Waiting

I feel like I've been doing a lot of this lately...waiting. Waiting to hear from the bank, waiting for Jared's truck to sell, waiting for our house to sell, waiting to hear back from doctors. There's been a lot of waiting going on in the Hollier house. While this would be awesome if we were both patient people, we are not. I wouldn't even consider Jared and I mildly patient. We're not....at.all. Needless to say, the Lord has been really working on my faith in Him. I'm not quite at the point of sharing everything with the cyber world, but I'll get there. And when I do, I will only give God the glory for it.

I'm learning that when I say I trust God that means that I trust Him in good and bad circumstances. When I say He is Lord of my life, He is Lord during the good and bad. That is becoming more real to me everyday. Please pray for our little family. We're going through a lot of uncertainty and waiting right now that's not always easy for us impatient ones.

Small victories

Today was the second day of trying to create some independance for Sam. After asking friends for advice and reading some other babywise blogs, I've started putting Sam in his pack and play for some "solo" playtime in his room. Day 1: Cried the entire time. Day 2: Cried for 15 minutes and right before I went to get him, silence...well except for the sound of blocks crashing together. So, I kept him in there to play some more. He did great, until the phone rang and he remembered that momma was home somewhere. But by then, it was time for a nap so it was okay. I got the house cleaned and Sam was able to play some by himself. I'm hoping that he will be able to come to enjoy these solo playtimes and that he would learn to play some on his own. The next two days will be a little different since I've got workshops and Jared's at youth camp. But, hopefully we'll get back on track and by the time I start school he'll be a walking, talking, pretoddler! Ah!!!! It's so hard being gone during the school year and then home during the summer, but I think Sam and I are enjoying it and making the transition well. We even went to a used book store today and the owner gave Sam a free book! I've been looking for some board books for Sam to read/chew. He's really into animals...giraffes specifically, as crazy as that may sound. The bookstore guy said that they have someone read to the kids on Saturdays and then the kids all get to get a free book from the treasure chest so maybe that will be a summer tradition that we start. I want to take Sam to the zoo this summer, but Jared says he's too young and it's too hot. Does anyone have any good ideas/not too expensive ideas of things to do with a 10 month old in the heat of summer? I'd love to hear what you guys are doing! We've been going to the lake and probably will take many more trips but other than that, what do you do??? Can't wait to hear your thoughts!

Enjoy your day!

#1 Dad of the Year!

Here are some moments that captured our day. Up top...this might be the funniest face ever! This is Sam and Daddy wrestling on the floor. (Check out those eyes!) On the left, this is Sam right before he stood by himself for a few seconds! We're getting there. Unfortunately, I can't get it on camera yet! Soon, I'm sure!

This was the moment that my husband stole my heart one more time. You have to know Jared to really experience the fullness of the moment. Jared has never held a baby before they were two months old, and if they were extra tiny, maybe even longer than that! He's always been afraid of breaking them...which had always been my fear too. But when our little man came into the world, it was like a switch was flipped on. From the guy who was afraid to hold a baby to a Daddy who looked just perfect holding his firstborn son. I remember laying there in the OR watching Jared holding Sam and thinking "He looks just like a pro holding him". My how the time has flown by since that day.

I'm so incredibly thankful for the husband and Daddy that Jared is. He is already such a great dad to Sam. I'm so thankful that Jared listens to His Heavenly Father in order to be such an amazing earthly father to Sam. For that we are both truly blessed.

Happy Father's Day, Jared! I love you!

~Elizabeth

Needing some advice....

First of all let me say, I love my son. He is one of the highlights of my life. But...since being home for the summer I've realized something. Sam is a momma's boy. Now, I've known this (and loved this) all along, but he has since become VERY clingy. Clingy to the point that if I'm around he won't do anything without me. I am new at this motherhood thing, and just when I think I've got him figured out he changes! Ha! I'm sure that we'll be doing this all his life, poor thing. Anyway, I just wanted some advice from some mommas out there on how you help get past this. I want him to be able to play by himself some and even go to other people. Right now he's at the point where he's starting to get even a bit anxious about going to other people, which I certainly don't want. I've been praying about this for a while and it seems like it's gotten worse since I've been home from school and even worser still since he's been sick. I'm just asking for advice on what to do...I'll be the first to recognize that I don't have the answers, nor will I ever. But I know that God has blessed many of you with children who may have gone through the same things. So, if you will be so kind as to give me some advice or lead me to someone's advice I would be sooooo appreciative! Thanks a bunch!
~Elizabeth

We Did It!!!

This is Sam's certificate of achievement that says he can advance to Intro. to Swim next year! Woo Hoo! Sam's real excited, can't you tell? I was so proud of him...it took him a while, but I can really tell he's making progress. Sam can kick his legs, hold his breath, go under water, reach and grab things under and above water, and he basically just likes the water much better now. Well worth it! Hopefully it will pay off when we go to the lake tomorrow and when we go to the Frio River later in July. Yay! I was so proud of him!

Just one of many proud moments to come, I'm sure! :)

My sick patient...

Having a sick child is the worst! Especially when they're babies and they can't tell you exactly what hurts. We have been very blessed with a healthy boy. Besides his momma's allergies, he's never been sick. In the 10 months of his life, we've never had to go to the dr. before our three month checkups....until today. Sam has been feeling awful, and I mean awful! So awful that for three days straight all he did was eat, sleep, and wail...yes I said wail. Not cry, sob, or wimper. WAIL! That's how I knew something was up. Normally when his allergies start acting up, he's kinda fussy and you can see it in his eyes that he doesn't feel good, but this was different. He wasn't sleeping like he normally does, his nose was a drippy faucet, and he had the most heart breaking cough you've ever heard. So today we went to the dr. and found out that Sam has the croup and ear inflammation or "swimmer's ear". I was relieved to know that I wasn't being overly dramatic as a new mother and that we've finally got LOTS of medicine to make him feel better. We haven't been to swim lessons the past two days, but the dr. said it would be okay for us to go as long as we used the drops he gave us. Hopefully he'll start to get back to his old self soon.

It's the most heart breaking thing I've ever experienced. To know that something's wrong, but not know what it is or what to do to fix it. I imagine that this is somewhat how God feels when something's wrong with us. He wants to fix it, He wants to make us feel better, but we do things our own way. There were times I would try and console Sam and he was just wail even louder. Sometimes I feel like I do the same with God. I wail and cry out and when God tries to help, I just cry even louder b/c it's just not what I want. How I pray that my heart would want what God wants. That when God tries to comfort me that I would rest in His care. Trust in His promises. After all, He is the Great Physician. He can heal all wounds. If we just let Him.

~Elizabeth

My little musician

Prayer Request

Jared & I have been talking and praying for some time now about selling our house. We've lived in it for a little over two years now and have put in A LOT of tender loving care. And I do mean A LOT! But, in an effort to be better stewards with the money God has given us, we've decided to move closer into "town" and search for something smaller and in need of less tlc. To some people this doesn't make any sense at all. But we are trying to make smart decisions even if that means we have to be more inconvenienced. Like for example, some people see a house with less room as a bad thing. To me, I think about having to keep necessities and not hoard a bunch of junk. Sam will have more opportunities to give away his toys instead of letting stacks of toys be shoved into a closet somewhere. We will all have more opportunity to give things away, which I think is a great thing. The realtor came to our house today and looked around. We told her everything that we had done to the house and what our "long term" dreams had been, but we just ran out of time, energy, and money. It seems that we will be able to sell our home for more than we bought it for. This is a HUGE praise! My gut reaction was to up our price range, but then the Lord reminded me what we originally had in mind in the first place...to be better stewards of the money that God has given us. So, if our house sells for the price range she gave us, we'll be able to pay off some of our debt! WooHoo! It's a small chunk compared to the gigantic college loans that we face, but it's a step in the right direction....the debt free direction! We are by no means struggling. We just want to be able to be debt free (except for our house) and be able to focus more on giving to others financially. We want to be able to pay for Sam's college so he won't have to deal with what we're dealing with. We want to be able to be financial blessings to others who may be struggling. All of these things are how we feel we are being better stewards with God's money. So my prayer request is that our house would sell. We would be able to pay off some debt, and make steps in the right direction toward being debt free (cars, loans, you name it). That would be a huge burden off of us. Please join us in praying for this big prayer request.

Update on swimming lessons

Well, we are now almost finished with week 1 of swimming lessons. Sam is doing better. He still likes the water so I guess that's good, right? He's starting to enjoy some of the activities that they do in the water. He just hates, and I mean HATES, some of the other things...for example: he refuses to kick his legs, and he screams the minute I put him on his back to float. Other than that, he enjoys swimming. His favorite part is getting to play in the hot tub after lessons. The teacher lets us moms spend the last 5 minutes in the hot tub partly to let the babies relax and enjoy the water but also to help us moms relax before the screaming begins again when the changing of the bathing suits begins. I'm hoping that this will all pay off in the long run. That Sam will learn to swim better than his momma and that he will be confident in the water. Right now, it's a gamble everyday from 6-6:30 to see how Sam will respond to the various factors that will in turn affect his mood in the pool. Yesterday Sam's allergies started acting up and he felt awful. I debated taking him at all, but decided to. And wouldn't you know it, Sam had his best day yet! I'm really excited that this weekend is my nephews' birthday parties...and it's a swimming party! I'm excited to see them and also excited that Sam will be able to play in the water and enjoy himself. Last year at this time, Heather (my sil) and I were both BIG preggo! She was about to have Gavin and I was just 2 months from having Sam. My feet were awful swollen...I could barely walk on them..my how time flies! Can't wait to visit with them! I'll be sure and post some pics of Sam and his cousins playing this weekend!
~Elizabeth

Swimming Lessons

Today was our first day of mommy and me swimming lessons. I was a little anxious simply because it was something new. I didn't know what to expect, who would be there, and the only things I heard about it were that all the babies cried because they got dunked underwater. Geez... We got there early, because it's forever etched in my brain that early is on time, on time is late, and late is dead. I somehow remember that banner hanging up in our band hall. I wasn't even in band but I remember that sign. Anyway, I was afraid lessons would be canceled since it had rained all day, but they were on. After everyone gets there it's time to get in. There were only about 5 other moms and babies so it wasn't too bad, but all the other babies looked a lot older than Sam. Most of them were walking. I immediately did the thing you're NEVER supposed to do as a mother...I started comparing Sam to the other babies. I watched to see how they handled being in the water, how they kicked their legs (which Sam couldn't do), how they floated on their backs (which Sam hated and screamed the whole time)...you get the picture. I left there with a lump in my throat and all the insecurities in the world popping in my mind. What if Sam is developmentally behind? What if we're too protective? What if we're not exposing him to enough? And the what ifs kept going on and on and on. I have come to realize since becoming a mother that my insecurities haven't gone away, they've only doubled. I now worry about doing the right thing for Sam and if I'm being a good mom. I have also come to realize a few things about myself in the process. 1. I am not a huge social butterfly. I have a few very close friends that I can share anything with, but not a mass amount of friends. I used to think that that was wrong, but now I'm realizing that that's just who I am. 2. Satan certainly knows my weaknesses, but it's my choice that's going to allow him to fill me with self doubt. God is so much bigger than my insecurities. 3. The only way I can or ever will be a good mother is by God's grace alone. Leaving it up to me is too big of a gamble for me to play. I know that God's wisdom is perfect and He alone can give me what I need to give to Sam.

So even though day 1 of swim lessons was quite full of anxiety, I'm confident that tomorrow will be better, that's a fact. :)

~Elizabeth

Family Carnival

We had our first VBS weekend and I think it went great. Tonight we had our family carnival, and I think everyone had a blast. It was stinkin' hot, but what else is new in Texas, right? Anyway, Sam had fun and even took a little nap during all the craziness!

Family photo shoot...Sam is reclining and relaxing! I knew that stroller would come in handy one day! Ha!

One of the perks of being a preacher's kid: You get to go in the bouncy house before everyone else! Sam wasn't really sure what to think about all those balls, but he came around.

You mean I get to play with all of these balls by myself??? Sweet!

Is it sad that my child is already trained to smile when we hold the camera out? He is his mother's son....check out the tropical shirt....it went with the theme "Diving for God's Treasure".

VBS was a huge success! Jessica and Leslie did an amazing job! Next week is sure to be busy as well. We start mommy and me swim lessons for the next two weeks so I know Sam is going to love that! Stay tuned for more pics to come of our summer fun!

~Elizabeth

Latest family pics

Here are some of the latest family pictures that we had taken with our friend Esther. She is amazingly talented and each time we go, we end up having a ball. The pictures always turn out so natural. I love them all...it's the hardest thing having to choose though.

Sam is learning to point and boy does he point at everything! Like momma's mouth! :)

He is trying to walk so hard!!! He was so much fun to take pictures with...except that he didn't want to take pictures, he wanted to play with the grass and sticks. Such a boy.

Love this little man and my little family!

This could be my favorite. I love the look that Sam is giving. He really has us wrapped around his finger! Imagine that!