haphazard musings

focus.

sorry no pictures today, just words.

i know i have blogged about contentment before, but it just keeps coming back.  is that a sign? or perhaps a nudge that i should be working what contentment looks like in my life?

i would say there is a good chance.

God chooses to speak, but do we listen? it's hard isn't it.

so definition...

merriam-webster online tells me that contented means:
feeling or showing satisfaction with one's possessions, status, or situation. 

consider the following:

i have more than enough things.

i am a) happily married to a great man,

       b) joyfully (almost always) mothering a sweet baby girl,

       c) blissfully enjoying the summer benefits of being a teacher and teaching itself, and

       d) blessedly surrounded by loving, ecouraging, and faithful family and friends.

i live in a safe home with many comforts (thankful for air conditioning today!).

i have a Savior who was willing to die just for me (and just for you) so that i could know Him and be redeemed.

i will be enjoying a lemon-blueberry cupcake this evening (considering they are still in supply when i hit the cupcake place!).

i have reached a point in my life that i think i know who i am and am happy with the person i see.

now, consider this:

i think i need more.  more stuff, more happiness, more blessings.  why is that?  ugh.  it's super frustrating to battle with knowing the difference between a want and a need.  there are people who NEED.  and then there is me, i WANT.  hello, there big difference. 

i have been doing a Bible study with a friend along with her sister and her blog.  we are diggining into the book of Genesis to better understand God's redemptive plan and how Jesus is necessary and evident in the Old Testament.  it is pretty interesting so far. 

but as we were doing this, i got distracted by (or guided to) a bit about Eve.  you know the gal, she ate the forbidden fruit and blammed it on the serpent.  so what was her motivation for eating it you ask?  she had everything (she walked literally with God).  the only thing she didn't have was the fruit of one specific tree.  and she chose to focus on that one thing instead of the WORLD she had just received.  in the footnotes of my study Bible it says, "Eve shifted her focus from all that God had done and given to the one thing that he withheld." 

that statement stopped me in my tracks.

boom.

contentment.

it's about a shift in focus. 

it's a tricky world out there.  but isn't that the point?  we can't get caught up in the world.  we must get caught up in Jesus. 

what's your focus on today?

 

5 months

holy smokes, how can my baby girl be 5 months old? 

it's crazy!!!

but we are loving you more every day.  maelle, you are so much fun!  you're little personality is already coming through nicely.  you will be quite like your mom and her dad, i think.  all our best qualities...loud, funny, animated...  poor girl.

so here is a comparison for you.

one month

five months

it was hard to get a good one with the sign because you only wanted to eat it...

at 5 months, maelle, you are sitting up and just starting to roll over (only back to front) and scoot.  you can scoot two different ways though (we hope that makes up for the fact that you aren't really interested in rolling over at all and will only do it when tempted with a special treat (an iPhone or a cup will do the trick).  first you scoot by sitting on your bottom and bouncing so much that you will just barely inch forward.  the other scoot is a tummy backwards army crawl thing.  you seem pretty frustrated by it, because we think your really want to be going forwards...oops.

you're also VERY interested in cameras and really want to touch.  well really you just want to touch everything in sight.   and then you want to eat it.  it's so funny to watch and see what you want to put in your mouth.  lately, you have started gnawing on tables - nana's table, restaurant tables (yuck!), the coffee table - you name it you've chewed it.

you LOVE your feet.  you are constantly playing with your toes and trying to get them in your mouth.  you are usually quite successful!  pretty impressive flexibility.

you're also always happy.  now that you have figured out the benefits of a good nap, you smile nearly all of your awake time.  (currently, you have been out like a light for about 3 hours! i keep checking just to make sure you're breathing!)  you are getting so big, that blanket used to seem so big, now it seems like any day you might out grow it.

true to form and family, you, girl, are a TALKER.  you loves to hear yourself.  you will lay in your bed in the mornings just happily babbleing to yourself until someone comes to get you.  it is so sweet.  you will also talk the ear off your little elephant carseat friend, Tony Elephantae (affectionately dubbed so by your daddy).  you also loves to sing.  all. the. time.  we sang the wheels on the bus for a solid 40 minutes on our last trip out west while waiting for a little thing called sleep...after about 15 rounds of the repeats, your mommy and daddy got a little more creative with the verses, but you didn't seem to mind as long as we just kept singing.

finley and you are finally beginning to become friends.  you look at him and smile when he walks in the room.  mommy can't get a picture of you two because you won't hold still long enough.  he distracts you from all your tasks, diaper changes, eating, nursing, etc.  you have no focus when finley is in the room.  he is so gentle with you and is a little protective too.  he lays between your stroller and the other dogs at nana and papa joe's house, almost like he's trying to say, "this is my baby...get your own."

here are a few more pictures and videos to remind us and you about you at 5 months.

So funny! from lindsay frasier on Vimeo.

Swinging! from lindsay frasier on Vimeo.