"Pway Pway"

Natalie Joy Nall ~ The newest member of Team Nall!!!
We can't remember our lives without you!

It's been 4 months since our last post and a lot has happened since then...including the birth of our precious baby girl, Natalie!! She was born on April 19, 2014 and it's hard to believe that she just turned one month already! Time is certainly flying and we are soaking in each and every moment with our two bundles of joy, Nelson and Natalie, which is why "free moments" are few and far between (aka: non-existent at this point!) and we have not updated the blog before now. So much to share about the Lord's work at our lives in these past days and months and our desire is to share about the amazing birth of our daughter and the days leading up to that soon...but for now it's on my heart to share what happened in our home tonight...a few minutes ago to be exact!

To set the stage...it's been a great day...a full day, but great! Two dear friends, who had babies a few days before and a few days after the birth of Natalie, came over with their other children today and we had some other friends stop by and had some cherished "girl time" while the littles played and we held our newborns. Then we enjoyed our "quiet hours" of 1-4pm which has been a Godsend to have both kiddos sleep during that time. A sweet friend brought over dinner (another true Godsend in this season to see friends and have food delivered) and then the four of us loaded up in Brandon's car to go retrieve my car that has been serviced the past two days since just last week the automatic doors on the van had been giving us some trouble (aka: stopped working!) ... After picking up the car around 6pm, we hugged "Daddy" (Brandon) bye as he headed on to his baseball game. As you may know, May to August in our house is baseball season -- Brandon has been part of a Men's Baseball League the past couple of years which is a very life-giving outlet for him and in turn, a life-giving thing for our family since it is so refreshing for him. It does take a little extra effort on my part on the nights he has games because now that we have two kiddos, any mom can tell you how helpful it is to have Dad home in the evenings helping with dinner, bath, bedtime routine and all. 

So tonight, we pulled in to our neighborhood around 6:45pm (Nelson usually goes down around 7pm) and instead of rushing in to try and fit our normal routine in...we got out the double stroller and enjoyed the gorgeous evening. Natalie slept and Nelson enjoyed seeing his neighbor friends. By the time I rallied the kiddos and got us inside, it was getting close to 7:30pm and I was almost dizzy from how hungry and t-totally exhausted I all of a sudden was feeling from our great but full day. I knew as soon as we walked in and it was time for Nelson and I to eat, that Natalie would wake up and it would be time to nurse her. So I hurried to get a quick bite and get Nelson's food on the table and sure enough, Natalie woke up! As I was nursing her, I prayed and asked the Lord for His strength to get through the next hour because I didn't know how I could physically do it in my own strength.

Before the hummus covered his body!

Meanwhile, I look over at Nelson who has chosen to eat the whole cucumber (skin and all) this evening and a few minutes later I see that he is covered head-to-toe in his hummus. I take Natalie upstairs and lay her down in hopes that she will stay resting while I take care of Nelson and sure enough, she stays sleeping and I get Nelson upstairs into the bath. After his bedtime routine of bath, pajamas, foot stretches, and putting on the snowboard...we go to sit in the glider chair in his room and he bear hugs me. Brandon has been the one putting Nelson to sleep in the past month since I have been usually nursing Natalie during this time. It was so precious to get to have this time with Nelson tonight. As we rocked in his glider, he starts saying: "pway pway" (pray pray) and I start praying as we always have for our family, the night's rest, thanking the Lord for our blessings and so forth. Never have I ever heard Nelson go to town like he did tonight ... it sounded like he was interceding or something as I was praying because I was praying and he was literally listing off each person (and thing) he knows: Ma-Ma, Da-Da, Nadlie, Suuue, Pops, LaLa, E, Lilly, ball, slide, bath, light...it literally brought me to tears. Even when I first said "Amen", he kept saying pway pway so I kept praying, thinking of all the other people and prayer requests we have been lifting up and many countless things there are to pray about. He kept wanting to pray...so my tears kept flowing. This precious son who God brought into the world 21 months ago and used to be a newborn like his dear sister, is now old enough to start talking and to see his brain at work and his desire to pray and lift up these dear friends and family...was so humbling and so rewarding all in the same. In that moment, I felt so refreshed. More so than any "spa day" or shower or "meal by myself" could have ever made me feel. In that moment, with the rest of the house in the beautiful mess that it is, I was so thankful that I had stopped and asked God to give me the strength to see His fingerprints on the rest of the night and not just "survive" the next hour. I had even texted a dear prayer warrior sister when we sat down at dinner to ask for her prayers that God could give me endurance. So grateful for the sisters God has placed in my life to be real with as we walk this road of motherhood. We know our hands are full, but so are our hearts. Thank you, LORD, for allowing me to find beauty in the mess all around me, because it is quite evident that LIFE is happening here. And I certainly don't want to be "so busy" to get to the next place or the next moment to "clean up" that I miss out on the hugs, the prayers, and baths here there and in between. Thanks for letting me share this...I am so thankful to be Brandon's wife, and Nelson and Natalie's mom. I have heard my parents talk about being parents my whole life but never have I understood the love you have for a child until having my own. And now to see Nelson's heart bent towards the Lord, that in and of itself is an answer to our prayers. May he (and his sister) always love the Lord and want to know Him more than anything else in this world...