On the reading list...

Aside from holding fast to the Word, I have been reading a lot of different books these days. Some how staying off of facebook has opened up lots of avenues during nap time:) Most recently The Birthbook by Dr. Sears. Natural birth is pretty intimidating to me, even after having endured 12 hours of labor drug free, there are so many different variables that go into each birth, and so many possible complications. While Im not a pessimist, (I think this birth will go great), I am a realist and understand that there are risks with any delivery, drugs or not. This book has calmed my fears once and is slowly doing the same for the pending arrival of Wyatt- honestly though, I fear that big needle for an epidural or the possibility of a c-section much more than I fear sitting in transition for an hour or two!

Toddlerwise has been another quick read for me. We are moving into/have been in a season of constant correction and redirection for Speirs, which has been exhausting to say the least. With his feet able to take him where he desires to go, mischief and curiousity are always in pursuit. So since Craig and I have taken the advice of the Toddlerwise authors before, while reading Babywise, and the results were fantastic, I decided there was no harm in reading what they had to say about this upcoming year in the life of our toddler. I feel energized and refreshed with a slightly different perspective on the correction that Speirs certainly needs-and ready to get really serious about actively parenting. And once again Babywise is on the to read list these days. We are getting down to the wire and I can't help but feel like I have forgotten the wise council I was given so long ago:) 33 weeks tomorrow and so much to accomplish in the next 6-7 weeks! Happy Monday!

1.21 Workday

I have been so excited to see how the future home of 1.21 church at 903 N. Cherry Street has been restored over the past months. There have been quite a few people who have put endless hours into getting the building ready to pass code, painting, construction work, cleaning up and it really looks great! This past weekend was one of the final, if not the final work day in the new building, and Craig along with other men from our church showed up to help. Speirs and I delivered lunch and one of our friends Daniel, who is a student at the School of the Arts got some really cute shots of Speirs. I am blessed to have friends with such talent!

I love this picture of Craig and Speirs!

Elmo

These pictures were too cute to pass up. Speirs carried around his Elmo live today and had a bit of trouble actually picking him up. Enjoy!

Facebook: Friend or Foe?

Facebook. The wonderful social networking tool that has plenty of us "networked," but at what cost? Sure, I "love" spending mindless hours looking at "friends" pictures and reading the deep or witty things that my acquaintances have to say; however, I have recently been convicted over the amount of time I spend on this great networking tool. I have replaced deep meaningful relationships, with the occasional post on a wall. Even, great friends who I have the opportunity to dig deeper with, be discipled by, be held accountable for my actions to, and "do life" together with I have chosen to communicate with via facebook instead of picking up the phone and making actual contact. Seems like, in my case anyway, that something that was meant to bring us all closer together has driven many of us into complacency, especially when it comes to gospel-centered friendships, and it is for this reason that I have been much grieved lately.

In addition, my time with family is in serious need of redemption. I can't tell you how many hours have been wasted on the internet when I could be doing things to free up my time with Craig and Speirs. But selfishly, I have chosen to seek my own and justified it with so many excuses.

With that, I am deactivating and stepping away from facebook for a while-possibly forever. There was life before facebook, right? The old days of email and telephone calls are back for this lady. I will continue to blog, thankfully without the distraction and curiousity of what everyone is doing, so my time on the internet should be shorter. I pray that this time is redeemed for the glory of Christ and not for myself, that I would pursue sanctification with the help of the Spirit through the Word, prayer, my marriage, family and friends. My email address is brittany.west519@gmail.com if you need to get up with me....and ofcourse here on Days Like This:)

31 weeks....or so

We were able to see precious Wyatt once again during an ultrasound today. He has been moving around quite a bit, so it was nice to see how he was positioned! The ultrasound was being used to measure Wyatt and make sure that the due date was pretty much still the same. He measured about four days ahead and weighed around 4 pounds. Really? 4 pounds already?...good grief. So we still have 8 weeks or more to go! Ive attached two pictures: one from the first scan at 20 weeks and then his profile from today 31 weeks.

1.21 Corporate Worship

I love worshiping corporately at Foothills in Downtown! Sunday mornings are such a blessing:) That is all.

Where...

Have we been? Good question. The month of December flew by in a flash leaving us with a pile of new toys and hopes for another amazing year. During our last Advent Series sermon at 1.21, we were encouraged to look back over 2009 and reflect on the many blessings God in his mercy has poured out on us. A great exercise that until now I haven't taken the time to do. BUT here are a few that I can think of off hand.

1. Our marriage has grown in leaps and bounds toward Christ-centeredness (this is definitely a gift and not something that we were able to muster up)
2. We have been blessed to watch our first son grow up and meet so many new and exciting milestones that included walking in December.
3. We were excited to find out Wyatt Jude will be joining us in April and so far he is super healthy.
4. Financially, God has provided and made us extremely thankful for the things we have.
5. People and blogs have been placed in my life to teach me how to be more frugal and to learn how to coupon:)
Annnd the list goes on....

I am hoping to post some pictures documenting the later portion of our year but my computer is not in the best of shape...so for now Im just writing. Happy 2010! I hope yours has started amazing!