Thank You God for Motherhood

Hello world! One exhausted mama here. Coffee is my new best friend and sleep is a long lost friend I wish I could connect with more. Laundry and I get together every weekend. She is an annoying but necessary friendship... what are ya going to do? My brain no longer comprehends silence, or peace and quite. I'm singing Elmo songs and Baby Einstein music continuously. Oh! My child clapping her hands was the most exciting part of my week! =D It was her most exciting part too. 

This is where we are on our parenthood journey right now. A place where the words "I'll babysit!" are tear conjuring on a hard day. A place where, some nights she sleeps just fine but then she will go three nights in a row of waking up every couple of hours just because she is lonely.... 

Can I just say by the way, playing peek-a-boo with my daughter is the greatest thing on the planet. She hides behind a doorway, or hides part of her face with her tiny little hand and starts playing with you. That smile.... priceless. 

I can think of nothing on this earth I would rather be than her mom. We can have a really horrible day. She will be constantly screaming, irritable and everything. I can be at my wits end.... but then I sit down to rock her to sleep for the night.... she snuggles into me.... and I tear up..... This little girl is MY daughter.... I take a few moments to thank God for such a wonderful blessing and then sit there to soak up the snuggles before bed. 

So here we are. She is almost a year old (time please stop!!), and I am still in awe of the blessing God has bestowed on us. She will be walking so very soon. She has a tooth! She can clap, play peek-a-boo, blow kisses (when she wants) and I am still constantly amazed. Her smile melts my heart. 

There are days where motherhood can be so hard (as I know many already know), but there isn't a day that goes by that I don't stop and thank God for allowing me the privilege of getting to be her mother. For the good and the bad. The ups and downs. The laundry, the dishes, the mess, the exhaustion and the annoying little songs in my head. 

Thank you God for motherhood and all that comes with it!

La la la la, la la la la, Elmo's world.... wait... sorry... 

-Kelcy J.

 

Wow/Change

I can't believe it has really been so long since I last posted. There were times that I sat down and typed something up but then I would never finish it or post it... Having a baby has made time pass super fast and made very little time for doing things like this but now we are finally getting some sort of schedule (if you can really call it that) and she is currently taking a nap:) SUCCESS!

So anyway, we had a baby.... wow. My husband and I continuously look at this precious little girl and ask each other how we made such a beautiful little girl to which the other answers "but God"... If you are on my Facebook than you have seen just how beautiful our sweet little daughter is.

People have been asking me how I'm doing and the short of it.... I'm doing okay, mostly tired, extremely happy, but a little sad. The long.... well.... I have good days and bad days.... My blood pressure is too high and then too low a day later, I ended up with postpartum depression so sometimes I feel really down and sad, but at the same time I'm overcome with happiness every time I look at our little girl. I mean.... I didn't know it was possible to love something so tiny so much!

So, with all of that being said, we are taking steps to fix my blood pressure and my PPD, and other than that I'm just enjoying the ride, thanking God continuously for this sweet little gift he has given us.

In other news, we are getting ready to go back to the gym and while I didn't exactly hit my goal weight, at my last doctors appointment I had lost 40 pounds from the beginning of the year. I only gained 10 pounds during my pregnancy (shocker, I know) and then the weight came pouring off after little girl was out! However, I am setting my goal once again, and going to work hard to finish achieving it over the next year.

My word this year was change and oh boy did God give us change. We, of course, had our plans for change.... changing our physical health and our spiritual health, but we never could have imagined the change God had in store for us.... the change of becoming parents....

A lot has happened over this last year, some good things.... but some.... pretty bad things as well... I will say though... if it weren't for God we wouldn't have gotten through any of it, and we wouldn't be handling parenthood very well, I'm sure. Here we are though.

I'm so thankful for the changes that God has brought about this year. Some things I'm a little more thankful for, like becoming a mom... other things I'm thankful that one day God may allow me to see why he brought such changes about... either way, I'm thankful. I look forward to seeing what word He places on my heart for 2019 and what comes from it.

Well anyway, thanks for reading. Hopefully my next post will be sooner rather than later, but who knows...

God bless,
Kelcy J.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

Well ladies and gentlemen the week of Thanksgiving is finally upon us. NOW it is okay to fully decorate for Christmas! Our tree is up and decorated (though I will be honest, we did it about a week ago), I have my room partially decorated (which I am excited about because I have never really decorated my room for Christmas before) and I am sure soon we will all break out the Christmas goodies. Now, as many of you know I posted about a week or so ago that it was FREEZING!!! However, if you went outside yesterday it was almost 80 degrees!!! That's Alabama weather for you, it makes absolutely no since...

So Thursday we will all have the opportunity to gather with family and/or friends and celebrate all that we are thankful for. God has blessed me with so much that the thought of all I am thankful for is overwhelming. What about you? What are you thankful for most this year? Here is my top 20 list, not really in any particular order:

1. I am thankful for my God
2. I am thankful for my family
3. I am thankful for my church (GFBC)
4. I am so very very VERY thankful for my worship family at GFBC, my heart is overwhelmed every time I have the opportunity to come together with such an amazing army of God.
5. I am thankful for the worship leaders at GFBC, those three amazing people are on fire for God and so very encouraging to the rest of the worship ministry. 
6. I am thankful for my friends, (they keep me sane... or make me weirder... yeah probably that one)
7. I am very thankful for the sweet guy that God has just recently brought into my life:)
8. I am thankful for my pastor and for the passion he has for the Lord
9. I am thankful to be a student at a pretty awesome school (Grand Canyon University)
10. I am thankful to live in a country where I can own as many bibles as I do and use every one of them publicly
11. I am thankful for my job
12. I am thankful for my co-workers
13. I am thankful for good God conversations
14. I am thankful for a roof over my head
15. I am thankful for the passion and love God has put in my heart for Him. 
16. I am thankful for the passion and love God has put in my heart for worship. 
17. I am thankful for Great News!!!!!
18. I am thankful for the gift God has given me to write.
19. I am thankful for the gift God has given me to play and sing music.
20. I am thankful for you. For each person that passes through on here or on my Great News!!!!! blog (or Facebook) and takes the time to read, like or even share the (sometimes crazy) things that the Lord lays on my heart. Thank You!!!

God has blessed me so richly and I promise you these aren't even all of the things I am thankful for. I pray that you will take time this week to sit down and make your top 20 list. Meditate on the blessings in your life:)

On a final note I want to make everyone that is not on my Facebook or in my life aware of the new change as far as my schooling. As most of you know I have been pursuing my degree which was B.A. in Christian Studies with an Emphasis in Biblical Studies. This past week the Lord touched my heart on the way to work about the love He has placed on my heart for music, the gifts He has given me to play and sing music, and the heart He has given me for worship. I prayed about this for a few days and received an email from my school letting me know that they have added a new program to their Christian Studies programs. Before I go any further you should know that I was told before I ever enrolled that there were no worship classes for online students. The new program is the same degree except instead of the Emphasis being Biblical Studies it is Worship Leadership and it is for online students! This past week I changed my Emphasis to Worship Leadership. To say that I am nervous would be grossly understated. I have no idea where God is going to take me with this but I trust Him and will follow Him wherever He leads. Now some of you may be wondering and I want you to know that I feel no leading to walk away from Great News!!!!! or public speaking, but I feel like this is just something that God has added and while I'm nervous, I am also very excited to see what He does.

I hope you all have the most amazingly, richly blessed Thanksgiving in the Lord!!!! Count your blessings this week and be sure to thank God now and every day for everything He has given you. God bless you my friends! I love you all =D HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

I'm so Excited!!!

Yep, you've probably guessed the reason for my excitement correctly. IT'S WEDNESDAY!!!!! Okay, part of my excitement I will admit is because we are half way through the work week and it has been a rough work week. However, the bigger (much BIGGER) reason is that I get to go to church tonight! If this is your first time reading my blog than you should probably know that I have two favorite days of the week every week, no matter what. Those days are Sunday, and Wednesday. I LOVE my church. I also LOVE my worship family (again if you are new, that's a BIG thing and there is a post to help you understand just how much I love each person in my worship family). I look forward to these days with excitement every week, I think if they took away one I would probably cry because that is one less day that I get to go to the house of the Lord and worship with the people of the Lord. So, tonight not only do I get to go worship God with my brothers and sisters in Christ, I get to go downstairs after the service and worship with my worship family.. so yeah, I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!! If you are not new you may be getting tired of reading this because I have been pretty repetitive in the last few weeks, and while I am kind of (not completely) sorry for my repetitiveness I am not sorry for the reasons that I keep repeating myself:) I have an AWESOME God, an AMAZING church, and a beautiful worship family! I want people to know! =D God has blessed me so much more than I ever thought He would, and far beyond what I deserve.

Don't you want the excitement I have? Find true love in Jesus:) That's all it really comes down to.
If you know me personally or even if you just kind of know me (some choir members, it's okay I don't know all of you either but I LOVE YOU JUST THE SAME!) and you want a "GOD IS BIGGER" bracelet (www.facebook.com/GODISBIGGERMOVEMENT) just find me and you can have one:) It's a good reminder.

To my worship family: I will see most of you tonight, and I absolutely CAN NOT wait to worship with you during practice! =D I love you all, and may the Lord bless you richly! =D

P.S. If you come in contact with me today (and if you work with me you will) please be aware that I am sorry for how annoyingly excited I am going to be throughout the day and also for how much more annoying I will get closer to time for church:) Well.... I'm only a little sorry =) PLEASE feel free to follow =D

Well, in just a few short hours my first college class will officially be over and my second class will start. It doesn't feel like so long ago that my family and I were sitting down and coming to the conclusion that God just didn't want me at college. Now here we are more than a year later and God opened the door back up and carried me through class number one. I am finishing out strong with a 99! These past seven weeks have flown by faster than I ever expected. I am excited to start my second class but more than that I am excited to start my actual theology classes. I know that the Lord will get me through all of these classes by His grace, EVEN MATH! God is bigger than anything and I am praising Him with all of my heart for helping me through this class:)

Anyway, today was AMAZING. Another amazing day with my worship family praising the God that we all love. I enjoyed getting to walk in with my fellow choir members as our orchestra and band played "I am a Friend of God" while we greeted the members of the congregation. My heart is so overjoyed each time I get to stand in the choir loft surrounded by such wonderful people. I am so much more than blessed! I would ask that you would pray for our worship pastor as he is in Georgia for revival at a church there, and also pray for Pastor Kevin who will join him for two night services there.

This week, if the Lord is willing, I get to post new devotionals on Great News!!!!! I know that it is going to be AWESOME! I know we just got done with Sunday but I honestly can't wait for Wednesday. After what I know will be a wonderful service I get to go downstairs for choir practice and I can't wait! This is a short post but I hope that you found something to enjoy about it:) May the Lord bless you exceeding abundantly! May His favor be poured out upon you! May He fill you with more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control than you have ever know before! May your eyes be opened to the wonderful blessings that God has placed in your life! I love you all! =D

It Keeps Getting Better

So if you have kept up with my blog then you saw my last post, the one where I addressed my worship family. I let them know just how much I loved them and to be quite honest I was a little shocked at the response. I had 88 views… 88 in two days! I was overwhelmed by the comments and messages I received and while I didn’t know that it was possible for my worship family to bless me more than they already have, they did. I was brought to tears by each of the responses.

If anything was accomplished from that post I simply think that it just increased my inability to describe how much I love each person in the GFBC worship ministry. I am so incredibly excited that I get to go and worship with these wonderful people once again tonight on stage and then again during choir practice. My heart is so overjoyed that there are once again no words for me to describe what I am feeling. I pray that someone reading this knows this same feeling when it comes to the people the Lord has blessed them with.

In other news, it is finally Fall! Walking outside to cool air and a nice breeze is so refreshing. I know that this means we are one step closer to Winter, which means one step closer to non-stop sickness for my co-workers and I, better known in my family as the “Daycare Curse”. While I am not ready for that, I am ready for the cooler weather and yes, I am ready for Christmas.

For those of you that haven’t yet received an update, school is still going great! I currently have a 99.35, and I am currently in my last week of my first class! I am praying for the next several classes to pass by quickly because I am ready for my Theology classes but I know that everything will happen in the Lord’s time and His timing is perfect!

I can't wait to see what the Lord does throughout today. He has blessed me so much in the last few days and tonight will be no exception I am sure. When I checked the order of service I was surprised to see that all but one song we are singing, are some of my favorite songs for my personal worship time. It makes me think that God has something special for me tonight:) I can't wait! May the Lord bless you richly and beyond measure today! =D

A Little Slice or Two of Heaven

I was sitting and listening to an AMAZING song that we are getting ready to sing at church by The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, and as I was doing this I started to think of a few things that give me joy, little "slices" of heaven if you will. It's more than two but here are some of them:

1. A passion filled worship at church
2. GFBC Choir, Praise Team, and Orchestra
3. My personal worship time
4. My alone time with God in the South Campus sanctuary
5. Breathe by The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir (and yes, that is the song previously mentioned)
6. The GFBC Christmas Program (you have no idea just how big of slices those really are...)
7. A sunset on a sort of cloudy day

I thought seven was plenty for here, don't you agree? My God is an AWESOME God. In the last few days He has allowed me to experience six of these seven (because it's not Christmas time...) even in the heartache. Plus last night I was overjoyed to get to witness the baptism of a friend of mine! I will admit that it's been a pretty bad week, and if you read my last post you will understand that, but I would also like to remind whoever is reading this and myself that God's Word says that even though weeping may last through the night, a shout of joy will come in the morning (Psalm 30:5b NASB). I trust my God. Right now, I am leaning on my God because I don't have enough strength to walk around on my own. My God is so much more awesome than mere words could ever say. My God has given me a shout of joy with each experience. How could I not love Him?

I want to ask that you will continue to pray for the friends and family of the man I mentioned in the last post, who so recently went home to be with the Lord. But, I also want to encourage you to sit and think about this question: What are your little slices of heaven? Feel free to comment with some below as well, I would love to read them! May the Lord bless you!