It's amazing how much my little man is doing these days. It's been a VERY long while since I updated so I thought I would quickly share a few things. Ryder is now regularly pushing chairs, toys, etc. around and walking behind them. He loves it! He loves to walk holding on to our fingers and can stand by himself for a couple of seconds before falling down. I know it won't be long before he takes off!
One milestone that I haven't been too excited about is his love of opening every cabinet door or drawer he can get his hands on. And of course pulling everything right out! But I have learned, instead of looking at the pictures below as a mess, I look at it as having 10 minutes of time to do something!
Ryder is also talking up a storm. Now, by far most of it is gibberish but he does know 3 words well, just not necessarily their correct meanings. His first obvious knowledge of a word was "Bye, bye." And when he says bye, bye, he scrunches up his little hand. He first said it the night before his 10 month birthday. It's by far his favorite and is what gets said the most often. His other words are "dog" and "mama." I'm 99% sure he thinks dog means outside, which I can easily see how he got. I'm pretty sure mama means hold me.
I'm a little embarrassed to be sharing this, but hey, the point of the blog is so I can look back and remember, right? Ryder loves to dance! No, that's not the embarrassing part! He purposely plays music on his toys so he can bounce around waving his hands. As soon as they start singing at church, he starts bouncing. Now, for the embarrassment. Here is a clip of me singing to him (brace yourselves) and him dancing in his high chair. It cracks me up how he waves his hands in the air.
Finally, Ryder now has 7 teeth and a head full of hair! Here's an updated shot.
I'm continually amazed about how God works through my life; how he sends me messages right when I need them. I pray at least once a day. Often Michael and I pray a second time together at night after we finish our devotional. Here recently we've been discussing patience, which happens to be an area I need a lot of work in. While we have mainly been talking about patience in the context of marriage, I have been relating our talks to a lot of other areas in my life. A lot of areas in my life are up in the air right now: We're trying to sell our house and find a new one; I still haven't decided what to do next year in the job world; When the "right" time is to have a second child. And while I constantly worry about these things, life continues to happen. This is where the patience comes in. I try and say I have faith that God has a plan and He will take care of us. But at the same time worrying keeps me up at night, which doesn't connect to what I say.
Back to the beginning, I pray every night. I pray for my friends and family, specifically the ones that I know who need it the most. I always thank God for my many blessings, especially my wonderful husband and Ryder. For some reason, I have trouble praying for the things I mentioned before- my "worries." I look at my life and can't believe how blessed I am. I'm truly undeserving of everything I have. I feel guilty praying for a new home when I already have one and there are many who are homeless; worrying about another child when some desperately want one. This morning we had our all-in-one Sunday, sorta like a modern day revival. The sermon just happened to be about prayer. About how we should be praying and talking to God about all the specifics. Whatever is going on in our lives begins and ends with His grace. Why wouldn't I be discussing it with Him? Even if I do get a nicer house it's a gift from him. Here is one verse we discussed:
1 Thessalonians 5:17 pray without ceasing
It seems like such a simple concept, not sure why I didn't see it before. From now on, petty or not, I will be taking my worries to him. I truly hope I can have the faith to not worry so much and let God take control.
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