Lately...

This is a bit overdue, I know, but our girl turned ONE! I can't believe it's been over a year since our little girl was born! J and I were looking at pictures the other day, and it is remarkable how she has changed. She is a completely different baby. It is an awesome thing to watch her pick up, grasp, and understand new things. I love that moment when you can see in her eyes that something has clicked. She is everywhere! She gets into everything all the time, and especially likes to "help" in the kitchen. She loves going to church, and knows where the nursery is. She and her boyfriend Tye took off down the hall the other day and even themselves off! The nursery workers are always raving on how well she did anytime I pick her up. She has just recently started "dancing" which is really just rocking back and forth whenever music is on. Her birthday party was a huge hit! Our popular girl had nearly 45 people show up to celebrate her on her day. I don't know that I've ever had that many people at anything for me! She sure is loved! We had everyone over to the house to grill out and have cupcakes. I think fun was had by all!

In other news, we haven't had a washer in probably six months. It's been a pain, that's for sure, but we've made it work somehow! I am just so thankful to have family and friends that are gracious enough to let me use their laundry rooms! Hopefully we will get one soon. That would be an answer to prayer, for sure!

John, as "MotoJohnny," made an appearance at church last night. He did AWESOME!!! He preached last night to the AWANA kiddos, and they loved it. He wore all of his dirtbike gear, and even rode my bike into the old chapel where everyone was waiting. The kids went crazy! I am so thankful and blessed to have this man of God who is passionate about reaching others, and isn't 'too cool' to get on a level that is relevant to kids. I love that he is so creative and quick to think up new characters, and I love his passion for little ones!

MY SISTER COMES HOME TOMORROW!!!!! I am beside myself with excitement because we miss her so much! I know Abby Kate will be happy to see her, along with me and Johnny. I can't wait to hang out with her all weekend!

Here are some pictures from little girls party and life lately!

Thankful!

Today has just been flat-out fun! After having an extra tough day a couple days ago, I think God just knew I needed to be overwhelmed with love and fellowship! Well, let me tell you, sweet things (assuming someone reads this!), overwhelmed, I was!!! I am just always amazed at just how blessed I am by the Lord, and that He has chosen me to walk with Him. I started out my day by checking email and such, where I found that I'd been tagged in the world's sweetest post on Facebook by the world's sweetest woman! This dear, sweet woman happens to be oh, so special to my heart! I am just crazy about her. She brightened up my already-bright morning by telling me how thankful she is for me working in the children's dept at church, and for my direction over her little one.. who I am also wild about! I love you, Tammy!! Thanks for blessing my world this morning!

Let me just pause to say that it is RAINING where I am right now! As I live and breathe, it is pouring down like a monsoon! Praise the Lord, it hasn't rained here in so long!! I am babysitting in another town right now, so I am praying it's raining in Rhome, too! I just prayed earlier this afternoon for a good washing because my house stays so darn dusty when it's this dry!!

Back to my day, if anyone out there is still hanging with me.. I got to have lunch with a sweet, sweet sister. (in Christ, mind you.. my actual sister is still being stubborn and refusing to commute from home to Texas Tech... how selfish of her, it's ONLY 5 hours! :)) I had been SO looking forward to our time together, and was doubly excited when she told me where she was taking me. :) It's a little mexican restaurant in small town Boyd that I LOVE. Hubby is not wild about it, so we rarely go. I so enjoyed our sweet time together, and am excited about all of the things we planned out! Our future involves bunco and crafting... and for that, I am thankful!!

To end this fantastic day, I treated myself to my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season on my way to babysit. I like to think we will have PSL's in Heaven.. okay, so maybe not, but I like to think my thought makes Jesus laugh. :) In all seriousness, I did tweet earlier asking if others prayed silly requests like I do. Taking yourself too seriously can't be good for us!!

I will leave you with this..

"I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour!" Habakkuk 3:18

...and this:



A sweet flashback of my nearly-one year old! How could I not be joyful in the Lord when I get to wake up to this everyday!?

Happy birthday, Caiden!!

One of my favorite boys in the entire world turned 10 years old today.. Well, technically yesterday.. anyway, on the 30th! This is so significant and special to me because he has had a sweet, special place in my life for nearly his entire life! I met his sweet mama and daddy through my old church, and have been babysitting for them on a weekly basis ever since. It has been a remarkable experience to watch him grow. I have seen him come from a little toddler, only a bit older than Abby Kate is now, into a young boy who finds his identity in Christ. He is absolutely brilliant, and has a passionate love for reading and learning new things. He also has a fierce competitive side, but is the best sport in the world when it comes to winning or losing. He is sensitive, sweet, loving, creative, and so unique. It has been an honor to watch him grow into the little man he is becoming. It saddens me to think that someday very soon he will be old enough to stay home with the younger two kids, and that I won't be called on anymore. I rest assured in knowing, however, that we will always be in eachothers' lives. I am so proud of the person he has become, his beliefs, morals, and attitude towards others.

I feel as if he, along with the rest of his family, are part of my family. I have prayed fervently through the years for this precious family. I have seen them experience joy, trials, success, uncertainty.. and all with an incredible faith and reliance on Jesus! Their example has deeply impacted me in my personal life, marriage, relationships, friendships, and parenting.

It is incredible to me to see the plans that God has laid out for me. He knew, the moment I set up our first sitting job, that this would not be the first and last time I would see this family. He had planned for us to become connected for much longer than that. I love and treasure the relationship I have with their mom. She has become such a mentor to me, as well as a friend who I look up to in so many ways. I have travelled with them, stayed with them for weeks at a time, and grown to love them greatly. This family has had a big hand in my life, and I hope they know how much I care for and love them.

Every time their sweet mom leaves the house she tells all three of the kids to "be a blessing." If she only knew how her family had blessed me over all these years. They are family to me, and I love them so! :)

Happy birthday, sweet Caiden!! I hope this tenth birthday was the best one you've experienced yet! It's bittersweet for me to see you grow up right before my eyes, but I am so excited to see what God has in store for your life. I know that, whatever it is, it will be BIG!! Love you so much! For your birthday, before the snocone stands close, I would love to take you to finally get that JUMBO snocone. :)

xoxo, Miss Bastina :)

Lately...

Well, again, it's been a while since my last post! I always say I'm going to commit to keeping up with this poor blog, but if I kept up with this blog on a regular basis... I would be even more behind on the laundry, dishes, etc. than I am now!

We've been up to a lot around here lately.. but most importantly, our Abby Kate is a full blown walker now! She is all over the place now, and absolutely into everything. It makes me sad that she is getting so big, but it's so exciting at the same time! It is so exciting to see her grasp and understand new things, and figure out how things work. She is getting so big, and is so smart. She will be one on October 6! I can hardly believe it!

Johnny has been working his tail off, bless his heart, and I have been getting more involved in different ministries up at the church. We started a ministry at Aurora called Embrace Grace Aurora for young, unwed, pregnant girls. Our first meeting was tonight, and I can't explain in words just how blessed I was by it! We had been praying fervently for weeks that God would direct the right people to the group, and allow them to come with an open heart and open mind. He delivered! (Not that we were expecting otherwise!) I, along with the other four leaders, were so happy to see the group come to life after so much praying, planning, and anticipation. I'm so thankful and proud to be a part of a ministry that is so passionate about these young girls and the experience they are going through!

In other news, my sister left me to go back to college. Abby Kate and I miss her too much, since she was over here like every day this summer. It's been a stinky adjustment, and I wish she would just graduate already and come home! I miss you, Booni!!!

That's all for tonight... I will leave you with some recent pics of our cutie, and hopefully I will be back soon!

It's been way too long!

So, it has obviously been quite some time since I last blogged considering that, in my last blog, I was concerned about dying from braxton hicks contractions, and I now have a baby!! In fact, baby Abby Kate is a week away from being 5 MONTHS OLD!! I can hardly even believe how fast time has come and gone. Our Abby girl is growing and changing so quickly and so often.. she is rolling from one end of the room to the other at lightning speeds! She can hold her head up incredibly well, and is sitting up by herself, too! It's amazing how fast she is changing right before our eyes. Everyone has told us since day one of my pregnancy that our little one will grow up too fast... and it's sad how true it has ended up being. On the one hand, I am so excited at her progress. I can't help but be such a proud mama everytime our pediatrician tells me she is advanced for her age, but it's sad at the same time because I don't want her to grow up too fast. She is such a little snuggler, loves laying on her quilt and playing with her toys, and has the sweetest giggle of all time.

This is really all that's been going on in our house lately! We joke about how much time we spend just watching Abby Kate.. I don't know what we did before we had a baby! Hubby and our dogs are wonderful, as always, and I am doing great. I am just loving life at home with my little lady. I have recently considered joining this generation by purchasing an iPhone, and later this month I do believe I will be getting an iPad! So exciting to feel so hip and with it. Ha!

In other news, I cannot get enough of Jimmy Fallon! He just gets funnier and funnier every time I watch Late Night. It should also be known that Bieber Fever has taken over our home. Neither Johnathan or I can stop listening to My World 2.0 or the Never Say Never remixes.... we have been hit with the biebonic plague!! I can't explain it, he is just so catchy!

That's all from us here, so.. if you stuck it out, thanks! I don't know why you did, but good for you.

I may not make it to my due date......

...because these braxton hicks contractions are going to kill me first!!!!!! I think I jinxed myself because my doctor asked last Thursday if I had been having any BH yet, and I told her I hadn't. Literally, since that day, I have had them nonstop. The worst thing about this is that the pain of BH contractions is supposedly not even a fraction of real labor contractions.. but hey, at least I get an epidural during labor. :) No need to try to be a hero!

I'm getting nervous about labor, but not in the usual way. I don't have the scared-of-the-labor-pain nerves.. but I'm more scared of not knowing when to go to the hospital. My doctor says that I will just know when it's time to go, but it's hard to be at ease with that advice when this is all so new and uncertain for me. Part of me hopes that Abby Kate will hang in there until the 7th so the doctor will just induce me because the spontaneity of it all just makes me so nervous! Then again, the 7th is so far away.... and I would love for her to just be here NOW.

In other news, my birthday is on Sunday!! :) I am sooo excited because I am making my parents and husband accompany me to Joe T Garcia's for a delicious birthday dinner on the patio. I can't wait. I haven't been to Joe T's since my bachelorette party. The only two downfalls are that Courtney is away at school, and I'm pregnant... so margaritas are out. Oh well, at least sister will be here within the week after my birthday to meet baby girl!

That's all for now... just needed to vent about my excruciating pain. Now, I am off to reattempt this sleeping thing!

Blogging, Take 2!

I am giving the blogosphere another go, thanks to the recommendation of a dear, sweet friend. The previous post and this post are pretty much acting as the bookends of my pregnancy. I am due in exactly 13 days, though there hasn't been a sign of progress in sight yet. I haven't felt so much as a braxton hicks contraction.. but Doc says this is normal for a first pregnancy. She said she'll induce me if I make it to 41 weeks, which will be October 7th. Until then, I am just supposed to hang out, see if my body goes into labor on it's own, and just wait!

I can't even attempt to wrap my head around the fact that I will be holding our baby girl in less than three weeks. After nearly nine months of pregnancy, three weeks seems so close. Then again, after nearly nine months of pregnancy, three weeks seems extremely far away! We are just so anxious to see, hold, and be with Abby Kate!

The pregnancy has, no doubt, been a roller coaster. We have been absolutely showered with generosity from all of our family and friends. This little girl is already so loved, it's unreal!! She, along with J and I, are so blessed with so many people that love and care for us.

I feel like this post is all over the place, but that is what pregnancy brain will do to you! I will try very hard to keep this blog up to date!