Be still, Baby!

Be still, baby!

If I could only count the number of times a day I say this.  I cannot for the life of me understand why my 7 month old baby thinks diaper change time is a great opportunity to practice rolling and crawling.  Or why when she’s been up way past her bedtime she feels it’s a perfect opportunity to pop straight up and squirm her way to the ground to make sure her toys are still okay.  Getting her in her car seat is like trying to put a rabid raccoon in a 5 point harness.  But, all of these things must happen.  Why? Because she needs clean diapers, sleep, and to be safe in the car.  I know this, but she doesn’t. It would be so much easier if she would just be still for 30 seconds.

I was rocking her to sleep last night doing our normal routine of rock for a minute, squirm and wiggle for a minute, rock for a minute, squirm for a minute.  And I thought “oh if you would just sit still for a little bit longer you would realize how much you need to go to sleep.”

It was in that instant that God whispered to me, “Be still, baby.”  See, one of my favorite verses in the Bible is “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10).  I spend my days as a wife that is stretched pretty thin caring for a busy husband, a full time job (in social work no less), and a baby that demands a majority of my attention.  At any given moment I feel like I’m failing at a majority of what I should be doing.  And God gently whispers, “Be still and think on who I am.”

Oh if I could get that!  Does my baby feel neglected because I went to work today over staying home with her? “Be still and trust that I love her more than you do.”  Did I spend enough time in quality conversation with my husband or did he get my leftovers?  “Be still and remember I made you two into one no matter how much you talk.”  Did I mark off enough on my to-do list at work or will they think I’m a distracted new mama?  “Be still and know that I ordained you to be everywhere you are.”

Just be still.  He is the absolute best parent there is.  So, if he says “be still” it’s worth remembering and following.  Being still means letting Him handle the things we can’t see or understand and even the things we think we do.  It means trusting that if we could give him just a second of time where we trust Him over ourselves He would take care of it.  Just like there are times I need Hannah Kate to be still and let me do my job as her parent, God needs me to be still and let Him do His job as God, He is much better at it than I am!

Christmas Date Night

#Christmasdatenight

Shane and I have a tradition (If three years can count as a tradition) of a Christmas date night.  Holidays are so much fun.  Between Thanksgiving and Christmas we get to see pretty much all of our family on both sides and have lots of time to catch up with everyone else.  The first year we were married Shane surprised me and took me to Atlanta to ride the huge Ferris wheel and walk around in Centennial Park looking at Christmas lights.  It was so nice to stop all of the hustle and bustle and just spend time with each other.  During December we don’t have much time for date night, so now, we set aside one night just for us to do something out of the ordinary.

I joked the first year that date nights like ferris wheels and Christmas light parks were the stuff girls always dream of.  And, I meant it.  Shane does a great job of picking out great date nights all year long but our Christmas dates are always my favorite.  The second year I was SUPER pregnant and walking around was not an option.  So, we went to Medieval times and had so much fun laughing and EATING (you did hear I was 8 months pregnant right?)

This year was no different. Shane called me Thursday and said he had my sister lined up to babysit and we were going on our Christmas date.  We went to Cirque Italia in Gainesville, Ga and had a blast.  It was a really neat combination of all the interesting things you see at the normal Circus plus some other things I had never seen before.  We laughed and stared in awe through most of the night.  I mean really, how do people do those things???   

As our #goodwilldatenight continues to go viral, I want to pass this #Christmasdatenight along too.  Don’t forget in the midst of making sure you see every member of your family to stop for a night and spend time with your person.  I love spending time with our family and we always have a good time wherever we are.  But, my favorite night of the year is our Christmas date night.  I know every year it will be something special and we will have a blast simply being together.

And, P.S. all of our Christmas date nights have been tickets we found on Groupon for over half off!  (This is not an ad, no one is paying me to say that!) But, we have found that if we want to go somewhere Groupon not only has good deals but good ideas!!!

So Merry Christmas from us to you.  We hope your Christmas is filled with family time, good food, and lots of time celebrating the birth of Christ.  But, may it also have one night of making memories with your person.