hard Mateo would get the hiccups. She received A Honor Roll the entire school year for 1st grade. I know this was such a transition for her to stay with us. She went from having her mom to herself everyday, going to church sporadically, having very little discipline, and being more of a friend to her mom than a daughter, to a life with us here in Charleston with us. She then had to share her dad with Mateo and I. She was introduced to routines, and having to pick up after herself. She went to a Christian school, church on Sunday mornings, and any other time we could be there. She was forced to tell the truth and held accountable for her actions. So many changes for one little girl in such a short period of time. We definitely had more good days than bad, and we all truly miss her, and talk to her as much as we can throughout the week. But when she left it left a hole in each of our hearts. While she was here her favorite thing to do was sing, she would sing anywhere anytime, and loud enough for all to hear. We taught her how to ride her bike without training wheels, and that is a memory we will carry with us forever. She just got done with basketball season, and I am pretty sure scored points in each game. This picture is one of the most recent ones we've received. It's from Halloween and shows her first 2 teeth that have fallen out.
Jacoby, whom isn't quite here yet, has changed all of our lives forever. I have had a really good pregnancy, can't complain about much (except how nauseous I was in the 1st Trimester or how tired I am now in the 3rd Trimester). I am on the home stretch with 2 weeks to go until the actual due date of December 3rd. He has been a little more active than Mateo, I don't think he sleeps much inside my belly. I haven't had any heart burn which is great since I had it everyday with Mateo. This pregnancy I exercised pretty regularly up until the last 2 months or so. It has become slightly uncomfortable, and I felt it was probably better for baby and myself to take an easy until he arrives. We are all excited to meet this bundle of joy.
With all that has gone on in the last year of our lives, I would have to say one of my favorite things to do in my "spare time" is read a good book. Spare time is currently defined as after Mateo goes to bed, while David is working, or when David is in between school and work and relieves me of my motherly duties for a few hours. Some ladies and myself from Doorway just completed the James Women's Bible Study by Beth Moore. It was so great and the fellowship of the women I studied with made it even better. Then I read The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian. This was such an amazing book. If you aren't quite sure how to pray for your husband, this book has a prayer at the end of each chapter and it is a great way to get started praying for him until you are comfortable. Then I read The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman. This book was great, not because either myself or David doesn't know the other, but just to see how different we are and what we can each do to make the lives of our spouses much easier. Then I read What Happens When Women Say Yes to God, by Lysa Terkeurst. She is an amazing woman and I have just be drawn in to reading her books. I like that as a mom, she is very transparent. She doesn't tell you how to deal with certain situations, she is just telling her life stories, how she dealt with them, and how to rely on God and not ourselves to get through the trials. Since completing this book, I have purchased a few more of her books. One is The bathtub is overflowing but I feel drained, how to defeat mommy stress. I have only finished the first 2 chapters, but I have never laughed out loud while reading a book. I laugh not at her stories or long hard days, but I can relate to each of her stories. She says things that many women have gone through or will go through and don't talk about it. I will be putting off finishing this book until after reading Unglued. Myself and 3 other girlfriends (who just happen to also be military wives with children) have decided to start a virtual book reading together. The first book we are reading is Unglued by Lysa Terkeurst. We are setting a pace for a few chapters a week, and will just share how we can relate or things we really liked or disliked about each chapter. I truly love reading now, and since it is so enjoyable I make sure I have this time for myself. If you are thinking that you don't have time to read, I am sure there are slight changes that can be made in your life to open up some availability to read. Don't watch that favorite show on T.V. every night. Take a book and read while you are soaking in the tub. Read on your lunch break, or get to work 30 minutes early. I used to be such a slow reader, but now I can't put books down.
Over the last few months, God has brought our family closer together. My prayer life has been strengthened both individually and with David. He has given us such an amazing church family and we truly are so blessed to have each person in our lives. He has given us the continuous desire to want serve and learn all about Him. He has placed people in our paths at just the right times to get us through trying times. God has placed us in a church with an amazing Pastor that is more interested in us knowing the truth than he is worried about hurting our feelings. Dr. Beck has had and I am sure will continue to have such an impact on both David and my life. He is someone we can look up to as a man of God, husband, father, mentor, and a brutally honest friend. My favorite thing is on Sunday nights while he is teaching, I always learn at least one new word that can't be found in the dictionary.
Here is to the next chapter of our lives starting, we will be going from a family of 4 to a family of 5 within the next 2 weeks. I feel so blessed that God saved me from the life I was living. I love to serve people. I pray that God will continue to use me as He sees fit. I pray that God will continue to put people in my path that can help me grow as a child of God, a wife, mother, and friend. So excited to see what He has planned for myself and our family.
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