Scooters and Such!

So shortly after I wrote the blog below, I went to Publix all the way contemplating I had just sort of publicly announced that I was ready for God to use me in any way possible. I stood in front of the dessert counter thinking about how great the cheesecake looked and along comes a rather large African American woman on a scooter. She is coming at me, at me, closer, closer and then all of a sudden BAM! She ran right into the dessert counter actually physically MOVING the counter! Her response was, "did I do that?" Um, yes mam, in fact that was you as we are the only two standing here and I promise it wasn't me. So she said, "well let me just back up here ..." and then she realized that she wsa STUCK to the counter! Yep, that is right folks! Cry out to the Lord and say USE ME! and that is just what He will do! So I had to physically extract her from the counter. This took a manly strength that must have come from the Lord as I have always been known to the be weakling in my circle of family and friends. But I did it folks ... I removed her from the counter safely, swiftly, and unharmed. Then I kept passing her in the store and she continued to take liberties with the scooter that I would like to say she wasn't skilled enough to be doing but oh well! I did my part. Lesson learned: be faithful in the small (or in this case, not so small) stuff and God will give you the bigger opportunties. Guess I am still proving myself here as I haven't been moved on yet :)

Speaking of scooters, most of you know that my precious 55 year old dad retired in December! What an answer to prayer for me! I worried myself sick over him living alone in WV and working outside in the cold. Anyway, he is a completely independent, capable, fun-loving guy. We always play jokes on each other ... So, I contacted the Scooter Store recently and asked them to contact him as he was interested in purchasing a Scooter :) Now he gets phone calls, emails, snail mail all letting him know that he can live a perfectly mobile life if he would only purchase a Scooter! HA! I love it! So fun. Needless to say I am in trouble but it is all worth it :)

Now, if only free lessons came with the scooter purchase, Miss Dessert Stand Jolter from Publix wouldn't have almost taken my life at Publix on Friday!

Use Me

So, let's just get it out in the open ... I am a terrible blogger ... I have this kid that I can't take my eyes off of and a husband who I really do enjoy being with so blogging (as well as cleaning, cooking, laundry and a host of other things) has taken a back seat. The problem with blogging is that the writer in me cares way too much about what I write and it takes me too long to put something together. So, I have decided to just type away and not worry about making it all perfect. Which means you, any readers that are left, may have to provide me with a certain amount of grace if and when I cross the line and say something ridiculous or if my grammar isn't perfect (don't judge me based on my English degree). So here are some things that I am loving these days:

1. Aaron's scruffiness! (I have convinced him not to shave so close :)
2. Brody's smiles, laughs, and babbles and the way he smells after a bath
3. Showers that last more than 3 minutes
4. The fact that Kris Allen won American Idol
5. The weather ... when it isn't raining
6. Being at work more (which means I have to fight off the guilt of not being at home with Brody as much so it's a catch 22)
7. Crazy Love ... if you haven't read it ... DO! Now! and then ACT! It does not good if you don't change the way you live once you have the knowledge.
8. Feeling more like myself and not just a new mom
9. Going to yard sales EVERY Saturday
10. The fact that my parents are coming next weekend!

Well, now ... putting it in writing makes me realize how much I am loving life right now!

One other thing I wanted to mention. I hear a lot of new music at work and to be honest, so much of it is lost on me (I am an old school country kind of girl from the mountains of WV) but the other day in a meeting they played some new Switchfoot songs (that were amazing) and another song by a band we signed recently named Abandon. The very first line of this song, titled, Here We Are Now was: "I ask myself, what can I offer you? Can you use someone who already feels used?" Wow, that really resonated with me! The whole song was great but that one line jumped out at me ... Feeling like the veil has just been lifted from my post partum world, I get that "used up" feeling. There are days when I just feel like there isn't an ounce of me left to give to anyone and that goes against all the gifts that God has given me. He made me to be outgoing and lively and social ... an exhorter! And lack of sleep, time, energy, and constant caring for another helpless human robbed me of the ability to be that person again. While I was off whining about the fact that I didn't know where I fit into my own life anymore God had given me this amazing kid and that is what needed my attention at that moment ... to sum it all up ... I know that in my "used" state ... God can use me the most because that is when there is less of me and more of Him. Ok, so publicly to the few readers of this blog and more importantly to the One who matters most I want to say, Jesus, use me ... however! To change a diaper, to encourage someone, to cook dinner, to listen, to give a hug, play in the floor! However Lord. Just put me to work!

Now, here are a few pics of our little man. You know I can't end without sharing!

What A Difference A Year Makes ...

A year ago today Aaron and I saw our little one's heartbeat on the screen for the first time! I will forever have the memory etched in my mind. Dr. Stafford pointed to him on the screen and said, "There is your little peanut right there!" We love Brody Rayf to pieces! I can't imagine life without him in now!

I Wish

When I was pregnant with Brody I posted about a song one of our artists sang for us at devotions called, "I Wish." I promised the lyrics but now I can do even better ... click on the link below to watch Heather Headley sing, "I Wish." It is only about 4 minutes long, you will be glad you watched. Her new album is out now, it's called, "Audience Of One."

PS ... Brody Rayf, you are too young to read yet little one, but Momma has these lyrics written in your baby book and I pray these words over you too baby boy! This is what I wish for you ....

The Journey

So much swirling around in my head so I am just going to swim in this poem that I heard today and I thought that I would share it with you ...

{The Journey}

One day you finally knew what you had to do and began
Though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice --
Though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles

"Mend my life!"each voice cried
But you didn't stop
You knew what you had to do

Though the wind pried with its stiff fingers at the very foundations
Though their melancholy was terrible
It was already late enough, and a wild night, and the road full of fallen branches and stones

But little by little, as you left their voices behind
The stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds
And there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own
That kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world
Determined to do the only thing you could do --
Determined to save the only life you could save

~ Mary Oliver ~

Happy New Year! (ps ... I am back!)

First off, I am so sorry for my absence. You will have to give me grace. Becoming a Mom has taken up all of my time. I can't seem to pull myself away from this beautiful bouncing baby boy that God blessed us with! I am not even sure how to begin telling you about him, but here goes: Brody Rayf Chambers was born on 9/12/08 at 6:29 pm and was 7lbs and 10oz and 20 1/2 inches long. So he was about 11 days early :) His name means, "God redeemed from the muddy place." He loves to smile and laugh. We are madly in love with him ... and I could go on and on!

Aaron has falled into his new "daddy" role perfectly. From the beginning he has been so great. He went to every doctor's appt. with me, he let me sleep as much as I needed to, he fixed me about any type of food that I wanted and then in the hospital he was an incredible labor coach. Now that we are home, we have gotten pretty good at becoming a team in this whole parenting thing. I am so excited that we get to share this journey together!

Now, on the eve of this New Year, I am going to attempt to get back to blogging :) We will see how this goes :) Since I have A LOT of less free time now, there may more lists and pictures in the blog rather than me rambling off every detail of my life. I am sure that will make whoever is still reading this blog happy :)

Here are some of the things that happened in 2008 ... (in no particular order by the way and probably lots of exclamation points and smiley faces)

• We found out on January 13th that we were having a baby!
• Aaron turned 30! We had a great surprise party for him!
• Aaron started a new job!
• We learned what it meant to trust God in uncertain circumstances!
• I made the trip to California to spend time with my sister! It was loads of fun!
• We visited my parents & Aunt in Florida in May!
• Aaron bought me my first Mother's Day card :)
• I attended my 10 year class reunion 8 months pregnant :)
• My sweet friends at work threw us a baby shower and gave me one amazing birthday!
• My friends Tristin and Michele threw us the best baby shower in the world!
• We became parents!
• Aaron attended our friend Angela's wedding ... I stayed home with our 3 week old baby :(
• I found out that I am going to be an Aunt in June!!!!!
• Mamaw passed away. We went in to Bluefield for the Memorial Service.
• Brody went to daycare for a day and a half :) Susie jumped in to help us take care of him until we figured out what to do and happend upon the world's most amazing nanny (even if we can only see her on Mondays and Wednesdays:( )!
• I continued fumbling through motherhood and learning how to be me and a mom at the same time.
• We sold the Mustang and purchased a more "family" type car :)
• My dad retired from AEP after 32 years and finally moved to Florida!!!
• All of our family came in for Brody's 1st Christmas!

Here are the things that I am hopeful for in 2009:

• Watching Brody grow and explore the world around him and learn to talk, crawl, and walk.
• Meeting my little niece or nephew in June!
• Walking, talking, and growing closer my Savior!
• Reading more (this is my wish) ...
• Sleeping through the night ... or more than 5 hours straight :)
• Getting back to my role at EMI and working on some amazing projects this year.
• Getting healthy! Well, I don't really care about health, it's more about getting myself back into my jeans again :)
• Watching my sweet friends bring life into the world! Tristin, Laura (what an answer to prayer!), Sosha and the list goes on and on!
• Learning to bake cakes and making one for Brody's 1st birthday party!
• Growing more and more in love with my sweet husband! Celebrating 7 years together in June (actually 11 in October if you could the almost 4 years of dating)!
• Dressing Brody up and taking him out for Halloween!
• Celebrating next Christmas with two "weaver" kids that aren't my sister and I :)

So to sum up, 2008 was probably one of the best years of my life. I felt more loved by my friends and family than I ever have! My hope for 2009 is that I am able to return some of that love, and become an stronger wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. As I write this, I am curled up in my bed, Aaron and Brody are both napping beside me. I feel overwhelming blessed by all that this year has blessed me with and I hope that in 2009 maybe I can focus on being a blessing to those in my life. Happy New Year!

He's Coming ...

Our little man is on his way. Tomorrow I will wake up a wife, daughter, sister, niece, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, and grandaughter and go to bed a MOTHER! WOW. I cannot wait to see his little face! I have gotten to spend the last almost 39 weeks getting to know him from a very different point of view. I can tell you he is amazing. He is stubborn (like his dad), he has some legs (like his dad), and he is impaitent (like his mom). I cannot wait to learn all about his other personality traits. But the hardest part is that starting tomorrow I have to share him with the world ... I am not sure I am ready to do that yet :) This motherhood thing is going to be harder than I ever imagined!