Let me start by thanking all of you who pray for us on a regular basis. We feel so blessed to be covered in that way and we certainly need it. A few weeks ago, we were having a rough time. Jermale was busy and somewhat stressed out at his Lamar job while at the same time constantly having little, random things to do for the church. He would work all day and then have some kind of church responsibility almost every night and on many Saturdays as well. When he was home, he felt pretty drained. I was drained too from 24-7 baby duty. I wanted Jermale to be more available to help, but I knew everything he was doing was providing for us financially and that he was going to be really busy with both a full time and a part time job. Still, I was missing work, missing family and missing friends. The bottom line was that we both were experiencing some feelings of burnout and that translated into really missing Michigan and what seemed like a “simplicity of life” we left behind.
We began to really pray and seek God on what we could do to improve the situation and others were in prayer for us as well. As always, He came through. We were able to meet with our pastor and create a new schedule that allows Jermale to have 2 days a week where he does not have any church responsibilities. We also decided that we would both leave the house once a week for some personal time. My night is Monday and Jermale’s is Thursday. We generally head to a coffee shop on those nights with the laptop and do church work. I know it is still work, but it is relaxing just to get away and have a break! Then Friday is our night to just be together as a family or get a babysitter so we can go out together. Yes, I know – welcome to the real adult world LOL. So far the new schedule has been awesome.
Another thing that God did was allow me to be more at peace with my new roll and to value it in a different way. As I came to this realization, I expressed my feelings on my Facebook page by posting the following:
"I love being Malachi's mom :) I'm learning to enjoy the moment and cherish the simple joys of motherhood. The things I'm giving up for these baby days are temporary and being a mom is such an awesome thing. There aren't too many other ways to contribute to the world in such a monumental way as raising a child. I am privileged and blessed. I know the baby days will fly by and I want to treasure them while they last. It’s not so much that my life is on hold, but more so that it is forever changed and will have different things added and taken away in each stage from here on. Each stage will be an adjustment that will only strengthen and stretch me to reach a greater level of my God given purpose and potential. That is a cool thing :)"
After having our short-lived pity party, we had a great Sunday at Impact which reminded us again why we are here. Then, this past week we had a Family and Friends Day at church with a shorter service and a big dinner afterwards. We also had kids activities and played a movie on the big screen in the sanctuary. It was an excellent day!
Jermale and I celebrated 3 fabulous years of marriage yesterday. The past two anniversaries, we have spent a long weekend out of town. This year, we got a babysitter, went out for desert and caught a movie. Having a baby changes everything for real LOL. Still, it was a great night and we had fun. Seriously, we have had such a wonderful relationship and marriage which almost seems abnormal these days. We are very blessed and thankful for each other :)
Malachi is 10 weeks old now and doing great. He is full of smiles and also loves to “talk” now. He gets more and more fun as the weeks go by and we are getting to be pros at life with a little one. He will be baptized at Impact this coming Sunday and 4 of our really good friends are flying in from out of town for the occasion. We are so excited! Also, we will be going to Michigan at the end of the month so Malachi can finally meet everyone back home and Jermale can attend his 10 year High School reunion. Yikes – we’re getting old LOL
The pictures of us in the Impact shirts are from family and friends day and the one of us at the movies is from our anniversary date night. Of course I had to post a few of the baby too :)
We began to really pray and seek God on what we could do to improve the situation and others were in prayer for us as well. As always, He came through. We were able to meet with our pastor and create a new schedule that allows Jermale to have 2 days a week where he does not have any church responsibilities. We also decided that we would both leave the house once a week for some personal time. My night is Monday and Jermale’s is Thursday. We generally head to a coffee shop on those nights with the laptop and do church work. I know it is still work, but it is relaxing just to get away and have a break! Then Friday is our night to just be together as a family or get a babysitter so we can go out together. Yes, I know – welcome to the real adult world LOL. So far the new schedule has been awesome.
Another thing that God did was allow me to be more at peace with my new roll and to value it in a different way. As I came to this realization, I expressed my feelings on my Facebook page by posting the following:
"I love being Malachi's mom :) I'm learning to enjoy the moment and cherish the simple joys of motherhood. The things I'm giving up for these baby days are temporary and being a mom is such an awesome thing. There aren't too many other ways to contribute to the world in such a monumental way as raising a child. I am privileged and blessed. I know the baby days will fly by and I want to treasure them while they last. It’s not so much that my life is on hold, but more so that it is forever changed and will have different things added and taken away in each stage from here on. Each stage will be an adjustment that will only strengthen and stretch me to reach a greater level of my God given purpose and potential. That is a cool thing :)"
After having our short-lived pity party, we had a great Sunday at Impact which reminded us again why we are here. Then, this past week we had a Family and Friends Day at church with a shorter service and a big dinner afterwards. We also had kids activities and played a movie on the big screen in the sanctuary. It was an excellent day!
Jermale and I celebrated 3 fabulous years of marriage yesterday. The past two anniversaries, we have spent a long weekend out of town. This year, we got a babysitter, went out for desert and caught a movie. Having a baby changes everything for real LOL. Still, it was a great night and we had fun. Seriously, we have had such a wonderful relationship and marriage which almost seems abnormal these days. We are very blessed and thankful for each other :)
Malachi is 10 weeks old now and doing great. He is full of smiles and also loves to “talk” now. He gets more and more fun as the weeks go by and we are getting to be pros at life with a little one. He will be baptized at Impact this coming Sunday and 4 of our really good friends are flying in from out of town for the occasion. We are so excited! Also, we will be going to Michigan at the end of the month so Malachi can finally meet everyone back home and Jermale can attend his 10 year High School reunion. Yikes – we’re getting old LOL
The pictures of us in the Impact shirts are from family and friends day and the one of us at the movies is from our anniversary date night. Of course I had to post a few of the baby too :)
Blessings,
~Anissa
2 comments:
I Absolutely ADORE the Eddie Family, I love ya'll soooooo much! Congratulations on 3 Beautiful years :-)
I am not sure how I missed this post, but I absolutely loved it. YOu guys are doing well - sounds like life is good and God has come through again, as always. Looking forward to seeing you next weekend for the reunion.
Post a Comment