Lingering Words

I am in the second to last week study by Lysa Terkeurst called Unglued. It has been a phenomenal study for my sister and I. Each week I have challenged to change my reactions based on a biblical reality rather than my own raw emotions.

This week the challenge is to empty yourself of the damaging labels you have made for yourself and replace them with lingering words. In other words, how do I want to be known. I am still in the process of narrowing down a couple of my other categories but one I have definitely decided on is thankful. I want to be known as a woman with a thankful heart. I want to be thankful in the midst of plenty and little. I find myself so often listing all the things that I wish I could have, or change, or do. I am emptying myself of that label "never fulfilled" and replacing it with thankful.

Yesterday I prayed that God would begin to work on my heart to be filled with thanks. I challenged myself that one time during this week when I was faced with a situation that angered me I would find time to first Thank Him. Two hours later, I am running in the beautiful sunshine and loving the 80+ degree weather. I made the halfway turn and was pushing my double stroller up a hill that always makes a good challenge. This hill runs right alongside a golf cart path in my neighborhood and I came upon 4 older gentlemen driving to their next hole. The first cartful waved and gave me a little motivation for running while the second came with a comment. "You need to get your boys some sunglasses." Now, in this moment all I wanted to do was turn around and tell that gentlemen that I offered them to my son and he refused to wear them while my eight month old would just eat them so none of this was my fault. I didn't neglect my children's needs, I am a good mom, etc. Basically, I had an unglued moment within myself! I made it about another 1/2 mile and all this internal demeaning chatter in my head just overcame me and I stopped running. Along came a rush of another set of thoughts... "You can't even finish a 3 mile run. How do you ever expect to be prepared for a 10k in a month and half?" All these are lies that I can quickly let myself get trapped in if I don't look to Jesus first.

Right there in the middle of the sidewalk this little voice in my head said "Did you mean it? Will you be thankful in the midst of anger?" I stopped walking and just aloud started spewing off all the things I was thankful for. It started with the things I can always find easily. Thank you for the beautiful sky, the warm sunshine, my wonderful sons and husband. In the middle of all this Levi says "Mommy, are you still going to run and stop talking?" I laughed and told him that I would walk but he would have to listen to all the things I was thankful for right now. I even got to the point that I thanked God for the gentleman who had concern for my children's eye safety. I was not saying this mockingly, I really did and do mean it! God gave me the grace to have my heart turned around 2 hours after I resolved to become a thankful woman. Wow!

I pray he gives me more opportunities to show my thankful heart. I want people to hear the name Alex and think she is so thankful. I have a long way to go but I am making imperfect progress!

 

How could I not be thankful for this goofball? My little lunar boy or as I was calling him my looney boy:)

Reflection and Resolution

It's that time of year...

As I look back on this year, I have so many things to be thankful for. I am so thankful that my husband has stepped out of his financial comfort zone and completely supported me in staying at home. I know that this season of life with my two boys being little will pass so quickly and I know that I will never look back and regret the decision to put teaching on hold to be at home with my kids. I count this as the biggest blessing of 2012.

I have been thinking a lot about what changes I have made for the better (or not) and this has made me resolve to make some changes for the year 2013.

#1. Find joy in the moment. (This is something I have been really trying to focus on for the past month but I know I need practice. My Type-A personaility wants to have a clean house, all the landry finished, children with perfect manners, daily lessons I write and complete with the kids, execersized, and a steaming hot dinner on the table all by 6:00 every day. To this date, this unreasonable expectation causes me to overlook SO many moments that could just bring me joy. I resolve to change this in 2013!)

#2. Believing and Acting on the power of prayer (Although 2012 led to major growth in my prayer life, I feel the need even more to improve upon it. I think back on how often I throw out the phrase, you are in my prayers and how little time I really spent praying for those people in need. I resolve to pray and believe in it's power.)

I feel the need to insert a little side story to this. Practically the moment I found out I was pregnant with Asher I prayed that God would use his life to be a blessing to others. That is why we chose the name Asher which means blessing. I know that he is not even 5 months old yet, but God has blatantly answered my prayers. Asher smiles ALL the time, literally! His first two little sounds sound like "Hi" and "I Love You" to the point that he had a whole table full of people at Chick-Fil-A mimicking him back and forth at lunch today! We left and there were smiles on these people's faces who walked in looking a little worn out ;)

#3. Eat Less, Move More (I don't have any giant aspirations of trying to become a marathon runner at this stage in my life but...I am commiting to running at least two organized 10k's, one in the spring and one in the fall so that I work on getting more consistent with my running again.)

I am putting up my resolutions because it will help me look back and reflect throughout the year. Also, if you are wondering how I am doing with my resolutions please ask me...trust me I need the accountability!!!

A Thousand Gifts

Just before Asher was born, I decided I was going to try to read One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. That idea came and went because Asher was born the next day so I have been reading bit by bit as I find a little time here and there! The major point I have taken from the read so far is to be thankful for the little things in your life each day.


I have decided to start my own list of a thousand gifts God has given me. Each week, I am going to attempt to post a few of the most memorable ones for me. Although this is a challenging time in my life to find the time to sit and think about these things, I think that it's even more important to cherish the little moments of beauty.

1. Morning sun peeking through the bedroom window
2. Taking the time to live fully in a moment
3. Levi's excited squeal "Daddy's home!"
4. Little hugs on an elevator
5. My Bible and morning coffee
6. Our parents prioritizing spending time with us and their grandchildren
7. My husband's call to check on my after a long sleepless night.
8. Peaceful morning walks with my boys.
9. Snuggling with Asher
10. Meals from gracious friends

Graduation Day

Happy Graduation!

Today was a wonderful day of memories but also a little sad. I had a graduation party for the boys today. My daycare closes next Friday. It has been wonderful to have the same little guys the whole time. I have loved watching them grow up and it is so hard for me to imagine not seeing their little smiles everyday. What a time I will cherish! My hope is that we can keep their little friendships strong by getting together for play dates!!



We started our party with a little awards ceremony.

Rowen was awarded for having the largest
vocabulary and the most inventive playing ideas

Elias was awarded for having the best
smile and ability to make everyone
laugh with him.

Levi was awarded for having a never
ending energy supply and the ability
to maintain extreme focus.

Chase was awarded for having the best
belly laugh and sweetest "bye-bye"

After awards, they opened their graduation presents.

Levi's zebra backpack

Elias's penguin backpack

Chase's frog backpack

Rowen's dog backpack

And we had to finish the party off with some artwork. We made little handprint shirts.

Words cannot express how greatful I am that I have gotten to know each of these little guys and their families so well. As we go into the next chapter of life becoming a family of four and myself being a stay at home mommy, I will take all that I have learned from these little guys for sure!

Showered with Love

This past Saturday my sister and mom put on a wonderful Diapers and Dinos Brunch to celebrate my second baby boy, Asher Thomas DeJong. His due date is August 30th and I sure am getting excited as our preparations are becoming complete!

Matt and I just decided on his name as of last week. We had this name in mind for a while but were thinking about all our options first! I love the name Asher because it's not a name you hear everyday and it means happy blessing, which he most certainly is!

Here are some pictures from the shower.

My mom sewed these adorable dino pennants for people to write notes to Asher. They will all be threaded onto a white rope and hung in the boys dinosaur room.

Dinosaur decorations :)



Little dinosaur feet leading to Beka's door

Baby carriage fruit salad

One of the games...pin the baby on mommy. Too funny!

I want to say a big THANK YOU to my sister and mom for all their hardwork and love that went into making the dinos and diapers brunch fantastic. Love to you both. And, thank you to all who came and celebrated with us!

Mystery Christmas Angel

I will preface this little story with a little recap of my day up to this point. Matt, Levi and I all got sick over the holiday weekend and decided to stay home from church on Sunday and watch our service on live stream. As I listened to the service I was struck by how I was being reminded that I am ultimately not the one in control of my life. I can say this MUCH more easily than I live it. I am a planner, I make lists, I check things off and then I make new lists. I have a today plan, a tomorrow plan and a 5 year plan. It really is a little bit ridiculous!! I took some time in the morning to reflect and think about how to make life changes so to speak to show God that I know he is in control of my life.

Not 6 hours later Matt and I are rushing through Walmart trying to get a little artificial Christmas tree and I revert back to listing off what we needed to when we got home and "being the boss" all over again. Levi was throwing quite a fit the whole time we were at Walmart because he had to have this giant candy cane we passed at the beginning of the store. Matt and I were a little bit distracted because of his screaming, etc. Matt told me he would pay and I should just take Levi out to the car.

After everything was in the car we drove home and I continued to think about everything I "needed" to do before the Monday morning came. We pulled in the driveway and went through our routine of Matt emptying the car and me getting Levi unbuckled and grabbing the diaper bag. Well...to my surprise there was no diaper bag.

My blood pressure immediately sky rocketted. I use the diaper bag like it's my purse. It had my car and house keys, my wallet, and obviously all of Levi's stuff for when we are on the go. Matt and I started rushing around calling and putting a hold on our credit cards and trying to figure out what to do.

Matt went back to Walmart to check the parking lot, the carts, and then scouring the aisles to find our "thief". Even though I was rushing around panicking somehow God's calm and quiet presence asked me "Do you think I am big enough to fix this? Do you believe that I am the God of your life? The big things? The little things?" My initial response was to push those thoughts out and say this isn't something God would really care about. It's not life or death. And then I stopped myself and just fell on my knees in our living room. I said God, I can see this is your wake up call to me. A little diaper bag can completely stop me in my tracks. I need you. Our family needs your protection and hand over us.

Now you hear these stories and think, oh that's cute but I am sure it didn't really happen that way. I can assure you it did for me. As I was still on my knees, my doorbell rang. I peeked out and saw a man holding my diaper bag. I was a little nervous thinking about what he was doing at my door but I called Matt quickly and just held onto my phone as I answered the door.

My Christmas Angel stood at the door speaking very broken English. He said "Are you Alexandra Dehong? I said yes and you brought my diaper bag to me. Thank you so much. He responded with these simple words "God bless you." Then he just turned and walked away. I wish I could repay him in some way. Not so much for the "things" in my bag but the undeniable gift from God he gave me. I am sitting in a new light today. I am reminded of the awesome power and grace my God has over my life.

Thank you God for sending my my mystery Christmas angel.

The Teacher in Me

First I would like to welcome myself back to the blogging world. It sure has been a while. Life was and is busy but I want to get back into blogging again. I always enjoy reading everyone else's story so I figure I should write again for anyone that is interested in my life :)

The past few months have had many life changes. I am so blessed to be able to stay home with Levi by opening my home up as a daycare back in January. It has been such a wonderful experience to be with Levi and the other babies in my home and I love it!

I am starting to find ways to bring let the teacher out again. Each month I am starting to pick a theme. This month is family. We made family photo albums and have been practicting everyone's names. Today we finger painted a giant tree that will hang in the playroom for our "daycare family tree". This weekend we will have a daycare family bbq and I hope to take pictures of everyone's family to hang on our tree.

Last month our theme was animals. The babies were all exposed to many animal words and the sounds they make. The youngest baby is 8 months old and the oldest is just about 20 months. (Levi is second oldest at 17 months) So they are young and I always feel quite accomplished after getting an art project accomplished...it's a BIG moment for me everytime :) It's funny because I recently went to a workshop where I was told at this age art is "all about the process, not the product!) but I usually have one they can go wild on and then we have our "teacher led" version to hang or go home!

It's been so much more of a challenge than I thought it would be to go from teaching to home. I have to remind myself in the moments of scrambling to get lunch ready, feed them all, and clean it up that I am still a teacher. I teach them about life and even though I don't have state standards to measure up to anymore, I hope the standards I set for myself and the kids are still "measuring up".