Kicking and Screaming

The time right now is 12:42.

Josiah David Williams went down for his nap at 10:40.

He has not slept longer than fifteen minutest straight without waking up crying, screaming, and kicking.

The reason? His pacifier.

He LOVES his pacifier. If it falls out of his mouth while falling asleep he wakes up whaling. It is normally an easy fix of sticking his pacifier back in and he is back to dreamland. Today it just has been a bad nap time. He is overtired so instead of an "easy" fix it has meant me coming into his room picking his screaming, kicking body up and rocking him for a few minutes until he is back to being relaxed baby. I lay him back in his crib and he'll usually sleep for another six minutes and then the process begins again. I have to say this is not Josiah's norm. He normally is a great napper and takes at least two, two-ish hour naps a day and sleeps eight hours a night. But he is just a baby, and he has his days when sleeping is just really hard and today is one of them.

Today when I went into his room for the fourth time I was reminded of how many times I act like Josiah. You see Josiah's problem is not his pacifier it is his actions. He will will jolt his head from side to side forcing his pacifier out of his mouth or sometimes he will take his hand and jerk it over his mouth which pushes his pacifier out. The result is a very upset baby. I came into Josiah's room and with one look realized he was already too distressed for a simple putting his pacifier back in his mouth to work. He needed his momma to help him calm himself. I picked up his little body and his cute little thighs that I love were kicking like mad. His sweet little mouth that can make the most adorable smiles and sounds was contorted in a downright ugly manner. I put him to my shoulder and kissed him and told him to just not push his pacifier out of his mouth and he wouldn't be mad. I rocked him and held him and he slowly calmed down to to be a peaceful sleepy baby. I couldn't help but think how many times do I do that with God?

How many times do I insist that my ways are the best. When they don't work I kick my legs and scream and holler in my exhaustion of doing things on my own. How many times does God have to pick me up, hold my arms down so I don't hit myself in the head, and rock me and calm me with His truth? I was was reminded of God' patience with me as I put my sleeping baby back in his crib and started the process again six minutes later. How stubborn am I sometimes? I keep thinking if this baby would just stop knocking his pacifier out of his mouth and sleep like his body wants and needs to, he won't be distressed. How many times would I miss out on my distress if I accepted God' truth and consistently lived it?

Ouch!

I'm learning patience.

I'm learning I can cry and whine like a little baby.

I can be so foolish.

But my God is so faithful. He is so loving. He is so consistent to pick me up and calm me down. Sometimes I mess up as often as Josiah wakes up.

Ouch!

After Easter Musings....

Hey everybody! This is Josiah here, and I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy (albeit belated) Easter! (HE IS RISEN!)

I was chatting with my dad the other day (I know, it sounds surprising, but he is remarkably good at speaking and understanding baby gibberish!), and we were discussing the meaning of Easter. After a great conversation, we decided that one of the best ways that Easter can be described as...Jesus is the Messiah! :-)

He became sin
Who knew no sin
That we might become His Righteousness
He humbled himself and carried the cross

Love so amazing
Love so amazing

Jesus Messiah
Name above all names
Blessed Redeemer
Emmanuel
The rescue for sinners
The ransom from Heaven
Jesus Messiah
Lord of all

His body the bread
His blood the wine
Broken and poured out all for love
The whole earth trembled
And the veil was torn

Love so amazing
Love so amazing, yeah

Jesus Messiah
Name above all names
Blessed Redeemer
Emmanuel
The rescue for sinners
The ransom from Heaven
Jesus Messiah
Lord of all

All our hope is in You
All our hope is in You
All the glory to You, God
The light of the world

Jesus Messiah
Name above all names
Blessed Redeemer
Emmanuel
The rescue for sinners
The ransom from Heaven
Jesus Messiah
Lord of all

And, as an added bonus for my faithful readers, here are some Easter pics!!!

Me & My friend, Bunny

My Easter Outfit (it SNOWED on me on my 1st Easter)

MOMMY!!!

DADDY!!!

Alright everyone, I hope you all enjoyed the new pictures! I had a great Easter...and I'm so glad that Jesus rose again from the grave. Are you as excited as I am? I doubt it!



Me, expressing my excitement over the true meaning of Easter - Christ defeating sin & death!

Until next time...

jdw

PS...an added bonus video! Look how high I can hold my head up! Yep, I'm pretty much awesome...:-)

Swagbucks...& a Surprise!!!

So...I must confess...I too was skeptical at first...but once I tried it...I found out it wasn't so bad...

What am I talking about - SWAGBUCKS of course! Swagbucks are a type of online-money that you can use to redeem for prizes - like Apple, Target, Southwest, Amazon, Starbucks and MORE! How do you earn Swagbucks? Great question!

The easiest way to earn Swagbucks is simply to use the Swagbucks search engine. Yeah, you got it...they give you Swagbucks simply for using their search engine! And the best part...it's a serach engine supported by Google - so the searches are almost as thorough as a straight Google search!

If you are interested in signing up (again, registering is FREE), simply click the link the left of our blog. And, if you sign up through our blog, you help us earn a little more Swag money. Fill out the few blanks, and you're ready to start Swagging! If you would like some more information on how to earn Swagbucks, click here, here, and here!

We know this really works...a friend of ours already earned a $100 gift card to Target - all by searching on the internet as she normally would have! It's that easy!!!

Questions? Just drop a quick note!

OK...and now a word from Mr. Josiah himself:

"Hello World! Well, I'm another week older - another week cuter - and another week MORE awesome! So, in a testament to the greatness of God's design in making baby boys, I present to you my first COMPLETE rollover! Yes...be amazed, for it is truly impressive! So, until my next great feat - have a blessed evening!" - josiah