Lots to say but.....

So I have a lot on my mind lately; Addy's first birthday, Revelation-the Lord's coming, positive attitudes, filters, family time, blessings and more but I am not quite sure what to write about yet. We have been enjoying a lot of fun times with Addy and family lately so that has taken up a lot of time.

So today I just decided I would share some fun pictures of Addy.

Blessed

So this past week has been a whirlwind. Our sweet little girl turned one. Time sure flies. Each new experience this year as a mom has been a blessing. I have learned so much this year. Learned to be more patient, loving, flexible, and not so type A...hahahaha

I also learned that it is such a blessing to be a stay at home mom thanks to my husband. This last week, Ben was able to take the week off and hang out with Addy and I. We pretty much stayed home everyday accept for each day Ben would take us out to lunch at a different restaurant each day. Addy and I loved our time with daddy. We also made sure daddy got to sleep in, watch basketball and have some of his favorite meals while at home

I realized how thankful I am to Ben for going to work each day for us. Of course, this week it is back to reality and its just Addy and I. We miss Ben dearly. So, since we missed him, we went to have lunch with him today and visit him at the bank. I sure do love his co-workers, he is so blessed to have such great people to work with.

Ben is a blessing to us. He works so hard for us each day by going to work and doing an incredible job at the bank. Ben mentioned to me while he was on vacation how thankful he was for the rest but also thankful that when he left for work on Tuesday that at least one of us would be home with Addy.

The Lord has truly blessed Ben and I. He has allowed us to be able to have Ben just working and me being able to stay home with our sweet girl. Thank you Lord for that. Thank you Ben for being a honorable, noble, loving and hardworking husband.

I cherish you my wonderful husband and I am blessed to be your wife. You will never know how much I love the sacrifice you make each day for our family. You are a blessing.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY Sweet Addison Rose!

A year ago today at 7:50 pm after 22 hours of labor ending with a emergency C-section, Addison Rose was born. 6 pounds 10 ounces, 19 inches our sweet girl with a dark head of hair looking like her daddy. What a wonderful moment that was seeing our little girl for the first time.

I can't believe it is a year that has passed since our little girl was born. Ben and I have expereineced to many new things as parents. We are so grateful that the Lord chose us to raise Addison to be a follower of Christ. We pray that we will have the opportunity to watch our daugther accept Christ into our lives. Ben and I both have wonderful parents that have made us the parents we are today and we pray we can be those parents to our daughter.




HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADDISON ROSE!


A- A gift from the Lord

D- Daddy's little girl

D- Is our little Darling,

I- Is always willing to cuddle with momma each day.

S- Smiles from ear to ear at anyone around.

O- Our litte monkey loves her bananas

N- Miss iNdependt, likes to play and do things for herself...especially likes feeding herself


R- Loves us to Read to her, carries the books to us and hands them over for us to read

O- Is always On the ground playing with her two favorite dogs..likes to crawl over them and giggle

S- Standing on her own..and loves to walk to mommy and daddy

E- Excited to see her develop into the girl/woman of God that she is destined to be We praise the Lord for her.

Pray Without Ceasing

Last night before I went to bed I read the Daily Bread for the day. It was labeled the Five-Minute Rule. It went on to talk about a lady that would gather her family together 5 minutes before it was time to leave each day and they would pray together. The woman would pray for each one of her children by name, asking for the Lord's blessing on their day. The mother would even include neighborhood kids that would come over.

Prayer is a crucial part of our day and yet as each day goes I forget to take the time to do it. God wants to hear from us no matter what and he cares so much about us. All we have to do is call upon him and he will answer our every request. Now, I know that he may not answer the way I want always but he always answers us.

I experienced prayer in a wonderful way on Wednesday. I woke up with every intention of making it a great day. However, nothing seemed to be going right. Our door handle on the KIA broke and so we couldn't get in the door and it had to be fixed. Our other car's battery stopped working last week, and our dishwasher stopped working. We also had to have work done on our house due to some damage due to the snow/wind storms from November which cost quite a bit of money. The life of a homeowner, right?! Well, Ive been very frustrated since I lost my job, that extra income helped with the extra expenses of life.

I posted on Facebook, "Where is the restart button for today?" However, as the day would begin to unfold God's hand was present in my day. Not too long after I posted on facebook, my freshman roommate/friend from college sent me some of the most encouraging words that brightened my outlook and forced me to go to my knees in prayer.

Now, what I may say is very personal but I want to share because it is an example of God's amazing power and it shows the need for Him. After that email from a good friend, I emailed two of my cousins and shared the situation and asked for prayer from them because I felt so overwhelmed. After sending the email, I spent the next few hours in prayer specifically asking God to find a way for these things to be resolved. I spent some of the most intimate moments I have ever spent with Jesus in a long time even with my eyes open and while I was watching Addy. Addy probably thought, who is mommy talking to???

Not too long after this, I got a call from the State of MN indicating they were going to pay me unemployment(this was something that was very up in the air prior to the call because I was working from home doing work). The man on the other end said "I hope this helps you and your family and I normally don't call but knew you would want to know."

I could barely respond to the man, I was in tears. Immediately I called Ben and I could barely speak and Ben knew exactly what I was calling about...of course he said don't make me cry at work...hahahaha...I knew after that call that because of my prayers and the prayers of my cousins the Lord responded.

So God revealed to me on Wednesday that I need him more then ever...Even the small things like cars that don't work or dishwashers that don't work end up getting resolved and he cares about those small things.

Ben and I have truly been blessed that God has ALWAYS provided for us in every way possible. He has honored that we have wanted to raise Addy with me being able to stay home.

Imagine what God will do with the big things in life if I just pray to him more. It doesn't take a lot of time to pray, all we need to do is seek him throughout each day and know he is there for us whenever we need him.

Psalm 102
A prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak and pours out a lament before the LORD.
1 Hear my prayer, LORD;
let my cry for help come to you.
2 Do not hide your face from me
when I am in distress.
Turn your ear to me;
when I call, answer me quickly.
12 But you, LORD, sit enthroned forever;
your renown endures through all generations.
13 You will arise and have compassion on Zion,
for it is time to show favor to her;
the appointed time has come.
14 For her stones are dear to your servants;
her very dust moves them to pity.
15 The nations will fear the name of the LORD,
all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.
16 For the LORD will rebuild Zion
and appear in his glory.
17 He will respond to the prayer of the destitute;
he will not despise their plea.

Weight Loss update

WOO HOO! I got on the scale today and I was down another 2 pounds for a total of 5 pounds of weight loss!

This week I only drank water instead of diet pop and still of course watched my portions and seems it paid off! Ben and I even went out to dinner a couple times but I made sure I never went over my portions and stayed within the points allowed.

I really do love weight watchers for the fact you can still eat what you you want within reason and still diet.

The thing I most had an issue with is portion control and sweets/pop. I am not drinking pop and not having sweets and I think it is really helping me to have a healthier life style.

I have appreciated all the support from my mom, cousins and sister in law. Its amazing what having other doing the same thing around you can do for a great weight loss.

Looking to the week ahead: We are really getting excited in the Paxson household to be celebrating our sweet girls first birthday next week...and Ben is off for a week!!!!!

11 Months of Fun

WOW! Time has sure gone fast...in just a few short weeks our pride and joy will be turning one!!

So many new things happen each day and she is just a bundle of fun!!!

Here are some great new Addy updates:

*Addy is taking her first steps...she can actually walk on her own for about 2-4 steps but that kind of falls over...

*Addy can drink out of a straw...She doesn't like sippy cups much but she will drink out of this new cup I got her that has a straw

*Addy is making new sounds and words...the other night when Laura and Molly were over Addy just shouted out a couple new words...almost sounded like Quack Quack...haha. Also Addy has been saying UP...when she wants up on the couch or wants me to hold her she says up up...

*She loves when I read books to her..She has this particular book called "Baby Elf's First Christmas". Addy will carry this book over to me, sit next to me and we will read together..

*Addy gets very excited when daddy comes home (this is really nothing new) but now she knows when I say daddy is home, she looks at the door and starts flapping her arms

*Addy can give hi-five's and hi-ten's

*Next week we will be starting Addy on whole milk, she has already had tastes of milk and juice but we are officially switching over...daddy thinks she is ready for some good cold milk

As you can see she is just more and more fun each day...We are getting excited in about 2 weeks for her first birthday. We have some fun activities planned the week of her first birthday. Ben actually took this week off to hang with us and because in the Paxson family...MARCH MADNESS begins...

We will be celebrating Marshall's (Addy's buddy and cousin) First birthday..Addy and Marshall have the same shirt they will wear at their parties...

We also will be taking Addy to her first waterpark/pool, of course in the kiddy section--no depth...Then we will be enjoying some good college basketball and lots of fun moments with Addy.

Weight Loss Update

Well, today was my weigh in day and I didn't lose anything this week.. bummer...I stayed within all my point accept one night. However, I have a few goals for myself for this next week.

Goal 1--drink more water...I'm not very good about water intake and sometimes only drink like a cup...I have been drinking diet pop but sometimes I feel like that makes me more hungry. So my goal is to drink 50 ounces of water a day and until I do that no more diet pop.

Goal 2---I have been still having some sweet that stay within my points but I think sometimes these sweets make me get thrown off. I'm going to really try hard to focus on no sweet treat for this next week.

I haven't had any chips in two weeks... either just wheat thins or pretzels.

Ben has been a huge encouragement to me when I get home and bought me a lot of greens.

Man it would be so easy to just give up especially when you have a week with no weight loss but I'm going to keep on going. I decided I am going to give myself two treats with a certain a mount of weight loss as a goal I can reach.

When I lose 10 pounds- the prize will be a coke from McDonald's (I know this sounds funny, but I love coke from there)

When I lose 20 pounds--the prize will be an ice cream treat--probably a concrete Nerds mixer from Culver's...


So that is the update for the week. I'm looking forward to the warmer weather to walk outside also.

Thanks to all those that have shown me encouragement through the last 2 weeks!