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
