Inspired

I was reading the blog of a fabulous chic from church who just so inspires me. The kind of girl that you just want to know and call friend, you know what I mean. Anyway...I was thinking about the ways that she inspires me, and I began to think of all the other fabulous people God has been so gracious to allow me to know and love. God is so AWESOME! My incredible hubby who still can give me chills with one look. Then there are my fantastical children...don't even get me started there. And I totally don't mean that in a prideful way because the ways they are fabulous have nothing to do with me. Each one of them are so unique and they teach me something new everyday! From the oldest to the youngest I could just follow them around and watch them all day. 8-) Family and friends...each person so beautiful and every one of them with different strengths, all amazing in their own way. Seriously...I know God didn't put all of these people on the earth solely for my entertainment, but I am just so thankful to have them all in my life. I wish that I could make a big long list of people I want to tell how amazing they are, but I don't have all day to blog...so I won't. 8-) I am just in awe at God's creations this morning. I love all you people!

The sweetest smell in the world...

The best smell in the whole world...a newborn baby. I believe that Heaven will smell like newborn babies. Still to this day, the oldest being 8 & 1/2 years old, after my babies have had a bath and are getting ready for bed I like to inhale them. They always smell delicious, but ever so often I will catch the scent of my sweet tiny babies. The best place to sniff and kiss...right at the nape of the neck. It's the softest, sweetest kisses ever. I spent some time with my newest little friend Owen yesterday at the hospital. Not as much time as I wanted to of course. Other people wanted to hold him, and of course his mommy needed him and he needed her. 8-) Not to mention the exhaustion you could see all over her. She needed to rest. He is so precious. The first thing I said this morning was that I wanted to smell Owen. Andrew called me a baby sniffer. I can be crazy Aunt Whitney...the baby sniffer. I like that title. Anyway...he is just perfect. His mommy and daddy are very blessed, and he is very blessed to have them. 8-) I am praying that their transition into this season of their lives will be seamless and a beautiful testimony of their faith in our perfect, unfailing God.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OWEN

So my newest littlest friend will be making his way into the world very shortly as his mommy is at the hospital laboring to deliver him now. Labor...the word doesn't even do it justice. The work involved in bringing life into this world should be given a much more descriptive term. Something that would express the pain and intensity of the task you know. Labor is what they should call pregnancy. Although...I always felt great throughout my pregnancies. I loved being pregnant. I love having babies. I love kids. I love love. 8-) Anyway...I am very proud of Trisha. She is going to be an amazing mommy and I am looking forward to loving on my sweet new friend.

birthdays galore...

This is an insane month of birthdays. I love birthdays. I love to celebrate. Today is Micah's, my oldest brother, birthday. I am the oldest of all my brothers and sisters, not that I am old by any means. 8-) Micah is the oldest of the boys. He is 24 today. I so totally remember when he was born. I was 5 years old. Yes, that means I will be 29 in just 2 days. They brought Micah home from the hospital on my birthday. I think that is the day I became a mommy. I have been mothering anyone who would let me for 24 years. 8-) Somehow he and I both have oldest child personalities. Maybe because I was a little older when he was born. Maybe because he is the oldest boy. Maybe because I always acted more like his mother than his sister so he felt like an oldest child. I have had so much fun with my brothers and sisters. I enjoy them immensely. I don't always like the choices they make. I pray always that they would choose life, but I can't choose for them. They are all incredible beautiful people with amazing personalities. Each of them very different, but somehow we are all very alike. Here's the rundown...there is me 29, Micah 24, Caleb 21, Haley 19, and Abbey is the baby at 16. I am excited about being 29. I can't imagine it will be a lot different from 28. Here's the thing. All that I have ever wanted to be in my whole life is a wife and mommy. So no matter where we are in life I have the joy of being what I wanted to be. Maybe to the world it's not that great of an accomplishment, and status according to the world is certainly not something I am achieving. 8-) To some my job doesn't even count. I can't imagine a greater blessing in life than watching my babies grow. We went to the zoo yesterday and I watched my hubby with the babies and I was in awe of how blessed I am. It is the most beautiful thing in the world to see who they are and how they interact with the world around them. Even when my littlest baby was throwing a fit at dinner I knew I am truly blessed. Now doing my job well is a whole different story. There are days when i cry out to God in desperation for the ability to love my children well. Because my problem isn't how much I love them. I love them with everything that I have. The thing that concerns me is getting that love across in the way God wants me too. I could tell my children all day long that I love them and it may mean nothing. I have to show them love in the way they receive it. It feels that there is no room for mistakes here. I had a friend who once said that instead of putting away money for her kids education she was going to put away money for their counseling fund. 8-) Thankfully God is way bigger than me and He is a beautiful God of redemption.

Other birthdays we will be celebrating this month...our good friends Justin Heap (26), Jacob Carringer(25),and hopefully for Trisha's sake sweet baby Owen will be making his debut this month.

quiet time

So it has been a hard week to be mommy. I feel like possibly I am losing my mind. I don't really know what's different this week, but I feel the crazy taking over. I don't seem to have a quiet moment at ANY time of the day. The kids are getting up when I do and not going to bed before I do so literally I am needed and used ALL DAY LONG! Yesterday they were all especially rambunctious and loud. I refereed the disputes and all out battles all day long. Last night at church as I stood upstairs trying to have a conversation I could hear my children all the way down stairs. Don't get me wrong...there are precious moments mixed in with the madness, but I think it's time for mommy's day off. Date night. That's what I need. Actually, the kids are probably thinking they could use a break from me. 8-)

Aside from my madness...I am very excited that tomorrow is the 4th of July! I love it! I love the feel of summer holidays. Well, I love ANY holiday. The parties, family time, delicious food, and I get to SOCIALIZE! We are going to grill out and then go to providence and check out the fire works. FIRE WORKS! So beautiful and exciting! The babies are very excited as well. They like to party as much as mommy does. Daddy, well daddy's good as long as the kids are having fun and there is good food around. 8-)

the beach

I am desperate to be heading to the beach. Everyone I know is either at the beach or will be very soon. We are going to the beach, but not until October. That is when Andrew and his family do the beach thing. We will be heading to Charleston, SC. That is on the Atlantic side for those of you who are geographically challenged like myself. I actually am a Gulf of Mexico kind of girl myself. You see, the Atlantic has brown, more compact sand while the Gulf has white, soft sand. I also prefer to go when it's blazing hot. Ohhh ye--ah! I like to lay in the sand until I can't stand it anymore and then dive in the ocean to cool off. Oh well, it will be fun no matter what. Andrew and the kids love Charleston and I love them so it makes it a blast. The beach there is wider and it has these giant tidal pools the kids can play in and catch crabs. They have fantastic time, and I love watching them fall in love with God's creation. The ocean is a tremendous wonder and it is sooo... romantic. Ok, I should stop. This is making my desperation to be there unbearable.

In other news...VBS ended and we all made it through alive. 8-) On one day we had over 500 children on campus plus 200 workers. It was madness. To top off all things mad...1 of my babies got sick 2 days before it ended to be followed by another one of my babies the day after it ended. Fun days at the Maxwell house. Praise God we all made it through and everyone is currently well. VBS was a success.

Well, that's all I have to share for now. I know it was riveting and you are wondering how one person can be so engaging but duty calls. Dinner doesn't cook itself you know. 8-)