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Friday, March 29, 2013

Big Girl Bathtime

Look how she's sitting up and looking right at the camera! My five pound baby girl is GROWING. UP.

Life without CaringBridge was different yesterday, it felt funny not sitting down at midnight to write something... Glad I have this outlet and get to continue to share Mercy's and my growth! Tomorrow, however, I'm declaring a computer fast... it's Good Friday, I'm going spend the day thinking about that, making a couple pillows for the nursery, vacuuming and doing laundry... and of course, snuggling with my little one as much as possible!

Today was a big day, actually... Chris and I had decided that when Mercy hit five pounds, we would take the sling out of her little bath tub and give her a big girl bath! We could have been doing that all along, her umbilical cord fell off long ago in the NICU (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mercyellzey/journal/19 ...see 'Poopy Diapers and Bellybuttons' toward the bottom), but she's so tiny, we've just been a little scared and nervous about trying.

So bathtime is hard for Mercy, we believe that being clean is very traumatic for her. She's a serious screamer during diaper changes and baths... so I was a little nervous and interested to see how she would handle her big girl bath.

Well... She handled it like a champ! I was so proud of her, I cried a little! She let out just a few quick screams, but for the most part, she just looked around wide eyed and let me bathe her... then she screamed when I pulled her out like she wanted to stay in! So funny...

Got me thinking... about the things I whine and scream about (maybe one day I'll write about my pumping trials!) Really, what in the world do I have to whine about in my life right now? How blessed we have been over the last 2 1/2 months! God has been so good to us, and what would be fitting is for me to live each day of my life in solid gratitude to Him. And that's all.

But is that the case? Of course not. I'm just not quite there yet, and if you're honest, you probably aren't either. Hmm... maybe we need big girl baths ourselves!

Sometimes when I ask God to change my heart about whatever I'm whining about that particular moment, what I'm asking for is somewhat of a sponge bath... just a little dab here and there, while I'm not actually changing my actions at all, still griping along the way... when what my heart actually needs is FULL submersion, clean this girl up, cleanse my thoughts, purge them of negativity and sinfulness. God is GREAT, and faithful to do that. Maybe that's how to turn my whining and moaning into singing and dancing to His glory!

I think it's time for a big girl bath! What about you?


"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
By his wounds you have been healed."
1 Peter 2:24
Yes, thinking about that tomorrow... awesome! Enjoy salvation, my friends, let's live our live in gratitude for it!

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Everyday Mercies

I've tried blogging before.
                        ...and I've failed.

I feel like it's different this time... I feel like I have more to write about and I'm excited about that! For those of you who linked here from CaringBridge or Facebook, you know the journey we've been on. For everyone else, we delivered our daughter 10 weeks early on January 18, spent 7 weeks in the NICU, and today is our due date. Our baby girl Mercy is such a blessing to us. Maybe one day I'll upload our CaringBridge posts to this blog, for now if you want to catch up on our incredible journey, you can read about it here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mercyellzey

Throughout our journey, I have become amazingly aware of the mercies God showers on us everyday through everyday occurrences. How, if we pay attention, each little piece of our day reveals truths about our Creator and how He is visible in EVERYTHING. 

That's what this blog is about... His everyday mercies! It is certainly a work in progress, and I won't write everyday, but I hope you'll join me as I seek to learn more of Him and His incredible works!

You'll notice this clearly isn't my first post. Awhile back when this was a different blog, I uploaded a multitude of emails I've been sending to friends and family for years. They are a journey through the last 9 years of my life... They see me finish college, move to Tennessee, experience great loss and awesome healing, move back to Georgia, get married, move to Louisiana and finally our emergency c-section that brought little Mercy into the world. Feel free to explore... A lot of growth has happened over the last 9 years!