Evelynne's 2.3 year update.

So remember when I said last month was my last update on Evelynne every month? Just kidding... I just can't not write an update for her after doing it for two years. I want to remember everything.

Dearest Evelynne,

This year has and is going to be a pretty big change for you. You are going to be experiencing your first move to a new place. Where? I don't know yet lol. And you're Daddy is going to get a new job where he can see you more and spend more time with you and also you're a big sister now. And I love that you take your role as a big sister so seriously and you love being one. You're so gentle and loving towards Liya and you always want her around you. I'm so in love with you and so proud of you!

You're so fierce and Independent and wild! Yes, very wild. But I'm thanking God for those amazing qualities because you're going to go far with those. Very far and you will bring God so much laughter and glory. I'm praying that God will continue to give me wisdom to teach and train you how to use those qualities for the kingdom and not to drive your mama to her 9th  tenth cup of  coffee haha!  

 

You love to sing and dance now. We try every morning to have a little worship session after Devotions. You love it when I hold you and spend you around. It's so much fun. I love hearing you sing "La la la" to the beat. 

You also love devotions. We read about three - five pages a day normally if you can sit for that long haha. If not we get one page in. You like to look at the pages and drink hot chocolate while we read. 

You're such a little prayer warrior. I love it when you fold your hands together, squint your eyes and smile while we pray. 

You're such a go getter and I love that! You're an amazing example for your sister already! I'm excited to see you grow into the young girl after God's heart. You're gonna go so far kiddo! I can see it now. I love you so much Darling girl. My prayer for you is that you will always dream big when dreams seem impossible. Because with God all things are possible. and that you will always seek First Jesus and His kingdom. 

Evelynne's 2.3 update.

Evelynne Loves: Lady grey tea, decaf coffee and lattes.. (girl after my own heart!) She also loves books, Minnie mouse, Peter Rabbit, Being a big sister, car rides, snow, whip cream, flash lights, Mr. bear, Devotional time, singing, dancing, her baby doll, baking, all things artsy and play dates. 

 

Evelynne doesn't like: Being changed, taking naps, hearing the "no word" and waiting.

Favorite foods: Chick-fil-a, All fruits, yougurt, smoothies, Peanut butter, frozen blueberries, pizza & spaghetti. She's been so picky lately but for the most part she'll eat this with no hesitation. But usually everything is give or take at the moment. grrr!

 

Foods she doesn't fancy: Most greens (which is why I do smoothies) and most  meats.

Clothes size: She's now wearing anything from a 3t to 5t, Cray cray. She's such a tall girlie like her mama. 

Diaper size: She's a 6 now but we're hoping to start potty training soon. I'm debating if we want to start before or after the move in April.

Social: Very social!! She's my social butterfly who has to say "Hi" to everyone and thing including windows, trash and well, everything! Unless she's grumpy. then she only wants mama. 

School: We've started preschool at home. And coming September we're praying about enrolling you to daycare preschool a few times a week to help your social skills (though I don't think you need it) It's important that you socialize with kids your age. Right now you're learning your "ABC's. It's been fun because it's our personal time for bonding. We also read our "Jesus calling Devotional Bible" almost every morning. We both love that part of the day. You always ask me to read more so we read about 2-5 pages a day lol.

 

What's new this month:

- You are all words now sweet girl. You're vocab is great now and I rarely have trouble understanding you. And if I can't you always act it out. It's the cutest.

- You now open and close all the doors now. And because it's new you do it constantly hah! 

-You want to be held a lot more now. I'm guessing it's because I'm always holding Liya maybe? I love holding you but I'm trying to do it less so that you can grow in independence and because you're the big girl who has legs. :)  I honestly think it's more hard for me than it is for you though.

- you can count to three all by yourself and can count to ten with help! I'm so proud of you.

-you can also say your ABC's with help and can say ABCD all by yourself! You also know many shapes and colors. 

-You're such an amazing big sister and you're not a jealous one at all. You always want Liya to be right next to us and if I give her to Leon or let her sleep upstairs so you and I can have some bonding time you always ask me to bring her back in the room. I just love how great you are with her.

Liya Evangeline's Two Month

Dearest Liya, 

Are you really two Months already? I feel like this precious time of you being small is just flying by and it has been. You're growing so fast. I feel like your looks change every week. Though I must say you still look like your daddy in my opinion however, I am starting so see myself in there as well.

You are such a smiley baby. I can't get over it and I don't even have to try to make you smile. All I have to do is say "Hi" to you and your all smiles and you love it when I sing to you..My dream of being a famous singer came true! I must say I do have the cutest fans.

Evelynne's nap time and night time has been our bonding time. I love spending time with you and just observing you. I love exchanging smiles with you. I'm so excited to watch you grow baby girl. I know you're going to move mountains! You are so perfect little Darling. I love every inch of you. You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Liya's One Month update:

Nicknames: Liya Bear & Liylee (from Evelynne)  Also,  Liya beans given to her by Gandma and Pumpkin from her Auntie Ash.

Liya Loves:

-Laying on her tummy for sleeping but so far she is not a fan of tummy time. 

 -Being held.

 -Bethel Worship.

-Being sung too.

-Big sister.

-Her binky.

-Car rides

 - Very oddly she loves it when I change her diaper.... She always smiles and feels relieved. haha!

-Nursing

-Bath

Eating:

Since day one Liya has been a terrific eater and nurser. We make a pretty good team.

 

                                 

Liya doesn't like:

Changing her clothes

 Waiting to eat.

Clothing size:

She is now all 3 months and even some 3-6.. She's so tall.

Diaper size:

She's still in ones but when she's out of  one's I may switch up to two.

 

 New things you experienced this month:

So, last week your big sister tried to pick you up out of your swing and replace you with her doll..Thankfully I was there to save you before her mission was complete and after I let her put her doll in your bassinet you guys were friends again. :)

You napped for a whole hour! And even better you chose to do this while Evelynne was napping.. Well hello Mama time. :) 

You had your first Valentines day. It was so much fun! Though you didn't care. I loved dressing you and your sister in matching hearts.

 

Mommy Moments

Welcome to Mommy Moments! We hope you all a week filled with wonderful memories! Let's keep it up by sharing and promoting Mommy Moments and the wonderful community we have here! I have enjoyed getting to know all the new mamas linking up and sharing their lives with us! I can't wait to hear more from you all again this week!

Motherhood has its seriousness and frustration as well as its laughs. That's why we are here. Life is much easier when traveled with companions! So mamas, let's join together in the spirit of motherhood and share our moments together. We want to hear the happy, sad, tough, terrible, hilarious moments that make being a mother the best job in the world!

The top viewed link this week belongs to our own girl Sarah from The Not Quite Military Wife and her post Aria's Birth Story Part 1. If you've never read a birth story that takes place in the British Healthcare system then you should definitely check out Sarah's post and help welcome baby Aria! Thanks for sharing with us Sarah!

The Life Of Faith

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Colossians 3:17 
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

An InLinkz Link-up

Pregnant with waiting for God's best.

 

My daughter is two months old now.. However I've had this post on my heart for a while now because ever since I experienced my last pregnancy with Liya I've had such a heart for pregnant moms. Especially with kids already.. 

When that clear blue pregnancy test confirmed "Pregnant" and the five ones after that made it official. I was so excited. Words couldn't even express. I was laughing, crying, daydreaming and I couldn't wait to actually show my  baby bump!

I'd sit around thinking about how small the baby is right now. I thought about how tiny her fingers and toes were. And then about a week later I remembered what pregnancy actually felt like.

I did.. I forgot what pregnancy felt like... Either that or my pregnancy with Evelynne was a walk in the park compared to my pregnancy with Liya. But considering I lost over thirty pounds puking my everything out with Evelynne.. I somehow doubt that. 

About a week after I found out I was pregnant I already started feeling tired and so sick. I wanted to know who on earth decided that eggs could be food and what were they thinking?! 

I found myself hugging the toilet several times a day. Not  washing my hair for five days and sleeping in the same clothes as long as I could because I didn't even have the energy to change or wash clothes for that matter.

Then you hit the second trimester.. You're still super tired however food went from being your worst enemy to your best friend.. And then you find yourself wanting Chick fil a, Five guys and Mexican food all in one sitting. And other then having to pee every five minutes things are going great. 

And finally the third Trimester. You're huge and you feel like a whale. At least I did. And you want to sleep all the time and you just want to be done.You're tired, wobbly, swollen, achy and that pregnancy tired brain is worse than a lack of sleep brain.

And then you finally know why you went through with pregnancy.

It is amazing how 7 pounds and 12 ounces can change your life. And how seeing that cute little beauty and holding her for the first time makes all those times of sleepless nights, uncomfortably, and all those times you couldn't even keep a cracker down worth it.

Experiencing this pregnancy while going through a season of waiting for the life and purpose God has put our family on this earth for  has helped me see pregnancy in a new light and could even relate it together.

Carrying a baby is a lot like carrying a purpose . . .It's like holding a dream. A calling and waiting for it to come to pass.

 It’s not  easy. It's painful and sometimes it makes us feel really sick to our stomachs. 

At times the load feels too heavy to carry and sometimes we can’t even see where we are going anymore thanks to the fact that we no longer can  see our feet and honestly, my sense of direction is so horrible when I'm pregnant.

However, It's during that time when we think to ourselves that we just can't make it. When the enemy tries to feed us lies telling us "All this hard work is for nothing"  And "All this will end out badly with disappointment and broken hearts" And it's when we think that we can  no longer do this, that we realize we can.

We live to fight another day, another month and months after that. God guides the way. Giving us His rest, His comfort and His strength. Our days turn into weeks.. Weeks turn into months... and before you know it our purpose grows and our labor produces harvest.

And finally we're holding that blessing. That promise. And we're finding that it was all very worth it!

I know quite a bit of you are pregnant now. And maybe some of you are carrying a burden, or waiting for the promise and the calling God has placed upon your life like my husband and I are. 

We are in the process of being released to be in full time Ministry. Yep, that means we'll be saying goodbye to the cop life and doing Ministry together as a family. We've been waiting for a while now however, I feel it in my heart that we're getting closer and closer to that time when God says "Now" and provides. 

It certainly is a pain waiting isn't? We just want it handed to us. And it feels like the pain is going to last forever. But this shall pass. Because that's what God promises.

It's not going to be easy. When you're running for the great stuff the process getting there is never a walk in the park. But it takes hard work and sometimes the hardest thing to do is wait. 

You're going to have days when you're done and you don't want to go any further and you just want to give up and stay in bed.. But you can't. You gotta fight for that blessing. You can do this because God has given you what it takes to do so. He has given you Himself and All He is.

So on days when you don't feel like you can take the pain of pregnancy/life/waiting practice confidence. Practice boldness and hold out your arms. They might feel empty today but later in God's perfect timing the seed you have sown today in your hard labor will bare much fruit and God's gonna hand you the blessing and babe, It's gonna rock your universe!

“Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning!”

Psalm 30:5

50 Shades of Grey and why I believe it is a inappropriate reading material for anyone.

Fifty Shades of Grey.  the book has sold one copy every second, hitting the New York Times Bestseller List and selling  millions of copies so far with no signs of slowing down...

When it came out a few years ago I honestly  had no interest in it. My assumptions for it was that it was just another Twilight fantasy book that's boring and   in my opinion corny.

However, it did come to my eye that it was extremely popular. I'd have to say 95% out of my facebook feed for weeks was Fifty shades of grey and how amazing and romantic it was.

So I got a little interested and looked it up to find out what was so amazing and romantic about this Christian Grey.

My friends, terrifying,disturbing,abusive,confused yes. Romantic?  Heck no!

The story's plot centers on a 21 year old college girl who is a  virgin and is seduced by a handsome 27 year old millionaire (who by the way, is described in the novel as an abused victim and sex addict) who persuades her to sign a contract that allows him complete control over every aspect of her life - dictating when she can sleep, eat (and what she can and cannot eat), groom herself,  work out and taking complete dominance over her sexually as he systematically abuses her throughout the story. Much of the "50 Shades" trilogy includes very graphic sex scenes involving BDSM- "bondage, discipline, sadism, and masochism."

 I thought the story line was just disgusting  and I'd never read it or recommend it and I left it at that.

Now fast forward to last Saturday (Valentines day) I'm 23. I'm now married to a man who knows what love and romance is and I'm the mother of two beautiful daughters.

I'm sitting on Facebook and once again 50 Shades blows up my feed.

"The movie 50 Shades of Grey hits theaters today. Be the first to see it!"

Goodness! they actually made it a movie? 

And out of complete curiosity I looked up a preview and it made my heart sink. I felt sick and as a young woman myself I felt completely humiliated and disrespected and apparently I'm not the only one who finds this movie/book disturbing, gross and harmful but even the co-stars of the movie think 50 Shades of Grey is awful.

They both stated that they had a very rough time filming this movie. Jamie Dornan (The actor of Christian) stated in a interview that after he got off set he had to take a long shower before he could even touch his wife or daughter. 

And Dakota Johnson mentioned to Glamour  admitting that while shooting the sex scenes,

 “there were some painful moments.” “I got whiplash once from him throwing me on the bed; so f--king painful.” And just in case you thought that maybe there was something sexy about shooting a sex scene. Nope. Definitely not. "It's just sweaty and it's not very comfortable. And on top of that, my hands and legs were tied, and I was blindfolded, and I was being hit with this bizarre tool. ... It was emotionally taxing. At first I was like, 'Oh my God, this is the worst thing ever,' and then I was like, 'All right, let's get on with it.'"

But no worries. “The drive home from work always helped me snap out of it. And a big glass of wine.”

Jamie also mentioned that he would never touch or treat a woman like he had to on set playing Christian.

  

"For lust is a shameful sin, a crime that should be punished.

 It is a devastating fire that destroys to hell. It would wipe out everything I own."

-Job 31:11-12

Truth is,  this story sounds more like a nightmare than a romance. As so many have claimed it was. And yes, some would say that it's all about having an open mind and experiencing it together. But having an open mind about what? an open mind about embracing the fact that my husband/boyfriend wants a night to see me as a sex slave and abuse me to his satisfaction.. HECK NO. Sex is supposed to be a beautiful thing shared between a man and a woman that embrace their love for each other. Now I'm not saying you can't have a little fun.. Lord knows I'm all about fun with handcuffs ;) But it's not supposed to cause harm,confusion, or uncomfortableness and certainly aggressive domination. That's not love at all. It's rape and assault whether the woman sees herself as victim or not. 

And even scarier then the book itself is the fact that women bite into this lie, this story. believing that this is romantic and how they day dream while reading it pretending to be this girl in their minds. 

And God forbid that men see all these women loving into Grey's lifestyle and thinking that's what we want in men. It's clear and obvious to me that many women are lacking true love if they are under the assumptions that Grey's got what women crave.

 As  a smart, healthy woman who is in a healthy, fun marriage.... I do not see 50 shades as harmless.I do not see it as  cute not even  "kinky." and certainly anything but romantic. It's not just "entertainment". And it is not okay. And  I believe experts, psychologists,doctors  and the Bible would agree. It is very disturbing, very unnatural, and extremely disrespectful to women. (if I didn't make that point clear earlier.)

I think I am even more passionate about this now that I'm a mom. A mom of girls for that matter, but you know what moms of boys should be just as careful. 

Moms we need to teach are sons to treat women with true love. The kind of love that 1 Corinthians 13:4 demonstrates.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

We need to teach them to see women as valuable, honorable and not a piece of meat. We need to teach them to be protective over their women in a loving matter and not a jealous one and we need to teach them to encourage women to be confident in themselves and who they are in Christ and not their boyfriends/husbands. 

Moms of daughters. We need to teach our girls what love really is! We need to teach them that men who aggressively  dominate are not strong, they're not romantic, they're not love and they're certainly not men. I don't even have the heart to call them boys. They are dogs. dogs that are wimps that don't deserve the value that our daughters carry.

We need to teach them to know their identity and confidence in Christ and to stay clear from all that is unholy and not pure. 

We need to raise our children and treat our loved ones with love.

Friends, I'm not writing this post to be one of the million people that want to speak their opinion. I'm one hundred percent writing this post out of love. Hoping that if you didn't see fifty shades of grey in it's "true" light before that you do now.

"Do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure."

-1 Timothy 5:22 

"But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality,

or any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people."

-Ephesians 5:3

"It is God's will that you should be sanctified; that you should avoid sexual immorality;

that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable,

not in passionate lust like those who do not know God...

The Lord will punish people for all such sins, as we have already told and warned you.

For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life."

-1 Thessalonians 4:3-7

  

Mommy Moments.

Welcome to Mommy Moments! We hope you all a week filled with wonderful memories! Let's keep it up by sharing and promoting Mommy Moments and the wonderful community we have here! I have enjoyed getting to know all the new mamas linking up and sharing their lives with us! I can't wait to hear more from you all again this week!

Motherhood has its seriousness and frustration as well as its laughs. That's why we are here. Life is much easier when traveled with companions! So mamas, let's join together in the spirit of motherhood and share our moments together. We want to hear the happy, sad, tough, terrible, hilarious moments that make being a mother the best job in the world!

The top viewed link this week belongs to The Best of Baby Lady and her post They Lied...It Matters How You Birth. What an encouraging post for mamas to be educated on the type of birth experience they want and then be confident to stand your ground even when procedures are being pushed. Thanks for the encouragement from one mama to many others Iulia! 

The Life Of Faith

 The Not Quite Military Wife

Our Family Grace

A  Beautiful Ministry

The William's Journey

Now, link up your post!

Post can include anything related to mommy-hood, children, homemaking, pregnancy etc. If you aren't a mom yet, feel free to link up your preparation for motherhood, your journey as you try to conceive, or even a post that would be encouraging to the other moms in the party!

Then, explore some of the other posts in the link-up and say hello to some new blog friends! 

Please, pretty please, we'd love it if you would tweet or share the link up on Facebook so we can all make even more friends!

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We would also love it if you could add the Mommy Moments button to your post or blog so everyone knows where you are linking up! If you are not able to copy/paste the code on your page, please e-mail one of us and we would be happy to send you the code!

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P.S. We will be having a new guest host every week! Want to be a guest host of the Mommy Moments Blog Hop? Send Faith a message at farmprincess14{at}gmail{dot}com. We would love to have you!

Colossians 3:17 
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

An InLinkz Link-up