Dearest Baby,
I am so excited to meet you. I have known about you since September 23rd, knowing that you were growing and developing, and praying that as much as you will hear about your big brother Gabriel in Heaven, that you are not in a rush to hurry and see him.
I wonder what you will look like often - your daddy suggests that he wants you to have my blue eyes, but I love his brown eyes so much, I know that I would be happy with either color, or even your Grandad's green eyes. Your eyes will be beautiful regardless of what color they are. I wonder if you will have freckles - like me, or the light creamy skin like your dad - but this too is already determined and known by God, but not by me. Will your hair be blonde, brown, or barely there at all? All of these things are just the external parts of your body - what I am most curious about is your heart, your personality, what you will love, and how God will use you to further His kingdom. I can only wonder as you grow who you will be and how you will find your passion to love Jesus more.
We are in the midst of a wonderful season of waiting in the Catholic Church, that of Advent. I am excited to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but I know that my realy Christmas gift is you - I have wanted so long to be pregnant at Christmas - to have a connection with the Mother of God in a time that she was carrying the Savior. It is so exciting to me - I hope one day you understand. Grandma Punches reminded me that next year our lives will have changed with your arrival, and with God's grace, you will be our chubby little baby at Christmas. I am so excited to hold you and kiss your little head. Any time now, my body will be able to sense your body kicking - I am so excited for that movement, that little confirmation that you are in the womb.
I found a calendar of Grandma's from the year that she was pregnant with me, and I remember distinctly finding the day she told her Mom that she was pregnant with me, I thought it would be fun if you wanted to know what dates we shared the delightful news of your pending arrival with our family.
We told Grandpa Keys and Mimi (Dave and Vickie Keys) on November 15th (2010). They were so excited and thrilled to be welcoming a grandchild! Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Eddie are expecting Ignatius in January, so it will be awesome that your ages are close together. On November 24th, we drove to Kansas to be on the farm for Thanksgiving, and we told Grandad and Grandma (Pumphrey) that you were arriving. They were both so excited - knowing that we had dreamed of this day for quite some time. (Your Grandad's preference for babies is that they are bald and fat, in case you were wondering. Luckily, as a baby, your momma was both.) On Thanksgiving(11/25/10), we told Grandma Ellen - who I believe screamed in excitement for 5 minutes straight. She was so excited, and it was just beautiful for us to know concretely of her utter excitement. We proceeded to tell the rest of the family - and then on December 5th, we told the rest of our large church family, the teens we volunteer with at Incarnate Word. They were beautifully excited, and I have felt continually blessed and supported with the excitement of our community - I pray and hope that you will feel the love of the Catholic Church in the same way that I feel the love of the community at Incarnate Word. God has been so faithful in giving us this community to pray for you - yes, the teens have been praying that we would be able to have a child for quite some time, and you are an answered prayer.
I hope you know deeply someday how much I love you and have dreamed of your arrival. I am so grateful for God for this gift and responsibility - I want to please His heart above all, and then to please your Daddy - I love being his wife, and he is such a good husband - he is diligent at taking care of me, making sure I don't lift anything that is too heavy, and being completely understanding of my increased desire to sleep often, even when he wants to talk to me. He is so funny, and I am so thrilled to watch his parenthood unfold.
Dearest Baby, please continue to grow strong, and know that we love you and that God loves you.
Love,
Momma
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Incarnate Word
To be honest, I dreamed about a place like this when I was young. A place filled with people who wanted to love Jesus, who accepted me for who I was, who wanted the best for me, and thought that being holy was something to be admired.
A youth group.
Growing up in the middle of Kansas, I always wanted a community of people who loved Jesus and were less than my mother's age....although I love my mom, and her best friend...they are so wonderful, and I want to be just like them. As a sixteen year old, it was difficult to relate to their state in life as married women, to mine, as a single young person.
It was like when your big sister got a Barbie for her birthday...you knew someone who had exactly what you wanted, but you didn't have it, and you couldn't really go to the store and get it either. I had awesome opportunities to glimpse at what community life was, and yet, never had the community myself.
My college, the fantastic one and only Franciscan University of Steubenville, changed everything. I had community, people to challenge me, people to love me for who I was, people who loved Jesus and wanted more people to love Jesus. It was so wonderful!!
While attending, I always thought that I couldn't "handle" youth ministry....until I spent a summer at St. Mary's in Hudson, Ohio. They know how to love. And they loved me to pieces. I wanted to be a better person, I wanted to love the way they loved, I wanted to learn about Theology of the Body, I wanted to be even more holy...and stay there forever.
God had bigger plans....he brought me to a similar community in St. Louis - the Church of the Incarnate Word. Praise God. Let me just tell you these teens know how to love Jesus, and they know how to love me. They really are changing the world, and I have so much faith that they will change their families, change St. Louis, the United States, and the World. They've got it.
I wanted to share from time to time what I'm really passionate about - youth ministry - and things we do to get our teens to come to Mass, to come to a "Lifenight." Then, hopefully, I'll tell you what worked and didn't work with our teens. Maybe this can work in your youth group, maybe it won't...but you can decide!
This weekend we would love your prayers as we welcome the "new freshmen" into our high school program. These young people just graduated eighth grade and now have the opportunity to come on a retreat to discover what Incarnate Word is all about. I love that we get to spend the entire summer with them - loving them, inviting them on retreats, getting to know their names, their high schools, their personalities!! The retreat is called "T4" for Timothy 4, a chapter in the bible that speaks directly to the young people. To be specific; 1 Tim 4:12 "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." How awesome that we welcome teens with this in mind. "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young!" Doesn't it just remind you of Pope John Paul II's call to youth? "Be not afraid!" Honestly, I don't get to be the biggest part of this retreat because the high school teens themselves lead the retreat - they give the talks, lead the small groups, etc. It's great to see them in the leadership position!!
Thanks for your prayers and have a delightful weekend!!
A youth group.
Growing up in the middle of Kansas, I always wanted a community of people who loved Jesus and were less than my mother's age....although I love my mom, and her best friend...they are so wonderful, and I want to be just like them. As a sixteen year old, it was difficult to relate to their state in life as married women, to mine, as a single young person.
It was like when your big sister got a Barbie for her birthday...you knew someone who had exactly what you wanted, but you didn't have it, and you couldn't really go to the store and get it either. I had awesome opportunities to glimpse at what community life was, and yet, never had the community myself.
My college, the fantastic one and only Franciscan University of Steubenville, changed everything. I had community, people to challenge me, people to love me for who I was, people who loved Jesus and wanted more people to love Jesus. It was so wonderful!!
While attending, I always thought that I couldn't "handle" youth ministry....until I spent a summer at St. Mary's in Hudson, Ohio. They know how to love. And they loved me to pieces. I wanted to be a better person, I wanted to love the way they loved, I wanted to learn about Theology of the Body, I wanted to be even more holy...and stay there forever.
God had bigger plans....he brought me to a similar community in St. Louis - the Church of the Incarnate Word. Praise God. Let me just tell you these teens know how to love Jesus, and they know how to love me. They really are changing the world, and I have so much faith that they will change their families, change St. Louis, the United States, and the World. They've got it.
I wanted to share from time to time what I'm really passionate about - youth ministry - and things we do to get our teens to come to Mass, to come to a "Lifenight." Then, hopefully, I'll tell you what worked and didn't work with our teens. Maybe this can work in your youth group, maybe it won't...but you can decide!
This weekend we would love your prayers as we welcome the "new freshmen" into our high school program. These young people just graduated eighth grade and now have the opportunity to come on a retreat to discover what Incarnate Word is all about. I love that we get to spend the entire summer with them - loving them, inviting them on retreats, getting to know their names, their high schools, their personalities!! The retreat is called "T4" for Timothy 4, a chapter in the bible that speaks directly to the young people. To be specific; 1 Tim 4:12 "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." How awesome that we welcome teens with this in mind. "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young!" Doesn't it just remind you of Pope John Paul II's call to youth? "Be not afraid!" Honestly, I don't get to be the biggest part of this retreat because the high school teens themselves lead the retreat - they give the talks, lead the small groups, etc. It's great to see them in the leadership position!!
Thanks for your prayers and have a delightful weekend!!
Friday, May 28, 2010
Who do you thank?
Who do you thank for your freedom?
I have so many men and women in my life that have given so much to our country, protecting my freedom - my true freedom. How beautiful is our life? Who do we thank for the blessing of being in a country with so many resources and so many opportunities? May we always praise God, and... our service men.
My grandfather, Lyle Baird, served in the Navy. God rest his soul.
My brother, Andrew, served in the Marine Corps. One tour in Iraq, one tour in Afghanistan. God, bless his soul.
My brother, Scott, is currently serving in the Navy. What a blessing to know he is keeping our seas safe. I love how he has never forgotten how to tease and have fun. God, bless his soul.
My brother in law, Ryan, served in the Air Force. And he makes the bed in the morning. Praise God for his service.
My brother in law, Tony, serves in the Army. He loves my nieces and nephew with tons of kisses, hugs, and discipline. Praise God for his service.
Who do you thank? Thank God. He has given us the blessing of having men who love us so much that they will give up their everything to allow us to live as we want.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Blog blog blog
Blog, blog, blog, like a bump on a log!!
Okay, so I haven't been blogging, but now I think of it as unfair to anyone who might want to read my little ramblings about my life - because I've found so many AMAZING things in the blog world recently, so many of my acquaintances have started sending out beautiful, amazing things, and I keep thinking, "I know I couldn't do anything as great as Natalie, Anna, Ree (Pioneer Woman), but gosh, it would be so wonderful to have a place to document my life!"
So, I don't mind if you don't read, I'm going to use this as a place to talk about the ups and downs of my life, document what it's like to live with one fabulous husband, and someday, my little babies that God has picked out for me will be able to read about what it was like when they were only a prayer in my heart!
I would love to learn more about photography - I just haven't made a big investment in an awesome camera, and I'm hoping it's not necessary! We've been looking for a house for almost a year, and dreaming about what we could do to make it awesome - so we watch a lot of DIY network, HGTV, and try to find out how to replicate our favorite looks. I also follow a couple of great blogs!!
Okay, anyone who is reading this who wants to offer ideas or suggestions is completely welcome! Here is my life!!
Okay, so I haven't been blogging, but now I think of it as unfair to anyone who might want to read my little ramblings about my life - because I've found so many AMAZING things in the blog world recently, so many of my acquaintances have started sending out beautiful, amazing things, and I keep thinking, "I know I couldn't do anything as great as Natalie, Anna, Ree (Pioneer Woman), but gosh, it would be so wonderful to have a place to document my life!"
So, I don't mind if you don't read, I'm going to use this as a place to talk about the ups and downs of my life, document what it's like to live with one fabulous husband, and someday, my little babies that God has picked out for me will be able to read about what it was like when they were only a prayer in my heart!
I would love to learn more about photography - I just haven't made a big investment in an awesome camera, and I'm hoping it's not necessary! We've been looking for a house for almost a year, and dreaming about what we could do to make it awesome - so we watch a lot of DIY network, HGTV, and try to find out how to replicate our favorite looks. I also follow a couple of great blogs!!
Okay, anyone who is reading this who wants to offer ideas or suggestions is completely welcome! Here is my life!!
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