A Duty Recap

What are we DOING with our summer??? Here's the answer in pictures!



Swimming...LOTS! The whole family enjoys it...especially when it's HOT HOT HOT like it has been the past couple of days.




Playing with that sweet girl. She is stinkin' hilarious and keeps us rolling with things that she says and does.

Yesterday morning I had to wake her up for church and she wasn't the happiest so I sat and rocked her for a minute. Well, while we were rocking I sneezed and tried to go back to rocking her, but oh no! She laid there and went "a-shoo!" repeating me and giggling and then looked up at me with the biggest, sweetest smile! I just had to laugh.




Did I mention how BIG our girl is getting?



Playing with fire...



Watchout! We can get pretty crazy after the baby goes to bed!

Doggy Love

Yes, as you can see she was showing Angel some love, but was unsure when it actually happened. I'm quite sure you will either think this is the cutest ever or the grossest ever. Enjoy either way!

Going Green!

Allen brought home a new book a couple of months ago with the title, "Serve God, Save the Planet." I was a little skeptical at first I guess because I figured the author was probably one of those tree hugger types and it would make me feel bad to even read the book because we are so far from that. I can't say there's not the tiniest bit of truth in that statement...but not enough to keep me from recommending this book.

The author's name is J.Matthew Sleeth and he comes from the perspective of a doctor that used to work in the E.R. and started seeing some medical conditions actually caused by environmental issues. I didn't even know this existed besides like asthma or allergies. Although that's not the main tenant of the book, his background does set the stage for what he set out to discover.

He simply and eloquently shows scriptural evidence for why we should be better stewards of our planet and gives basic steps in how to do it. I appreciated the book because he comes from the perspective of one who used to live in a huge house and accumulate huge masses of trash to now one who lives in a house that is the size of his former garage and his family only produces one plastic grocery bag of trash a week!

He doesn't look down on those that live the way he used to, he just gives simple, everyday steps to becoming more green, like: running the dishwasher only when full and without a heated dry, running the dryer as little as possible and line drying when the weather is nice, conserving gas by combining trips, cooking two casseroles at once, recycling, using less paper (plates, napkins, cups), buying things with less packaging, etc.

I'll leave you with an excerpt from the book.

He talked about the changes they made in their home and commented,

"Because of these changes, we have more time for God. Spiritual concerns have filled the void left by material ones. Owning fewer things has resulted in things no longer owning us. We have put God to the test, and we have found his Word to be true. He has poured blessings and opportunities upon us. When we stopped living a life dedicated to consumerism, our cup began to run over. We have seen miracles."

The workbook is available online at: Workbook

The website is: Serve God, Save the Planet

A Way to Serve

For the Bryan/College Stationites/Living Hopers who read this blog, here's a great opportunity:

Host families are still needed for the Athletes in Action Women's Basketball girls who are coming in town for training. I spoke with Jenn Jones and she said they are still in need of 5 or 6 homes for girls.

If you have a bed they can sleep in, you are qualified! All you have to provide is a bed, somewhere to wash clothes, and meals.

These girls are training so that they can travel to Taiwan and serve on missions projects there. This is a great way to show hospitality to those in the body.

"Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality." Romans 12:13

If you are interested the dates are July 1-8 and let me know so I can get you Jenn's number. Thank you for serving our body so faithfully!

A Taylor Joy Update

Since this is what most of you wait for anyway, here goes...

Taylor thinks laughing is the MOST fun...she seriously just "ha ha's and ho ho's" all day long. It is her favorite thing to do and it's really hilarious.

She is also attempting so many words and sounds. She tries to say Taylor and she says, "tay tay". She also tries to roar like a lion and baa like a lamb among other things.

Yesterday she put her hand on my Bible and clear as day said, "bible." I was pretty floored but excited that she knows what it is!

This girl LOVES books! I seriously read books to her all day and if you ever come over that's all you have to do to keep her entertained. She loves them and walks around with her books saying, "booh booh!" No "k" at the end, which is the case with many of her words.

We have had some issues with fits and tantrums and even hitting but just have to trust that we are doing the right thing for her by discipling that kind of behavior and selfishness. Afterwards I hug her and tell her that I love her and that's why I discipline her. The Bible says that, "The Lord disciplines those He loves" and I repeat that to her too. I know she's young, but she definitely knows better and knows she's done something wrong after it happens. It really doesn't happen often, but she has her days for sure.

Another of her most favorite things to do is push her baby stroller around the house. It is a funny sight to see! She readjusts baby every couple of seconds and baby gets tossed in on her head, upside down, backwards, you name it! Thanks to Anika and Ariana for such a great gift! She loves it!

We are approaching 13 months! What a big girl! She is so much fun!

Worth a Listen...

New Attitude Conference Sermons

These are definitely worth a listen. I've had a chance to listen to a few and so far they have been AMAZING! They are from the Sovereign Grace Ministries' New Attitude conference with speakers like Josh Harris, John Piper, Mark Dever, etc.

I also have one by C.J. Mahaney called, "The Soul of Modesty" that I bought if anyone wants a copy or to borrow my ipod for a day. It addresses some things that will benefit anyone: husbands, wives, the modest, the immodest, the "I think I'm being modest, but I'm not sure", the friends of those who may need some help, and everyone in between.

Please let me know!

While I am recommending these resources, they have a children's CD that is so precious! I downloaded it for Taylor and they are her favorite songs with SUCH great messages. Your children will really enjoy them!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

I seriously can't believe we've been married for three years! In a sense it feels like it has flown by and we've done WAY too much stuff to have crammed it all into three years...in another sense I feel we know each other in a way that we should be having our 10 year anniversary! Marriage is crazy like that!

Listen to all the stuff we've done...

Getting married, 6 week hunniemoon (yep! our jobs hadn't started yet!), moving to NC, creating a new life together, new jobs, church hopping, trying to find couple friends, buying a house, only living there for 6 months before we moved back to C.S., coming home to our church family at Living Hope, being close to family, having a baby girl, going back to seminary, doing a million things at once, finding out baby #2 is on the way, our princess turning one... isn't this too much to cram into 3 years!?! (and I left a lot out...)

Life is so much fun when we're together.

I tell people who are engaged this all the time (not to scare them!) but, compared to the way I know you now, I might as well have been walking down the aisle to a stranger! And we had known each other for 4 years!

Walking with you through life is fun, wonderful, sweet, organized, sometimes spontaneous, and always hilarious...it's simply AMAZING!

I love you way more today than over 5 years ago when we started dating...I love you tons more than the day we got married 3 years ago...and I love you more today than yesterday. Everyday with you is my fairy tale.

I love you, boo bear!

Party Girl

Taylor's little princess party was on Saturday and she had a blast! I made her a sweet princess outfit to wear and she even had a princess hat, sash, a wand and shoes to match! (Thanks Aunt B and Nana!)

When people started arriving she couldn't have been any happier to be the center of attention, welcoming each guest with a hug and sometimes a kiss, which is really just her blowing on you.

We made it over to the cake, which by the way was the cutest cake I've ever seen! Thank you so much, Erin. You are AMAZING!



I really didn't know what to expect from her. She's usually very dainty with food, but I've never stuck a cake right in front of her either. Erin made her a "smash cake", which is a little cake for babies to "smash" their faces in, theoretically.



Not so at the Duty home.

We put it in front of her and the first thing she did was get a little frosting on her finger and hold it out for me. Sweet girl. I showed her that it was good, but she just wouldn't dig in....all we were getting was little swipes at the frosting.

So I cut her a piece and put some chunks in front of her. Then she couldn't get enough. She was gettin' after it. I think I cut her like 3 little pieces total. That's a LOT of cake for a little girl!



It was such a fun day and I really can't believe my little girl is one. I went in her room this morning to wake her up for church and here's what I saw. It seriously made me cry. I feel so blessed to have her and praise God everyday for letting me be her mother and do the job that He created me to do. And honestly I can't imagine loving another child as much as her, though come December I'm sure I'll find out that it's possible. I have my first appointment on Thursday, so I'll update then!

Happy Birthday Princess!

Happy Birthday Taylor Joy, our sweet little princess! I can't believe it's been a whole year since you popped out of me! What a sweet blessing you have been to our family. I can't imagine life without your sweet smile and laughter that fills our house. You bring sunshine with you wherever you go. We love you more than you will ever know and hope this next year is as amazing as the last.

We love you Taylor!

Thanks for reminding me, Heather! (To post this, not for her birthday, of course!)

Preggers!

Yes, that's right. My belly will look like this again very soon. Bye bye slim tummy. Hello basketball. I'm preggers!

Most people know already, but some of you don't. We found out a couple of weeks ago that we're pregnant and will be due in December. We are SO excited and happy to grow our family! So far, so good. Besides one horrifying migraine, the pregnancy has been great. Minus being exhausted, I hardly feel like I'm pregnant.

I told Taylor a couple of days ago that there was a baby in my belly and looked down and pointed, saying "Baby." She looked down at her tummy, touched it and said, "bebe." It was really funny. She has just been hilarious lately. I think having a brother or sister 19 months apart will be really great for her. Praise the Lord for blessing my womb! More updates to come!

Our Little Walker

I haven't posted videos of our little walker lately and she has really been picking it up! My goodness she loves it! Check out the video...we couldn't stop her!

Bluebonnet pics!

Here are some pics from our journey through the horticulture gardens with the Supercinski's last week. If you've never been there it's in full bloom right now and would make an enjoyable picnic spot for sure.




Since Taylor's 11 month is in a few days, I'll go ahead and update you on her.

After taking her first few steps (at least 10 at some points), she is considerably disinterested in walking these days. She finds it quicker to just crawl instead. I am totally fine with this. With our active little girl I can only imagine how "on my toes" I am going to have to be when she actually starts walking.



As for words, the main word in her vocabulary is still "dada". And she definitely knows who that is. She follows him around everywhere he goes. Literally. He is the world to her. It is the most precious thing I've ever seen. A couple of months ago Allen longed for this because she could never be anywhere without me and now it's happened! I am so glad she loves her daddy the way she does. And watching them together is pure joy!




She just got in another tooth. That makes six. 3 on top and 3 on bottom. She's lopsided toward her left.

Today I noticed that her hair in the back was kind of flowy and kind of curled up in the back and it made me realize that she's such a little person. She's growing up so fast! She doesn't have little baby hair anymore. It's big girl hair!



Can I just tell you how well behaved our daughter is? And I'm not praising us, it's definitely been the Lord's doing and He gets the praise. We started spanking her hand at around 6 or 7 months for discipline and were discouraged at first. But NOW, lo and behold, she responds so well to "no" and is always looking to us for approval before she grabs something she's not sure about. Can I tell you how encouraged I am by this? Or did I just do that??? Our goal is not that she be well behaved but that she understand the sin in her own heart and desire to let us shepherd her heart as the Lord has given us the authority to. Thanks for prayers about that...there have been many- even during pregnancy all the way until now. We appreciate them so much. We are, of course, praying for the day she will come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ and trust Him for the first time, understanding that all we do is to guide her toward Him.

Happy Resurrection Day!

Normally I would say, "Hoppy Easter Everyone!" And as you can see, we are entertaining a cute little bunny in our midst. Well, my husband has been walking around the house and around church telling everyone "Happy Resurrection Day" today.

I like that better.

So...HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY!

Our precious Lord Jesus rose from the grave to give us hope and a life worth living. Not a life worth living so we can do our own thing and focus on ourselves. A life worth surrendering to Him. It's pretty much the VERY least we can do seeing what He gave up for us. The God of the universe put on skin, came to earth, lived a perfect, sinless life, enduring every temptation as we have and became for us the PERFECT sin sacrifice.

Can we not live a life of worship unto Him?

Did you go to church today? Why? Ask yourself that question.

Read Isaiah 53. Read Luke 23 and 24.

And have an AMAZINGLY BLESSED day!

Sugar, Spice and All That's Nice

Lately our little girl has been just that...such a little girl. She has tons of "babies" as we call them - stuffed animals of any kind, little bunnies, bears, baby dolls, etc. She loves to hold them and give them hugs and it is SO sweet. The sign for hug is crossing your arms over your chest. Well, I tend to exaggerate it a little to get the point across so I sway a little while I'm showing her. She does it just like me every time! It's precious to see how nurturing and sweet little girls are from the very beginning and just how differently God created boys and girls. Most little boys I know are obsessed with trains, trucks and wheels and my little girl is busy pulling out all her "babies" to give hugs to.

She's sugar and spice and all that's nice. That's what little girls are made of.

My newest projects

My newest projects have involved pillowcases, ribbons, thread, and a sewing machine. I have come to despise patterns. The last time I used a "pattern" I ended up with a skirt that flapped open during church with Allen sitting next to me going, "Honey, is it supposed to do THAT???" No more patterns for me.

These pillowcase dresses are so simple. Go buy a pillowcase. Measure your child, a girl preferably, from her shoulders down to where you want the dress to hit. Measure the pillowcase and cut however much from the top (closed side). Cut out armholes. I made Taylors about 3" deep. For older girls you might go 4". Fold it and cut out a J, pretty much. Make a casing at the top, front and back about an inch thick and string some 1/2 " elastic through with a safety pin. Then grab some double folded binding and sew it up and down the armholes leaving about 10" on the top of each to tie. See? SO simple.

Now if all that made no sense I would be happy to make one for your little princess too. ;)



This one is a little different. I just added casing in the middle and strung the ribbon through and shortened it a bit since Taylor was having a hard time crawling in the longer dress. Still very simple.

A Yummy Recipe

Just thought I would share this chicken recipe because it's SO good and SO easy and has ingredients that any girl would have on hand. It's great served with baked potatoes and grilled asparagus. Let me know if you try it!


Garlic Lime Chicken
Serves 6

* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon paprika
* 1 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
* 1/2 teaspoon thyme
* 6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1/2 cup chicken broth
* 4 tablespoons lime juice

In a bowl, mix together first 7 ingredients. Sprinkle mixture on both sides of chicken breasts.

In a skillet heat butter and olive oil together over medium high heat. Saute chicken until golden brown, about 5 minutes on each side. Turn down the heat, remove the chicken (keeping warm) and add the lime juice and chicken broth to the pan, whisking up the browned bits off the bottom of the skillet. Keep cooking until sauce has reduced slightly. Add chicken back to the pan to thoroughly coat and serve.

First Steps

Taylor Joy took her first steps this morning. I set her down to walk with her and she seemed sturdy so I let go and she took a couple steps toward me (lunging). So I turned on the camera and tried it again, the second time she wasn't the most happy but she still did it. It was more like running! Check it out!

I love me!

A video of Taylor Joy "kissing" herself in the mirror. Once she saw that we thought it was funny she kept doing it. What a ham!


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Little Copycat

A video of Taylor Joy "copying" Aunt B's cough and thinking it's hilarious...


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More Firsts

So many firsts in the last couple of weeks for Taylor Joy! Where do I start?

First signs (besides bye bye): she started doing signs for bath and more

First imitations: she has started trying to clap when we say "YAY"! She will imitate what we say and what we do. If we say "ah" she says it, if she sees me dancing, she bops, if she sees my foot moving, she'll move hers, etc.

First words (besides bye bye and dada): she said bubble last week when we were at Babies and Books at the library and the teacher was blowing bubbles. I was like, "WHAT did you just say? You are 9 months old!" She's said it only a couple of times since then. She attempts to say many other things like Angel (my parents dog), ball and tee tee.

First time walking with one hand only! I have a feeling she'll be on her own REALLY soon!



Here's Taylor in her Cinderella dress from Heather's wedding this weekend. She went to the reception and made her way walking all around. What a silly girl! Everyone loved her!