johnny johnny johnny woops johnny woops

I'm not one to buy Adelaide toys but I found a great deal on a used Johnny Jump Up yesterday and I LOVE these things:

Apparently she does too! I wish they made them in my size! Unfortunately my parent's house was not built to handle the Johnny Jump Up because the only door way we could find to attach it was the pantry! Oh well, more stimulus to keep her attention. :)

I know I am her mother but I cannot get over how beautiful this girl is!

Better Than CoffeeShop Chai Tea Latte

1 Cup Water

1 1/2 Cups Milk

2 black tea bags

1 cinnamon stick

2 tablespoons Raw Sugar or honey

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp coriander

1/4 tsp ginger

1 tsp Vanilla

Bring water to a boil. Add tea bags and cinnamon stick. remove from heat and let steep covered for 5 minutes. Return to medium low heat and stir in milk and remaining ingredients. Warm through till hot but do not boil. Pour into a warm mug, top with whipped cream (optional) and cinnamon and enjoy!

On parenting!

I'll admit it- I'm a little attached to my baby! :D

I love every moment I spend cuddling with her before she falls asleep next to me. I love that whenever she needs to eat in the night I'm right there to feed her and I can sleep through it without being disturbed enough to notice. I find so much joy in comforting her when she cries rather than letting her cry it out. I love that my life has pretty much continued on the same as it was before except that there is more joy in my life and I get to cuddle and play with someone all day long and it takes just a little bit longer to get ready to go places. I love how well Adelaide adapts to our 'schedule' and we're still able to do pretty much everything we enjoyed doing before she was born and more! I love the time I have nursing her, even nursing her to sleep, as I bond with my child. I love that I can go out with my husband and stay out till 1 in the morning and Adelaide just falls asleep when she's ready. I love that I can take her on camping trips and to Los Angeles without having to worry about ruining her schedule, because she makes her own schedule. I love feeding her on demand since I think she knows when "her needs to nurse" better than I do.

Anyway these are just a few reasons why I love attachment parenting (most aspects) and I think that it's a big reason parenting hasn't been very difficult or altered our world (yet) :). And I know we all need to do what works for each of us, so no harm to those who don't agree with my preferred form of parenting....

4 months and counting...

give us this day our daily bread

There's not much to say these days. Jordan is still searching, searching, searching...and I'm praying, praying, praying. We're meeting with an Air Force Recruiter in the morning but even that isn't looking very promising due to a health disqualification. We've got enough money to pay our bills for about one more week...so it is truly crunch time and I'm trying to remember all of the Lord's promises about provision and never leaving or FORSAKING and the Lord gives and TAKES AWAY but BLESSED BE HIS NAME. "I know, right?"

Here is a little piece of our life these days:

The cousins playing at church a few weeks ago.


We had the youth pastor and his wife and my brother Caleb and his wife Ashley over last week for dinner and some rockband...

goofball...

Adelaide is getting pretty good at sitting up on her own. She has the help of her belly for sure but she is getting better and better everyday.

o how He loves us.

...our trip to Cali last weekend for the National Youth Workers Conference was both encouraging and refreshing while at the same time a struggle and exhausting. Adelaide was such a great little road tripper and adjusted so well that I barely missed out on anything during our time there. to sum up the struggle I'd have to say it was because we're in a time of transition in youth ministry and it was hard to remind myself not to dwell on the past and where God had us but to look forward with hope to the future. It took me most of the day that Saturday to understand this because something was taking place at the conference that i didn't feel like i could be apart of because I'm not currently working with a youth group and I was overwhelmed with anger, sadness, confusion and bitterness. But overall we had a great time of fellowship, learning, brainstorming, prayer, and fun.

Adelaide's new best friend: Durrel...and his wife Priscilla. We're so excited they live near us!

Road tripper...

Adelaide and Jordan enjoying the African children's choir.

our morning view of downtown LA

David Crowder...nice to see him but a bit disappointed with his 4 songs...

sushi!!! and Japanese for suas...

she loves her sushi...

Adelaide's first concert...