The last month!

Holy Cow! I feel overwhelmed just thinking about all the information I am about to lay on you blog readers out there (kind of like Charleigh in this picture)....last month in a nutshell...

I'll pick up where I left off. Charleigh turned three months on December 14th. She is hitting all her milestones perfectly and I continue to be amazed at how she just knows things and all the stuff she is "supposed" to do...like, I didn't teach her to roll over, she just did, and...I didn't show her how to hold onto things but she does (especially my hair these days...haha, and Prissy's tongue once). She is kicking up a storm now, and grabbing for her feet. She stares at them intently until her body falls forward and she almost gets them in her mouth. Fun to watch. My favorite is when she grabs the bottom of her little dresses, which she always does. It looks like she is doing a little curtsey. I love that. She also has become much more interested in Prissy, whom she used to ignore or get annoyed with. Now she watches her. Justin said she is learning how to stalk her prey..and will some day be a hunter like him...I'm hoping not. She also is on more of a regular napping schedule now, and boy I like schedules. One BAD development...she is SO teething already. I tried to live in denial at first but everyone has pointed it out. She drools like do other, rubs her gums with her hands, and chews on her pacy instead of sucking it. She also....BITES while nursing!!! AHHH, Luckily she has no teeth and I plan to put an end to that ASAP. So, anyway, that was all happening over the last month. She is still developing more things daily...I'll write about more of her newest developments later.

So, what has the Tyner family been up to lately you ask? Well, I'd be glad to tell you:

First came the Fuller Christmas Reunion back in Bama. (the weekend before Christmas) I wrote about this in my last post...this was the weekend we got her ears pierced and she met Santa.

So, I'll pick up from there. That week a LOT of friends from out of town came in town...so we had a girls' brunch to be able to see each other before we all ran frantically in our separate directions. Charleigh got to meet all these girls for the first time! She acted fine but the brunch was right in the middle of one of her naptimes...so she wasn't her usual bubbly self. Oh well, so life goes with babies! I miss our college times with these girls but, we will always stay as connected as possible :)

That night was the Christmas Eve service at our church, which I love. I get chill bumps when they turn out all the lights and thousands of people hold candles...just something about that gets me every time. And I tear up when all the little kiddies take offering up and lay it in the manger. Unfortunately, Justin was sick that night so Charleigh and I headed out without him. But we met up with Big Mama, Jo and James. Big Mama made Charleigh's outfit in this picture, too cute :)So, we headed home on that rainy night and were so glad to get back to our sick Daddy. Justin and I wasted no time putting her to bed and filling each other's stockings. It was SOOO fun to fill Charleigh's stocking this year. I literally could not have shoved one more thing inside of it. Here is a video of her waking up for her first Christmas! We literally had to wake her up an hour earlier than usual so that is why she is a bit out of it.

Here we are doing our family tradition that Jus and I have done every Christmas since we've been married. Underwear hats! We always put underwear in each other's stockings and then have to wear them on your head while you open your presents...our kids will hate us one day, but for now...

(Charleigh looks somewhat like a KKK member, oops)

And here is the hoodie I made for Jus...I digitized his hunting club logo and appliquéd it on a hoodie with Mossy Oak camo fabric. He loved it!

Another tradition on Christmas morning is to pack up our things and head to Bama. Our goal is to get there in time for the family breakfast around 10am. I'm afraid this is going to get EXTREMELY hard to do the bigger our family grows :( But this year, we made it!I let Charleigh wear her pajamas all day because it's Christmas, and you should be able to wear your PJs all day if you want to!Here is the hoodie I made for my mom and my sister. They loved thier's too. I am so glad because I worked hard on those :) That day we participated in another Shirley family tradition which is MOVIES on Christmas! We took all the bazillion kids with us so we opted for Alvin and the Chipmunks. It was Charleigh's first cinema experience and she sat in my lap and actually watched the movie! She even let out a laugh every once in a while. Too cute!

So, if that week couldn't have been any busier...we rushed home the next day to do Christmas with Paw Paw and Granmama.They got her this cool exersaucer. She is too short for it so I put a box underneath and it seems to work just fine! She stares at that frog on there and now (closer to 4 months) has started yelling at it. I don't know what Mr. Froggie did, but she is NOT happy with him. We got to see Jo and James (and Nuggette...no they have not picked a name and I am mad about it frankly).And Bubba, Angie, and Jackson!
She felt very loved it seems...

Here we are about to open her presents.

And with Paw Paw...
And sleeping with Granmama...

That night we headed over to Big Mama's house to celebrate some more!!
We had fun opening all our presents...especially Charleigh's (the toy Justin is playing with is Charleigh's in case you were confused).
And these are the matching PJs Big Mama made us for Christmas...we wore them that night.

So, all in all, this Christmas was the best one yet :)

On to New Year's Eve. Oh my, I could (and probably should) write a whole post on this topic. But...

New Year's Eve we had the whole crew over to our house for a rock band show down. We haven't played in forever so it was fun to dust off the old drums and get down with some new faces who have now joined our group (by group, I am mostly talking about couples from our SS class or from the "baby club") We ended up ringing in the new year by playing Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit...boys against girls of course. And for once, we let the boys win...We all got our new year kisses and went to BED!

I took the next day to reflect on the year past. We started off last year with a hard hit...the news of our 3rd miscarriage (Biscuit). We were just crushed and so glad to get that year behind us. Little did we know that we were already pregnant with my sweet Charleigh angel. It would be a couple more weeks until we would find out :) I remember thinking that this year was going to be different for us. I dug back in my blog to last year and here is what I wrote:

A double portion.
Isaiah 61:7 (New International Version)7 Instead of their shame, my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.

As we reflect on all that God has done in our lives over the past year, we look forward to an even greater level of the promises of God in the year to come! Isaiah 61:7 promises that instead of shame and trouble, God will double the inheritance of His people and they'll be filled with everlasting joy. This is God's promise to me: double for your trouble! A "double portion" of God's goodness, a "double portion" of His favor and wisdom on my life. That is our prayer for 2009. It's time for me to trust God for the destiny that the enemy has tried so hard to convince me was impossible. It's time to believe God for the unimaginable. It's time to move beyond my past. I've been hurt, it's time to forgive. I've been discouraged, it's time to put on a garment of praise and experience the joy of the Lord. I've been worried and afraid, it's time to have faith like never before in the provision and purposes of God. It's time to live with confidence that God wants to give me a blessed and prosperous future in every area of my life! The power of God's promises and His love for me is so much stronger than the pain of my past. We know this in our hearts. God wants us to use our troubles as a springboard into our future. Our troubles are what God often uses to take us to a new, higher level of living. This is what is so great about our God. He takes any trouble we have and says, "I will give you double the inheritance for your trouble." Twice the joy, twice the fulfillment, twice the impact . . . twice the life!" We're believing for twice the life. We're asking God to open twice as many doors this year for hope to find its home in twice as many places. With all of the challenges in the world today, what we have done in the past won't be able to take us to where God is calling us to go in the future. We need God to multiply us — He's the source of every blessing, every gift and every hope for tomorrow. As we were getting ready for church last Sunday morning (just a few days after we found out that we lost our third baby) Justin was getting ready and singing "God is Good, All the Time". I just stopped what I was doing (in the other room) and sat there and listened. It was very sweet. Sweet for my soul. He is good...all the time. Throughout the last week, I've asked Justin to sing that song periodically...songs mean a lot to me, they are so full of expression and emotion. I cling to songs when I'm happy and when I'm sad. To hear this song come from the ONE person on this earth that I KNOW is going through the same emotions and hurts that I am...was so very sweet.

God is good

all the time

He put a song of praise

in this heart of mine

God is good

all the time

Through the darkest night,

His light will shine

God is good,

God is good

all the time

If you're walking

through the valley

And there are shadows all around

Do not fear,

He will guide you

He will keep you safe and sound

'Cause He's promised

to never leave you

Nor forsake you

and His Word is true

God is good

all the time

He put a song of praise

in this heart of mine

God is good

all the time

Through the darkest night,

His light will shine

God is good,

God is good

all the time

We were sinners

-so unworthy

Still for us He chose to die

Filled us with His

Holy Spirit

Now we can stand and testify

That His love is everlasting

And His mercies

-they will never end

God is good

all the time

He put a song of praise

in this heart of mine

God is good

all the time

Through the darkest night,

His light will shine

God is good,

God is good

all the time

Though I may not understand

all the plans you have for me

my life is in your hands

and through the eyes of faith I can clearly see...

God is good

all the time

He put a song of praise

in this heart of mine

God is good

all the time

Through the darkest night,

His light will shine

God is good,

God is good

all the time

Okay, so, going back and reading that post was sobbering to me. It brought back all those emotions like it was yesterday. When I read it, I ran to Charleigh's room (while she is sleeping) and had to look at her precious face. Oh how Good he has been to us THIS year! I am interested to reach this point next year and see how far God has taken me from this point now. He is so fun, how he works and all. And from that heartache, this my friends, is how I spent my new year's day this year:

Praise the Lord!

Whew, that afternoon we went to eat our black eyed peas at lunch with Big Mama. And just a few days later we got this video of Charleigh laughing at ME:

She is such a giggle box and I LOVE it!

And after we rang in the new year we had to get started living life as usual. My Girls' Ministry (Chosen) started back up. And we are returning to our roots. We are going back to the Song of Solomon to study purity and the dating relationship. Such a great topic for these younguns...so far, our room has been PACKED out every Monday night. These girls give me joy.

Another big event, my husband was voted to become at deacon at our church. We were beyond shocked when he was picked because that church is HUGE and he's so young. But he was very honored to accept the position and has used it to motivate him to grow even more spiritually so he can live up to the title. He's so cute. My mom and dad came in town to watch the ordination that Sunday night. We planned to get some pictures afterwards (I even coordinated our outfits) but, the pastor invited everyone to greet us after the shindig was over and marms and pops had to hit the road before we could snap any pictures :( Boo. I am SOOO proud of the man I married though. Just know that.

While mom and dad where here Charleigh showed off her favorite thing to do...SQUEAL! Check out the video of her Squealling with Granny on my facebook (I didn't want to upload ANOTHER video on this one post).

And then, on the 14th of this month, Charleigh turned 4 months! She is talking like crazy now. Not making any words of course but just babbling at any and everything she sees. She LOVES the tv and talks to it regularly. Even though I try not to let her watch it too much, it is quite hilarious to see her yelling at the characters.

Okay, so onto Charleigh's dedication at church. She was just precious. As a Baptist Christian we do not believe in baptizing babies. According to the bible, baptism is the outward illustration of what happens inside of you when you get saved. It's a choice YOU have to make, not your parents. So, in our opinion, it is pointless to baptize someone until they are saved. So, what we do instead is dedicate our child to the Lord. Which is just a fancy way of saying, we commit to raising her in a Godly home. Teaching her the Bible and living our lives as REAL christians. That is very important to us. I pray daily that God will keep me from myself. That my daughter will look at me and say, "My mom is real...she REALLY loves God and lives every day for him". I want that so badly. So, here she was, being dedicated to the Lord.

My parents came down AGAIN for the second weekend in a row to be there for it. Plus, Jessica, Sharry, Brandy and her kids too.

And, to TRY to wrap up this post. Charleigh had her 4 month checkup on Tuesday (the 19th) and here are her stats: weight-70th percentile, height-95th percentile, and head circumference-85th percentile. I swear I am only feeding her breastmilk, but she weighed 14 lbs and 7 oz (and she has slowed down tremendously over the last month...thank goodness).

Oh well...if you got this far in your reading, congratulations...post the words "I DID IT!" as a comment. I have the strange feeling I won't get many of those....