Prayer has a very special place in the hearts of both my husband and I. As two people whose lives have been drenched with examples of the power of prayer, we are so passionate about the need for us to come, both together and individually, to the feet of our Lord in prayer for our family.

It is one of my hearts greatest desires to spend time with the Lord in prayer, both in my personal prayer life and in the one that I share with my husband. I have seen the power of prayer do amazing things in my life, and as a mother it is so important for me to share that gift with my children.

Praying for Madelyn is something that I do constantly. I know that I fall so short as a mother in so many ways and that it is only through prayer and grace that I will raise the kind, virtuous, Holy children that I desire all of my kids (present and future) to be. Every night since we first began dating, Scott and I have brought our hopes, fears, dreams & intentions and laid them at the feet of Christ in search of His grace and mercy. Once the the idea of marriage became more real for us, we prayed intently for our vocations… both that we would know God’s will and for the strength, courage, and grace to live it fully. When we became engaged and knew that God was calling us to the vocations of marriage and parenthood (in whatever form that may take) we began praying for all of our future children and for their vocations as well.

We continued to do this throughout the two years of our engagement and the year and a half of our marriage before Madelyn’s conception, and still do for all of the children that we pray God blesses us with. Once we had become aware of Madelyn’s impeding arrival, we joyfully and gratefully began to pray for her specifically.

Every day I pray for sweet little Madelyn. For her life and vocation…. for her future husband if that’s what God has in store for her. I pray that God gives her a heart that burns with a desire to love and serve Him. That she would always have the wisdom to know and the courage to do God’s will…. in every aspect of her life. I pray that Madelyn will turn to Our Lady and the amazing example of womanhood, motherhood, and true feminism that she is to us. I pray that she will be kind and virtuous… that she will always stand up for the weak and serve others before she serves herself. I pray that she will have a heart that is filled with joy and and that she will have a genuine love for  life, but always remember that it and this world that we live in is fleeting.

I pray that she will be a Saint.

But praying for Madelyn doesn’t just mean praying for her, it also means praying for myself and for my role as a mother and wife. It means praying for her daddy in his vocation to fatherhood and for our marriage as a whole. I want to be the kind of mother that teaches her children by example and I know that Madelyn is going to imitate everything that I do. Her imitation of Christ and of Our Lady will come through her imitation of me.

For and with my family… I just constantly pray.

Since this little blog is brand-spankin new and we are all just getting to know one another, I thought I’d share some background information :)

A few weeks ago, AnNicole over at Our Suburban Cottage hosted a big blog party called How I Met My House. Of course I meant to link up, but I was so busy getting my rear kicked by finals at the time that the opportunity passed me by.  I still think it is a good way for us to get to know one another a little better though, so I’m going to go ahead and share :)

After my handsome hubby and I got married, we moved to Little Rock, AR. I didn’t have a very good attitude about it at first, and we were both dead set on leaving Little Rock as soon as possible (we had grand visions of living in a beautiful historic home in downtown Charleston ;). At this point we were still a little delusional of the belief that our lives would go exactly as we had planned. As a result we spent a lot of time making our own plans instead of  realizing how much better the ones that God had for us were.  Because of this, our living situation was and felt very temporary….. We lived with a roommate while all of our stuff, our wedding gifts, and my car waited for us in Virginia while we job searched on the east coast. Brutal.

I did a lot of soul searching during this time and struggled with a slight depression in a place where I had no friends, no transportation, a crappy waitressing job, and was dealing with a very frustrating and disappointing job search. For a long time I refused to believe that I could ever be happy in Arkansas (I was definitely wrong). I prayed A LOT for patience, serenity, and the courage & wisdom to know, trust in and do God’s will.

My sweet husband was so wonderful and patient during the funk that I was in. One thing that he used to do to cheer me up was to drive us around to look at houses. He knew how much I  am obsessed with love them, so we would go for long Sunday drives around town, looking at all of the homes and making all of those infamous plans.

:)

Soon prayer and Grace began to work in our lives and we accepted that Little Rock was part of God’s plan for us. Of course everything then fell into place (um, duh). We found a BEAUTIFUL apartment that was part of a charming craftsman home in a historic neighborhood going through a huge revitalization and definitely on the up and up . We were finally on our own and, after a flight to Virginia and a long drive back with all of our belongings,  we began to build our lives here. I got a job working with troubled youth while the hubby focused on life at the office and a growing freelance business….

I also set to work on our little apartment… life was good.

Fast forward one year and I had decided to go to nursing school while Scott began building his brand. Since we knew that nursing school meant a long(ish) term commitment (and since I had pretty much been waiting my ENTIRE LIFE to buy and start working on our first house) we decided to start looking.

Our realtor, Lael Foster, was our landlord’s wife so it worked out really well. Plus she was FANTASTIC and we really grew to love her (and her to two adorable daughters). Her and her hubby do some  great renovations and own some really great rental properties (ie. our old apartment)….and are just all the way around real estate savvy :)

Shortly after we began our search, God threw in another one of His little curveballs

:)

we were pregnant.