Things. Are. Happening!

Hey y'all!!! If you're an average mommy blogger like I am, then you're already very familiar with the following phrase: Sorry I've been so MIA lately, but life has been crazy! Haha... seriously, though, unless you're Supermom Superblogger, you know what I mean here! I think we all have times when we inadvertently neglect our blog as life takes over for a little bit. Now is such a time in my life. Even now I reallllly don't have that much time to be blogging, but felt like I should do a quick catch up before life gets even crazier (and it's about to!)

The fam went down to Virginia Beach during the week ending with and including Memorial Day weekend for vacation (and a few job interviews for the hubby.) Back in November, we went out to San Diego to visit family for Thanksgiving, and dipped Gemma's little toesies into the Pacific, so she's technically already been to the beach, but this was her first "real" beach trip. She was cautious of the sand at first, but then ended up loving it! Daddy would build little castles for her, and she would smash them down. It was so stinkin cute. She got it in her bathing suit, mouth, ears, everywhere. For the record, it is very difficult to re-apply sunscreen to a baby who is COVERED in sand! (Note to self - get spray sunscreen). She was nooooot really a fan - at all - of the ocean however. 

Having all kinds of fun!

Like I said... Not. A. Fan.

Awhile back, a mommy blog friend of mine's son popped teeth while they were on vacation, so I was like, "Ooh, maybe GEMMA will finally pop some teeth while WE'RE on vacation!" But no, not a one. She is now 10 months and 4 days, and totally toothless. It's all good though. I'm nursing her, so I'm not really in a rush for her teeth to come in, but it does slightly limit what she can eat food-wise. I say slightly, because her lack of teeth doesn't really hinder her a great deal. She can really gum something down when she wants to. She's a bit picky on what she'll eat, but she lives fruit smoothies and is basically a carb-aholic. Pasta, bread, crackers, cereal, potatoes, bagel, pizza crust... if it's a carb, she loves it. Girl after my own heart :)

Aaaaanyway, as I mentioned earlier, my husband did some job interviews while we were down in Virginia, and I am SO EXCITED to announce that he got the job we were hoping for! So we have been, and are currently in crazy pack mode, as we are leaving for Virginia on the 26th because his job starts July 1st!! That's right, we are soon-to-be Virginia residents! Ahhh I am freaking out. It's going to be a really fantastic move for us, as we have lots of good friends already where we are moving, and we'll be a bit closer to various family members of mine :)

However, getting from point A to point B is crazy stressful! Any of you who have relocated to another STATE know what I'm talking about. Sooooo many logistics! I won't even go into it.

LASTLY, on Monday (the 20th), I'll be having a fairly major surgery. It all started over a month ago, when I ended up in the ER. So not fun. Well, several follow-up appointments, 2 ultrasounds, and a CAT Scan later, it has come to light that I have two benign dermoid cysts inside me. Either both in one ovary, or one in each ovary. They are bigger than tennis balls, oblong, and heavy. So yes, they are causing me pain. And yes, they need to come out. Unfortunately, due the the nature and location of the cysts, my OB will not be able to perform the surgery laproscopically as we had originally hoped. So it will be an open surgery, and although he said he will do his best to keep the incision as small as possible, the fact remains - it's an open surgery. It carries higher risks and requires a longer recovery time. 

So yes, you got that right. I will be having major surgery and moving to another state 6 days later. Enter: STRESS. But ya know, we're coping with it really well actually. I realize, God has been SO GOOD to us, and I trust Him completely. 

If you could please, offer a prayer for me and my family during this crazy time in our lives! I will try to update as soon as I can, but with everything going on, no guarantees on when that will be! As of now, all I can say is Praise God for all the blessings he has been pouring into our lives. Jesus, I trust in you.

Here's one last picture of Gemma enjoying the pool at our friend's house:

He is Risen!

Happy Easter everybody!!! May you have a joyous and blessed day!

"Death couldn't handle Him and the Grave couldn't hold Him!"

How I Long For You

"The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand, you satisfy the desire of every living thing."

-Psalm 145:15-16

Waiting. Oh, sweet anticipation. How we loathe thee. It's true that there are few among us who find any pleasure in the act of waiting for something -- for something to come in the mail, for someone to come home, for God to answer a prayer, and in my case, for a baby to be born. No, waiting in and of itself is a rather unenjoyable activity, and I'm sure most people would agree with that.

It gets me thinking though... about all the waiting we do in our lives. It's something we spend so much time doing that it must have a purpose. It also gets me thinking about all the things we spend our energy waiting for, at times even becoming obsessive in our anticipation. Of course for me right now, I'm very much in one of these obsessive states of anticipation. My baby was due to be born six days ago and she is still frustratingly hanging out inside her mama. It's a serious accomplishment for me if I can make it two or three minutes without thinking about this baby and wondering when she is ever going to arrive!

And of course, Rocky and I are not the only people who are waiting for her.... she's the first grandchild on both sides, first niece to our siblings, first "niece" to quite a few of our very close friends, etc. etc. so naturally everyone keeps checking up on my status. They can't be blamed -- this is an amazingly exciting event we're all preparing for! I must get roughly fifteen calls and texts each day from very loving and very well-intentioned friends and family members asking me for updates. I hate to even say anything negative about this, because I am truly so so grateful for all the love and support but at the same time, it makes my waiting 100 times more painful! Every minute of every day, I'm coping with the maddening amounts of thumb twiddling I am forced to do, and to top it off, I get the pleasure of continually replying to the aforementioned inquiries with a big whopping "nothing new here." I feel guilty for all the disppointment I'm causing these poor people! I wish more than anything I could just say, "I'm in labor!" or "I started having contractions last night!" or even "I feel like she's coming today."

But I can't say any of those things. Simply put, I got nothin'. So who can I blame for my being in this situation? Who am I allowed to get mad at? Whose incompetence can I complain about?? These are the burning questions people!! The burning questions with a big ole wet towel of an answer: no one. How unjust!! How can the world be so cruel to put a woman through so much turmoil and leave her no one to cast her anger towards?

All joking aside, I'm realizing that it IS very natural to want to blame someone or something when things don't go our way. This is such a human tendency. I'm no psychologist so I don't know why people always want to blame and complain but we just do. However (**warning: cliche fast approaching**), it does us no good. All our griping and feet stamping will not bring us our desired results any more quickly or more effectively. Patience wouldn't be a virtue if it were easy. And patience isn't just making it through the waiting period, because let's be honest, we ALL make it through the waiting period. Time does continue to tick and tock and eventually we all make it. Patience is making it through the waiting period gracefully. And this, my friends, is not an easy feat. Especially when you have an ever-growing squirmer kicking at your ribs and keeping you up at night, incessantly reminding you of the fact that SHE IS STILL IN THERE!

Ahem. Through all of the ups and mostly downs of the past six post-due-date days, I have slowly started to form one small useful musing in my mind. I have been chafing at the bit to hold my baby in my arms. Rocky has been the same - restless, eager to meet his baby girl. Our families and friends are all on high alert, poised in their assorted standby stances. Everyone is waiting, waiting... I get this image of people frantically pacing, others quietly tapping fingers and toes on various surfaces, others biting their nails, most people hardly breathing, everyone trying to conceal huge smiles until we're sure that all is well.

I saw this picture in my mind the other day and I thought "If only we waited with that kind of zeal for the Lord..." And we should. We should be in an even more excited state of anticipation for Jesus; our joy, our desire, our need to be with the Lord should be uncontrollable! It should be bursting out of us at every moment! We should be sprinting to the Adorable chapel, dancing up the aisle to recieve Jesus in the Eucharist, flying towards our bookshelves to open up the Word and hear what God has to say to us today! If only we waited for our Lord in this way, I think our waiting on other things in life would be much easier, because God satisfies our waiting so tenderly, so perfectly. He never lets us down when we long for Him. He is the one reward that consistently delivers. We're hungry, and he feeds us at the altar. We're lonely, and he comforts us in his presence. We need direction, and he speaks to us in his Word. We miss him, and just like that, he's there.

I think if we could ever truly get accustomed to this reality - the reality that God really DOES satisfy our needs - then at least the mystery part of our everyday waiting periods would be lifted. While we're waiting for something, part of us is always just a little unsure if this event is really going to occur. When you were a little kid and you had a birthday party to go to, waiting for it was torturous because you were secretly wondering if it was really going to happen. It wasn't until you were actually there, stuffing your face with pizza and candy, jumping on the trampoline with your friends that you could truly believe in the birthday party. With God, we don't have to wonder. He WILL be there when the waiting is over. We should get used to this feeling, that way when we're waiting for something else to happen, we can just rest assured knowing that yes, it will eventually come to pass.

Our faith requires that we believe in the Lord and the promises he has made us. So as we wait for him, we learn what it means to make it through a waiting period gracefully, what it means to have patience. We wait, but not with anxiety or doubts in our hearts. We wait with joy and freedom, because we believe with all our hearts that when the waiting is done, he will be there, he will answer us, he will keep his promise to us.

So all there is left for me to do I suppose is to listen to my own advice there. Trust in the Lord and try my best to wait with joy and grace. And maybe eating a jalepeno pepper after a lively skip around the block wouldn't hurt either! ;)

Thank you for all your prayers!! I love you all.