Finally some new (old) pics!

My two men on Easter morning. At the Minnesota Zoo.

Just playing in the church nursery.

There's that cute "nose wrinkle" that everyone loves!

Feed me, mommy!

Back Home

Sorry, guys. I said I was going to try and post every day while I was gone to the Mall of America, but after shopping all day I was too tired to think about it. We had a blast, though. I think shopping at our mall will be forever ruined for me. As our kids said when we came back into Fort Smith and saw our mall, "It's so small!"

Cayson was so good on our trip. Especially considering it was an 11 hour drive. We only had to stop a couple times. There were a couple of times that I was glad for Razr phones and tons of funny ringtones, though! They helped keep him distracted.

I'll try to post some pictures later. Right now I'm posting from Bertha, my super old laptop that pretty much only functions for getting on the internet. All of our pictures are on Shaun's laptop.

Anyway, it was such a neat trip. We even got a chance to share Jesus with some girls that we met. I would definitely recommend adding the Mall of America to your "must do" vacation list. Even if you don't like shopping, there's something for everyone!

Boy has it been a while!

There may not be much to this post. But I hadn't posted in a while so I thought I'd put the millions of people who wait by the computer for my next post out of their misery. Ha!

Well, the big news in our midst is the stomach virus. It started with me last Thursday, then spread to Shaun, and now Shaun's sister and her best friend have it. Plus tons of people from church. I'm not totally convinced mine was a stomach virus, though. It seemed more like food poisoning to me. But that's here nor there. Whatever it was, was bad!

We went to Warren Thursday night to see my family...yeah that's when I got sick. So it was not a good trip. Fortunately, Cayson had a doctor's appointment Friday and I was able to get a prescription for some medicine. (Throwing up in the doctor's office does have it's good points!) It's funny, the first thing he asked me was if I was pregnant. Suzanne, if she gets to read this, will see the humor in this. But no, I am not pregnant. I am very positive in that! (I actually took a test to be sure!) By the time we went home on Saturday, I was feeling much better. Just weak.

By the way, Cayson's appointment went well. He weighs a whopping 19.4 pounds and is 27 and 3/4 inches long. He is in the 75th to 90th percentile in everything. I got me a big 'un!

When we got home on Saturday night, we had messages from our GUEST SPEAKER for Sunday saying he wasn't feeling well and might not be able to preach. Our pastor is out of town so Shaun had to start studying, just in case. Fortunately, Lee was able to make it. Although he wasn't feeling his best. He had the bug too.

Sunday afternoon we took the youth to Winter Jam 2007 in Little Rock. It was pretty awesome. Over a 1000 kids got saved. On the way home, Shaun got sick. Fortunately we still had my medicine so I doped him up when we got him home and he slept all night and all day Monday. So Monday I played nurse as well as trying to keep Cayson as far away as possible. Amazingly, he did not get sick! The bug is still going around, so please pray that he stays well (and that we don't get sick again).

Spring break is next week. We're taking the youth to Minneapolis, Minnesota to the Mall of America. I'm so excited! Pray for us as we travel next week! I think our hotel has internet so I'll try to post while we're there.

Helping Mommy with Laundry

So Cute!!!

Bathtime

Vote for Cayson!

We entered Cayson's picture in a local radio station's cutest baby DJ contest. So please vote for him! You can vote multiple times (hint, hint).

This is a month long contest, so vote daily!

Once you click the link, you will see a link that says "click here to start rating pictures" so click it.

Vote for Cayson!

Thanks!

Getting Out of the Pit

I wrote the following late last night. I was too tired to finish so instead of posting I saved it. I will give you more thoughts at the bottom.
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Wow. What an awesome God I serve. Words really can't describe just how wonderful He is. I know I fail to even try too many times. However, today I was reminded. My God is phenomenal. He did some mighty works today.

Today, our church hosted Beth Moore Live Via Satelite. We were one of about 500 churches across North America. In all, there were about 150,00 women (mostly anyway) all gathered to worship God at the same time. Very powerful.

We began planning this event just under 2 months ago. Not very long at all considering the magnitude of an event like this. But God totally ordained this event. He called one of our ladies to head this up. And she was obedient to His will. He certainly blessed because of it.

We had some obstacles in our way. This biggest being this was a satelite broadcast--LIVE--and there was potential for bad weather to interfere. And in case of inclement weather, the alternate plan was a high speed internet broadcast. Guess what our "high speed" internet is: satelite. That's all we can get in little bitty Central City (other than dial-up). So pretty much we would be outta luck if inclement weather arose. Which if any of you paid attention to the weather today, it was bad. But we had been praying all along for 1. good weather and if not 2. a clear broadcast. Today, during the first worship session, the satelite did go out briefly. But we all starting praying-Shaun laid hands on the satelite equipment-and it came back...and stayed on! Praise God!

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Whew! What a day. I was curious as to how I would feel the "morning after" such an awesome event. If it was just a mountain-top experience, or really life-changing. I guess I won't know if it's life-changing or not until later, but I will say this: the devil tried really hard to get me down this morning. I didn't get much sleep (thanks Cayson!) and I woke up with a sore throat. I was in a foul mood. However today actually turned out to be an awesome day. I had to make the decision that I was going to worship my God despite my weak flesh. God is good.

Now, more about yesterday. The thing that I thought was so neat about yesterday was how the weather reflected the state of our spiritual selves. When we arrived, it was dark and gloomy, with storms all over the place. There were also many women who were facing their own storms. Including a lady sitting in front of me. I have no idea what was going on with her, but I knew she was broken. Rhonda, our leader, had us sitting at the back so that we could see everyone and be able to pray for those that might be visibly needing it. So I began praying for her. I prayed for her all day. The message was "Get Out of that Pit". Anyway, by the end of the day, during the third session, she made the comment "The storm is over." I assume she meant her spiritual storm. Then I glanced at the door and beautiful sunlight was pouring in. So many women were set free from bondage and the sunlight was such a beautful picture of that transformation.

God really brought a lot to my attention, as well, but that's for another blog, another day! Goodnight everyone and have a great week!

Random happenings

Yay! Cayson is sitting in a high chair now! Well, actually it's not an actual high chair. It's a booster seat that straps into a chair and it has a tray like a high chair. It works just as well and doesn't take up near as much room. Anyway, he is doing so great. And he knows that when he gets strapped in that it's feedin' time!

Speakin' of feedin', tonight we found something that Cayson does NOT like: peas! I really don't blame him, either. He made the funniest face. I hated to laugh at him, but it was too cute. He won the battle tonight, but we're going to try again tomorrow night.

In other news, our student ministry room is almost finished! This picture is taken from the cafe area that we created. If you can't tell, the ceiling is black, walls are bright red, the "chair rail" is sheet metal, and the floors are hard wood. In the cafe area, one of our church members, who is a contractor, took plaster and "bricked" the walls. It looks and feels like brick, but it's really not! How cool is that?

This is one of the entrances to the cafe area. Notice the "brick".

This has been such a long and drawn out project. It's nice to know it's almost done. And best of all, our kids are getting excited about it.

Well, I guess that's it for tonight. Oh, wait, I have to brag on my hubby for a minute. He's so good to me! For Valentine's day he woke me up with breakfast in bed. He served me eggs, bacon, waffles, and this:

It's a journey necklace. I was very, very surprised!

Ok, now I'm done! Goodnight all!

I love this picture. It's a little bit hard to tell in the picture, but Cayson is so ticklish! Especially on the neck and when you have lots of facial hair like his daddy does! He was laughing so hard! Very cute!

Here's another picture so you can see how much he's grown. He's up to 19 pounds now! Oh, and that's his newest outfit...his daddy picked it out for him!

Pray for me

Please! I really miss my family. I haven't seen them in little over a month now. I'm still not used to that. It's just hard to get away; especially when we have to be back for church on Sunday. Plus, with gas the way it is, we just can't afford to go a lot. So remember me in your prayers, please!

Cayson Updates

Sorry it's been so long since I posted. I haven't been able to collect my thoughts lately. I've had some good ideas for a few posts, but just a lack of energy to put much more thought into it. So, like Suzanne over at Joyful Chaos, you just get an update.

We started Cayson on carrots this past week! It's his first vegetable. At first he didn't act like he liked them, but after he got used to it, he did pretty good. We started green beans last night. It actually went pretty well.

Also, here's some pretty exciting news: Cayson sat up by himself for several minutes last night! In this picture, he's kind of leaning forward a bit, but he definitely sat straight up for a little while! I'm so proud! And an added bonus was that it happened while talking to my parents via web cam. They got to witness the whole thing.

Now, for my weekly-ish question. I cannot get Cayson to take a bottle. It's not too big of a deal, except I can't really leave him with anyone for an extended period of time. And it's not that I want to leave him a lot, but there are a few occassions that it would be nice if I could have a babysitter. Our bi-monthly outreach night is one example. He won't even take one if I'm not in the room. And we tried to introduce a sippy cup. He liked it at first, but hasn't liked it since. So, any ideas?

Bundle of Emotions

Cayson is 5 months old today. Oh. My. Gosh. Time is really flying by. And for some reason, this was really hard for me to handle. I guess because it's almost 6 months. And that's half of a year. So, anyway, I've been pretty emotional this past week. And a certain monthly visitor that I haven't seen in exactly one year who decided to show up this week did not help. I had forgotten what mood swings felt like! But, boy, did I have some this week! Yesterday, I found a stray newborn diaper that we didn't use...and I burst into tears. I couldn't help it. It was so small and my son used to fit into it. I just kept saying, "My baby is growing up!" And, of course, Shaun has the nerve (or the good sense, one) to say, "Yeah, isn't it exciting?" And it really is exciting. It seems he learns something new every day. It's such a joy to watch him. (Oh, and Shaun also said, "Do you want another one?" to which I immediately answered "Yes!" But I do want to wait a little while.)

In other news, I need your prayers. I've been slipping in my resolutions. Some are doing great, but others are falling by the wayside. I've determined to start fresh tomorrow.

We had an absolutely awesome time of worship today. Russ has been preaching on spiritual disciplines. Today's was worship. That is such a hot topic in churches today. It seemed like everyone was on their seats today. (I get a good view from the choir loft.) Which is a good thing, definitely. I know I was definitely convicted of some things. The music was awesome, too. Except for one part where we were singing a medley of "In the Cross", "Worthy is the Lamb", and "Crown Him with Many Crowns" and the part where it went to "Crown Him..." I kinda kept singing "Worthy..." and basically stepped in a big hole, as my voice teacher would have said. Very humbling. Oh well, I was closing my eyes instead of looking at my music.

Well, I have to pick up my living room and head to bed. Have a great week!

Do you love American Idol?

I do, so I decided to create a blog centered around it. I always have a lot of opinions so I thought I'd share them. Please visit me!

Brittany's American Idol Blog

How My Life Has Changed Since Pregnancy and Becoming a New Mommy

In no particular order and this is probably not all of them!

Obvious: gained 35 pounds and am now almost 10 pounds lighter than before. However, my body is in completely different shape than before. And I'm a size larger. Everything "shifted" into different places!

I used to read about a book every 2 or 3 days. I haven't read a book since about a month before Cayson was born.

I do twice as much laundry (or so it seems).

I have to plan my showers, etc., in advance, where before I could take a shower when I wanted to.

I don't like certain foods anymore.

There are certain foods that I LOVE now that I hated before, like sweet potato french fries from Marketplace. I crave those things now! If you've never eaten at Marketplace, get yourself to Conway, Fort Smith, or Springdale (I think, it's somewhere in NWA) and try it out!

My hair has gone from being pretty thick and an average brown color (pre-preggo) to very, very thick and dark brown (preggo) to droopy and drab brown (immediate post-partum to 3 months after) to falling out by the handfuls and better brown (3 months post-partum) to shiny and almost normal (now).

This one's TMI so if you don't want to read...don't. I never had a...click here to find out, but I'm warning you...before pregnancy.

I'm less self-centered.

I've learned what unconditional love really means.

I know what it feels like to want better for you son than you had.

I have been "that" woman since Cayson's birth. The one who gets offended if you try to tell her how to raise her kids. It was just once, but this woman that I don't even know (she was a clerk at the Hog store in the mall) heard Cayson cry and insisted that he was hungry. When I knew that he had just finished eating not 15 minutes before. She insisted that because he was chewing on his hand that he was hungry when in fact he was just teething and pretty sleepy, too. Needless to say, my husband ushered me out pretty quick!

I know how to distinguish my baby's cries! Before I thought that was amazing that moms could listen to their baby cry and know what they wanted.

A typical grocery store night includes: Feeding Cayson right before we leave, going to Sam's (we don't always do this), stopping at McDonald's to get something to eat, parking in a discreet parking place in the Wal-mart parking lot, feeding Cayson while munching on McDonald's and watching an episode from "House" (usually), going inside Wal-mart, Shaun ending up holding Cayson because he's now full and sleepy, Cayson finally going to sleep, getting home later than we wanted.

Before: we'd go whenever we wanted and stay however long we wanted.

Before when a movie was coming out on DVD that we really, really wanted we would go to Wally world the night before it was supposed to come out and stay until after midnight and get it. Now we're lucky if we get it at all. (Although Shaun did make a special trip to Wal-mart to pick up season 2 of Grey's Anatomy.)

I have the "mommy nose". Where I can change the most foul of diapers and it wouldn't faze me a bit. Before, I have almost gotten sick over things like that.

I worry about germs more.

I used to go to the church 2 or 3 times a week (not counting Sundays and Wednesdays) to help my husband with various ministry stuff. Now I'm doing really good to make it on Sundays and Wednesdays!

I never missed church before, not since marrying Shaun, anyway. I had to be really sick. I think I missed maybe twice, once for our honeymoon and once for being sick. Since being pregnant I've missed about 5 or 6 Sundays and more Wednesdays than that. (The reasons why were either morning sickness, tonsilitis (me), and Cayson has been sick a few times.)

I used to sleep all night, without waking up at all. Now I get up at least once a night to feed Cayson and during pregnancy it was to go to the restroom.

TMI alert..........................................I haven't had a monthly visitor in a year. (I don't mind that a bit!)

Ok, this list is getting long so I'll wrap it up. I know there are more, so maybe I'll do a part 2 later.

The best change from pre-preggo to post is I have the sweetest baby boy that I love so much!

Despite a very wet and cold Sunday morning, we had a wonderful time of worship this morning. The music was awesome, Russ's sermon was inspiring and convicting, and my son was soooo cute!

An anonymous donor gave the money to buy a new projector last fall, and we recently installed it. Our old projector is now on the back wall so the choir can see the words, too. This has worked out so well thus far. It is so nice to be able to look straight back and see the words (if you need them) and to have your hands free to worship. Plus, I think it helps the choir connect with the congregation better. Also, we don't use nearly as much paper now that we don't have to copy music for the choir.

Russ has started a new series for the new year. It's about spiritual disciplines. This week's was on knowing the Word of God. He called it God's M & M's (Memorize, Meditate, and Study). It's just so important to know God's Word. I'm very thankful to Jeff for discipling me way back in my freshman year of college. Under his leadership I learned a great way to memorize, meditate, and study Scripture. And I still remember those verses that I memorized! So thanks, Jeff!

In other news, it is so cold up here! We're supposed to get ice sometime tonight. Pray that we don't lose power. We're all electric, so it would muy frio if we did!

P.S. You know I can't blog without mentioning Cayson. (Well, I did in the first paragraph, but I didn't tell you why he was so cute.) He wore a new outfit today; one that we got him for Christmas. It was a blue, orange, yellow, brown, and green striped knit rugby sweater with matching mittens and toboggan.

A little humor

I have felt like this a lot!

Resolutions Update

Well, I had planned to do a weekly update on our resolutions, which would have been on Monday, but I didn't get around to it. I'd like to say things are going well, but...

First let me tell you the positive things.

My time alone with God has been going very well. I've missed a couple of days, but those days we were in Warren visiting with my parents. (I know, it's not an excuse.)

We started praying over Cayson every night before we put him to bed. This time has become so precious to me.

We also started getting up together and eating breakfast.

Housekeeping has been going fairly well. The house isn't spotless, but the last few days have been better, and I've actually known what I was going to fix for lunch and dinner for more than an hour in advance. Which is definitely progress.

I've lost one pound. No exercise yet, though. Our plan to get up early to go walking hasn't worked because it's been extremely cold these past few mornings and Cayson has had a cold for a few days. My total weight loss is 43 pounds since August 28, 2006. (35 of that is pregnancy weight.)

We did create a budget. But this is where it's not going great yet. I don't want to go into details, but please pray for us in this area. I think everything that could go wrong has this week. Well, not everything, but it sure seems that way. Fortunately, we have been down this road before. At our first church as a married couple, our bills were more than Shaun's salary. And that was without cable, internet, and phone. We only had a cell phone because it was provided by the church. And I was still in school commuting an hour both ways, 5 days a week. And God brought us through it. In fact, on paper there's no way we should have been able to survive, but we always had enough. So I know He'll bring us through this time as well.

New Year, New Woman

In honor of the upcoming new year, I am going to post my new year's resolutions. I think this will help me to be more accountable. Plus, the name of my blog is "Becoming...a better wife, mother, and follower of Christ." And I really don't talk about that very much, except the mother part, anyway. All of my resolutions ultimately have to do with those 3 things. My goal is to post them today and try to update once a week on how they're going. I hope this isn't a total bomb, but I've never really done this before (and been serious about it.) Pray for me as I start this journey!

Better wife

1. Nail down a good budget.

This one is mine and Shaun's. We've always had a budget of sorts, but lately we haven't stuck to it very well.

2. Plan my days better.

I'm not good with housecleaning and organization, so I'm going to start setting goals for the day, week, etc., and work at achieving those goals. I know that it will be impossible at this stage in my life to actually say "8:00 do this" because of Cayson. He's on a pretty good schedule, but I need to be flexible for him. So I think setting goals will be better.

3. Pray for husband more often.

I do this on a fairly regular basis, but it can stand some improvement.

4. Exercise more.

Actually, remove the "more". Because exercising isn't happening right now! I have lost all of my pregnancy weight, but I had gained some before I got pregnant that I am now working on. I've already lost 7 pounds below my pg weight.

Better Mother

1. Pray for my son more.

Again, this is happening, but it could be even better.

2. Spend more time playing with him.

This really isn't that hard!

*I guess the things I mentioned in the "Better wife" category will also make me a better mother as well!

Better follower of Christ

*I should have put this one at the top, because becoming a better follower of Christ will make me both a better wife and mother. But save the best for last, I guess.

1. Make time to spend with God.

I have to be more intentional about this. Otherwise, the day just gets away from me.

2. Pray more.

3. Go.

Matthew 28:19-20. This is our theme for our church this year. I need to be more intentional about meeting people and conversations I have.

Well, there it is. Shaun and I have some more that we've decided on as a family. One that I will share is we are going to invite at least 1 different couple over or out each month. Since we've been here, our circle of friends has gotten very small. It happened before we realized it. We made friends that we are very comfortable around and that's who we kinda stuck with. But we want to strive to "open the circle" and get to know some more couples. I'll try to update you on this as it happens. Please pray for us as we start this new year. I got a great start today (even though it's still 2006). I woke up feeling very refreshed and excited about going to worship. My outlook just seemed brighter today. Pray that I will remember these resolutions, even on days not like today!

I love you guys. Happy New Year!

Brittany

Just to let you know...

all is well in the Martin household! (No, you didn't miss anything, I just hadn't posted any news in a while.)

Christmas went pretty much without a hitch. It wasn't quite what I expected, mainly because our traditions were "off". I am used to making a Christmas Eve "rush" to see all of my family and Shaun's. This year, we went to Warren over the weekend and came back on Saturday the 23rd. We went to church on Christmas Eve and spent that evening at Shaun's parents. Christmas day we actually got to sleep in a little bit. This will probably be the last Christmas morning that will happen for a while! And I did some cleaning...yes, on Christmas morning! Shaun's parents wanted to come see Cayson "open" his gifts so while we waited on them I cleaned. Cayson actually didn't open his gifts until about noon! That probably won't ever happen again either, for a while anyway! He really did a good job. He loved the ribbon and the paper. And he loved chewing on his new clothes. He also got some toys, but I think he will have to grow into them a little.

That night, Shaun and I prepared a special dinner for just the two of us. Roast duck, twice baked mashed potatoes, and sweet green beans. It was wonderful! Then we opened our gifts to each other. It really was a nice day. Just different without my family.

Our worship time on Sunday was really special, in my opinion. There were several technical bloopers, which irks Shaun, but as I told him, it was still a really worshipful time. There is just something really special about being in church at Christmastime.

Well, I guess I need to get off of here. We spent the whole day today, just being lazy. It felt good, but now I need to clean! Oh, I get to see Lee Ann and Taylor tomorrow!

Happy New Year!