The Irwin Family: 2012

I’m way too long-winded for the “30 days of thanks” trend on Facebook. If I opened that can of worms I’d be blowing up your newsfeed with novels and you’d all unfriend me. So here’s my alternative – I long-windedly poured my “30 Thanks”, or 30 things I’m beyond thankful for, onto this blog. That way only those who really care about reading it will have to. Even if no one has the time for my ramblings, it was good for my soul to contemplate these.

1. I’m thankful for a God who pursues my heart when my heart is deceitful and doesn’t pursue back.

2. I’m thankful for having everything we truly need.

3. I’m thankful for NOT having everything we want. If I had every little thing I desired, I might just start believing that the world revolved around me, and that’s a dangerous place to be.

4. I’m thankful for 3+ fantastic years of marriage, and the promise of many, many more (Lord willing)!

5. I’m thankful for the love and support of a husband who consistently serves and pursues me – even when I’m cranky, when he’s right and I’m wrong, when I’m all out of energy to serve him back, when I (wrongly) put him behind everything else – I am SO blessed by him.

6. I’m thankful for our chubby, cuddly, healthy, beautiful son and a healthy, happy birth.

7. I’m thankful for the small moments that make me pause my spinning my wheels and stop to cherish motherhood right where it’s at right now:

~ A little fuzzy head nestled into my neck at 3 am because he woke in need of

cuddling

~ The new things he learns daily (right now I particularly love how he crawls

around the house exploring while loudly yelling “Blah Blah Blah!”)

~ The way he reaches up and pats my face while looking in my eyes as I’m rocking

him to sleep, just before he sighs, settles down into my arms, and drifts off

~ The way he lifted his hands and kicked along with the music in worship at

church this morning - it stirs my heart to pray for his

8. I’m thankful for a husband who I catch bent over the baby monitor as we get ready for bed, praying for our son.

9. I’m thankful for the freedom of knowing that I don’t have the capacity within me to be the perfect mom or a godly wife of my own strength - I need strength and wisdom daily from the Lord to fulfill those roles well.

10. I’m also thankful that as soon as I start to think I’ve got it all together, something breaks down and I’m immediately humbled and reminded of #9.

11. I’m thankful for our families – all 21 of our immediate relatives – and how they love and encourage us constantly. Also thankful that we truly ENJOY our family!

12. I’m thankful for our friends that might as well be family who walk so closely with us and love our son as their own.

13. I'm thankful for our homegroup and the friends within it who encourage us, pray for us, and gently call us out when our priorities get a little out of whack.

14. I’m thankful for our vibrant, growing church and the sense of home it’s given us for the past 7 years.

15. I’m thankful for our beautiful little charming home full of love, memories, music, laughter, and things we’ve made with our own hands.

16. I’m thankful for our jobs and all that they entail – income, security, a creative outlet, a place to love on others, and flexibility for our little family.

17. I’m thankful for my friend Denise who selflessly keeps Micah so I can work part-time. I’m also thankful that I know he’s loved on at her house.

18. I’m thankful for the opportunity to be a (mostly) stay-at-home-mom (and still work a little). While mothering is work, spending the day with my little man is an incredible privilege!

19. I'm thankful for my mom, who has spent lots of time with me the past 7.5 months, teaching me how to be a mom.

20. I’m thankful for the few months this past year that Jeremy’s brother, Joel, lived with us. What a fabulous season of getting to know him better, encouraging him (and in turn, he encouraged us), and being reminded that God has blessed us with our house to be generous with it.

21. Speaking of #20, I'm thankful for the joy Joel has spoken into my life when hard things happened this year. What an incredible bond I've formed with him!

22. Ok, I'm thankful for Joel a lot. I'm thankful for how much he LOVES Micah, goes out of his way to spend time with him, and will be an incredible, godly Uncle Joel for Micah to look up to as he grows.

23. I’m thankful for French-press coffee during naptime. It’s a soul-rejuvenator.

24. While I'm on cozy-hands-around-a-warm-mug soul-rejuvenators, I'm also thankful for Earl Grey tea with raw milk, Chai tea lattes, and the occasional Starbucks splurge.

25. I’m thankful for a local group of friends who support our pursuit of a healthy lifestyle.

26. I’m thankful for our overall health, and pray that we don’t take it for granted as something God “owes” us, but as a blessing.

27. I’m thankful that my parents raised me in a way that I want to emulate, not escape, as I raise my own son.

28. I’m thankful for the assurance that God is sovereign and in charge of EVERYTHING, even the administration that governs this nation.

29. I'm thankful for the freedom we enjoy in this nation and those who fight to preserve it.

30. I’m thankful for dark chocolate. Good one, God. That was an inspired creation.

Now that I'm finally getting around to it, here are some pictures of Micah's room:

My sister made this adorable banner for the baby shower

I couldn't find any baby bedding that I just loved, so I made the bed skirt, quilt, and changing pad cover. It made for a great distraction over Christmas break :)

My incredibly talented friend Jen painted this mural on the wall above the crib. It's my favorite part of the room!

Jeremy made these built-in floating shelves for books. We stood in front of the bolts at Home Depot debating what length to buy to install them, and finally chose the longest ones - because it's not if Micah tries to climb them, it's when. One day I'll finally fill the empty frames with his newborn photos.