Seven Months

I feel like I start each post about Canaan's month birthdays the same- How is my baby this old already!? Seven months, 211 (ish) days old and 27 weeks, where did the time go? He doesn't look like a baby to me anymore, and that makes my heart a little heavy. How did this tiny little human go from being a 8 lbs 14 oz bald wee babe to a 20 ish pound little man? Time just goes to quickly.

We're kind of at an awkward in between stage. He's not a baby, but he's not a toddler. It's kind of like that awkward pre-teen stage where your not quite a teen but you don't want to be labeled as a kid anymore. His personality is starting to develop, his character is shining through with every giggle, and he's slowly becoming less dependent on me. Although he's getting older and it makes me sad, i'm so thankful for a growing, healthy little boy. This stage is so much fun!

He's getting into trouble already. He moves so fast, even though he's only rolling. Who knew rolling was such an efficient way to get around? Between unplugging lamps, finding the TV cords, the books on the book shelf and taking the box of toys out from under the TV, he keeps us on our toes. And, it's only the beginning. He loves his jolly jumper, his toys. mirrors, blankets, bath time, music and people.

In these past seven months our little baby has grown, developed and learned so much. But, we've learned a lot too, we've grown and developed in our parenting and we've learned to be a family. Some of the best advice that someone gave me in regards to parenting is: All your baby does at the beginning is sleep, eat and poop. And all those needs are all your capable of doing at the beginning too.  As your child grows, you grow in your ability to be a parent. You learn together, you learn as a family. And this is SO true. As our little boy has grown, we've grown.

Something's i've learned these past 7 months:

- I'm not a very patient person. I sort of always knew that, but being a mom adds a new dimension to that. God and I are working on it.
- Being a mom brings a whole new perspective to the word love. Especially this past month, i've been overwhelmed with a love that I can't even begin to explain. It's just incredible.
- That being a mom is a huge responsibility. Although a terrifying thought, it's also incredibly humbling.
- Schedules, although are a good idea, don't really work for us.
- The list of don'ts that I didn't want to do as a mom were unhealthy expectations that I put on myself. If you've never done it before, you just don't know what it's like and putting those expectations on yourself will only make it harder.
- Prayer is so crucial. I should do it more.
- I don't have all the answers. Not even some of the answers. And sometimes that's hard, but we learn and we grow and we figure this thing out.
- We all parent differently, and things that work for us a family might not work for someone else.
- I can't do this alone.
- I'm thankful for grace. Grace from my husband, grace from my child, grace from friends and family and most importantly grace from my Savior. I would be a mess without it.

It's been an adventure, and it's only begun. 

My Motherhood

I've been really excited to share about this fun little project I'm doing with some pretty great moms I know, and some I don't. It's called my motherhood. Once a month we will post a picture that answers a question about how we mother. We all do things differently, but the fact of the matter is: we're all moms! We all love our children and strive to do what's best for them.

My friend Stephanie, over at  The Lovely Wild,   is the creator of this project and it will be posted once a month on her blog. Be sure to check it out, and her photography, she's pretty talented!

I decided I would do a little intro again into who I am. It's been a while, and well who really wants to go all the way back to the beginning of someone's blog just to find out ;)

I'm Rebekah. First and foremost I love Jesus and am thankful daily for his divine Grace and Mercy that he so freely gives. I need it. I'm originally from Northern Ireland and at this moment, I am not a citizen of Canada! (That's a fun little fact that most people don't know). I have however been a permanent resident of Canada since I was about 4. I spent most of my growing up years nestled in between the mountains and the fruit trees of the Okanagan Valley in beautiful British Colombia. After I graduated from high school I left for the land of living skies to attend bible school at Millar College of the Bible located in Pabmrun, Saskatchewan. It was there that I fell in love with the tall, bearded, outgoing man I call my husband and best friend. We were married the fall after graduating with our bachelors in Biblical Studies- which brought me to friendly Manitoba! Now, we are missionaries with One Hope Canada (formerly known as Canadian Sunday School Mission) serving at Valley View Bible Camp. We gave birth to our pride and joy Canaan at the end of last summer, and are on this great adventure called life as a little family of three. I love good coffee, watching movies while snuggled on the couch with a bowl of popcorn, spending time outside, baking, writing and being behind the camera.   

Hopefully you know a little bit more about me now! Make sure to stop in at The Lovely Wild and check out the Motherhood Project!

Parenthood: A High Calling

Family is a mission field. Taking care of your family and teaching your kids about Jesus is one of the most important things that us as parents can do for our kids. Although it sounds like a daunting and sometimes terrifying task, we, as Christian parents have the responsibility and privilege of teaching our children about Christ. HUGE RESPONSIBILITY. But such a wonderful responsibility. 

I've learned in the past 6ish months of being a mom that being a mom is very much like being involved in full time ministry. For the past two summers my husband and I have been involved in camp ministry, and the more I compare the two, being a parent and working at camp- they are oh so similar! The reason we do camp is to share the Gospel; to tell each and every kid that comes about Jesus and the amazing gift of Salvation that he has to offer. We do camp to show these kids that we love them, to give them a fun environment to learn and grow and get to know friends. Doesn't that sound kind of similar to being a mom or dad? The only difference is that with camp we get one week, ONE WEEK to tell these kids about Jesus and to love them properly. But as a parent, we have our children's entire lives to teach them, to love them, to bring them up in a home that honors and glorifies God. Our families are a mission field, just as much as working at camp is a mission field. And, in my opinion, missions starts at home. It's starts in our homes, with our spouses, and with our children. If we do missions at home well, won't we do world missions ten times better? I know there are many missionaries from years past that thought very differently than what i'm sharing with you now. At all cost you do what God is calling you to do, and although to a certain degree I agree, I do believe as well that family is a God given gift and that God calls us to teach our kids to obey and trust him. If we aren't missional with our families, how can we expect to be missional anywhere else? 

"It's exciting to recognize that we have an amazing mission field right in our own family. May we not allow the cares of this life to distract us from the tremendous opportunity God has given us to lead our little ones to him." - Leslie Ludy  

"For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?" 1 Timothy 3:5

Being mission minded when it comes to parenting starts with the Gospel. It starts with us as parents being transformed by the power and the truth of the Gospel, and living in light of it daily. It then is transfered in us teaching our kids about the Gospel. And when I say Gospel, I mean the whole thing. Not bits and pieces, but the whole entire thing. 

"If children never recognize the seriousness of sin and the horrible destiny that awaits those who do not know Jesus Christ, their hearts will not be prepared to understand the "good news" of the Gospel. So, it's important not to sugar coat the truth. Kids NEED to be disturbed over their sin. They NEED to recognize their helplessness to be clean and justified before God. And, they need to understand the misery of Hell. Before they can grasp the good news, they must fully comprehend the bad news." -Leslie Ludy 

I know that sounds harsh, but I believe its so true. I fully believe we are doing a disservice to our children by sugar coating the Gospel and leaving things out; leaving truth out. Now, I'm not saying that we look our kids in the eyes before they go to sleep and tell them they are going to hell. I'm not preaching that we scare our kids into believing in Jesus. BUT, I do think we need to teach them the whole truth, and well, hell and eternal separation from God is truth and a very big part of the Gospel. What a responsibility! And that teaching starts now, when Canaan is 6 months old, in fact it started the day he was born. We take him to church, we read him the bible, we sing him worship songs, we live by example (that one is HARD). Living by example I think is the most important and hardest part of this whole thing. I'm not saying we leave words out, they're important and crucial to the preaching of the Gospel. But, as a parent what we say and what we do has to line up. Ouch, that kind of hurts! I fail. Daily. No, hourly. And I know the more we do this parenting thing the harder the leading by example thing is going to be- but, thank goodness for grace and forgiveness. In my sin and my mistakes, God gives grace, and God forgives. So even in my failures, we can teach! Thank-you Jesus. 

"But, He gives more Grace." James 4:6

"Example is better than precept. Let parents be what they want their children to be." -Andrew Murray

The last thing i'll say so I can wrap up this novel, (sorry I got passionate) is doing this parenthood thing together as a team. When I was thinking about writing this blog it was going to be titled: Motherhood: A high calling. Which, it is. But, I can't do this motherhood thing without my husband. We are both a huge part of this parenthood team. We were created to do this together, we need each other. I bring completely different things to the table than my husband does, and vice versa for him. We're a team, and together we will do this mission called family. 

"We must never forget that the only way for a child to experience true joy and lasting fulfillment is through a right relationship with Jesus." -Leslie Ludy

(You may have noticed i've quoted a lot of quotes from Leslie Ludy. They all come from her devotional like website: Set Apart Motherhood, Check it out!)

Ten on Ten: March

It's the tenth already! Is it just me or did February fly by? 

Today, was wonderful! The weather was perfect, spring is in the air! I'm always so happy at the end of the day when I've captured a good chunk of what we did on camera. Like I've said before, I really need to do this more often! 

I have the privelege of taking a couple beginner photography courses starting this week, and I'm super pumped! So today using my camera I kept thinking of all these questions I need to ask! I'm sure you'll be hearing more about those classes in the next few weeks. Dawn Bell Photography is her business name- check her out! Www.dawnbellphotpgraphy.com 

Today we:

Played on the floor before breakfast.

Ate breakfast.

Took a nap. Well baby did. 

Ate lunch with my better half.

Went for a walk and enjoyed the fresh air!

Went to Winnipeg and took this girl

Out for her birthday. 

Ate delicious food! If you live in the Winnipeg area, do yourself a favor and check out Bonfire Bistro!

Went to Ikea! 

And, here's a picture of this handsome man- just because :)

I've also got an exciting new project on the go that I'm doing with a good friend of mine that I'm really excited about! Stay tuned in the next few days :) 

Choose Joy

Funny story: Michael and I  had planned a date night. Nothing special, just going out for supper and taking advantage of the free coffee at Mcdonalds. I was really looking forward to it. Date nights, depending on the time of year can be few and far between, but we try really hard to make them as frequent as possible. The day started out pretty great, I had a massage that afternoon then I would go home and get Michael and we would head into town. On our way we got a call from a friend who needed some help at work. So we headed in that direction, and upon arriving realized this could take a while. 2 hours later we were just about to leave only to get stuck in the snow! We got

Pulled out and finally made our way into Portage. By this time it was dark, and we were quickly reminded that the only lights that worked on our vehicle were our brights. We got flashed a lot, and I'm pretty sure made some people pretty angry! So, although by this time we were     VERY hungry we made a pit stop at canadian tire to buy new Lightbulbs. Already, doesn't this just sound like the perfect date? (yes, that was sarcasm) we decided to eat at boston pizza, and ended up running into Michaels parents, so we sat down with them and I guess had a bit of a double date! We ended the evening with some pretty great conversation over a coffee and ice cream at Mcdonalds.

I tell this story because everything that happened that night challenged something very specific that God had/has been teaching me. Choose Joy. Choose joy when things are good and going your way. Choose joy when your baby wakes up in the middle of the night and all you want to do is sleep. Choose joy when the date night planned with your husband goes completely wrong. 

I've been reading through James lately and have been challenged with how I view happiness and joy. Though similar, they're two different things! Happiness very often depends on your circumstances, joy on the other hand, does not. In fact, in James the author tells us to choose joy when we face trials of many kinds, persecution and hardship. Now I know that my day to day struggle with being joyful doesn't compare to suffering persecution or even other really hard things that I know others face. But, I believe that choosing joy starts with the small things. If I can't be joyful now,how will I be able to find joy when hardships really do come? 

So, I'm trying. I'm trying to remind myself daily to choose joy. To be joyful despite my circumstances. To be thankful for the little things that go wrong in my day and to see that even those things are working to perfect my faith and make me

More like my Savior. It's not easy, in fact it's pretty hard, but God is faithful and in him I have every reason to be full of Joy. 

James 1: 2 -4

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."