Praying for Him: His Integrity

"Integrity is...who you are when no one is looking (p. 117)." (italics Omartian's, bold face mine.)

Just a few sentences later she quotes Matthew 5:37, "But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes' or 'No, no'; anything beyond thses is of evil." (NASB)

I immediately smiled.

Why, you ask?

Because when I first met Ben, that is one of the verses he quoted to me followed by a statement how he has always wanted and wants to keep that verse true about his life.

You guys, I have to say, that as far as a man is able while depending on God, I married a man of integrity. He honestly strives to be the same person all the time. What is true of him at work is true of him at home. What is true of him when I'm watching is true of him when I'm not around. What is true of his work ethic when his store is full is true when he is working by himself or has a moment that no one is watching.

However, because this really is a strength I feel Ben has been given by God, it hadn't really crossed my mind for God to protect that and allow it to remain true of Ben while God is granting him life here on earth. I just assumed it would continue. (How silly, naïve, ignorant of me. Shoot. A lot of descriptives could go there.)

But now I know otherwise. And now I will constantly pray Psalm 25:21 will always remain true of his life: "Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, For I wait for You." (NASB) I want my husband to always desire to tell the truth. I want him to desire no part of his life to be a lie, even if it feels it may save his rear end. I want his desire to be to see God's glory made known and that part of that is through living with integrity.

I'm glad that my eyes were opened to this and reminded the importance of praying that God protect what is going well, what is strong character.

Prayer for the difficulties as well as what happens to be going well is of utmost importance in everyone's life. May we always keep this at the forefront of our minds.

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On May 1st, I began this journey of praying for my husband using Stormie Omartian's Power of  a Praying Wife. I have always felt that praying for my hubby should be at the top of my list, yet I seem to really do it consistently or, better yet, to know how. Somewhere at the beginning of the book, Stormie suggests taking a 30 day challenge and praying through a chapter a day. I tried and failed, because, well, let's face it - life with a toddler changes constantly and some nights still turn into sleepless ones. So this series was birthed as a way to hold me accountable, spread the time frame a little more (and if you read all of them you will note that it will end up being longer than 30 weeks), and help me to "journal" my thoughts as I take this journey. Enjoy!

Week 1: Intro     Week 2: Starting with Me     Week 3: His Identity     Week 4: His Treasure

Week 5: His Sexuality   Week 6: His Hugs, Kisses, and "I love you"s  Week 7: His Achilles Heel

Week 8: His Battlefield  Week 9: What Cripples Everyone  Week 10: The Passion Inside

Week 11: A Confession  Week 12: His Choices  Week 13: His Health  Week 14: His Protection

Week 15: His Trials

Literary Junkies [v. 4]

Oooi! I haven't done well continuing to link up with my Literary Junkies comrads here in the past few months. I'm not really sure why, but I really wanted to make sure I did for this months because I want to stay connected with my fellow "book lovers"! So I'm off to link-up with Taylor at Pink Heels Pink Truck and Lesley at By the Porchlight.

1. What are you currently reading? Tell us about it!

[via]

Ah...well, I'm trying to get myself into The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. But did you notice I said trying?

I just can't seem to really pick up the feel of this book and though I pride myself on trudging through almost every book I've ever picked up (I couldn't finish Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison), I just am not sure that I could finish this one.

This would only make my "couldn't finish" number up to 2, out of I have no clue how many I've read. It just bothers me to start a book and not finish, unless of course you're given a bazillion books for College Lit and you only have to read excerpts. Then I'm ok with saying it's not really been "picked up" to begin with and will do so later in my life. When I feel like picking that particular book up.

[via]

I'm also slowly working my way through this book. Of course, this won't apply to everyone, but so far, I'm really enjoying this book.

I will say I generally don't buy parenting books. I may ask questions to people on Facebook or do some online research, but I'm not huge fan on just picking up every parenting book.

However, my mom bought this book for me and I thought I'd give it a shot. I come from a long line of yellers (don't worry, my mom would be the first to tell you). I mean we yell just to get someone's attention from across the house. But angry yelling also came into play at times. And I'm willing to bet our family isn't the only one like that. Or that we're the only family who it continues to travel down the line.

I'm not very far into this book, so really I'll have to let you know what I think once I'm either further in or completely finished...though I'm going to be the former will happen first. Ha!

2. What is one book you think every person should read at least once in their life? Why?

Oh dear. You know, I have to give a shout out to Melissa from Little Mrs. Married for my answer to this question. Had it not been for her recent post about this book, I'm likely to have forgotten how great it is, even though it's on my "I could and probably will definitely read this book again."

So you wanna know what it is?

[via]

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers.

Oh you guys! Yes, this is an amazing Christian fictional work based off the book of Hosea from the Bible, but I'm willing to guess that anyone can enjoy this romance novel.

The story is one that pulls you in from the beginning and you just don't want to put the book down. It is full of a story of grace, unconditional love, and redemption. Just a truly beautiful piece of art! (After all, that is what literature is, right? Art?)

So so so good!









3. Do you think you could ever write a book? If so, what genre would it be?

Hmmm...I've thought I could. And I've started to write short stories. And then life happened. Or I've received some negative criticism that stuck with me from my teacher's in high school. Which I happen to keep playing over and over in my head.

But, maybe I should try again. And just see what happens as time progresses.

As for genre...I'm not really sure. It'd definitely be a fictional work. I'm not into history or anything of the sort.

4. Do you listen to audiobooks? Do you look for the same things in an audiobook that you do in one you'll read?

I have tried. I really struggle to stay awake and/or stay focused on listening. But honestly, if I'm going to listen to an audiobook, then I want it to be something that'd I'd read the hard copy of.

5. Can you suggest a book of each type for others to try:

Fantasy - Harry Potter Saga (Of course!) by J.K. Rowling and The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien

NonFiction - Columbine by Dave Cullen (Please note: this is a heavy, heavy read, but from the way it was written I think they're really telling the truth that Cullen took his time doing research. A lot of effort went in to shedding light on all that actually happened.)

Fiction - The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum

Romance - Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers falls into this category (Yep. I'm using it twice.)

Classics - The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Young Adult - The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares

And that wraps up this months Literary Junkies. If you are a fellow book lover, feel free to hop on over and link up! Love to hear what you have to say about books you're reading or have read.

14 Weeks [A Bumpdate]

I thought I'd give you a peek at the previous weeks. I've been proud of myself for keeping up with pics this time. Also, please note how freakin' early I started! That was completely on accident as we thought I was almost 6 weeks when we found out and around 7 weeks when we started taking pictures. Another note: notice my "bump" gets bigger and smaller...not in order. Most of my bump in these pics is bloat.

 However, this week, I give you true bump:

Said bump does get larger if I have to use the bathroom, just ate, or eat food that bloats me, but it doesn't really get much smaller than this.

On to the bumpdate :) (By the way, if you missed the announcement and answers to Qs, you can go here and here to catch up.)

How Far Along: I am 14 weeks and 5 days along. Only 177 days until I'm 40 weeks!

Baby's Size: My Little Bean (LB) is about 3.4 in from head to bum, roughly the size of a lemon. (Was anyone aware that a lemon is that big? I mean last weeks fruit was a peach. This was a news flash to me.) Also, LB weighs around 1.5 oz. 

Baby's Development: If I had my own ultrasound machine, I might have been able to see LB make some facial expressions.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: At my last appointment I had only gained 1.5 pounds total. This wasn't much of a shock as I had actually lost weight between other appointments. My doc was pleased that I was at least not losing.

Food Aversions (and "no nos"): Don't even talk about BBQ to me. The sheer smell makes my stomach churn! However, it's the only actual aversion I have. Everything else, I'll eat and then find out that I shouldn't have: pasta sauce (lots of it...little bits, like on pizza, is ok. And ironically, tomatoes in salad or on a sandwich are ok.), avacado, apples (but not the juice in a smoothie), bananas (yeah...I had a not so fun experience with them. Now looking at them makes me gag :/), peanut butter was ok, then was an "Don't let me smell it" (that was rough considering Zoë eats PB&J for lunch practically every day), and now is ok sometimes. Those are the things I can think of that are absolute "no nos", however the list seems to grow or change on a daily basis. Very strange to me as I didn't really have this problem during my pregnancy with Zoë.

Gimme' some of that!: NADA! Something may sound good, but it lasts for all of maybe 5 minutes. I have yet to have a craving that I just HAVE to have whatever food I thought of.

How I Feel: mmm...this is a toughy as I'm getting slightly better, but I'm still extremely exhausted. (If you follow me on twitter you might have seen this tweet earlier this week.) Also, the nausea comes and goes. I have started to string good days where I can get by without Zofran, but then I'm hit, sometimes several days in a row, where I have to have it in my system during the day or I'm likely to throw-up. However, I'm really trying to remind myself that all of this is for a great purpose and gives me more hope of hearing a heart beat at my next appointment.

Maternity Clothes: I have to wear maternity jeans. I've been wearing them for a couple weeks now. I loved wearing the BeBand with Zoë. This little one won't let me. If I fold it over, it's too tight. If I leave it like normal, it cuts into my stomach and makes me sick. So maternity jeans/shorts have been the most comfortable thing I've got. Or stretchy athletic shorts/pants. As far as tops, most of my t-shirts are just long enough for my long torso. I still "fit" them, per se, but they don't really cover maternity bands, thus I generally am wearing maternity tops or regular tops that I found I could wear during pregnancy with Zoë.

Movement: I have actually started to feel flutters every now and then. But they're small and not consistent.

Sleep: Can anyone say INSOMNIA?! I mean, seriously. I don't remember being like this with Zoë at all in my pregnancy with her. I'm not really sure what it is, but my mind will randomly start thinking on different things and nothing works to shut it down. I've had several nights where I'll be up for 2 hours because I just can't soothe myself back to sleep. This drives me crazy because less sleep makes me more nauseous. Boo!

What I Miss: I miss not feeling like I'm sick all the time. And actually desiring to eat what I've cooked. I will cook a meal, think it sounds good, and by dinner time the smell makes me sick. Fun times. Fun times.

What I'm Looking Forward To: Being able to feel the LB move on a consistent basis. Also, hearing the heart beat at the next appointment.

Favorite Moment of the Week: Though Zoë doesn't truly understand what is going on, we talk to her about it like she does. One day while I was eating breakfast she walked up to me and saw me patting my tummy. I looked at her and said, "Mommy has a baby in her tummy. Do you want to say "hi" to the baby?" She looked up at me, patted my belly, and smiled a huge smile. It's moments like this that make me feel great about welcoming another little one into our family. Though I'm sure there will be some bumps in the road, I'm certain that Zoë is going to make a great older sister!

My High of the Week

Linking up with Amy for her Frankly Friday post. And this week, it's a happy one!


I'm pretty sure that Sunday was my high this week.

Not that the rest of it has been bad. It's just nothing can compare to the wonderful time that I had with three of Ben's Aunts and his cousin who were in town. Thus, we were able to visit. (Well, his cousin and her family live about 30 minutes from us when there is no traffic, but still...we don't get to see each other too often.)

I was so excited that they contacted us to let us know they would be in and wanted to get together with us. Both Ben and I always enjoy their company; frankly, I wish they would all move to Texas. (Let's face it, unless we absolutely have to, neither of us ever want to call Louisana home again. We love Texas. Not the heat, but whatever!) Well, ok we'd just love to have them around all the time. I couldn't honestly make them move with the possiblity of us ever moving up to NWA to be closer to my older sister and her family and my Uncle Paul and his family.

(Yep. I'm fine staying in Texas and the only reason I would hope we'd ever leave this state is because Ben's job moved us right down the road from my older sister. Then all the March-Daigle cousin's could play together! And get in trouble together...yikes!)

Anyway, Zoë was able to play with her second cousin, Hudson, who is a little stud! I mean seriously you guys, can it get any cuter than this:

Those blue eyes with that blonde hair kill me. Ben and I say he's going to be a little heartbreaker!

She also spent time with each of her Great Aunts, though I was terrible and didn't get a picture of her with each of them :/ Bummer.

Ben's nanny sat and played with the iPhone with her for a while and I was able to snap a pretty darn cute picture of Zoë with Aunt Janell. (Aunt Janell = Ben's Nanny. For the good ol' cajun folk from Louisiana, Nanny is the term for godmother and Paran [pronounced "paw ran"] for godfather.)

It's a little blurry, but it was the best I could get with little squirmy over there.

After all of maybe two minutes, Zoë had the iPhone pulling up Siri and then hiding her. She thought it was great and Aunt Janell made a game of "peek-a-boo" out of it. (Or "pee pie" as she called it and had Zoë saying within all of 5 minutes. Ben had never heard it called that so I found it funny when he was asking. May I say that the reason I found it funny is because I usually can call Ben my walking Encyclopedia. Caught me off guard when he didn't know what "pee pie" was. Also, note that I don't know how to spell it...so I'm spelling it like it's pronounced, thank you very much!) Anyway, they tried to get Zoë to ask Siri a question, to no avail as we're still only in the one-word-at-a-time world.

However, Zoë said "pee pie" to her, and Siri replied, "I don't understand. I will play music for you." Or something to that affect. She promptly started playing whatever country music Aunt Benita had on her phone (I have no clue what it was as I don't generally listen to country.) and Zoë started dancing for everyone. She decided to see if she could get Aunt Louisa to really join in with her and this is what we videoed:

I love how laughter seems to just flow out of Zoë. Not to mention, we were all enjoying the entertainment she was giving us. Oh, and do you see her head of curly, curly hair? It takes a little bit of water (or being outside in the humidity), but after a little playing with it, it looks like that. I'm kind of jealous :)

Anyway, we sat around chatting for a while, just enjoying one another's companies while the not-so-babies played and entertained us.

Then we went to lunch and enjoyed one another's company a little longer before we had to part ways. The kids were getting fussy from being overdue for naps and two of the Aunts were headed back home to Louisiana.

And the time we had with them has just stuck with me for the rest of the week.

Hope you've had something happen that's kept your spirits up this week too! It certainly is a nice treat!

Bits About Me

If you look on my sidebar, you will see a button for the Texas Women Bloggers. Though I'm not the best with keeping up with everything going on over there, I do try to participate in their link-ups. And so today, I'm participating in their Getting to Know You link-up.

1. What part of Texas do you call home? Though I'm new to Texas (just moved here last November...woah! We'll be closing in on a year here soon!), I already am calling Houston home. We like it here and have no plans to ever go back to Baton Rouge. Whether or not we'll actually stay here, we know that it would be an act of God to get us back in Louisiana. 2. How long have you been blogging? Well, so I originally started blogging in 2007 when I was going through a rough patch in college. I've thought about deleting all those posts, but if there is one thing I've learned is to not try to erase the past but learn what you can from it. I don't anything I wrote was inappropriate, I just know that I've grown a lot since then. My blogging kind of waned for a while and then I "restarted" when my older sister encouraged me to blog to document my pregnancy and life with my now precious 17 month old. 3. Why did you start blogging? Ha! Accidentally kind of answered that in the last question. When I first started it was to get my thoughts out. When I tried my hand at it to blog regularly again, it was to document life with Zoë. 4. When we visit your blog, what can we expect to discover? Unfortunately, to see a pic of me and my family you need to go to my about me page. Hoping to change that here in the near future so you're greeted by my smiling face when you first stop by. You will quickly see my tabs on my family and a tab about books. I love my family and probably talk about them almost as much as I talk about my relationship with Jesus. Books...well, I love to read and so if my current pregnancy and 17 month old haven't completely stolen my brain then I will inform you on what I'm reading and what I do/don't like about it. (You can read my recent announcement and answer to Q's asked regarding this pregnancy here and here.) So pretty much you're going to find that I'm an open book who talks about almost anything and everything here and my relationship with Christ permeates it all. 5. How did you come up with your Blog Title and what is its meaning? I really struggled with coming up with something catchy I liked that I would be able to keep no matter how life changed over here. I'm not saying that I haven't thought about changing the title, just because it isn't that artsy and I love the arts (I mean, I'm a pianist, I married an artist, and though I'm not great at either, I enjoy dabbling in poetry and creative writing), but for now Tidbits From My World works. I finally landed on it when I realized that I was pretty much going to be sharing just that: tidbits. I can't completely write a minute by minute play of my life and there are some aspects that I believe should remain personal. However, those pieces that I want to share are tidbits that give you a glimpse into my little corner of the world. And thus, the name was born. 6. What do you love about being part of Texas Women Bloggers? Hmmm...well, I'm really new to all this. And I haven't looked around it or found other bloggers through it was much as I would like to say I have, but one thing I've loved is when pictures are shared from all around this beautiful state for Wordless Wednseday. Makes me fall even more in love with the state of Texas. 7. Who inspired you to blog? Well, the bloggers that I am almost always looking to read and find can sometimes give me great ideas for post, whether they know it or not are the following (in no certain order):

• my older sister, Lindsey, over at A Dollop of My Life
• Melissa over at Little Mrs. Married
• Laura over at A Hearty Overflow
• Kayla over at Kayla Danelle
• Amy over at Taking Steps Home

These ladies generally write posts that make me want to become a better writer and type thoughts and life events into posts.

8. If you could pick a favorite post from this past year, what would it be?

Oh goodness. I haven't read any of my posts from the past year. To help me pick one, I'm going to consider "this past year" to be any post written in 2012. And as such, there are three posts that tie it. I just can't really pick one. One is ridiculously simple but made an announcement that has changed my life, in the best way possible, forever. Another documents the first birth story I have, which also left me asking a lot of questions for the next time I was planning for a birth. And the last, well it documents a story that still cracks me up to this day, so even though it may not be by best writing, I enjoy sharing it.

Looking forward to see what others have put in their link-up posts!

Happy Thursday everyone!