A Very Exciting 24 Hours!

Charissa has had a most exciting last 24 hours! Yesterday afternoon she got her first pedicure. At first she wanted red nail polish, but we finally settled on a pinkish-red color. And after an hour of polishing, removing, and re-polishing she has 10 fancy little toes! She looks like a little lady! Then she got a Bumbo seat! She’s a little young for it, but it’ll be such a fun seat for her in another few weeks. AND THEN she got a jumper! Right now she’s just standing around in it, but we’re sure jumping is coming soon. And to top it all off, we finally got new batteries for her bouncy seat. In fact, after such an exciting 24 hours, she's taking a pretty serious nap in the bouncy seat right now after being gently vibrated to sleepyland.



I feel pretty!


I can sit upright! What a shock!


A little off balance, but very happy!


Charissa doesn't quite now what to do with herself.


She's getting the hang of it now!



PS - For those of you who knew about the Housework Ban I had going on this week, I have to tell you that I was real strong for four days, but today I couldn't take it anymore. Britt and I woke up this morning sneezing from the dust in our bedroom (both of us have pretty bad allergies) and our living room was so cluttered there was really only two places to sit. But four days of no housework is pretty amazing for me! It was a great week. And I had so much fun this week playing with Charissa.

Back to the Nine-to-Five

Well, folks, it was nice being home with my girls for a month, but last week I headed back to work and this week got some regular 9-5 days. My first week with Clearwire has been a blaze of information, computers, internet, contacts, organizing, following-up, malls, new people, driving, and, strangely enough, boredom.

You see, suburban malls in the middle of the day aren't the busiest places on earth. Rather, they're more like the place that people go to stop thinking about how bored they are. So if you're bored in the Raleigh area and want to do some walking and talking and shopping, get in touch with me and we'll hang out in your local suburban mall.

But seriously, I've enjoyed meeting the employees and patrons of our local malls, I have my first appointment with a potential customer next week, and my girls come visit me all the time. And if you know anyone who would like inexpensive, simple, portable internet service in our area, let me know.

Big B

Doing, doing, doing ... but what am I getting done?

Confession: I love to make lists. I make lists of what I need to get done for the week, what I need to get done for the day, the grocery list, meal ideas for the week, plans for people's special days, when we go on vacation I list out everything we need to take, ... basically, if there are multiple things, I can list them. And then I love to organize my lists by priority or when I am going to get them done. It's ridiculous. And yet I love it. Every morning I sit down with my list and compile what I am going to get done that day. And throughout the day I get little thrills of joy when I can take my red pen and slash through them. I could go on about the complete insanity of things I do with lists, but I think I'll stop here.

But lately I've been thinking, "Am I really getting done what I want to get done?" I've begun to realize that the mundane day-to-day activities seem to be weighing me down so that I can't do the spontaneous things that come up, or even the fun things on my list because the way I order my priorities make it so that the things I know I'll enjoy doing I do after the things I don't want to do (so I won't spend all day scrapbooking and the kitchen is buckling beneath the weight of the dirty dishes). Not to say that the household tasks aren't important or that they don't need to be done, but when do you say, "Hey - I need to take a break and do something else?"

There have been things on my list for 3 weeks that I haven't gotten to because I've been so busy with what "has to be done." And that's just no fun. I don't want my life to be so consumed by the day-to-day that I miss the fun of the day, the joy of the week, and the excitement God has already put in my life. Basically, I don't want to put off enjoying things because I haven't done enough of the boring!

All of this has reminded me of the account of Martha and Mary in Luke 10. Martha was so busy with the preparations of the meal for Jesus that she missed sitting at His feet and learning from Him. How sad is that? I think this is a HUGE temptation for women. That we get so busy in what we are doing that we miss God, and we miss what He is doing in our lives. I don't want to do that.

So here's what I'm going to do. I'm declaring next week "No Boring Needless Housework Week!" YAY!! Because let's be honest - if we don't clean the bathrooms one week out of 52, we're probably going to live through it. And not only are we going to live through it, but I bet no one will even notice. So all who are willing - join me on my vacation from housework.

I think this could be really fun. :)

Family Outing to the Arboretum

Last night we decided to to take a family walk down to the Arboretum and see all the beautiful plants and flowers. It was such a fun way to introduce Charissa to all the wonderful things God created to show off His glory. Here are a few pictures of our adventures:


Britt Getting Eaten By a Plant



I'm Trying a New Hairstyle



Charissa Enjoying the Great Outdoors

She's Playing Peek-a-Boo Around the Tree

Great is Thy Faithfulness!

In the last two weeks I have been really thinking about God's faithfulness to His children. More specifically - God's faithfulness to Britt, Charissa, and I. As some of you may know, Britt lost his job two weeks ago. In a one income family, it's a big loss when that one income is removed. And what a temptation it is to worry! And for all worldly reasons - we should! We have no income at the moment and a two month old baby. But thankfully God is working wonders in my heart by allowing me to rest in His sovereignty. God knew the number of days that Britt would hold that last job and He knows the next job He has in store for us. God has never abandoned us, and I don't think He'll start now. And it's been amazing how God has provided for us lately. Through friends and family we've been well cared for. Britt has been hard at work looking for a new job. He's had an offer from a company and could start next week. So please pray for that to come through. It's a pretty good job, so we're quite pleased that something has happened so quickly.

We've all been attempting to make do until Britt's working again. We're trying to live on less and cut what we can. And we're all keeping our eyes out for jobs and something we can do to earn some extra money. Even Charissa is trying to help her Daddy.


Please keep us in your prayers!

A Bit of Fun For You ...

I've recently found some videos that I think are quite funny. I hope you enjoy them as well!!

Evolution of Dance

Pachelbel Rant

I am Man! (Burger King Commercial)

Fatherhood in the Lord

The past two days, I (Britt) had the honor and the privilege of attending the National Center for Family-Integrated Churches' Fatherhood Conference. I was blown away by the sheer weight and force of the Scriptures on this important subject. The speakers were excellent, the other fathers were friendly, God was (and always is) at work in hearts, and I was moved and convicted. I will be posting my notes over at my site, britttreece.blogspot.com .

What a joy it is to be a husband and a father by God's hand!