Safety and Security

What I need most and what I crave most in a relationship is safety and security. A friend told me the following while we were talking about relationships this week...and it really hit home. Very insightful.

"You need to feel safe in a relationship. To me, that comes from knowing you mean more to the other person than anyone else and that they will do everything they can to make you happy. Only then are you totally secure."

New York - Mom & Daughter Trip!

Mom and I had always wanted to travel to New York City, so that's exactly what we did! :) For my 31st birthday (ugh!), she set up an amazing trip and we had such a wonderful time!

We were able to see the Empire State Building...

...the musical Rent (I was dying to be on stage!)...

...and my favorite, the Staten Island Ferry!

But after a few days in record-breaking 100 degree weather + humidity...it was time to go!!

So handsome!

I just absolutely love this picture and had to share! :)

Eli - The Athlete!

Eli is officially finished with his first season of t-ball and soccer. Crazy us, we decided to sign him up for both sports at the same time...just to see which one he liked best! After shuttling the little guy between soccer practice, t-ball practice, soccer games, t-ball games, soccer pictures and t-ball pictures...we weren't all that upset to hear that he'd rather not play soccer next time. It WAS entertaining, though, to watch him try to stay as FAR AWAY from the soccer ball as possible. If that meant waiting for all of his other teammates to run by him in order to get to the back of the pack, that's exactly what he did! :)

T-ball was more his speed, but as you can see, he's the SMALLEST one out there! There was two Eli's on his team (so much for picking a unique name...) and he was "Little Eli." I certainly hope he grows soon! ;)

Eli - A Girlfriend?!

Ah, my sweet little boy has an eye for a sweet little girl! Her name is Samantha, and quite fitting, he has picked the absolute CUTEST girl in his Mother's Day Out class. Seriously, this girl is CUTE and she has the brightest red hair and biggest, bluest eyes. Not so bad, Eli. He spent all last night "calling" and "texting" her. Which by the way, what is this world coming to when a four year old knows how to text on his pretend phone?! Anyway, he paced up and down the hall (just like his mama) telling "Samantha" about his day. I could hear him in the other room asking her if she wanted to come over, then making up a little song that went something like this, "If you have a little dog, come over (imagine a high pitch ending), if you have a big dog, come over, if you have a table, come over (I'm assuming he was just saying whatever he saw at the time), if you have a shoe, come over..." It went on and on. Tessa and I were laughing (to ourselves, of course, we wouldn't want to interrupt!), before she decided to see if Eli wanted to call her little neice Maddie. Sure enough, he did. Just like that his fascination with pretty little Samantha was over in favor of another cute little girl. This time a blonde! Ah, the fickleness starts early. My son's already a "playa, playa!" ;)

Trust.

The issue of trust plagues my thoughts today, so I looked for advice - where else? - on the web. Here are a few of the quotes I found.

"Trust is like a vase. Once it's broken...though you can fix it, the vase will never be the same again."

"Follow your heart, but be quiet for a while first. Ask questions, then feel the answer. Learn to trust your heart."

"You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you do not trust enough."

The "advice" I found just complicates things all the more. I'll take the second and try to trust my heart...and pray that the Lord places the real "advice" directly on it.

Eli - Heaven?!

My baby boy is four. It doesn't seem possible that four years ago yesterday, I was in the hospital praying that my sweet little angel would be healthy (and would HURRY up and get here)! ;) In fact, I told Eli the story right when we woke up yesterday morning...right after I told him Happy Birthday and that he was now officially four years old. Which, a little side note here, was the funniest thing ever! He was so excited...he giggled a bit, said "I'm FOUR" over and over again, then giggled some more. He then followed up with, "I feel so BIG!" Lol. Okay - back to the original story. I told him that four years ago today, I was in the hospital. He interrupted right away and said, "Oh no, Mommy! Why?" I explained that I was in the hospital to get him out of my tummy... He said, "Oh, oh! I 'member that!" I said "Oh, you do?" laughed, then we got up and got ready for church. At lunch, I was telling my little brother the story and Eli interjected that he DOES remember. He said it was like a swimming pool in there, and a park, and the ice cream man was there and God was there. Hmmm...I had to ask if he really thought Mommy's tummy was big enough for all of that (which at the time, I certainly felt like it was), but in all sincerity, it made me wonder if in some way our little ones DO remember. All of those things would be like Heaven for Eli...a little slice of Heaven before entering the "real world." Just a little something to ponder.