Just wanted to post pictures from Jordan's birthday party last week.
We had the most wonderful time celebrating this little boys' first birthday! I'm so incredibly thankful for all the family that came out of town to enjoy the weekend with us. It was literally a dream come true for me! I know it was a sacrifice for everyone and I will always be so grateful for these amazing people in Jordan's life. Jordan had the time of his life with all the attention and the smash cake! (Who ever thought of that idea, never had to clean up all that mess! haha) Great memories were made and love was all around! Enjoy the pics! P.S. Sorry I didn't get pics with everyone and Jordan! I started the day with my phone in my hand and lost it probably 20 times in the chaos!
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Today is the day!! My baby boy turns 1!!!! It has been a year of emotions. Laughter, tears, uncertainty, frustration, questions of "Am I doing this right?". Yet, God has been so faithful through it all. Parenthood is a life of up and downs. Days where you feel like a champion because your kid finally took a nap by himself, then days of frustration that they'll never do anything but hang from your shirt and cry for the next 18 years. One of the most valuable lesson I've learned this year is that things change. Seasons change, tantrums change, people change, babies change. Things that used to make them so upset, eventually won't. (Even though we still HATE diaper changes over here.) Things that used to make them happy, won't always be your saving grace! You just learn to roll with the punches. Change with them. As they grow up, so do you. You learn what things in life really matter. The things that mom's write blogs that sound like they'll make or break your child, end up not mattering as much. If the formula is over an hour old, he's not going to die. If I have to give him a bottle to calm him down in the car, he's not going to die. (Those are attributes I've learned thanks to my husband of course! haha) You survive. We survived!! We made it through the first year of parenthood! Through it, I've learned so much about myself. Good things and bad things, but I've also learned so much about God's grace. What would we do if He didn't give us so much mercy? I know I would be doomed. Being a parent has been the best object lesson of that. So....... Happy Birthday Jordan Pierre Aristil! You have rocked mommy and daddy's world and we wouldn't have it any other way! From the scariest day of our lives when you came into this world (a post for another day), we watched God's hand on you through it all. You have an amazing testimony that the world will know. We are so proud to be your parents and we love you more than we could ever tell you! You have such a bright future and we'll be cheering you on the whole way! Enjoy the pictures! Some you might've seen before, some I've never posted so they'll be new to you! Since going through the first year of motherhood, to moving across the country for my husbands job, there has been a roller coaster of emotions. Excitement, nervousness, shock, even fear if I'm completely honest. In November we found out that God was moving us to St. Louis, Missouri. In 3 weeks we had accepted the position, packed our apartment up and we were in "The Lou". It was a whirlwind of craziness! But, through all of those emotions, I've always had a strong peace in knowing God sent us here.
Now that we're here, we've had second ride on that roller coaster. From "What the heck were we thinking?!" (only for 2 seconds) to "Why did we leave Florida again?! It's 1 degree outside!" The past few weeks have also been very tight financially for us. Certain things were out of our control that made our budget tighter than we'd like it to be. I got 2 jobs with wedding companies, but there's no weddings in the Midwest until April. So when things got really tight for us, we knew God would take care of us. We've been here before, where God miraculously pays bills, money shows up out of no where or $500 walks to your front door to pay your rent. (I'll never forget that one!) I was already on a fast but didn't feel peace to stop fasting. God has provided just enough for us. Although I'm so thankful for that, I know God is not a God of "enough" and knowing He's a God of "more than enough" I added two more weeks to my fast. We were standing strong. Knowing that God sent us here, so He has to take care of us. I even had a quick conversation with someone about changing jobs and I told him "God knows every deadline you have coming up." Those words came back to bite me as my faith got a little weaker over the days. When things start piling up and you honestly get tired of working your faith. You get fatigued, just like when you're working out your physical body. Most of us have had that experience in working out, where you're pushed to your limit. You don't think you can go any further. Your body feels like it's going to give up on you and let's be real, if you're a girl, you just want to cry! Those bills are staring you in the face, and after a while you can't ignore them anymore. Your problems, your bills start talking louder to you and your faith is shriveled up in the corner crying, and silent. My husband of course encouraged me and also knew it was just my emotions getting the best of me. Then today I read this in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9,16-18 "We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We do not know what to do, but we do not give up the hope of living. We are persecuted, but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed. "So we do not give up. Our physical body is becoming older and weaker, but our spirit inside us is made new every day. We have small troubles for a while now, but they are helping us gain an eternal glory that is much greater than the troubles. We set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever." These past two months have been so much of an adjustment. We know God has something amazing here for us! Something that we could've only learned or obtained in good ole St. Louis, Missouri! We know this is just the beginning of our story and testimony that God is writing. If you've never known God as your provider, how can you tell someone else He'll provide? If you've never known Him as your healer, how can you encourage someone else facing a disease that "by His stripes we are healed"? At the end of the day, emotions change! From day to day, you feel differently about something or someone. That's why we can't rely on our emotions to make life-changing decisions. If we would've taken this job on emotions, we would've thought we made a huge mistake. Instead, we listen to what God has to say. We allow Him to speak to us through His Word to give us direction. So, we ride this test-imony out. As He provides for us every single day. He is "our daily bread". Through random checks in the mail, to the lady in the line at the grocery story buying our groceries. We watch for God to work it all out, so He gets all the glory! "If your children ask for bread, which of you would give them a stone? Or if your children ask for a fish, would you give them a snake? Even though you are bad, you know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more your heavenly Father will give good things to those who ask Him!" Matthew 7:9-11 Yes, it's true. I'm starting a blog! I've never really considered myself a writer. I actually wasn't very good at it in school! To be honest, I don't have a lot of knowledge of following other blogs either. But, in the last few months of my life a lot has changed! I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy and moved across the country to St. Louis, Missouri. Through all of the changes and experiences that come with becoming a mother, I feel that other blogs have really helped me. Whether they made me feel less crazy (which you feel a lot in the first year of having your first baby!) or they made me laugh, or even put feelings into words that I couldn't figure out how to do. Me and Pierre (my amazing husband) have always felt like God uses our lives and experiences to build a testimony. Everything we go through is just a story to share with someone else. Maybe it will make them laugh, maybe it will make them feel normal or maybe it will just build their faith. But our experiences and our story, will hopefully, always bring glory to God! So, I'll be sharing a lot of different stuff through this. Who knows where it will end up! I'm sure it will include many "new mommy" experiences and trying to balance that with being a wife. I'll eventually share Jordan's (that beautiful baby boy I was speaking about earlier) story and how his life has already started as a testimony. I'm grateful to anyone who feels that my words or what I have to say is worth your time! I hope it either makes you laugh, makes you feel normal or builds your faith just as other bloggers have done for me! So....here's to starting something new! |
AuthorSharing stories of motherhood, wife-life and trying to be the best woman I can be for my family and a Savior that loves me. Archives
May 2018
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