Sick baby, new shed, new bathroom...all in a week's work.

Well I must say I need a vacation from the last week and a half. It all started about six months ago when I had the bright idea of remodeling our bathroom. Jayson said "Look into it if you want, honey." Because I said "It can't be that expensive." So I got online and found a website that has you enter in the work you want done and then it sends out that information in mass emails to all the contractors in the area. It also has you put in a phone number an email address so that said contractors can contact you. So I did what every wife would do and put in Jayson's cell number and email :).

After about 10 phone calls from very helpful contractors wanting to remodel our bathroom. We, make that Jayson, got a call from a gentleman contractor that happens to go to our church so he came over and looked around and informed us that the previous owners must have had a flood in the master bathroom so we most likely had mold and possibly rotten subflooring. YIPPEE (this is supposed to sound sarcastic but that is hard to get across in print)!! Now we had to remodel our bathroom.

So after six months of pinching pennies and saving as much as we could we had enough money to buy all the tile, new tub, and various other things as well as pay for the labor to have the nice gentleman from church come and redo our bathroom. All of this started on a Tuesday and it takes time to get all of it done.

By Thursday my Ava was sick. The poor thing had a bad cough, runny nose, and was cutting about 6 teeth. So I took Thursday off and Jayson took of Friday to stay home with her.

On Saturday the men's group from church came and built a beautiful shed in our backyard. And may I just say, it was quite impressive. At 8 o'clock on Saturday morning: no shed. At about 5 o'clock Saturday evening: an 8x16 foot shed with siding and shingles. These men were amazing workers and they did an awesome job!!

That night, Ava woke up with a 103.8 degree fever and we were up ALL NIGHT with the poor thing. She was just so miserable. I stayed up and held her and rocked her and gave her Tylenol and Motrin every so often and by Sunday morning, I was tired. So was Jayson, so we stayed home from church, which was really odd feeling. But by that afternoon, Miss Ava's fever had broken and while she wasn't quite back to her normal self, she seemed a lot happier.

So now, I want to have a vacation to enjoy my new bathroom, watch my husband tinker in his new shed, and play with my happy almost healthy baby.

"David...danced before the Lord with all his might."

I have learned more about God's love in the last year with Ava than I ever have before. I watch Ava and think how much I love her and then I think about how much more God loves her than I do. And I am breathless. I know how much I love Ava and I know that God loves me as much as He loves her and I can't help but feel so loved.

Another thing I have learned is that babies are so honest. They only smile if they mean it, and they only dance when they feel moved. My little Ava feels "moved" a lot. Anytime there is a discernible, and sometimes a not so discernible, beat she is moving and in a state of pure enjoyment. She loves it!! On Sunday, I was so awed by watching my small daughter dance "before the Lord with all *her* might". She heard the praise music and she just couldn't help herself. She had to dance. She stopped right where we were in the aisle and just moved before the Lord. So I sat down and worshiped the Lord where I was with tears in my eyes. How pure was her enjoyment and her intent. Is my worship that pure? I can't help but ask myself how often my worship is as genuine as my one year old daughters. And if I am honest, I have to say no it isn't all the time. I get so caught up in the me of worship that I lose sight of Him.

Thank you Lord for the reminder of how to worship. Thank you for Ava and all that she teaches me about You!

It's like starting brand new!

Well it has been awhile since I have blogged. 11 months to be exact. In that 11 months life has been busy. It has thrown a few curve balls, like my sister and brother-in-law and nephew moving to Peru. But it has been fun. Ava has finally grown out of colic. Who knew that could last almost a year? Anyway, here are a few pictures to catch you up from the last year!








That's not nearly all of them, but it is taking a long time to upload pictures:). I will post more later!