Isn't she Lovely...

Sweet Baby

Dear Gracie,

You are two months old! I know I can't believe it either! This last month has been so full and so fun as you have begun to develop your own little personality and become your own little person! The best thing about this month is that you have started to coo and smile at mommy and daddy when you hear our voices and see our faces. How sweet that is for us to see such perfection.

This month started off by you spending all your time with daddy. Mama had to go back to work for two weeks to end the school year with my class, and daddy stayed home to take care of you. He did a great job with you and got you on a great sleeping schedule. He is not just a great daddy, but a great husband too. He not only took care of you during the day, but he did all the late night feedings too, so that mommy would be all rested up for work the next day. He is very selfless when it comes to you, sweet baby. I was proud of him. He loves you so much and wants to protect you from the world. Now that summer is here, I am home every day with you and we have so much fun together! You keep me very busy! We have been to the pool, to the park, and to watch daddy play music. You are very adventurous!

I absolutely love watching you grow and change and I always anticipate every milestone you will cross, but it is a bittersweet journey being your mommy. I was very sad when I had to pack up all your newborn clothes because you had outgrown them so fast. You have also started sleeping in your room in your crib and I was so scared to let go of you at first, but you sleep so much better in your big crib. I know that you have much more growing to do sweet baby. This is only the beginning of the adventure of being your mommy and the series of letting you go a little bit at a time. But for now you are still my sweet little baby girl and I will keep each moment tucked away in my heart forever.

Love you,

Mama

Overcome

Tonight I sit here in front of my computer in a cozy little home, a beautiful sleeping baby girl I am watching on the monitor, and the dull sound of music in the background as my diligent husband is recording in the next room. It seems as if everything is right in our world, but I can not help but feel overcome.

I feel for a mother and father who lost their son in a senseless death a few days ago. Tonight at the funeral home I gave the father a smile and saw only a blank stare on his worn face. I feel scared for a beautiful nineteen year old girl who lays in a hospital bed tonight as her mother, father, and so many friends wait patiently and pray for the latest updates. I feel for my old college minister who lost his seventeen year old nephew this week...he was about to start his senior year of high school. I pray for a dear sister who longs for a child and feels hopeless at times. I cry for a mother who lost her sweet baby and is still so full of faith as I read her thoughts everyday. I try to sort through why people walk away from marriages and leave their promises behind. I am overcome.

I look to my God and ask why it seems so dark out there. I hear a stillness that requires me to trust. To trust that He knows exactly how my heart feels in this moment. To trust that He is walking with each of these families as they try to conjure up strength from their innermost being. To trust that He hears my prayers for each of these. Prayers for a perfect peace that will calm their troubled hearts and the "stormy seas" in their midst. I know you are there God. You have a beautiful tapestry painted for each one of their lives. My prayer is that they know it too and just trust.

This is the verse that has been hanging on my fridge for months. I clung to this during the some of the darkest places of my life this past year. I was in a place of a horrible unknown. I truly did not know if my marriage would survive all of the blows it had taken. I was in a broken place. A place where all I could do was trust.
Psalm 40:1-3 "I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their Trust in the Lord."
Guess what...it did survive. Now it is more than I could have ever hoped for. Through pain HE has created such beauty.

I am overcome, not by these present troubles, but from the neverending and true faithfulness of my amazing Heavenly Father.

The Family

Gracie in her swing being cute.

Aunt Candice and Mommy

Uncle Taylor and Mommy

At first there were two.

Sleepy Gracie after a busy weekend and Mommy.

Here are some new pictures that we have taken of our little family. We had a great Father's Day weekend. Chris had a show on the lake on Saturday night and Uncle Collin and Aunt Candice came to watch. While Mommy and Daddy were doing that, Gracie went with her Gigi and Poppa Dale to her first rodeo. Then, on Sunday we had Father's day dinner and Gracie gave her daddy two new pairs of flip flops and a new iPhone for being such a great daddy!

Schools out for the Summer!

Another school year is over and I have let another group of my babies go onto third grade. I worried over them everyday and hoped that I was teaching them enough to prepare them for the next grueling year. Most importantly, I hope that I taught them how to be good people and find their talents and make good choices. I loved all of my kids this year and they definitely made me a better teacher.

I was so glad that Gracie got the chance to come up and meet them. The kids have been watching me grow and talking about baby Gracie all year. When they were making artwork about their favorite 2nd grade memories, most all of them wrote "Baby Gracie". They worried all year about me being on my feet, what I was eating and drinking, and how she was growing. They also had lots of advice, since a lot of them are experts with baby brothers and sisters. This class will always be so special to me!!

Oklahoma

Mommy, Aunt Erin, Aunt Courtney, and Gracie Ann

Dr. Aunt Erin and Gracie Ann

Although Gracie is a native born Texan, there are a few reasons we just love Oklahoma. One of them is the amazing friends we have there. We just went up this weekend to watch my best friend, Erin, graduate from OU Med School. We are so proud of her accomplishment!! Gracie was proud too, and showed it by being a perfect baby through the whole graduation. I am a blessed mommy!

Another reason we love it is all the good memories we have there. That state holds some of my most precious memories from college. When I cross that state line and breath that Oklahoma air, it never fails, I can't help but reminisce.

Last, but not least, that is where I met and fell in love with Gracie's daddy. So I guess you could say that Gracie is half Okie.

Things just seem a little bit simpler there. Maybe it is because I was there at a simpler time in my life...when all I had to worry about was making it to class on time.

One Month

My big-blue-eyed beauty being silly!!!

Gracie Ann,

I can't believe that you have been in the world for one whole month!! It seems like just yesterday you were just a dream. I dreamed about how you would look and what you would be like. I worried. I worried about you making it into the world safely and being strong. I wondered. I wondered if God had equipped me with all the tools that I needed to be a great mom to you. I prayed. I prayed that you would have a love of God that would pour out of you onto others and that you would find His distinct purpose for your life.

We have spent the last month learning you. We have studied your face, fingers, and toes. We have breathed you in to memorize your sweet smell. We have listened carefully to every sound and cry to try and figure out what it is you are telling us. I still feel like I have a lot to learn so I apologize if I don't get it just right the first time.

We have quickly discovered your likes and dislikes as we strive to make your world a lovely place. This is what we know about you so far baby girl.
1. You love to listen to the sound of rain and rushing water. You loved this in my belly too and it made you dance in mama's tummy, but now it relaxes you. One of your favorite places to sleep is in your pink Boppy chair in the bathroom with the sun shining on you through the big window while listening to the sound of mama's big bathtub.
2. You are strong willed.
3. You have a big personality!
4. You are a daddy's girl.
5. You like to snuggle up in the crook of mommy's neck and curl your legs up on me like a frog.
6. You are a child of routine.
7. You kick your legs when you are mad.
8. You are a very social baby. You love people and you have never cried in public.
9. You love to soak in the world.
10. You are musical.

I hope you know how much we love you. I hope that you feel safe when you are home. I hope that we can show you how to love others and be your own person. I hope that we can show you what it means to have a love for God that defines who you are so you don't have to go searching. I hope that we can give you a security that allows you to be independent and adventurous later in life. I hope that you can love those who hurt you. I hope that you are strong enough to stand up for what you believe in and not be swayed. I hope that you take the best parts of each of us. I hope that we are everything that you need us to be.

I promise that we will be there to cheer on your every milestone. I promise that we will make you laugh. I promise that when you get your heart broken we will feel it too and love you through it. I promise that we will always be your home.

It is only the beginning sweet baby girl and we are walking this road together. I can't wait to see what is in store for your life. You are already great! I love you!

Love,
Mama