But first, I want to let you all know that things in this household have settled down considerably, and we are not quite so sleep-deprived as before. ;-) On Tuesday night (after a much-needed heart-to-heart with a good friend and mentor of mine who is also an incredible mom) I determined that I was going to be in charge of the day’s schedule from now on and that Danny would NOT be. After all, he is the kiddo and I am the mom and he does not run this house! (Although it seemed like it was going to be that way for a while.) Anyway, we truly put "Babywise" into practice and now all three of us are much happier and more rested. It’s been a GREAT second half of the week, and Danny has settled into his schedule quite nicely.
This little guy continues to just blow my mind with how incredibly I love him! In fact, I was thinking… How is it possible I could come to love someone SO much!?! I mean, I truly love Alejandro that deeply and completely… but we’ve had over 7 years, since meeting each other for that to develop and grow. My love for Danilo is that deep and wide, but it’s only been one month! That is mind-blowing for me.
I asked Alejandro the other day, on a much-needed date (yes, just the two of us because Mom babysat) what his favorite part of being a Dad was. He had trouble putting it into words, but he said, “I guess just looking at him! Knowing he came from me and you and our intense love for each other and how I just love him more than I can possibly imagine! …Oh, and the diapers!” he added sarcastically, “I mean, that part is just the best!”
But anyway… back to the subject of His Perfect Timing. Most of you know I have a Mary Kay business. Some of you may wonder what would possess me to take part in a business that involves pseudo-cheerleader-type activities in which I join a group of women who seem WAY too excited about selling lipstick. And WHY would I want to sell lipstick anyway?!? Well, hopefully those of you who have taken part in my business have caught a glimpse of the fact that it’s much more than skin care and lipstick… and that it’s really about building up women, pouring into their lives and valuing them. Some of my VERY BEST friends have come out of my business and I am eternally thankful for them.
One of the things I appreciate most about my Mary Kay girlfriends is that we challenge each other to live BIG and to pursue God through the activity of our lives. We often set goals for ourselves and then hold each other accountable to those goals and many times we cast a vision for what we’d like our lives to be like… not just our business. Prayer is a big part of the process. So last year, at the beginning of July (which is the beginning of our “Mary Kay year”) I made a goal poster. I put many things on this goal poster. But one of the things I put was a picture of a pair of booties:
Alejandro and I weren’t even thinking about starting a family yet. In fact, we were most definitely “not ready.” But I really wanted to be intentional about taking steps to get ready (financially, spiritually, relationally, etc.) to feel that we could start a family at any time.
Since we got married, we both said that we wanted to start having kids after about five years. It’s that question that everyone starts asking as soon as you’ve tied the knot. “So, when do you think you’ll have kids?” people ask. “Around 5 years of marriage,” was our answer. But when our 5th year wedding anniversary started to get close, we both thought, “Nope, we’re still not ready!”
And then God intervened.
In September, we had a “scare.” All you couples out there know what I’m talking about. You know… the “oh-my-gosh-I-think-I-might-be-pregnant” SCARE. Where both of your lives and senses of reality are totally suspended in utter panic for the duration of about a week until you find out that you’re really NOT pregnant. Yeah. That kind of a scare. But an interesting thing happened during that week for me. At the beginning of it I was definitely panicked. I mean, I have always been totally excited about having kids, but I just didn’t feel ready then. But by the end of the week, when I found out I wasn’t pregnant, I was absolutely heartbroken. In that week, God planted in me a desire for children and He was preparing me for His Perfect Timing.
Then October 18th rolled around – our 5 year anniversary – and Alejandro and I took off for a wonderful weekend at a bed and breakfast to spend together. It was truly a memorable weekend! We biked, hiked, ate yummy food, hot-tubbed, slept late… It was FABULOUS!
A week or so later, we started to suspect another SCARE. But after the roller-coaster of emotions we had experienced the previous month, and because we had still been preventing, we both mentally said, “Nope, I’m not going down that emotional road again. It’s surely nothing.” However, a few days later, we were starting to wonder if maybe it wasn’t nothing, and I remember driving home talking to God about it. He whispered to me, “Renee, if you are pregnant now, you will know that this is My Perfect Timing for you, because you didn’t make the decision to try. You’ll know it’s Perfect Timing because it’s MY choice for you. You’ll never doubt if you heard me wrong or if you tried too early and were financially irresponsible. You’ll know this is MY desire for your life Right Now.”
Well, praise God, we were wrong. It wasn’t nothing. It was definitely SOMETHING. And we were EXCITED! (Ok, so after 24 hours we were excited… It did take a little bit of time to sink in!) I’m pretty darn sure Danilo was conceived one day after our 5th year wedding anniversary!
And wouldn’t you know it, Danilo was born on June 30. That date might not seem significant to many of you. But my Mary Kay girlfriends right now are smiling from ear to ear, because June 30 is the LAST DAY of the Mary Kay year. It’s when all the contests are ending. It’s when all of the goals that were set the previous July are finished. Women promote themselves to be directors. Diamonds and trips are won. Pink Cadillacs are earned. Dreams come true. That day, my dream came true too – the dream I’d put on my goal poster the year before. I guess God knows what he’s doin’ after all, huh.
A week or so later, we started to suspect another SCARE. But after the roller-coaster of emotions we had experienced the previous month, and because we had still been preventing, we both mentally said, “Nope, I’m not going down that emotional road again. It’s surely nothing.” However, a few days later, we were starting to wonder if maybe it wasn’t nothing, and I remember driving home talking to God about it. He whispered to me, “Renee, if you are pregnant now, you will know that this is My Perfect Timing for you, because you didn’t make the decision to try. You’ll know it’s Perfect Timing because it’s MY choice for you. You’ll never doubt if you heard me wrong or if you tried too early and were financially irresponsible. You’ll know this is MY desire for your life Right Now.”
Well, praise God, we were wrong. It wasn’t nothing. It was definitely SOMETHING. And we were EXCITED! (Ok, so after 24 hours we were excited… It did take a little bit of time to sink in!) I’m pretty darn sure Danilo was conceived one day after our 5th year wedding anniversary!
And wouldn’t you know it, Danilo was born on June 30. That date might not seem significant to many of you. But my Mary Kay girlfriends right now are smiling from ear to ear, because June 30 is the LAST DAY of the Mary Kay year. It’s when all the contests are ending. It’s when all of the goals that were set the previous July are finished. Women promote themselves to be directors. Diamonds and trips are won. Pink Cadillacs are earned. Dreams come true. That day, my dream came true too – the dream I’d put on my goal poster the year before. I guess God knows what he’s doin’ after all, huh.
One more thing…
I DO have another dream that I’d like to share with all of you. This may be one of the scariest things I’ve ever shared with so many people… My dream is to promote myself to be a Mary Kay director – this is a position in which I get the privilege of training and mentoring a group of women to help them achieve what they want from their business. My passion is sharing the Lord and His desire that we live BIG for Him. I LOVE doing this through Mary Kay and being a director would give me a huge platform from which to do this. So here’s the scary part: I’m committed to working toward achieving this goal by March of 2010. I’m sharing this with all of you because when I make it public… well, then I really have to stick to it! So feel free to hold me accountable! Ask me how it’s going and how close I am!
I DO have another dream that I’d like to share with all of you. This may be one of the scariest things I’ve ever shared with so many people… My dream is to promote myself to be a Mary Kay director – this is a position in which I get the privilege of training and mentoring a group of women to help them achieve what they want from their business. My passion is sharing the Lord and His desire that we live BIG for Him. I LOVE doing this through Mary Kay and being a director would give me a huge platform from which to do this. So here’s the scary part: I’m committed to working toward achieving this goal by March of 2010. I’m sharing this with all of you because when I make it public… well, then I really have to stick to it! So feel free to hold me accountable! Ask me how it’s going and how close I am!