Studio Pictures

These are just a few of Kiera's 6-month photos that my professional photographer mom-in-law, June, took. I know they're a month late, but better late than never!





















































































































I'm having a hard time picking my favorite one, so which is/are your favorite(s)?

Gotta Have a Little More Faith

I got hit with a cold this week. I was quite shocked since I haven't been sick like this for a year and a half-2 years, besides being nauseous at the beginning of my pregnancy. I've been blessed with great health. Since moms don't get "sick days" I've been praying for Kiera to be happy and easy to take care of since I don't have the energy to do a lot with her and then I was surprised when God answered yes to that. Why am I surprised when I get answers to prayer? Kiera has been very happy today and was quiet in her swing for quite a long time. Thank you Lord! I also prayed that God would help me to sleep last night since I rarely ever sleep properly when I'm stuffed up. I went to bed at midnight, got up 10 minutes later to go outside to cover my flowers when Jared mentioned there was a risk of frost, then came back to bed and slept through the night 'til 6:30. Kiera woke up for a feeding and then we both went back to sleep until 10 a.m.! Again, I was so surprised that God did that. Why don't I think that the God who created the whole universe and has raised people from the dead can help me sleep through the night when I'm sick? The theme of our Bible Study at church is "Believing God." Apparently I haven't been doing a very good job of that. Lord please help me!

Another thing that has been on my mind lately is that I need piano students for the fall. I don't know why it's so hard for me to trust that God will provide all my needs according to His riches and glory. He keeps proving Himself over and over again, so I need to simply trust and not worry. I feel like I'm in a battle but thankfully God is fighting for me and helping me every step of the way.

This morning, I went to put teething gel on Kiera's lower gums and something poked me that wasn't there before. Kiera got her 2nd tooth! She just barely got her first one and now she has two!! Crazy! Some days I feel like I can barely keep up with her.

I'm SUPER pumped that my all-time favorite t.v. show is starting tonight: "So You Think You Can Dance." I don't watch a lot of t.v., but that's one that I definitely love. American Idol just ended last night and although I was cheering for David Archuleta, I also like David Cook and was pretty happy that he won. This is probably the longest blog I've ever written...I'm not usually much of a writer which is why I like pictures. Just thought I'd share what's been going on in my heart and life in general. Ciao!

Kiera Eats Plays With Dominoes

On Sunday night, Jared and I went to my parents' house. One of our favorite games to play there is "Mexican Train" which is a game you play with special dominoes tiles. Kiera wanted to play, too, so this is her own version of it.

Milestones

Today is an update on some milestones and new things that have been going on here at home. For of those of you who are not on facebook or didn't see my status update earlier this week, Kiera got her first tooth last week! Finally all the drooling, sucking on fingers, and recent fussiness has produced something semi-permanant, at least for the next few years. I've only gotten a couple of short glimpses of this tooth because Kiera gets mad and turns her face away every time I try to pry open her mouth (go figure). Another new thing is that she is starting to sit on her own (yay)!



















I have made her practice sitting every day for the past couple of months, so it's great to see the fruits of that now that she's past the 6-month mark! We have now stopped taking her lounge chair with us everywhere we go. We celebrated my first Mother's Day last week-end and Jared surprised me with this:



















I love it! The laptop was not part of the gift, in case you were wondering. Kiera also started baby food now which has been interesting. Certain flavors she definitely likes more than others. Sweet potato has been a hit with her. She's still a little on the messy side, though. She's not catching on to the whole table manners thing yet. Hopefully she'll catch on before she gets her first boyfriend or he's not going to want to take her out for supper.



















Kiera also got her first bass guitar lesson from Grandpa G (my dad)



















Yep, my girl is gonna be a rock star! Just don't forget who went through 24 hours of labor for you and changed your diaper when you're famous, Kiera. You may still need your mommy from time to time! She also had her first piano lesson from me this month, but I didn't get a picture. I'll let you all know when she goes on tour. Those are all of her accomplishments from the past couple of weeks. She's been busy! I hear her singing over the monitor...yes, she's a one-girl band! Well, time for her drum lesson...

Bye Bye Dessert (sob)

I just started going to a weekly womens' Bible Study at our church and we're doing Beth Moore's Believing God. I'm VERY excited about it and about getting into God's Word and learning and just seeing what God is going to do in each of our lives during this time. Today we all committed to either giving up something or changing something in our day-to-day lives for the next 9 weeks such as reading the Bible more or whatever we felt God speaking to us about. Earlier in the year, our church did a fast and Jared and I gave up t.v. and movies. Honestly, that wasn't very difficult for me because I really don't watch a lot of t.v. This time, God asked me to step it up a notch. He asked me to give up sweets. NOOOOOO!! It is one of my hugest weaknesses and it's one of the hardest things for me to give up. I've done it once or twice in my life before and struggled each time, but I survived (surprise!) and I know I can do it again, by God's grace. You can all feel free to ask me about it at any time to keep me accountable. I'm really not thrilled at all with this change in my diet, but to obey God is much better than satisfying the desires of my flesh, or in this case my tastebuds and tummy. "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13 That just so happens to be one of the 5 main points of our "Statement of Faith" as we go through this Bible study (Coincidence? I think not) and I have a feeling I'll be repeating it to myself a lot in the next while. So, if you see me arguing muttering to myself, then you know why. Strangers may wonder, but that's ok. "On your mark...get set...let go!"

Winter in May and Needles

Ice droplets on the trees





































Thankfully it doesn't look like this anymore, but while it did, I wanted to get some pictures. While I was taking a break from typing this to go to the bathroom, I got to thinking about the day so far. This morning Kiera had her 6-month needles. Needless to say, it wasn't an enjoyable experience for either of us. Like the other 2 times, though, she only cried for about a minute until I picked her up and soothed her. Although it still probably hurt, she realized she was ok. I think it's like that with me and God. At times He allows me to experience things that are painful and I cry and I don't understand why. He stays by me and picks me up and then I realize that I'm alright. Just like needles are good in the long run, God uses every situation for good. I forget that He sees the big picture and all I see in the short term is how hard it is. Thank-you Lord for teaching me a life lesson through needles!

Home Sweet Home

I love where I live...most of the time. I mean, there are many things I could complain about like the fact that we got snow in May or all the elderly drivers who turn onto the road right in front of you so that you almost get into about 4 car accidents a day and they don't hear when you honk at them, but today I am choosing (as I should every day) to focus on something I really like about where I live. I took Kiera for a walk one day when the weather was nice and we thought that Spring had arrived.
























Almost every person we walked by on the sidewalk said, "Hi!" and smiled. I LOVE that! It's so silly when we look the other way or pretend to be noticing something else and being all awkward as we walk by someone, not knowing where to look, which I have done too many times. Why not say a friendly hello? I guess it would be more difficult to do if you lived in a big city like New York where you walk by hundreds or thousands of people a day, although it might be interesting to try. So, I would challenge you, if you're out for a walk, to say hi to the people you walk by, if you don't already do that. Maybe you all already do that and it's just me who has to work on being friendlier to strangers. If we are to show Jesus to the people we meet, that is one small but great way of doing that! I know it impacted me. :)