Project 366

So, I'm going to attempt to keep up with the photo a day project that Paige Allen started, we will see how that goes! (Calling it 366 since it is Leap Year!) It's gone good so far, but I will admit that a couple of the pictures were taken pretty late bc I realized I hadn't taken one yet, so they are not that inspired, haha. Hopefully, I will get better over time. SO, here are my pictures, catching up from the 1st till Sunday.



We went to Ruidoso, NM for New Year's Eve and then Elaine (Dallas's Mom) and I headed back to Midland, Tx while the guys went on a hunting trip there in NM. Asher was trying to fall asleep in the car and snuggled up with his new giraffe, which he loves, and Roo that he always sleeps with.










So this is several pictures instead of just one, but it was Gram's Birthday party at Murray's in Midland. We had a good time with all the kiddos and family! In the pictures are, Gram (Dallas's Grandma), Asher, Jessica Ripley (cousin), Crystal Foley (Sister-in-law), Sarah Masonheimer (Niece), Emily Masonheimer (Sister-in-law), and Caleb (Nephew).



I got to go to Lubbock and hang out with my dear friends, AJ and Jessica McColloch, and, of course, their beautiful twin girls! This is, from the left, Zoey, Ellie, and Asher!



Had to say goodbye to these beauties and head back to Midland, but I had a great time with them. Jessica is such a great mom and handles the twins like a pro!



So, here's a picture that I'm actually in! Not the best pic in the bunch, but it was probably one of my favorite nights of the trip to Midland! Elaine, Asher and I spent the night with Emily, Sarah, and Caleb while our husbands were away hunting! After the kids went to sleep we watched "The Help".



We hung out at the house a lot on Friday since I wasn't feeling well and here Asher was attempting to fit as many toys in his mouth as possible. (Don't I have a cute kid? hehe)



Dallas has had a beard since September 1st and it was time for it to go now that the hunting was all over, but he did it in phases. Asher wasn't sure what to think about this look! (He shaved it clean, don't worry!)



Asher has discovered the joy of the walker since we got home. He goes all over the place with it now!

Well that brings us to Sunday January 8th! Hope you enjoyed my pictures this week, I enjoyed taking them and looking back at them as I posted them.

Reflections of a 26 Year Old

Yesterday was my birthday. I just turned 26, which admittedly, is not a very exciting age. There is no new adventure to be had, no new privilige earned, no new phase of life--in fact, I'm pretty sure nothing changed but the date. In spite of an obvious lack of change, it was a great birthday. Here are some reflections on my life at 26:

1. It was my first birthday as a mom. Asher is now 4 months old and I have never known so strongly that I am fulfilling a calling from God on my life. When I look in those blue eyes, I am moved with love and joy (partly because, he got his eyes from his daddy). Asher is growing up so fast and I am amazed at how God designed him to fit so perfectly into my life. I feel the great responsibility of joining my husband in raising our little man to have a relationship with his Creator. I am excited for the day I hear him say that is his desire. I believe God when He said that if we train our children up in His ways that they will not soon depart from them.

2. Dallas Martin Golden. Wow, I feel like just typing his name should say it all. To me, Dallas is a steady rock, a strength I don't have, a bulwark (over the top?) no matter where life take us. He is always striving to be better even though he is the greatest man I know. He makes me laugh when I've decided to be mad, he helps me think it through when I want to rush in, he gives me perspective when my world view shrinks to only me, and he encourages me in, well, everything. God knew what He was doing when He made Dallas and then brought us together. We are a great team and we are getting even better with all this parental practice we are getting. And, on top of all of that, he gave me a very happy birthday yesterday!

3. My little sister got married. She married her high school sweetheart and the love of her life, Luke McLeod. I have to be honest, Megan Leigh McLeod, is weird for me to see or say; but, I will get used to it soon, I'm sure! Her wedding was beautiful and she, as always, was gorgeous. I look back and remember the many prayers I have said for her over the years...that she wouldn't go through the insecurities that I did, that she would make the right choices, that she would follow hard after God...and I know that I worried too much about her. She is a wonderful, confident, outstanding woman of God who married a man that I know will lead her to even more in her life that any of us can imagine.

4. My birthday reminded me that 30 is not that far away! I'm not scared of turning 30, but I don't want to get there and look back over the last 4 years wishing for more. I want to commit this year to more, more love, more passion for God, more energy (those toddler years are coming!), more family time, more of the things I am called to do...more.

5. Slightly opposite of my last reflection, I'm learning to be...content, I guess. Haha, obviously not there yet. (Just to clarify, I'm not having some internal war, just saying that I want more of what I need more of and to be content in the areas that are just me wanting to skip ahead.) I don't want to wish time away for sure. I want to enjoy every moment with my son especially. I just keep waiting for that proverbial "there" that I want to get to. I need to stop thinking about that, life is perfect, but I would like to live closer to family, own our house...on and on...list that I have going. Most of the things I want are going to happen soon enough and I have a hunch I won't care about the rest.

All said and done, I have to say that I think my life is pretty good at 26. I'm excited to see where we go from here! (But I don't want to jump ahead, haha!)

Baby Boy-The First 10 Weeks

Asher is now 10 weeks old! I can't believe how fast this has all gone. It seems like just yesterday I found out I was pregnant and now I'm sitting here with this perfect little baby boy! Being a mom is wonderful! He is everything I hoped and more.

The delivery? Well, it hurt, a lot..but it was worth it in the end and I'm proud of myself for doing it naturally! I yelled and thrashed around a little and even kicked a nurse (Sorry! I didn't aim for her or anything!) but all-in-all I think I handled it pretty well! He was so cute and little when he was first born and just slept all the time snuggled up to whoever was holding him. Then, the first couple of weeks had their ups and downs. The only down I would say was just that my milk supply is low and he wasn't gaining weight when we went for his 2 week appointment. The compromise of having to supplement with formula at every feeding sucks, and I had some words with God about it, but in the end I'm thankful to God that I can at least give him some breast milk and then just top him off with formula. He still gets the benefit even if it's not all he eats!

Now, we have hit a good pace in our day to day lives and I really feel like I was made for this! It is amazing to watch him learn and progress even if it is just little milestones every day. Dallas and I get so excited about the little sounds he makes and his little smiles and laughs. We pretty much know he's the most exceptional baby in the world, haha! I think about all the things he'll be able to do after another 10 weeks and I'm so excited, but at the same time I'm happy to be where we are at right now.

We traveled to Tulsa last week and where up in Oklahoma for a whole week. Asher handled it like a champ! It was hard having him sleeping in different places and being stuck in the car seat so long while we traveled, but I'm glad we went. First we had one of Dallas's family reunions to attend. Then, my mom's parents got to meet their first great-grandchild and we dedicated Asher at Wyandotte youth camp. (That's where Dallas and I met!) It was so special to us and we are grateful that Bro. Cecil did the dedication for us. (He's always been one of my heroes) After that, Dallas had to work in Oklahoma for the week and we stayed for Father's Day brunch on Sunday. We broke the traveling up into 2 days on the way back so we got home Monday.

Right now, little man is taking his morning nap. This weekend we have the Golden family reunion near Austin so he better get rested up!

To sum it all up, it's great! We love Asher, he loves us, and Ranger is learning to live with him, haha!

Happy and Content

I'm sitting in my living room this afternoon with the blinds open so the sunshine can come in. I love being able to turn off all the lights in the house and open the windows while I go about my normal day. It makes me happy and reminds me that it is now Spring. (Well, officially Spring starts on Sunday, but it's close enough!)

Lately, there have been a lot of things going through my mind. I've been trying to make preparations for the arrival of my little boy, Asher. With less than 4 weeks till the due date I'm starting to get that, "there has to be something I'm forgetting to do" feeling. I've also been dealing with pretty much the only bad symptom I've experienced all through this pregnancy, sciatica. That term sounds worse than it is, but basically, it's a pinched nerve in my lower back that hurts quite often. I definitely don't want to complain since everything else is still going great and easily.

Even with these minor worries, anxieties and pains, when I sit down and think about my life, or feel Asher kicking away happily (or maybe crowdidly!), or hang out with Dallas, I am just happy and content. Life isn't perfect, it won't ever be perfect in the literal sense of the word, but it is wonderful!

Thank You, God, for being so good to me and my little family, for an easy pregnancy (and delivery hopefully), and for all the wonderful people You have placed in my life!
Thank you, Dallas, for being supportive, reminding me to have fun, and just being so good to me in general (You're pretty good looking, too, but I guess the thanks for that goes to God!)
Thank you, Ranger, for being a good snuggle dog, making me laugh, and reminding me that I could use some work on my patience!
Thank you, Asher, for letting me sleep every night so far and already being so cute and lovable!
Thank you, family, for calling and asking how I'm doing, worrying about me, praying for me, and telling me I'm a cute pregnant woman.
Thank you, friends, for being excited with me, listening to me talk non-stop about my pregnancy and Asher, and offering help when I need it!

30 Weeks Pregnant

So, I am officially 30 weeks prego! I can't believe I only have 10 short weeks left till our little man is here with us. Being pregnant has been quite an adventure. Actually, in some ways, it has been less of an adventure than I thought it would be. God has really blessed me with an easy pregnancy. I was only a little sick for 2 weeks in the first trimester and since then it's just been fun and exciting.

I LOVE feeling little Asher move around. The bigger he gets, the more fun the feelings are. Now I can tell, for the most part, if I'm feeling his foot, knee, hand, head, or rear and it makes me feel like I'm getting to know and play with him already. Due to my amazing genetics I have LOTS of amniotic fluid so he still has plenty of room to move around and hasn't gotten cramped up into one position yet.

I also have enjoyed watching my wonderful husband relish the process, as well. He always wants to know how Asher is doing and what he is up to. We talk to Asher all the time and spend a lot of time talking about him. Dallas has impressed me with how much he wants to be involved and take care of me and our little one. I always knew he would be a great dad, but he is already exceeding my expectations in so many ways!

There are a lot of other things I've loved about being pregnant and a very few things that I haven't loved about it! (stretch marks, interesting remarks from people, and recently, his foot in my ribs on car trips) Thank you, Jesus, for giving me such a wonderful experience with this pregnancy.

Now for the last 10 weeks! I'm so excited!!!

Political Christmas for Christians

I don't really like to watch a lot of news talk shows. They are usually way too sarcastic and tend to spend a lot of time talking bad about other news talk shows. However, I do try to stay informed about what is going on in the world so I turn on the news every once in a while! Recently, there has been a lot of debate about how Jesus would do Christmas and charity. A lot of scripture has been thrown around, taken out of context, or just been completely misquoted.

Let me preface the rest of this with the fact that I am a Christian and a conservative.

One person said that Jesus must be a liberal because he hung out with prostitutes and tax collectors. Well, I don't know what he was trying to say about liberals with the prostitute part of that comment, but as for the tax collectors, when asked why He hung out with them He simply said He was sent to those who were sick, not to those who were well. Also, Zaccheus and Matthew stopped being tax collectors after an encounter with Jesus. On the conservative side, someone said that God helps those who help themselves.That isn't actually a quote from the Bible and it doesn't necessarily reflect the values that I think Jesus tried to convey in His lifetime.

Jesus wasn't into politics to start off with. When Pharisees cornered him about paying taxes to the Roman government He said that we should give unto Caesar what is due to Caesar. He didn't take sides about the political issues of the day, Jesus just said we should do what is right. As Christians, we do have a responsibility to be good citizens and give the taxes required of us by the government, even when we don't agree with the rulers at the time. The same government He told us to give taxes to ended up allowing him to be crucified and then persecuted the church for ages.

That being said, he didn't say he agreed with the outrageous taxes they were charging. I'm not going to put words in Jesus's mouth because I'm sure lately He's gotten a mouthful from everyone else, but what He did say is that we should help the poor. He never said to let the government help the poor, He said WE should help the poor. We should be generous and giving and lead by the Spirit to give to others everyday.

When Jesus preached to the multitudes and they became hungry, He didn't tell them to go find the local government sponsored program for hungry people, He used what God had given Him and He fed the people right there. When the fishermen were depressed after a day of fishing and no success, Jesus didn't tell them about how He had voted in higher taxes just for this circumstance and they should all go stand in the unemployment line. Nope, He told them to go back out again and because of their obedience and willingness, they received an amazing catch that they could not contain themselves!

So, I guess all I really want to say is let's take the politics out of Christmas and Christianity and do what Jesus himself did for others. Let's give of ourselves and be lead by the Holy Spirit to have compassion all year long. Don't depend on others or programs to do the things that He has called YOU to do yourself.

Conquering a Fear

This past weekend, Dallas and I decided on Friday afternoon to pack up and go camping. I'm not the super spontaneous type on my own, but Dallas keeps me on my toes and I'm thankful that he does! Of course, it appears that most of Houston had the same idea that we had, because most of the parks had no available camp sites left. The only one we found anywhere close to here was Brazos Bend State Park. Now, it is a great park, but I tried very hard to find something else...anything else. Why? The park is known as "The home of the American Alligator".

Every since I was little I have had a serious fear of alligators, even though I had never seen one in person. It all started with an episode of growing pains where Mike and one of his mischievous friends made this home video about an alligator that came through plumbing in your house and ate you in the bath tub. I'm not sure what the plot was exactly, but all I remember is staring at the drain while taking my showers for years after that! This anxiety about alligators wasn't helped along by the Discover channel highlights of 15 ft. alligators leaping from the water and taking down a deer or something of that sort.

So, in my mind, alligators are killers through and through. They would like nothing more than to take my arm off and then come back for the rest years later. Some of them might even just finish me off in one gulp. While I was really excited about hanging out, and relaxing with Dallas, these thoughts were lingering in the back of my mind.

He basically had to drag me out to the lake the first night, and though it was calm and no predators in sight, I was sure that there was something evil lurking close by. I decided the next day that I would try again, maybe even take the hike around the lake. I'm glad I did. By the end of the day, we had seen over 20 alligators of all sizes. We even saw this guy about 10 ft away from us on the shore. He is about 7 or 8 feet long.




In the end, they weren't as scary as I had always imagined them to be. In fact, the majority of them just sat completely still and didn't seem to care that we were there. I'm not saying I'm going to swim with them anytime soon or try to befriend one, but at least I know they won't be hunting me next time I'm at a city park pond!

Most importantly, Dallas and I had a great time! (And the Baby Bump and Ranger) I wished we could stay longer! It's so nice to just slow down and enjoy the day going by.