every captive thought

Remember that part of Alice In Wonderland where Alice eats something that says, "Eat Me" (never a good idea by the way), and grows and grows and grows until she is way too big for the little house? That is pretty much what I've felt like over the past 10 days. But yesterday I finally got everything put away, every picture hung, and every box unpacked. Clearly the apartment is smaller than our house was but the odd thing is that everything is smaller too. Or maybe we grew. For instance, the counters are so short. We feel like we moved into a little bitty doll house. Or a house for tiny people. It's so strange. We feel like giants in here. It is utterly impossible for me to rest or be at peace when I am surrounded by clutter and chaos. Sad...but true. There were a lot of things working against us with this move. Our house sold immediately to the first person who looked at it, we had four days to pack and get moved, we had to move over half of our stuff to st...

Sadly, when my life gets hectic, one of the first things to fall by the wayside is nutrition. And not just for Brad and I...but for James too...as is shown here in this picture of him devouring a donut. Bless his hungry little heart. He loves donuts almost as much as mommy does. We've had several busy days of packing and moving and we feel great about our progress! Brad has been working hard. I have consistently reminded him that princesses are not meant to work as hard as I have been working the past few days. Most of these comments have been blatantly ignored. I got a little smidgen of sympathy yesterday though. Then he told me to get back to work. I pushed the lawn mower out of the way for Brad and I told him I thought that was the first time I had ever pushed one. He told me he thought we would make that a permanent change. I told him no we certainly would not. It's times like these that I am thankful I am not a man. Well...there are really no times ever that I ...

Remember back like a million years ago when I was yapping about change and whatev? Yeh...well...little did I know that I was about to get exactly what I asked for. I always forget about the Lord's wacky sense of humor. So there are a lot of changes coming to the Drozell household. One of them being that we have sold our house. We put it on the market on a Saturday at 11:00 am and had 2 offers on it in 4 hours. (Seriously...best Realtor EVER!) So we've rented a storage unit and are working like crazy to get everything packed up. I worked my tail off until about 8:00 last night when I got a wicked migraine. The kind that makes me not able to see. Love it. So I figured that was my body's way of telling me to call it quits for the night. But I am fresh as a daisy this morning and ready to work! Brad has gone to get us a nutritious breakfast of donuts and I have the extra strong coffee perkin! So where are we moving to, you ask? Well...after much thought and prayer we...

My sweet precious little sleepy head. Have you ever seen a bigger puddle of drool? And this irresistible juicy squishy mouth. Is there anything in this world sweeter than a sleeping baby? Couldn't be.

Ok...so how sad is this? I am a little ashamed to admit this but back before we had James, George was really, really spoiled. I actually carried him around in this cute pink croc dog carrier. (Yeh...I was one of those). He also had a far more extensive wardrobe than I do. (Yep...dressed my dog too). Now...he's not so spoiled. In fact...he's not so much touched or petted at all these days. So Brad and I were cleaning out our closet and the pink croc dog carrier was up on one of the shelves. I got it down and George did this. Isn't it sad? It is like one of those sad men who get a corvette because they are having a midlife crisis and trying to relive the glory days of their youth. George remembers his glory days. He yearns for them. He would love to ride proudly around in his pink croc dog carrier again. He wouldn't even care that everyone was laughing at him and making fun of him behind his back. Life's tough though. Sorry George. The pink croc dog car...

Things on the bottle/sippy cup/meat/walking front are still pretty shaky. Although, Brad came up with the brilliant plan to cover up scrambled eggs with whipped lemon yogurt (gag!) to trick James into eating eggs and it worked!!!! Same color and texture so he never knew the difference. At least he got some protein. We are still giving him a bottle right before bed and I might just do that until he is 30 and everyone can just get over it. Tonight our friend Bean came over. We love Bean. He is going to graduate school at Trinity in San Antonio and came into town for a visit. I have been sad and blue since he left me and moved so far away. He used to live in Amarillo, then he went to Lubbock to go to Tech. I went through withdrawals then but he was still close enough to get here in a pinch...like when I had James...and like when Brad was having a bad day and we needed Bean to cheer us up...and like when I was really craving a Golden Light burger and needed him to come to town to...

I started out strong. Really, I did. Well...sort of. I had forgotten all about the whole ba-ba thing until I sleepily stumbled into the kitchen to get the cream out of the fridge for my coffee and I saw the sad, lonely, empty, hollow, desolate place where the ba-ba's used to live and I cried. Then I drank a whole bunch of coffee and prayed for the strength to fill that stupid ugly sippy cup with milk and prayed he would drink it from the goshawful cup and then prayed he wouldn't starve to death from lack of milk. Our normal routine in the morning is for me to wake James up and sing the wake-up song, change his diaper, then snuggle down under a blankie and feed him his bottle while we watch something riveting on tv. But this morning, the new revised schedule was...wake-up song, diaper, high chair, cereal, sippy cup. Big changes. And they were not readily accepted. "And you want me to do WHAT with this cup????" And then the tears started. For James too. So he go...

Today James and I missed CBS because he had his one year well-check! Can I just tell you how un-fun that was? He got 4 shots in his darling little legs. He did that open-mouth-no-noise-coming-out-crying thing that rips my heart plum out of my chest. But then once he got his 4 bright and shiny band-aids he was a-ok. Brad and I weren't...but James was. We are still trying to recover from the heartbreak and trauma of it all. I also got a firm (in a sweet kind of way as only Dr. H can) talking to by our pediatrician. Apparently James, being one year old and all, should not be drinking from a bottle still, should not be eating only baby food, should not be using a walker, should be walking on his own, should be eating meat, should be taking vitamins, should not be getting a whopping 40 ounces of milk a day, and should have a slightly smaller head circumference. Those first few things are my fault...that last one is not my problem. God made his head and I happen to think it is p...

Remember when we went to the cabin like eleventymillion years ago? Well, I am just now posting the group shots from that weekend. Can I just tell you how difficult it is to get a good picture of 12 people...one of them being an infant? Seriously...not easy. But I am so glad we made the effort!

Tonight Brad and I went to see Team Impact at my parent's church. I have to admit...I was not too excited to go but I am glad I did. These guys have an awesome thing going on. They are reaching a lot of children, men and women for the Lord. And the cherry on top is their amazing feats of strength. Truly incredible. Although I must say...I get to see much more amazing muscles and feats of strength everyday when I look at my awesomely buff husband.

I am blessed at Miscellaneous Musing of a 5X Mom gave me my first blog award. Thank you so much! I am blessed shares her experiences of homeschooling, parenting, adoption, and serving the Lord on her blog. She is such a wonderful writer and has a wealth of knowledge and wisdom to share. I learn something with every post. I've known I am blessed for many years. She actually taught me to swim a long time ago! Ok...seriously I was pretty old (13) when I learned but better late than never, right? Her youngest baby and James are only 3 days apart. We are in the same CBS group and I am enjoying getting to learn more about her as well as getting the benefit of hearing her insightful responses to our weekly questions. Our moms are best friends and her whole family has been a precious part of my life for at least the last 20 years. The catch is, to accept this award I must answer the questions below using only one word. 1. Where is your cell phone? James 2.Your hair? Nappy 3. You...

We had a fun little party for James at my parent's house last night. We opened his presents first. He loved all of his new toys. When he opened his new (back-up) Puppy from Aunt Christi, I feared he would be confused... But he gave the tail a little taste and found the new Puppy up to his high standards. Whew! Brad and Papa had a big time getting all the toys out of their packages and put together. We didn't know what a major job that was. They didn't cover that in the parenting classes. James loved his new pony! And a great big ball from Aunt Christi and Uncle Cory and a Tonka truck from Nana and Papa. He also had fun with his new dump truck, ship and manger from Nana and Papa! James decided yesterday that since he was a big ol one year old, he didn't need an afternoon nap. So just about the time we got ready for the cake his mood cratered. I should have known. He gagged on his dinner... Refused to smile for Mommy to get a birthday cake picture... Stubbornly re...

This is the very day God acted-Let's celebrate and be festive! Psalm 118:24 My baby is ONE today! This year has flown by and been filled with more joy than I ever thought my heart could hold. James is a precious gift from the Lord and he is a continual blessing and source of immeasurable, limitless delight. The day James was born was the most fun, most exciting, joyful day of my entire life. It was like a big huge party! I loved every second of being in labor, I cherished every push, we laughed and cried and then got to see and hold this little bundle of preciousness. We couldn't believe our eyes. I stared at him all night long and praised the Lord and thanked Him for letting me be this child's mother. I felt so undeserving and grateful. He was only 6 pounds and 3 ounces. I could have just eaten up every single bit of him. All I wanted to do was stare at him and cover every inch of him in kisses. There were some hard days. But when I look back over this last year...