Everyday Happenings Of A Wife And Mother

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

The Power of a Praying Woman, Wife, and Mother

I was encouraged to write this blog from the books - Power of a Praying Wife, Power of a Praying Woman, and Power of a Praying Parent. (that was a mouthful) If you are a woman, wife, or parent these three books are great to helping you open up your eyes as well as your heart to how the Lord can work through you...through prayer.
As a new mom, i have hardly anytime to myself, let alone time to spend with Jesus. Basically the only "me" time i get is..."pee" time. And even in some occasions, my little boy is in there with me. haha.
As a single woman, i had all the time in the world to spend with God. When you have a strong relationship with the Lord, i believe that makes you stronger for other relationships. Before i began dating my husband, i was already in prayer for him and our future. I know that sounds purty weird, but i did.
When i married my husband, i took on a new role. not only was i a woman, but also a wife. I still needed "me" time, time with God, and also time with my husband. It was a hard transition, but an enjoyable one. Being a wife was all that i ever wanted to be. It's hard going into a marriage and trying not to have unrealistic expectations. I thought every single word from mine and my husbands mouth would be words of love and poetry. I thought we would always be in marital bliss. As soon as we got home from our honeymoon....reality and responsibility smacked us in the face and knocked us on our fannies. The great thing about being a wife is that you have a husband who is your - companion, friend, lover, encourager, helper, and shoulder to cry on. Remember, as a wife, you too have to be those things to your husband. It's not 50 50, it's 100 100.
Once i felt like i was excelling in the Wife category, i became pregnant and had our wonderful baby boy. As my husband and i took turns holding our little bundle of joy in the hospital, it was almost like we were in that "honeymoon" phase again. Until reality and more responsibility came shooting at us through a baby's loud cry. I was a nervous wreck for the first few months of James (our son) life. I took every choice that we had to make so seriously. like "should we give him a passy?" "did he burp enough?" "should i let other people hold him?" I was being an overly paranoid parent. The few first nights at home, James would wake up around 1am hungry. I would take him into his nursery, try to change his diaper by the dim light in the hallway (i did not want Ryan to wake up nor did i want to blind James) After i would put a fresh diaper on him, we would head to the rocking chair in the corner of his nursery room. As i sat there, half asleep, rocking and feeding James, i realized, that i was a mom. Even after 9 months of being pregnant and hours of labor, i did not realize how much responsibility weighed. How could a 7 lb 12 oz baby boy add up so much responsibility and take so much time? Now i had three very different roles - a woman, a wife, and a mother.
I know that i am very blessed to have such a wonderful husband who is there to help me be a mom. When you are married and have kids, it is very important for the husband and wife to be in unity. I heard someone say one time - "The husband is the 'head' of the household, and the wife is the 'heart' of the household." i believe that is true. They both need each other. They both need time alone with each other without kids, time with the kids, "me" time, and most importantly time with the Lord.
So i said all of this to say, that you don't need to be in front of an altar or on your knees to talk to God. THere are times when i can't make it to church. And quite frankly, the only time i am on my knees is either when i am chasing after James or i am picking/cleaning something up off the floor. God will listen even if you are praying while changing a diaper, taking out the garbage, doing the dishes, folding laundry, or rocking your baby to sleep. You can use anything as an act of worship to Him.
Prayer is definitely key to all three of those roles. Even if it is just praying "Lord, give me strength for today." As women, especially moms, we take on way too much sometimes. It is so comforting to know that we have a God who wants to take on everything that we can't.

WE ARE MARRIED!


9 MONTHS PREGNANT


I AM A MOMMY!


OUR LITTLE FAMILY

Monday, June 21, 2010

DADDY'S LITTLE MAN

Yesterday we celebrated our first Father's Day as a family. To be honest, i was more excited about Father's Day than Mother's Day. Don't get me wrong, i love a day dedicated to me as a mother, but there was something about celebrating my husband as a new daddy. I not only took that day as a chance to remind Ryan (my hubby) how great of a father he is to James, but also how great of a man he is in every way.
So i am going to take a few moments to brag on my husband a little bit.
Ryan is - a handy man
- a hardworking man
- a funny man
- a sweet man
- a relaxed man
- an athletic man
- a goodlooking man
- a musical man
- a fatherly man
- a godly man.
Those are just a few of the characteristics that he has. I am so blessed to be married to such a wonderful godsend guy. I am so happy for James to have a dad who is such a great example and role model for him. I would not mind it in the least, if James grew up to be just like his dad.

JAMES WATCHING HIS DADDY MOW THE YARD

JAMES WANTING TO PLAY GUITAR LIKE HIS DADDY










Saturday, June 12, 2010

5k run


My husband signed us both up for a 5k race in Covington. I was so excited...but very nervous. THe last time that i had ran was before i was pregnant. I knew this was going to be a challenge.
This morning, i woke up to the alarm and also the sound of heavy rain beating against our roof. Ryan and i just looked at each other and laughed, knowing that we would be running in the rain. My first thoughts were, 'maybe there won't be a lot of people there...and i could actually stand a chance at winning.' When we arrived at the race spot, there were surprisingly a lot of people there. Dedicated Runners. I had to make a more realistic goal - finish the race.
All of the runners crowded around the starting line waiting for them to tell us to run. It was a little scary - you basically are stampeded by other runners trying to get ahead of you. Ryan held onto my hand until we made it out of the crowd. THen began our 3.2 mile run. Did i mention that the entire time we were running it was pouring rain. That made it a little more harder but also more invigorating. At one point i stepped into a huge puddle of water and had water all in my shoes. We kept going. It was nice running with my husband talking...and of course breathing hard. haha. We set a good pace and were doing great. I had a new goal in mind - to not walk, and keep running.
By mile 2, everything was going great except i had awful pains coming from my feet. It almost felt like i had a rock inside my shoe. We kept going until we saw the finish line. Ryan told me, "we need to finish hard." So we sprinted to the finish line. As soon as i made my way passed the finish line i found a spot to take off my shoes and see what was inside my shoes. Turned out, that i had 3 blisters- shoes + wet socks rubbed my feet raw. But, i finished! Yay! Now i am resting my feet after a big breakfast meal from Bob Evans. Yum!

Friday, June 11, 2010

My First Blog


Being my first blog and all, i thought i should blog about the one thing that takes up most of my time and also brings me so much joy...my son, James Ryan Burkart. James is turning 9 months in 4 days. It seems so impossible to say 'the past 9 months have gone by so slow, yet, so fast.' Once you are a parent, you will understand. THe days seem long, but the months/years go by so quick.
As i was putting James down for his nap, i turned on his baby worship/lullaby CD. As soon as i heard the first song play, i was taken aback to the very late hours of the night rocking and feeding him. When i would hear his newborn cry, my motherly instincts would kick in. It was amazing to me how i could still function without any sleep. I would pick him up out of his pack n play and take him to rocking chair in the corner of his nursery. Every night when i would feed him and rock him, i would turn on that same worship lullaby cd.
My body hated getting up every couple of hours, but my heart loved every minute of it. There is nothing like rocking your baby to sleep when the whole house is quiet.
James is far from being a newborn now. Instead of me constantly having to carry him, he is crawling and attempting to walk. He is slowly turning into a independent little baby boy. I am so proud but also sad. I still picture him as that little newborn that i would rock to sleep in the wee hours of the night.
You can take this as a reminder, if you have a baby, take in every single moment....the moments go by fast.