Christian Hippie Foster Momma

While Nev and I were out and about today, I decided to make a quick stop to Walmart on the way home.  I decided to wear her throughout the store since she just can't quite sit up in the cart yet.  A few people complimented her or my wrap as we walked through the store.  One woman stopped me to ask me how I made something to wrap her like that.  I explained that I bought the wrap, but gave a quick one-liner about baby wearing.  English was not her first language, and I don't understand thick accents very well, so it was taking all of my concentration to have a conversation with her.  She asked me several questions about wrapping.  About a minute in, though, she abruptly changed the subject to why she *really* stopped to talk to me. A church group in which she is involved has started a Bible study and she was out to recruit members.  She asked where I go to church and I told her.  I was in a part of town very far from my house and much farther from my congregation.  I explained

What a whirlwind it has been!  Baby girl is 2 months old now, and I am just now feeling like I have a few extra minutes in a day to get on the computer.  Being momma has changed my life completely... and becoming momma was such an awesome experience! My last bump pic - 5/12/2015 Towards the end of my pregnancy, Jake and I were anxiously waiting for the moment I would start having contractions.  We were planning a home birth.  We hired two doulas, we had taken a hypnobirthing class, I was seeing my midwife once a week, I was getting weekly chiropractic adjustments to make sure baby was in a good position - we were READY!  After a few days of very very mild contractions, I finally woke up on May 13th at about 2:30 in the morning with serious contractions.  They weren't very painful, but I could tell this was the real deal.  They were strong enough to wake me up, so I got up and waited through a few more contractions before I woke Jake up.  Jake was so excited, he wanted to

I am 35 weeks pregnant right now.  Jake and I are so excited to welcome our first baby!  Pregnancy has been pretty easy.  The first trimester was hard because I spent about 5 weeks of it on the couch and nauseated constantly, but after that it's been smooth sailing for the most part.  I mean, there have been a few nuisances along the way, but nothing major.  My blood sugar was higher than my midwife liked, so I have been on a high-protein low-carb diet for the past 6 weeks.  And she really encouraged healthy eating the whole pregnancy, so before the new diet, I was already eating well.  Because of all that, I haven't gained much weight.  Yes, baby is growing well and will probably be a big baby anyway, but thankfully I won't have a ton of extra weight to lose once baby gets here.  I do have to keep reminding myself of that when I get tired of not having any sugar. :) One of the things that we want to do before the baby gets here is to find a church home.  We left our form

Yes, you read that right.  I am not-so-slowly becoming a hippie.  The more common word these days is "crunchy" but without the political and some of the social aspects, it's the same thing. In my previous life, I would have silently judged someone for saying that they got most of their care from a chiropractor.  I would have rolled my eyes if someone wouldn't pop a pill for a headache.  I had sarcastic comments on the ready for people who wanted to eat all organic food. Well, I have gone to the dark side. Although I was judgmental about crunchy ways most of my life, it was always with the exception of my beliefs and perception of pregnancy/labor/childbirth.  I have always been one to want to let nature do its thing in that regard, but now that I am looking forward to having a family, growing kids right here in my body, and raising them to be healthy (physically, mentally, spiritually), I have decided that maybe doing things naturally can extend to more areas of

“If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.” I recently read one of those “40 things you should know to improve your life” or some other ridiculousness and this quote was on the list.  I usually dismiss most of what those things say, but that one really struck me.  I am a competitive person and I come from an intellectual family, so you can imagine that being the “smartest person in the room” has always been an aspiration for me.  I don’t think I ever have actually been the smartest person, per se, aside from times I have been the only adult in a room of toddlers. As I tend to always relate things to faith, Christianity, church, etc. I immediately thought of the goal that many of us (especially the competitive types) have to be the most biblically knowledgeable person in the room, or in our circle, or on the internet, etc.  Maybe biblically knowledgeable isn’t always the goal.  Maybe we want people to see us as the most godly, or the most spiritually

Last week, my best cousin, Rachel, asked me if I would be off work on Wednesday and if I would like to hang out with her.  It was kind of random, but we were way overdue for some one-on-one girl time.  She said that her mother-in-law would have the kids for a couple hours and we could hang out.  I made sure my schedule was clear and penned her in.  She said to be at her house around 9 a.m.  Wow, does she know me?  Why would I want to get up in time to be across town that early on a day off!?!  I asked her if she had something in mind, or were we just gonna veg out at her house, or what?  She said she had something in mind, but it was a surprise.  And she knows we're on a budget, so she assured me it wouldn't cost me a dime. A surprise for me?  It's not even my birthday!?  We used to celebrate Valentine's Day together, so I thought maybe this would be our Valentine's "date."  My mind starting wondering what in the world she would have planned so early