King David's son, who ruled in Jerusalem wrote of the true meaning of life in Ecclesiastes.  He says, "Humans are always looking for ways to be more than or other than what we find ourselves to be. We explore the country side for excitement, search our souls for meaning, shop the world for pleasure. Everything we try is so promising at first! But nothing ever seems to amount to very much. We intensify our efforts, but the hard we work at it, the less we get out of it. Some people give up early and settle for a humdrum life. Others never seem to learn, and so they flail away through a lifetime, becoming less and less human by the year, until by the time they die there is hardly enough humanity left to compose a corpse."  We spend our lives planning our next steps, searching for ways to make us happy, when all we need to find true satisfaction is to seek God. I think there are 3 main areas we look for satisfaction. Those are people, jobs, and "stuff". Each o

If you would have asked me what our plans for Judah's birthday weekend were, chances are I wouldn't respond like this. We'd have to cancel his party b/c I was in the hospital with Laryngitis and possibly strep throat. The very next day we would be in the hospital again with Judah due to extremely high fever, fear of all kinds of complications, and then released only a few hours later because he dramatically improved. And now, the day of his birthday, he is asleep, and the rest of us are just lounging around the house. Last night was a rough night for him, so he's been sleeping for the last 4 hours! We are just SO  blessed to have this incredible little guy in our lives! He brings such joy to our family, always smiling and making us smile! His big sister is his hero; he loves to watch her and play with her! Olivia is sometimes extremely jealous of him, but always ALWAYS protective of him, and really does love him lots! He's a Daddy's boy AND a Mama's boy! H

We had a huge scare with Judah today and had to take him to the ER. His fever spiked really high, was shaking, and vomiting. I was a wreck! I felt like if someone even looked at me the wrong way I would lose it. The mama bear instinct was running through my veins. I held him, pacing the floors of the waiting room and watching my sweet baby boy suffer. I started to lose it. I'd never felt a child so scalding hot before. His eyes were rolling back in his head and I was SO freaked out! I barely felt composed enough to pray over his little body. Scary moments. He's home now and a completely different child. He's back to his happy, playful, smiley self! I am just so overwhelmed by how quickly he went from horribly sick to perfectly fine. There is absolutely no explanation other than God's miracles at work in Judah. No parent wants to see their child sick. And it doesn't usually take something drastic like a sickness to make a parent thankful for their child, but the ni

Short post since I'm on the mend. Here's some photos from May that I just love! They are going to be best friends! Judah loves to get messy with Scott! Look at those chubby cheeks! I just love his sweet face! And his Daddy! :) So sweet!

One of my favorite things that Judah does now is give kisses! It is THE cutest thing! I've been practising with him for a couple months now, and just yesterday he surprised me and another woman at our church. She picked him up and did the "kissy" sound to him, and to her surprise (and mine), he leaned right in for the kiss! Laid a big, wet one right on her cheek and smiled so big! Ah, I could have died! Another thing we do with him if he won't give me a kiss I pretend to cry and guilt him into coming over to see what's wrong (yes, I do this!). He will smile big, and then plant a big one on me! It's so cute! This was him in April. Look at that sweet smile!

Yesterday Judah got his first haircut! I made the appointment weeks ago, so I had totally forgotten until about 2 hours before. All of a sudden I was freaking out a little about it. Baby's 1st haircut is usually a big deal to moms. Yesterday I was going back and forth on whether or not to actually get it done! Back when I made the appointment I thought I was set on doing something bold with it, like a mohawk or something! Then, I chickened out and just told the girl to trim his bangs, around his ears, and the back. He's got such long eyelashes that his bangs are sticking in his eyes, so that was the main concern. Anyway, the girl did a fantastic job! He had so much fun, and it was a really good experience for both of us! I've put pictures on facebook, and I'll post some here too later! For now, here's a picture of Judah in February that I just love! He's wearing his dragon snow suit that my mom got him, and I just LOVE it! I need to find another one like it f

Wow! I pulled all the photos of Judah at different stages to post in the next few days, and there are just SO many! I may have to put a couple on each post now! I remember growing up when my dad would always bug us to stop and take a picture. Almost every place we were; vacation, family's house, just driving, wherever! It would seriously drive my mom, sister, and I insane! We felt like we were constantly with a Japanese tourist! But now, I'm so happy we have memories in photos from all those years! I try my best to always take pictures consistently of my family now, because I know how fast time goes, and how much the memories will mean later. Here's a picture from Judah's first Christmas. My parents came up from Georgia, and though it was hard to capture any moments with my Mom with Judah, here is a precious one of my mom, Olivia, and Judah!

My whole world was turned upside down (or so it seemed) when Judah was born. I experienced so many things with the birth of this little guy that I didn't with Olivia (a terribly painful labor, some post-partum depression, and all-around confusion of how to balance being a mom to TWO now).  After those first couple of weeks though, things began to settle a little (or at least we started to settle into a new routine), and after SEVERAL months I finally felt like I had this whole "mom of 2" thing down. That first month I went almost nowhere. I spent my days in pj's, holding Judah almost constantly. I just couldn't put him down! I knew it wouldn't be long til he wouldn't want to cuddle much, so I was soaking it all in as much as I could. I'm thankful though, that I have a little cuddle buddy in Olivia, and probably Judah again sometime in the future! Before I knew it, Judah was 6 weeks old, and we hadn't done newborn photos. Our church family ble

In Just 7 days, my precious baby boy, Judah, will be a year old. Where has the time gone? I still remember seeing his sweet face for the very first time. I remember the feeling of holding his precious, SOLID, little body for the first time. Seeing Scott as proud as he could ever be was the most awesome feeling! Watching Olivia look at him in so much awe and wonder is a memory that I will never forget. This last year has been one that has held so many blessings for our family. Things are busier, louder, and certainly crazier than ever before, but we are a family and we love each other. In the next 7 days, as a countdown to Judah turning 1, I'm going to post a photo of Judah each day. For a mom who stays at home each day, sometimes you don't realize how much your children are growing and changing. Looking at photos really captures how much change takes place, especially in the first year of a child's life. Judah Daniel Wright. Born Sunday, October 24 @ 9:28am. Weighed 9lbs

About a week or so ago I was browsing around on Pinterest and found this amazing idea to help me get organized when it comes to everything involving our family.  The idea is here: http://abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com/2011/01/weekly-challenge-1-home-management.html I've been working on putting together a folder like this to keep everything all in one place. My hope is that this will be the answer to many problems that could arise without any kind of organization. Today, I found several more awesome ideas I thought might be helpful to others. The first is a great "week-at-a-glance" calendar you can print from here: http://www.mommytracked.com/files/downloads/download4.pdf The second is a "chore chart" that also seems like a great idea. Get it here: http://www.theprojectgirl.com/2009/06/08/weekly-chore-schedule-free-download/ This next one I just love. Here is a "menu planning" chart: http://organizedhome.com/printable/household-not

The other day I was driving home from the grocery store, listening to "Like an Avalanche" by Hillsong United and God began to speak to me. I thought I'd share just a few of the words that came to me that afternoon. Worship is about what's in your heart. It's not about what you're doing with your hands, how well you sound singing, or even if you know the words to the song. God sees your heart. I was thinking about how our church here does worship. The songs that are played. The way people respond. How a new song goes over with the congregation, etc. I began thinking about how worship is so much more than a few songs in church on Sunday. I've said this before in my post about worship being a response, but felt God whisper to me again, worship is a lifestyle. How are we worshipping our Creator?

This weekend is Thanksgiving in Canada. I feel blessed to be able to share TWO thanks-filled holidays since I'm married to a Canadian and living here in Canada. Though the "real" Thanksgiving is over a month away, I'm reminded today to "give thanks" this weekend, and more often for the things God has blessed me with. I have such a wonderful family, immediate and extended! I have a home, clothes, and food. We're RICH compared to most people in the world, and God is alive and moving in our lives! October is also Pastor Appreciation Month! There are many pastors in my life whom I'm thankful for and who continue to speak into my life, encourage, challenge, and lead me. The most incredible pastor I know though, is the very man I have the pleasure to be married to me. Seriously, how did I get so lucky?! I have really tried to remind myself lately to appreciate and tell him how thankful I am for him. For the big things, and for the smaller things.  Th

This week has just flown by! I've been so busy with so many different things that I've completely neglected blogging for most of this week. We had our Moms Coffee Night at Olivia's school for all the moms of kindergarten. There were around 70 women there, and it was really a very fun night! Such a great way to get to know each other, especially for those of us who are sending our first child to school. The assistant principal spoke and just blessed me so much by the words she said. Another reminder to enjoy life, live in the moment, soak in each thing our child says and does, and pray constantly that God would help us to raise faith-filled children! The only bad part of the night was not getting to sample all of the delicious food because of my diet! 2 weeks in and haven't cheated, so I was proud of myself! Next event up to plan is Judah's birthday. The most planning it's going to take is just the cooking! I'm doing all mini and slider-size foods so I'

All of us know someone or maybe even more than one person who always seems to be in a good mood. They are incredibly positive and filled with joy. They might be a morning person or maybe just someone who always seems to truly be enjoying life. These people may also rub many of us the wrong way. We probably find ourselves saying this like, "Ugh, there's Susie, skipping along. Oh, John has so much to be happy about, no wonder he loves life."  Maybe you're even one of those "happy all the time" people yourself.  Very few of us would characterize ourselves as "negative, pessimistic, unhappy" people. But the truth is, many of us probably aren't as joyful and joy-filled as we should and can be. I was flipping channels last night and caught one of Joyce Meyer's shows. At the time I didn't see the message title, but something she said got my attention. She was saying something like, "I raised my children, I didn't have time to enjoy

Wow! I just realized it's been since Tuesday that I posted. I've been super busy this week with the usual, but also started dieting and working out so that's been taking up much of my free time. It's been such a change for me to not grab for convenience foods when I want to snack, but instead cook each and every meal/snack. I figured it's almost been a year since Judah was born so I'm way over due to lose the last of my baby weight, plus some! Besides, I'm sick of seeing other new moms with perfect bodies-blah! haha Anyway..thought I'd post a couple new photos we took of the kids this week. Hope you enjoy!