Smiles and Tears

Two year olds. Seriously by far my favorite space of life this little girl has been in thus far. The sincerity in which she looks up and asks questions, the amount of information she knows and shares with us, being able to ask her questions and get actual answers back, I love, love, love it.

Last weekend we picked her up from "preschool" after church and took her to dinner. Gabe and I asked her what she had learned at church and her eyes got so bright, she immediately looked at us, pointed up and said God is and then took her hands and made a huge circle and said EVERYWHERE! Wow! I mean this little peanut two short years ago was kicking away inside my belly just like her brother is currently, and now look at her. Absolutely amazing.

We are trying to teach her different words, "fancy" words. We told her she was a "fabulous Grace" She looked at us and laughed saying, I am not fabulous Grace, I am amazing Grace! Yes since she was a baby we have sung to her "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound" so now she is one amazing Grace that is for sure!

Along with this being the most amazing time, two is also giving this hormonal third trimester mama some serious work on patience and finding peace. Trust me - I still have a long way to go! Grace now picks out all her own clothes (I give her two options for a shirt, pants, socks and shoes and she picks which ones she wants) However lately even after making her selections and putting them on she will decide it is absolutely the worst thing she could possibly be wearing. This proceeds into a giant lump of brilliant two year old on the floor kicking and yelling.

I believe God is using my two year old to remind me about life. There is no "perfect all the time" and there is no "awful all the time" Life is not a period of joy and then a period of grief, each day is filled with both, joy and grief, smiles and tears, they are all mixed together every day to make this beautiful painting we call life. It is our choice each day to look to God, to call on him for help, to focus on the joy and the smiles.

My precious family has been through a lot during the last 3 months. Wow I can't believe its already been almost three months. There were awful moments and there were tears. There were decisions made selfishly and there were decisions made in frustration, sadness and anger. However in all that mess there was still beauty every day. I fell in love with my husband again - we literally had to start dating from scratch and relearn about each other (we are still working on this). I watched my husband fall in love with being a Dad. He always loved Grace - but he is actually loving being a great parent and figuring out what that means. My point is, life is a jumble of emotions and good/bad times. We have to take each moment and figure out how to shine God's light through us, to see his plan and learn the lessons we need to.

The rest of the pictures from the last two weeks are snap shots of our life and what is happening. We keep having this dream that our next phase of life will include moving a bit off of the beaten path, having a few acres and some animals, and learning to slow down and appreciate each moment. We got to explore an old farm in Raleigh where we picked cotton, practiced collecting eggs from chickens, and even got to see live goats. Grace had a blast.

We are still working on tot school every day. It is important to me that we keep this girls brain learning new things. She is absorbing so much right now I want to make sure it is the right stuff going in there. Creativity, compassion, imagination, love, sharing, kindness, joy, lots of joy. Here Grace is making snowflakes using glue and salt.

 Mommy and Grace had an ice cream date :) I love spending time with my girl.

Story time at the library. We are still trying to do this weekly/biweekly. She has really gotten into picking out books to take home and Daddy reads a story after dinner each night from the special "library" shelf.

We went back to the dentist. Grace's teeth look great! This time she went to the same dentist that Mommy, Daddy, Mimi and Boppy all go to. She was a champion.

 Sorting colors. Always a fun early morning activity.

We also got out the scissors for the first time ever! She loved trying to figure out how to cut and would probably do this every day if I let her! After we cut the paper up, Grace glued it down using stick glue. It was a fun project.

We actually had the second time ever in her little life that I took her to the Dr. because I was worried that she just wasn't acting herself and perhaps had caught a bug with all this crazy weather we have been having. Dr said it was just a common cold and she would be fine in a day or two - the next morning she woke up totally back to normal!

Grace and Daddy went on a daddy/daughter date while Mommy got a prenatal massage! I love the dinner they had... fries, onion rings and hot wings. hehe. There is something about dinners with Daddy in charge that just aren't the same when Mommy is cooking. :)

Here is our after church dinner place. It is a really cool restaurant called the Diner. We love going there with its 50's vibe and Grace eats the worlds largest chocolate chip pancake. She would probably eat chocolate chip pancakes for every meal all week long if we would let her.

 She got to bring teddy in the car, which was a very exciting thing for sure. Normally he stays in bed.

Mommy and Daddy made our first loaf of bread. We are trying to bake our own lunch bread these days... we still have some work to do. It turned out a bit smaller then we thought it would, hehe. We are trying a different recipe for this weeks.

 Grace didn't seem bothered by the size, she loved it! Just a little butter on top and this girl ate two slices.

So that is all for now. We obviously still have a long way in our recovery process. We still have tough days and we still have great days. Gabe and I are both going to counseling now on a regular basis. We know the journey is going to be long and sometimes trying, but we have already experienced some of the amazing joy God is blessing us with and we are so excited to continue looking up and having God guide our family for his purpose.
xo
Mommy