It's inevitable

Gas. It happens to the best of us right? Well, I have noticed that the gym brings out the worst in people, quite literally. You sweat, you stink, you get wedgies that you have to ever so discreetly dis-lodge from places you never knew underwear could go...it's not your best time, appearance wise. Well, then you have the fact that you are all loosey goosey from working out, sometimes it just creeps up on ya...you know, gas. Not much you can do about it, but just hope that your neighbor thinks it's someone else right?

Odd post, yes. It just hit me as hilarious today though as I was laying on a machine (no I had not passed out, as some would guess...it's supposed to lay down) and this man walked by me and without a care in the world, let one go. And I mean, loud. No care from him, no little chuckle, no comment like "oops, that's embarrassing," no squeezing of the buns to hold it in...nope. He didn't care. He was at the gym. And well, it's just inevitable.

Lily Rae turned one!

It's official, she's no longer a baby! No more will I say she's x months old. I realize that when people ask how old your kid is, and you say it in months rather than years, you can see them trying to calculate the age! If you are talking to a person that has not had little ones in a long time, forget it. They will just nod their head like they know exactly how old 19 months is, even though they would rather hear oh about a year and a half!

But I digress. Lily is a funny little girl, that's for sure. She lets you know exactly how she is feeling, when she is feeling it. Her whole face tells the story. Either she is so excited that her legs move a mile a minute, kicking back and forth, or she is so cross that her face gets the most pathetic look of any baby I've ever seen. Very expressive that Lily. She is not the greatest sleeper and I will be sure to remind her of that fact when she has a newborn of her own. Though of course being the control freak that I am, I will offer to live with her when she has a baby so as to take the brunt of the sleepless nights. I'm sure I will be the mom that causes Lily to say to her close friends "I love my mom but she really needs to give me my space!"

Again, I digress.

Lily Rae we love you and are so happy that you are part of our family. We cannot imagine what it was like before you were here. Well, that's not true. I slept a whole lot better! But that's ok little putter, you are worth every minute I miss. Most of all though, I look back to this time last year...you were still in the hospital. It was the worst feeling I have ever had, leaving there each day, without you. I can't describe how awful that felt. But I'm so glad, so thankful that the Lord touched you in a quick manner. After 8 days, you were home. It was the longest, blurriest 8 days of my life, that's for sure. But what a great end result. Happy first Birthday Lily!

Compassion International

I follow quite a few blogs, a few of them being folks that just went on a trip for Compassion International, an amazing ministry. The blog posts so moved me, that we decided to sponsor a child from India. I have always loved the Indian people, ever since I was a teenager, so it seemed fitting to pick a child from that culture. I am not posting this to act like I'm super awesome for doing that, I really just want to brag on my kid a minute. I told her my idea, she jumped right on board with me, so we sat at the computer and began to look through the kids that were in need of sponsors. Bless her little heart, she wanted to sponsor a child "that had no family." And she totally understood the importance of doing so as well. We were unable to find any orphans, so we continued the search and she ended up picking a little girl named Ashwini, real close to her age. We read all about her life, Joei looked at the blog posts I had been following, the pictures and video and what not. It's really been a great way for us to talk about how blessed she is in life and how much more we need to help people. I really think this is going to be such a great way for Joei to learn compassion for herself...

I look foward to getting to know this sweet little girl, and getting to see my sweet little girl grow as a result. I will keep y'all posted!