B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!!!!

Don’t worry, I’m still here!!  I sort of lost the blog bug for a little while and hope that I catch it again with the soon to be birth of our baby girl!

Update:  The pregnancy has been going great.  I’m not a complainer so even if it wasn’t I’m not the one to say much different.  I have the usual late pregnancy stuff going on.  Heartburn, swollen feet and ankles.  It was stressful there for a couple of weeks/months but that was due to getting the room ready.

I insisted on having bead board in the room.  My husband and I are pretty handy people but we had never taken on a bigger job like that.  My husband did a wonderful job with a help of a friend.  It took longer then expected b/c of the weather and what not but none of that matters because it came out BEAUTIFULLY!!

I also insisted on having a girly blue color for the room.  There is just something about a girl and feminine blue with me.  I love it!  Here are some pics of the room.  Some phone pictures and some my sister took. Wish we would have stopped and taken more.  There are a couple of things that we didn’t get pictures of that I wish we would have now.

Another thing that came out ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFULLY was the Baby Shower/Sprinkle <3.  My two best friends put it on for me with the help of some others, 😉 they would not let me get involved at all.  I’m going to be honest, I was really upset at first because I love to party plan and craft and be creative.  But God knew what he was doing with them and I was able to put my efforts towards the baby room.  They blew my expectation out of the water and now I’m intimidated to put a shindig together when they are around.

Me with my Mom and Sister!

Me and the Hostesses and Besties!!

So there is a quick snap shot of the last couple of weeks.  After this Easter weekend I plan on taking it super slow and easy.  I’m getting to the, I’m really tired and don’t want to do much but wait I need to take care of this, while my husband gets really frustrated and insists that I sit down.  Thanks Babe!

Anyways, I hope that everyone has a Wonderful Easter and remembers what it is all about!

Makes Me SMILE Week 33

Date Night with Little Man.

God’s will in the works.

Dinner with some great people.

MY Baptism!

THIS BOY!

Seeing my Sister!

Little Man’s sense of humor.

We were getting ready for school and he picked up a comb, put it over his eye and said, I’m a pirate!

This View, Scattered Showers over North Texas!

 

 

Little Man’s is finally out of this Toddler Bed!

 

Proverbs

Gotta love some Proverbs.  Little Nuggets of wisdom, truth and guides for your life.  I was catching up on reading my Bible in a year and this stuck with me.  Again one of those things where a verse sticks with you at that moment because what is going on in your life.

Proverbs 16: 8-9  I chewed on these. 

8- Better a little with righteousness then much gain with injustice.

In today’s world we want, want, want and we want it now!  We want a shortcut.  The first part which is probably obvious and this is “elementary” on my part but, It is better to gain and have little in life if you did it with honestly, integrity, and a Godly heart.  That is yours and you earned it and you can be respected for that and you did it in a pure manner.    But if you have a lot and you obtained it with dishonesty, bad intentions, unfairly and without a Godly heart, then people might envy you, yeah but, they will not respect you or trust you and you will one day have to answer to God.

So as hard as it is sometimes to keep doing the right thing and feeling like you are getting no where remember that it is better than the alternative and that you are keeping your integrity in tact and your relationship with God is not being diminished.  It is not about what we have or what we don’t have.

9- In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.  

First off, I love this because it reminds me of that Paula Abdul song,  Two steps forward and two steps back.  Okay, Sorry, I can never be serious for long without putting a joke in or some type of smart remark.

This reminds me to not get too caught up in my own head/heart/will.  The Lord wants good things for us and wants us to succeed.  You just have to be patient and know that God has a plan for you.  We are not always going to know the exact steps to take, how many steps there are or what direction those steps might take, that is up to God and what he wants you to learn along the way.  They might go in a circle before it straightens out again.  We must be patient when things seem far away and ready to accept change if it is presented sooner than expected.

Okay, just something to think about!

This is the stuff that gives you PEACE.

Psalm 9 : 9-10

9-The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a strong hold in times of trouble.  10- Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

Let’s break this down.

Refuge = Protection

Oppressed = Suffering

Stronghold = place for security

Trouble = Distress; hard times (Could be many different things for different people.)

Know =  understand as fact or truth; to apprehend clearly and with certainty

Trust = reliance on another person or entity; depend on

Forsaken = Abandon; To give up

Seek = go to; to go in search of; to ask for

The Lord is Protection for the Suffering, a place of security in distress or hard times.   People who understand you as truth will depend on you Lord, because you have never given up on those who go to you and search for you!

When I read this and wrote it in my journal I wrote a note to myself.

In times of stress and pain seek the Lord and trust in his power and will, not your own.  He will not forget you or let you down.

This is entirely my interpretation and by all means you should open up the bible and find this in context and the understanding for yourself.

 

If we didn’t have SAD we wouldn’t appreciate the HAPPY.

Sad Part –  Long story, short –  I started this post about how I was “Cutting the Fat”.  How I actually broke up with a friend, which I don’t think I have ever officially done, because the friendship was very one-sided, negative and was not helpful with “my walk” in life.  Don’t get me wrong I know it is not all about me but that person seemed very self-absorbed and blind for me to help her with her walk too.  Now I am making my Long Story – Short, long.  Sorry.

I decided to go the other way with it.

Happy Part – I am reminded daily of how blessed I am with the few but very close family and friends that I have.  I tried to look up a quote or saying about Friends and Family and nothing seemed to fit quite right.  I’m afraid that no matter how hard I try my words will never express the way my heart feels towards them.  My heart burst with overflowing love and appreciation for their support, love, admiration, guidance, advice, service, entertainment, and mentoring.

I don’t know where I would be without these people and I will never be able to thank them enough.  My only hope is that I am what they are for me to them as much as they are for me.  Did I say that right?  You know what I’m trying to say!

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.  ~Marcel Proust

In the dark and didn’t even know it.

Before knowing God I had no past beliefs except that there was a “higher power”.  Growing up we never talked about God except for one time when I was an early teen around a camp fire it had come up, don’t ask me how, we discussed it and I kind of remember us all coming up to the same conclusion/feeling that there was something of a higher power but what exactly we didn’t know.  I am pretty sure that they were proud of themselves for not “shoving religion down our throats”.  Looking back now I see that they didn’t know the truth or did not know enough themselves so how can they talk about something if they didn’t know what to talk about or how to approach it?  Once I got older and had my own child I could see myself going down the same path and repeating the same cycle.  I did not want to do that.  I did not want to be naive.  I wanted to know what this God thing was all about.  I wanted to come to my own conclusions.  Stop being ignorant and stay in the shadows.  Sad thing was, I didn’t even know I was in the shadows.

I started my walk first with the smallest of baby steps to grow comfortable in the unknown.  I mean I went to church with my Step Grandmother a couple of times but I was a kid.  Once my husband and I decided to go I can remember the feeling of being so nervous the first couple of times walking from the car to the building.  Wondering what others will think or say about you.  Wondering if you are going to say something stupid because you didn’t know how people spoke or spoke about in church.  We went more and more and it took time to feel comfortable hearing the words Jesus, God, Holy Spirit, Christ.  I was hearing more and more of Gods truths through the messages.  I learned right away that I had walls up.  Walls up that I didn’t even know I had.  Walls built out of ignorance and society.  I knew that I had to keep my mind and heart open if I was ever going to learn what this “Christian” thing was all about.  Don’t get me wrong I had help along the way with my husband’s knowledge of growing up going to church, bible studies and friends.

I don’t have a dramatic testimony or an “Ah Hah” moment and I can’t put my finger on one moment like others can when they “found Jesus” or was “born again”.  I’m okay with that now.  At first I felt like I was doing something wrong.  But God knew that I was like a delicate seed and I needed to take my time to get just the right nourishment to grow.  I was slowly taking everything in.  I was drinking from the living water in small amounts so I wouldn’t be over come and washed away.  I was taking my time to grow Fruits of the Holy Spirit.  It was a slow and warming process.  Like when you are up early enough to watch the sunrise.  First you can see the glowing orange over the horizon but it takes a while for the sun to get high enough before the warmth of the sun hits your face and body.  But once it does it feels so good and comforting, peaceful.

I have walked out of the shadows and into the morning-glory of God’s light!

BTW, I have read this and revised it about 100 times.  Putting yourself out there is scary!

Makes me Smile Week 9

How my Tough Big Man turns into butter when he sees a baby and does the whole funny faces and waves to make the baby smile at him.

Birthday Lunches

Cupcakes

The start of Blast Ball Season

God’s Faithfulness

Lately

Okay, so I know I haven’t had a “real” post in a long time.  I feel like I have stuff going on but, it is not enough to have a full post about and if it is do people really care?  So lets see.  Somethings that have been going on….

Well, I started the “One Year Bible” on Jan. 1st.  It is the 11th and I have read everyday so far.  I know that is not a long time but for me it is.   I read something the other day that I have to share.  You know when you read something from the bible and it speaks to you that you just want to shout it out to everyone so they can understand that GOD is awesome and you can find peace with him.  Especially when you know several people are going thru a hard time.

Psalm 9: 9-10

The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

Big Man and I are also going to be doing a “Paint By Numbers” -2 Class at church.  The first one was great and really helps springboard your walk and relationship with the Lord.  It has been a slow walk for me.  You hear about people becoming Christians and they are so hungry and eager to learn anything and everything and immerse themselves into Gods Word, but for me I am hesitant.  I mean, I’m a believer and a Christian but there is a wall there for some reason.  I don’t see the wall, I don’t know why the wall is there but I know it is there and I’m trying to break thru it and grow as a Christian.  I don’t want to be one of those Christians that has been a believer for 20+ years and still be a “baby” in my walk.

I also went to my first ZUMBA class last night and it was pretty fun.  Pretty hard too because this momma is OUT-OF-SHAPE.  But if you know me well enough you know that Fatty can dance too!  I think this is probably one of the best things that I personally can do because it mentally doesn’t feel like a workout.  I went with two of my best friends and that helped too.  They are going to be my motivation.  I’m one of those people where it is all about getting there.  Once I’m there I will do it and I will enjoy it but it is getting up and getting there when I can be hanging out at the house with Big and Little in a warm house when it is freezing out or can we really afford the cost of it, ect, ect!

Also, Friends, If you don’t have any go get you some, not just any friend either.  The type that feel like family, the ones that even though you saw them yesterday you are excited to see them and at the same time the type that you haven’t seen in a couple of weeks but when you do see each other it was just like yesterday.  They can make the world of difference.  Lately my life has been brighter then ever, not only because of my walk with the Lord but because of the wonderful, inspiring and fun-loving friends that God has surrounded me with.  I don’t know if it is because we have all had more opportunity to spend more time with each other and our friendship has grown or if we all realized how important each other was that we are putting more the effort and want to spend time with each other more.   Either way I can’t imagine my life without them.

See, not enough of one thing for a full post and probably nothing that people really care about in the first place.  Either way it is out there and I feel better!

Love ya,

Sonja B.

I have an AMAZING Husband!

I have been blessed by God to have such an amazing husband.  I will have to remember this email from him the next time I get mad at him…..sorry babe, I had to brag!

I love you.

I know I have already told you, but I really do. You mean the world to me and my life would be a shell of what it is without you. You have, with God’s help, brought me from the darkness and into a world that means so much more. I am truly blessed to have you by my side. I hope that I can be as inspirational, gracious and uplifting to you as you have been for me. You are my partner and best friend.