WEEK 1 WITH BABY ELIJAH

Wow...Where to begin?? This has been the most amazing, scary, exciting, confusing, and wonderful week of my life!!! August 1, 2012 Dathan and I welcomed our sweet baby boy into the world. He is more precious than we could have even imagined! Over this past week I have learned so much about myself, my husband, the Lord , and Eli. Before Elijah was born I knew Dathan would be a great father but now seeing him in action I am completely blown away. To see him love his son so much is the sweetest thing to be able to witness. I have seen him change LOTS of diaper without complaining or throwing up :), sing hymns to Eli, pray over Elijah, and kiss all over that little boy! Not only has he taken such amazing care of baby he has gone above and beyond for me. He has been so patient with my 3am freak outs, taking care of our home so I don't have to worry about anything, and constantly reassured me of how great I'm doing as a new mom. I love being married to Dathan and so blessed to raise a child with him. The Lord has just shown me more and more over this week how much he loves us and how dependent we really are on him. I look at Eli and how helpless he is without his parents. Without us he can't do anything and that reminds me of how we can't do anything with God. I was changing Eli's diaper and he was fussing away because it was cold and uncomfortable to him and I realized that we are so much life that! God is constantly taking care of our needs and we are constantly fussing because it's not comfortable to us! He knows what is best for us and loves us so much that even through our sinfulness He is willing to take care of us. I'm so glad even through small things like changing a diaper I am reminded of my Savior and His love for me! What an amazing week!!!
We have have loved that our family and friends have been so selfless and loved on us so well this week! We have had so many meals brought to us, phone calls and texts to check on us and baby, gifts brought to us, scripture sent to us, and lots of visits! Thank you everyone! You have shown us so much love! So let me get to what you really want...pictures!!! :)

I weigh 6lbs15oz!!

Holding daddy's finger minutes after I was born!

1st kisses from mommy! So in love!

Love to have my hands in my face!

Daddy in amazement!

The light I had to wear to help my jaundice go away!

My first sponge bath at home!

One of the many meals that mommy and daddy received!

The very proud grandparents!

We get to go HOME!!!

Daddy rocking me and singing to me!

One of my fav activities..nap time with Dad!

Grandpa bought me my 1st fishing pole!

LOVE

One of my newborn pics!

1st weeks worth of dirty diapers..eww!

1st outing with the parents!

1 week ago I was in mom's belly!

The Lord has blessed us with this precious gift and such a sweet first week with our little man!

Reflection

Tomorrow will make 2 months that we have been married! It has been such a sweet, sweet time with my husband, but even more of an amazing time with my Jesus. Marriage is so sanctifying and truly has shown me my Savior in a new way!!! I'm so in love with Dathan and with GOD! :) Our photographer Matt Wolfe put together this sweet slideshow of some wedding pics! Enjoy!

Dathan+Mandy Slideshow from R6L [matt wolfe] on Vimeo.

We're Married!!!

March 26, 2011...the most amazing day!!! The wedding was wonderful...I couldn't have asked for a more peaceful, beautiful day! The morning of the wedding I woke up and went for a drive. I really wanted to just get some alone time to just talking to God and enjoying my last morning as Mandy Sullivan! It was such sweet time with my King and really prepared my heart for such a huge day! I got ready with my bridesmaid and mom and then headed to the chapel! I was soooooo ready to see Dathan! When I walked in the chapel he had his back facing me...when I told him to turn around it was such a sweet moment! He just looked at me and started tearing up! :) We held each other and then spent a few minutes thanking our sweet Jesus for His grace, love, and amazing plans!!! The ceremony was so sweet and we both cried (tears of joy) the entire time! :)
We are so thankful for the support and love that everyone has shown us! It was the best day ever and we are still in amazement! :)
Here are a few pics..more to come...when it's not so late at night!!! I'll do a honeymoon post soon too!!!


It was fun hanging out with the guys...they were really relaxed and kept me laughing! :)

My BEAUTIFUL bridesmaids!!! LOVE THEM!

Here we go....

Better late than never...right??? I have had an amazing few months! I will try to give the short and sweet version! Dathan and I got engaged and we are getting MARRIED this month!! :) I'm so in love with Him and completely amazed at what the Lord has done in our relationship! I can't wait to be his wife!! The Lord prepared for me the most wonderful man. Not even in my wildest dreams would I have imagined I would be so abundantly blessed!

Speaking of being blessed.... I have been called to be a Children's Leader in the Mobile BSF Women's Evening class. AMAZING! Seriously! If you aren't familiar with BSF please go check out THIS website or get in touch with me! Trust me...you want to experience this! As a children's leader I am responsible for helping them learn more about God and His word. What a privilege!!! God allows me, a sinful woman, to help shepherd His children!!! Week after week I have been blown away by there sweet hearts and just seeing Jesus work in their lives. He is using them so much in my life and teaching me so much. I am so thankful for this opportunity to serve!

The wedding is in a few weeks so I will probably be super busy until then! I will be back when I can! :)

I'm back

I'm horrible at keeping up with this thing! I really love the idea of blogs and I REALLY enjoy reading others!!! I love to know what the Lord is doing in peoples' hearts and lives. So just to give a quick update on a few things that He has been doing in my life over the past few months....

He has brought me into a community group at Grace that I absolutely LOVE!!! It is such a sweet opportunity to spend time with the body and get to know them more intimately. I love how committed to prayer they are and how much I enjoy spending being a part of their lives.

Since January He has allowed me to be in the evening bible study with some amazing women. We got to go through the book of John and Hosea. I am so blessed to have been able to learn more about my maker through those pages! Also, the women challenged me weekly and held me accountable for my time with my Creator. The Lord used the study to show me more of His character and also more of my character(eeek)! haha I feel that He used those women to really show me what a women who seeks Jesus looks like! They came week after week to learn and grow more in Him. They didn't let the worries of the day keep them away from such a precious time that He allowed for us every Monday night.

A huge part of this season in my life has been my relationship with Dathan. The way the Lord has shown Himself through our relationship has been CRAZY! To see the Lord work in such mysterious and AMAZING ways is so humbling. He has completely transformed my heart and Dathan's heart and brought us together. I am so blessed to be in a relationship with this man. I give the Lord EVERY BIT of praise for this relationship. Without Him there is no way that we could have reconciled such a broken, unhealthy relationship. I love that the Lord is holding my hand every step of the way and making me rely on and trust Him.

Ummm I got to experience my first VBS ever! I didn't grow up in church so I had never attented a VBS in my life. It was soooo awesome! Games, songs, little hands, smiles, God's love, decorations, snacks, sweet children, funny adults...you name it...it was there! :) I had the honor of being a group leader..what an experience! I absolutely adored my group and enjoyed seeing the Lord teach them( and me) about Himself throughout the week. I'm excited for next year!

I haven't got to spend as much time with my bestie as I would like but the time that we do spend is priceless. It is cool to see where He has brought us both over the last year. We are both transitioning into "adult" life and headed on new journeys. She will be moving to Montgomery in December. I'm super excited for her but not really ready to see her go. I'm thankful for such a sweet friendship though, and I know the Lord will protect the friendship that He has set in place.

Sooo...I'm sure there are TONS of other things I could write about but I'm really hungry so I'm going to go eat and I will be back soon..I hope!

Jesus!

beautiful!

Singleness

singleness is a privilege!
By: Amanda McLendon
Sunday, March 7, 2010 at 3:11pm
I know right off, crazy title. Singleness is a privilege?! I must be crazy, right?! But at the moment, after God hitting me over the head, I think I can say that and honestly mean it. In our culture, no, it's not a privilege. The culture, which serves Satan incase you didn't know, wants us to believe that we need a person of the opposite sex to complete us. I mean there's the famous movie line, "You complete me." Well last time I read my Bible it told me not to be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be renewed by the transforming of my mind. (Romans 12:2) So let's throw the culture's beliefs and ideas out the window. As believers, that is NOT what we are called to follow. We are called to follow the Truth of God and if you're wondering where you find His truth, it's in that thing we call a Bible. For some, it's that book sitting by your bed you thumb through when you finally get to a point you think you need God or if your like me you study the heck out of it to teach others and forget sometimes it's there to speak to you. His truth is right there and that is what we should turn to every moment of every day to know what principles and truths should guide our thinking and the way we live.

Ok, so that rant is over, so what about singleness. What would make me say something as crazy as singleness is a privilege?! Because God's Word, the thing I just talk about being the truth that should guide our lives as believers, says so! 1 Corinthians 7 talks about singleness believe it or not. If you don't, check it out. It talks about how married men and women have divided attention. (Now please don't think I'm turning into a bitter person who is about to bash marriage. Marriage is clearly a beautiful thing God has instituted, but I'm simply seeing the beauty also found in singleness. Shoot, I hope to be married someday!) Ok, so back to 1 Corinthians 7. It also talks about how an unmarried man or woman is anxious about the things of the Lord and how to please the Lord. They can also have undivided attention for the Lord. So what's the privilege? God giving you the opportunity to be fully devoted to Him! Perhaps God has something he wants to accomplish in your life and He needs you to be single in that season for that to happen. Perhaps God is protecting you from a relationship disaster that could pull your attention from Him. Maybe God needs to teach you that ONLY HE can complete you, not some other person. Why do we try so hard to be completed by things that are created instead of the one who created everything?

God has purpose in EVERYTHING. I heard a guy speak this weekend on Acts 17 when Paul proclaims THE GOD to the people of Athens. THE God who created everything. Please take some time to read Acts 17:24-27. Just see how incredibly great and awesome our God is! In there it talks about how basically He determined all that would happen. And the beauty of it all is in v. 27. The purpose in everything He has determined would happen is that people would seek God and find Him. So if you are like me and you find yourself single, or maybe in some other situation or season in life that maybe you just honestly flat out don't like, see that God has purpose in it. Start with just seeking God. He has a purpose in it. You can trust Him. I mean, He created you and knows you better than you know yourself. Please know, these are the things I keep having to say over and over to myself.

So singleness, throw out what the world says about it and maybe even what people in your own Christian circles say. It truly is a privilege. God has purpose in it. You have the opportunity to give your undivided attention to God. Please don't think I'm saying this as someone who has it all together because I most definitely don't. But the more I fix my mind on what HIS truth says, the more He changes my heart and my attitude. And I give you full permission that if you run into me on a day that I'm buying into what the world says, remind me of His truth. :)