6 Months ago

6 Months ago today Madison West Major was born. 4 hours of labor and no drugs later and my sweet baby girl was in my arms! I could not be happier to call her my baby! I am so excited for my Mom and Nana to get here tomorrow for a visit and to see the house and to celebrate Madison's 1/2 birthday! I will write more when I have time! <3

Meanwhile...

At bible study on Monday night we were talking about meanwhile moments, you know the things that happen while you're busy making other plans. Most of you who read this are close family and friends and know the story but for those of you who are new to the Majors here's a little back story. Justin and I met when I was 20 and he was 22. Bethany was born 4 days before Justin turned 21, and he is a fantastic daddy. When we met I hadn't given much thought to being a mom. I guess I always figured I would have kids...some day. Well here was this great guy who came with a kid. Honestly I had no idea what I was getting myself into by being a step mom. First of all the name has such a negative connotation....thanks a lot Cinderella...Not all step moms are evil! Bethany is an amazing child, strong willed, funny, sweet, loving, a great big sister, and a lot like me in a lot of ways. She has a great sense of humor and is learning to be sarcastic which is hilarious! I was given this amazing opportunity to be her mom. I was literally thrown into mothering, and it has been the most challenging ride of my life. Being a step mom is not an easy task, and it can cause some serious hardships in marriage if you let it. I would say the hardest part is keeping a positive attitude. It is hard to answer the questions that are inevitable. But it is fun to be a Mom and a friend. I love that she comes to me with all the events of her day, and asks me zillions of questions from how to be a good friend to how to put an outfit together...she needs me and I need her! She is my helper with many things and she always knows when Mom needs a hug.

We had a parent teacher conference last night. The first one of 1st grade, and her teacher is amazing! I was really impressed with the way they are teaching reading in the public classrooms and how they incorporate social studies into all of the lesson plans. Very cool! Bethany is reading above her grade level, and is doing great socially. She is 'a joy to have in class'. As a parent isn't that the greatest thing you can hear? I need to remember these things when she is being a maniac at home...she is a joy to have in class. She is an amazing kid! I am so proud to be her mom.

Justin had to work late (very late...poor guy was at the office until like 10:30 last night) so it was just the girls and me last night. So to celebrate her good report we went out to dinner. She got everything she wanted...even 2 flavors of ice cream! She was so cute and so grown up at dinner, and she made me very proud! I am so excited to see all of the amazing things she is going to do with her life. Thank you Lord for my meanwhile moment, it is amazing how His hand changed my plans! Silly me thinking I had a say.

Check list..

When we started our house hunt I had a long list of wants and needs. Throughout the searching process I eliminated several things from this list because I had to realize that to have everything we would have to increase our budget by thousands of dollars (like 100,000 more than we wanted to spend). I had come to the conclusion that I would not have a large fenced in yard, or stainless appliances, or a unique looking home, and if I got one of these things I would probably have to sacrifice the other. The Lord's timing and provision was so perfect and he knew what I wanted and what I thought I needed. Despite my pickiness our realtor stuck it out, and my husband trusted my judgement. The Lord's perfect timing and amazing blessings provided a unique looking brick rambler, on .6 of an acre, with granite counter tops in the kitchen AND bathrooms, stainless appliances, and a garage. I am so in awe at how he answered our prayers for this house, and how he put people on our path that would provide all the answers for everything from financing to a moving van. Our Lord is sovereign and no matter how in control we think we are, he has the reins. It is up to us not to take the bit, and let him lead us in the right direction!

Too much for 1 blog

Can I just say that this week has been such an whirlwind! We closed on our new house Aug 31st...that is when chaos began. There is still not an end in immediate sight to said chaos, but I am making due. We decided to take the move slow, pack a few boxes and take them over in the jeep to be unpacked and organized. This went really well at first and then it just kind of exploded all over the upstairs family room. I am avoiding said explosion right now. During all of the chaos of moving our laptop decided to die, so I am finally getting to update my blog from the ancient desktop that has lived in Bethany's room for the last 2 years, I cannot believe this thing still works!

I am trying to reflect on all of the amazing things that have happened this week, and it really is too much to put into 1 post. So Ill give you the bullet points version.

• Started the living the dream series in small groups at church- AMAZING! Started it with a women's lifegroup that I am apprenticing with on Monday nights and with the couples group we have been going to since January on Friday night. Fantastic series and I cannot wait to see the work the Lord is going to do through it!
• Back to school night at Bethany's school Tuesday night, her teacher is AWESOME!
• Dyed my hair brown with blonde highlights! LOVE it!
• The guys from lifegroup are amazing and they helped us move furniture after group on Friday night until 2 am so we only had to pay for 1 day on the van rental (call us cheap, but hey I have a house to furnish and that extra 100 bucks will come in handy)
• The house is old, it makes weird noises, I am not used to it yet.
• Derby likes to dig, at the gate in the back yard. NOT COOL!
• Saturday night football at the Ramsey's, Scott is insane and it is really funny to watch him watch Florida State football.
• Sunday morning church! Pastor Daniel brought it big time with a challenging message on the way God is working on all of us in every season...even the dry seasons!
• Served in Trek for 2nd service, a group of about 20 3-4 year olds with glue...scary but amazing and so much fun! Already excited for next week!
• Too cold for coffee on the porch Sunday morning...but I will have my coffee on the porch this week! and yes I did say COLD! It seems fall has arrived in central VA!
• And Comcast is terrible...no new news there
• OH one of the coolest things! Justin is building a corner pantry for me! He started it this weekend (yes on top of the move, he truely is amazing) and it is looking so great! We picked a beautiful stain for the oak wood he is using and with the help of Scott's power tools it is coming together nicely!
• Madison started eating baby food. She likes the squash and will eat the green beans but she isnt in love with them!
• And 1 week from today my mom and nana will be here to visit! Cannot wait to see them and for them to see the girls! 3 months in between visits is too long.

Okay enough avoiding my chaos upstairs, the baby is napping and I should get some work done. 

Anwsered Prayers in the middle of Lowes!

Yet another amazing example of our Lord's active involvement in our daily lives. Justin and I received some money back during the closing on our house. With that we decided to buy our washer and dryer, and a few other necessities for the new place. We went on our shopping journey this afternoon to Lowes...a very daunting place if you hate spending large sums of money at one time (on things other than clothes and fun stuff like me)

So we found a few options of dryers and washers, but I really wanted one of the new kind that look neat and are high efficiency...too bad they were way out of our price range. Of course they had the lowest price option that looked just like the ones we all grew up with, your basic, no frills washer and dryer....a fine option but not what I had pictured when we were talking about buying a new set. We could afford to get that set AND a warranty but I wasn't happy about it. Maybe I'm a little spoiled but I wanted to make sure we were getting the best one for our money, and somehow buying a whole set new for that cheap made me feel like we would be replacing it sooner than we want to. Plus if I was getting a new washer and dryer I wanted all of the new technology that comes with a new set. Anyway I got pouty and decided that it was time to pray....so I asked the Lord to give me discernment and let Justin make the final decision. I made my peace with the low cost option and Justin assured me we could get those for now, and in a few years I could upgrade. Fair enough.

Just about the time I had made my peace with this decision, the sales manager came over to help us. He saw that we were looking at the new whirlpool he set, and told us there was another option on the other side of the department. Exactly what I wanted...exactly the right price WITH a warranty!! Just as soon as I was willing to submit the Lord shined a light on the perfect set for us! I looked it up online, and we never would have been able to get this set at it's full price tag...Thank you to the man upstairs for having our backs on this one! Now I can do my laundry with all the new technology without breaking the bank!

Creeped out!

After living in apartments and condos and dorms for the last 7.5 years I am used to the noises that come with it. People above you flushing, creaking floors above you, bass thumping from the stereos of those who live under you, etc. I lived my entire childhood on a big ranch, and silence should not creep me out. I guess after close to 10 years of apartment life I am no longer used to quiet. I went to the house this morning with a load of stuff, and was totally creeped out. It was so quiet! Every creak of the floor would creep me out! Ack! It was so frustrating because I know we are safe there, I know we locked the doors yesterday when we left. I should not be nervous. Anyway I turned on some worship music and tried to ignore my inner child who was freaked out. Madison probably though Mommy had lost her mind when I was blaring songs on my phone and singing really loud....needless to say she didn't take a nap there this morning. I guess my husband will get to tell me No More Law & Order!!

Homemaker's Challenge! 31 days to CLEAN!

My intention is to create a second tab on the blog to keep this separate from the normal blog, but since it is 9:42 and the baby has been asleep for 2 hours already I want to get this done so I can still be semi functioning when she wakes up to eat before I go to bed. Anywho the challenge for today was to come up with a family mission statement, why do want to make our home a haven, and be specific.

Major Family Mission Statement:


In our house we will learn to laugh at ourselves, sing loud, and dance in the kitchen.

We will keep our house beautiful because the Lord dwells here too.

We will always remember to greet our guests with a hug, and never let them leave on an empty stomach.

This home is a place of refuge for our family and friends, please make yourselves at home.

We always say I love you, no matter what.

We will never leave or go to bed without a kiss.


Then we were to make it pretty and hang it in the house...so I am printing it and putting it in a pretty frame to hang in the new house!
http://www.facebook.com/#!/HomemakersChallenge if you would like to join in on the fun, the book is only 4.99 on the kindle!

She's got a brick house!

For the 8th time since leaving the comforts of my life on McCarty Lane, I will be moving again. This time is different....this time it is into our very own home! Justin and I closed on our house last night, and it was such an amazing feeling! I left home at 18 and moved into the dorms at Texas State, I bopped all around San Marcos until Justin bought the condo in 2007 and we lived there until we moved to VA. We made our big move to Virginia about 1 year ago...and I find myself packing to move one more time. We will not be moving after this for a long time!

In the few years the Lord has been blessing us beyond belief and in ways I never imagined. When Justin and I got married we had no idea we would be moving to VA, no idea he would have a government job, no idea we would be blessed with Madison, and here we are.

We knew we wanted to buy a home here because his job will keep us in the area for a long time, and a mortgage on a really super cool nice house is considerable cheaper than our rent in this 3 bedroom apartment. So after Madison was born the search began. I bet I searched 50 houses...and that was in person....no telling how many I looked at online. Our poor realtor has been put through the ringer, and he earned that commission for sure! 2 days after I came home from our visit to TX I toured a house. It didn't come up on the realtor's search because it wasn't on public water and sewer, but I found it online and HAD to see it. So I toured it while Justin was away on business. I walked in and I knew! It was that wedding dress feeling!! He looked at it online, and gave the approval, so we made an offer that day (or maybe the next day....it was either on my birthday or the day after...end of June) We made the offer, and they accepted it!

The Lord put so many people in our path who helped us get to this point, and it is amazing to see His hand in our home buying process. We didn't want a cookie cutter home or neighborhood, we wanted a big lot with a fenced in yard, with at least 4 bedrooms, and that didn't need a lot of work. Boy let me tell you, God had my checklist and he checked EVERY SINGLE BOX! This house hunt had so many ups and downs, and they all happened so the Lord could give us this home. We have room to fellowship with friends and family, we have room for the kids to grow and the dog to play. I am so in awe at His handy work in our lives! So next time yall are in the area stop for a cup of coffee!! It's the little brick house with black shutters! :)