Blessings

I wanted to share this song that has become special to me for various reasons this summer. I'm sure many of you are familiar with this song by Laura Story...."Blessings."

When I first heard the song a few months back, my eyes filled up with tears as it brought memories back from my previous miscarriages. It seemed as though the lyrics of the song expressed many of the emotions I had experienced. But, not only did it express many of the emotions I experienced during the difficult times.......it also expresses emotions that I feel in my heart today. It seems that over the past year or so, I've come to experience the realization that "this" (earth) is not our home! It seems that the struggle through conceiving a healthy baby as well as challenges with my body continued to reveal to me the thirst for something that this world can not satisfy! It's been my prayer that I will live each day keeping my eyes on my "home"....my eternal home. And it seems when my eyes our kept on what's eternal that the struggles and things of this world seems to fade in the distance because there is a hope of something greater than this world offers. So, this song holds a special place in my heart for these reasons but.....

I've also had the privilege of praying for a few dear friends of mine as they have struggled to conceive. When I hear this song it is a reminder not only to pray for my sweet friends but of the faithfulness of God to give us hope, faith and peace as we are persevering through trials. I know my friends are continuing to walk patiently as they hope for a healthy baby in their future......and I'm faithfully committed to praying for them. =)

Yesterday morning, I woke up to check my email and found an email from my college roommate with the background of Laura Story.....songwriter of "Blessings." It truly touched me.....I encourage you to read this link. (Her husband battled with a brain tumor shortly after they were married in 2006. The Lord has not chosen to completely heal her husband, but they are a living testimony of God's peace, love and hope that he offers here on this earth. Here's a link to her blog......

http://www.laurastorymusic.com/bio

It's so neat how the Lord's timing is so very perfect. This song and testimony went along just perfectly with my Sunday school lesson yesterday on the Great Commission and how we are commanded to use our life as a witness to bring others to know Jesus. We always think of "Go" into the all the world as we are to "go" and "do" something.....which in a way, yes, we are to do that. But, in my studies this week on the word "go".....Jesus clearly meant "as you go"...meaning as we walk through life day to day we are to use our lives as a testimony to the Lord. Laura and her husband are truly being blessed as they use their life as a testimony of God's love and faithfulness.

I pray this song ministers to you just as it did me. We are not promised that life here on earth will be easy and always full of happiness.....but Jesus does promise that He will never leave us - that He will always walk with us offering us peace and that we have hope for our "home" to come!

15 months!

She loves walking outside!

Our baby girl is quickly turning into a little toddler! Every month I think...."ok, this is the most fun and the best stage of development"....and then the next month comes and I say it again!

Seems like life just gets more and more exciting for little Isabella each day and therefore more entertaining for Jeremy and I as we watch her explore the world around her! =)

She continues to be such a good little sleeper....sleeping about 11 hours every night! She loves, loves, loves to eat! We haven't found a food that she dislikes yet! Of course she has her favorites......"anana" (bananas), "cheez" (cheese), "be" (bread), "be-ey" (strawberries), grapes, raisins and sweet potatoes! She has definitely fully adjusted to drinking whole-milk and loves it also! Some of her very favorite things to do are.........

-This girl loves music and definitely has some dance moves too! She recognizes even the softest of music and starts nodding her head or wiggling her body. One of her favorite things to do is dance with mamma and daddy.....as you can tell from the pics below......

-She will sit in front of her bookshelf and pull all her books down one by one - flip through them and look at the pictures. (sometimes they're upside down) =)

-Loves to do flashcards with mamma......we love learning new words and looking at animals too!

-She loves to go into the bathroom at bath time and take all her bath toys out from under the sink and put them in the bath tub to prepare for her fun bath time!

-It's a special treat when mamma opens up the kitchen cabinets and Bella can pull out all the tupperware and pots and pans!

-Of course swinging is still her very favorite most exhilarating thing to do by far!!!

-She loves opening drawers and pulling everything out one by one....then putting it all back in one by one!

-Swimming in her baby pool is definitely a favorite too!

-She loves playing outside...sidewalk chalk, her red car, pushing her "friendly dino", picking up "ro" (rocks) and giving them to dadda and mamma....and she even likes helping daddy pull weeds (except sometimes she pulls grass too!)

-Playdates are super fun too......and story time at the library!

-She loves working on her wooden puzzles......and she especially loves when she puts the correct shape in place and mamma cheers really loud for her! =)

-She loves babies...espeically sweet cousin Sadie.

Her personality seems to develop more and more each day! She definitely has a very tender, sweet side to her......but she also has a funny, comical side to her too! Her sensitive side comes out when she "loves" her baby dolls - she will put them up on her chest and tilt her head to the side while patting their backs. Her funny side comes out when she sits on the floor and sniffs her feet and says "pee-u" while shaking her head! (Thank you Auntie Linz for that trick! hehe)

The nursery is getting easier and easier for her! While we were in Tennessee, she actually went to their nursery a few times and did great! She still cries a few minutes when we leave her....but dries the tears up pretty fast. Sometimes towards the end of nursery time, she will cry just because she's ready to be with mamma and daddy again. =)

Her communication and speech is getting better and better too....which is a lot of fun! She continues to do well with her sign language. But she is now beginning to understand short commands that we ask of her. For example, "Put the toys away." "Go get your ball." "Put your bath toys in the tub." "Go to the kitchen for lunch."....and so on.

She will pretty much try to imitate any word we ask her to say but here are the words that she has mastered and repeats on her own.

dadda, mamma, cat, kitty-kitty, do (dog), baby, pappa, mimi, ga-ga, she-she, inzey, shon (jon), bubba, ma, dordo (jordo), enya (ellen), mad (madelyn), bir (bird), bye, hi, that, cheez, anana, be (bread), be-ey (strawberry), shu (shoe), bo (bow)

We are just having so much fun together this summer! She's had two weekend slumber parties with her Grandaddy and She-She. We enjoyed VBS together. She had lots of fun visiting her family up in Tennessee and we are looking forward to going to Student Life Camp in 2 weeks with all the high schoolers! =)

Her stats:

Height 31.5 inches 55%

Weight 23 lb. 5 oz 55%

Head 48 cm 90%

She definitely hit a growth spurt the past few weeks! Grow-Bella-Grow! =)

Here's a quick update on her routine....not much has changed:

7 Wake/Breakfast (cereal, fruit, milk)

9 Storytime/Nap

11 Wake/Play

12 Lunch (variety each day Ex: turkey, cheese, yogurt, fruit, veggies, milk)

2 Storytime/Nap

4 Wake/Play/Snack

6 Dinner (usually east what we're eating for dinner - meat, veggies, fruit, milk)

7 Bath

8 Prayers and Bedtime

Summer Family Vacation!

Each summer, my family tries to plan a summer vacation together. It's becoming a little more challenging as all the husbands have jobs as well as Brit.....and there are two babies in the picture now! So, we decided this year that it would be most fun for everyone to have a "stay-vacation" in Nashville! We had a blast! Honestly, we all just treasure time together so it really doesn't matter what we're doing or where we are as long as w're together!

Jeremy led a mission trip with our high school students to Tuscaloosa, Alabama to help with the disaster relief/clean-up from the terrible storms. So it ended up working out perfectly for my mom met up with us in Birmingham and we rode to Huntsville to stay with Linz for a night. We loved playing with baby Sadie......she's grown so much in just 2 months since we'd seen her last. We woke up Tuesday, loaded up the car......1 Mimi, 2 mammas, 2 babies and TONS of baby stuff and ventured on up to Nashville! It's amazing just how much babies change in 2 months! They hadn't seen Bella in 2 months and wow has she changed! She is walking.....climbing....everywhere and into everything! =)

Wednesday, we enjoyed Mimi's baby pool! Isabella loves the water - especially when mamma puts warm water from the sink in the pool. =)

Thursday, we had a girls lunch date out in Nashville.... (do you know how incredibly challenging it is to take a picture of a 15 month old and a 2 month old!???)

....and then we headed over to visit "Aunt Bubba" at her office. She works for Dave Ramsey in the real estate department. When we walked in the building, Dave was actually doing his radio show so we enjoyed watching him for a few minutes. Then he came out and we got to meet him! (For those of you who may not know - he is an awesome Christian financial planner!) Anyways, Isabella was carrying on as always and he shook my hand then he looked at her and said, "WASSUP!" It was really funny...and cute. =) We loved meeting all of Brit's friends....super fun place to work! When we got home, Bella decided she should help feed baby Sadie.....well, actually I think she just wanted some of the delicious milk!

Then, Auntie decided that Isabella needed to learn a new trick...so she taught her how to sniff her feet and say, "Pee-u!"......

I love this precious little Sadie...."Buggy" =)

Aunties are so much fun!!!

Friday, my mom took us girls out to lunch in downtown Brentwood at Merre Bulles.

It was delicious! Of course, babies dominated our conversation but it sure was enjoyable to be be able to eat and not have to cut up food the entire lunch! =).....those of you who have a one year old understand what I'm talking about all too well I'm sure!

Pappa enjoyed taking Isabella on a nice long stroll.....it ended up being a 45 min. walk and Pappa says that Isabella enjoyed every minute of it. He says when she got bored he would just hand her another stick or leaf otherwise known as a "treasure." =)

Friday night my parents took us to a park near their house.......as soon as Isabella saw the swings she started squealing with excitement! I can't really explain her emotions when she sees a swing other than that she starts giggling, pointing and laughing! And as soon as she gets in the swing........the laughing and giggling gets even louder! It's just so precious! We enjoyed playing on the playground.....Aunt "Bubba" helped Isabella explore the big playground! =)

We woke up Saturday morning and filled the baby pool with water for the girls! They enjoyed "water day" for about 15 minutes! That's about the attention span of a 15 month old......although I think Sadie enjoyed her 30 seconds of dipping her feet in the pool too! Smokey hopped in the pool to play with Isabella.....=)

Saturday night, we went over to Matt and Brit's house for dinner! After dinner, we took a walk to their neighborhood playground......and Isabella got to swing and play on a playground AGAIN! She loved, loved, loved it!

Sunday morning we all enjoyed my dad's church service. It's always such a special treat when we get to hear him preach. Isabella actually enjoyed playing with new friends in the nursery. =)

It was another pretty day......and the girls loved being outside!

As always in the "Boyd" household, we all woke up at the crack of dawn on July 4th to run in the Firecracker 5k! No better way to start a holiday than to wake up early and run a race! =)

My dad, Jer, John and I ran this year. It was actually my first race in 2 years....post-pregnancy/baby. I still have plenty of work to do on my speed but I was less than 30 seconds off my last 5k time which was 2 weeks before conceiving Isabella! =) My dad got 2nd in his age group........and Jer won his age group and did a PR! 17 something....way faster than me! Races are always "healthy" both mentally and physically. I enjoy setting goals and working hard to attain them......which running gives me the opportunity to do that. In the meantime while training, you're keeping your body physically fit and strong! Running has always been my outlet for relieving stress, meditating, praying and just enjoying God's creation! During pregnancy and the newborn months you have to mix things up a bit......but I always enjoy and am so thankful for the days when I can run hard and enjoy feeling good!

Here's little Isabella cheering us on!

We ended our 4th of July with fireworks in Brentwood. Crockett Park has a wonderful fireworks show with live music....very family oriented! We planted our family of 12 up on a hill under a tree and enjoyed the music! I'm pretty sure Isabella enjoyed the music more than anyone else in the family! She wanted to be front and center on the dance floor.....even if she was 4 feet shorter than everyone else! =)

Tuesday morning, we said our good-byes to Sadie bug and the Gorins as they had to get back home.....Isabella was full of good-bye kisses.

We enjoyed relaxing on Tuesday.....Jer and I ventured out to shop around a bit. Can I tell you one of my favorite places to shop in Nashville is the Brentwood TJMax! I would definitely consider myself a "thrifty" shopper....and let me tell you that is the place to go! They have such fun and different clothing since it's in Nashville and of course at the TJMax price! =)

Wednesday morning, I enjoyed going with my mom to her Women's Bible study at church. I've grown close to a few of the women in her church through visiting and spending time with them on various occasions. It was so neat to be a part of their study for a morning.....I was definitely encouraged and inspired! Isabella loved the nursery.....she even colored Mimi and Pappa a special Bible story picture. =)

On Wednesday night, Britney invited Jer and I to go with her and Matt to a previewing of a new movie that will be coming out September 30. Dave Ramsey rented out a theater for all his employees. They had a few extra seats so we were able to attend also! We actually sat in front of Dave and joked with him a bit before.....he's for sure a cool guy.....who has a lot of good stuff to say about money! I need to do a whole blog entry just on the movie, "Courageous" so for now let me just say that everyone needs to go see it....especially Dads!

We woke up Thursday and headed to the Nashville Zoo! It was so fun! We weren't quite sure if Isabella was to the age where she would really enjoy seeing all the animals......boy were we wrong! She loved them....she was totally fascinated and intrigued!

Sea animals...

Snakes...and reptiles

Exploring with Mimi...

Giraffes...

Goats...

More goats...

Leopards...

After about 2 1/2 hours of exploring the zoo together, we looked down to find this......a sleepy baby =)

I made a special dinner for Jer to celebrate his birthday! And Brit baked a cookie cake....

We spent our last day on Friday at Brentwood Country Club pool! My mom, Isabella and I loved swimming together, playing on the play gound, in the baby pool and eating poolside lunch!

Jer enjoyed his last round of golf with my dad. It was a relaxing day as we ended our vacation!

Isabella ended her day by brushing her teeth on Mimi and Pappa's bed......we were letting her go diaper-less due to her terrible diaper rash.....and she chose to leave Pappa a special wet surprise on his sheets! Ooops!!!

I'm so thankful for my parents, sisters, brother-in-law and niece! We had so much fun living life with each other for a week! We all look forward to the next time we will be together.........