we got a christmas gift...

well, we are thrilled!  on christmas day, our baby boy arrived in our lives.  and, by his birth and birthdate alone, showed us the sovereignty of God.  

i prayed with all the faith i could muster that i would not be in the hospital on christmas day--mostly because i wanted to spend it with our mylie.  in the weeks prior, i knew that God would answer my prayers.  as my due date approached and passed, i became a little less sure and wondered if we were meant to have a little christmas gift.

and, at 3am, i realized that's what we were going to get as i discovered that my water had broken. 

although God did not answer my selfish prayer, He exceeded my hopes for the labor and delivery.

charlie arrived with ease and laughter (charles and i laughed the entire morning while going through labor) at 1:01pm after 15 minutes of pushing.  i actually had to hold the baby back from being born because the doctor was not there yet.

God showed me his faithfulness through our son's arrival and it continues as i learn the many lessons of "transition."  

may you experience God's goodness and grace as He continues to reign sovereignly in our lives!

professional motherhood

i read today that if a mom got paid for all the work that she did professionally she would make an average annual salary of $138,000! not bad, right? funny that mom's never see that money. who would actually pay us?

mylie is now 14 months old and is so fun and sweet. she is my party girl and is so full of life. she keeps us laughing and on our toes. her life is actually my payment. i never regret a minute of it.

how could i have known what a gift i was getting from God?

gotta love your silver

i was sitting at my dining room table this morning drinking tea (earl grey is my all time fav, these days) staring at my china, crystal, and silver. (staring is what a mom does after she lays her 1 year old down for a morning nap :) )

i realized that i REALLY need to clean my silver. its quite tarnished. but as i was looking at my silver, i saw something very interesting. the fake silver still looks beautiful...untarnished, clean, and lovely. why couldn't it all look like that?

how true that is even of our lives. sometimes we try so hard to make everything look and seem so beautiful but in reality we are only fake or appearing to be fake. sometimes the real stuff gets dirty, the real stuff needs to be cleaned. then its WAY more valuable than the beautiful fake stuff.

don't overlook someone or yourself because there is a little dirt, a little grime, or a lot of yuck. with some patient 'polishing,' you (and i, because i need a lot of polishing) will be the most valuable thing around.

a story about a tree...

i've been walking with God for the last 20ish years. i often have used the phrases "by God's grace" or "the grace of God" or "thank you God for your grace."

the funny thing is that charles (my husband) and i are only now beginning to finally grasp and understand the grace of God. he read the book "what's so amazing about grace" (p. yancey) this summer and said "tif, you have to read this book." i'm only 30 pages into it and its really rocking the way i think and believe.

i so often work my way into God's presence which really leaves me in the 'outer court' hanging out since you can't work yourself any where near God. little did i know...

this morning i was reading luke 13. the title over the section said 'repent or perish' and it caught my attention since it was followed by some of jesus' teachings. its very interesting--let's take a look...

those standing around jesus where asking him about some galileans that were grusomely killed by pilate. jesus' response was "do you think that these galileans were worse sinners than all the other galileans because they suffered this way? i tell you, no! but unless you repent, you too will be all perish." and continues his point again emphasizing, if you don't repent you will perish.

the very next verse (v.6) jesus tells a parable to finalize his point and here is where it gets interesting. he tells a story about a man who had a fig tree and for 3 years. that fig tree NEVER BORE ANY fruit. the man went to the caretaker of the vineyard and said "cut it down! it's using up the soil."

the caretaker's response was "leave it alone for one more year, and i'll dig around it and fertilize it. if it bears fruit next year, fine! if not, the cut it down."

it hit me: 'wow! that's jesus' perspective.' here he is talking about 'repent or perish' but the story he tells to make it all real clear exemplifies his grace...he says 'let me do a little more on them. give me a little more time. let me help them along. don't cut it down yet--i think some fruit will come out with a little more love.'

that is really how he feels about us. even when we feel like we've failed, he's doing more work, giving us more time, because he KNOWS that you can bear fruit!

why i'm blogging...

so wow. i never thought that i would join the blogging scene. i couldn't understand why people would want a public diary...isn't that the point of a diary--something private and locked with the key hidden away?

i guess that is an interesting commentary on our society. we want to be known. we have a need to express ourselves and not enough people listen to us personally so we put it all out there hoping to be heard.

i do want to be heard. and, i want to share me: my life and my passions. i want to share my family and my thoughts.

i also want to share my stationary. i love to design and i hope to share that with you. meili designs is the name of my stationary.

i hope to hear from you. i hope to help add happiness to your life.