Living With Purpose

It's been a busy beginning of December for us here in the Hodge house. Unfortunately busy doesn't always mean that a lot has been accomplished, but at least our days have been full! Daddy has been working 50 hour weeks, so we don't see him a lot. When he gets home he usually starts prepping for either Sunday or Wednesday. He's been working so much that I have to keep him moving if I don't want him to fall asleep. He's my hard-working man! Sonya Joy is growing! She's got to be about 9lbs now! We went to the cardiologist about a month ago, and they said that although she still has a little bit of an abnormal heart beat, it sounds like she's growing out of it. They're going to see her again in February, but I was told not to worry to much. Her smiles are becoming more and more frequent! And, oh, it's a cute one!  She's still has a little bit of tummy problems, but she is learning to have a better attitude about it! She's almost three mo...

I've tried a couple different recipes this last week, but several of them have fallen flat on their faces. Yucky. But we won't talk about overly salty pork chops or stuffing that had the consistency of... something very yucky... Haha! You'll never try anything new if you can't laugh at yourself! The one new recipe I tried that I didn't think was awful was my Turkey Deviled Eggs. I made them for our church Thanksgiving meal and they turned out to be quite a hit - mostly with the kids. If you're reading this and you're thinking, "Deviled Eggs? My four year old can make deviled eggs!" than I'm asking you to understand that I am not a world famous chef and don't aspire to be. I figure if I have to make something for everyone to eat, they might forgive the flavor if it's fun to look at! Fortunately these didn't taste too bad. Nothing special - eggs, mayo, mustard, salt, vinegar, and quite a bit of time. (Sonya was not very happy about ...

Sonya Joy turned 2 months old on the 20th! She has grown so much! She is now a heavy 8lbs 6oz, and is 21 inches in length. Her little eyes follow people when they enter the room, especially if it's Mommy, since she's the one who feeds her. She's not as fussy as she was when we first brought her home, but she certainly is opinionated! She makes the funniest faces, and I have decided that she must take after her Auntie Kristen, the only person I know who can get away with making funny faces in serious situations - like passport photos... If so, we're going to have our hands full! She's already sleeping through the night! Going down at around 9:30, she will usually sleep until at least 4:00, sometimes later. This makes us very happy parents - especially Daddy who usually has to get up between 3am to 4am. Our little girl is still wearing newborn clothes, but will probably grow out of them by next week. It makes me a little sad that she's growing so fast, but a...

I saw this picture on Facebook the other day. I do NOT celebrate Halloween, but I do love pumpkins! Not eating them - Just looking at them! Here in Pennsylvania they put up pumpkin stands all along the roads. They are so pretty and ornate! It also adds to the feel of Fall! My husband bought me one so we could use it for an object lesson in Sunday school. We really are like pumpkins! God Chose Me! I am not a mistake! God picked me for a reason! I have a purpose!  John 15:16 says, " Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." If I'll Ask He'll Clean Me! 1 John 1:9 says, " If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." He Cleans the Inside and the Outside! The inside is what is mo...

I'm listening to Christmas music while I write this! Cheating I know. For many, many years I held to the rule that Christmas music was to start after Thanksgiving. I remember how much I looked forward to getting the Thanksgiving dishes done so I could go curl up in bed with the light off and turn on the Christmas station! There really was something magical about it! Sometimes we've got to adjust with life though. I don't know if I'll be singing Silent Night anytime soon thanks to Sonya Joy, so my new tradition is to start listening to Christmas music when the holiday baking begins. (Won't the neighbors be surprised next year when they get a plate of Christmas cookies at Easter?)  The first treat of my holiday season is Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out because I found a recipe online, substituted regular flower with whole wheat (Gotta at least pretend to be healthy!), and doubled the recipe. Here i...

Baby Sonya, You have grown so much this first month! You've nearly doubled your birth weight already to the doctors delight! You've brought Mommy and Daddy such delight, although your entrance into this world did give us quite a fright! You are our little miracle, and all we can do is thank God for you! We were so excited when we saw your first sleepy smile, and we were even more excited to see that smile directed at us! You're only 6 1/2lbs, but you seem so big to me. Don't grow too fast, Little Flower!  You won't remember this, but today we read the Proverb of the day together and I picked this verse to pray for you. Proverbs 31:30 "Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth The Lord, she shall be praised." I've little doubt that you will be outwardly beautiful, but even a clown can dress up and wear makeup. I pray that you will have the favor of God on your life and that He will grant you favor with others, just as He did with ...

Mommy and Daddy were not even a little bit sad to say goodbye to the NICU last Thursday! After spending everyday there for two weeks, I was ready to go home and stay locked inside for at least a week. I never leave home! Even for our anniversary I could only stand to be gone one full day before I begged to be able to sleep in my own room! So, two weeks at the NICU, 45 minutes from home, feeding from 8 to 8, was the last thing I wanted to do long term! God was very graceous to us though! So many of the babies we saw there were on oxygen and feeding tubes. Some parents weren't able to come everyday, especially those who already had children at home to care for. Sonya was never on oxygen, her heart got stronger every day, and Matthew and I were able to spend the whole time with her. We have so much to be thankful for!  When Sonya left the hospital she was 4lbs 8oz. Even the doctors were surprised by her rapid growth, but she is a fighter, and she had a host of people praying for her!...

The last week has been exhausting, so although I've wanted to blog, I've put it off in order to find some rest in between feedings. However, I thought I should at least announce that 4 weeks before we had planned, we got to meet our beautiful daughter! Sonya Joy Hodge was born at 11:10 PM on September 20th. She weighed 3lbs 14oz and measured at 17 1/2 inches long. She was taken to the NICU very soon after birth, but the doctors said her lungs seemed fully developed. They did find a small hole in her heart that they're hoping she'll grow into, and they've been monitoring her little heart because of some small irregularities, which they also said could heal as she grows. She is beautiful and sweet, but she's got a healthy amount of fight in her. Matt and I have spend every day since her birth in the NICU. We are so thankful that the doctors caught the preeclampsia when they did! Already, we can not imagine our lives without her! Please pray that she will continue...

Several weeks ago people started asking me if I was ready for our little girl to make her appearance. I said, "Absolutely not! The room isn't painted yet!" It wasn't too long after we found out we were expecting a girl that I started to look on Craigslist for furniture that would go well in a baby room. I try to keep from impulsive and expensive buys by asking myself these two questions: Is it a good deal and do I absolutely love the item(s). Asking myself these two questions helped secure a $60.00 wicker furniture set, a $90 crib that transitions from a crib - to a toddler bed - to a twin sized bed, we found a 9 piece crib set for $75 that was both elegant but cute. However, none of this felt like an accomplishment because the room was still a dark forest green and brown! Matt teasingly kept reminding me that he had picked out these colors and that he was offended I didn't want to use them for our little girl. He sweetly took me shopping for paint though. I had...

I put off writing about little Sonya's baby shower because it was a little overwhelming to me! Don't get me wrong - it was wonderful - I just felt so humbled by all the sweet ladies who showed up and very literally showered us with gifts for our little girl! Mom Hodge did an absolutely beautiful job on the the decorations and the food! Of course, she was running on steroids, (due to some complications with MS) so she seemed to have an incredible amount of energy the days prior to the shower! Please keep her in your prayers! She went with a classy vintage/shaby chic theme. Everything was beautiful! I wish that I had taken pictures, but I stole some and will have to steal some more later! I'm not sure how many ladies we had in total, but it was enough to make it seem like quite the gathering! We had the ladies from Tabernacle Baptist, the ladies from our church, and the ladies from Fergies. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, which made it much easier for me to enjoy my...

This last week we had our first scheduled church revival in four years. The guests were none other than  Dr. and Mrs. Hodge. They were such a blessing to have near! Matt and I worked each day, so we didn't get to spend as much time with them as we would have liked. I guess we'll have to schedule a trip to West Virginia if we plan to get some quality Grandma and Grandpa time! The first message of the revival is what really stood out to me. Grandpa preached from Colossians 3:1-16. Many of these verses are very well known, but sometimes it's helpful to look at them from a different perspective. Colossians 3:2 says, "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." One would probably have a hard time finding a Christian who doesn't know this verse, but let's see if you viewed it the same way I did. What does the word set mean? In school I had to write sentences using certain words. Set - "I set the baby gently on the bed."...

Well, I've certainly taken a long enough break from writing! The last couple weeks have been fun - sometimes, but busy - all the time! We had our first VBS in our new building, and although we didn't fill the building quite to bursting this time, it was a great time with our kids and our visitors. I can't resist posting a couple pictures! We had so much fun! Our theme was building up We had a great group of people there to help! Pinterest inspired building snacks :) What a blessing our little church is! God has been very good to us! Matt and I celebrated our first anniversary together this month! We both worked on the 10th, so we took Thursday evening and all Friday just to enjoy being together. Thursday night we took Grandma and Grandpa Martin out for dinner. We owe them a HUGE thank you for fixing the air-conditioning in our car and room! We then spent the evening at their house and just enjoyed their sweet company. Matt and I pray that we will love ea...

While looking up ideas for baby rooms, I decided quickly that I wanted to put our little girl's name on the wall. There really are so many cute ways to do it too! I first looked to see how much it would cost me to have one made... It was not cheap... Even just to buy letters painted already was pretty pricy, so I started to look up ways to do it myself. I found my letters at Walmart for $1.55 a piece. I found the paint at Walmart as well for .55 cents a bottle! I knew I had to buy low so if I messed up I would be too upset. My last two Walmart purchases were a bottle of Elmer's wood craft glue and a $5.00 book of pretty scrap booking paper. All in all I spent about $25 and I knew I wasn't done spending yet either! I kept thinking, "Why didn't I just buy this online?" But it was too late to turn back! It was time to start painting! I had 8 letters and 4 paint colors. Not too bad!  My painting complete, I still had to find picture frames - ...