"Growing Up"

Today was an awesome! The weather was absolutely beautiful and best of all Ariston went to church for the very first time! We were so excited to get back to the church we love and seeing all the people we love :) He did so well too! Besides the wide eyed glare he gave us when we took him into the dark, loud worship service, he was perfectly content sleeping in his carrier. Micah and I were so glad we didn't have to run out with a crying baby. Yay Ariston!

We love the Summit Church. Micah and I started attending and eventually became members when we were in college. In our years there we have fallen in love with the vision the church has for the RDU area and for the world. Our pastor, J.D. Greear is faithful to preaching the gospel through the grace of Jesus and we are blessed with hearing the Word of God each and every time. This morning J.D. spoke on the importance of "growing up" as Christians. Reading in 1 Peter 2, Peter reminds us that in Christ we need nourishment in order to grow in Christ.

"Like newborn babies, crave spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good." 1 Peter 2:2-3

Basically, if we aren't feasting on the Word, we are starving ourselves and retarding our spiritual growth. This particularly hit home for me at this stage in my life with Ariston. Ariston is so dependent on me feeding him milk in order for him to grow and develop. If I decided to stop feeding Ariston he would die. When Ariston is nourished with milk he continues to grow and will one day grow into a mature man. It's the same way with me spiritually. I am killing myself spiritually if I do not nourish myself with the Word of God. Without it, I am finding my hope in other things that do not satisfy (I think of these things as pacifiers-excuse my mommy analogies). When I put all my hope in my marriage, or success, or money, I might be satisfied for a while but that pacifier will never give me the nutrients that milk does. The Word of God is imperishable, it does not fade and will not fail me. My marriage, though wonderful, will not last forever because one of us will eventually die, the same goes for success and money. They do not last. Jesus does. The Word of God stands firm and is the only thing that can bring me joy in the midst of despair. Everything else just gives me a quick pleasure, a momentary joy, but the Word of God is what fills me and satisfies in such a way that helps me grow up in my spiritual body.

I don't think it a coincidence that God chose to speak to me in that way today. I have been so wrapped up in nourishing my newborn son that I have honestly put my spiritual life on the back burner. However, the Lord reminded me today that it is imperative for me to nourish myself spiritually in order to be the best mommy I can be for Ariston. I know how important it is for me to feed him, I need to also be feeding myself-feasting on the Word of God.

A Family of Three

Most likely everyone reading this already knows that we have recently welcomed the newest member of the Foster Family into our lives.

He's awesome.

Life as a family of 3. It has been one of the craziest experiences of my life. Childbirth is so intense! I think it is something you can never really prepare yourself for enough. For me, after over 24 hours of labor my body was plain worn out. Yet, in the midst of the pain in childbirth you are given this tremendous gift- your own child. It seriously blew my mind. When Ariston was born Micah and I just kept saying to each other, "I can't believe how much I love him...and how it makes me love you even more...."

After coming home from the hospital we were on cloud 9. We couldn't believe how God blessed us with this awesome little guy. Then the crying came...the endless crying that wouldn't stop. We were beside ourselves because he didn't cry hardly at all in the hospital. Long story short for the next 2 weeks our precious little boy zapped us of our energy by

leaving us with what seemed like a continuous day with no rest at night. It was particularly hard on me as I was the only one who could feed our son.

Here we are at week 3. It's much better. I mean worlds better. The after pain from childbirth has worn away and I can actually get out of the house. We have established a better eating system in which I am able to pump and supplement with formula when needed so that I can get a break at night. Most importantly we are finally able to enjoy our super precious blessing-our baby boy.

In our 3 weeks of being parents Micah and I have decided that its one of the hardest things in the world. However, we have also been privileged to see how it is one of the most awesome things in the world as well. The Lord has been teaching us so mu

ch through the arrival of little Ariston. God loves us with a tremendous love like that of a parent's love for a child. In fact, my love for Ariston pales in comparison with God's love for me. There have been nights where I ask myself "why is he crying still? doesn't h

e know how much I love him and that I will provide him with all of his needs?" It's the same way with me and God. I choose to sin over trusting and loving God. He must ask

the same questions about me. His love is even greater for me and I still don't always trust that God loves me and will be faithful to His promises. Ariston will learn and grow to understand that his mommy and daddy love him so much and that we are for his good. Growing in Christ, we as His children learn to trust that God loves us so much and that He is for our good as well.

Thank you Lord for our little blessing and for teaching me more about You.

My Best Friend

I would like to dedicate today's blog post to the man who sacrifices daily for me and for our soon to be family. I love Micah Joe Foster with all of my heart. He truly is my best friend. He always making me laugh and is one of the very few people who get to see my silly side and he joins right in. He is the demonstration of God's grace in my life. He points me to Jesus with his gentle and caring spirit and strong leadership. He is going to make a great daddy. I couldn't be more blessed to have such an amazing husband. I love you Micah and praise Jesus for you!

:)

Always cracking me up!

He's a super great uncle to Kade, Patrick, Skylar, and Cassidy. I know he will make such a great daddy!

Did I mention he is super hot? ;)

No Sew Pillows

So the time is drawing near, Ariston will soon make his appearance into the world and Micah and I could not be more excited, anxious, nervous, scared, and ready for him to just go ahead and get here :) I tracked out of school a couple of weeks ago and I must say that this time was much needed to take it easy and to get things ready for our son. The nursery wasn't even close to being finished this time last week but my gracious parents helped serve us during this time and came last Friday to help clean, do laundry, etc. All we have left are a few minor details to add and his room will be complete! So sorry, no pictures of the entire room just yet. But I did want to share some awesome information on how to do "No Sew Pillow Cases." Complete nursery pictures to come...

I had decided that sewing was simply not an option for me this late in my pregnancy. The sewing machine is cumbersome and I didn't want my big belly to interfere with my project. So I researched some "no sew" alternative tutorials online. Not only was I able to make some "No Sew Pillows" but I made some curtains as well!

Here's all you need to make the pillows:

* 1 square pillow

* 1 roll of Stitch Witchery

* scissors

* iron

* ironing board

* white cloth

* tape measure

* fabric of choice

1. measure your pillow, mine was 12 x 12

2. add two inches to each side, so mine was 14 x 14 and cut your fabric accordingly

3. Then subtract 5 inches from one side of your dimensions, so 14 x 9

4. Cut two pieces of fabric accordingly, so my two pieces were 14x 9 and 14 x 9

5. Fold and iron a 1 inch hem as shown in the picture above

6. Place stitch witchery strip underneath the hem and iron to make hem.

*Make sure to use your white damp cloth on top of the fabric directly underneath the iron so as not to burn the fabric.

7. Lay larger piece of fabric (14x14) right side up (pretty side facing up)

8. Covering the larger piece, lay one of the smaller pieces right side down with the hem at the top of the fabric

9. Again covering the larger piece, lay the other smaller piece right side down with the hem at the bottom of the fabric.

10. Finally use the Stitch Witchery to line the four sides of the three pieces of fabric. Basically bonding the sides of the square together. Use your iron to do this.

11. Let the fabric cool for 5-10 minutes. Flip the fabric inside out and your work is complete! :) Go ahead and stuff your pillow!

The Past Month

This past month has been amazing and busy all at the same time. So here is an update on our lives over the past month...starting with the most recent first.

It's been a month full of good times with friends, weddings, insane amounts of time at work and lots of traveling. However, God has really reminded Micah and me of how He has blessed us with some really wonderful friends that we love and cherish. He has given me a job that is able impact the lives of many. He is preparing us for loving Him more through parenting our soon-to-be son. We are thankful for July and are looking forward to the busy weeks ahead.

My gorgeous best friend got married on July 23rd. Unfortunately my husband didn't bring the camera for her wedding, so this is downloaded from Facebook . Hope to see the professional photos soon. She was a BEAUTIFUL bride. Whitney and Nate's relationship is truly an example of Jesus' redeeming love for us. We are so excited for the Fords :)

I am 30 weeks prego. Good gracious! Hopefully not too much longer to go!

Micah sold his beloved PS3 for our family. If you know Micah this is seriously an example of a man sacrificing for his family. He loves video games but wanted to use his time more wisely preparing to become a Godly father to our sweet son that will be born this October. I am sad for him, but proud of him as well.

I am now a 3rd grade teacher! I moved from the biggest room with a ridiculous amount of windows to the smallest room with no windows. So I made my own to put in the back of the room :) But I couldn't be more grateful for my job! I love it! I also had fun decorating :)

More of the room....

Got to represent NC State :)

Micah and his good friend James. James and Becca got married on July 16th. We are so excited for both of them. They are truly amazing people and now an amazing husband and wife :) Also, Becca was an absolutely gorgeous bride!!!

Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables

So last night I decided to use some of our leftovers from the 4th for a new dish. I went for the roasted vegetables that our good friend Ryan was so gracious to leave us with. Ryan is an amazing cook, so when he told me that the roasted vegetables would work great in a pasta dish, despite my reluctance I took his word for it. If you know me well then you know that I am a fairly picky eater (I am getting better though) and that I am not a big fan of mixing foods together. However, I took Ryan's culinary advice and scoured the internet for such a recipe. Much to my surprise as soon as I typed in pasta with roasted vegetables my all time fav. Giada De Laurentiis popped up with her Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables recipe. I love Giada so I knew this was going to be a great dish! It was so easy and full of flavor! Micah and I both loved the extra pizzazz the vegetables added to the otherwise plain (but awesome) Marinara sauce and Penne pasta. Plus...veggies are healthy for you! (duh! right?) So why not give it a try?

If you want to check out the recipe, click on the link above. These are just some quick shots of the process...I got to skip the first part of the recipe because Ryan did the prep work on the veggies. You can also add more vegetables if you would like--we actually had red potatoes and carrots in the mix (which was not in the recipe) and it still tasted amazing!

I also used Traditional Prego for the Marinara

Yum!

Happy 4th!

Just some quick images of the set up for our small cookout we had with some great friends yesterday. I hate I missed getting pictures of all the delicious food and fun times with friends we had! I guess we just had too much fun :) But at least you can get an idea of the decor. Hope everyone had a great 4th! So grateful for the country we live in!

Concept Board for Ariston's Nursery & a Lesson in Trust

So Micah and I spent practically all day looking for the basics for the nursery. We started the day off by going to the NC State Fairgrounds in hopes to snag a great deal on a dresser for our baby boy. Before heading over we grabbed some lunch at Jasmin's Mediterranean Bistro on Hillsborough St. It was quite delicious and we had a great time reminiscing our frequent trips there during library dates in our college days. Man do we miss college! Well maybe not the studying part... :)

Anyway...we made it to the fairgrounds finding some pretty things but nothing too enticing. On our way out we found a great deal on a dresser and were so excited to finally purchase a piece for Ariston's room so we rushed home to measure the space (oops guess we should have already done that!). Long story short...we called and the owners had already sold the piece! Bummer...

The next part of the day was filled with the same sort of dissapointment. We went on craigslist trips and were dissatisfied and sadly, my impatient self was getting frustrated. But we finally decided on the crib after much deliberation. We decided on the one pictured in my concept board. It's a Babyletto Modern Crib in Espresso. Finally something to build off of! However, I got so excited about it that while ordering it, I accidently ordered it twice!!! Major oops!

Lesson learned though is that I am in great need of patience. I found myself getting pretty anxious today about the whole thing today due to our limited time the rest of the summer to get his nursery together. Due to my stress and anxiety, I could literally feel the effects of what my stress was doing to our son. Christ reminds us to find our rest and peace in Him. Being anxious is sinful because I am not trusting in His promise to take care of me. Thankfully, Christ intercedes for me and reminds me that He is capable of taking care of me and I can rest in that. I am also thankful for a husband that loves me well by keeping me accountable of this area in my life. I can also be a better momma to our son when I am not stressing him out :)

Matthew 6:25-33

²⁵ "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?^{[g] 28}And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³²For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

It's been awhile...

Well it certainly has been a long time since we last posted on our old blog:

http://thefosterfamily.tumblr.com/post/7043989236/its-been-nearly-a-year

and by now most of you know that the Foster Family of two is soon to become a family of three!

Life in the past year has been full of adventure and surprises along the way. For our first year of marriage the term busy is an understatement. We have been through a lot of changes, but the Lord has provided for us along the way in ways that only He could.

Last July I was beginning my career as a first grade teacher at Thales Academy and Micah was quitting his part-time job at T-Mobile to become an intern at our church’s new North Raleigh campus. Serving our church during that time was so awesome and it has been amazing to see how the Lord has grown and equipped the North Raleigh campus. In October of last year in the midst of his internship, Micah was moved by the Spirit to quit the seminary life and go back into Finance and landed a job at Credit Suisse as a “Derivatives Analyst” (…? if you don’t know what that means…i’m not too sure what that really means either :) ). Leaving seminary to pursue a career in the Business World may seem backwards to some, but we really believe that God wants us in our careers to impact the Kingdom for his name. We prayed through this for months and months, and it wasn’t until February that Micah got the job. So the months in between were tough…we had to scrimp by on my teaching salary and who would of thought we were wonderfully surprised to find out we were PREGNANT in January!!! This was stressful but awesome news to us. God provided for us once again though and Micah found out he got the job at Credit Suisse literally at our first ultrasound appointment!

In the past year we have become aunt and uncle to our precious nephew Kade…spent our first Thanksgiving and Christmas as a married couple together…went cruising in the Western Caribbean (this was honeymoon take 2)…moved from our 1 bedroom apartment into our two bedroom two and a half bath townhome…spent our first anniversary in the gorgeous mountains of North Carolina…spent the week in the Outer Banks with my family…and now we are soon to become parents to our precious baby boy, Ariston!

In the weeks to come I will be posting some more pictures about our journey into parenthood. With updates on the nursery and pictures of my seemingly ever growing bump! I’ll also update you on the little things in our lives…I can’t promise you it will be way exciting, but we hope it will bring a smile to your face :)

ps-I’ll also let you know how teaching 3rd grade goes this year! I am way excited to start that new phase of my life as well!!!