Confessions of the heart

As a first time mom and a speech pathologist I've been constantly worrying about Wes and his development.  I find myself obsessing over developmental norms or comparing him to babies around his age.  For some reason I just can't listen to the words I tell parents everyday, "every child develops at a different rate", or "there isn't an exact time that your child should be doing something...it's a range".  

Basically it comes down to me not trusting God with my fears.  Instead I try and force Wes to do things that he isn't ready for.  I find myself being more of a therapist to Wes rather than being his mommy.  Ugghhh!

Then God spoke to me this morning through the song Your Love by Brandon Heath. 

But Your love
Your love
The only the thing that matters is Your love
Your love is all I have to give
Your love is enough to light up the darkness
It’s Your love
Your love
all I ever needed is Your love

 You’re the hope in the morning
You’re the light when the night is falling
You’re the song when my heart is singing
it’s Your love
You’re the eyes to the blind man
You’re the feet to the lame man walking
You’re the sound of the people singing
It’s Your love

Instead of worrying about when Wes will crawl, walk, talk, I should focus on teaching him the only thing that matters...GOD'S LOVE!

My prayer is that Jonny and I will be a constant example of Christ's love for Wes.  I pray that he knows, at an early age, that Jesus loved him enough to die for him so that he may have eternal life.  

John 3:16

And the moral of the story is...All you need is love!

8 month stud

Well, my little boy is now 8 months (on the 14th, yeah I'm a little behind on the blogging). I'm not sure how this can be.  The time is just flying by and I'm trying to soak up every minute of it.  Wes is probably one of the happiest babies I've ever seen.  All I have to do is look at him and he will smile or giggle.  I love seeing him so happy.  It amazes me that even at 8 months he has such personality, which is very similar to his daddy's. 

Wes at 8 months:

• smiles all the time
• has NO teeth yet!
• loves food (especially fruits)
• is Mr. laid back
• loves to be outside
• prefers to sit up and play with his toys
• will rock on all fours, but can't quite figure out how to move forward (but he sure can go backward!)
• likes to play peek-a-boo
• babbles with syllables like "ba ba", "da da", "va va", "ga ga" and lots of other vowel sounds
• weighs between 17-18 pounds
• loves music or when mommy or daddy sing to him

And the moral of the story is...enjoy the moment because they go so fast!

Double the fun!

Jonny and I both agree that we are extremely blessed to have such awesome in-laws.  I love spending time with his parents and family and he loves hanging out with my family.  Over the 4th of July we got to spend some time with both families. 

 We spent the 4th at my parent's house enjoying the pool, a cookout, and some fireworks. My cousin Max, who is in the Navy, was in town as well as my aunt, uncle, and cousin Ali from Boise. It was great to see them. Wes didn't nap much during the day so he was so tired.

All American Boy

Foerschler Family with the fruit flag pizza I made

Hot and happy!

watching the fireworks

crashed on daddy

The next day we headed up to Minneapolis to see Jonny's family. Jonny's brother and his wife made their first trip to Kansas with the twins. There was a constant flow of family and friends in the house to see the twins and Wes too! We joked that the Foerschler house should be called "Baby Central". We can't help but think how crazy it will be when the 3 kids are running around.  Jonny and I are so glad to be going through this parenthood journey with his brother and wife.  We feel very blessed!

Great Grandpa Foerschler

cousins headed out for lunch

mommas and thier babies

the foerschler grandbabies

Aunt Jodi has the magic touch

future K-staters

Auntie Em and Uncle Jonny with Ryan and Olivia

Ryan hams it up for the camera!

Sweet little princess Olivia

The moral of the story is...faith, family, firworks (in that order)!

God and Guns

Our awesome life group from First Baptist Church got to hang out in the country and shoot some guns!  It was so fun.  The original plan was to have dinner and shoot off some fireworks.  We were all invited out to my buddy Bryce's, grandmother's farm around Douglas, Kansas.  Since it had been so dry we decided we probably shouldn't be shooting off fireworks.  So, instead we shot guns! 

Our group meets weekly to study the Bible and share our struggles and joys with each other. So we thought it would be fun to enjoy God's creation and shoot some guns, I mean we are Baptist. :)

I must admit, this city girl had never shot a gun!  So, I was a little nervous...but now I love it.  Check out the video of me in action. :)  And I actually hit the target a few times too.

Although it was hot during the day, it turned out to be a beautiful night.  We had a great time hanging out and shooting.  I'm already looking forward to our next country night.

And the moral of the story is...even city girls have a little country in them.

wedding

A couple weekends ago the Foerschler fam got to go to KC for my longtime friend, Brad Rose's wedding.  I had the honor of singing in the wedding with my buddy Bryce Brown.  I don't "toot my own horn" too often, but we rocked it.  Of course Brad picked some fabulous songs which helped (Love Never Fails by Brandon Heath and So you are to me by East Moutain South) It was a beautiful wedding and I couldn't be happier for Brad and Victoria.

My bestie, Kara Janzen, graciously let us stay at her house.  Since she is watching her nieces this summer she had all the baby goodies.  It made it quite easy to travel.  Wes had a great time playing with new toys and getting some quality time with "auntie" Kara.

Wes also got to experience his first wedding dance. I think he is going to take after his daddy and be quite the little dancer at a young age. From what I hear, Jonny was always the little boy on the middle of the dance floor with people circled around him at a wedding dance. Wes loved the lights and especially the "YMCA"! :) I would be lying if I didn't say the wedding made me think about Wes getting married someday. I'm beginning to come to terms with the fact Wes will someday leave me for (hopefully) sweet little lady. But for now, I will soak up the hugs and smiles from my sweet boy.

Of course while we were back in KC (we lived there for 4 years before moving to Wichita) we had to eat at our favorite places.  We enjoyed Kolache Factory Saturday for brunch.  We used to always eat there after church.  It tasted just as good as I remembered. :)  Jonny even went to Oklahoma Joe's on Saturday night after the wedding dance, even though he had already had dinner.  Yes folks, Oklahoma Joe's is that good.

And the moral of the story is...Love is a powerful thing!



7 years already

Last Wednesday we celebrated, my oldest nephew, Drew's 7th birthday!  I can't believe how fast the time has gone.  The feeling I felt when I heard his first cry on the night he was born made me realize for the first time that I would want to have children.  Drew has brought so much joy into our lives.  He constantly makes us laugh with the funny things he says.  This year his birthday party was a Teenage mutant ninja turtle theme.  It got Jonny and I so excited about all the different birthday parties Wes is going to have!

                                 

Now that we have Wes, I view birthdays so much differently.  Before Wes, birthdays just meant a time to eat good food, be with family, open presents, and have cake.  Now when I think of birthdays, I instantly relive the moment I first laid eyes on Wes, heard his cry, and held him in my arms.  It was instant love and he forever changed my life.  Wes's birthday was the best day of my life (so far)!  

Birthdays are a time to thank God for the life HE created and thank him for the gift of life.  

Drew, I thank God for you and am so blessed to be your Auntie Em.



And the moral of this story is...God always gives the best gifts at a birthday party.  He gives us the reason to celebrate!