Trust: It's like a chair

My aunt Shirley gave me some pretty awesome advice that I just had to share.... TRUST is something so precious to me, and I am sure to many in our relationships with others. Once someone has my trust, they are on a whole other level with me and just as it is precious, it is not easy to gain. And just as it is not easy to gain, it is not easy to regain once that trust has been betrayed. Lately, I've been praying and asking God to help me with trust issues. To help me trust and see the good in others. To give GRACE as it was given to me. I know that my prayers will be answered. In the mean time, I'd like to share the words my aunt shared with me about trust---

It's like a chair. If it fails to hold your weight, you can't trust it anymore until it is made right. It needs to be repaired. It takes work. If the chair never gets aligned with rightness or in our case righteousness, trust cannot happen again

Hoping we can do the "work" to fix our broken chairs,

~A

"If I was all that was left, would I be enough?"

• Contemplating so many things right now...

• praying and quietly reflecting...

• grasping on to PEACE because it can sometimes feel like I am drowning in loneliness, Despite the fullness of my life.

• Remembering a Spanish worship song - "Jesus mi Fiel Amigo, Mi Dulce Caminar, Quedate conmigo" ...

• Understanding and believing that he is my ONLY faithful friend.

• Hoping that one day I will open my heart enough to trust a friend again.

• Knowing that even if I cannot, even if there was no-one and HE was all that was left... HE would be enough :)

~A

The Breast-milk Baby?

Okay, so since becoming a new mom this spring my blog posts have started to take on a more "baby" theme. I do not want to constantly talk babies but it just happens to be a huge part of my life right now and though I do have lots of other things going on, this is the most important part so there ya go! Anyway, I decided to breastfeed my baby when I was pregnant and have been able to chronicle my experience on a blog called "The Breastfeeding Diaries" for Bravado Designs. You can follow me here: http://www.bravadodesigns.com/connect/bravado-mama-blogs/april-picon-blog

I am really excited about breastfeeding and everything I am learning about nursing my child. Especially since I do not have memories as a child of anyone in my family breastfeeding their baby, it is all very new to me. It also seems like very few women make the decision to breastfeed in general and it has been nice to get connected to a network of women and bond with new friends who are also nursing their babies. I do hope that my future daughter (woah did I just mention having MORE kids?!) will make the decision to breastfeed as well - it is a wonderful experience!

But should she (my future daughter - there we go again) have a baby doll that teaches her about breastfeeding? There is a doll coming to the U.S. called "The Breast-milk Baby" and it has brought about mixed reactions from parents. Some think it is making young girls too aware of their breasts, too sexual, or what have you. What do you think?

For me, I think baby dolls in general are not ideal toys for little girls. I played with dolls as a kid and would pretend to be a mommy and I feel like I could have spent more time building things or solving puzzles. My friend summed it up pretty simply - "Why grow up so fast?"

On the flip side of that, why is it OK for little girls to bottle feed their baby dolls and not breastfeed them? Any child of a nursing mother would automatically imitate her mom and nurse her dolls... maybe it is a good idea so that girls can learn to be proud of their bodies for the ACTUAL purpose they are meant for (nourishing a future baby) instead of being sucked into that sexual, fashion-magazine body image that so many young girls struggle with.

I'm not sure how I feel about this... but one thing is for sure, the doll is 89 bucks so my future daughter (ughh I said it again) will NOT be getting one of these. =) ha!