Resolute to be Resolute~

* Resolute-admirably purposeful, determined, and unwavering.

* "For my determined purpose is that I may know Him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His person more strongly and more clearly..." Philippians 3:10a Amplified

I am not a big New Year's resolution kinda gal. There is no real deep or profound reason why, I just don't usually get into that whole shin-dig. I guess it feels like there are always a hundred things swirling in my mind that I need to do better, or different, or not at all. Maybe it's because I can allow myself to get swallowed up in all the things I'm not to the point of discouragement and the thought of formally sitting down and thinking and penning such things down stresses me out. In order for their to be significant change in my life, on any subject matter, I admit I am desperate for The writing on the wall, if that makes sense. I admit that the only One who can bring about lasting change in the order of my thoughts and habits is Jesus. He is the only One who moves me so, who speaks tenderly enough yet mightily enough to reach into my wounded soul and breathe life and renewal. Of course there are many people who inspire me... Dr. Piper, Dr. Moore, Beth Moore, my sweet husband, but there is only one whose voice reaches my inner man. So while those hundreds of things-being a better wife, mom, friend, steward, cook :) etc... swirl and clamor for my attention, I understand that ultimately I need His voice and resurrection power to transform even the smallest of attributes. So I am resolute to be resolute in "perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His person..." I love that, "the wonders of His person" oh the wonders. I am convinced that the more I see Him, the more I will be transformed into the likeness of His image and that is what I am truly desperate for. I am desperate for Jesus and everything about Him because He doesn't stress me out with a list of changes to be made or habits to break. Instead, ever so sweetly He invites me to holiness and into the place of His transforming power where I am truly molded into all those things I am desperate to be. 

* "...that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection, which it exerts over believers, and that I may so share His sufferings as to be transformed in Spirit into His likeness even to His death" Philippians 3:10b

* "I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shall stop boring into myself to discover what psychological or social categories I might belong to. Mostly I shall forget about myself and do my work." Dr. Clyde Kilby

This is an excerpt from an article on John Piper's Desiring God website. When I read this this morning it almost made me cry. The whole article is beautiful and I hope you can read it. It definitely gives a sweet and poetic perspective on the important things in life.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Years With A Good Friend

As a married couple we have never done very much for New Years. Usually we are snuggled warmly in our beds, fast asleep as everyone else is cheering the new year in with their party hats and plastic horns. But we have decided that it is time for us to take one more step into the adult family world and start making our own family traditions. So my plan was to make two big meals, one on New Years Eve and another on New Years day. This is a very scary thing because I can't really cook :) But Clint grew up in a family where food is a big tradition on holidays and I want to continue that for him and for our family. So this year I decided to conquer my fear of the culinary world and tackle the holiday meal. Thankfully our dear friend Daniel saved me from the big New Year's Eve meal, I think two might have been a little more than I could handle the first time around. 

Daniel has been a great friend to us in more ways than just saving me from a scary cooking endeavor. He is actually the one who persuaded us to visit Southern last year at the October Preview conference. He helped us get signed up, and actually drove us around the entire weekend to show us the city and check out potential places to live. Since then he has consistently gone above and beyond to help us get situated here in Louisville and actually helped Clint unload our entire apartment. He is a great friend to Clint and is always encouraging Clint in so many ways. He has also been a great encouragement to me and Aslan absolutely loves Daniel. After we found out we were expecting again, Daniel watched Aslan for us so we could have a celebratory date. So when Daniel told us he was moving to a new apartment and would need some help, Clint jumped at the opportunity to help him. So new Year's Eve they spent the afternoon moving. Afterwards, Daniel's dad took us all out to Cracker Barrel for dinner. Then we rung in the New Year at our apartment with Daniel and his little sister Kim drinking Starbucks and chatting it up.  Thank you Daniel for all you do for our family.

Then, New Year's Day it was time for my first cooking extravaganza! And to be totally honest-I had so much fun making all that food... half of which wasn't that great but nonetheless it was still fun. This is me showing of our Turkey. The first turkey I have ever made. And it was real, a real, bloody, raw Turkey breast that came from a once living Turkey. What a triumph!

This is a close up and it looks pretty disgusting. It looks like a fish or a big hippopotamus mouth. Gross yes, but! I cooked it! WHOO-HOO!

This is our spread on the table with my sad little dishes and poor man's salt and pepper shaker. We invited Daniel over and sat down to enjoy my home-cooked feast.

Daniel and Aslan watching a movie.
Clint... not really sure. Possibly his face after the Gator's lost their bowl game. Tragic.

So we had a great time eating my big holiday meal and enjoying the company of a good friend. 

The Nadeau Family Menu:

Bacon and Herb Roasted Turkey Breast

Pork Stuffing

Cornbread Stuffing

Green Bean Casserole

Mashed Potatoes

Shoe-peg Corn in butter sauce

Spicy Black-eyed Peas

Turkey Gravy

Yeast Rolls

Homemade Banana Pudding

The turkey was amazing! It was tender and juicy and had a great flavor. My cornbread stuffing... maybe not so much amazing, but good. But all of it was edible and not burned! And that is a major victory in my book.

Happy New Year and we love you all!

"O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree..."

"How lovely are thy branches!"  I love Christmas and I love Christmas trees. Ours was so pretty in our little apartment this year.  Clint and I stayed up one night after we put Aslan to bed and put it up. We were so excited to see his response the next morning. So we turned out all the lights except for the Christmas tree and walked in the living room... and he was mesmerized. Finally, after staring at it for a while he said in awe, " WOW."  He makes everything so much more exciting. And he was so good, he learned very quickly that it was off limits to his little fingers. However, he had a harder time with the presents. We are so poor and can't afford to buy a lot of stuff, so I got these two little trains at Target for a dollar and put them each in a little bag with tissue paper. That way at least there was something under the tree for him... however the bag with tissue paper was torturous for him. And several times he was overcome by curiosity and had to open them.  Thank goodness the memory of a 21 month old is very short. :)

Our pretty Christmas tree.

A few days after Aslan and I got home from my mom's we all packed up and went to my dad's for Christmas. Aslan really loved their tree as well, this is the one in their main living room. My dad is a big kid at heart and up in his office he has his very own tree with his very own ornaments. Just a few examples of his ornaments: Harley Davidson motorcycles, cars, tool boxes, sports things and of course numerous Elvis ornaments. I wish I had a picture of that tree. His office is also filled with boy toys like toy plains, cars and all kinds of stuff. He is a stellar mechanic and loves motorcycles and trains and tractors and guns and all things fast and dangerous. So needless to say his office is a boy's paradise and they had a lot of fun playing with all that.

I mentioned before that my dad is a big kid at heart (which you would never know at first meeting him because he is super quiet and reserved :)) but this is yet another example of him being fun. The santa hat he is wearing moves, the top part would move from one side to the other, very cute. Before we opened presents Christmas morning, Clint read the Christmas story. Then we all had fun watching Aslan opening all his things. I was so proud of him, he had such fun opening his gifts and then would give kisses of thanks to his Nana and Gramps. He also helped everybody else open their gifts, sweet.
He and Nana had a good time together. They played non-stop the entire time we were there. Here he is also sporting his new Christmas pj's he opened Christmas Eve. He had a very hard time understanding that we had to wait until Christmas day to open everything. So every day leading up to the 25th, he would wake up and run to the tree and pick up a package and sign 'please' (he refuses to actually say "please" so he signs it by rubbing his tummy-which is extremely cute and very hard to resist). Then he would get embarrassed when we would say no and he would start to cry. So Nana gave in on Christmas Eve and gave him just one to open (the pj's he is wearing) and he was completely satisfied. Heartbreaker.
He looks so serious :) He really had fun, but he was a little tired by the time we got started. 
We had fun and enjoyed the time with our family. We also went home to Belle Aire the sunday morning before Christmas. It was so beautiful. It has always been a beautiful church and they are always very festive in their decor. But this year it was exceptional, maybe because I miss that church so much... but mostly because it really was beautiful. 

As soon as I sat down long enough to take it all in, I started crying and didn't stop until the service was over. They had this huge, beautiful tree in the front with gold ornaments and this gorgeous teal shimmery ribbon flowing all the way down. On the back wall there were two huge wreathes with matching teal ribbon. The choir was full and sounded amazing and they had these gorgeous cream robes that almost looked shimmery gold with matching teal collars!  It was breathtaking! And the orchestra was on stage and the music was incredible. My heart just soared at the beauty and comfort of being home and the emphasis placed on our sweet Savior. 

Our pastor, who is a very quiet and reserved man, was so visibly excited too. When he took his place behind the pulpit he raved about the music and acknowledged the music minister for his heart to worship the Lord with such obvious passion,  the whole church stood clapping with pleasure. Then he went on to preach an exciting and passionate and very evangelistic Christmas message. The service ended with the congregation standing as the choir sang "The Hallelujah Chorus" and by that time I had cried every bit of make-up off my face. 

I love Belle Aire and I love our family there. We were there for over an hour after the service ended talking and being loved on by our church family. It was a little hard to leave. However, our empty stomaches and the excitement of an afternoon date compelled us to finally say good-bye. Also, our pastor made plans to have lunch with Clint on Wednesday, which made the entire trip for him.  Being there was a perfect beginning to our Christmas festivities and Clint's lunch with our pastor was the perfect ending. They had met together for months before we moved and formed a sweet mentor/friendship. It meant the world to Clint for him to show such affection for him and his encouragement sent us back to Louisville with a renewed sense of purpose and courage. Our move to Louisville has not been an easy transition and has left us feeling a bit discouraged at times. So Brother Dean's encouraging words to Clint were transforming. What a great time. Praises to the Lord for His thoughtfulness and compassion towards our family. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

Christmas at Granny's

My mom was so excited to have us and of course she totally got lost on the toy isle and bought Aslan a ton of toys. Here they are playing together~sweet.

This is going to be a fun Christmas because it's the first time Aslan understands how to open a present. He loved opening the packages more than the toys I think :)

Sorry this is not the right way, but Clint is working and I have no idea how to fix it :) But it was 73 degrees when we arrived in Florida so we had fun outside enjoying the weather~it was beautiful!
This is my boy being absolutely adorable and playing peek-a-boo with my mom. So cute!

A Series of Random Thoughts

1. Good To Be Home

    Aslan and I arrived safe and sound to our humble little apartment last night. And no matter how much this may not be my most favorite apartment, it's ours~ with our Christmas tree, our two little gifts, and all of our other things that make it our home. I walked in to the smell of cinnamon mixed with beef stew cooking on the stove. I have a very thoughtful husband who is also a great cook, he made sure the house looked perfect for us and was smelling good and homey. You have no idea how grateful and blessed I feel to be his wife. We had a nice time and we actually had to borrow a large suitcase from my mom just to pack all the toys she bought him. But, it's a great feeling to come home after a week of being gone and curl up on my own couch with my sweet husband, and then nestle into my own bed with my own pillows. I love being home. I love the comfort of my family. I love the fact that the Lord has blessed us so richly.

2. Christmas: A Divine Babe or A Fat Man... and Can You Do Both?

    I just read a very humorous and very real blog entry by my dear friend Shai on the place of Santa in their home. When we had Aslan, Clint and I went through the same holiday questions. It seems as though we have a culture bent on counterfeiting anything having to do with the celebration of Christ. But since the beginning of time, our arch enemy has been desperately trying to surpass the supremacy of Christ in all things. So I don't suppose the most precious Christian holidays would be exempt. So we decided as a family, not to decide whether santa and the easter bunny are evil creatures trying to steal our souls, but to ask ourselves~how can Jesus receive the most glory through our observance of His most miraculous works. We have currently come to the conclusion that we won't ignore santa~but on the advice of my aunt~ we would instead talk about St. Nick in his place. The legend of St. Nick was that he was a devout Bishop devoted to Christianity, who was persecuted for his faith and endeavored to help save others being persecuted, speculated to be present at the Council of Nacaea, and was named the 'secret gift giver'. The story goes that he would toss bags of money or gold in needy peoples windows that would be found in socks hanging to dry by the fire (hence the hanging of stockings). But even as noble as that story is, it is and should always be entirely secondary to the beauty of The Ultimate Gift of God in Christ Jesus. This should be the most precious of times for us as believers as we humbly remember our majestic, mighty God~ who was born in a stable among animals and poor people so that we might see the glory of God through His redemptive power on His future cross. But I think that is a fight among our world today because we have all grown up with the commercial glitz that culture has to offer. So as we begin our families, and ask ourselves how we will teach our children to pursue the Glory of God in all things, while experiencing all the joy and cheer that God intended His Son to bring ~ we are right to put santa in his rightful place. He belongs in the very back ground of our festivities, a side note, a funny fictional thing that belongs on cartoons with snowmen and glowing reindeer. And we are compelled to allow Jesus to take His rightful place as the central King of Glory reigning victoriously and joyfully over all our celebrations. That is a joyful thing, full of peace and happiness and ultimate fulfillment that will last through all eternity.

3. My Sweet Babies

Aslan has come down with a yucky little cold that he caught from me :( But he has been so precious and has just wanted to cuddle and sleep with me and on me. And while I absolutely hate when he is sick, I love to just cuddle and hold my baby.

Abraham is a little live wire... hahaha imagine that. He moves around so much and he packs a serious punch. Already, he can totally surprise me with an unexpected kick. He is certainly growing!

Love you all!

Off To Florida!

Today Aslan and I are leaving to go to Nashville to spend the night with my parents. I know Martha and Aslan will have a grand time playing tonight. Then early tomorrow morning we will be flying to Jacksonville Fl!! I am so excited to just be in my home city I can hardly stand it. I love Florida. I am also looking forward to seeing the best friend I've ever had (besides Jesus and my husband of course) Karen Spain Roy! She has been through so much with me and has remained very near and dear to my heart. Then we are driving to Screven, Ga which is where my mom and Granny Lord live. This happens to be the smallest town I've ever seen, with only one red light and a post office. It's the first time I've spent any time there in a very long time. I'm praying that we will have a wonderful time visiting and... learning to knit! That may indeed be the high light of the trip for me ;) Not really but I am looking forward to it and am very hopeful that it will be a great trip. Pictures soon to follow... 

Merry Christmas!

Introducing Abraham Nadeau!

We could not be more excited that we are expecting another little boy! 

The profile pictures are my favorite.
His precious little feet! I can't wait to kiss all over those little hands and feet!
Praises to the Lord for this beautiful, healthy baby boy! Can't wait to get my hands on him!