Ramblings – Page 10 – Butterbees and Bumbleflies

Wise Men Say… Only Fools Rush In…

But I can’t help… falling in love… with… you.

January 20. It’s here again. January 20, 2007, was just like any other day. I can’t tell you anything that happened that day. It wasn’t special. It was totally ordinary. But it was the last January 20th I’d ever spend alone, and that makes it stand out. On that day, I had no idea that in one year my life would change drastically and entirely. Because on January 1, 2008, I discovered Cody Hinnant on match.com. And January 5th we met in person…

And on January 20, 2008, I became the future Mrs. Cody Hinnant.

He asked, and I said yes. It was a fools rush, to be sure. But it was meant to be. June 11, 2008, we were married. And here we are, seven years later, with two beautiful children. It hasn’t all been a bed of roses. In those seven years, we also have two children in Heaven. We lost his grandma. We endured nine long months of building a home and living with a friend. Before that, we endured several VERY long months of back and forth between Edmond and San Antonio living in a Residence Inn hotel with our two Border Collies and the grueling nine hour drive back and forth and back and forth every couple weeks. These seven years have included H1N1, a diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis, four pregnancies, two deliveries, and one gallbladder removal – all from me. (Cody definitely got the raw end of the “in sickness” part of the vows. HA!)

But in those seven years despite all we have overcome and worked through, we are happy. He is my rock and I’m his shoulder to lean on. He has patience with Becca when I have none. I have patience with Grayson when he has none. We are a team. We are best friends. And we are blessed. Beyond measure. Because of Cody, I truly believe in love at first sight. We may have been fools to rush in, but when it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. And I’m so thankful that my engineer who plans everything perfectly and researches and waits til the right time to make decisions didn’t take more than 15 days from the time he laid eyes on me to pop that question. Down on one knee in front of the fireplace in what was to become our home there in Edmond, Oklahoma, he asked me if I’d marry him. He presented me with a ring made from Legos, and my answer then is the same as it is today and always will be.

Yes.

Yes, my dear, sweet, wonderful man. Yes. I will spend the rest of my life with you.

Yes. I will dream with you and plan with you and cry with you.

Yes. I will love you with every fibre of my being.

Yes. Always. Until the moment I pass from this Earth, and even beyond into Heaven for eternity.

Yes.

I love you, Baby.

One Word

Last year, I was challenged by a friend to think of one word that I wanted to define my 2014. I wrote a post about it, and set out to become a more thoughtful person – thinking about others around me and their needs. Caring for them, reaching out, being there. Reflecting on 2014, I think I did a fairly good job of that – especially in light of all that happened this past year in the life of our family. I certainly have room for growth, and want to always be striving to be more thoughtful of others.

A couple weeks ago, a different friend said she had selected her word for 2015, and I thought “wow I need to do that, too.” I pondered for only a moment, and a word popped into my head. I pushed it aside, thinking how I often rush to conclusions too swiftly. Then, I realized that it might be precisely that reason why God popped this word into my mind. I stopped what I was doing, and sat down and just said a simple prayer: “God show me if this is what you would have me to focus my year on.” Nothing fancy. God knows me. Inside and out. I can talk to him like I’d talk to a friend. (It’s pretty cool how that works.) Again, I thought this was the right word. Then, I said: “well, ok so if this is the word, what does it mean and where can I find it?” So I looked it up on dictionary.com, and then I searched for the word on my YouVersion Bible app.

Last year, my word was more about me reaching out to others. This year, it’s about me slowing down in the midst of hustle and bustle and reaching out to God. Getting His guidance in my life. I know that not everyone who reads my blog has the same type of faith that I do. I fully realize and appreciate that many readers are of a different religion, or no religion at all. Which is your upbringing/personal choice. I hope that you won’t stop reading here simply because this is a faith-based post. Keep reading – find out why I selected this word. And remember that you can select a word for your year whether or not it has ANYTHING to do with faith at all. Setting personal goals for yourself is ALWAYS a good thing – no matter your reasoning or source of purpose.

So what’s my word? It’s deliberate.

This isn’t a word found a whole lot in the Bible. And most of the time it’s used, it’s in a negative light. In fact, dictionary.com gives the example deliberate lie in their definition – just as it’s used in the Bible many times. But the verse that stuck out to me is in Acts 2.

“Listen carefully to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man thoroughly accredited by God to you—the miracles and wonders and signs that God did through him are common knowledge—this Jesus, following the deliberate and well-thought-out plan of God, was betrayed by men who took the law into their own hands, and was handed over to you. And you pinned him to a cross and killed him. But God untied the death ropes and raised him up. Death was no match for him. David said it all:
I saw God before me for all time.
Nothing can shake me; he’s right by my side.
I’m glad from the inside out, ecstatic;
I’ve pitched my tent in the land of hope.
I know you’ll never dump me in Hades;
I’ll never even smell the stench of death.
You’ve got my feet on the life-path,
with your face shining sun-joy all around.”
-Acts 2:22-28 The Message

The Bible often talks of how we are to follow in our Father’s footsteps and strive to be more like Him.  So this passage has great meaning to me – God had a very deliberate and well-thought-out plan on how He would save ME from my sin and my failing.  He has set my feet on this path, and He’s got my life planned as well.
So what does all this have to do with me and my word this year?  Well, it’s simple.  I’ve been striving to think of others, but I now need to turn my focus to being deliberate.  To carefully weigh and consider, to study, to be intentional in my actions – both in my family life, my work life, and also in my spiritual life.  It’s time for this girl who rushes to conclusions and hops on bandwagons to sit back and learn from my husband – who takes thoughtful consideration of all sides before making a decision.  It’s time to be deliberate.  It’s time to put options on the scales and see how they balance out.  It’s time to slow down, pray more, and make wise choices.  And in this year of being (I’m human – I know I will fail multiple times over) attempting to be deliberate, I will strive to continue to be thoughtful of others, now encompassing my own needs in that thoughtfulness as well.
As a mom it’s so easy to get caught up in the needs of my children, and in all the things I want for them.  It’s time to step back and make thoughtful, deliberate, intentional choices in our activities, in our spending, and in our day to day lives.  I need to think: Will this cost money?  Where will that money come from?  Is it a necessity?  Will it provide benefit to the kids?  Will it provide benefit to me?  Will it provide benefit to Cody?  Is this something that will build us up and bring us together?  And maybe most importantly – how will this activity affect my personal energy and thus my attitude toward my family?
This year as you begin to think and plan and organize, what word do you want to focus on?  How will you allow that word (spiritual or not) to influence your daily life?  And, if you’d like a printable similar to these, please contact me!  I’d love to create a poster for you that you can print out and post where it will remind you daily where your focus should be.  Email me anytime at butterbeesandbumbleflies@gmail.com.  As you can see from the samples below, you can have it say pretty much anything – definition, a prayer, a Bible verse, etc.  You select the wording and layout.
 
Here are two others that I’ve made for friends:

Taking a Break to Organize

Lest you think I’ve forgotten about blogging, we had a wonderful Christmas with a house truly full of people. This week is all about organizing and cleaning and putting away Christmas and getting ready for the new year. So, it’ll be a few days before I write again. Don’t think I’ve forgotten about my blog… I’m definitely still here, and working on some fabulous things I want to share for the new year.

This January, I plan to:
-Share several free 2015 organizer printables
-Share organizing tips and tricks
-Do several posts on beginning sensory bins for your baby (it’s time to start sensory bins for Grayson! WOW!)
-Begin doing a weekly STEAM activity post
-Give you the info you need to make your own EPIC calendar to gift to the special people in your family next Christmas… I’ve got plans to re-do what we did this year, but it’s gonna be MUCH easier on me because I’m gonna start in January! You won’t want to miss this:

This winter/spring I also want to:

-Get Becca actively involved in the gardening process in our flower beds
-Get her into the kitchen more and more to start helping cook dinner
-Start working on setting the table skills with her
-Start reviewing baby sign language with her so that she can help teach Grayson
-Begin a weekly Bible study with her – where we read a story in her Jesus Storybook Bible (aff link) and then do an activity related to that story

In 2015, I also hope to:
-Create more animal activity Biome Boxes for Becca
-Do more experimenting with art
-Find a better way to store toys and puzzles
-Find a better way to organize art supplies

So, yeah, lots running through my head right now. Gonna take some time off from the blog, and will be back in just a few days with all kinds of fun and ready to hit the ground running for a fabulous 2015! Be back soon! In the meantime, make sure you’ve clicked “like” and are following my Facebook page, where I’ll be sharing fabulous articles, links, and activities. Remember also, Facebook has a weird way of deciding what shows up on your newsfeed, so be sure to visit my page frequently and click “like,” “comment,” or even better, “share” to ensure that my stuff keeps showing up on your newsfeed!

Being Brave

I was recently approached by a friend who blogs, about being one of her “Thursday stories.” Called to the mission field in Madagascar, she has been sharing short stories from women there about how MOPS has made an impact in their lives, and led them to be brave.

When I asked her what she’d like for me focus on for this guest post, this is what she said: “The purpose of Thursday stories is to encourage others to be brave in Christ. Bravely trust Him for circumstances, bravely lean on Him for understanding, bravely trust that His ways are greater. Tell a story when God asked you to be brave for Him.

Here’s a link to my post on Aly’s blog.

Hey you,

Lady in that beat-up tan minivan. You’re still on my mind at 9:15pm… 5 hours after you decided to step on the little bit of positive in my day.

You see, you didn’t know that I woke up with a cough at 5am to a coughing, wheezing baby with a stuffy nose who’s trying to cut his first tooth.

You didn’t know that I left the first load of clothes in the washer too long and had to re-wash them.

You didn’t know the plans I had for my day that got changed.

You didn’t know my slight excitement over being able to go to the bathroom by myself, unassisted by my toddler. It was one of the good things that happened today.

You didn’t know the stresses I dealt with.

You didn’t know why I was even at HEB in the first place. You see, I didn’t realize we were out of vegetable oil, and I finally was getting to bake the breads I’d planned to bake last week. Except we were out of oil.

The shopping trip itself was fairly uneventful. Our biggest excitement was Brother getting to sit in the shopping cart for the first time next to Sister, and she did a really good job of being patient with him. I forgot to bring him anything to chew on, but we survived because I found a package of placemats in the diaper bag that sufficed. She had been so patient, including when he knocked the cookie I had gotten for her out of her hand and onto the ground after only one bite. You see, what you didn’t know was that right before you pulled up to “vulch” for my parking spot, I was telling her what an awesome big sister she is and how I’d make it up to her and get her another cookie on our way home.

You saw me there, in the second spot from the front- one of God’s tiny little blessings I learned to appreciate today- with my cart of four bags and my two beautiful children, and you decided to wait. You had a handicapped tag, and there were three open handicap spots on the row closer to the door, but you decided to wait. Your perogative. I put my bags in the back and pushed the cart to Baby Grayson’s door- where you couldn’t see.

You didn’t see his burp cloth fall on the ground, or how he twisted funny and hurt his arm when I got him out of the cart. You didn’t see me comfort him as I put him in his car seat, pick up the burp cloth, and adjust his seat belt. You didn’t see him then spit up everywhere. You didn’t hear my sweet little girl tell him “It’ll be ok, Brother. Mommy will clean you up.” You didn’t see me do just that. And honestly, I didn’t even know OR CARE that you were still there. Because, lady, my kids come first.

As I pulled my cart back around to the other side to put the world’s best big sister into the car, you didn’t give a single fleeting thought to any of what you don’t know about my life or my day or the moments on the other side of the car while you waited. Instead, you chose to gesture wildly and flip me AND MY 2 1/2 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER off. I simply replied to your open window, cigarette smoke puffing out at me, “I need to get my two kids in the car.” You proceeded to YELL back at me as you drove off in a huff, “Woman, I got five kids and two sets of twins and it never took me that long to load a car.”

Wow. Good for you. I’m sure you’re Speedy Gonzales (no that’s not a racial comment- she was as white as me) and you never once had to help one of your kids who spit up because I’m sure none of your five EVER did that… Seriously. I feel sad for you. And for your kids. If nothing else, it’s Christmas time. Show a little love. Show a little care. Show a little patience.

So thank you very little for the negative impact you had on my day, and thank you very much for reminding me to focus on what’s important in my life. Thank you for reminding me that I do the right thing every time I carefully load my precious cargo into our vehicle. Because even if it upsets you, I know that taking my time with each of my children is what I need to do to keep them safe. I don’t purposefully take my time to annoy anyone, but please- don’t judge when you don’t know, and be glad this mama bear didn’t do a whole lot more when you flipped off my baby girl.

And fyi- next time you are rude to a woman in the HEB parking lot, that woman might not be as nice as me. She might be someone just like you… Merry Christmas, Mrs Scrooge. May you learn to change your Christmas Present, or your Christmas Future might not be real bright.