The Gift of Life

There is something unique and amazing about the gift of a new baby.  A baby brings a smile to a person’s face; even the grumpiest of people will stop and smile at a new baby.  A baby can make grown men, men who wouldn’t normally hold delicate things and stop to relax in life, sit in their favorite rocking chair and hold the precious new bundle close, letting the baby find comfort from their strength.  A new baby can make the older people in our lives smile dreamily while remembering their children as babies.  A new baby shows the world that there is joy and beauty in this life; in spite of how “messed” up one claims this world is, a baby brings joy.

I once read somewhere that babies are the perfect way to start people.  Indeed there is truth in that, and so much more.  Babies show us how helpless we really are.  Babies show us that we all need help (not only are babies helpless but they can make parents that way too), we all need a little patience (thinking of colic, teething, and nursing yet again!), but more than that we all need love.  There is something about holding a baby, having them look directly into your eyes, slowly drift off to sleep, and then announce their total contentment with their soft sigh.  A new baby is truly the gift of life.

Every time a new baby is born, so is a new mother and father.  Even if they adults proudly wear the title of Mama or Daddy, this new life is here to teach them new things, to help them grow in their parenting, and to teach them how to parent this child in their own unique and individual bent.  Parents do indeed create new babies, but babies always create new parents.

Yesterday was the day that was set to see what our new little one was going to be.  Robert and I both knew it was a girl.  I have been so exhausted with this pregnancy that we just knew that our blessing would be in pink, well because girls take a lot out of you!  Imagine our surprise when sitting there staring at us on the ultrasound tech’s screen was the undeniable evidence that we were NOT having a girl, but being blessed with another boy.  Being the mature adults that we were, we stared at the screen in shock and then I laughed.  I couldn’t help it.  I smiled at no one in particular and laughed. In my soul I was telling God that I loved His humor, His blessings, and His desire to have our home filled with boys! 

With Cole I was disappointed that we weren’t having a girl.  Truthfully I am not disappointed with this news at all.  I was stunned for a few minutes, but then joy set in.  There is joy in the gift of life.  There is joy in the gift of boys.  There is joy in being a mother, be it to a mother of a boy or a girl.  Babies bring joy. 

It is with joy that our family announces the upcoming arrival of another son.  Jacob Alexander Best is coming soon!  What’s exciting is that his family can’t wait!

The Best Vacation of 2013

There is something special about being together as a family!  There is magic in being away from home and just being together.  I heard a quote a long time ago from Dr. Gary Smalley that said if you want to make lasting memories with your family, take them camping.  So, being the brave souls that we are, we took our family camping, or the closest resemblance of camping that I was willing to brave in the Florida heat with four kiddos!

We had planned on leaving Tuesday evening right after Robert got home from work.  BUT, one thing that we have learned with his job is to be flexible, flexible, and you guessed it, flexible!  Guess what that meant…..we didn’t leave until Wednesday morning.  BUT, that was ok and the kiddos were excited about stopping to eat at McDonalds on our way up to Ocala / Salt Springs!

Packing for our adventure!

 

We arrived at our “campsite” (ahem, it’s a trailer), to discover that the air was off and it was 97 inside.  We dutifully unpacked, bumped the air down, changed clothes, and headed to the pool to cool off!  It was while we were unpacking that we discovered we had no WIFI or cell phone service!  Needless to say, we were disconnected from the world, and we loved it!  We swam and played until Cole (who hadn’t had a nap) was so grumpy we couldn’t deal with him anymore.  Lucky for us it was about this time that an afternoon rain storm blew up, so we headed back to the trailer to nap, relax, and get ready to fix our camp food!

Our "campsite" for the week.

We are here!

John Robert and Ethan slept in the loft.  John Robert was the first one up!

Pretty soon Ethan joined him!

And then there was Cole.

Thursday morning dawned sunny and hot.  So we took that as a sign to go fishing, or at least the three big kiddos did.  This Mama is NOT a fisherwoman, but I went along to wrangle Cole and snap the photos.  Ethan caught the only fish, the lake was really dry from the last time we had stayed there, a little over six years ago, but the kiddos had fun.  After two hours we decided another dip in the pool was in order.  We got to swim for all of 20 minutes before the rains hit.  So it was back to the trailer for lunch, naps, and then a trip to the playground.

Time for fishing!

Yes, Mama is here. 

Ethan was brave enough to touch the worm.

Daddy wrangled Cole some so Mama could take pictures.

Ethan caught the only fish.

 

Friday morning dawned dark and dreary.  As remote as we were, we did have cable so I switched it on to see what the weather was going to be doing.  If you said rain, you guessed correct!  Lots and lots of rain thanks to a tropical disturbance from The Gulf of Mexico, 3 to 5 inches of rain was expected from Friday to Saturday.  GULP!  Could you imagine six of us trapped in our little trailer in the pouring rain with NO WIFI, cell service, and just a TV?  Nope, we couldn’t either so we packed up, deep cleaned, and hit the road!  We actually got turned around and got somewhat lost.  BUT, it was fun driving the whole way home down HWY 27 instead of I-75.  We saw some pretty horse country and enjoyed the towns we drove through.  We even stopped at a Golden Corral and ate an awesome lunch!  BUT we got home much too soon for Mama and Daddy’s liking, we really wanted to be gone our full allotted time.  Little did we know……….

I guess for us it was a good thing we got home.  We had a squirrel or a bird get into our transformer and blew out power to our house.  If we had come home Sunday like we wanted we would have come home to a mess.  God in His wisdom knew what He was doing, but I will not lie, I was disappointed.  I did want to have a longer break, but I am grateful for the time that we had away!

Since Saturday and Sunday were still vacation days we did nothing!  Well, I did eight loads of laundry, but I also took a nap, so it was an okay relaxing day.   Saturday evening Robert took the kiddos fishing at our neighbors to try to catch some fish.  Robert caught a fish and Ethan caught a small turtle, but the main attraction was the little gator that came up and ate all the catfish that the kiddos chummed up.  Sunday was a day of rest.  No laundry, no chores, and no cooking, well for Mama anyway!  Daddy made breakfast, John Robert made lunch, and Maggie fixed supper.  Mama sat with her feet up and blogged away while Robert tried his hands at painting! 

Mom, not another SMILE shot!

Time to catch some fish!

Yes, this Mama is here!

What has Daddy so enthralled?

The little gator that was trying to steal the bait.

 

While our vacation didn’t go as we had planned, truthfully we had no plans.  All we wanted was to enjoy the time away, enjoy being a family, and enjoy the creation that God made.  Looking at those goals, it was a truly The Best Vacation!

Thankful Thursday!!!!

I am thankful for the compliments that I get on my kiddos, but more than that for my kiddos.  We had a busy day of errand running; we stopped at no less than 6 to 8 places, all of us including the "baby" getting in and out and being "drug" around the store while Mama did her thing.  Not one child complained.  Not one child cried, even during the dreaded haircuts (HA!), the kiddos behaved, used their manners, and were in general awesome!  We were even able to surprise Daddy and meet him for lunch (a rare treat indeed), and there was no melt downs when Daddy left, all kiddos waved, hugged, and kissed him goodbye!

The kind words from stranger about my children make me smile.  Oftentimes as mother's we need to be encouraged that we are doing the right thing.  More than that, I am thankful that people notice how awesome my kiddos are!  That is what makes my heart happy, they are amazing!

NAPS

I sincerely regret every nap I fought and never wanted to take as a child!  I LOVE a good nap now!  I love the relaxing Sunday afternoon when I am able to lay down and snooze!  Today was such a day.

Oh, it was a typical Sunday in our house.  Well, in some ways it was.  Robert got up and put the cinnamon rolls in the oven while I jumped in the shower.  The big kiddos were happily snoozing away.  At 8:15 I mentioned that we really needed to wake everyone up.  No one really wanted to wake up, but they were not grumpy, were happy to have cinnamon rolls, and even dressed and brushed their teeth with no complaints. 

We had fun at church with the littles in Children’s Church and Maggie, Robert, and I taking our turn to serve in the nursery.  (I must admit that I was happy it was a smaller nursery class, it is fun to snuggle Cole a little more!)  After church we loaded up and headed home for Daddy to grill hamburgers and onions and Mama to make the French fries.

 At lunch Cole’s eyes were drooping.  I will admit that we ate a little later than normal, and it was close to 2:30 before we were done, but he wasn’t going to make it!  So being the dutiful, thoughtful, caring, loving, and incredible mama that I am (AHEM! HA!), I willingly volunteered to lay down with Cole to help him nap!  We both crashed, and I mean CRASHED!  We went down close to 2:30-2:45 and woke up at 5:00!

BLISS!  Sheer bliss!  Naps are wonderful and I am so thankful that I get to take one!!!!  I do regret every nap I ever fought and find a good nap as close to perfection.  And I want to publically thank my amazing husband not only for letting me take a good nap, but also running to town to get me some clam chowder since I have been craving that!