Toothy 10 Months

There is my precious 10 month old girl, smiling big and showing off her two bottom teeth. We have been busy. We traveled to Georgie for a week and a half at the end of March/beginning of April. Kate and I both enjoyed being spoiled by her Gramps and Marmee. Then we got back and took a few days to settle back in with her sweet daddy, play catch up at home, and celebrate Kate's first Easter!

At 10 months Kate loves to say "Mama," "Dadda," "bye bye," and "NO NO" (haha she loves this last one when she is not happy with mom or dad!). She is cruising along the couch, crawling everywhere, getting into all my cabinets, and bringing such joy to our home. She sleeps all night and takes two 1.5-2 hour naps each day. I am still nursing her about 4 times each day, and she is now eating 3 meals, just like dad and mom. Here are a few more pics of our very active, busy little girl!

Happy Easter!!!

 

Mondays

On Mondays, I typically single-parent it all day. Trey has class Monday nights in Dallas, so he goes in to work early in order to get a full day's work in. We sometimes get to see him at lunch, but more often than not he is either in Dallas already or works through lunch.

Mondays are days Kate and I have to keep busy., so here are some of the activities we do...

We dress up pretty if daddy comes home for lunch.

We go on walks. We go on many, many walks.

We run around in our diapers (ok, not so much "we" as Kate).

We play with all our toys in the living room.

We run errands and do grocery shopping.

We laugh at our silly, wind-blown hair.

We read.

We also snuggle, snuggle, snuggle. Sometimes we rock in the chair, sometimes we lay in the hammock, and sometimes we play on the floor. We eat snacks, we dance to music, and we take pictures to send to daddy. I love Mondays with my baby girl...but I also love when her daddy comes home late at night!!

That's Not Fair!!

"That's not fair!!" This was one of my famous catch phrases growing up. Viewing the world from my point of view, I expected that everyone should experience life fairly. And by everyone, I meant me and my siblings. And by fair, I meant that we should all three receive the same opportunities, gifts, experiences, etc...unless, of course, I got the better end of the deal.

I am proud to say that I grew out of this childish and selfish state of mind. Or, mostly.

While I may not be crying to dad and mom to tell them how unfair things are, I do still have this attitude at times, and if I'm not careful, it can become an infection in my spirit.

It's especially easy to give into this attitude when things get tough. For the past month, we have been extremely tight financially. An unexpected change in our insurance coverage and finding out we owe on our taxes has left us wondering how we were going to make ends meet. We haven't gone into the red, and all our bills are paid on time, but any extra money has been sucked away to either medical expenses or taxes. And as I have worked out our budget for the next few weeks, I have tried and tried to make it work out but haven't been able to make sense of it all. Come April 15th, I didn't know where we would get our grocery money.

I wish I could say I have not failed to trust in the Lord through this difficult financial season. I wish I could say that I have thanked Him every day for this season, because I know we would see Him provide in the end. I can say that I have known He would provide. I have remembered how He has provided in the past and claimed His promises of provision. I even had peace in my spirit. But have I thanked Him in advance? Have I had an attitude of joy?

No.

What can I say I have done? I have looked at what other families have and envied how "easy" they have it. I have seen what other moms my age are able to do together because they have the money to do so.  "That's not fair!" I've screamed to God. Throwing a temper tantrum on the floor like a baby. Sheesh, how embarrassing.

On Tuesday nights, Trey and I have been going through Experiencing God for Couples. An older couple from church lent us the series. We watch the VHS lesson (yes, we had to borrow a VCR to do this, haha!) and go through the material together. We have been challenged in our walks with the Lord, individually and as a couple. This past Tuesday night, Marilyn Blackaby was sharing about a difficult time they went through in their earlier days as a married couple. She shared a verse from the NKJV:

"Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

Ouch.

Here it is in the ESV, which is what I use:

"Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

Seriously? Ouch.

I think most Christians know the last part of that verse: "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Oh, what a promise to claim! How nice that God would make such a promise to us, right? But I don't know that I've ever paid attention to the commands that precede that promise.

Do no covet.


Be content.


Trust.

Yikes. I have definitely not been obedient. He has been faithful, but have I?

So after the Lord's gentle but firm reminder, I have been focusing not just on the indescribable promises of God's provision for us, but also I have been focusing on being grateful, joyful, and content. I have repented of my covetousness of others.

By the way, as an addendum, the Lord has provided. Unexpectedly, from an anonymous giver, we have been blessed. Thank you Father, and thank you to the one who was obedient to the Father to help meet our needs.

Have You Noticed...

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. The reason is twofold, really. 1) I can't find the charger to my camera, so I can't get all of those great pictures onto my computer to share. Blast me!! 2) I really haven't had much to say.

But this brings me to something I've thought a whole lot about lately. It's a trend I've noticed for a while. I'm sure this will not be a surprise to anyone reading this post, but it's still something to evaluate within your family life. Has anyone noticed just how much of a role technology and social media play in our world now? I mean, of course that sounds like a dumb, "Captain Obvious" type statement. But have you really thought about it lately? I have.

It is amazing how quickly and easily I get sucked into the mind-numbing process of surfing the internet, scrolling through Facebook, and filling my mind with everything...but nothing. It's quite scary, really. There once was a time when I didn't always have this tumor, I mean cell phone, with me as I traveled from room to room in my home, or from point A to point B, in fear that I might miss an all important...text message. I can remember going on youth trips when I was in middle school and high school, playing silly games, singing at the tops of our lungs, and...talking. Now, I observe our students on youth trips, even short ones, not really knowing how to relate and communicate with one another without huddling around an iPod or cell phone to watch videos.

I have caught myself many times in conversation with someone sitting right in front of me, but not having the slightest clue what we just talked about because I was preoccupied with something on my phone.

I thought the other day that I might need to start setting the table with one extra place, for my iPhone, since it joins us for every meal.

I think about the importance of how we start our day. Far too often mine has started with picking up my phone, checking for messages, checking my email, and checking my social media.

When I really contemplate these realities, I can't help but wonder how much celebrating is going on within the ranks of Satan's army. I mean, how many people are walking around with a false sense of intimacy because they know more and more information about their "friends" on Facebook, but they never take time to connect with those actual people they come into contact with every day?

How many families fail repeatedly to engage one another on a level deeper than "How was your day? Fine? Mine too" because they instead each retreat to their separate corners of the house to play games on their phones, text message friends elsewhere, surf their social media groups, play video games, or watch TV?

I could go on, but I think my point is almost made. I will go one step further, though. How many of us actually take time to sit, to seek the Lord in prayer, to meditate? Do we pray for our children earnestly, or do we just hope really hard that God will give them good lives? Do we pray for our spouses with purpose, or do we just throw up a prayer here and there that things will go as we want? Do we really know the Lord's voice?

I have taken some steps to make changes in my life. I will share a few. First thing in the morning, I do not look at the internet, check my email, or play on any social media until I have spent time with the Lord. I must get and stay in the habit of seeking Him and praying over my family and friends on a daily basis.He must be Lord of my day.

Another change I have made, and this is just a personal change, is that I do not have the computer on/out when Kate is awake. We rarely turn the TV on, too. I took Facebook off my iPhone. I don't want my daughter's memories of me being always preoccupied with technology, failing to connect with her consistently throughout the day.

One last change I will share is that I put my phone on silent sometimes. It feels so good to have it on silent and forget about it in the other room.

I share these thoughts because maybe someone else needs to hear it, too. I know not everyone falls prey to technology like we have, but I think it is prevalent enough that most of us need to evaluate and reevaluate on a consistent basis the role it plays in our homes. For the sake of marriage, family, and our personal walks with the Lord, this is vital. Let's be different, not for the sake of "not being like everyone else," but for the sake of glorifying Jesus Christ and pointing others to hope in Him!

The Story of "Us"

I saw this on another friend's blog and thought I'd play along. Plus, I don't think I have our story written down anywhere, so this will be nice to have. Here is the (brief) story of Trey and Kara:

In August 2006 mom and I loaded up my tiny Corolla and drove from Atlanta to Fort Worth, TX. I was going to start my first semester of seminary. We arrived in the early evening of Tuesday, August 12. That next day I was at the RAC (seminary's gym) talking with a friend from college when he walked in. Yes, Trey, the tall, handsome lifeguard :). I remember watching him walk through those doors and thinking "I'm going to marry him." It wasn't like a declaration or even a hopeful desire. It was more like a peaceful thought deep in my spirit. I would say it was the Lord. I told mom and my sister later that day that I had seen the most handsome man at seminary. I called from friend Natalie that day and told her I'd seen my future husband. We jokingly referred to him as that for the following week.

I didn't really see Trey for the next week and a half. But on Friday, August 18, I was visiting a girl I'd met in the admissions office. Her friend, who had been on a date with Trey earlier in the summer, told me I needed to meet Trey. Little did I know she was just using me to go see him, but I guess it worked out in my favor! She wanted to drive over to see him, so I agreed we could take my car over there. But lo and behold, when we came to my car...the back tire was flat! Here I was, all the way in Fort Worth, with my dad states away, and I had no idea how to change a flat tire. The girl said "It's ok, I'm sure Trey will change it for you," so off we went to the RAC. We walked in the pool area, and Trey says that at the moment he saw me, something changed inside him. He knew I was different. I walked up to him and said "Nice to meet you, I'm Kara. Can you change my tire?" And thus began this beautiful friendship. We spent so much time together over the following weeks, and I wondered often whether or not he shared my feelings. Finally, on October 6, we became an official couple when...a German kid named Sasha (pronounced Zasha...little red headed boy) looked at Trey and asked with his very thick German accent, "Is she your girlfriend?" Trey looked at him, looked at me, stammered a little, then said "Uh...ya." Yes, that is right; my tall, confident man awkwardly informed me that I was his girlfriend. And of course, I agreed :)

We dated until late February 2007, at which time we broke up. I was the one that instigated the breakup, needing some time to be alone with the Lord and figure a few things out. Shortly after our breakup, Trey told me one night that the Lord had made it clear he needed to "let me go." He promised me that night that he would not push himself into my life, but that he would be waiting for me on the other side. We set a date in August to get together and decide if we'd start dating again or go our separate ways for good. We did not communicate or see each other at all during this time.

During the breakup, the Lord worked many great things in mine and Trey's heart. These things are best shared over a cup of coffee and not on a blog, so I will save them for private conversations with friends. While I was growing and being shaped by the Lord during this breakup, Trey was saving for a ring. In June he called my dad and asked for my hand in marriage. Mind you, we were still broken up at this time. Dad gave Trey his permission, not knowing what I would say. Somehow, my family managed to keep this a secret from me.

Fast forward to August 16, the day of our date. At this point I had the peace of knowing Trey was the one I wanted to marry. Earlier that week a friend had said "What if he proposes?" I said "Are you crazy? He can't propose! You don't just go from being single to being engaged!" Or, maybe you do. Because when Trey picked me up for that date, he walked me to a bench on campus, got down on one knee, and proposed right away. And I said YES!! A photographer happened to be nearby preparing for a shoot, and when she saw what was happening, she captured it on film! Here are the shots.

 

So here we are, 3.5 years of marriage, two dogs, and one precious baby girl later. What an adventure this marriage has already been.

I leave you with a song that excites me every time I hear it. It is "Who Are We Fooling" by Brooke Frasier. I love, love, love the lyrics to this song. They are such a beautiful word picture of the marriage relationship. Trey Holmes, every day I am honored and humbled to be tethered to you in this tangled knot called marriage. May we only get more and more tangled together as the years go by!!

What a Month!

Kate is 8 months old now (tomorrow), and boy what a wild month this 8th month of life has been! The growth and development she has gone through has left me excited, exhausted, and a little sad that my baby girl is growing so quickly! This has definitely been a month of "firsts." Kate crawled on her hands and knees for the first time. She clapped her hands with us for the first time, and she does that a lot now. She pulled herself to the standing position for the first time, and now she is trying to walk while holding onto the couch. Oh, and she cut her first tooth! Yes, I know, I posted a few months back that Kate had her first tooth coming in...but that was not a tooth. But her new tooth is definitely a tooth, and it's so cute!

So where are we now? Well, we have an active little 8 month old, for sure!! She crawls and squeals and "growls" and stands all the time. She loves to play. She also loves to be held. When Trey or I sit on the floor, she crawls up to us and wants to pull up and hold onto us while standing. One of my favorite things Kate does is when she stands on her tip toes like a little ballerina. What cute little twinkle toes she has, and what chubby, strong little legs. I just want to eat her up!

This is the first time I caught her standing up.

And here is the first time she pulled herself up in her crib. Nap time has never been quite the same as her pre-standing days!

My heart.

Kate loves to crawl in and through things, so I gave her this empty diaper box to play with. She absolutely loves it!

Anytime I come sit down to watch  her play, she abandons whatever she's doing to come be with me. I love this precious girl!