The Hargrove Home

I always think I'll run out of words each year and won't be able to do a post for his birthday or our anniversary, etc but then I always sit down to write about him and words flow out of me. Since this post is all about Kaleb James Hargrove I thought I would share 24 fun facts about him that you may not know. Just FYI I did this when he turned 21 so to be fair I won't post anything that's the same from that post. He has changed a lot in these last 3 years since we've been married and watching him change has been so fun for me.

1) He has an obsession with hole-in-the-wall places and doesn't want to eat at chain restaurants when we're in a new town.
2) He is a craft beer enthusiast.
3) He likes to home brew now because of that enthusiasm.
4) He loves anything Sci-Fi.
5) He loves to play golf but always comes back from playing and tells me how bad he is at it. Psh, men.
6) He makes a mean baked potato soup and it's the one dish I won't even try to make because he does such a good job with it.
7) German Chocolate Cake and Brownies are his favorite desserts.
8) He loves a good pair of khaki pants.
9) He's an Apple guy forced to live an Android life for the next year. Total bummer.
10) He is crazy in love with his son and can be seen engaging in some awesome tickle fights with him after getting home from work.
11) He is in school to be a pastor but it's slow going with his full time job and family.
12) He has many plans in his head to open a business.
13) He is very engaged in mine and Elijah's life (and one day Abigail's too no doubt). He doesn't just coast through when it comes to being a husband and father.
14) He has an amazing idea for a documentary and we often talk about what he wants it to look and be like.
15) His metabolism is ridiculous. He can be seen constantly eating but never gains any weight, lucky guy.
16) He owns a kilt.
17) He is a nerd in all forms and loves when he finds a fellow nerdy guy to be friends with.
18) He doesn't like the texture of yogurt and never eats it.
19) Star Wars. Nuff said.
20) He likes to baby wear.
21) He can play the guitar, bass, drums, and piano but the drums are still his main instrument
22) He loves his job and can often be seen with a popsicle in hand.
23) He has compassion for so many people and their burdens. I wish I was more like him in this area.
24) He doesn't want to settle for a comfortable Christian life. He yearns for deeper intimacy with the Lord and to walk in the supernatural.

I am not even ashamed to say that I failed the Write 31 Days challenge. I knew I probably wouldn't make it very far but I am a little bummed that I didn't make it at least two weeks through. Alas, when you're not in your own home it is definitely hard to blog as often as you'd like. No matter, I'll try again next year. For now we are still looking for an apartment and staying at my mom's house. We leave tomorrow evening to go stay at a friend's apartment while they're gone for the next two weeks. We wouldn't leave my mom's if it wasn't so far from Kaleb's job. He's been driving an hour and a half each way to work everyday and by staying at our friend's place he can cut that down to just 45 minutes. Still not ideal but better than what he's doing right now. I pray we won't have to come back to my mom's at the end of the month but that we will end up finding a place and moving before that has to happen. Join with me in prayer, pretty please? Thanks a ton, friends!

Kaleb got off work early today and got back to my mom's house around 3pm (it's an hour and a half away from his job). So, I thought it'd be a good idea to take Elijah to the park and just spend some time the three of us. I'm thankful for moments spent out in creation because being cooped up in a house can really make you forget how big God is. There's nothing super special here especially nothing that hasn't been written and talked about before but just watching the lake go on and on and not being able to see where it ends from where I was standing was really humbling. He's so big and I know I'm guilty of still putting limits on Him even when I've experienced this part of Him countless times. To just get out and see everything for the beauty and vastness of the Lord...

That's Jesus.

I know that a huge part of the way we act towards hardships has a lot to do with choosing joy and being grateful. Just another moment this month that Jesus has showed up in the mundane, everyday that is my life right now and proved He's hanging out with me. Staying with my mom for a couple of weeks is of course stressful as we search for an apartment but it's also so refreshing. My mama did our laundry and has been making us yummy dinners each night. That's just the way of a mom in my opinion. I know I would do the same thing if my kids were living with us for a while. I know she's tired and definitely still mourning over the loss of my dad and adjusting to her life as a widow but still she manages to go the extra mile for us. It's just another act of serving that blesses my heart from someone I love.

That's Jesus.

I posted a little snippet on Instagram/Facebook of my sister showing up on Sunday but I wanted to go into more detail for this post so you could really know how good and sweet God is just by the sister He gave me. After we moved all of our stuff into storage in Dallas we stopped for a quick bite to eat before we headed to my mom's house ( a little over an hour away). My sister called me right when Elijah was acting up at the restaurant so I was distracted and really short with her. I felt bad after we hung up knowing that she was just trying to be cheerful for me. It's this season, y'all. It's got me thirty different kinds of cray. About ten minutes after we arrived at my moms I heard the front door open and there was Charlotte. She walked in and told me she thought she would come cheer me up on a stressful day. She hugged me and of course I cried and didn't let go of her for quite a while. It was already 5pm so I knew she could only stay a couple of hours before she had to make the trip back home since she had to work the next day. But she came any way. She came for me. And like she does with Elijah, she brought Abigail a little gift for her one day nursery. We didn't do anything special. We played many rounds of Hangman on the chalkboard she just bought for me and talked about how this year is her year of Promise.

I really didn't deserve her kindness after the way I acted on the phone but she can always see right through me. She didn't take it personally and she just loved me through it and I love her so much for that.

That's Jesus.

Even though I'm late on these posts again this particular post for day 3 is one I've been excited about writing. Kaleb and I went to a worship and ministry night at our new church on Saturday. I went with heaviness which sometimes can be the best way to go to things like that because you go with expectancy. My expectancy was so far from what Jesus actually showed me. Isn't that always the way? I'm not sure if the guy sitting in front of us is a member of the church or was just visiting with his friends but he really floored me with his worship. He was crippled I could tell but I'm not sure specifically what was wrong with him. He stumbled in with a cane and sat down for the first song. There was a very beautiful moment where the man leading worship just stopped playing. I think there needs to be more silent moments like that during nights like these. It was silent for a several moments and the sweet crippled guy got up and walked up and down the aisle speaking in his own love language to the Lord. When the music started back up again he was dancing for Jesus and praying. My face got hot as I watched him and I teared up as I knew it couldn't be easy for him to do that without his cane. It was a beautiful picture of all I have to be thankful but also for what worship should look like even when it's hard. The funny thing was it didn't even look difficult for him. He danced and sang and prayed with such ease that I felt embarrassed for not going after the Lord the way I should have been.

I walked in those doors wanting healing and answers and for God to speak to me but He gave me so much more-He just showed me what being truly surrendered to Him looks like. I couldn't have anticipated that.

That's Jesus.

Elijah has had sleep issues since he was about four months old. He's had seasons of sleeping in his crib on his own, taking great naps, putting himself to sleep, etc. But majority of the time we're like all of the other parents at 3am letting their toddler come into their bed because it's easier than fighting them to go back into their own. It's a routine now, honestly. I don't even notice it as I roll over and tell Kaleb that Elijah is crying. It's the same thing every night:

Go get Elijah from his bed-put him into ours
Go get his fan-plug it in our room
Grab his pillow-put it on our bed
Soothe him back to sleep-crash

And then every morning when Kaleb wakes up around 6am to get ready for work I roll out of bed, pee (as is the pregnant lady way), and go back to sleep on his side. I've noticed it every morning but for some reason this morning it stood out to me even more-Elijah was almost practically on Kaleb's pillow. I had to scoot him over to my side to finally squeeze in on Kaleb's. It's amazing what my husband tolerates all night long. He sacrifices his sleep so that Elijah and I are comfortable. The tiny amount of room he has makes me wonder how he doesn't fall off the bed most nights. It doesn't at all surprise me though, this is who Kaleb is. He sacrifices everything all the time. I know this is basically in the handbook of marriage but I can attest that their aren't many husbands who actually follow through with this sacred act of dying to their own time, money, and energy so their loved ones can have a great life.

He came home early from work today and helped me pack up the rest of the apartment. He didn't once ask for a moment of rest which would have been his right seeing as he works all day throughout the week. He just packed and joked with me. Strategizing our next box of dishes, washing the ones that were still in the sink, wrapping them up once they were dry, and then stacking that box on top of the mountain of other ones in our living room. He wears Elijah and keeps him entertained during Abby's appointments so that the doctors can focus on me and her. He picks up the annoying every day essentials like diapers and gallons of water even when he just got out of rush hour traffic. He slides into bed tired and worn out, counting the hours before Elijah wakes up again and still offers Abigail and I some prayer and snuggle time. His sacrificial love is the most beautiful kind of love I've ever had the chance of knowing.

That's Jesus.

I vowed last year that I would participate this year in the 31 days of writing challenge. To learn more about it and even sign up to do it yourself just go here. I have every reason to not accept this challenge this year but more than just expanding my writing and going deeper on one topic I'm also seeing this as an opportunity to slow down and really see Jesus in the mundane for 31 consecutive days. I'm not sure if I'll make it to be honest. I might make it to day 10 or day 18 and fall completely behind or I might complete this thing in perfect accordance with October. I think I'm a little crazy accepting such a challenge when I'm wading through the junk currently going on but maybe it's just crazy enough that it will work.



Elijah is always doing something new or saying new phrases and words that I'm honestly not sure where he picked them up. The other day he was watching me play Candy Crush and said "RAINBOW MAMA!!!" I don't think I've ever told him what a rainbow looked like or showed him a picture of one so I have no idea how he knew. Probably all of the random Netflix shows he watches. Another weird thing he has been doing lately is crossing his arms across his chest and exclaiming-"I scared! I scared!"At first I would brush it off but he does it so much lately that I started thinking it was a good opportunity to pray with him. When he would say it I would ask him if he wanted to pray about it so he wasn't scared anymore. He would say okay and climb up on the couch so he could sit next to me. I placed my hand on his back and prayed for the Lord to take away his fear. Obviously he's two so he would say amen and then not long after that exclaim that he was scared again but the point I was trying to show him was that you can pray when you're scared. God doesn't give us a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7) and even though he doesn't quite understand it right now I want to instill that in him. In the deepest part of his heart where he will hide his fear as young boy one day I want him to remember praying with me on the couch to not be afraid.



Kids preach, y'all. They really do. Most lessons from God that I learn come from something happening with Elijah so of course this was no different. We got some scary news about Abigail yesterday (hence why this first post is late). I will definitely share more once we know for sure what's going on but for now we have to get some tests done and I'm terrified. I'm so terrified. There is already a giant mountain in front of us with trying to move that this mountain now seems like too much. As I typed that I could hear the verse "This mountain will be thrown into the midst of the sea." My version of scared is obviously very different from Elijah's version but the answer is still the same. Pray the fear away. God is so much bigger than a diagnosis or a problem. He's so much bigger than these mountains. Part of me knows the Truth of who He is and another part is still just so scared. So, I'll pray. I'll keep praying until that fear turns to peace. I'll pray until God's healing hand moves over my womb. I'll do it because Elijah is reminding me that fear has no place in our life.

That's Jesus.