Bella Boo is Turning 2

Bella turned 2 on Sunday. What a special day. I was up at 6 that morning to feed Brennan. As I was getting into bed almost an hour later, I opened Bella's door to check on her, and her head popped up. She said, "Lay down Mama." So I brought her to bed with me. I was holding her almost exactly at the time I had her 6:41 am. So neat.
We were able to really spoil her this year, which is something we've never been able to afford to do. The Lord has really blessed us, and we got her everything we wanted to: a new tricycle, princess dress up clothes, and the winner - an automatic bubble machine. It was so much fun watching her get what she loves!! The only thing was that she found her tricycle hidden in Brennan's room, and was quite disappointed when I wouldn't let her ride it until her daddy got back from picking up her cake.
She spent the day surrounded by family and played her heart out with her 2 cousins - Diamond and Mercy. She played so hard that she crashed on me at 8:30. Talk about another sweet moment...I had one baby in each arm. I absolutely loved it.
We are so blessed. We have 2 happy, healthy, beautiful babies. We pray every day for that, and ask that they will serve the Lord for the rest of their lives. A lot of that will be determined by our personal relationship with Jesus. If they see our relationships with Jesus, it can give them the desire to have a relationship of their own with Him.
I'm disappointed in some of the students who have come to UL and have a strong church background - and they are MIA. It makes me think that they never really had a relationship with Jesus in the first place. I know that seems harsh, but it's how I feel. I don't understand it at all. And I don't want it to happen to my children. I want them to love Jesus on their own and continue to no matter what happens and where they go when they leave our home.

Preparing for a New Baby

I'm not due until August 30th. I tell everyone that I have a feeling that this baby is coming sooner. Honestly, I don't know if I'm more ready for a baby or to not be pregnant! :o) I know that everything is going to change...there will be 2 babies crying instead of 1 - because I know that Bella will be inspired to cry when the new one cries. We've already seen that happen with other babies. I know she'll get used to it, but it will be an interesting beginning, I'm sure.
It's exciting to know that our family is going to grow. Bella will have someone to play with. That will be fun to watch. We've talked about how the older baby doesn't get a lot of attention when the new baby comes around, but I don't think we will have that problem. Bella is the star of Chi Alpha. Of course everyone will want to see Brennan, but Bella still has the floor. Everyone gets so excited to see her, afterall, they are her friends! They love her and want to see her. She's going to be ok.
I'm actually going to ask for help more this time around. When we had Bella, we were just getting on staff. I don't know why I felt like I needed to be supermom and do it all myself. It was such a rough time for me. This time, I'm already planning to ask our babysitters to come over just to play with Bella while I take a nap or take a shower. They can bring a friend even! I've heard that girls open up even more when there's a baby around! I just know that God has brought us to this community of students for a reason, and it's important for us to open our lives to them. The girls who watch Bella regularly have great families...but a lot of our students come from broken homes. They need to see what a functional Christian family is like to have the hope that they can have this for themselves someday. We're happy to be a model of what God can have instore for them! We have been told before by a student that they actually considered having kids after they saw me & Lee with Bella...because they didn't think it was possible to have a "happy" family. That's a powerful compliment!

Bella's Friends...

Around Bella's first birthday (September 09), I started freaking out a little. I thought to myself, "Bella doesn't have friends." I know that she was only turning 1, but I felt like the most awful mom because she was going to grow up not knowing how to socialize with other kids her age.

I was at the cafe at the end of a Free Meal with a Message (which happens every Wednesday from 12:00-12:45 pm during the semester), and I expressed this fearful thought to some students. I said, "Bella doesn't have any friends her age." Tyren was quick with his genuine response, "I know, all of her friends are college students!" This is so true. Bella has a large group of friends who just happen to be college-aged. They absolutely adore her, and she loves them in return.

This weekend has been our Leadership Advance. Bella and I went to visit, and everyone has been so excited to see her. At the same place, there was a family reunion happening . There was the cutest little 4 year old girl who played with Bella...and Bella knew how to play with her. Bella is actually really sweet with other kids. It's like she's fascinated with them because she's so used to being around college students. She's always wanting to hug little kids - something that she's not too fond of with big people. But she knows how to play with kids around her age. The only thing about babies is that she gets frustrated that they don't give her a high five when she asks.

God has blessed us with a precious little girl who has unprecedented potential to change the world. At her age, she knows more people from different countries and ethnic groups than most people will know in their whole life time. Color will not be an issue to her. Socioeconomic status won't be an issue to her. If we teach her to love and accept people like Jesus does, nothing will stop her from making a new friend.