Saturday Family Date

Ever since summer started I've been wanting to go to the Botanical Gardens here in Huntsville, to see the butterflies. They have one of those giant, net covered green houses full of flowers and butterflies. Fact: I LOVE butterflies. It's nothing close to my owl obsession, so please, don't go out and start buying me everything butterfly.

Anyhoo, my sweet hubby knew I was getting a small case of cabin fever, cooped up in the house all week so he took me to see the butterflies this morning. :) It wasn't quite what I expected. I had romantic notions of swarms of brilliantly colored butterflies landing on my nose and hands, and having to watch where you walk because there are so many of them....yes, I watch too many movies. It wasn't like that. However, there were still a lot of butterflies and it was still really fun. They were beautiful and I even got one to land on my finger. Sadly, Ben couldn't get the camera out fast enough to get a picture of it.

William hung out in his stroller the whole time, more interested in his own feet than the colorful flying things. I defintely want to go back when he is older. They have all kinds of cool stuff for kids that I wanted to do but couldn't justify doing without a child, otherwise all the other parents would be staring at me like I was a crazy person. We did, however, go through one of the water misters they have around the gardens to cool off. He didn't like that very much. It was also past nap time.

After the butterfly house, we walked on some of the paths looking at some of the plants and trees and just enjoying the beautiful weather. Little Man soon began to protest the hot weather/sweaty car seat combination, so we promptly headed home. I snapped a few pictures while we were there for your enjoyment.

Thanks, Hubby, for the family date!  And thank you, William for falling asleep as soon as we got home.

-JRae

                                                                 I have wings! :D

                                                          Trying out the hammocks...

                                    Baby in a hammock...don't panic I was right there beside him.

                         Daddy in a hammock...had a hard time getting him out of the hammock.

                                                                   GIANT chair!

                                                                   Ben is giant chair. :)

Stupid Good Quote

Earlier this week I ran across this quote while browsing Pinterest, "Don't let a bad day make you feel like you have a bad life". I know I don't have a bad life, but how many times during a tough week do I act like it? Like, take this week, for example. William has decided nap time is not for him anymore, so this week has been mostly devoted to changing his mind. I'm tired. I'm cranky. I'm pretty sure my hubby secretly wants to move to the rooftops. :P But good grief, Jessie Rae, it's just one week. One bad week out of countless good weeks. And in the grand scheme of things..is it reeeeaaaally that bad? No. It's not. Here's why: (excuse me while I preach to myself)

- I have a loving, patient Savior who had the ultimate "bad day" so I didn't have to.
- Despite his horrible napping, William has been the same cheerful, smiley, bouncy boy
- My husband. My hero. Even though he has plenty on his plate, he keeps asking me over and over again, what he can do to help, all the while making corny jokes to try to make me smile. :)
- a roof over my head
- Food. Yummy, healthy (sometimes not healthy), filling, plenty food
- Telephones. I have the ability to call friends and family anytime I want. Which is the biggest blessing ever when I need advice from my mom. Or when I need to chat with my Sister and just laugh for a few minutes. Or when I need to hear my husband's voice in the middle of a long day.
- At the end of a long day, there is a super comfy bed and a fluffy body pillow I can collapse on
- The invention of this thing called, coffee. I mean, really.

I could go on and on. God has richly blessed me and I have every reason to be thankful and joyful, despite what kind of week I am having. What I don't have, in any excuse to complain.

If you're reading this post, thanks for reading. I'm mostly just talking to myself and decided to type in out just in case, someone else out there was having a rough week and needed reminded of how good they really have it.

-JRae

P.S. What I Learned in August blog post coming soon

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Yesterday was a crappy day. It was one of those days where I didn't even try to be thankful. I didn't try to preach the Gospel to myself. I didn't try to find joy in the midst of hard things. My "give a flip" was busted. I wallowed in self-pity and turned to ice cream, Pinterest, and sleep for comfort, instead of looking to Christ. But, thankfully, God created days to end and new ones to begin. He has given me a new batch of grace for today.
My Little Man woke me up at 6 this morning. While I was feeding and rocking him, I began to pray and ask God for a heart full of thankfulness. Once again, I was overwhelmed at His blessings to this sinner who is so very undeserving. I wanted to share them with you in hopes that it points you to our loving Savior.

Thanking God today for:
-the morning after a bad day
-this verse: "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.' The Lord is my portion', says my soul, therefore I will hope in Him." -Lamentations 3:22-24
- my husband, my partner, the love of my life, my 10,000 reasons to smile
- the way he loves me with a selfless love that never ceases to astound and convict me
- the way he bends over backwards to cheer me up when I've had a bad day
- a happy, healthy, smiley, bouncy baby boy :)
- watching that baby boy learn new things like rolling over and trying to eat his toes
- music that encourages me to look to Christ
- electricity that allows me to plug in my coffee pot and make the blessed beverage
- hearing my moms voice on the phone yesterday
- God's financial provision
- the bouncy seat I bought for super cheap at a yard sale that has proved to be the best invention ever
- poopy diapers (yes, you read right, poopy diapers = happy baby)
- hearing William talking and playing in his crib as I write this
- amazon.com: I mean really. What did we ever do without it?
- that time of evening when William is asleep for the night and it's just Ben and I hanging out together
- so much closet space
- things to look forward to, like coffee with a friend, a weekend in Nashville, my brother coming to visit in a couple weeks
- all the women I know who are expecting babies
- William laughing in his sleep
- the sense of accomplishment from working hard to save money on the grocery bill and actually succeeding
- fresh cantaloupe
- baby pictures of Ben that look like William
- inside jokes with Sister
- another day

-JRae