new friends and a cute dress...

ruby has been meeting a lot of new people since we moved to north carolina. we're so thankful to have her closer to so many people we love.

here's the girl with our friends keith and jessica richardson. they just got married at the end of may and they were so sweet to come over and love on the rubes for an hour or so. keith is about to take the north carolina board to officially become a practicing lawyer, and we're so excited for this new opportunity for our friend who works so hard.


and here she is screaming her head off for our friend nate. this happened all three times we handed her to him during his visit. i think he just caught her at a bad time, but i have to say that it made for a hilarious night. nate is about to take a trek back to his home state of california and of course we're sad to see him go... and obviously so is ruby. :)


and here's a new favorite of mine of ruby wearing a really cute outfit and a very big smile.


lastly, here is a picture of ruby meeting my friend janelle from college. as you can see, ruby found janelle's upper arm much more enjoyable than a boring pacifier. :) there is a video to get the full effect, but i'm having a hard time uploading it so that will come later.

kids' exhange & saturday farmer's market...

rockie and i ventured out early friday morning without the baybays and braved the madness at the twice annual nc kids exchange. we got there about 15 minutes before the doors opened and the line was already wrapped halfway around the building. i have never in my life seen so much stuff in one gigantic room. i was really impressed by what there was to find for quite a steal, and rockie and i made out like bandits.



that pile of clothes looks deceivingly small in this picture, but it really is a ton. i got all of this stuff for about $62.00. all of the clothes were $1.00 each! i definitely felt like a mom walking out with $62.00 spent and all of it for the rubes, but i was so thankful for God's provision by making so much available for such a low price. it was great to spend some time bargain shopping with rockie and sifting through our purchases in line making sure that we really needed everything we picked out. great way to spend a friday morning... and i think d felt like a real dad and uncle being at home for a few hours with both kiddies. :)

to continue a great weekend, daniel and i met our friend jessica at the local farmer's market this morning. it was super hot outside and the place was packed, but it was fun being out with ruby and supporting local farmers. i racked up on tomatoes, sweet potatoes, jalapenos, watermelon, basil, sweet corn, eggplant, and squash. my favorite part was coming home to shuck my corn on the back porch right before the afternoon rain started to pour and then standing by the kitchen sink watching the rain and eating raw sweet corn. i felt like a little farm girl. :)



this is a picture of the truck bed that i bought my corn out of. it really made me feel like i was back in the south!



and the finished product.

what's new...

a few new things in our life...



it turns out ruby is really cute (not so new), and she can drive. :)



ruby now lives much much closer to her mimi and gp... and she's loving it.



little jack kelly strickland came into the world. here he is with his good looking parents kelly and kristin. :)



ruby had her first two plane flights and did GREAT!



isaac and ruby are well on their way to cousin best friendship. :)



we've developed a new love for pacifiers and babies are our new favorite form of entertainment. :)



refreshing sunshine after summertime rain showers.

it's only been a little over a week, but we're already enjoying life in nc and all of the newness it brings.

cousies...

the meeting...



we're finally in raleigh, and luke, rockie, and isaac were able to meet sweet ruby madeline the day after we arrived. i can't wait to see how close these little best friend cousins are going to be! they look a lot different in size right now, but before long it'll be easy to tell just how close in age they are.

we love our family.

crisis...

i’m realizing that i don’t know exactly who i am. i’m not sure how many people know exactly who they are, but since college i’ve been at quite a loss when it comes to my identity. i guess i’m seeing that who i have been for most of my life has been wrapped around other people, clubs, activities, churches, and other things that i’ve been involved in or with. since graduating, marrying, moving, and mothering i feel more and more like i’m not sure what defines me. i want to be able to confidently say that i know who i am in Christ and that it's enough for me, but if i said that it wouldn’t be true. i don’t know who i am in Christ- there, that’s the truth. i don’t know my spiritual gifts. i don’t know my strengths in Him or who He’s been trying to make me through all that i’ve been through in my life. i love being a wife, a sister, a daughter, a best friend, a mom, but i don’t want any of those things to be all that i am. i want to know who i am. i want to not compare myself to other people and try to mirror little bits of myself to what i like in others. i don’t want to think that getting a new pair of glasses is going to give me a different image and make me seem more artsy, quirky, cool, or different. i don’t want to care about the clothes i have or wonder what kind of person or personality people assume i have when they see me. i think moving to california was the start of my identity crisis. i think starting over in such a big way like we did moving there can do that to just about anyone- at least that’s what i tell myself. going to a new place to work, being a new wife, starting a new church- it’s just overwhelming knowing that you’re giving a first impression to every single person you meet. knowing that each and every person you run into, work with, church with, talk to, is coming up with their own idea of who you are- especially if you’re not really sure yourself. i don’t think i’m the only person who feels this way. i mean, who doesn’t like to know what someone’s first impression of you was? it does something to us to find that out. i think, in most cases, it changes, at least on some level, how we think of ourselves. i’ve become a pretty firm believer that no one knows you better than someone else. supposedly we’re supposed to know ourselves the best, but i think since being married i’ve really realized that daniel probably knows me a lot better than i know myself. sure, there are things from my past that we haven’t been married long enough for me to have told him yet (stories, quirks, likes, dislikes, etcetera), but as far as who i really am and the things i think about myself as opposed to what’s really true, well, i think he probably knows those better than i do. anyone can say they are who they want to be, but how we operate tells the real story… there’s just no denying that.
so i say all of that to say that i’m trying to figure it out… who i am that is. and i’m trying to motivate myself out of laziness and lack of self discipline to spend more time with the Lord and work harder to find my identity in Him and who He’s created me to be… i just don’t want to waste that. i don’t want to live thinking i’m purposed to be a certain way and miss out on the truth. i just want to be as useful as i can for Him, and confident, so that i can pass that on to my sweet baby girl and the people around me.
so God, please help me. reveal to me through my time with you, your word, and my interaction with others who i am to be in you. what gifts you’ve given me uniquely. the ways i can serve you that others can’t. help me to be useful for you. burden my heart with what is heavy on yours and don’t allow me to go through a day without pricking my heart in some way to seek you on someone’s behalf. literally make my life a vessel that contains your spirit, your mercy, your forgiveness and grace, your patience and passion, and most importantly your love. don’t stop until you’ve got it right. i know it’s a process, but i’m willing and i believe you are too.

Philippains 1:6

and i am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

to be sure you know...

as most of you who regularly read our blog or keep in touch with us already know, in less than two weeks this part of the mehaffie clan will be heading back to the east coast. i really don't think it's fully hit us yet just HOW soon that is, and i say that because the majority of what we own is not yet packed. i guess on the other hand we are pretty prepared as we already have plan tickets, a rental truck, and a place to say once we get to nc lined up... so we're getting there. it truly is surreal to think about where we've been and where we're going. daniel and i look at one another very often in disbelief of all the change we've experienced in the last few years we've had together. our little baby is the sweetest thing, and we're so thankful for her, but we really can't believe it.

ruby is teaching us a lot already. i've heard so many times that you'll never realized how selfish you are until you get married and then again once you have a baby... i'm finding this to be true. there's nothing else to say but that ruby needs us. she can't survive with out us... well without us or at least someone who will take care of her little self. we're sustaining her life. if she cries she needs something, and we have to figure out what it is and give it to her or there will be a deficit in her that's unfulfilled. she has to eat, she has to be changed and bathed, she has to sleep and be warm.. and we have the means to give her all of this. it's pretty amazing, but it's also tiring. she needs so much, and we still want a lot ourselves that, quite honestly, has to get pushed aside sometimes until what she needs is worked out. it's ok, but it's strange being suddenly thrown into a world where i'm after a little tiny baby. sometimes she'll wake up in the middle of the night making sounds and ready to eat and i'll feel annoyed, i'll want to role over, but then i pick her up and see that little face and i remember why i love her so much and how thankful i am that she does need me. i watched oprah on friday and it was an episode all about motherhood... a lot of mothers from all walks of life and areas of the US vented and told funny and heartfelt truths about their lives as moms... one mom even admitted that she peed into a diaper on a long roadtrip because both kids were asleep in the backseat and she couldn't stop. hilarious. but it got me thinking about how many stories like that daniel and i will accumulate over the years. how many times we'll have to sacrifice us for her.. and the other kids to come. :) it's humbling, but also exciting, and i think there's a lot to learn from this chapter in life. to be able to love something so unconditionally, especially when all it does is take from and need you. to think about how God does this everyday... how He's doing this for me now as i need so much from him but have a hard time taking time to give myself back to Him a priority. to think that He's still blessing and giving to our family when it's pretty much the last thing we deserve from Him. it's a lesson i'm sure i'll keep learning. i'm touched to know that i'm not alone in learning and frequently failing at parenthood, daughterhood, friendhood, sisterhood, wifehood (all of the hood's :))... and i want to keep looking at it that way and being honest. i want to remember so that i can share my heart with other parents so that none of us feel alone or judged. anything that i feel has been felt and overcome before... remind yourself of that too, and reach out to someone if ever you feel like you're the only one experiencing something. you're not, and the Lord placed you in the world so that you wouldn't be alone. minister to someone. open yourself up so that you and someone else can learn. it can be hard, but it feels good. as the late MJ would say "you are not alone.. i am here with you..." :)

i know a lot of people don't have facebook, and i can't take the time to put all of our pictures of ruby and what not on our blog, so i started an online picasa web album (thanks, meri!). have a look...

picasa

but i just can't resist including this one. :)