Polatribe's Den

For those of you who still try to keep up with us through our blog - this is for you.

 

Every once in a while there are things that happen in our lives that cause us to take a step back and look at things a little differently.  This story is about one such event.  The other day I was getting ready for church and Elijah had just gotten up out of bed.  He was still in his pajamas, but he was ready to take on the day.  As I began to converse with him about his night, at one point I told him "I love you" - not an unusual statement for me to make to my children - and he responded "I love you daddy" back.  This too is not an unusual response, but for some reason when he said it this time it made my heart skip a beat.  I was awestruck at how something so simple could be so profound. 

 

With God, our Heavenly Father, he tells us every day "I love you" and we go about our business without taking time to acknowledge that statement.  Often we wonder "why does God need me to pray, or to vocalize my needs" when He already knows everything.  But the reality of it is, while He might know what we need, or that we love Him, sometimes He just wants us to say "I love you" back.   I tell my children I love them every day, but when they say it back, it melts my heart into a giant puddle of goo.  When they express their love with those simple words it builds deeper connections and stronger bonds with me and my children.  I feel compelled to love them even more, if that is even possible :)   

 

It makes me wonder - what does God think when we say "I love you" to Him?  Does it strengthen our relationship with Him?  Does it develop stronger bonds or deeper connections?  I believe that expressing ourselves to God is crucial to our relationship with Him.  So - have you told God "I love you" lately? 

YEAH!  We FINALY have a good, no AMAZINGLY BLAZING FAST internet connection!  You guys kept bugging us about it, so here they are new pictures - with more to come!

Well, we're all moved in.  Trying to figure out where everything goes in the house.  Figuring out our new roles in life.  Figuring out how to balance a third child in our lives...  It's been a crazy week for us, but we're all adjusting.  Chris is really enjoying his new position at the church.  He is learning a lot about how the church works and his role in it all. 

 

The kids are starting to settle in.  Elijah starts school on Thursday and we're all excited about that!  Isaiah is trying to figure out his role as the middle child.  Rachel is being a good newborn - eating, sleeping, filling her diaper and every now and then we get some "play time" in.

 

I'm still in recovery from having a baby and moving all in 2 weeks!  Overall I'm doing well.  I keep shocking people when I tell them I have a 3 week old and we just moved.  They think I'm nuts, but that's okay!

 

I'll post pictures when we have a better internet connection.  We're hoping to have our high speed internet installed by next Monday.

It's so hard to believe that Rachel is already 1 week old.  Where has the time gone!  Rachel is adjusting well to life on the outside.  Her brothers love her very much and are always wanting to hold or look at her.  We are all adjusting to having a newborn in the house again.  Though she's now sleeping at night (at least more so at night than during the day )  and is an awesome eater!  I'm adjusting to having my sleep broken up again - though it'll be harder once Memaw and Papa leave and then when we move to Scottsdale.

 

Oh, yeah... We haven't said much about that.  Chris accepted a position as an assistant pastor at Open Arms Church in Scottsdale, AZ.  We are moving up there on August 4th (yup just a bit over a week from now!).  We're really excited about this great opportunity!  God has been showing us how He's providing for us in every step of this transition!  We will be renting a house from a lady that is really looking for a good renter over anything else.  We don't know much about her, but she lowered the rent for us and is providing extra's (landscaping, new washer/dryer, microwave, and some other things) in our rent to help us out!  We are really looking forward to getting to know her better.

 

I know we'll post more about our move, but right now there's so much going on!  I do promise to get the pictures up, it's still a matter of getting pictures from everyone and sorting through them and posting them.

 

Thank you all for your prayers!  We love you all.

 

 

She's finally here!  Rachel Joy was born on Friday at 3:11pm, weighing in at 7 lbs 3 oz and 20.5 inches long, and is quite a cutie.  The doctor broke Joyce's water at 11:30(ish) and after that, Joyce's body took over for a very natural birth. Woo Hoo!  Joyce is tired, but both baby and her are doing well.  I'm told that Rachel looks an awful lot like her mother when she was born - so she must come by her cuteness honestly.  :)  Thanks to all for your prayers and support, they are greatly appreciated.