Blank Slate

I've been thinking a lot lately about why I haven't blogged since I signed us up a billion months ago when I "announced" we were expecting Aaron (who's still chilling in-utero, btw). I realized yesterday why--I'm intimidated.  Here's why: there's a blank slate, our blog, and I need to define it. This, for some silly reason, is a little overwhelming. How do I want to use this? What do I want to write about? How often? Should it just be fun stuff, our family trips, Aaron's first crawl or steps, his first words, maybe a million posts on how cute and perfect he is? Do I talk about what Christ is doing in my life? Where he's moving me? CAN it be both? More? 

In the face of an undefined blog, with a small number of people who read at this point, my strategy was to avoid it. I think, though, maybe I'm not going to do that now. I think it can evolve as I do, I can talk about Aaron, our family trips, and how Christ is molding Nick and me because that's all one thing really. God isn't just one part of our lives, he's all of it. He's involved in our family trips, he's certainly involved in Aaron, and how we will parent and the reason we take joy in our day-to-day and on and on and on. 

Lately, I've been so easily frustrated by little things--and this is frustrating. I realize the hormones in my body make me more suceptible to emotions that I don't enjoy, but it's really difficult being frustrated all the time towards things and people that do not deserve those feelings. The up-side to this has been abundantly clear to me though: my emotions are fallen, and Christ gives me freedom from this. More than ever, I've turned to God in prayer in times when my emotions lead me into a place that will be sin for me, and Praise Him for the freedom I've found there. It's abundant, real, constant, and never late or absent. I pray that as my pregnancy ends, and my emotions fall back into a still-fallen steadiness, I can continue to lean on Christ for all my needs--as a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, and a friend. 

I'm thankful for:

• Our friends, who love us
• Our sweet son, who already teaches us many lessons about life
• The situations in our life that point us to Christ--they point out my need for him to take control so I don't mess them up
• God's mercies, which are new each morning
• Jon Acuff (weird I know) who's emphasis on "the Prodigal Son" has impacted me immensely
• My husband, Nick, who's patience and love is unmatched by any other man, and only points me to a Father whose patience and love is unmatched by Any.