Thursday, January 20, 2011

My God is Amazing

We get a little news bulletin in our email most days at work.  I usually glance over it and see if anything is interesting or pertinent to me then delete it.  Yesterday, one of the features was a Hubble Space Telescope revelation.  This is a picture of the glowing gas that they found.  That is the extra short version of the story.  You can read the whole story on the link below.


I love being dumbstruck by how amazing my God is.  How big He is.  How smart He is.  How wonderful He is.  I try to conceive of the massive size described by "light years", but it's mostly beyond my comprehension.  The sheer size, yet detailed intricacy of God's creation blows my mind.  As I was reading this article, I was reminded of a sermon by Louis Giglio that I watched on You Tube.  It is five parts and pretty long, but worth every second.  The pictures alone are worth watching it, but when he puts it into context of how amazing God is....WOW. This is the link to Part 1 of Louis Giglio's "How Great is our God".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKMw1ndl-EY

One of my favorite songs is and has been for a very long time "Our God is an Awesome God".  I love the expression of worship to our amazing God in the refrain of the song's lyrics.

"Our God is an awesome God
He reigns from heaven above
With wisdom pow'r and love
our God is an awesome God"

Crazy how our amazing God can use a little bulletin at work to remind you to praise Him daily!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

My Big Girl

Ashlyn slept in her crib in her own room on Sunday night.  I was so proud of her!  I think she liked the extra room to stretch.  She is a whopping 26 inches and 16lbs 10oz, so needless to say...she is quickly outgrowing her mini crib in our room.  She is solidly holding her own bottle now too (unless she is overly tired or doesn't feel well).  She laughs and grins and giggles and my favorite - she looks up from underneath those very long, very thick, beautiful eyelashes and, I swear, she bats them.  She is sitting up very well now - not quite on her own yet, but she only needs a little help to balance.  She still refuses to roll over, but the doctor says she is on track developmentally so not to worry.  She is so content in her bed.  She has been waking up at 2 am for the last week and a half and she just makes her noises and plays with her hands and feet until around 5 am.  She takes an hour "nap" and she's back up at 6 am to eat.  She whines when her paci falls out of her mouth and that wakes me up, but other than that...she is perfectly happy.  Her preschool teacher saw her doing it today and commented on how hard she is studying those little hands.  She said it looks like she is trying to count her fingers.  I think we have a little investigator on our hands.  She pays such close attention to everything and I know she is just soaking it all in.  I'm excited to see who her little personality will take after.  David and I are pretty much complete opposites - I love to talk to new people and David is a listener when he is around new people.  We'll see - for now Ashlyn LOVES to "talk".  She loves to scream at the top of her lungs - you'd think she was crying, but she is smiling while she does it.  If she isn't doing that - she has this grunting sound - kind of sounds like a mix between trying to clear your throat and trying to poop.  She isn't doing either - I think she just likes the way it feels.  It is quite entertaining.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Happy Birthday to Me and the rest of Christmas

Today is my 29th birthday. The last year of my twenties. I can't believe it. I feel so young - I just don't really feel much older than I did my freshman year of college - but the fact is there - I'm getting old. This just reminds me that time is fleeting and to make the most of the time we are given. I have lots of big plans for myself and my family this year. Hopefully this year will be filled with excitement and challenge!

The following are some pictures of the rest of our holiday.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this face!  She is looking in a little mirror.
Granny gave Ashlyn her first Bible.

You can't tell, but it is snowing in the background.  We thought it was so special that it snowed on David's first Christmas and also on Ashlyn's first Christmas...in Alabama.


 We took a trip to Oklahoma in between Christmas and New Year's.  The trip went really well and we had so much fun!  Ashlyn got to meet her Great Granny and Great Grandad (and Monkey).  We had so much fun visiting!  We stayed with my Mom so I could squeeze every bit of visiting time out of the trip. :)
 We visited the Federal Murrah Building Bombing Memorial.  It is truly moving.  I think when this happened was when I started realizing how evil some people can be.
 They have a chair set out for each person lost in the bombing.  I choked back tears when I saw the smaller chairs for each of the children that were lost. (There was a daycare in the building.)  I think stuff like that hits me harder now that I'm a mother.
My Granddad took us to see these amazing Christmas lights.  They wrapped all the branches of the trees individually and there are several streets lined like this.  Beautiful!
 Ashlyn started holding her own bottle!  She is growing up so fast.
 My beautiful Mother holding her Grandbaby. :)  I LOVE IT!
Ready for her first New Year's!
And lastly - my little one's three month picture!