My Daily Bread

The bathrooms and kitchen are clean, the laundry is done, the living room is clutter-free, and the baby is napping.  Insert [sigh] here.  It's the small victories in life that get me through.

God is continually teaching me to lean on him every moment of motherhood.  I'm trying to navigate each day with grace.  Some days I'm successful; others not so much.  My constant prayer is that God would give me my "daily bread" or my "motherhood manna" so to speak for each day.

My energy level has been up lately, which is a blessing.  I was able to get back in the water last week thanks to my wonderful hubby.  We traded baby for surf board and let each other have a go.  It was nice to be out  in the ocean... taking in the silence of God's creation.  There are so many facets to what he creates--crying babies to calm waters and vice versa.  It's amazing how something that can bring you so much pleasure can also cause so much heartache and devastation.  Relationships, children, the ocean, your job, money... the list goes on and on.

Anyway, I love my daughter more and more as she grows and learns new things.  Loving her and bonding with her was not something that came right away though.  I thought it would, but it took a little while.  I was able to see within the first few weeks of her life just how conditional MY love really is.  When she cries and cries and cries... it's hard to love her.  From about two to six weeks, every second she was awake (unless she was eating), she was crying.  I can honestly say that I got no joy out of parenting for about a month. On the flip side, when she's happy I feel that my love for her abounds.  She smiles, laughs and coos, and my heart just melts.

I'm not sure how this all relates to God's love for us.  I guess it shows me that I'm not capable of unconditional love.  It shows me just how patient God must be to love us without condition even at our worst.  It also shows how imperfect I am.  I love others--even my own daughter--according to what I might get out of it.  It could be something as small as the joy of a smile or a pat on the back, or as large as a financial inheritance.

My prayer is that God will teach me to love like he does.  I want to be selfless, but in an age where "Selfie Sunday" is what's in, I'm finding it harder and harder to put others first.  I'm learning that parenting is the most selfless job I'll ever have, and I'll keeping leaning on his everlasting arms for my daily bread.

I can't believe my little munchkin will be two months on Saturday.  This has been the longest and shortest two months of my life!

Looking all grown up with her Lamb.

My sweet morning girl.

Beautiful mom and daugter shot!

Absolutely love this precious kiss!

My beach baby.  She loves the sound of the ocean...

"But mightier than the violent raging of the seas, mightier than the breakers on the shore—the LORD above is mightier than these!"

Psalm 93:4

Front Entry and Lily at 6 Weeks

Well, life has been very busy with our sweet (and grumpy) Lily Grace.  Everyone who's ever had a newborn knows this stage all too well!  We're adjusting to life as parents, and she's figuring out how to do this "life outside the womb" thing.  Her personality is already shining even at six weeks and her temper flares regularly.  She's a feisty love bug who always keeps us on our toes!

She's not happy with "tummy time"

Lily's rage during daddy-daughter time.

She didn't like her one month photo shoot, haha.

Not a fan of family photos either.

Not too happy about getting ready for church.

She can be a pistol, but she has her
cute moments too.  Either way, she is loved!

On another note, Mike is back to work while me and little miss fussy pants are cruising at home.  I don't get a lot of free time, but I thought I'd take this moment of silence to update on some more house progress.  Mike didn't get to work on as many projects as he thought he would during his paternity leave.  He was a little busy changing diapers, singing to baby and watching about 40 World Cup matches.  I'm not even exaggerating.

We were able to refinance right after baby was born and do a few major things on the house.  1) We got the roof painted so 2) we can put solar.  We're on the waiting list, but it'll still be about six months or so before the panels go up.  3) We are getting the exterior of the house painted, so Mike will need to prep the outside by caulking and patching certain areas.     

One of the major accomplishments he did was redoing the front entryway outside.  The wood was rotting and the paint was awful.  It was on our list, but we didn't know when we'd get around to doing it.  Since we're getting the outside painted and we had redone the front doors a while back, it made sense to redo this area.  Here are some before and after shots.  It will look much better once the house gets painted, but you get the idea :)

This was a big project that we did several months back...

Another angle.

Under construction.

Doors done, but entry way needs work.

And so it begins.

Mike's handiwork.

Another angle.

Working hard.

Luke helping repair the concrete slab.

Close up.

And it's finished!  Now we're just waiting on the exterior paint!