Loving Life...

I'm in such an interesting time of my life being a stay at home mom of a one year old. In some ways I feel like it will be easier to have more children, as I am alone a lot of my days right now, and learning about every new stage as I go. Lately I've noticed that Claire is really needing relational/play time with other children. She's become so social, and not having a car in these past 8 months has really been a hard deal for the both of us. I think God really has me in a season of being ok with being still, and trusting him through the unknowns. I'm learning something, I hope!

Most of my days now are filled with housework, play time with Claire, and cooking elaborate meals. I've found cooking to be a fun creative outlet for me, although when it warms up more I think I might start painting again. I've had a major artistic itch that I cant seem to scratch lately.

Claire is at such a fun age right now. I think I've said that every step along the way as I've enjoyed each stage that she's gone through and not wanted her to leave it. And then she does grow, and I find the next stage just as fun!

Claire is going to be 15 months old next week! She is saying a lot of words, including: mama, dada, night night, bye-bye, all done, here, nose, I love you, wow, uh-oh, No, and a few more. She is still not quite walking but cruising along everything and walking with her push toys. She loves to be silly, she fake laughs and likes to smile, dance, and be with other children.

Lately, when praying for her I've felt like God has begun to speak to me about her little heart and character, that she will often be a light in a dark place, that her joy will radiate and light up those around her. It's amazing that I can already see bits of this word come to life for her. She absolutely lights up our life, and I don't think David and I could be more thankful for her. I've especially noticed she loves being alone with her daddy and me. We have instituted a "Monday night family night" and I think the three of us all feel very refreshed by that time protected together.

We've encountered our first real discipline in the past month or so. In our prayers lately we've been really asking God to give us wisdom in disciplining her. It's so much easier NOT to be consistent, and so hard at times not to just laugh at her when she points to me and said "NO" which sounds more like "MO" at the moment. But in all things we do we are seeking to glorify God, and our parenting is not excluded from that. So, we are learning and humbling ourselves. This is an area I'd love more prayer in if anyone out there is reading this :) So for now we are being consistent, disciplining when its easier not to, and giggling when we are alone after we've put her to bed at her obvious disobedience and sass. We've got our hands full, that is for sure! But, it is such a joy to be a part of shaping a little life! Well, that's all for now. Here's a picture of our little family!

The abandoned blog

Well, I have completely abandoned this blog! But I am going to try to be a regular blogger again, although I'm not sure who'd be reading it, it's a nice little way to store my memories of my wonderful life with my amazing little family.

Claire turned 1 year old yesterday. This year has brought us so much change, adjustment, fear, sacrifice, revelation, love, pure joy, excitement, and so much more...

Here's a recap of the last year:

Claire was born Dec 5, and we decided I would stay home with her. I have loved every bit of that decision.

I began breastfeeding Claire right away and have maintained that to this day. I'm proud that we've made it so far and that my daughter has been pumped with so many good nutrients. At 12 months old she still nurses once every morning and right before bed. Seems like a silly detail of the year to add, but this has been a huge part of my life this past year.

From March-November of this year, we have been to 8 weddings, and missed one in California, all of these weddings were very dear friends of ours. It's been amazing to watch these couples become one, and we've even had the privilege of walking with one of the couples through Pre-marital counseling, which we really enjoyed.

God has graciously and lovingly convicted David and I in the area of our finances, and with the help of some wonderful family/friends/leaders in our life, David and I have felt incredible freedom, strongholds broken, pride crushed, and we are beginning to pay down our debt! God has totally honored our decision to do this, and has blessed us tremendously, we've been able to pay off our debt quicker than we could have ever imagined. We have had to live a very frugal lifestyle, but we have both never felt so free or at peace. God is so good to never leave us when we are in sin, but to graciously put people in our lives to help us walk out of it.

We have seen incredible breakthrough in people's lives around us, and feel like God has fit us in to a new and exciting role in his body. On our very couch we have been able to counsel and see people greatly affected or even set free by prayer and prophecy. It's been a very exciting thing to be apart of and I hope that God continues to use us in this way.

We have made so many friends who truly feel like family. I could not feel more knitted in to community, or be as sure that God has us exactly where he wants us... For now:)

Watching Claire grow has been such a delight! She has gone from our little tiny newborn to a sweet and sassy toddling baby that is crawling all around the house. Although she has only just begun to move around in the past two weeks, she is quite quick and loves this new found freedom she has! She says many words, mostly "mama"- as she's such a momma's girl. But she also says "dada" "all done"- and a few times we have heard "bye bye" and "night night" (which is more like "ny ny".. She is always being silly like her momma, but adventurous and thoughtful like her daddy. David and I will still, a year later, often look at her and say to each other, "Can you believe we made her?" (With God's help of course)- But being apart of bringing her into this world has brought us so much joy. It's hard to remember what life was like without her! We pray for her every night when we lay her down, that God would protect her, give her sweet dreams, but most of all we pray that one day she would love God, that she would serve him with her whole heart, and that she would be a part of advancing God's kingdom. I have no doubts that this sweet child is the apple of His eye. I will always speak truth to her about who she is, and I hope that we honor God with the way we raise her.

Well, I think that's plenty for now. I will keep this blog updated with tidbits of our life. I'll finish this post with some pictures of us from this past year...

-Daniella

Seeing the truth through the fog..

Lots of adjustment!! Lots of fear!! Lots of anxiety!!

Those are the things that have motivated my blog post today. I have 2 more days of work for Newfrontiers, and I've found a lot of emotion coming in with that reality. My role is changing, dramatically, and although I can feel attacked that my new role will not be as significant, God is encourage me that those thoughts are just rubbish! I have been so encouraged today by God's presence, his love and comfort he's so faithful to bring in times when we are at the end of a chapter, and scared of the next.

God has already spoken promises to me about my future as a mother, I just have to remember to hold on to that truth. Dave Holden spoke to our staff this morning about a difficult time in his life where he was unable to "join in" with meetings, conferences, etc.. What he did have, was lots of time to worship God. What a humbling thing to be removed for a season from the middle of practically advancing God's kingdom through the church, and to be reminded that we have "an audience of one"- as Dave put it. I guess in my case I'll have an audience of one and a half :-)

Looking forward every day to meeting my sweet baby girl. Dreaming about her almost every night now. Wont be long now.... For the time being, I'll keep waddling on. Here's a picture of me at 36 weeks and 1 day. I just woke up!

35 weeks.. hanging in there

Oh how I've abandoned you blogger! But, alas, the internet has just been set up in our new home and I couldn't/shouldn't be blogging from work so this is my first opportunity since the madness has slowed down to update.

We are now almost 35 weeks preggo, which seems incredibly surreal. Her room is mostly set up (pictures to come soon) and the house is feeling less like a institution of boxes and more of a home. If she were to decide to come a bit early I believe we are all ready. Physically at least, emotionally, who knows!

I have reached a new level of uncomfortable. Thank goodness for my pregnancy pillow, without it, I don't know where I'd be. :) Bending has become almost an impossible feat, but thank goodness for my husband. How some women make it through pregnancy without a helpful and loving man, I'll never know.

Last week I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. It has been a little bit less than fun to monitor my blood sugars and count my carbs, but I'll do what I can to make sure little mama is healthy.

I'll leave with some pictures of David and I with 33 week belly. Enjoy!

Getting a peek of your sweet face

2 weeks ago I had a follow-up ultrasound to measure the baby's heart, which turned out to be just fine. After the ultrasound, the tech could see I was pretty uncomfortable, and I had been waiting a while to get in, so after the 45 minutes of taking picture after picture, she said, "ok lets try to take some fun ones"- and turned the machine to 3D! I was a little freaked out at first to see her face in 3D, I've always been scared of 3D ultrasounds because they can sometimes look a little scary, but sure enough she found her face, and there she was, hand up to her little mouth. She had lots of hair, and long eyelashes (you can see in the picture)..It was hard to make out at first, but she looked so peaceful in there, which made me feel like a good mommy already because she is obviously very cozy inside of me! I'm attaching a picture of her sweet face at 27 weeks- can't wait to see it in person.

Just 5 days from moving now, and my first baby shower is this weekend. Lots to look forward to, and lots to do.. Aching back and hips are making that a little tricky, but it will all be very worth it in the end. So many different changes in my life right now, some very exciting, some scary, and some sad.

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance."

-wonder if it's ok to weep while you dance? :)

A strong baby- 26 weeks

WOW- This little lady is getting strong! Lately I've felt as if a rib might pop out with her kicks. My stomach will sometimes distort now, its crazy to watch, and even crazier that she will (before we know it) be in my arms and not in my belly. So many moments to cherish. I thought I'd write down some of my symptoms at this stage so I can remember with my later pregnancies and compare.

Stuffy nose- all the time, and I've become a great fan of breathe-right strips, on a side note, it is incredibly sexy I'm sure for David for me to have them on my nose every night, but he's never said a word. good man.

Lots of heartburn- All hail Tums. A glass of milk seems to do wonders as well.

Swelling extremedies- wedding ring came off last week. And some days my toes look like sausages. Amie Fox and I had a great laugh last week looking at them.

Tooty Fruity- needs no explanation.

Hip and back pain- to the max. I happen to already have some problems with my bones due to my Crohn's disease, so carrying out front has not helped much. What has helped is having a Physical Therapist for a husband that gives me back rubs with the drop of a hat, and a new discovery, the exercise ball! Scares the poo out of poor Libby whenever I get it out, but sure does help my hips. Can't help but quote the office whenever I'm on it. hehe

David and I bought a house this week. We are under contract, so as long as inspections, appraisal, etc go smoothly, we should be all moved in by the end of the month! God kind of placed it in our path so that we would have to deliberately side-step it in choosing to pass it up, and some other things happened that made it sort of obvious that this was the right step for us to take. God has a funny way of doing things sometimes, just when we stop looking he puts something in our path and a peace in our hearts we can't deny. What an amazing God. And A LOT of change happening, including saying goodbye all too soon to my amazing friend Amie Fox. Thank goodness for facebook and skype, I can hold her close to my heart even as she moves on to what God has for her.

MEH! Time to go pack a few boxes, who knew I'd be moving when I am 30 weeks pregnant! Wahhh!

Attaching 26 week belly picture

22 weeks- growing like crazy

Ah, how fun. As I type baby girl is kicking me, she likes to kick these days and Daddy regularly feels her too. I am starting to feel more swollen/wobbly lately which is not painful or uncomfortable enough to be too annoying, it's still kinda funny. I'm sure that will change soon.

Here's a picture of me at 22 weeks at my parent's house.