31 Days of Going From Mama to Mimi - DAY TWENTY NINE

Stories of Hope, Joy and Transition!

***

No Fear In Love...

I love this song... and if there is any anthem I want to sing over Lil' Miss, it is this one!

"Stir in me a love that's deep

A love that's wide, a love that's sweet

And help me Lord to never keep it to myself

And if my heart should dimly burn

And if my feet should fail to run

Call my name and I will come right back to You

Cause there's no fear in love

There's no fear in love..."

Go ahead... turn up the volume and let this song wash over you! 

(I encourage you to listen to the song before we pray!)

Let's pray:

Father God... 

We thank You that there is no fear in love. 

We thank You that even when worry and doubt

and unbelief and confusion begin to

whisper lies to our hearts,

we know Your Truth whispers

louder and sinks in deeper. 

We thank You that You call our name...

As we transition to Mama's and Mimi's,

the enemy throws all kinds of unknowns

that attempt to sow fear

--sometimes out in the open, 

and sometimes quietly,

almost undetected.

The cry of our heart is that

Love will chase away fear,

and faith will rise up

and take root in our hearts... 

and in the heart of this

precious new Little One, too!

We pray for peace...

and we pray for boldness and brave.

We believe they can go hand in hand!

We pray that we will not keep

Your Name or Your Love a secret

but we will shout it out from the rooftops

and whisper it soft as we are

rocking this gift (back!) to sleep!

Lord, we really DO just want

to stay close to You!

Help us to keep it

that simple!

We thank You, Jesus

for how you cast out all fear, 

for You are Perfect Love!

(1 John 4:18)

Holy Spirit, we thank You

that You are constantly interceding on our behalf

and that You reveal all truth.

When fear sneaks in,

he tells us lies that are easy to believe.

But You rush in...

You sing over us.

Help us to lean in and listen closely!

May we hear the sounds of Heaven

and the Voice of our Beloved,

as the answers to our prayers are released!

Amen!

***

"I wanna stay close to You

It's really that simple

I wanna stay close to You

Just as simple as this song

I wanna stay close to You

It's really that simple

I wanna stay close to You

My whole life long."

THAT is my prayer... for myself, for my Girlie and Lil' Miss... and for you too, sweet reader!

And lastly, a picture just for fun:

Can you EVEN with her adorableness?  
#Gah! #Swoon #TotesAdorbs #Preshie

Can you believe we are already almost DONE?  Tomorrow we will dig in to the topic of Healthy Boundaries a little further! No matter WHAT season you are in or what role you have... we ALL need to remember the vital importance of setting and respecting boundaries! I hope you'll join in on the conversation!

Today is Day Twenty Nine of 31 Days of Going From Mama to Mimi! If you click over to the official 'Home page' for this series HERE, you can catch up! You will find links for each days' postings, added daily throughout the month. If you'd prefer to have them delivered right to you, I invite you to enter your email address to the right ('Subscribe Here') and subscribe to the blog. That way, once a week, each post is delivered to your inbox in a single email over the weekend and you'll be sure not to miss a thing!

31 Days of Going From Mama to Mimi - DAY TWENTY ONE

Stories of Hope, Joy and Transition!

***

Hello there, Sabbath Rest!

We are so ready for you!

"...we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing."  Ephesians 2:10 The Message

"For we are the product of His hand, heaven’s poetry etched on lives, created in the Anointed, Jesus, to accomplish the good works God arranged long ago."  Ephesians 2:10 The Voice

Can you even? Gah! We love her so much!

Why is it when we look at newborns and babes, we can see so clearly that we are His masterpieces... each one, individually created with such love and beauty --and yet when we look in the mirror or around us at -uh, 'taller' peers, it's harder to see and remember?

Father G (Gregory Boyle) recently gave a talk in our City and he said this:

"You are exactly what God had in mind when God made you!" 

Man... what would happen if we would simply believe this?

We'll be back tomorrow with A Song and A Prayer!
Until then, let's remember to:

Today is Day Twenty One of 31 Days of Going From Mama to Mimi! If you click over to the official 'Home page' for this series HERE, you can catch up! You will find links for each days' postings, added daily throughout the month. If you'd prefer to have them delivered right to you, I invite you to enter your email address to the right ('Subscribe Here') and subscribe to the blog. That way, once a week, each post is delivered to your inbox in a single email over the weekend and you'll be sure not to miss a thing!

31 Days of Going From Mama to Mimi - DAY SEVENTEEN

This is Day Seventeen in our 31 Days series: Going from Mama to Mimi - Stories of Hope, Joy, & Transition...

Becoming Papa & Mimi...

Maybe it was not even a conversation or a thought... 

Maybe you simply went by what your kids called your own parents... 

Or maybe you picked out a name but it came out differently --but oh so perfectly, spilling from your own grand babies lips once they could talk.

Maybe you didn't like "Grandpa" or "Grandma" because --gah! We're just not that old... (yet!) 

31 Days of Going From Mama to Mimi - DAY SIXTEEN

This is Day Sixteen in our 31 Days series: Going from Mama to Mimi - Stories of Hope, Joy, & Transition...

Growing a Baby AND a Mom!

How many of you remember that nine months can seem to take FOREVER? (Especially that last month or two, right?)

It takes a long time to grow a baby... 
    and just as long to grow a Mama, too!

There is so much going on in the process and passing of nine months... so many changes and shifts and adjustments made --both physically, and emotionally!

No matter how the nine months began --a long awaited for announcement or a surprised shock of new news... no matter how ready or not ready we may think we are-- it takes every moment of growing Baby in the womb, to begin to grow Mama in the wonder.

Whether you are Type A and have color-coded plans, or you are more of a laid back, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type... the time it takes for God to form and fashion this new baby is also used to form and fashion the new Mama you are growing into!

31 Days of Going From Mama to Mimi - DAY SIX - STORY... a Five Minute Friday post.

This is Day Six of the #Write31Days series, but we are playing along with the #fmfparty community! Here we go: This is a Five Minute Friday post, which simply means I set a timer and free write for five minutes flat on the one word prompt of: STORY

{GO}

Because... PERFECT, right? I mean... come on!

Because you can't really talk about Family and not talk about Story.  

All the while, when we think we are writing our Story... adding in characters and creating scenes to be remembered long after the last page is read, the reality is that
God is the Author of our Story!

He is the One writing it down, and we remember this oh so clearly when we find ourselves rolling with the twists and turns that we would have never penciled in ourselves.

But God...
    (I mean, right?)

I mean --some of the hardest and most unexpected plot twists of my life have led me down the BEST story lines!

31 Days of Going From Mama to Mimi... DAY FIVE

This is Day Five in our 31 Days series: Going from Mama to Mimi - Stories of Hope, Joy, & Transition...

Grace! Grace!

Yesterday we talked a bit about Getting the News... whether it was all joy and celebration, or a little tainted with confusion and fear.

So of course today we will tackle a bit about:
Grace!
  Oh how we all need it --in any given situation!  

It seems when new life is being formed in us, --physically or spiritually speaking, we need it even more!

I'm not sure about you and your story --but I know for me, when I got the news that we were expecting our own baby, I felt elated and terrified at the same exact moment.

Because, who feels confident and ready and fully capable from the very beginning? 

Maybe some people.  
But not me.

It did me well to remember this when we got the news of becoming Papa and Mimi earlier this year!

31 Days of Going From Mama to Mimi - DAY FOUR

This is Day Four in our 31 Days series: Going from Mama to Mimi - Stories of Hope, Joy, & Transition...

Getting the News!!!

Sometimes this is super exciting and the timing seems perfect and it's something you have been longing for or maybe even hinting at --the whole wanting to be a Mimi thing! 

Sometimes getting the news feels like it is long overdue and something you had almost given up hope for... College took years and then finding the right mate and then careers and life unfolding...

And sometimes it is news that you were in no way expecting... you weren't ready for it... weren't prepared... hadn't even thought to hope for it quite yet.

But at all times, no matter what the surrounding situation,
Life is Gift and the Giver is Good!

We fell in to that last category of not expecting or being prepared for the news...