Merry Christmas

Unfortunately Hopson and I didn't send out Christmas cards this year. We have had a pretty busy December, and that wasn't a top priority.

So here is our Christmas card to you :) 

Merry Christmas! Hope you have a wonderful Christmas day! I'll be back in a few days!

What about Santa?

Hopson and I grew up pretty differently when it came to Santa. I grew up leaving cookies and milk out, going to bed early, and running downstairs Christmas morning to see what I got and if Santa ate his cookies. Hopson grew up not believing in Santa. He knew that he wasn't real from the start.

Guess what? Neither of us were traumatized for the way we were raised about Santa

So two people with opposite views get married and have kids...what do we do now? We had many conversations about Santa. It started with us both wanting to convince the other to join our point of view. That has changed in the last few years. We can talk about Santa without having a huge debate, and believe it or not, we are both happy with the decision we came to.

Last Christmas we decided that we were going to treat Santa like you would treat Mickey Mouse. He is fun to look at and go see, but he is not real.

 As you can see Jonah pretty much is terrified of Santa right now anyways!

He finally calmed down enough to take a family pic!

This Christmas we have talked even more about Santa, and we have come to the conclusion that we can teach Jonah that Santa is fun and not real and still totally miss the true meaning of Christmas. So we adjusted our view of Santa. We don't want Santa to be the main point of Christmas; we want Christ to be the main point. We want to teach Jonah that Christmas is all about a baby being born to one day die for our sins. That may seem like a horrible thing to teach children about...a baby being born for the purpose of dying, but what an amazing truth for him to understand and hopefully one day believe with all of his heart! Hopson and I pray every night that our children will understand and believe Christ. If we pray this, how could we NOT share with Jonah (and our future kids) about the amazing miracle that we celebrate every December. 

I know many people who are hardcore about Santa and many people who are completely against celebrating Santa. Santa is not a big enough deal to fight over. I can be friends and enjoy people on both sides. I am not trying to get people to "hold my view," I just wanted to put it out there for others :)

11 weeks left...

My little Zoe girl will be here in 11 weeks (hopefully less)

This was at 27 weeks

Hard to believe that it is going by so fast. She is a strong kicker and moves all around! We are teaching Jonah to say "Sissy" and how to be gentle. He is pretty good at the Sissy part, but not so good at the being gentle part. Can't wait for her to get here. Can't believe I am almost a mom of two!

Hopson in Connecticut

Please pray for Hopson today as he officiates his first funeral. He is in Connecticut where his extended family lives. I know he will be nervous. Jonah and I are excited to see him again tomorrow. Pray that he arrives home safe and sound!
Thank you!

Never did $2.36 mean so much!

So this week has been a more stressful week for my little family. Hopson has his GRE today and is preaching a funeral for his aunt on Monday. He has been stressing out about taking his GRE because if he fails, he doesn't get into the PhD program.

So Thursday night we went to  Chick-fil-a to get dinner and to unwind a little bit. We had some free chicken sandwich coupons thanks to an awesome brother-in-law and rounded up some change for fries. After that we went to Big Lots to walk around. We weren't planning on getting anything, but we hadn't been in Big Lots since we moved. Jonah was doing great looking at all the toys and pushing this little stroller around, but after a little while he had a meltdown. 

As we were walking towards the exit, an older woman stopped us and began talking to Jonah. She asked him what was wrong and told him not to cry anymore. He quit crying and looked at her. He wasn't sure about this lady at first. She then showed him some cars and asked him if he wanted one, which of course he did!

Hopson and I were standing there smiling and not really saying much, but we were both thinking that we had $4 and some change in our checking account and we weren't going to spend it on these little cars right now. We were content to take Jonah home and put him to bed! This lady continues talking with Jonah and he is listening to her and pointing at these two cars and hands them to her. She asks him which one he wants and he wants both of them.

She walks to the cashier with Jonah following her and proceeds to buy these two little cars for my son. Jonah will never remember this act of kindness, but it meant the world to Hopson and I.

After such a hard week, God used this lady to remind us of His love. He hasn't forgotten about us, and He even cares for my little boy's wants. Never before did $2.36 mean so much to us!

Prayers please!

My in-laws have been under a lot of stress this year. They have been trying to sell their house for 6 months, my father-in-law found out he needs a kidney transplant, and yesterday his sister committed suicide. They all could really use your prayers right now. I know that the comfort and strength they need can only come from Christ, so please pray for them! My prayer for them is Psalm 40:11 "As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!" Pray that during this time they will feel God's faithfulness and love. Pray that others will walk through this with them and show them God's faithfulness and love.

Thank you for your prayers!

Judge Not :)

Parenting is really hard! I was one of those people who would judge everyone else's parenting skills. I would say things like, "my kids will never do that," or "I won't ever let my kids do that."

Then I had Jonah. Jonah is the kid screaming as we walk out of chickfila because he wanted to play more, and then as soon as we are out of the restaurant he is all smiles and is done screaming. Jonah is the kid who laughs every time we say no. He thinks we are just joking around about not putting food in his hair and running in the parking lot. Jonah is the kid who just refuses to walk when he doesn't want us to hold his hand. He is the kid who has a meltdown when we walk in our front door because he wanted to stay outside. Now don't get me wrong, I know most of this is normal behavior for a one year old, but I always said that it wouldn't be my kid. What I didn't take into account is the fact that I can't control Jonah's reaction to anything. I can be the authority and tell him what to do. I can even discipline him when he is disobeying or throwing a fit, but I can't control him.

Another thing I didn't realize is how much I would change once I had a child. I didn't realize how much more compassion and love I would have for my own children. I didn't realize how much more grace I would have towards other parents. And I didn't realize just how incredibly hard it would be to raise a child.

Now I am less than three months from having a baby girl. I am so excited, but also scared! I can hardly keep my one year old in line let alone two kids! Thankfully I have a wonderful husband to walk with on this journey of parenting and a gracious, forgiving God who is always ready to give me strength and wisdom daily.

So please don't judge my parenting...and I won't judge yours :)

Reading as a couple

Hopson and I have been reading books together throughout our history as a couple. We went to college at Bob Jones University, and you can't do much else there besides read or play board games...and you can only play Guess Who so many times, so we started reading.

The book that helped us the most in our dating relationship was probably The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. It opened our eyes to the fact that we both receive and show love in different ways. You can't speak your spouse's primary "language" until you know what it is.

When we got engaged, and then married, we continued reading books together. The book that has had the greatest impact on our marriage has been What did you Expect by Paul David Tripp. This book can benefit any relationship, not just a marriage. The book points out that the main problem with your marriage/relationship is you, not the other person (this sounds harsh, but it is very true).

Two years ago, our reading interests expanded, when we found out we were having a baby. We have read several books about parenting. Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp and Grace Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel are very practical and in-depth books for new or experienced parents. I am thankful we read these books while our son is still so little, they have helped us tremendously to parent him biblically. 


Tonight, we received a book that we have been excited about--Real Marriage by Mark and Grace Driscoll. Hopson and I both have been excited about this book, because we enjoy Mark Driscoll's preaching. He is very passionate and real with his audience. We are doing an advance read on this book for a review that I will be putting on this blog.


The book that has definitely helped us the most is the Bible, and the reason these other books have benefited us, is because they are based on Scripture. I encourage all of you to read books together with your spouse, but start with God's Word.


Hopson and I are always looking for good books, so if you have any suggestions, please let me know!

The results are in...

NO GESTATIONAL DIABETES!!! YAY!

Heeeelllllooooo Third Trimester

Today is the start of my third trimester. I don't know where the time has gone. 

Yesterday I had my test for gestational diabetes. I am kind of expecting to have it again this pregnancy. I have been trying to eat better and exercise more, but I know the risk for subsequent pregnancies is higher. It would be great if I didn't have the diabetes though!

I also found out today that I am having another ultrasound in 6 weeks. I am really hopeful that the doctor will push my due date forward. My original due date was February 18, but after my first ultrasound they moved it to March 6. My husband thinks I am crazy to be so optimistic about this, but I don't care :) If it ends up being March that will give me a few more weeks to teach Jonah how to be nice and gentle. He really is a bully. Oh well...better the bully than the one being bullied (Hopson hates it when I say that)