What Gets You Through?

I was talking to my Mom the other day and we began discussing how different people react to hard times and tragedy. Our conversation got me thinking about the ways God has ministered to me in times of difficulty, specifically through music.

I stand in awe of the God who works through the words of a songwriter to give me the exact encouragement I need when I need it -- or to put into words what my heart wants to say, but doesn't know how.

A couple of years ago, when DH was deployed last and I was going through a bit of a rough time for various reasons God really used the song Praise You in This Storm by Casting Crowns to remind me that He is always there -- even when it feels like He is far away.

For the past four or five months, No Matter What by Kerrie Roberts has never ceased to remind me that God is faithful, and even when I don't understand why I am having to go through a certain situation, God knows what I am feeling and understands the pain. It is such a beautiful -- if not bittersweet -- reminder of God's trustworthiness and faithfulness. It is the cry of a broken, confused heart reaching out to a loving, merciful God -- acknowledging it's need, deep love for, and dependency on God no matter what.

Anyhow, I was just wondering: when something goes wrong or when you feel like your world is falling apart, what gets you through?

In awe of His faithfulness,

Miscellany Monday

One: This is my first Miscellany Monday, and first blog hop ever! Pretty exciting stuff! :-) I've been meaning to do this for forever.

Two: I started following the Curly Girl method of hair care as of Saturday night! No more shampoo or hair brushes for me! For those of you who haven't heard of it and are naturally curly, wavy, of have always wondered why your hair is what I call "foofy" (a mix of poofy and frizzy) and wouldn't lay as nice and flat as 'all the other girls' hair', I would recommend checking out YLCF's 'Got Curl?' page to learn more about the Curly Girl method. I'd never heard about it until I clicked on the Got Curl? link one day after thinking, "Hey, I'm part of the curly 'club' now!" After reading through the links and then getting a copy of the Curly Girl book for myself, I decided to give it a shot and see what happens. From what I've read, CG doesn't work perfectly for everyone, and I may have some discouraging 'bad hair' days in the process, as my hair has to get used to not being stripped daily by the sulfates in most shampoos, but we will see in six weeks what kind of an impact my new routine has had on my hair. I'm hoping it will be quite a bit less foofy. I'll keep everyone posted, and will try to post pictures along the way! If you decide to give it a try, please let me know!

Three: Peanut Butter Cup experienced the wonderful world of crayons for the first time yesterday! Boy, was he excited about coloring! Obviously he doesn't quite have the concept and coordination down yet, but he make some scribbles. :-) He only tried to put a crayon in his mouth once (that I saw), but I'm sure the more he plays with them the more often that will happen -- for a while at least. It was exciting to see how his eyes lit up when I first gave one to him and showed him how to draw on the paper. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures because I didn't want to leave him alone with the paper and the crayons (since I already know he likes to eat paper, ha ha). Hopefully next time!

Four: I pulled my fiddle out of it's case and played it for the first time in about a year a couple of weeks ago! It felt good! I've missed playing it . . . I just wish I had more time -- and could find all of my sheet music, as currently I'm only able to play whatever I can remember. I think I know the general area where my sheet music is hiding, but haven't had a chance to go digging for it as the only time I have really is after Peanut Butter Cup goes to sleep for his naps or bedtime, and searching for it would make too much noise.

Five: DH should be done with his progression as of tonight -- as long as the weather holds! Basically what that means is that instead of always having to fly with an instructor pilot (IP) he will be able to fly with any (progressed) pilot. That is pretty exciting for him! So, we are hoping and praying that the weather will clear so he will be able to fly tonight (he's been flying nights lately) and be DONE. It will take a LOT of extra stress of of DH to be finished with progression . . . Lord willing it won't be dragged out for another week.

I hope everyone has had a good start to their week! :-)

P.S. I'm such a Ditz!! I went to link up at Lowercase Letters and titled my post as "Miscellany Monday" instead of the title of my blog! :-p HA HA!! I was wondering how everyone else's links were the title of their blog -- I just read "Post Title" and took it literally! Well, at least I know now! :-)

Nap Times and Party Times

Peanut Butter Cup has been taking his naps in his crib for over a week now, and it has been going really well . . . at least is was until yesterday when he decided that he wasn't going to take a nap after falling asleep in my arms a couple of times and then waking up when I put him down. He's doing the same thing today (though I'm going to try to convince him to go to sleep again in a little while) -- and he's done it off and on in the past. I'm just hoping that he isn't at the stage where he has decided to not nap AT ALL anymore (kind of like when he decided he didn't want to take two naps a day anymore). In a way it wouldn't surprise me. I've read that the older High Needs (Fussy) Babies/Children get, the less sleep they seem to need -- they just have SO MUCH energy.

Nevertheless, I am hoping that this is just a stage that he is going through due to discomfort from teething and another bout of separation anxiety. I'm not ready for him to be done with nap times!! He hasn't been sleeping very well at night again as well, and I am usually up with him for what I call "Party Time" -- due to the fact that most of the time he is wide awake and simply wants to sit/stand up, squirm, and chatter away in my arms -- though sometimes he will fall back to sleep quickly, he just doesn't stay asleep when I put him back down and so then we have to start all over again. He usually has one Party Time each night lasting anywhere from as little as 40 minutes to 3 hours (like last night's!).

He started doing that months ago, but stopped a while back and was actually starting to sleep through the night off and on (which was lovely!). As of almost two weeks ago though, everything changed. He started being fussier/more clingy, drooling like a fountain, eating less, sleeping more fitfully, and having Party Times during the night again, of course. All of those things point to teething, but so far no new tooth has broken through. So, in the meantime, Peanut Butter Cup and I get what sleep we can, and I try to stay awake during the night while he is bouncing off the walls -- in my arms. Hey, it's hard to stay awake when sitting in the dark in the middle of the night with the same song playing on repeat the entire time. Ha ha! :-p

I'm very grateful that he hasn't been in such extreme discomfort during the night that he will cry inconsolably like some teething babies. He is actually quite a chipper little Munchkin and will try to give me hugs and kisses in the dark. :-) He's such a Sweetheart and such a little Trooper -- even when he is sick he is still such a cheerful little guy! Oh how I adore him!

Even though I would really like to get more sleep most nights, I know I will NEVER look back on these times and wish that I hadn't held Peanut Butter Cup as much or spent these nights 'sleep training' him so that I could get more sleep and he would be more convenient. This is just a season that will pass in time (whether it be a short amount of time, or whether it takes a longer amount of time).

Now, I'm not trying to paint a picture of myself bouncing joyfully out of bed when he wakes up in the middle of the night -- because more often than not it takes me a couple of minutes to groggily pull myself together before I head into his room and then oftentimes I will petition Abba (Father) that my little Peanut Butter Cup will go back to sleep quickly. However, I can't help but to constantly remind myself that there are childless women who would gladly take my place during these nights of sleep deprivation because it would mean that they have been blessed with a child -- and when I think of things like that I think of how I should be just as grateful for the blessing that I have been given -- and not take him for granted just because I am uncomfortable in some way. I was going to say more, but I've lost my train of thought -- must be due to the lack of sleep! Ha ha!! :-)

Eventually he will sleep through the night (of his own accord) and will no longer need me in the middle of the night to help him back to sleep, so I treasure these moments of time spent with him in the middle of the night, and I won't begrudge him the comfort/closeness he needs during the night in this season.

I am truly a blessed Mama!

P.S. As I was writing the above, Peanut Butter Cup was 'bouncing around' in his crib expending some energy (if we leave the nursery during the time when he is supposed to be taking his nap, it's almost a 100% guarantee that he won't ever get back to the point of falling asleep during the day -- without the help of going for a drive anyhow. So we have to stay in there in the dim light so he'll eventually get tired again) . . . he started to get more and more subdued and then the next thing I knew he was laying down and starting to fall asleep -- ON HIS OWN. He is now slumbering peacefully, and he did it all himself this time. So, you see what I mean about his needing my help to go to sleep only being a season? Who knows how much longer it will last. He's already growing up.

Ladies: treasure your babies in all aspects no matter what stage they are going through . . . they won't stay babies for long and will quickly become independent. Don't take their current need for you for granted!!

Okay, I'll get off my soap box now!! Hope you are all having a blessed day! :-)