SuperMomma? Or is it really SuperDaddy?

Our sweet Maria (Mia) Hope Mullins is 9 days old today! 

(I will have to share her beautiful story another day!)

Several people have called me SuperMom or SuperWoman this weekend, especially when we showed up at church with our 2 year old, 1 year old and 1 week old on Saturday night! I laughed and assured them that I was no super hero, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that my husband was the true super hero!!! After both of the "big girls" births (due to circumstances outside his control) Christopher was only able to take off a shift or two. I did have other people around to help after both their births and Aunt Nicole has been a huge help this time around, but it's just not quite the same as your husband and daddy. After Mia's birth he has been able to take off 4 shifts, which equated to 9 days total, tonight being his first night back at work! 

I have always known that Christopher has to stay busy, it's just his personality! I could spend days relaxing and being chill, while he constantly needs a new project to keep him busy! This last week or so off of work has been no exception! He got up every morning with the big girls, did breakfast and clothes and took care of them so that Mia and I could get a little extra sleep after several sleepless nights! He washed dishes, kept laundry moving, ran errands, went grocery shopping, took extra good care of me and all 3 girls, encapsulated my placenta, changed the brakes on his car, cleaned out my car, pulled weeds, mowed the lawn, and I am sure I am forgetting several things!!  Oh and did I mention that he built a huge patio covering in our backyard so we would have some shade?!? So seriously.....the reason why I "look" like a SuperMom is because SuperDad has been flying around behind the scenes while I just rested and cuddled my sweet new babe! 

Tonight he's working a 12 hour shift and tomorrow he'll be sleeping before his next 12 hour shift and this Momma will be on her own with the 3 littles....reality will set in and panic will probably follow, things will get forgotten and our lives will be chaotic, but our girls will be loved and we will find our new normal soon. SuperDaddy will be off in a few days to swoop in and save the day and make me look like a SuperMommy again! 😉 

In all honesty though, while he has seriously been SuperDaddy this past week, we really do make a good team! We balance each other out and give each other more grace than we probably deserve at times and we walk through this life together. I only look like a SuperMom because SuperDaddy is my soulmate!! 

Big Changes....coming soon!!

These 3 cowboy boot wearing girls and the leader of their family have some big changes in the near future!! 

No, we are not growing by another 2 feet....not yet anyway....we have a "no pregnancy in 2014" resolution that we are trying to keep, after one girl in 2012 and one in 2013, this Momma is taking a year off (at least) from being pregnant! 

We are however taking a big step, these boots were made for walking (even if one pair can't quite take any steps just yet) and walking's what we'll do! These 2 precious girls, their studly Daddy and I are moving back to Texas, ya'll! My emotions are all over the place as I think about our upcoming move! I am so excited to be back at our church down there, those people just ooze the love of Jesus and do community so very well! But at the same time leaving my family, especially my Momma, is no easy task! This season has been so good, it hasn't always been easy, but it's been so good for my soul! Even though emotional I am all over the place about this move, I have such a peace - I know this is right and good and the step we are supposed to be taking! Christopher and I have prayed about this decision and there is so much peace in my heart that I know if we were to stay here we would be going against the Lord's path for our lives. 

There are many things that we hope and pray for our sweet girls and one of those is that they would ALWAYS follow the path that The Lord leads them on and there is no better way to teach them how to do that, than living it out! So here we go again, another move, another adventure, another season and another step following after the Lord's will for our lives! 

This will be my 5th move in the 3 years that we have been married. Growing up we lived in the same house until I was 20, with the exception of my dorm in college! To say that life married to Christopher is anything short of any adventure would be a lie, but let me tell you this is one exciting adventure and I am privileged to be on it with such a Godly man! 

So here's to a new adventure, a new step, a new season....coming this fall! 

A walk...

We went for a walk today....not just any walk...but a walk to support my Momma and so many others that are battling this awful disease called MS! Can I be brutally honest for a minute? I HATE THIS DISEASE!!!!! I have watched my Mom go from having some back pain and a little weakness in her leg to not being able to do hardly anything on her own anymore, all in the matter of about 5 years! I hate that it has robbed my family of so much, but I also looked around this morning during our walk and reminded myself what it has NOT done! It has NOT stolen our joy, HER joy! There are days when it's hard and she gets frustrated, but she laughs and jokes and plays games!! It has NOT divided our family!! This nasty awful disease has brought us closer as a family, required us to stick together a little more! The last thing that MS has NOT done to our family is cause us to doubt the faithfulness of The Lord! We all cling to the fact that He loves us, He loves her and He is faithful!!! We will continue to pray for her healing, to walk this path along side her and to do whatever we can to fight this disease and strive all the while to bring The Lord glory through it!! 

To my fellow Mommies WITH LOVE

I need to be brutally honest with my fellow Mommies, lay it all out there!!! 

We choose to have home births (most of the time)

but if you choose to go a hospital to give birth;

I will STILL LOVE YOU!! 

We choose to delay and only give certain vaccinations, 

but if you choose to vaccinate your child;

I will STILL LOVE YOU! 

We choose to use both cloth & disposable diapers

no matter how you choose to diaper your child;

I will STILL LOVE YOU! 

We choose homopatheic medicines over a doctor,

But if you choose to take your children to a doctor;

I will STILL LOVE YOU! 

We will most likely homeschool our children in the future, 

But if you choose traditional schooling for your children; 

I  will STILL LOVE YOU! 

We choose to attempt breastfeeding as long as possible,

But if you choose to formula feed your babies;

I will STILL LOVE YOU! 

We choose to not always eat organic foods,

But if you choose to eat organic;

I  will STILL LOVE YOU! 

We choose to keep our children rear-facing in the car until they 2,

But if you choose to turn your children around sooner;

I  will STILL LOVE YOU! 

  

As Mommies we are faced with so many choices and decisions we have to make, let's be honest it's hard!! It is hard to always know what we should or should not be doing for our children! It's hard enough to educate ourselves and make informed decisions without the judgement from other Mommas!! Let's all do ourselves a favor and truly LOVE one another even if we aren't doing things exactly the same! We are all Mommas with the same goal - to love our children and raise them well! I would be happy to share information on anything that we are doing, IF you wanted to know, but at the end of the day it's your children and your choice and I promise I will not judge any of your mothering decisions!!! This world has enough bad stuff in it, let's choose to overflow with love for other Mommies, instead of judgement!! 

The season of 2 under 2!!

In this season of our lives, my husband works 24 hour shifts. There is very little about the 24 hours that he is gone that is easy. Taking care of both girls, doing all the diapers, dinner, bed, dealing with the temper tantrums of a toddler and the fussy cries of a newborn who is fighting sleep...let's be honest I count down the hours until he gets home! But for the last couple weeks my girls have found a new schedule, that involves both of them asleep by around 10 or so (the newborn does still get up for a midnight feeding)! This means about twice a week now (when Christopher is at work), I get to end my days peacefully!! A nice bubble bath, some peach tea, a salty snack and catching up on my tv shows!!!

While those 24 hours he is gone are typically rough days, I really can't complain, because then he is off for at least 48 hours!! I am so blessed to be Mom during this season and even more blessed to have such an amazing hubby who works crazy hours and helps me a lot when he is home!! Oh the season of 2 under 2....someday I will look back and miss it, so I am really trying to find the positives!!  

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus

I am ready for the snow to melt and the rain today helped that some, but it also created giant puddles, huge "swallow your car" pot holes and lots of fog! On our way to MOPS this morning I hydroplaned through a giant puddle on the bypass going 60 miles an hour. If you have ever experienced something like this than you know first hand how scary it is, if you haven't let me try to explain it a bit. It went something like this...I was driving 60 mph with the windshield wipers going full blast.  The bypass seemed much more clear than other side roads and back roads I had been on - not nearly as many giant puddles. So there we are cruising down the road when out of no where a giant puddle appears in the middle of the road, next thing I know I am hydroplaneing straight for the cement median. The more I try to pull out if this giant puddle that is trying to slam me into the cement the wall, the more I am repeating the name of Jesus over and over again. In that moment I knew the car was totally out of my control and it appeared that I was going to slam right into that median which I am a pretty sure would have either sent us flying over the median into oncoming traffic or we would have slammed against the wall and then rolled back into the lanes traveling the same direction as us....either way we were headed for a very serious accident, so I did the only logical thing I could think of, I repeated the name of Jesus over and over and over again. In that precious moment where my life and the lives of my 2 precious girls flashed before my eyes, the only word I could speak was His name. I didn't bust out into song asking Him to "take the wheel" or even pray a prayer that made logical sense like please help us...I just kept repeating His name...He knew exactly what I needed in that moment. My car was out of my control and I needed Him to guide it and all 3 of us to safety. By His grace I am sitting here save and sound tonight without even a tiny scratch on my car! However it leaves me thinking, why in life do we wait until we are completely out of control to call on His name? Why do we wait until we are about to slam into a wall to cry out? So many times in life we try to take control, to do things our way, to steer the car the way we think we should, when really we should be calling out to Him, asking Him to take control before we are in the middle of the puddle, allowing Him to take the wheel before it gets ugly! I know that He protected my girls and I today and I know that there will probably be more times in my life that I am calling out His name because I let myself get in too deep, but I am making it my goal to call on His name before the storm gets rough! 

Snuggling my girls a little tighter tonight and praising His name for being our protection today!! 

Valentine's Day

Today was Valentine's Day...

Christopher had to work a 24 hour shift....

my newborn still had to nurse every few hours...

my toddler is teething and fussy and still adjusting to not being the center of attention...

both children had their fair share of diapers...

my newborn spit up on me...

all three of us stayed in our pj's all day...

it was really just like any other day around here! 

Except that I knew it was Valentine's Day...

and so I kept reminding myself how blessed I am...

to be loved and to love so many people! 

You see it may just be any other day...

but my sweet husband kissed me good-bye and told me he loved me...

my newborn cracked a few small smiles and cuddled...

my toddler giggled and laughed and brought my heart such joy....

my Mom loved on my girls...

my Dad treated us to a special dinner so I didn't have to cook...

we rented a movie and I cuddled my sweet girls...

and at the end of the day whether it is a holiday or just another day....

I know I am so loved and so blessed to be able to love my family!! 

The Birth of Madison Grace

Many people have asked to hear the birth story of our newest bundle and to be honest, I have been hesitant to share, not because it isn't beautiful and we didn't receive an amazing blessing from it, but because it clearly shows my raw human side. It shows me trying to handle things on my own and in my own strength, rather than leaning on God to be my source of strength. The more I have thought and processed things the last few weeks since Maddie's birth, the more I feel like I am supposed to share her birth story openly and the lessons that I learned from it. I need to be honest though and tell you that these lessons are hard to share, because I had dreams of the way things were supposed to go during her birth....and it went much different! 

Two weeks before Maddie was born, on a Sunday night, my contractions started and I thought for sure, that just like Makayla's birth, I would fall asleep and wake up at some point with stronger contractions and she would be born the next day. But I went to bed that Sunday night and woke up Monday morning to nothing happening. That trend continued for several nights. Thursday & Friday of that week the contractions grew very strong and close together leaving me thinking both days that we were indeed going to have our little girl that day. Friday night after talking to our midwife we decided to go to the hospital, we needed conformation that she wasn't breech or there weren't any other complications. We basically spent a couple hours at the hospital for them to think we were crazy for having a home birth and for them to confirm she was head down, but that I was only 3 cm dialated. We were sent home, a little discouraged that I was not further along, but relieved that a home birth was still very much the route we were going to take since we now knew for sure she was in a good position and everything looked great! 

In the middle of the night that Friday night I started running a fever, and knew I had a sinus infection! I started pumping extra vitamins, was drinking as much as I could and resting a lot! By Sunday my fever had not broken, but my contractions were strong and close together! My fever kept rising and I began to wonder if I would have the strength to deliver a baby being as sick as I was. Christopher was monitoring me and baby very closely and by mid-afternoon Maddie's heart rate began to rise a little more than we were comfortable with so he started an IV on me to get fluids in me. After the whole bag of fluids and no change in baby or I, we decided we would once again venture to the hospital. This time I was very scared that since I was so sick and her heart rate was high that I would end up having a c-section. After another 2 liters of fluids, a negative flu test, and an antiobotic for my sinus infection; my contractions slowed, I finally stopped shivering, the fever dropped, Maddie's heart rate returned to normal and we were sent home again! I felt relived believing that there was still a possibility that I would get my dream home water birth! 

For the next 2 weeks I had contractions on and off, they would build up a little and then taper off. I was able to attend my family's extended Christmas party, Christmas Eve service, celebrate Christmas Day with family, and go to a friend's baby shower....all things I had left open ended because I didn't know when our sweet girl was going to come! My due date came and went, however the next day things began to pick up again and by bedtime I was certain that instead of sleeping that night I was going to deliver a baby!!! 

My contractions really picked around 10 PM on December 29th and continued to progress and get stronger. We timed contractions, filled up the birthing tub, prepared ourselves (as much as one can) for our dream home water birth to become a reality. By about 2 am the fear inside of me began to grow. I remembered Makayla's birth and how she didn't want to drop into the birth canel. I thought of so many complications that could be going wrong. I was worried because my water hadn't broken...what if something was wrong and we just didn't know it. Christopher tried to reassure me that everything was ok, the baby's heart rate was good and steady, my heartrate and bloodpressue and everything was normal, there was really nothing to worry about. I doubted him...I feared the worst...I didn't stop and pray (like we had during Makayla's birth when things got rough)...I just let fear take control and convienced myself that something was wrong. At around 3:30 in the morning on December 30th I told Christopher we needed to go to the hospital. He knew everything was okay, there were no signs that anything was wrong with the baby or me, but he also knew I was panicing and he needed to be the supportive husbnad. So we packed up our bags, I crawled to the top of the stairs screaming with the contractions, managed to get into the car and off we went to the hospital. 

We arrived at the hospital at 4:22 am, Christopher went in to get me a wheelchair, we got to the desk and they sent me back right away. They got me on the bed to check me and the nurse goes, she is 10 cm with a buldging bag, we need to go now!! They rushed me to the delivery room, got me into the other bed and asked if I wanted to push. The first push was bag which they proceeded to break, the second was her head, followed by shoulders on the third and everything else on the fourth push. Madison Grace Mullins was born at 4:32 am, a mere 10 minutes after arriving at the hospital. 

I struggle with telling her story, because I know that I could have done it at home, I had the strength and the ability to deliver her at home like we had planned, but I paniced. My husband didn't get the joy of delivering his second little girl, like he did with Makayla. We missed out on the quiet intimate delivery and instead got the rush and craziness of a hosptial. Unlike the birth center where we could relax and go home when we wanted, we were shipped off to the Mommy and Baby ward where we were bothered a lot, checking vitals, nurses, food delivers, lactation services and had to fight tooth and nail to be discharged after 24 hours.  It is hard for me to look back on the day of her delivery and not picture all of these things. Please hear me, I LOVE my girl and am so thrilled that she is here and healthy and all is well, but her birth story just didn't go as planned and I blame myself for that. I freaked out and doubted my ability to handle the labor, I didn't trust that my husband knew what he was doing and could completely handle her delivery and most of all I didn't lean on Christ to be my source of strength. 

Christopher has forgiven me and has been so gracious about the whole situation. I am still working on and struggling through forgiving myself. I feel as if I let a lot of people down that day - our midwife from Texas who assured me throughout the whole pregnancy that we could handle a home birth on our own, my husband who didn't get the chance to deliver his baby, my daughter who's birth story will never be what I dreamed it would be, myself for not believing I could handle it and God for not trusting that He could pull me through. Some people may read this and think I am crazy for feeling this way, afterall I did deliver her all naturally without any drugs and she is still healthy and all is well, but for me the healing process of not having my dream birth is still painful. 

So there you have it, the birth of our sweet girl, our Madison Grace, our mini M & M! We love her and are beyond thrilled that she is the beautiful addition to our family. 

Blessed

I lay here cuddled up beneath my warm blankets and listen to my sweet 16 month old giggle and "talk" to one stuffed animal friend or another in the next room. It's 6 am and I am certain that she probably just woke up to the sound of her Daddy getting ready to go out hunting and she will soon drift back off to sleep, however I can't help but smile and thank The Lord for so many blessings! She is happy and healthy, thriving and walking (FINALLY), and soon this little one growing inside me will join our little family and our blessings will overflow even more! I've been thinking a lot the last few days about how our family of 3 will soon be a memory, how having only one child will soon fade away and we will become a family of 4! I worry that maybe Makayla will struggle to adjust to the new baby and not being the center of Mommy's attention anymore. I worry that maybe having another baby so soon after the first was a crazy idea. I worry that maybe between the craziness of being a Mommy to two under the age of 2 that maybe my marriage will not be as strong as it once was. But then I hear her giggle and I know that all will be right with my little world! Sure, there will be a transition from one to two kids and sure MJ will probably struggle a little, but someday these girls will be best friends and amazingly close sisters. Sure, people around us will probably think we ARE crazy when I carry a newborn baby in one hand and have the little fingers of my toddler wrapped around a finger on my other hand as she toddles her way around and sure the dynamic of our marriage will not be what it once was as newlyweds! But again I hear her talk to her "friends" and I know The Lord has been so good to us and the blessing of this new little life that will soon enter the world will not be a hindrance on my family or marriage but an extra special blessing for all of us!! So today instead of choosing to embrace the worrys and the what-if's of this new life, I will chose to embrace the blessing that she is going to be to us and the joy that she will bring our family and I will KNOW that The Lord is good and faithful to be our source of strength and GRACE through this crazy season of our lives!!! And I KNOW I am SO blessed!! 

MOPS

Twenty-some years ago we used to be the family that stayed at home on Sunday mornings, slept in and watched cartoons! That was before my Mom got invited to this "MOPS" program at a church that turned our whole families lives in a complete different direction! It was because of MOPS that we started attending that church, that my parents committed their lives to Christ and now all 4 of my siblings and I are living for The Lord! If it wasn't for that invitation to MOPS and The Lord tugging at the strings of my Mom's heart I don't know what our lives would look like today. Tomorrow morning I get to go to my first MOPS meeting as a Mom! :-) So grateful for all The Lord has done in our families lives and how exciting this adventure has been since we have chosen to walk with Him!! 

Oh life!

Two years ago this week, I said "I do" and jumped head first into this journey of married life!! Looking back at our wedding there were so many precious moments, standing on that stage before our friends and family committing ourselves to a Godly marriage, that stand out in my mind! My brother-in-law playing our music, the fact that we washed each others feet, dancing out of the sanctury to Stuck Like Glue, so many special moments, but one stands out in my mind more than any other!  The moment my niece, who was 7 at the time read a passage from 1 Corinthians out loud! While my heart has always loved this passage, the emphasis her little voice put on the last 3 words has stuck with me! LOVE NEVER FAILS! 

There have been many great moments and memories over the last couple years and a few hard ones, but our love for each other and the love that Christ has for us as a couple has truly stood firm!! 

To say that our life is a roller coaster would be an understatement! We have lived in a 4 bedroom rental home, an air matteress in Sudan, and now we reside in a 32 foot travel trailer in my in laws back yard, but that too will soon be changing! In September we will pack up our Texas lives and move to Indiana to be close to my family and help my Mom as she continues to battle MS! My emotions about this move are a rollarcoasster in and of themselves as we love our community here in Texas, but miss my family in Indiana! We have watched God open doors for this move and so we are trusting in His good and perfect will! 

This summer is another huge milestone in our lives! A year ago in July we welcomed this bundle of Joy into our lives and we have watched her blossom and bloom into this little busy body!! 

Along with all our milestones and changes come the growing of our little family! Here we grow again! At the end of this year we will welcome another little one into our family and our lives will be forever changed yet again! We love the way The Lord is so faithful to us and continues to bless us on a daily basis! 

Homosexuality and Boy scouts

I have been thinking a lot about the recent decision to allow gay boys to participate in Boy Scouts. I have been trying to put myself in several different people's shoes looking at this situation, the parents of Boy Scouts, the actual Boy Scouts themselves, the scout leaders, the different churches and organizations that now are faced with a tough decision to continue to support Boy Scouts and I have even tried to consider what Jesus would think and feel about this situation if He were walking this earth today. So with that being said these are my thoughts on the subject, everyone is entitled to their own opinion so you don't have to agree with me, just sharing my thoughts with you. 

The main thought that has crossed my mind over and over and over again throughout this topic is LOVE! Are we not, as Christians, called to love everyone? Is it not our duty in life to show others, especially those that are lost, the love of Christ? I feel like Christians in general are trying more and more to seclude themselves from the outside world, to not allow other sinners into our churches, homes, and now Boy Scout troops! It makes my heart sad, because if there is a young boy who is lost and living this lifestyle, isn't he the one that we should be reaching out to? Isn't he the one that needs to be shown the love of a savior more than anyone else? 

I don't know much about Boy Scouts, but from what I do understand it is about teaching young boys about wilderness survival, teaching them to fish and tie knots, going on camping trips, ect. I am sure there are VERY important lessons that are taught and learned through these experiences, so why is it that a young boy who is gay should not be allowed to have those same experiences?

As a parent of a baby, I have found myself looking at our world and all the junk that is in it and wanting to shelter my child from it, but the more I seek the face of The Lord, the more I see that He needs to use the children too! If I were to shelter my children, never allowing them into the public world, never allowing them to be a part of Boy Scouts or any other organization that doesn't totally and completely line up with the Word of God, then how would The Lord use them to reach others?

 As Christian parents we need to be, no we MUST be, very hands on and involved in our children's lives, they need to be taught right from wrong and we are going to have to teach them hard truths about the world we live in and how it grieves the heart of The Lord. But, we are also going to have to teach them about LOVE! About living a life that overflows the love of Christ! So that when our children are in this crazy awful world we live in and they encounter gay Boy Scouts, for instance, that they know right from wrong, but they also know that our Jesus loves and is just as passionate about that boy as He is for our own children. 

We live in a fallen, very messed up world and rather than trying to keep the world out of everything we do, I think it is time that we just start loving the world! We should not condone their lifestyle and the sins they are committing, but we should love them, because if you ask me, that is what Jesus would do! He would live the sinner despite, their sin! After all, don't we all deserve death anyway, aren't we all sinners? It is time for Christians to stop putting on this high and mighty show and to start loving people!!! 

Tough like her Daddy!!

We always knew our little girl was tough! She is, after all, her Daddy's daughter!

However, on Monday when I took her to the doctor for an immunization and explained to the doctor that she had a slight cold, he proceeded to look her over, just in case, before giving her the shot! She was all smiles and giggles, so i didn't really expect him to find anything other than some dried up snot in her face! As he was looking in her ears, he asked if she had been tugging on them at all, I said no! He was very surprised! Not only did my sweet little girl have an ear infection, but she had a double ear infection!!! Poor baby girl! :-( At least that meant no shot! :-)

As we were driving away from the doctors I began to think about how tough my little girl is!! I mean, here she was with a double ear infection just smiling away!! Her Daddy commented that she was tough like him and probably a little stubborn too!

So my dear sweet Makayla, here is my advice to you:


~ Be tough when you are standing up for what you believe, don't be afraid of adversity!
~ Be stubborn when other people are trying to lead you astray, stick to what God's Word says!
~ Be tough when other people make fun of you, remember we are all made in the image of Christ!
~ Be stubborn when you are following the path that God is leading you on, don't allow earthly influences to led you astray!
~ Be tough when life is hard, clinging to Christ for strength!

But most of all, my child, remember that on the days when you just can't be stubborn and tough anymore, that Mommy's arms are always a safe place to come! Don't be afraid to admit that you may not be as tough and stubborn as we think you are, because the truth of the matter is - all of our strength comes from Christ!! So cling to Him darling girl!!

Remember

Maybe it is because I just lost my Grandma or maybe it's because its almost Easter, but for whatever reason tonight at church as we were singing Remember by Tim Hughes, I started thinking about what Jesus' funeral would be like if he died today! How many people would show up to share stories and memories? How many people would come because He impacted their lives?

At my Grandma's funeral, so many family and friends had stories to share about her life, about how well she loved and about the impact she had on their lives. I have shared stories and memories with people that never met her and I will continue to! I can't wait to share with Makayla how much her Great-Grammy loved holding her, how she sang to her and even wanted to hide Makayla in her room at the nursing home! I will remember, I will share her stories, not for my glory, but so that people can get a glimpse of who she was!

Shouldn't we be even more willing to share about Christ? If you were going to His funeral and had to share memories and stories about how He has changed your life and impacted you, what would you say? Would those stories and memories stop after we leave that funeral? After we step foot out of the church, should we stop boasting about Christ? This might seem like a silly analogy for me to be making, but it really hit me how we are quick to share how much special people in ours lives have impacted us, but are we that quick to share what Christ has done for us?

So that is my goal this Easter season, not only to remember His life but also to share the impact He has had on my life and to share the story of the cross!  I will REMEMBER!!

Guessing game!!!

Okay, tomorrow puts us at the 38 week mark, meaning that our little baby girl, Makayla Joy will be here before you know it!! Are you ready to have a little fun? I just thought it would be fun to play a little guessing game, it might help the next few weeks go by a bit faster for this Mama! :-) Comment on this post with the date and time you think little Makayla will make her apperance along with how much she will weigh and how long she will be!! The winner will get....the joy of knowing they were right!! :-D

Sweet Baby Girl (Part 2)

Dear Sweet Baby Girl,

Well, you have a name now, Makayla Joy Mullins and you are beyond loved by so many people. We made it to July, the month you are supposed to make your big appearance!! We are still getting some things situated around here and according to the calculations you still have 3 more weeks of growing to do in me, so don't be in any hurry to come out!! ;-)

I have been thinking back over the last 8 months:

- knowing I was pregnant, even when the first test came back negative
- taking another test last than a week later and seeing 2 lines!!
- breaking the news to your Daddy who was so very excited!!
- taking sweet pictures in the YWAM field, so that we could share our news with everyone!
- making a big announcement on Thanksgiving!!
- our first doctor appt - hearing your sweet little heart beat for the first time!
- months of morning sickness (you sure weren't always very nice to your Momma :-)
- spending time in Indiana over Christmas and getting to show off my ever so slight baby bump!
- meeting our midwife for the first time (she's really sweet, you are gonna like her!)
- Daddy and Mommy both putting in notices at work so we could leave for Africa!
- packing up our house into a small storage unit
- preparing for our 3 months in Sudan!
- finding out on Valentine's day that you were a GIRL!!! :-)
- visiting family in Indiana for a few days before Africa
- taking your very first plane ride(s) - those were a long few days!!
- sleeping on the floor in a church in Juba as we tried for days to make it to Wau!
- finally arriving in Wau and starting to really make it home!
- tons of ups and downs all through out our time in Wau
- having your Daddy find your heart beat every week or so, just to hear that steady beat
- feeling you kick for the first time
- months of on and off UTI's - ( those were really not fun in Africa, over squatty potties)
- praying for you constantly as I did and ate things that most pregnant women wouldn't do!
- finding your name and knowing it was perfect for YOU!!
- walking many many miles all the time (you would always kick and be so happy when Mommy finally laid down to rest! :-)
- loving on and praying for the South Sudanese people
- having to walk away from a sweet Grandmother who begged us to take her precious grandchild, knowing that this was not God's will for her or for us and trusting that God will continue to take care of that sweet baby!
- Swollen feet, ankles, fingers - alot of that was due to the excessive heat!
- watching as the Northern bomber plane flew over our city
- preparing to leave Sudan a month earlier than we planned
- feeling so very at peace while your Daddy worked really hard to make sure we got out safely!
- getting back to Indiana 2 weeks after we felt like we were to leave
- spending a month with your Grammy and Poppy - just relaxing and enjoying precious time with family
-  grieving the loss of my sweet cousin Melinda - (she would have loved you Makayla)
- watching your Uncle Timmy graduate from high school!
- Baby Shower number 1 - thrown by your Aunt Sara and cousins Kayleigh and Kinsey! - it was really cute, lots of monkeys! :-)
- buying our trailer - our home - your first home (it may be small, but Makayla it is filled with love and joy!)
- your Daddy and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary!! (1 year down, only 99 more to go ;-) I am sure you will hear that joke many times in your lifetime!
- moving back to Texas!!
- making the trailer, the shed and your Grandma and Grandpa's back yard our home! (your Daddy worked really really hard to make it all work - you should be proud of him! ;-)
- Baby Shower number 2 - thrown by your 3 Texas Aunts - Michelle, Nicole, and Jana and several of the sweet ladies from Soma! (we spent some precious time praying for your Grammy's complete healing!)
- Washing all your clothes, sanitizing bottles, preparing a space for YOU!!


WHEW!! What a crazy 8 months those were and now....now we wait! We only have a few weeks left sweet girl, and I know that they will fly by so you keep growing and thriving in there and come meet us whenever you are ready, we sure can't wait to meet you!! Remember that your Grammy is coming on July 16th, so if you can wait till after that she would really appreciate it! ;-)

Your Daddy and I love you a lot and are SO very excited to see what the next few months have in store for us, one thing is for sure - this life we are living is nothing short of a crazy adventure that the Lord is taking us on and we can't wait to share that adventure with you!!

I love you my sweet little monkey,

Mommy

Trusting God and Living Life

It's been almost 2 months since we returned to the US. I can't even begin to count the number of times that I thought to myself "I need to update my blog," or even had blog ideas rolling through my head and just never took the time to follow through and post an update! Just in case you missed the details of our return trip and why it had to happen so quickly and so much sooner than we expected, the gist of it is that the North declared war on the South and the airport in our town was shut down, so we took a UN helicopter out of Wau. You can read the more in depth story on my husband's blog HERE or my sister-in law's blog HERE. It was definitely a crazy experience, but through the whole situation I was able to rest securely in the peace of my Heavenly Father. I think it helped a lot that Christopher remained so calm and in control, even when we watched the Northern bomber plane fly over our city. The Lord was so faithful and provided for our every need all the way home.

This morning as I lay in bed at 5:30 AM - the new time my body likes to wake up thanks to pregnancy insomnia - I listened to the sound of my husband breathing next to me, the birds chirping outside, the hum of our AC and the crow of the rooster, I began to think back at how faithful He has been to us!! There is no doubt that He was faithful in getting us to and from Sudan, for providing for our every need and even some of our wants while we were serving in Sudan. There is no doubt that He was faithful on the mission field. Now here we are almost 2 months after returning to the US and I find myself having to search to see how He is providing for us. You see it isn't that He has forgotten us, surely He hasn't!! However, it is a lot easier to see His faithfulness when He is all you have to depend on. When we were in Sudan and things were hard which occurred more often than we imagined it would, we had no one else to run to, no one else to really help us, we HAD to rely completely upon God!! Now that we are back here in the US we expected things to be easier, we expected for Christopher to be able to get his job back when we returned to Texas, we expected things to be a lot smoother than they really are right now. What I am learning is that often times we have to throw our expectations out the window and continue to trust God!! If Our God is faithful enough to get us out of a war situation, to provide for our every need in Africa, to give us amazing amounts of safety while I was pregnant in Sudan, than He can surely provide a job for my husband (even if it is not what we had expected) and He will surely provide for all of our needs!!

 I rolled over this morning and just watched as my husband slept (yup, I'm that creepy wife! ;-) There is a lot of weight on his shoulders right now. He is supposed to be able to provide for his family, his daughter will be arriving within the next month and yet the job market is harsh right now in his field. One would think that because the man has no job that he has a lot of free time on his hands. This is just not the case with my husband. I watched yesterday as his foot slipped through the ceiling in his parents kitchen while he was trying to get another electrical line run out to our trailer. Praise the Lord that he only has scraps and bruises and didn't fall all the way through!! He has spent countless hours at the birthing center where I am going to give birth in a few weeks, helping do construction and other things in exchange for our midwife's services. He is currently outside in the 100 degree weather building a shed for us to be able to store our stuff in since this trailer is just a "little" smaller than our 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom rental was! :-) He has spent hours fixing up an old truck that we bought to haul our trailer to Texas so that he can flip that truck and get good money out of it. You see, some men who are unemployed get stressed and depressed because they have nothing to do, not my husband, he adds more odd jobs to his list, he keeps himself busy and continues to do the best that he can to provide for our little family, but most importantly HE TRUSTS GOD!! Every time we have a discussion about this job situation he says with confidence that God is going to provide, that the Lord is faithful!! Sometimes its hard to see His faithfulness when things are grim, when you are jobless and it just seems like the storms of life are pouring down on you. However, you just have to keep trusting in His faithfulness!!

My sweet baby girl is due in 20 some days and in spite of the fact that neither my husband or I have worked a real job since February, she has everything she will need and then some. The Lord has been faithful in providing our every need for her! I know that my God is faithful and so I am throwing my expectations out the window and just trusting that He has the perfect job for Christopher and that He will provide it in His timing and that we need not fear, just trust!!

My husband - My Amazing Man of God!!!

I know that many of my blog updates recently have been bragging on my husband – hopefully you don’t mind them too much, because here is another one!

Christopher has a huge heart and passion to go to unreached people groups – these are people who have really never heard about the love of Christ at all! It can be dangerous and is not the easiest ministries, but my husband has a passion for it! The two American YWAM leaders that are with us (the ones that you prayed for their safety) are taking a trip to the unreached people today. Many staff and leaders wanted to go with them and it was decided that Christopher needed to remain behind to be here in the classroom with the students, handling anything that was school related. He was disappointed, he was a little frustrated, but I watched as this man that I married 10 months ago handled this disappointment and frustration with so much humility and so much understanding!! I watched as he allowed his frustration to turn into an opportunity to let God teach him a lesson about being a leader, to grow him, to stretch him! I watched as this man of God truly allowed God to work in his life! One of Christopher’s other desires is to help start other YWAM bases – his heart is set on Juba next – and I know that the Lord is using these hard experiences that don’t always make sense to prepare him for the next phase! I love my husband with all my heart and have always been grateful for the man that the Lord blessed me with, but this weekend I am grateful for the way that the Lord is stretching my husband, for the way He is teaching my husband to be a leader, for the way my husband is growing in the Lord! The number one characteristic that I always said my husband had to have was that he had to truly LOVE JESUS, not just go to church, but to be passionate about Jesus – I knew Christopher really loved Jesus before I married him, but watching Him continue to grow in the Lord has brought me so much joy. My husband not only loves me and takes very good care of me, but he loves Jesus and loves His people, he is willing to let God mold him and for that I am SO very grateful!!

Married for 10 months and 5 months pregnanat!!!

Where has the time gone? Yesterday my husband and I celebrated 10 wonderful months of marriage!! As I think back to our wedding day and the days, weeks and months leading up to it, it seems strange to think that it has been 10 months since all of that. It was such a beautiful day and I couldn’t have asked for it to have gone any better! It doesn’t seem possible that it has been 10 months since I walked into that Sanctuary and looked at my future husband and watched as his eyes welled up with tears. We had done it, we had made it to that day that had been anticipated for months, even years – we were going to be married later that evening. We would stand in front of family and friends and our God and make a lifetime commitment to each other. In a matter of hours we would say our vows, wash each other’s feet, say “I do,” he would kiss me and we would walk out of the sanctuary hand in hand and begin our real journey together! Our life!

Fast forward to today – married for 10 months, expecting our first child in 4 more months, and serving the Lord together in South Sudan!! I wouldn’t change a thing! Standing beside my husband in ministry, working together with him to accomplish the things that the Lord is calling us to do is such an honor! To stop and think that the Lord handpicked ME to walk through life with this man, I am far undeserving of such a privilege! So with 4 more months until our lives are drastically changed again, my husband and I are enjoying this life and praising God for such a honor – to serve Him together as husband and wife, to shine His light in the darkness, to walk hand in hand through this journey!!

Urgent Prayer Request!!

Urgent Prayer Request, we need an army of prayer warriors to pray for two American YWAM staff traveling to Wau (our tomorrow - your night April 4th) by road from Juba. This is the last option of transport to get them here as there was a plane crash in the Wau airport and it has now closed completely for the time being. The road is dirt, VERY bumpy and will take 12 hours...as if all of those things weren't enough there have been several armed robberies on these roads and because they are Khawaga (white person) they will stick out even more - PLEASE, PLEASE pray for their safety! We know that God wants to use them in mighty ways and that is why the devil continues to try to throw road blocks in getting them here! Our God is a protector and we are trusting in His good and perfect plan, even when it is not the plan that we would choose - He knows best! Thanks for your prayers!!