"Unimportant" Days

July 26...November 8...June 8...August 7...February 3...

These are important dates in my life. Ever since grade school, this is why I hated history. Not because of the history but because of the dates. Give me 100 vocabulary words and DONE A+ but you give me a few dates to memorize and I'm burnt toast.

We've naturally been raised to put great emphasis on important dates. Birthdates, Anniversaries, Salvation birthdates...trust me, my calendar is near and dear to my heart (and my sanity). Dates are circled, highlighted and underlined three times so that I won't forget! But what about the "unimportant"? The blank squares in your calendar, dates that aren't written in red, circled, highlighted, and underlined three times? Pslam 68:19 says, "Blessed be the Lord who daily bears us up; God is our salvation." Reading this, and being my calendaring-type-A-self, the visual in my mind is God's calendar with every.single.day highlighted and circled. God daily bears us up, he opens doors of opportunities for us every.single.day. There aren't those days-He-doesn't-have-anything-to-do...you know, those days that we yearn for.

Going into this week, I had one thing on my mind. Be intentional with Brooklynn. And no, I'm not the perfect parent that goes into each day with that as my goal. On Sunday, we leave to serve the people of Harmons, Jamaica and will be gone 7 days. The longest I've been without Brooklynn is 2. To top it off, we can't FaceTime, talk, or have pictures sent to my phone to keep my blood pumpin'. It's going to be tragic. SO, this week, I'm putting down the phone, the computer (she's sleeping right now, by the way ;), setting aside the dirty clean piles of laundry to play outside or just welcome her presence as she crawls all over my face.

What would happen if we all circled every day in our calendar as a day to be intentional about something or someone. I think it would change the direction of the Church and our own personal lives. Circle those un-important dates in your calendar and make them important to you! Our life is a vapor.

Why "Circling Joy"?

I'm finally getting around to posting the long awaited, "why the name change?" post. It's been written for awhile now but, ya know, I hadn't hit "publish" yet.

If you aren't familiar with the book, Circle Maker by Mark Batterson, then the name change may not make sense to you. So, here's the readers digest version:

There is a legend, the legend of Honi the Circle Maker. It hadn't rained in Israel for an entire year. The people plead with the Lord for rain and when He didn't answer right away, they lost faith. Enter Honi, the rainmaker. He prayed inside his hut outside of Jerusalem. The people went and brought him into the city and crowds gathered to witness his prayers. He bowed his head, extended his staff and began to turn until he created a complete circle in which he was standing in. He dropped to his knees and prayed, "Sovereign Lord, I swear before your Great Name that I will not leave this circle until You have mercy upon your children." Needless to say, the rain fell, lightening flashed, and thunder clapped. A sprinkle to rain turned into a downpour. After being taught the power of prayer (and bold prayers at that) from Honi, the people now knew that one prayer could change their destiny. The people circled the sad, the sick, the young and old, their dreams, fears, and promises of God. {paraphrased from the Circle Maker}

I'd been contemplating a name change for this blog for awhile now but was never sure which direction I wanted to go in since this blog is a plethora of things from babies to church and from beauty to life.  For a Christmas gift, my brother Stephen bought me Praying Circles Around the Lives of Your Children by Mark Batterson. As I began to read about praying circles and combining that with my journey to finding joy regardless of the situations I'm in, Circling Joy was born. I want to be the person that circles my babies (no, there's still only one baby...but you know what I mean), my church, my passion for fashion and beauty, and my life with not only the will of Jesus but also with Joy. If we pray joy (jesus, others, yourself) on our lives, I feel we are accomplishing the will of God.

My hope and prayer for myself, and you, is that you will circle joy through times of laughter and times of pain. Circle your prayers as the people of Israel did...remember, we serve the same God and He's in the answering-prayers-business!

Oh, and if your a parent, go grab that book NOW! I'm not a reader, but this book is a must-read! It's practical for raising kids in Jesus and gives excellent examples for how to do so!

Sick Baby and "Resolutions"

We have started off 2015 with bang here in the Hux household. Brooklynn woke up New Years Day with something. Whatever it was, it only lasted 24 hours but that was about 22 hours too long. I guess the good thing about having a super hyper-active baby is you know when she's sick. She woke up, didn't drink much of her bottle (clue #1), sat up and didn't move (clue #2), and wanted to be held and cuddle (clue #3). Yep, that was it, someone call 9-1-1 cause Brooklynn-girl was not herself. We watched her for a bit, gave her some Tylenol, a bubble bath, and put her back down for a nap about 45 minutes after she woke up (clue #4 because she actually went back down with no fuss). We woke her up ( I know, a no-no in parenting 101) but we wanted her to nap again and not sleep the whole day away. She was whiny and so she went back down shortly after lunch. She seemed to get better as the day wore on but she still had a small fever and was clingy. She woke up yesterday with about 95% of her spunk back and today she's as good as new. Having a sick baby is rough on the soul...and the back if they only wanna be held.

Sick and still super sweet :)

Have any of you made your New Years "Resolutions"? I use quotations because I think the majority of us just consider it a joke nowadays. I made some...sorta. I'm really gonna try and lose the rest of this weight that I gained prior to baby...thank you control, I hate you. We did our "healthy grocery shopping" this morning. I think more-so than losing weight I just need my energy back. I also have vowed to myself to be more joyful...in everything...this year. I'm determined to not let things stress me out as much as I did last year. You can usher in prayers for me if you'd like ;)

In other fun news, Brooklynn's first birthday plans are in the making <insert deer-in-the-headlights-look>.

Prayers for good health and joy in your 2015 :)

Be all there

Not many things aside from outfits and home decor tend to inspire me as I flip through my Pinterest page...until the other day...when my "life" flashed before my eyes, in Pinterest-form.

This happens to be something that I s.t.r.u.g.g.l.e. with on the daily. Because, we think that whatever's next will always be "better". The grass is always greener...right? As I type this, I've been trying to get Brooklynn to go to sleep for an hour and a half. As this has become a regular routine around here, I often let satan into my thoughts as I think, "thankful...for this?" With Thanksgiving approaching tomorrow, I find it hard, when it should be really easy, to be thankful. To be honest, this has probably been the most daunting year that I've ever had...in 27 years. It's been the most taxing on myself and the most trying on our marriage. Having Brooklynn really did rock our world. I'd be lying if I said Brooklynn was an easy baby. There is nothing easy about her sweet self. She's not the type to just sit and play by herself or enjoy a ride in the car. She's busy, hyper, energetic, not-a-napper, and outgoing...actually she's everything that I am not. Haha. To be honest, I prayed for this. I prayed that she would have her daddy's personality and her daddy's energy...maybe I should have prayed for that for her around age 11 or so. :-) As hard of a baby as she is...and as on most days consider her being the only child...I do have to wake up, smell (and drink lots of) the coffee and realize that she wasn't supposed to be here. At least not now. So, yes, in the dirty times, I'm thankful. I'd rather sit and listen to her cry for two hours than to have been proved by doctors that we couldn't have her. "Wherever you are"...this is where we are right now. We are trudging through the hyper-active stage of an almost 10 month old BUT...this is also where we are...

• A ministry and ministry team that is more than we could have asked or imagined with exciting new things coming very soon!!
• Living in a city and working alongside family...more than we could have asked or imagined.
• A new house that we have worked really hard over the last 4 1/2 years to be able to buy.
• A healthy baby that loves people.
• And if we had nothing but our salvation, that would (and should be) enough to be thankful for!

So, where are you this Thanksgiving? a high school student yearning for college? Working full time wanting to be doing something else? Single & needing a guy? Dating yet just wanting that ring? Living here wishing you were living there? I've been in all those places yet if I had to hit rewind and go back pre-kid, pre-husband, pre-boyfriend, pre-college then I would do it again just to be able to BE ALL THERE! So, if you are in one of these places, be all there. The Lord has us in the season that he wants us in.  Be thankful, as I try to be daily, for wherever you are. One day, you'll want to do it all over again! 

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." Colossians 3:23-24

Happy Thanksgiving!

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!

Brooklynn-land

Long time no blog. All's well here in Brooklynn-land. It's her world and we're just living it for right now. I know my recent posts have been baby this and baby that but honestly, that's how I'm rollin' right now. Hopefully, I'll be able to add in some more ministry and "spiritual" (haha) posts here soon if she ever decides to take longer than a 30 minute nap. My daily schedule consists of feeding, changing, sneaking in a bathroom break for myself, and running around like a mad woman trying to get things done during her short-lived naps (and no, I don't nap ;)) So, naturally, blogging kinda takes a backseat.

This past weekend, husband preached for my dad on Sunday because all of their staff were out of town so that meant we got to see some of our friends and exchange newborn introductions. Since I'm the world's worst about taking pictures, I stole some that others have posted. Here's our weekend...

My brothers had yet to meet Brooklynn. The life of college athletes; duty calls. John & Angie finally got to meet her this weekend. Don't worry, Stephen, we're coming for you soon!

                                     

We also got to meet up with our great friends from Greenville. Stetson was born just a few days after Brooklynn. 

 Ready for church at GiGi & Papas!

 Brooklynn & Stetson. Cuties!

& Halfton got her to finally open her eyes from a nap!

Brooklynn Noel Hux..she's here!

Well, baby girl is here! When I woke up last Sunday morning I had one thing on my mind, please just make it through the service!! I had been feeling achy and crampy for quite awhile so I knew that she wouldn't wait until her due date, February 23rd, to make her debut. I knew on Sunday that it would be within the next few days that she would come. Sunday night we went to a super bowl party with the rest of the church staff and honestly, I felt pretty good until halftime probably because I was occupied talking, laughing, and eating of course! Everyone was joking that they "gave my pregnancy two more weeks". In my head I was thinking, I give it 24 hours. When halftime rolled around, I kinda gave Michael "the look" and we headed home.

We came home, sat on the couch, and finished watching the "game" (was it even a game?) I started having contractions around 8:30PM but they were far apart and "manageable" at the time. We both went to bed and Michael went to sleep ( I did not). I fought off the contractions until 1:30AM when they were 4 minutes apart. I swallowed my pride and called the hospital. I say "swallowed my pride" because I was not about to go to the hospital at 2AM only to be sent back home. Nu uh. The nurse said to come on in so I woke up Michael (who said, "how'd you sleep last night" only to be followed by me saying "it is night"). He threw some stuff in his bag and we made the 4 minute drive (thank you, Jesus) to the hospital.

We got checked in, hooked up to the machines, given Pitocin, and was 2cm dilated by 2AM. Remember a few weeks ago my blood pressure had been really high and so for that reason, I had to wait about 2 hours for my tests to come back from the lab for the "OK" to get the epidural. Even before my pregnancy, I had always planned on getting an epidural so there was no question; I was going to take advantage of modern medicine to make this process as smooth as possible. I still care what my husband thinks about me and didn't want him (or me for that matter) to have to experience any labor demons. Haha.

After I got the epidural, it was pretty much smooth sailing from there. Around 9AM they broke my water, 9:20AM I started pushing, and 9:42 she was here weighing 6.5 lbs and 18 1/2 in. long, and perfectly healthy! My chunkster baby was a tiny little thing that I'm still scared of snapping in two.

Thank you to everyone who has sent gifts, loving texts, and prayers over the past week. WEEK, she's almost one whole week! Time's starting to fly already! P.S. That "baby smell" I thought I wasn't going to like...I'm obsessed!

Money in a Ministry Family

PSA: I know this is lengthy ;)

My husband always says "more is caught than taught". Growing up, I "caught" a lot in regards to how to view and manage money. Money is a sticky subject in every aspect of life. Jesus preached A LOT on money and yet we tend to stray away from any conversation or message involving the "m" word. But, if the church (& christian families) don't set the example, who's going to? The world? The world isn't exactly the place where I want my money influences to come from.

As a pastor of a "large" Baptist church that was faithful in giving and saw the fruits of their giving, my parents did okay financially when I was growing up. We lived in a gated "golf-course" community with 5 bedrooms, a pool, a home office, dining room, family room, living room, kitchen, and plenty of house to move around in. We ate out once or twice a week and somehow my parents managed to feed my two ever-growing-athletic-brothers. We never went without things (that were necessities). My sister and I had jobs to buy what we wanted; clothes, jewelry, shoes, movie tickets, and weekend activities. My brothers played sports so my parents didn't make them work. So yes, we had nice things and we had what we needed to live on. What pains me is when people think that pastors and church leaders should live well under their means "to be some kind of example". If you are giving back to the church and not using your money in an immoral way, should it matter to others where your money goes? My parents decided to put their money into a house where their kids could grow up in and our friends wanted to hang out at. My mom always said she'd rather our friends hang out under our roof than for us to be hanging out who knows where. So, they strived to make our home a place that us and our friends wanted to be. And, honestly, I loved being home.

People have always, and will always, choose to spend their money where they see fit. Some spend it on cars, others on weekend vacations, others on expensive schools, some on adopting kids, some on college funds, some on food, some on their kids, etc. I'm saying this because people have their priorities when it comes to how they choose to spend their money and that's OKAY.

We have decided that from day one we are going to instill in Brooklynn that nothing belongs to her/us. Everything we have belongs to our creator. One way we are going to instill this in her is by having "give", "save", and "spend" jars in her room. As long as she tithes and saves, I really could care less where she spends the rest (as long as it's ethical of course).

As a PK and wife, my family has always lived in a "glass house". People like to make assumptions about how we spent/are spending. For example, Hux and I eat out almost every dinner-time meal so they assume we spend money we don't have. 75% of the time, we eat on a gift card or a coupon and we always share a meal and get water. Essentially, for us, it's cheaper for us to eat out (most of the time) It's always so easy (and Hux and I do this, too) to judge how someone chooses to spend their money. raise their family, or run a church. Only God knows the heart of a person and He's the only one fit enough to judge a person's intentions in the decisions that they make. We, as people, never really know the reasoning behind why people do what they do but we like to think we do. Being a part of a ministry family has taught me the importance of not judging another's decisions because we, too, have been judged and watched and it's not fun.

These kind of posts are not meant to say that I'm a "victim" of being in a ministry family. They're more intended to open eyes. You can say I'm passionate about ministry families because I've been in one my whole life, my sister married one, and my brothers want to plant churches/play a role in church programming after college. Ministry families are held to a standard that most are not held to, unfortunately, and always treated differently.

So, lift your leaders and their families in prayer because a lot of their lives revolve around serving yours :-)

A Pastor's Kid to a Pastor's Wife & Back Around

In the past three years, I've gone from being a Pastor's kid to a Pastor's wife and now soon-to-be-mom to a Pastor's kid. When people ask me "what was it like growing up as a Pastor's kid?" I answer with two words, "tough and joyous". Tough when I was a middle schooler who couldn't go to rated-R movies but joyous because life was good for us and God was good to us. I'm going to tread carefully here because some will not agree with me, but that's okay...(does anyone ever agree on anything these days?) There are a couple lot of things that I took to from growing up that I still hold firm to today. At the top rank faith & money (yes, money). I was going to make this all one post but if you're anything like me, you wouldn't read it. Long=skimming. So I'll break it up for you and I and try to be brief-ish.

When it came to faith, my parents never pushed their faith on me but I saw the work God was doing through them as a couple, their ministry at church, and through me and my siblings. That was something that I wanted to be a part of. God was never about religion or head knowledge in our house. Our families relationship with God never had anything to do with rules, regulations, do this & don't do that "because Jesus says so" but had everything to do with a lifestyle of loving Jesus - everything would flow from that! Did they encourage quiet times and sunday service attendance? Of course. Did they make us attend every function the church had when the doors were open? Nope. But we wanted to. Why? Because we loved the church. All four of us loved the church. Of course there were Sundays that we wanted to sleep and play hooky (and sometimes we did, let's be honest) But that didn't take away our love for the church.

So, how did my parents do it? Get us to love the church? Different ways. But now that I'm a Pastor's wife, I believe there was one prominent reason why we loved the church. And it was not because we "loved Jesus" (*gasp*) Here's the secret...my parents never (I honestly mean, never!) talked bad about another church in front of their children. Are there things that other churches did/do that they may not have agreed with? Sure! But did we hear about it? Never. Here's the deal, if you are always bashing another congregation, it will more times than not, put a bitter taste in your child's mouth for church. And not just the church you are criticizing, but every single church, yours included. If my parents had always talked negatively about a church, I guarantee you that I would not have married a minister and risked putting my future children in the "line of fire". Another thing that my dad was very good at was putting his family ahead of his congregation. And yes, there were many people and staff members that didn't agree with his ways. He missed many meetings, Wednesday and Sunday nights, and events at the church to sit at a dance recitals, cheerleading competitions, or baseball games. He was living proof that loving ministry and loving God are not the same thing. The church never dictated his devotion to his family. In turn, leaving me with no resentment towards him or the church!

What it all boils to is this: the Church is the bride of Christ, how do you talk about your bride to others or to your children? If you're a man and you bash your wife or you're a wife and you bash your husband in front of your children or to other people, it's going to put a sour taste in your child's mouth towards the other person. I've been around people who have criticized their husband/wife in front of me and to be honest, it's made me look at that person differently whether their issues were legit or not...but I wouldn't know the difference because I didn't live in their house and see first-hand what the issues really were. Wouldn't it be the same when we talk about the church in the same manner?

Am I perfect at this? Nooo! We all think we know the best ways to run a church or lead a family (even if we've never done it!) However, ever since I've been married and been knee deep in the ministry, I've learned this: If you're a follower of Christ and you preach the bible and yearn to see people move from death to life, we are ALL on the SAME TEAM striving for ONE PURPOSE for ONE NAME! This is what I grew up believing and it has saved my personal-sanity and my church-sanity ;) Think of what could be accomplished if we joined forces as The Church instead of going to battle with The [other] Church(es)!

So, as a soon-to-be-mom, I want Brooklynn to grow up loving the Church and her Church leaders and not grow up being so wrapped up in church skepticism that she loses focus on loving Jesus and what His bride is doing for our world.

23 weeks down!

Get used to seeing this chalkboard in different areas of the room. There's no telling where it'll end up! Right now, there's stuff everywhere! Haha!

How far along? 23 weeks down 17 to go!

Total weight gain/loss: IDK 10+ maybe

Maternity clothes: A few here and there

Stretch marks? Not yet

Sleep? Sleeping pretty good once I find a position to sleep in!

Miss Anything? Being able to breathe

Movement: She's crazy :-O

Food cravings? No "cravings" really but lately I love the BBQ or soup n' sandwiches. 

Anything making you sick or queasy? Those halloween costumes with the baby coming out of the stomach...puke city.

Gender: Girl

Symptoms: Really achy ribs, short of breath, heart.burn, and a few headaches this week

Labor signs? No though I did have an awful sharp cramp that about sent me spinning this week...but it went away pretty fast.

Belly button in or out? It wants out, haha!

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or moody most of the time? Happy but too much drama to deal with lately. Welcome to student ministry! Drama + Pregnant girl = no bueno

Worst moment this week: ^^

Best moment this week: Getting stuff together for my sister's WEDDING in two weeks! 

Looking forward to: Getting away for the wedding & Filling up the nursery!

Baby info: She's the size of a grapefruit and is forming nipples, yeah...nipples. Her face is fully formed just needs some fat. She can hear loud noises (like the dogs barking outside our apartment at 3am. I'm telling you, people, Brooklynn ain't happy and neither is this Mama.

20 weeks!

How far along? 20 weeks! 

Total weight gain/loss: I'll know tomorrow :-)

Maternity clothes: Still just maternity jeans

Stretch marks? None yet

Sleep? Getting a little more uncomfortable. Back and forth between sides all night long!

Miss Anything? Not having my stomach in my chest

Movement: She's a feisty one!

Food cravings? None

Anything making you sick or queasy? No

Gender: girl girl girl

Symptoms: Oh geez! Let's see. Aching back, sore ribs, swollen feet...baby B and I are gonna have to have a talk!

Labor signs? No

Belly button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or moody most of the time? Not moody...just impatient ;-) 

Worst moment this week: Aches!

Best moment this week: She's quite the kicker but I'm not sure I like it...lol! It's awkward and uncomfortable...I know, I'm not that sappy mom. But it's good to know she's a-movin'!

Looking forward to: Cute baby "stuff"

19 weeks & counting

No chalkboard today! With all the moving it's kinda been at the bottom of the to-do list! Next week we should be up and running again! And no I don't feel as big as this picture makes me look. Thank you, lunch! and YES the hair's been chopped...that's another post for another time ;-)

How far along? 19 weeks...almost halfway through!! 

Total weight gain/loss: Not sure

Maternity clothes: A little bit of hand-me-downs but rocking my el cheap-o maternity jeans from Ross

Stretch marks? None :)

Sleep? I sleep good just toss and turn a lot!

Best Moment this week: IT'S A GIRL! Mother's intuition! 

Miss Anything? Being able to walk up the stairs without wanting to just keel over!

Movement: Not that I'm 100% sure of! I think she may have agreed with the worship this morning but not enough to knock me off my feet! 

Food cravings? Not really...always can go for cheeseburgers though!

Anything making you sick or queasy? No

Gender: Pink & bows!

Symptoms: Lack of energy and motivation to do anything!! Also, leg cramps during the night, lots of bathroom breaks, and always thirsty! But NO headaches so I'll take the constant peeing!!

Labor signs? No

Belly button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or moody most of the time? Been a tad moody lately...I blame it on all the moving stress and three flights of stairs!

Worst moment this week: Don't really have one! My back hates me and the moving process!

Best moment this week: Should I really say it again? I get to buy lacy things!

Looking forward to: Picking up B's crib from my parents this weekend! Yes...they still have the crib I slept in & now I get to use it :)
Baby info: She's the size of a mango (1/2 lb) and 6 in. long! Certain areas of the brain are developing for her senses and there could be a possibility of hair sprouting on her head! 

Brooklynn Noel Hux

That's right, we're having a GIRL!! God bless my husband and my wallet! People continued to ask me if I wanted a girl or boy and that I had to have an opinion. But I didn't. I never cared either way, girl or boy, but I would've been shocked if that technician had said, "It's a boy!" Instead, she said "Yep, no doubt about it, that's a girl!" Cheers to my gut for being right all along! Hopefully the ultrasound doesn't indicate future behavior as it took forever for baby girl to cooperate and turn over so we could see her assets and pronounce her a girl!

So, why "Brooklynn Noel Hux"? I don't know. Ha-ha. A lot of people have significant meaning behind the names they choose. We really didn't. Brooklyn, NY was the place that husband and I took our first mission trip together but honestly, I just liked the name. And Noel was picked as we walked out of the ultrasound room, Haha! I had a list of two or three middle names in my head and Noel won. Thus, her name was "chosen".

Some things I worry about with having a girl: My wallet. Self control will be on top of the prayer list. Her teenage years...those are always a fun time! Ha! And probably just the possibility of her being a diva/drama queen. I'll be working hard to humble her from day one!

Some things I look forward to about having a girl: A future BFF, bows and lace, hopefully not as much blood and broken bones (the Lord knows I can't deal with all that), and hopefully her daddy's eyelashes!!

People asked when we found out if we were pregnant if we were "ready". I very honestly replied, "NO". So, are we ready now? Now that we've found out it's a girl? Nope. Ha-ha! Is anyone ever really ready? Maybe by the time she moves out of the house in 20 years I'll be ready. Actually, probably not!

So funny to watch her wave!

 


To Brooklynn,