moments with lia

Lia and I are sitting in our big overstuffed chair that I like to refer to as sitting in a big puffy cloud. It just swallows you up and it's hard to get out once you get cozy and comfortable.

We've had a wonderful but very full day so I was catching up on e-mails and news while the kids play. That's when Lia climbed up to snuggle in close. Now I enjoy snuggling but snuggling with Lia sometimes is a bit hard because she is moving the entire time. There are pokes, tickles and lots of touching--sometimes it feels more like being malled! After about 15 minutes of this I asked if she could just sit next to me and not "touch." I said, "please, just for a few minutes let's not touch." She looked at me with her beautiful almond eyes and said, "why mom? touching is good!"

I remember when Lia was first placed in our arms and touch was foreign to her. We would attempt to cradle, rock and snuggle her but it made her uncomfortable and she would turn away from us. Over time touch became good to Lia and she accepted our embrace and moments sitting in the rocking chair so that we could snuggle. So though at this very moment, Lia is touching my hair, poking me with her bear, who is taking a walk from the top of my head to my toes . . . I will have to agree that touch is good.

all i can say . . .

exceedingly, abundantly, above anything that we could possibly conceive, think or imagine.

grace.

Wednesday

It's Wednesday. It's 9:30 am and I'm still in my pj's. I made breakfast smoothies (mine included my first taste of coconut oil--it's suppose to provide lots of benefit to our bodies--we'll see), I've done some laundry, cleaned the kitchen, sipped on some tea and watched a squirrel play on our balcony. It's been a good morning.

Soon I will spend some time feeding my soul by reading and meditating on some food for my soul . . . for if I don't I will begin to starve and grow weak in my inner most being. During the past month that Todd has been unemployed I have had moments where I am confident that God is working all things together for good and then, just as quickly, my heart wanders away from this hope to a place of anxiousness and fret. How is that possible? Did I actually have faith in that moment? Am I delusional? Perhaps. But I think that God is in both of those moments. Faith. Assurance. Fear. Anxiousness. Faith is being enlarged in me. Each time I wander, God draws me back. He woos me. Reminds me. Gives me peace. Hope. And most amazingly, the awareness of His love and affections towards me and our family.

It is well with my soul.