Great Thanksgivings

I have to say, when I woke up this morning I did not expect for it to be as good a day as it has turned out to be. I woke up so sick and had to cancel my appointment at my Chiropractor. All I wanted to do was sleep all day long but Hannah woke up early and was excited to be awake. Mommy, needless to say, was not! I put Hannah in the play yard so that I could lay down on the sofa. It wasn't long before she was standing up in the play yard crying at me to pick her up. I was on the phone with my mom at the time and started crying. When Hannah saw that I was crying she stopped crying and made happy faces at me.

Later this afternoon, after being a precious little angel and taking an extra long nap so that Mommy could do the same we both woke up and I felt a lot better. I set her down to play so that could get some stuff done. Eventually, I sat down on the sofa, she was on the floor in front of the tv playing with her cards. I called her and asked if she wanted some milk. She smiled at me and started crawling towards me. When she was close to me said looked up at me clearly said, "Mama". I was so thrilled! I couldn't ask for anything better today! Any remnants of feeling poorly vanished in that moment and I was overwhelmed with joy! What a wonderful day and so close to Mother's day as well- the best Mother's day gift!

As if that wasn't enough to be thankful for and joyous about... For the past few days Hannah has been thinking about standing on her own. She has been standing holding on to things, letting go and falling... well this afternoon she stood by herself for 5 whole seconds and sat down! I was so impressed! I could not believe my eyes!

Today has turned out to be a day full of blessings despite the way that it began. I guess it just goes to show that the Lord can turn any day around from being dreadful to wonderful in a matter of moments!

Praise the LORD for such days as these!

My Precious Baby and Her Sin Nature

I promise I am not going to preach in this post, only talk about my sweet angel- who is currently devouring a church bulletin, oddly enough.

Since Hannah has become more active and mobile, she has obviously started getting into things that she should not. I have endeavored to put most things out of reach that I do not want for her to touch and put things within her reach that I do not mind her playing with-example- I moved the Pyrex and Corningware and  put in its place the less used, less important plastic tupperware. The cat food and water had to move as well. Obviously, I cannot move everything out of her reach, though every day I am rearranging more and more.

Within a day, Hannah began to understand the meaning of the word "no". When I would say it, she would stop what she was doing immediately. Now of course she would return and do it again a few minutes later, but each time when I said "no" she would stop.

Well, a few days passed and I was pleased with how well she was doing and then it happened. I told her "no" about something and she looked me straight in the eyes, smiled and turned back around to it. I could not  help but smile a little bit. I had to turn away to hide it from her!

So for a while now we have been seeing behavior of a child that knows what Mommy means when she says "no". Sometimes she chooses to obey and sometimes she chooses to disobey.

Yesterday, she did something new. She knows that she is not supposed to go down the hallway (sometimes I barricade it with toys). Well, I was rolling a ball with her and the ball went past her and rolled down the hall. Without thinking, I told her to go get it. She turned around to crawl that way, but when she got to the playpin, she sat back down and looked at me as if to say, "but Mommy, you told me not to go that way". I was so proud of her!! Not wanting to undo the progress that we have made I went and got the ball myself. Moments like that remind me that she is learning- whether she always obeys or not.

I know it may sound strange, but seeing her disobey or seeing her stubbornness makes me praise the Lord. I can see so clearly my own faults in my baby (but that is another story altogether) and that our sin nature is oh so present from birth. But I praise the Lord because that is not all that there is to it! Jonathan and I have been charged to bring Hannah up so that she never knows a day in which she did not acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ and that she would have a personal relationship with Him early in life.