family
This remarkable day
It is a remarkable day for the Z family.
It is a day that God has chosen to show us His goodness, kindness, faithfulness and nearness.
This day a year ago our precious little boy came into the world. We had waited and waited for this incredible day, as the journey to his arrival was an anxiety filled one after I went into preterm labor at 29 weeks. But in God’s timing our little one stayed put until I was induced with him at 38 weeks. It was a wild ride leading up to his birth, but not something we were unfamiliar with {the wild part of the ride that is}.
You see, today is not only significant because our little one was born, but also because it was 10 years ago today that the mister took me out on our very first date.
After all we went through leading up to our son’s birth, his birth date reminds us that God has had a plan for us since before we even knew that our Heavenly Father was laying out the path in front of us.
So although it was a wild seven-year journey from our first date to our wedding day, and strict bed rest for the last trimester of my pregnancy with our little guy, God has been faithful and blessed us with so much more than we could ask or imagine.
When I choose to see Him, the evidence of His hand touching, guiding and molding every part of our lives is abundantly clear. My heart is grateful today.
I do not write consistently AT ALL anymore, but I hope that when I do, as you read you know that God is not a respecter of persons. Meaning, that if He will do this for our little family, you can be confident He will do the same for you.
Read MoreTo my guy and my man,
God has blessed me in incredible ways through the two of you. You provide so much joy in my life and though our journeys have been unique in their own right, I would not change a thing. I am a better woman because of you both and am looking forward to the years ahead of you little guy and where we will find ourselves in the next 10 years Mr. Z.
Love,
Mrs. Z and Mama
Merry Christmas!
I think the phrase better late than never is going to become my new mantra for 2013. Since our little man was born this blog has been on the back burner but now that we’re expecting #2 I really want to try to make it a priority again. It’s such a fun way to document our lives and something I can pull from easily to make photo books for the kiddos as they get older. And that is why I need to embrace tardiness and be okay with it, ‘cuz it really is better to post later than never, right?
I didn’t take many photos at all over Christmas. I am a little bummed but there really isn’t much we could do about it. Our sweet little boy was very sick and we had to go to urgent care on Christmas day to get him checked out. Thankfully they were able to discover the issue and prescribe the proper meds. Simultaneously he was getting his first tooth, so you can imagine the hot little mess he was. Needless to say, our Christmas day photos were not happening. It’s crazy how your heart breaks into a million little pieces when your little one is sick and there isn’t much you can do {believe me, we had humidifiers going, sat in the bathroom with the shower steaming it up, and pretty much bought CVS and it still wasn’t enough}. Both my husband and I felt helpless, but shortly after we got home from urgent care we started the antibiotic and cleared his nose and it seemed like our baby boy was on his way back to us.
The next morning we opened his gifts with him and finally took some Christmas photos. Not only were we excited to capture our little guy more like himself on this milestone day, but we were quite excited to finally make our big news public ;-)
So, a belated but with much meaning Merry Christmas to you and yours!! I hope you were able to enjoy quality time with loved ones and were able to appreciate the significance of the day!
Merry Christmas Card 2012
I am a creature of habit and it seems that applies to my Christmas cards. I used Tiny Prints again this year for our Merry Christmas mail {I also used them for the babe’s birth announcement}. Love their selection, their customer service and that I often have coupons from them. This year I felt like this card was made just for us :-)
Merry Christmas, love the Z Family!
Dedication
This past Sunday was a very special day for our little family. We dedicated our sweet boy to the Lord. I have always loved baby dedications as I find it so powerful when the parents publicly give their child back to God and promise to raise him in the ways of God—knowing that ultimately the child, when the time comes, will need to make the decision for himself to follow Jesus.
As we stood on the platform at the front of our church and prayed along with our pastor over our sweet boy I was overcome by the reality that I was in the midst of a promise from God unfolding right in front of me. If you have been following my blog at all or know me, then you are aware that I knew with all my heart that when God brought Peter and I together it wasn’t just for us, but also for the generation to come. Sunday was another milestone in the manifestation of that promise.
We don’t know when Will is going to choose to follow Jesus. And there is a possibility he will not. BUT we are praying parents who will raise him to know the Lord and we certainly believe the Holy Spirit is more powerful than anything else on this earth. We are also believing parents that know NOTHING is impossible for God ().
I went to sleep that night both grateful for the gift of being sweet Will’s mother but also with the burden of the knowledge that this is a great responsibility. “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” That is no joke. I know my husband and I will be held accountable when we stand in front of our Lord and boy do I want to hear “Well done good and faithful servant.” But even more so, I want to know that my son will hear the same thing on the day he meets his God.
Read MoreCatch-up… Again
It has been a looong time since I last posted and even before then it was quite sporadic. I have this deep longing to keep blogging and actually be consistent with my postings. Literally I think about it EVERY DAY. Yet the reality is I find it SUPER hard to find the time. And it seems to take me an insanely large amount of time to string together a cohesive readable thought :-) All those mommy bloggers out there amaze me. I only have one kiddo and yet you would think I have 10 considering how non-existent my updates are.
But here I am. And I am going to try to write more. Consistency I cannot guarantee but attempting I can {I know that doesn’t help you, but at least I can then set your expectations—nice and low ;-)}.
Frankly, there are a few things I’m still grappling with that have also kept me from posting. Like how much of our little guys life should really be on the In-ter-net. Really, that’s a BIG one to me. So we’ll see what I write, when I write and how much it’s really about him.
But for now, as I work through my own head and convictions, here’s a little update on the Z family.
I take a picture of our sweet little one every month with the same chalk board I used when I was preggers to show how much the belly was growing. I pretty much love it :-)
Other than the babe growing, I left my full-time and started a part time one where I work one day in the office {and the little gets to spend the day with his grandparents} and two half days from home. Frankly it’s a HUGE answer to prayer.
Mr. Z has been working hard and studying even harder for his exams. I am one proud wife!
We celebrated two years of marriage, woohoo!
And we’re gearing up for a spectacular holiday season filled with family. We are seriously blessed to come from two very loving and fun families!
I hope you all are well and I promise to update occasionally, share thoughts sporadically and perhaps give you a glimpse of a photo or two ;-)
Love is a choice
Love is a choice.
It’s a phrase I’ve heard so many times. And it is a phrase I tend to agree with.
But not entirely.
Having a baby, my sweet Will, has shown me another kind of love. And it certainly is not a choice. It is much more like a reflex. I have no control over it. And I feel like I’ve been blindsided by it.
He has done nothing to earn my love, nothing to make me love him. He just is. And I just LOVE him. With every fiber of who I am. It is a fierce love that when I am not with him for even the shortest period of time I miss him with an intensity I’ve never experienced.
And he has no idea. He has no understanding right now of just how much I love him. Frankly, I don’t know that he ever will. I never understood how much my mom loved me until I brought this little guy into the world. Now I understand. And I am floored.
In this way, love is not a choice. It is the result of God’s design. Only a Father who loves His children unconditionally and without warrant could design a human being to love this way.
This love has given me a small glimpse into God’s love for His children and I will be forever changed. He has enabled me, a fallen woman, to love with depth that I didn’t know was possible. And to think that our God loves us even more.
Oh how He loves us. That He would send His Son for a wretch like me.
Love is a choice. But sometimes it’s a reflex.
Read More