There's a First Time for Everything.

Isaac and I experienced some firsts together today. I've tried to document them below.

Here are a couple of pictures of Isaac in his First Christmas attire. In case you can't tell, his pajamas say, "I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus." Sorry Justin (He doesn't like the cutesy things as well as I do.). I tried to capture me actually kissing Isaac, but he was more interested in me picking him up.

First Cereal

Tonight, Isaac also had his first encounter with eating solid food from a spoon! It was pretty funny; he wasn't sure what to think at first. After I turned the camera off, he discovered the cereal that had spilled on his hand. He sucked on his fist then like he never had before. Click on the play button beneath the above picture to witness this encounter.

Today was also a first for me. I made my first trip on post since I dropped Justin off to deploy. It was naturally a little emotional. But, as is always the case, God confirmed to me that this is where Justin is supposed to be and that I need to be a supportive spouse, willing to let the Lord work through Justin and I both through this difficult time. God spoke to me through a song on the radio in His always-impeccable timing. I'll go ahead and tell the story behind the song. My friend Jessica's husband is deployed right now as well. She created a beautiful slide show with music to document Will's (her husband's) deployment. The song she chose was "Here I Am" by Downhere, a contemporary-Christian group. While watching the tribute, I realized that the song's lyrics epitomize the attitude Justin (and I) need to have about this opportunity to minister to his soldiers (I'll post the song below). I watched this the day before Justin deployed, as Will had to leave a bit earlier. Well, when driving up to meet Justin for final goodbyes at the gym, "Here I Am" came on the radio. It was like the Lord was telling me, "I know this is hard, but this IS what I want him to do." Isaac and I went on post today to do some banking and to get Justin a pair of running shoes. As I was turning onto the road which takes you past Justin's office and to another PX, guess what song came on! I just cried. I cried because I desperately miss Justin, and because it's beautiful to have no doubt about what God is telling you. Here are the lyrics:

Sometimes Your calling, comes in dream

Sometimes in comes in the Spirit's breeze

You reach for the deepest hope in me

And call out for the things of eternity

But I'm a man, of dust and stains,

You move in me, so I can say

Chorus: Here I am, Lord send me

All of my life, I make an offering,

Here I am, Lord send me

Somehow my story is a part of Your plan,

Here I am

When setbacks and failures, and upset plans

Test my faith and leave me with empty hands

Are You not the closest when it's hardest to stand

I know that You will finish what You began

And these broken parts You will redeem

Become the song that I can sing

Chorus

Overwhelmed by the thought of my weakness

And the fear that I'll fail You in the end

In this mess, I'm just one of the pieces,

I can't put this together but You can

Chorus

Here I Am, all my life an offering to You, to You

Somehow my story is a part of Your plan

Here I am

I'm going to try and post an actual audio file of the song at the side or bottom of the blog so you can listen.