Thursday, December 31, 2015

2015: What A Year

This year has been like a whirlwind and I can't believe tomorrow will be the first day of 2016! This year has been filled with so much excitement, change, love and growth for the both of us, little Charlie. No matter what has happened throughout the year, it seems like my love for you continues to grow with each day. I have said to my mother a million times that I never knew I could love another person this much...it's too hard to explain in words. And even though I don't get to see you all the time, you are embedded in my heart and there isn't a single day that goes by where I don't think about you.

So lets talk about what has happened this year....and you'll start to understand just how amazing it's been!

-You started to grow teeth and now have an almost full set of chompers.
-I moved to my first apartment all by myself (without roommates) and loved it.
-Your dad continued his education and somehow maintained a 4.0.
-My parents sold my childhood home and downsized.
-You started to walk and your mom started to panic daily.
-I got promoted at work and started my new role as a trainer.
-Your aunt and uncle bought a house right in your neighborhood.
-I moved to Columbus, Ohio.
-You turned one!
-I taught your parents how to use FaceTime.
-You started to learn how to talk.
-I had my first IKEA experience.
-You switched to eating real food instead of just formula.
-I spent entirely too much money on makeup.
-You learned how fun it is to dance to good music.

....and all the while, my love for you just won't stop growing.

We got to spend an entire day together yesterday and our visit was so much fun! You were talkative, smiley and so excited about the Christmas presents you got to open. I would ask you, "Do you like opening presents?" And of course, you would smile and say, "YAH!" It was so sweet and it was amazing to see you responding to questions so easily. You are obviously a baby genius. 

This year, my parents got you a cool learning toy called a See & Say. It is going to help you learn the alphabet and new words as you grow your baby vocabulary. I got you a super cool car toy that makes noise when you steer and has a million buttons for you to enjoy. Your mom always tells me about how you love to go for drives and like to look at cars outside of your window, so I figured this would be a good choice for you. :) 


Here's to another amazing year, baby! I love you so much!! :-*

xoxo

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Christian Terrorism: That's a Thing Now

It's frightening to think that my sweet little child will have to grow up in a world that is so filled with hate, cruelty, death, loss, murder, anger, fights, lies, terror and everything else that is scary. How unfair that those who are completely innocent are having to not only be victims of this world, but also be a witness to such a painful time in our history. I feel like we can't go a day without our news feeds blowing up with another act of hate. And now it's hate coming from a group of people who I associate myself with. Again...how unfair.

What saddens me is how other Christians are reacting to this shooting; going onto news posts online, hiding behind their computer screens, and calling this man a hero. Stating that PP workers and it's clients deserve a taste of their own medicine; that they should also die as some form of repayment for all of the lives they've ended through abortion.

Is this seriously how we are behaving?! I am so sickened by this and it makes me ashamed to be grouped with this group of people. That Christian extremists are trying to take scripture, twist it and use it in order to make the hate in their hearts somehow verified. They think they can put a spin on a select few scriptures in order to make it OK to wish death upon another human being. When it comes to misinterpreting the Bible, the issue is NOT with God, it is with the person messing it up.

But this is not how we all think. This is NOT how I think. I am saddened by EVERY death; be it an unborn child, an innocent life cut short by a gun, or a convicted felon being put to death for his crimes. Jesus weeps for this and so do I. We all know my stance on abortion, but it goes much deeper than that. Fighting for every single life is something we should all strive for. Life is not something to take for granted and it's never been our job to determine who can live and who can die. To take that sort of judgement into our own hands is scary and it's something that we can't undo. Once it's done, it's done. No second tries. No do overs. It's just over.

So just to clear things up, not all Christians are happy about what happened on Friday. There are still Christians who want to be Jesus to this world and show love, kindness and mercy. God told us that this sort of thing would happen...that the world would begin wars purely based on religion. And look at us now...every war going on can be tied to people who are mad that other people don't worship the same god that they do.

Praying for those who were hurt or murdered in the shooting, and for every terrorist act happening in our world right now for that matter. Also praying for the people who are choosing to act this way and think this is somehow God's will. And finally I am praying for everyone in the world. We need it.