Full of Yourself?

I wouldn't consider myself a control freak by any means- probably just a little Type A at times. What can I say? I need a plan. Is this personality trait of mine wrong? I think our controlling natures are only sinful when they become independent of the Lord. After all, He did give us control over certain things when He created the world but soon afterwards, that control (Eve) was made independent of the Lord. Sometimes I wonder where God is in a certain situation and then realize I haven't given Him control to do anything with it. 

He must become greater; I must become less. (John 3:30)

In order for much to be made of Him, we have to continually be laying things down. Often times we have no problem surrendering the things that we don't like to the Lord. If you're having a yard sale, it's going to be easier to give up the things that you don't care for anymore than it is to give up something shiny and fancy that you've loved for so long. Here's the kicker, we not only need to give up the parts of us that we don't like but the parts of us that we do like. So many times the message is to surrender your sin, surrender the parts of yourself that the Lord's not happy with and while that is definitely what we are called to do, we are also called to surrender our big house, our nice car, our head knowledge, our gentle and loving spirit, our family, our independence. Does this mean that we need to divorce our spouse, sell our house, and be rude to people? No, it's giving control of those things that we grip so tightly back to the Lord and let Him run wild with them. He can do far better with them than we ever could.

Lately, I've had to surrender my sleep and my energy to make much of baby girl; to make sure she's clean, fed, rested, and happy. There are plenty of days I'm drained. I've given it all up for her. This is what God has called us to do. To be drained of ourselves to make much of Him so that He can fill us back up again with Himself. 

We can't truly make much of Him if we aren't daily making less of ourselves and that includes the "good" things in our life. We need to unclinch our fists.

Brooklynn, meet baseball

Being in ministry, you don't really ever get to get away on the weekends because Sunday duties call and being a college athlete you don't really have free weekends to get away either. For those two reasons, my brother Stephen, had yet to meet baby Brooklynn. Since Stephen's a senior at CSU and John is in his last year at SMC we decided that we needed to burn up the road to try to catch their last home games. Brooklynn got to experience her first baseball games and her uncle Stephen finally got to meet her!

Family Pictures

Some sweet pictures of our new little family! Thank you, Culpepper family!

Two Months!

Weight: 9 lbs 6 oz

Length: 21"

Diaper Size: 1

Clothing size: Still mainly NB! She can fit in some 0-3 months.

Eye Color: Blue

Favorite Toy: She's just now starting to notice the mobiles above her swing which is too funny watching her talk to them.

Sleeping Habits: During the day, she may nap once for a two hour stretch...that's if I'm super lucky!! She's going to be a tough napper when she's a toddler, I just know it! On the other hand, she usually sleeps through the night depending on when she gets put down. If we put her down early around 8 she will wake up around 4. If we keep her up she stays awake until close to 10pm, then she will sleep until 6:30-7. 

Best Moments: She's starting to notice things around her...the tv, lights, her mobiles, and her daddy's beard...which is super funny! Her facial expressions will get the best of you...they're so cute!

Hard Moments: She's super colicky/crys uncontrollably from around 4pm until she goes to bed. Hoping to outgrow that soon!!! She also is starting to be overly dramatic when taking a bottle...I can't always feed you baby girl! She has bad reflux so take cover if you're feeding her! 

Happy 2 Months, Brooklynn-girl!