Sweet Tea & Watermelon

This post actually has nothing to do with sweet tea or watermelons, although Charlotte is looking quite cute in the watermelon dress she received from her great-grandmother, Mommie Mop! But sweet tea and watermelon have been keeping me cool - and sane - while we endure the hot Madrid summer with no A/C.

I actually haven't written on the blog in a while and just wanted to do a little catching up. I mentioned in my Monday gratitude post that I've been in a sort of "funk". I've just felt down about a lot of things and really felt like if it wasn't one thing that was weighing on my mind then it was something else. I've talked to Brendan about it and mentioned that it was also frustrating because I also feel like I'm closer to the Lord than I ever have been, so shouldn't I be able to shake out of these down times?! He reminded me that spiritual warfare is going to be stronger when I'm closer to the Lord and a greater threat to Satan....huh, thanks sweetie, for that reminder! That definitely helped me put things in perspective and, as the Lord always does, He is bringing peace, contentment, and joy to this time that we are in Spain. I still miss my family and friends and American culture, but I know our time here will not last forever and I don't want to miss out on what the Lord can use me to do while we're here.

On that note, Brendan and I are really excited to be leading/hosting a community group at our church, Oasis Madrid, starting in the fall. God used community groups in a big way in Raleigh to shape and grow our faith, and we love being able to serve others by opening our home and feeding and caring for people. A friend from our previous community group in Madrid who just moved back to the U.S. recently reminded me how awesome and special it is for us to open our home to others; to make it a place of sanctuary and rest for those who enter it - whether that is my family, friends, or strangers. That really started getting me excited about leading and hosting a community group again!

As I'm also now a stay-at-home mommy and homemaker, God has been teaching me a lot about what those roles mean for me. I always dreamed about this time of my life - kind of romantically, not thinking about the hard parts - and then when I found myself here I really didn't know what to do! I found this great blog post recently on Passionate Homemaking that has helped me begin to think through what the purpose of my home is. It's entitled, What is the purpose of the home?, and I would highly recommend reading it. The blog's author, Lindsay, sought scripture to define what God intends our homes to be. I intend to spend time meditating and praying on these purposes in the coming months and use this time in my life to create a vision for my role as a mother and caretaker of my home.

And I know you would all be disappointed if I did not include an update on Charlotte...or as Brendan and I like to call her,

"Little Explorer"

"Pebbles"

and "Sweet Pea"

"Little Explorer" best captures her current stage! She is into everything! Actually, not quite everything, and for that I'm thankful. :) She really just likes to explore "off-limits" areas of our apartment, which are of course interesting because we don't encourage her to play there. She's also pushing the limits of her physical abilities...you know, seeing if she can fly off the bed! Daddy grabs her ankle though, so she doesn't get far. She really has always been a child who likes to see what new thing her body can do...she quickly jumps from one development to another because she just NEVER settles for what she can currently do. I think there were only about 2 weeks between her sitting up completely on her own to then crawling...the girl just doesn't like to sit still!

So she is now pulling herself up to standing in all sorts of places...her crib, on Mommy or Daddy if we are on the floor with her, and objects that move and can't support her attempts to pull up on them! :0 She has thankfully avoided any big tumbles in the past few weeks. Her two bottom front teeth finally popped in a couple weeks ago, so she's not actually putting everything in her mouth like she used to.

Brendan and I are really just amazed at how fast she's grown, and continues to grow. We've been watching the World Cup this summer, which has been fun since we live in a European city and especially since Spain is in the Final! The World Cup is played every four years so the last one we (mainly Brendan) watched was right before our wedding in 2006. I commented to Brendan the other day that the next time we watch the World Cup we'll have a 4 year-old! Crazy!

Vamos Espana!!