I love........

I love....staying at home with my daughter! Being here and not having the obligation to go to work has been such a blessing!! I feel like i am back in the loop with friends, family and cooking! Yes cooking. I have made some good meals since i've been home. I think Bryan is thankful for that. As good as watching food network is, reconnecting with friends and family has been much better. Its often been said that i am the worlds worst at keeping in touch and calling people back. I admit i could be better. However (and please dont read this as an excuse) i think that being in retail for the past fours years, full time and talking all day for a living i was TIRED of talking by the end of my days!!! Now I have time to TALK to the people i really want to talk to. Like all of my wonderful friends from church and other seminary wives with kiddos too. I've enjoyed sitting under their wisdom when it comes to raising little ms. mady. I've also enjoyed the quality time spent with some of these woman that i never could connect with bc of schedules. I cannot wait to go to an up-coming Christmas Dessert party too. No work conflicts! One of the greatest benefits of this time off has been the chance to connect with my sister in law. We're a lot alike and have always enjoyed the time we've spent together at random family get together. However, now there is more time to talk and take the occasional trip to each others home. My nephew and soon to be niece or nephew need an Aunt who can be there and support them, I am excited to finally have more time to be the person I've wanted to be. Mady is so close in age to her cousins...its going to be fun to watch them grow up together. Especially since they will spend a lot of their years together, much like siblings do. Parents eventually pass, as do grandparents and Aunts and Uncles, but cousins and siblings (usually close in age) get the chance to do life together! How sweet.

I love....my sweet husband. Who has done nothing short of bring me the moon and the stars since Mady was born. Taking up the burden of being the sole financial support for our family, going to school full time and finding sometime in there for himself as well. I know i am driving him crazy with my constant requests for water while nursing, the many trips to the store getting every essential i forgot to pick up, and just praying for me and Mady while he's apart from us. He's been and continues to be such an encouragement.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my daughter. The other night we enjoyed our first date since Mady came. We went to the Andrew Peterson, "Behold the Lamb of God" concert. It was amazing!!!!!! If you've never been you must go. The first half of the concert is the musicians singing some of their own music and the second half is the "Behold the Lamb of God" concert. During the first part a man sang a song he had written while tucking his little girls in to bed. It was so touching. I balled the entire way through. Its funny how everything becomes about your children, once you've had them. I dont look at anything the same anymore. I used to make fun of my mom for crying at the drop of a hat at the mere mention of anything sentimental. Now I AM THE ONE crying at the drop of the hat. Wow, being a mom rocks your world...and I love it!

This is the face i love to wake up to!


This is our Christmas card/ birth announcement. I made it myself on Picnik...poor seminary families...we do what we can! Hah. I think its cute.