so much...

i never want it to be difficult for me to think of what i'm thankful for. i never want that to be something i have to will myself to do. i want it to come easily.. for thankfulness to flow from me. because it should. because there is never a shortage of wonderful things in my life.. even when life is hard, because there is room for thankfulness even in the midst of difficulty and pain. i love thanksgiving. i hope that it's a great day for everyone this year. and i hope that more than anything we express thankfulness to the God who saved us. to the God who has never forsaken us. the God who allows us to borrow what is his while we're here.

...always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light.
colossians 1:12.

a project..

well, this post won't be interesting at all to some people, but i'm a mom now so sometimes (a lot of the time) i do mom-ish things.

i started feeding the rubes "real food" a few days ago.. which started with rice cereal and has now progressed to include pureed pears. SO i tried my hand at making her baby food.. which is something i'm excited to do for her (and for us because it saves a lot of money). so, i thought i'd share the process of my first attempt.

it started with me buying a mini food processor off craigslist for five dollars on monday. i had a very awkward interaction at a panera bread with the seller, but it was worth it.

i also used the book super baby food that was given to me by a sweet friend in california while i was pregnant with ruby. if you're at all interested in making your own baby food i would say to get this book.. i've heard from numerous moms that it's great, and it's helped me out so far.

next, i pealed the pears and cut out the hard center part and the seeds. the book tells you all about how to tell if certain types of pears are ripe or not and how old a baby needs to be before they can eat pears raw or cooked.. i don't think mine were quite ripe enough, but ruby seemed satisfied with the end result so i guess they were sweet enough for her liking.

i then cut up the pears and put them in the food processor to puree. i added a bit of water because the pears weren't getting thin enough for what i thought ruby would need. the book said to add a bit of citrus (if the baby is old enough) to keep the pears from browning.. i learned that this happens pretty quickly once they're pureed, but i wasn't really worried about it. it doesn't affect the integrity of the food for the baby, it just changes the color.

lastly, i spooned the pear puree into an ice cube tray. i heard this works really well for portioning (one cube = one tablespoon), and it also allows you to make a bunch of food at once and keep it for a lot longer than you could in the fridge.

once they were totally frozen i just popped the little cubes out and put them into a ziploc labeled with "pears" and the date.

i just can't believe my sweet little baby is now old enough for me to have to be doing something like making baby food. it was fun the first time though, and i'm looking forward to keeping this up and discovering tons of homemade baby food possibilities.

thanks for reading even if this didn't interest you at all. :)

and here's a picture of the little cutie just because.

back at it..

well, it's definitely been awhile since i put anything of substance on the blog, so i thought i'd give it a whirl tonight. i guess i'll just dive right in. i think i've realized lately that i've gotten myself into a rut when it comes to my relationship with God. not purposefully, but i can now see that slowly but surely i've gotten further and further from him, and now i want to get back.. but the main realization i've had is that i'm not really sure how to do it. i journaled for awhile the other night and i was trying to be honest with God about how i'm feeling.. and kind of figuring out how i'm feeling in the process of that. i think what it comes down to is that i don't really know how to get back to a place where i want to be with him. even while i was journaling i wasn't quite sure what to say or what i wanted to get out of it.. and then i started thinking, "well, who's to say i need to get anything out of this at all.. it's not about me." i think i was really convinced that once we (we as in me, daniel, and ruby) were settled back in north carolina, and even before that, once i had ruby and was at home more often i would have such a strong relationship with the lord and devote so much time to him. well, needless to say that hasn't happened. sadly, i think about it daily and even gear up for time with him.. and then it doesn't happen. i'm not sure why. it's like i don't know what to do.. what to read.. what to say.. or, honestly, why i do it. i know it sounds terrible, but i feel like i'm at this funky place where i don't even know what to do with my relationship with God. it's like i've gotten numb or something. so bad. and i miss it, but it's almost like i miss it because being in the word, praying, and walking with him are things i've known for a long time should be part of my life but not really because i remember what it feels like to have that full and rich connection to him. on the bright side, i do feel like i'm slowly shaking off this weirdness and missing God for real, and in doing so it almost feels like i'm starting over with him in a way. and even though it feels funny, i like it. it's like i'm reestablishing what it means to be close to God for me, and i think that's good especially after growing up in the church and getting "programmed" in christianity in some ways. nevertheless, i guess it's a process, so be prepared to hear more about that over time.

as for a little update about life for us, things are great. daniel is enjoying his job at hhgregg, and he's continued to be his stand-up self which is in turn helping him to succeed in his sales. i have started watching a sweet little girl named lilley one day a week, and i'm enjoying hanging out with her mom a bit on those days. we've also started going to a church called visio dei that we're really enjoying.. we've started going to a home group once a week through the church as well, and that's helping us to meet some more friends and feel more at home at church. of course, ruby is still the sweetest thing around and is growing like crazy. she is so fun and i'm thankful that my days never have a dull second being with her. we're so thankful that she's healthy and thriving.. she lights up our lives every day. we love being closer to our families, but there are definitely california friends we miss.. wouldn't it be wonderful to have everyone you love in one town?? we moved into an apartment a couple miles from where daniel works, so that's convenient since we're still working with one car. it's nice having our own space, but there are definitely days when i miss living in the mehaffie house. we're so blessed, and there's not a thing we can complain about.

thanks for keeping up with us.. i was excited to see that our blog even has followers! i couldn't believe it. hopefully i'll be motivated to do some crafty things soon.. and when that happens, i'll post about that too.

now, i'll let some pictures do the talking.


a little family time at the nc state fair.


the little froggie getting some love from grams on halloween.


the happiest frog i know.


i just can't get enough of that face.


d turned 26!


auntie v came to town.


loving on the little girl.


ruby got to meet her gigi during family weekend in boone.


a little bonding time with poppop. :)


a temple cry played an awesome concert at the high country praise festival. rubes made a great mascot.


excited to see kirbside and chris.


getting a little love from mimi.