the transition...

The last 3 weeks have flown by. I can’t believe Maggie Ruth is already 3 weeks old. I have loved being a mom of 2. 

Really up until we got Maggie Ruth, anytime I would think about having another child, I would get really worried. Fear would take over for a couple of reasons...1) Annie Rice wasn’t a newborn when we got her, so the newborn stage scared me. 2) I didn’t have brothers or sisters so the sibling thing scared me. 3) Sometimes I found it hard to get work done with just Annie Rice, and I worried with 2, I would never find the time to work. 4) I didn’t want Annie Rice to feel like I loved her any less. I really was so worried about these things and many more. BUT I’m so thankful the Lord took control of my fears and gave me a peace that Maggie Ruth was in His plan for our life and He would take care of all these things. When we found out about Maggie Ruth[which was about 3-4 weeks before she actually was born] I started praying some really big prayers. I prayed the transition would be easy. She would be a baby that slept a lot[I can be really grumpy without sleep so this part worried me]. I prayed that Annie Rice would love her and adapt really well. I prayed that things would just go smoothly. Those all may sound really selfish but everything happened so fast, I was worried about these things. The Lord was so faithful to us through the process, I knew He would be faithful in the transition and He has. Maggie Ruth has done so good. The first night we fed her at 9, 1, and 4 and after every feeding she would go right back to sleep. The 2nd day I thought okay, it won’t always be this easy. But it continued to go similar to this and now she’s up to about 9, 2, and 6. We’ve had 1 really hard night with her for about 3 hours where she wouldn’t stop crying. I think her stomach hurt because something just wasn’t right. When people visit, they always ask if she crys, because she rarely does. BUT she does:) She’s just been a really good baby, taken well to her formula and us, and we have loved this sweet little girl. I love my cuddle time with her and am so thankful to get to experience the newborn stage:) I attempted my first outing with both girls to the post office and Wal-Mart and it went pretty good. I told Annie Rice before we left that she needed to listen to me, and if she did and didn’t complain I would give her a sucker when we got back home and let her watch Mickey Mouse. She did well and got her sucker when we got home. I have continued to work about the same amount that I did before Maggie Ruth as far as editing...After getting Maggie Ruth, I had 7 weddings left for this year. I now only have 4. It has been a blessing. She definitely is a baby who likes to sleep "right now"[praying this continues:)]. Up until this week, we had to wake her up to feed and that was a challenge in itself. She's just so sweet...

Annie Rice has blown me away with the transition. We talked to her so much[well as much as we could in 3 weeks] about Maggie Ruth that when she got to meet her she was just so proud to be a big sister. She wants to help feed her and wipe her mouth all the time. Usually the first thing she says in the morning when I go to get her out of her room is, “Go see Maggie Mooth mommy”. That’s what she calls her, Maggie Mooth. 

The Lord has blessed us so much with 2 sweet girls. 

Annie Rice is in such a fun stage. She loves to play dress up. She has a couple pairs of play high heel shoes and she will usually put those on first thing in the morning and walk around in them all day. Someone gave us a blanket for Maggie Ruth and Annie Rice thinks it’s her “queen robe”. She will put it on her shoulders with her high heels on and walk around and wave like a queen:) She loves candy corn and instead of saying “pu” [pumpkins, puggles, etc], she says “hu”[humpkins, huggles, etc]. It’s so funny. When we walk in walmart she wants to see the “Humpkins”. The Lord has blessed her with a great memory. I have been working with her on bible verses and she can say 5 verses now[John 3:16, Proverbs 3:4-5, Gensis 1:1, The fruit of the spirt, and we are learning Proverbs 31:30 right now]. That is a gift He has given her at her age and I love hearing her say the word of God. I’d rather hear her say bible verses to me than the ABCs any day:) Every night before bed she asks to see “Twinkle Twinkle and Mr. Moon”. I love it. As I’m typing, she keeps coming over to me and kissing me on the mouth and saying, “so sweet mommy”. 

I love my 2 girls. I’m so thankful the Lord chose me to be there mom. He could have chose anyone, but He chose me, and I’m so thankful and blessed by adoption. To think a few years ago, my heart was completely against it. 

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to PROSPER you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a HOPE and a FUTURE.