Hello Third Trimester!

3 months.

3 months until this little one is no longer kicking and punching my stomach, but being held in our arms.

I cannot fathom this. I mean, I have a niece and nephew that I have just adored before they were even born and loved holding their little bodies close to me as they looked so perfect sleeping in my arms.

But to have one of my own...

Our first doctors appointment! Yep, she was there, all 1 centimeter of her and a perfect lil' heartbeat!!

Say whaaaaaa??!

I know, I know. It's something that no parenting book or amount of advice from others can really prepare you for, and this little girl will change our lives forever, and for the better. And I do believe that. It's just so hard to wrap my mind around still!

                 

 

Back when I thought my bump was "sooo big!" haha!

I've had such a wonderful pregnancy thus far and feel so blessed to have such a sweet, loving man by my side throughout this first part of our journey to being parents. He is going to be the best dad. He already loves her so much. It's beautiful.

All 3 of us completed the BCS Half Marathon in December. Mike was such a good encourager!

I have all these hopes for Guinevere and her life. I hope that she has good friends, that she is kind and compassionate, and enjoys learning. I hope that she has a good relationship with us as her parents, and feels like she can come to us with anything.

       

My birthday, the day we found out she was a girl! What a beautiful gift! 

But far above all those things, I hope that she grows to love Jesus Christ as her Savior. I hope and pray that she comes to know the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. And that she sees her value and worth by what He sees of her, not the world.

As King David prayed this over Solomon his son, I pray the same for Guinevere Jade-

"... know the God of your father and serve Him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you..." 1 Chronicles 28:9a

These next 3 months will fly by. And I hope that through the waiting and pain and joy and tears of it all, I can be in the moment and be thankful in all things, for this is God's will for us in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

              

 

       

eagerly waiting,
lisa

Amidst the Storms

Soooo... if you live in Texas, or have friends in Texas, or just love to keep up with weather happenings around the country, you know that we have had some serious storm-age going on over here.

Like, flooding-tornadoes-lightning-hasn't-stopped-raining-for-a-month kinda storms.

And yes, it's crazy and almost every Texan is fed up with the rain.

But I'm just gonna say it...

I love it.

If you've never experienced a Texas lightning/thunderstorm before, you are missing out.

Last night was incredible and I don't even know if there are words to describe what I saw last night justice. Imagine the brightest orange sky to your right, dark, ominous clouds to your left, magnificently terrifying bolts of lightning literally all over the sky, and then the biggest, most vibrant, beautiful rainbow arching over everything. And it was a double rainbow!!!

I mean WHAT???!!!

And then there was about a 3 or 5 minute window where the sun was setting, but somehow the clouds in the sky were creating these intense shadows on the trees and ground. And this was at 8:15-ish at night, so it was weird.

Like, I thought Jesus was coming back. (Which I mean, I was ok with)

But I just thought to myself, this rain is going to end. There will be a time when this rain will stop. It won't be 65 degrees in Texas at the end of May probably ever again. I may not ever see a sky like this again in my lifetime. There will be a time when we pray for more rain, and maybe look back on that summer of 2015 when the whole state of Texas flooded and wish we had even a drop of that rain.

But I also thought it was such a beautiful picture of life.

Just like the storms that have been tormenting Texas for the last month, there are "storms" in our lives. And sometimes, it feels like a flood, never ending and always increasing in pain and loss. But somewhere, amidst the storms of life, we get a glimpse of hope. We see the rainbow.

can you see it? can you see the double rainbow?!

And the rainbow is a promise. Not only is it amazing that the rainbow symbolizes God never flooding the whole earth again (which I think some of us Texans needed that reminder!), but it's amazing that during life's storms, we can hold on to the promises of God. We have to believe that the rainbow is coming, that the sun is still shining beyond the clouds. Though we may not be able to see it at that moment, we need to ask ourselves, "What am I believing right now? Do I believe God is who He says He is?"

Because my friends, His promises are either true or they aren't. He is either good, or He isn't. He is either faithful, or He isn't. I don't know what "storms" are going on in your life right now, but there is hope. There is hope in the ONE who will never fail you. (Deuteronomy 4:31) There is hope in the ONE who is the LIFE-giver. (John 11:25-26) There is hope in the ONE who cannot lie. (Hebrews 6:18) There is hope in the ONE who is faithful when we are faithless. (2 Timothy 2:13) There is hope in the ONE who never changes. (Hebrews 13:8) His word is either true or it isn't. (2 Timothy 3:16-17) Don't put your hope in just "getting out of the storm" or even lose hope amidst the storm.

There is hope. Seek Him and you will find Him. (Matthew 7:7) That is a promise. Hold fast to His promises sweet friends and family. Because during our darkest times, His love and grace and compassion for us can shine brighter than ever before.

ever hopeful,
lisa

for as many are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us. 2 Corinthians 1:20

Homemade

So Mike thinks I've turned into some hippie-voodoo-witch doctor... not really, but kinda.

Anyway, I started my essential oil journey back in September simply for health benefits. As a teacher, I pick up a lot of germs from kiddos. Since then, I have been significantly less sick and felt better emotionally, and have also been learning a lot about the chemicals that are in our everyday products.

There is so much science behind essential oils, I don't get it all. But basically I've been wanting more products without those harsh chemicals in them, products I can really trust, BUT without having to pay $4509485029834 for a 1 ounce bottle!

Ok, a slight exaggeration, but you get what I'm saying!

Anyway, a sweet friend from church is into making her own household products and offered to share her insights, ingredients, and expertise in making some products of our own. Love you Amy!

Below I will share with you what we made, the recipes, and some of my favorite essential oils and how you can get some yourself! (recipes are not my own!)

Disinfecting Wipes

• 1 cup water
• 2 Tbsp Castile Soap (can get this at pretty much any grocery store now)
• 8-10 drops Young Living Thieves essential oil (could also use tea tree oil, but I love, love, LOVE Thieves because of it's crazy-awesome immune boosting properties!)
• 1/2 roll paper towels (cut in half)

You can make these a couple different ways. If you want to leave the paper towels on the roll, put them in a big enough container right-side up, dump mixture on top, and the roll in the middle will eventually become soft enough to pull out and voila!

OR 

if you would like to have them in a box of some sort, kind of like baby wipes, you can unroll it, alternating fold directions, put them in the container, pour mixture over towels, and let it soak. You can get fancy and make your own "pull out tops" or just open the lid up. :)

Lip Balm

Ok, so I am obsessed with chapstick, so I was pretty excited about these!

• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 tbsp and 1 tsp beeswax
• Young Living essential oils of your choice (I used a variety: orange, lime, grapefruit, lemon, peppermint)

Melt coconut oil and beeswax together. (careful, it will harden quickly!) I added my essential oils to each individual container so I could have a variety. But if you only wanted one, you can drop it in the big mix. (in my little container I only added 1 drop which was a very mild scent, so if you want a little stronger, I would add 2-3 drops.)

Body Butter

• 1  cup shea butter
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 2 Tbsp almond oil
• Young Living Essential oil of your choice
• wide mouth mason jars

Place shea butter and coconut oil in a microwave safe dish. Microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until completely melted. 

Transfer the melted mixture to a metal bowl and place in fridge until it begins to firm up. (usually 30 minutes to an hour). You want it firm, but not hard.

Remove from the fridge and whip on high using a stand or hand mixer until light and fluffy. (about 2-3 minutes)

If making one big batch, add essential oils to mixture. If making several different smells, transfer body butter into mason jars and add essential oils, stirring with fork or spoon to mix.

I used Lavender and Peppermint and it smells amazing!

Young Living Essential Oils

If you are new or interested in learning more about what these oils have done for me and others, please don't hesitate to contact me or comment below!

Here are some that I use every day:

• Thieves: blend of clove, lemon, cinnamon bark, eucalyptus radiata, and rosemary.
• highly anti-viral and anti-septic properties
• I put Thieves on the bottom of my feet every day (your feet have the fastest absorption rate in your body- just in 20 minutes Thieves will have reaches every cell of your body!)
• Joy: blend of bergamot, ylang ylang, geranium, rosewood, lemon, madarin, jasmine, roman chamomile, palmarosa, and rose.
• I put this oil over my heart every day (I know, sounds cheesy) but it really helps balance my hormones and emotions throughout the day!! 
• Lavender: called the "first aid kit in a bottle"
• can help with SO many things, but I really like putting this on my face mixed with my moisturizing lotion to help get rid of scars and fight acne
• plus it's calming so I diffuse it at night sometimes
• Frankincense: this one surprised me because I was like, "when am I ever going to use that?"
• also really good for your skin! among many other things! 
• Lemon:
• delicious in water (glass container only)
• refreshing when diffused
• household cleaner! :)

Maybe I'll need to do a whole separate post about essential oils someday... :)

Until then, happy homemaking and happy oiling!

lisa