A Heart that Might Explode

I have decided to label 2012 as the year of fruitfulness. My friends took the Lord’s commands seriously when He said be fruitful and multiply.

Actually, not only have my friends taken that command seriously, the families at my church have also taken it very seriously and quite literally, BCF is busting at the seams with newborns and babies on the way. After every couple has announced their pregnancy at church, I’ve been known to joke by saying that as many babies are being born, that many weddings should be happening. Of course, that would mean more babies, but where’s the harm in that? Hey, it could happen. You just never know.

One of the major bonuses of not traveling this summer is that I’ve been able to meet, hold and love on some really special newborns. I would not have wanted to miss their debuts for any reason, and by not being gone 24/7 allowed me to be present. Can you say joy?

I happen to be a lover of all things babies, and two very special babies are now a part of my normal, everyday life. In fact, every now and then I’ll get a text picture with one of their precious faces just saying hi. It makes my week. My baby love tank is, needless to say, exploding. 

Please meet…

Olivia Jasper.

Jen and I met in college and clicked instantly. What’s been so fun, is that I’ve watched she and Ryan through every stage of their relationship from the beginning, so to see them enter parenthood has been so fun. Jen is one of those friends from college that stuck. You know what I mean? Our friendship didn’t end when college did and for that, I am so grateful. Olivia is a doll, and just the other night, I got to sit on Jen’s couch and hold that girl for a good long while. It made my heart so happy.

Every baby girl needs a large pink bow.

Next came Miss Ellie Paige Isaminger...

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, or you know me personally, Jennifer isn’t new to you. She and I have been BFF since the womb. You think I’m lying, but I’ve never not known her and we have literally done life together since pre-school. Since our parents were best friends as well, time was the true test of our friendship, however, time has only proved to make our friendship stronger and better than ever. I know how sappy this is sounding, but I’m trying to convey just how much she means to me. She’s literally the sister I never had. We’ve stayed best friends through college, marriage, distance and now motherhood. So, needless to say, Ellie is the niece I don’t have. And I love her so much. In fact, it’s pretty safe to say I’m obsessed with her. I got to be there the day she was born and I’ll never, ever forget that day. It was love at first sight. 

Our newest sidekick.

I’ve come to that season in my life when the majority of my friends are married and are starting to have kids. While Satan could do a number on my heart and emotions and whisper all sorts of lies to me about being left behind, I’ve chosen and had the complete opposite reaction. I’ve never been so thankful for my friends and their sweet families. Getting to watch them grow in this season and sharing in that joy with them has brought me nothing but praise. At no other time in my life would I get a chance to love these babies like my own.

I’m so thankful that even though I have no kids of my own, the Lord has given me a plentiful amount to love on through my friends and through my church.

Being a seriously multi-generational church that believes in community, my love tank is filled to the brim because I get to do life with all manner of folks. The majority of them being young families with young kiddos that are cuter than snot. (And really, who ever came up with that saying anyway? Snot is not cute.) Not only do I get to hold and love on some sweet babies, I get to sing, skip and play silly games with the most lively pre-school sweets none to man.

A few babysitting adventures...

A small glimpse into Bayou City Nights. Our church's first VBS. Talk about a lot of kiddos! It was a really great three hot nights.

Meet Brennan. My little buddy. The fact that one of my best friends growing up has a child old enough to go to kindergarten this year boggles my mind. I love them.

I may not have any of my own, but I am spoiled with all these little loves. How could I ever complain?

Three Months Later

It's been three months, folks.

Three months since I've even seen an empty blogger template.

I was about to look up synonyms for the word neglected, but that seemed too depressing, and well, actions speak louder than words anyway, and my actions have left this blog void of any new material so to talk about it would do no good.

I just needed to get on here and write instead.

But what the heck do I write about? Where do I even begin?

This summer has kept me plenty busy with weddings, and babies and Bible study, oh my! And now I'm kicking myself for not documenting those. Oh well. You win some and you lose some.

And truth be told, I didn't even put one foot on a plane, bus, boat or any other commercial vehicle this summer. Nada. Didn't visit one exotic location. Can you say bizarre? After all my crazy summers.

ALL of that to say this, I'm back.

At least I hope so. I hate nothing more than empty promises, but for five years this blog has been such a wonderful outlet for me personally, and I'm going to inch my way back in.

I will say this, as I look back on this year, the year I've blogged the absolute least, I can say God has been very, very good to me. I have everything to be thankful for and nothing to complain about. In fact, it was exactly a year ago tomorrow that I had my last day on staff at CBC and my world was about to change dramatically.

But that's another post for another day. Hot darn. Material to write about. Who knew?