The Lord's Day

(A Lord's Day Evening prayer taken from Joseph Pipa's book The Lord's Day)

Most Holy God,
May the close of an earthly sabbath
              remind me that the last of them will one day end.
Animate me with joy that in heaven praise will never cease,
              that adoration will continue forever,
              that no flesh will grow weary,
                            no congregations disperse,
                            no affections flag,
                            no thoughts wander,
                            no will droop,
                            but all will be adoring love.
Guard my mind from making ordinances my stay or trust,
                                         from hewing out broken cisterns,
                                         from resting on outward helps.
Wing me through earthly forms to thy immediate presence;
May my feeble prayers show me the emptiness and vanity of my own sins;
Deepen in me the conviction that my most fervent prayers,
             and most lowly confessions, need to be repented of.
May my best services bring me nearer to the cross,
             and prompt me to cry, 'None but Jesus!'
By the Spirit give abiding life to the lessons of this day:
May the seed sown take deep root and yield a full harvest.
Let all who see me take knowledge that I have been with thee
             that thou hast taught me my need as a sinner,
                            hast revealed a finished salvation to me,
                            hast enriched me with all spiritual blessings,
                            hast chosen me to show forth Jesus to others,
                            hast helped me to dispel the mists of unbelief.
O great creator, mighty protector, gracious preserver,
                           thou dost load me with lovingkindnesses,
                           and hast made me thy purchased possession,
                           and redeemed me from all guilt;
I praise and bless thee for my sabbath rest, my calm conscience,
                                                                               my peace of heart.

To God be all The Glory - an Update

A dear friend of mine said something like this to me a couple of months ago:  

I checked your blog again and noticed that you haven't posted in a long time, does this mean you are not a Contented Mama anymore??

Thanks so much for caring enough to ask! :) Even though I don't deserve it, I am thankful that I am able to say, "Yes, I am still a Contented Mama!"...Unfortunately, I just seem to be a busy contented mama who is still trying to figure out where Blogging can fit in. :-) But I am working on this, as you can see!

My blog today simply has to be an update on the two amazing little blessings that fill our lives with so much joy. I hope it doesn't sound like I'm boasting!! I just want to share with you all how God is helping them grow and learn!  

To Him be all the Glory.

 

Rebekah and Theodore (Or Teddy as he is now officially nicknamed) are growing so much. Rebekah has a lot more hair than she used to and a lot more manners too! She says (with some reminders) "please" and "Oh, thank-you Mommy". "Sorry Teddy", "Excuse me" and "Bless You!" 

She loves to be a help to her brother. If he is crying she does her best to comfort him and will bring him a toy or a blanket to try and soothe him. She has loved him from Day 1! They are going to be great friends.

 Here they both are sitting together in their Sunday best. 

 Teddy is getting brighter and bigger and stronger every day. It is so hard to believe that he is already almost 9 months old! (he is only 6 months old in the picture, which gives away when I began writing this post :P) It just seems like yesterday that he was a little newborn, tiny and helpless and just giving little "puppy-dog kisses". All he knew to do was cry and drink milk and look up with those sweet little eyes. And now here he is (with Daddy's help) riding on the rocking horse! By the way, those cheeks are just the most kissable things! I could kiss them all day! <3 

Speaking about time flying, Rebekah had a birthday on the 18th of February! 2 years old! And she, too, has come a long way. It's amazing how quickly babies develop. If only I could learn like she can! She knows all of the letters and their sounds and loves to sing the alphabet song! We have an alphabet play mat and she loves to play games where I ask her to find a letter or say the sound. She can count to 11, down from 10 and is learning how to count objects. "1-2-3 cats!"

She loves reading and singing! Her favourite songs to sing are "Old McDonald had a farm" and "Twinkle Twinkle little star". And she often recites lines from her favourite books.

She can also answer several catechism and bible questions. She's a little sponge! If only I could take credit for all of her learning! To God be all the Glory

 

Teddy is learning to crawl!And has been learning to crawl for the last 3 months! (But we all learn and grow at our own rates and paces!) In this picture he was only able to crawl backwards, but now he can pull himself along the floor and is really getting along great! He is also eating lots and lots of solids. 

Peas, carrots, squash, sweet potato, corn, banana, avocado, apple sauce,

rice, oatmeal, cream of wheat,

beef, chicken, pork, etc. He loves it all!

 Rebekah is learning to be a helper! She can remove and add clothing from/to the dryer, clean up small spills, "fetch items" like diapers or a blanket, take things to the garbage, clean up her toys/books, and also can set the table (with some help). Her newest chore is helping Daddy with the dishes! She loves doing that!

Here is a pleasant morning moment that I am happy to share with you all! Teddy is happy as can be in his exersaucer and Rebekah is reading him a story.
Praise God for times of peace, love, and joy in the home! 
It makes up for the whining, crying, sniffles, bad attitudes, potty accidents etc. that also happen to be a part of our lives ;) Which we also try to Praise God for!!



 Well, I hope you enjoyed my update. :-)
May we always be thankful and content in our home, not only in the good times, but also in the not-so-good.
For God is unchanging and faithful and good at all times.
<3 I pray this for your homes as well. <3

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

We had a recipe/meal plan idea exchange at a Mom's group that I go to and this was one of the recipes that I decided to try...a little reluctantly, I should add! However, it turned out really great so I thought I would share it.

• Cut up a whole bunch of veggies. I used 1 lg sweet potato, 1 medium white potato, 3 carrots, 1 onion, and 1 cup of diced green pepper (from my freezer stash). You could also use beets, squash, zucchini, etc. (Carrots I cut quite small)
• Toss with oil and cook on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet at 400 for 20-30 min. I found that the carrots took the longest to cook so it would be best to separate them from the others. I had 2 cookie sheets full of veggies.
• I mixed the veggies with 1 can of 4 cheese pasta sauce and put in the fridge for the next day (I have to cook in stages these days)
• Cook your lasagna noodles according to pkg directions.
• Mix 1 container of cottage cheese (I like the lasagna style) or ricotta, 1 egg, and a bunch of cheese.
• Layer in a 9x13 pan: Cooked noodles, Cheese mixture, Vegetable mixture, noodles, cheese, vegetables, noodles, vegetable
• Cook in the oven at 350 for 30-40 min. Then top with some more cheese and bake another 10 or so minutes.

I was really surprised at how much I liked it considering that there is no meat, and veggies that I would have formerly thought very strange to be in a lasagna!

Welcome Theodore Arthur to the world!

Well our beautiful baby boy finally decided to make an appearance into this world on Saturday July 30th at 1:46 pm during a thunder and lightning storm!

4 Days overdue!

 Theodore Arthur

8 lbs 6 oz

20 in. long

It's a boy!

We're all very happy!

 

Chubby little newborn cheeks!

40 Weeks and 2 Days!

So I've made it to the overdue club! But I'm trying to wait patiently for my new little baby!

Yesterday I thought that Rebekah and I could try to Dance the baby out. So we put on the soundtrack from "The Sting" (Scott Joplin Rag tunes) and bounced around....maybe we'll try again??

She always makes this silly face when she sees the camera!

 

40 Weeks 2 days!

3 weeks Left!

Just about 3 weeks left until my due date! We've been really enjoying our summer. The weather has been perfect - for me! Nice and cool. We've had a few hot days in July, but so far things have been very comfortable. I am so thankful! It is nice to see the sun every now and then, though :-)

Here is our pumpkin on her little swing.

Back Again! :S

I am so bad at being consistent with my blog writing! But I'll make another attempt at posting. We've had a pretty busy but exciting month! I wanted to add more pictures, but my camera is not cooperating! I did manage to get a few added though :-)

We had this little boy and his parents over a few weekends ago.

This picture is probably the best one that we got of them because they are both so busy! 

They just move and talk non-stop! 

But they had so much fun playing with each other. 

And we had so much fun watching them play!

 

And this little one is still growing! This was taken at our 20 week ultrasound.

I'm now at 33 and a half weeks! So just under 7 weeks left. 

I'm feeling really well, Dr. appointments have all been good, there is a lot to be thankful for.

And this is a fruit tart that I made a few days ago! yumm.