Pretzel M&Ms - are amazing!

I'm not going to lie and try to cover up the fact that I play favorites. It's probably a well known fact among my friends that I am more attached to one of their children than the other. I don't know why this is and I don't try to intentionally do it. I love all my friends' kids but there are some that I just become obsessed with (not in a weird way) but in a I can't stop looking at how cute they are way. I certainly hope this does not carry over into parenthood for me though. We are planning to have more than one child and I would never want any of my children to ever feel slighted even for a second. I mean I even worry about Blueberry if he will get enough attention after Samuel gets here. I asked Steve to make sure that he continues to love on Blueberry even when Samuel comes because I feel sorry for him. I already don't dote on him the way I used to because mostly I'm preoccupied with my big belly and he is so darn heavy these days (21 lbs and counting) to pick up that I just don't fool with it.

A dear friend of mine gave me the cutest little lovey that is a hippo with Samuel's name monogrammed on it. When I showed it to Steve, he thought it was cute, but he didn't really get it. He wanted to know what a lovey was. Well, I said, it's Samuel's little lovey that he will carry around with him and hold sort of like a little security blanket. The next morning Steve walked into the room, holding Blueberry in his arms like a baby and announced that Blueberry was his lovey. That was the day I knew that he was going to be a great Daddy. It may sound silly to you but it meant something to me and it just sparked this instinct in me that honed in on how sensitive and gentle Steve was going to be with our little Samuel. But I also know that he is going to be a great leader in our home for Samuel teaching him integrity, honesty and hard work. One thing that I really admire about Steve is his integrity. If a coupon is expired, he doesn't try to pass it off to the cashier at Publix like nothing is wrong. He holds himself to higher standards and really what that means is that he has the fear of the Lord. The cashier probably doesn't care and Publix probably isn't that strict about expired coupons but the Lord sees our every move and judges the intent of the heart. I'm so thankful for this partner in life that sets a daily example of Godly leadership in our home. I'm so proud of who he has become since the day we met and I will never forget that after the Lord told me that Steve was to be my husband that the second thing he said to me was that Steve had a quiet and gentle spirit. Of course he followed it up with a little rebuke to me by saying much like the one you should have. Ouch. But the Lord was right and I have tried to become a much more softer, gentler, hold my tongue kind of person. But those of you who know me, know that can be a challenge as well. God knew what he was doing when he matched Steve and I up. Two polar opposites as personality go but perfect for the refining work that we will do for the Kingdom. Steve is my rock. He is a steady constant in my life especially when my pregnancy hormones have me all over the place. He is so faithful and in him, I see our Father. I see our marriage as that picture of Christ and his church, the way he meant it to be. Steve loves me like the church and I honor and submit to him. Do we get it perfect every time? No. But we have an ebb and flow much like the tides of the sea and we work together in unison. Recently, both of our cars broke down in the same week with almost identical problems. My Daddy was really scratching his head on this one and said it was just unbelievable that it would happen to us both in the same week. I just laughed about it and thought, well it's because we are in unity. :) Thinking about it that way sure took a lot of the pain out of the hefty check we had to write for all the repairs. But seriously I am so thankful for our unity. It just makes life easier. We are on the same page about money, church, family, children just about everything. And while we have disagreements from time to time, they are getting fewer and fewer. I can't remember the last time we disagreed or even argued about something.

I didn't intend for this post to be dedicated to Steve but obviously that is where the Holy Spirit was leading me as I wrote this. It's a little late for Father's Day and a little early for his Birthday but I just want to say to you Steve, that you are my rock. You are faithful to me just like the Lord is, and I'm so thankful that you are the one God chose for me to journey with. I'm not sure what all is ahead of us, but I'm thankful for my steady man that is holding my hand as we experience it together.