faith.

I have been reading A Lineage of Grace by Francine Rivers and I have really been enjoying it.  It has been an eye opener and an encouragement in one.  You should definitely put it on your ‘to read’ list.

In this book we follow Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary through their lives as they are each intricately woven into the Lineage of Christ. Tamar shows the story of a woman betrayed, yet a woman determined to do what is right in the eyes of God. Rahab, a harlot, shows that no matter the sin God can still do wonderful things in each of our lives. Ruth, a love story of epic proportions…we see love given from daughter-in-law to mother-in-law, but we also see love shown from man to woman as Ruth takes her rightful place as the wife of Boaz. With Bathsheba, we again see how God can turn a sin into something that is for His glory, if only the participants are willing. And finally with Mary we get an interpretive look into the life of Jesus’ mother and the struggles she went through watching her son, who she knew to be the Christ, grow up and be rejected by a world that was supposedly waiting for his arrival. We see with Mary how God can take the most illogical person to be someone that is important to His plan.

In reading this book (and reading the scripture upon which it is based) my eyes were opened to the faith that these women and men had in God.  They had utter dependence on Him and realized that God has an enormous plan for their lives.  They didn’t always quite understand why God would choose to use them, but they didn’t question His choice-they willingly excepted what God had called them to do.

The stories of these women are an encouragement to us today.  We can see that God used unlikely women to be the vessel for bringing His son into the world.  He has taken sinful choices and turned them to be used for His glory-because He is God.  He has taken family discord and turned it around to be used for His glory-because He is God.

I am excited to start re-reading some of the Old Testament over the next months. I can’t wait to dig in to our history and learn and study! Because these stories…they are part of who I am.  I am a member of this family…as cliche as it may sound-the family of God.

Tonight I will be reading Genesis 1 and I can’t wait to see what new things I can discover!

 

mary.

The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus…” Luke 1:27-31

Last night during our church Christmas program, several video clips were shown from The Nativity movie.  My heart almost stopped as I saw Mary holding her baby son, our Savior, Jesus.  I kept thinking of the scripture mentioned above.  God looked on the earth and He saw Mary.  A simple young girl and He chose her to be the mother of our Savior.  She found favor with God.  I wonder as God looks down on me, do I find favor with Him?  Do others look on me and see the Spirit living in me through my actions, attitudes, and words? I’m afraid the answer would not be one I would like.  I know there are things in my life that I need to work on-prioritizing my relationship with the Lord being the biggest. 

For those of you who know me, you know our little family has been having problems sleeping. With a 1 year old that is sometimes the case, but our little man still wakes at least 3 times a night…leaving a very sleepy and sometimes grumpy momma heading to work at 7 am.  On Thursday I was at my wit’s end.  I have had about 4 hours of sleep a night for the past 9 months and it had really started getting to me.  On top of that our dishwasher randomly stopped working (which shouldn’t be a big deal-but of course in my deprived sleep state I made it a huge ordeal).  During my lunch break I went home and turned on the radio, opened the window above the sink and started hand-washing our dishes.  I was on the verge of tears because I was completely exhausted.  

As I got into my car to once again head to work the song ‘Blessings’ by Laura Story came on.  I was singing right along…

‘What if a thousand sleepless nights 
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise’

Then I lost it, I thought I was going to have to pull over tears where streaming down my face.  All I could think was ‘I need to spend time with Jesus’.  The trials in my life are so simple compared to what others are facing.  God has blessed me with more than I could ever need and yet I still forget to give Him the glory.  There are definite times in our life where he allows us to go through things so that He  glorified in the end.  

It is my prayer that I will find my focus shifting off of myself and towards the One who blesses me.  I pray that I may find favor in the eyes of the Father.

september.

Well.  I lied.  I said I would post at least once a week…and here it has already been over a month since my last post.  I really do want to blog more often…but I get overwhelmed when I read other blogs that are way more awesome than this one.  I don’t feel like I have enough interesting things to say or funny comments to make or wise counsel to give.

Anyway.  September is half-way over and that means that Elijah will be turning 1 in less than a month!  He is growing so fast and is such a smart little boy!  In July he started standing without holding onto anything to keep steady and about 2 weeks ago he started standing up without pulling up on anything.  He has learned to both crawl up and down stairs and if you take him away from them he will scream like you are pinching his arm. His favorite game to play is ‘Where’s Elijah/Mommy/Daddy’  He grabs a blanket and throws it over himself or us and yanks it off and then laughs forever.  That game has saved us from several tantrums…  He also loves loves loves playing with his stacking cups.  He has at least one in every room in the house-even in the bathtub.  He carries those things all over the place. He is saying ‘Da-Da’ and ‘Mama’ quite often and most always in context.  Especially if he sees Rushing…he starts saying ‘Da-da,da-da’ and reaching for him.  He LOVES his daddy!

Elijah cut SEVEN teeth last month.  SEVEN.  Guess how much sleep we got? 🙂  He cut his first tooth on his 10 month birthday and it was orajel and tylenol from there on out.  It’s been quite an experience.

We are in the process of planning his birthday party!  Maybe my next post will be more on that.  Gives me something to look forward to writing about!

Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Just for fun 🙂  This is me this time last year!

wow.

Seriously.  Could I be a worse blogger?  One post a month is not cutting it.  Okay.  Here and now I commit to at least one post a week. 🙂

Well, here it is, August 4 and school starts in 4 days!  How did that happen?!  The summer flew by so quickly!  I have spent the last week cleaning and organzing my new classroom-I can’t wait to fill it with my new kiddos on Monday morning.  I may be a nerd, but I love the start of a new school year.  Clean cubbies, neatly organized centers, blank lesson planner, sheets of stickers, brand new crayons-seriously, I may have a problem.  Anyway.  My class is Circus Themed this year and I think it is going to be loads of fun!  I will try to post photos later on next week…unless the kids destroy it sooner than I can say ‘cheese’! 

Rushing made it home from India and we were so so glad to see him!  He had a great time learning about the culture, the people, and working with the missionaries there.  Maybe he will write a post about it sometime soon…hmmm.  Maybe I will promise him I will take out the trash that week.   🙂 

Elijah will be 10-TEN- months old next week!  It seems like moments ago he was just a few days old and all he did was eat. and sleep. and eat. 🙂  Now, he is a moving machine-crawling all over the place like it’s a piece of cake!  He has recently started eating more table foods that are not prepared by me (cafeteria food at school) and it has been fun to see him taste new things.  With his food allergies, we have to be so careful about what he eats though.  I am constantly in the kitchen at work/daycare checking the labels on everything to see if they are made with milk/eggs/whey.  So far, it’s been going well.  I am still searching for more recipes of things I can make for him that we can eat too.  I feel like if we have to eat with E eats then we will all be eating healthier.  🙂

I think I may start mixing rice milk in with his pumped breastmilk during the day.  It’s still up in the air-we’ll see.  There are so many choices to make as a mom and I just want to make the ones that are best for Elijah.  Those decisions may not be what is best for every family, but we will choose what is best for ours.

a little of this and a little of that…

July is almost over and it feels like it just started.  I can’t say enough how quickly time flies.  Just a bit of news from our home lately…

VBS/KidExtreme was a huge success!!  I had the privilege of working with the 2s-5K teaching music!  I had a blast!  I never tire of working with children, I am blessed every single second!

Rushing left today for India!  He was so excited about this trip and can’t wait to see how God is going to use him.  I can’t wait to hear all about it.  I know he is going to come home having been through a life changing experience!  This has definitely been a crazy busy summer for us, with Rushing being gone a lot and actually only being at home for 10 days out of July with 4 of those being VBS!  It has been exhausting, but I continue to rely on God daily for support.  Needless to say, life in ministry is never ever boring. 🙂
Please join me in praying for he and the team as they minister to many orphans, widows, and new pastors.

My parents and brother (along with several others) are in Sao Paulo, Brasil ministering and serving for the remainder of the week!  I am so excited to hear all about their trip as well!

Sometimes I find myself struggling with being frustrated that I haven’t been able to be involved with our students.  I didn’t get to go to either camp or mission trip this summer.  I can’t just pack up and head out on a whim.  But then I remember that I am where I am for a reason.  That reason is this crazy little guy!

Elijah is becoming quite the independent little one lately.  He would rather crawl than be carried. He would rather drink from a sippy cup and has been refusing his bottles.  And don’t even bother trying to feed him….it’s an all out war!  You better just put the food on his tray and back away!  Did I mention getting him OUT of the bath tub?!  I think he would sleep in there if possible! 🙂

We have recently learned that Elijah is allergic to milk and eggs…. bummer we know!  However, I am taking it as a challenge!  I am in search of dairy and egg free recipes for both E and me!!  Suggestions are welcome!

Did I mention he is 9 months and 2 weeks old?!!

this is real life

I was laying on the operating table staring at the white ceiling as I was prepped for my c-section.  I could hear the bustle of the nurses all around me and I could feel my husband’s hands on my shoulder.  I remembering thinking over and over,’This is real life.  This is not a movie.  This is real life.  This is real life…’  I vaugely remember saying it outloud and the anesthesiolgist chuckling at me. They pulled that sweet baby boy into this world and it was indeed real life. 

Lately I have been thinking alot about my life.  Are the choices I am making the ones I know that the Lord wants me to make.  Am I striving to live my life for His ultimate glory…every second of every day?  It seems like sometimes we ((I)) forget that we don’t get second chances in this life.  We are blessed with each moment we are given and we have the responsibility to live a life that is in God’s will. 

Becoming a mom has me thinking more and more about this.  God has blessed me with this sweet baby boy to nurture, love on, and teach about His love.  Am I living my life in such a way that my son can look to me and see Christ? Because, let’s be honest friends, we have one shot at this life.  There are no do-overs and no take-backs.  The choices we make today will have an impact on our lives forever.  This doesn’t mean that we are going to be perfect.  We will make mistakes, we are guaranteed that.  But, we are also guaranteed that we have the strength of our mighty God to lean upon during those times.  The love of a Savior who gives us grace when we fall and encouragment to get back on track with Him.

I have found myself lately giving excuses for not spending my time with the Lord. “I’m too tired” “I have to… (insert: wash dishes, fold laundry, feed the baby,  bathe the baby, blah blah blah)”  “I want to…(insert: wash t.v., get on the computer….)”  “I don’t have time”. 

I remember the days where I would spend time every single day in prayer and reading scripture.  I miss that.  I miss being totally devoted to God.  I have allowed my ‘doing’ to get in the way of my ‘being’ with Christ.

This is real life.  And in this real life we have been given the freedom to chose what we do with our time, money, ect..  You can look at your life and see what has top priority.  Have you given God’s time to something/someone else?  I know I have.  I have placed myself before my Savior.  But, not any more. It’s time we ((I)) get back to the basics and totally devote ourselves to  Him.

 

8 months old…

Okay, the title is a little misleading. 🙂  Elijah is actually 8 months and 3 weeks old!  Here are a few highlights of this month.

Weight: 19.15lbs
Eating: Green beans, peas, sweet potato, squash, white potato, avocado, apples, bananas, pears, plums, nectarines, peaches, grapes, blueberries, carrots, puffs, crackers,
Drinking: Breastmilk, juice-from sippy 🙂

Elijah has been crawling for almost 2 months now! He pulls up on anything he can reach!  He can use his pincer grasp to pick up food, he can feed himself puffs/crackers.  He has recently realized his bookshelves hold his toys and books and has throughly enjoyed pulling everything off and into the floor! He loves music and sometimes tries to sing along 🙂

Changing this little stinker’s diapers and clothes has become…difficult to say the least!  He does not want to be confined, he just wants to play!  Honestly, I’ve been tempted to just let him be naked for awhile.  Rushing would clean up the ‘accidents’…right?

Sick baby…
The day before we left for camp I had a mommy feeling that Elijah should go see the doctor.  He had been coughing alot and had a runny nose.  So, off we trudged to the after hours clinic.  Diagnosis: a nasty cold and a DOUBLE ear infection!  No fun at all.  That would explain why he had been waking up allll niiiight loooong! 

We put him on augmenten-which E hates.  He will take any medicine…but it’s like he can smell this and starts screaming before it reaches his mouth.  Giving it to  him 2xs a day was not fun. Since he has already had thrush, we figured he would probably get it again with this dose of antibiotics.  I started him on gentian violet at the first white spot and we started feeding him yogurt often to counter act the antibiotics.  Thankfully, the thrush didn’t get too bad and his ear infections cleared up!  However…

It seemed like each time he had yogurt he would break out in a weird rash wherever the yogurt touched.  He also broke out after he ate a wheat cracker…so we are doing a RAST allergy test in July-that should be fun.  Hopefully, it is something he will grow out of!

New classroom…

When we got back from camp, Elijah started in a new class room at daycare.  The creeper room 🙂 He loves it!  He is able to play and crawl all over the room all day long!  He is taking pretty consistent naps too, which is awesome and helps out at bedtime!

All in all, Elijah has had a great month so far.  We can not believe how quickly he is growing into a sweet little boy.  We are so blessed to be his parents!

june meanderings…

I seriously can not believe that June is almost over!  Where oh where does time go?  June has been quite a busy month for our little family! 

The beginning of June was a drag for my sweet husband who was sicker than I have ever seen him!  He even let me drag him to the doctor to find out he had acute sinusitis…however there is nothing cute about it. 🙂

We also came home one Friday afternoon to discover that the ceiling in our bedroom was leaking…dum, dum, dum… After having about 4 different people climb into the attic to check things out….the diagnosis: we need a new air conditioner. The AC had been leaking and the sheetrock has pretty much rotted….so we need a new AC and we need a big chunk of ceiling re-sheetrocked. Fun, right?  Ah well, at least we have a ceiling to have to fix. Seriously.  We are spoiled rotten.

The first full week of June Rushing was gone to Shocco Springs with our middle schoolers for camp!  This was the first time Elijah and I had been alone for a 5 day period.  We had a lot of fun but we reallllly missed Daddy!  Being a ‘single’ mom was tough, I applaud those who do it on a regular basis. 

Rushing came home around 1am Friday night and we turned around and left for another camp at 8am Monday morning!  We all packed into the car and headed to Lonsdale, AR to Springlake Baptist Camp.  Whew!!  What a wonderfully, hot, tiring, exciting week!  I really wish I had gotten a picture of our looooaded car! Packing myself, my husband, and an 8 month old was pretty crazy! 

Rushing was the camp pastor for the week and he did an amazing job!  I led the children in a sign language class and led worship for them during their evening service. 

I will try to do a ‘June picture’ post soon.  No sense in making this one any longer. 🙂

All in all, it has already been a pretty eventful month and July promises to be even more hectic!  What can I say, we live a life in ministry and we love every second of it.

…almost june

I really can not believe it is almost JUNE!  We have had one busy May for sure!

I have an awesome family who drove 4 hours to stay at our house with Elijah while Rushing and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary! We decided that we wanted to do something close by (can we say gas prices?).  We stayed in the Hyatt at The Renaissance in Madison.  We had a very relaxing weekend.  We watched alot of TV and ate a lot of yummy food!  We tried to sleep in but after 7 months of waking by 6 am…that didn’t happen! We had a wonderful time but we missed our little guy!

We returned home on Sunday morning and were able to spend the day with my family for Mother’s Day!  I am so glad we were all able to be together!  I miss my family so much and it is a blessing when we can visit!  I know they enjoyed seeing Elijah! 🙂

Elijah turned 7 months old on the 11th!!  SEVEN stinking months!  He is such a big boy now!
Highlights:
Weight: 19.6lbs
Height: 28 inches
Eating: Breastmilk
Homemade: Avocado,Apples,Pears,Banana,Squash,Green Beans,Green              Peas,Carrots, and Sweet Potato
He also loves Peach Yogurt Melts and Puffs
Sleeping: Elijah typically goes to bed around 7:30 or 8:00 every night.  Lately he has been waking up around 1am…pretty sure he is teething!
Playing: He loves to sit up on his own and play with all kinds of toys!  He has a bright colored stuffed caterpillar he loves to chew on 🙂 He has definitely started trying to crawl and is actually already pulling up on things!  He gets really excited when he pulls up on his crib rail, he laughs so hard!

We have gone to the city park a few times and Elijah loves it!  He hates his infant swing at home but he LOVES swinging in the ‘big boy’ swing at the park!

Summer is officially upon the Mayes household with camps, VBS, more camps, mission trips, and lots of working.  We love being in the ministry and are so excited to see what God has in store for our students this summer!

you get what you get…

We have a saying in my class room.  It goes something like this, ‘You get what you get and you don’t pitch a fit’.  My kids are probably very tired of me saying this seeing as how I can usually only get out,’You get…’ before they pitch in with, ‘what you get and you don’t pitch a fit’ with a smile and cheers of hooray!  Riiight 🙂  That would be too easy 🙂
Reality is: they are saying this with groans and rolling of the eyes…yes, they are only 5, I guess it starts earlier these days.

Unless….  If they see me talking to another child they will whole-heartily chime in with a sing-song voice.  They sure don’t mind telling their friends how it should be.  As long as they aren’t the one being reminded they are happy about it. 

I was thinking about this last night.  As a 25 year old I find myself doing the same thing.  I seem to always be in ‘want’ of something.  I complain because things aren’t always going the way I want them to. Really, I should count how many times I say ‘I want’ in one day, I think I would be pretty embrasssed at how selfish I really am. 

We, as a society, have become quite selfish.  We seem to always be striving for more.  Not in the good way.  We want more money, a nicer car, a bigger house in a better neighborhood, fancy clothes, pricey vacations, and on and on and on.  I’m preaching to the choir here, I’m just as guilty as any other.  Day in and day out I find myself wishing for better things.  Becoming jealous of others I see who have it ‘better’ than I do. 

We should be content with what God has given  us.  Wait.  Not just given us, but with what God has blessed us with!  God has blessed me with an inspiring and wonderful husband who loves me (even on my crabbiest days), a sweet baby boy who lights up our days (and nights for sure :)).  God has blessed us with a beautiful home in which to raise Elijah and minister to others in.  God has blessed me with a job that I love and a church family that has welcomed us in as their own. God has blessed me beyond what I can comprehend.  He truly has.  Why then do I find myself ‘pitching a fit’ for more? 

“…for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.” Philipians 4:11-13