You're Beautiful

A powerful, Truth-filled, emotion-evoking worship song by Phil Wickham with a great melody. Awesome combination of Truth and musical poetry.

You’re Beautiful

by Phil Wickham

I see your face in every sunrise
The colors of the morning are inside your eyes
The world awakens in the light of the day
I look up to the sky and say… You’re Beautiful

I see your pow’r in the moonlit night
Where planets are in motion and galaxies are bright
We are amazed in the light of the stars
It’s all proclaiming who you are… You’re beautiful

I see you there hanging on a tree
You bled and then you died and then you rose again for me
Now you are sitting on your heavenly throne
Soon we will be coming home… You’re Beautiful

When we arrive at eternity’s shore
Where death is just a memory and tears are no more
We’ll enter in as the wedding bells ring
Your bride will come together and we’ll sing… You’re Beautiful

Watch/listen to this song here.

The Excellent Wife

I have been reading and doing a study through the book The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace, and I HIGHLY recommend it for any wife who desires to grow as a Proverbs 31 woman in her love and respect for, submission to, and oneness with her husband. I am only on page 37, yet I can already heartily recommend and attest to the effectiveness of this book. It is drenched with Scripture, and Martha doesn’t shy away from challenging you in specific, practical ways to repent of your sin and play an active role in your own sanctification (as well as your husband’s). This book is definitely worth a committed, consistent, careful read!

You can purchase the book for a great price on the WTS bookstore website.

Khloe's Tree

First of all…let me just take a moment to rejoice in the fact that…my husband is home, my husband is HOME, MY HUSBAND IS HOME!!! I was expecting him to get in after midnight Sunday night due to a flight mixup (mostly my fault) that resulted in his flight being into Pittsburgh instead of Philly. Thus he was going to have to drive a rental car back from Pittsburgh to get home to Reading. When he got to the airport in Phoenix to check in he asked about switching his flight to Philly, but they said it would be about $150 to do so. He continued to pray that something would work out (he had been doing so all day), and when he got to his gate….lo and behold, the flight was overbooked and they were looking for volunteers to switch flights!! So Kory stepped up and said that he would be “willing” to switch (an understatement!) and gladly accepted the $350 voucher they presented him with for the “inconvenience.” My, how the tables can turn.

So Khloe and I drove and picked him up at the Philly airport at around 8pm Sunday evening, and it was inexplicably glorious just to feel his hand in mine again and to be back in the passenger seat of our Honda Pilot with our daughter asleep in the back. Everything back to the way it should be.

We are getting back into the normal swing of things now and getting ready for another short adventure to western PA this weekend for GCC’s Homecoming and to visit my parents. My grandparents will also be in from Florida for the weekend to meet Khloe for the first time, so that will be an exciting great-grandparent moment!

To close this entry I must comment on the delight that is “Khloe’s tree.” There is a large tree outside of her nursery window that is visible to Khloe just over my shoulder when I’m holding her in the rocking chair. Every morning after I have finished nursing her (after both of us have just awakened), that tree and its dancing leaves and the flickers of sunlight through it catch her eye over my shoulder, and she just “stands” on my lap staring at it wide-eyed in amazement. Then the excitement kicks in, and she starts jumping up and down, grinning wildly, and giggling like crazy. It is absolutely the most precious thing! And so each morning, no matter what kind of night we have had, no matter how much sleep we did or did not get, my heart is warmed and I melt in gratitude for this precious baby girl and these delightful moments the Lord blesses us with.

The Old Switcheroo

This morning Khloe’s breakfast eating was a raging success! Well…ok, not at first. I decided to try bananas with the little munchkin again this morning, because I am convinced that if there even exists a person in this world that does not like bananas, my little girl is not going to be one of them (Ha! As if I can decide these things…).

So I decided to give it another whirl. I peeled the banana, mashed it in the dish, and presented a spoonful to Khloe (along with choruses of smiley “Mmmm, bananas are so yummy! Mmmm…”). She took a nibble, made a face, and turned away disinterested. I made my second attempt, hoping she would become intrigued by this new flavor hitting her taste buds. But instead, she became ridiculously excited about the little white serving dish that contained the mashed bananas and wanted nothing but to take hold of it and mush her fingers in the goo. Sigh.

I then decided to abort mission and instead try the oatmeal that she (sometimes) eats for breakfast. I made it up and offered the first bite….to which she made a face and turned away yet again. Is she just not hungry? Or will this child eat nothing but sweet potatoes?? I then had an idea…

I went and got some sweet potatoes from the kitchen and again offered a bite to Khloe. As soon as the tip of the spoon hit her lips, her eyes absolutely lit up and her mouth popped wide open with saliva practically dripping in anticipation of her favorite food. OK, so now we know it isn’t because she’s not hungry. I gave her the bite and immediately refilled the spoon with a mixture of oatmeal and banana mush. She opened wide again (expecting another bite of sweet potatoes, I’m sure), and…ba-da-bing…she took the bite! She made a slight face at the unexpected different taste and texture, but she didn’t really seem to mind too much. I gave her another bite of sweet potatoes, then another banana/oatmeal mixture, and again — it worked! Score one for Mommy! I gradually increased the number of banana/oatmeal bites in between sweet potato bites until she was taking about 7 – 8 bites in between each sweet potato spoonful. Finally at the end, she didn’t even need any more sweet potatoes…she finished almost all of the bananas and oatmeal without a fuss!

It occurred to me then that of course she isn’t necessarily going to LOVE bananas right off the bat. She just has to learn to acquire the taste for them. Now that she’s been introduced to the flavor, I’m sure tomorrow and the next day will be much easier, and I won’t need as much (if any) sweet potato bait.

So now I know the trick! Who would’ve thought I’d use the old bait and switch trick with my daughter…

Happy Half Birthday, Khloe!

Wow. Our baby girl is 6 months old today…half a year already! In one sense it feels like it’s flown by, but in another…I can’t remember life without Khloe! What a joy she has been, and what adventures/trials/growth we have been through together as a family. She has almost tripled in size and I think quadrupled in fun-ness. She is such a delight and is more so each day with more “talking,” giggles, and snuggles.

Khloe had her 6 month doctor’s appointment yesterday, and she weighed in at 14 pounds and measured 25 1/2 inches in length. Exactly 2 pounds and 2 inches bigger than her 4 month appointment! She is average in height (it’s incredible for Khloe to be “average” in any size category, since she started out as such a tiny thing!), and she is in the 15th percentile for weight (which is slightly lower than where she was at 4 months). I’m sure as we really start taking off with solids now that she is 6 months old she will really start packing on the pounds. But no worries…the doctor said she’s absolutely fine, and she is doing great with her eating and growing!

As I mentioned in the previous post she is now rolling over both ways (front to back, back to front). She wiggles around so much on the floor that the small blankets we used to put her on are no longer sufficient…she twists and turns off of them in a matter of seconds! We will definitely continue to utilize the nice, BIG quilt that Allie made for her.

We have been working on sitting up, and she is still mostly a bobble-torso in need of mommy’s hands to hold onto and lean on. Although she can definitely go for several seconds sitting up on her own! She has great posture and is really getting stronger in her trunk muscles.

She is still mostly eating sweet potatoes, and sometimes she eats oatmeal once a day or so (although she doesn’t love it). If she could have it her way, she would only ever eat sweet potatoes for the rest of her life, I think! I delayed introducing more foods to her with our travels and whatnot, and I was kind of dragging my feet with her still being under 6 months. So today on her 6 month birthday we tried bananas, but she was tired and cranky and the bananas weren’t quite ripe. Blah. We’ll try again tomorrow….(or perhaps we’ll try some butternut squash or acorn squash instead that Mommy found on sale at the grocery store…). The poor girl is going to start turning orange if we don’t feed her something else soon!

It was hilarious…tonight I was feeding her sweet potatoes while simultaneously cooking up some spaghetti for my own dinner, so I was in and out of the kitchen trying to do both at once. I tried to set the bowl of sweet potatoes out of Khloe’s reach when I went in to check on the sauce or noodles, but at one point I heard some clanking and banging. I came out to the dining room to find Khloe with an extremely determined look on her face, one hand on the bowl, and the other grasping the spoon and banging on the tray. Haha…nothing will come between that girl and her sweet potatoes! ”If Mommy isn’t going to feed me, looks like I’m gonna have to do it…”

One last exciting piece of Khloe news before I end this post. When we were in Arizona Khloe tried out the walker that Grandma Kaye has for the kids she watches. And goodness, did she love it! I resolved to find something similar for her to have at home and knew that Craig’s List would be my best bet for something affordable. Well, tonight I found a really nice Exersaucer listed for a REALLY good deal. Khloe and I went and checked it out, and it was everything we hoped for and more…so we got it! She tried it out briefly before bed tonight, and oh…my…goodness. She absolutely LOVES it! Stay tuned for photos to come…

Well, the princess is sleeping which means Mommy should head to bed as well to maximize sleep. Stay tuned for more updates! I will try to start posting daily (or so) again now that things are mostly back to normal.

Aaaand We're Back!

Hello, dear ones. I’m here to apologize for our absence from the blog-o-sphere for the last few weeks and to share what’s been going on in the life of the Kaye family lately!

Kory has been gone since the beginning of September on his Chick-fil-A business trip. He spent the first week in St Louis, MO, helping to train new employees and help out with the Grand Opening there. Then he went straight to Arizona where he has been for the last 3 weeks working, training, helping, etc. with the new store out there. Life has been busy, crazy, and difficult without him here. Not only do I miss him — a LOT — but I am also trying to juggle ALL of the household responsibilities, chores, errands, and care for Khloe all by myself. It has actually made the days go by rather quickly with how busy I am! And I’m so worn out at the end of each day that after I put Khloe to bed, I pretty much head straight to bed myself. Sundays have probably been the most difficult, since it’s a day Kory is usually always home, and I am not busy working to distract myself from how much I miss him on that day. But the Lord has been gracious in strengthening me and sending people to encourage and spend time with me while he’s been gone. I’m very thankful!

And THEN…last Wednesday Khloe and I left for a 5-day trip to visit Kory’s family in Arizona and to see Kory himself! It was Khloe’s first trip on an airplane, and she did AMAZINGLY well. I know it’s because of all of our friends and family who were praying for that trip. She was so content sitting on my lap, and she even dozed off for a couple of cat naps. What a champ! It was a wonderful visit with Grandma and Grandpa Kaye and the uncles and aunt out there. Khloe sure did get spoiled with lots of attention and lovin’! She also had an exciting milestone while we were out there — rolling from back to front! (She has been rolling front to back for a while, and she has been SO close to going the other way…she finally did it!).

We got to see Kory quite a bit when he wasn’t working, which was typically mornings and evenings. It was SO good to see him!! We drank up every moment. He also didn’t have to work on Sunday (of course – love Chick-fil-A!), so we got to spend the whole day with him then. I got to meet everyone at his church that I’ve heard so much about and had received so many notes and gifts from over the course of the past year. How wonderful to finally put faces with names!

So the trip was great and exhausting and too quick and so many things. We are glad to be home, but we miss our family out there already. I am SO thankful for that trip to break up the long 4 weeks Kory is gone. Now that we’re back, we only have one more week until Kory is home…and really, that week is already halfway over! I’ve been busy catching up on errands, chores, etc. that the days have been flying by.

I’m going to end this post here and write another entry tonight to update you on Khloe and her goings on. She just keeps growing up!

Jubilee!

I was on dictionary.com this morning (don’t ask…yes, I’m a nerd), and the word of the day today is perfectly appropriate for what I have to share today!

Jubilee \ JOO-buh-lee \ noun - Any season or occasion of rejoicing or festivity.

Usually I think of the Biblical jubilee when I hear this word, but today it applies to last night’s sleep success. Khloe was exhausted, so I put her down at 8:30pm (thinking I would certainly reap a much earlier morning as a result), and she slept a straight 9 hours until 5:30am, then I fed her a little bit and she went back to sleep until about 8am! That’s 11 1/2 hours of sleep! Wow, what a long haul it has been to get to this point…yay 13 pounds! And it can only get better from here…

After that solid night of sleep she was SUCH a delight this morning, cooing and singing to herself in the highchair while I was in the kitchen making her breakfast sweet potato + rice cereal mixture. What a precious little girl we are blessed with!