Christmas 2009

John and I, sitting down to a delicious dinner. John and my mom were super helpful in getting dinner on the table. I had some contractions that afternoon, which when were over, made me need a little nap.

Mom and Jerry- they also brought my neice, Asheley (below)- it was fun being the one who got to entertain and host people this year. We loved having them!

We loved getting to have Beau and Kimbo & Haddon over for Christmas! It was so special having the people we do everyday life with join us in celebrating our Savior's birth! We also began telling Haddon about the little one inside my belly that he will soon be best friends with. ;-) They are getting more comforatble with each other everyday. ha!















Hopefully this isn't what Haddon thought about his soon to come playmate!


And lastly: a terrible picture of me, but I thought you all deserved a picture of this huge belly of mine...also needed to make sure we got one in case this baby came.

Now, don't forget to vote for if you think the baby is a boy or girl! :) We will find out soon!

Belly pics!

I'm so sorry that I haven't posted these sooner, I have cleary had them since I am now 30 weeks! I can't believe how fast pregnancy flying by!

25 Weeks

29-30 Weeks

Only 10 weeks left! I am still feeling great, besides the fact that my body is tired a lot more often than normal. The baby moves a lot and I just can't get enough of it. John, on the other hand, thinks I am crazy and wonders when I will get tired of staring at my belly.
I have not been keeping my house quite like I would like but not only has John been helping out lately but I am also just trying to surrender that to the Lord. After a talk with John Henderson I realized what an idol my house, I mean a clean house is to me. I was quite surprised by this realization just because I never thought that would be me. It was good to see and I think it is in part, prep for what the spring will ne like when I go back to finish out the year.

In other updates:
* John and I start birthing class this week.
* John's team won the Krappu Bowl at The annual Village Staff Retreat
* Stewart and Lilly definitely know that a baby is coming- its so wierd
* We are headed to Portland for Thanksgiving- yay for cold weather and really good coffee.
(which by the way I am starting to enjoy, I've always appreciated it and understand all of it, just didn't like it. My husband is very excited about my new found like, not sure if it will be love just yet...)

Best Question of the week!

Question from a Kindergartner (in the hallway):

"Why is your belly so big?"

I told her that a baby is growing in there. She just non-chalantly said "oh" and walked away. So random and hilarious! Also, probably more funny if you knew this child. I don't even teach Kindergarten but know about this little girl!

My thoughtful husband!

A week or so ago my sweet husband came home with this:

My very first Le Creuset! I love it! It looks so pretty sitting out on my stove! He also bought me 2 new stainless steel skillets and a stainless steel sauce pan. I think it was a early baby gift of sorts...He said something about "I just know you want nice stuff to cook with when you stay at home". It was so cute.

All in a Day's Work

First Things first...that picture I promised many of you:
21 WeeksI have been feeling great. I feel so fortunate to have had such a great pregnancy so far. I have been feeling the baby move since week 17, and it is moving more and more everyday. Today I put the remote control on my belly and it totally bounced everytime s/he kicked! The baby is REALLY low, so that was the first time I had even felt him move anywhere near my belly button. John felt the baby for the first time this week, which was fun. He got excited and starting talking to the baby at that point! :)
So far, no cravings really and I've gained 10 pounds so far. My midwife , Jean, says that is perfect for me. She only wants me to gain 20-25 pounds to help ensure that I don't make a baby that is too big for my body. We should start birthing classes soon. Jean holds them at her house and we need to get them done before the holidays are here.
I did have a baby shower in Portland and got lots of great things. I will post about that more once I get it all arranged in the baby's room.


And on to what we did Saturday:
Somebody asked me the other day if I had started "nesting", my response was "not really" but later I realized that I feel like I am always "nesting". It's kind of my nature.
So..nesting or not, We have had our pantry on that infamous list of things to do around the house and we tackled it yesterday.

Here is the before

...minus the food and a few shelves(my sweet, hard-working husband doesn't think about before pics like I do):

The shelves were tragic, sort of painted but very scratch up and dirty looking despite my attemps with bleach!
And the After:
(it looks really skinny because of the way I edited it on here)
We adjusted the shelves that I can actually utilize all the space and walk into the pantry!

Another thing on the list was to swap the bedrooms. That entailed taking the twin bed down and out of the front bedroom and moving the back bedroom into the front one. Did you follow that? So now our back bedroom is empty, just waiting for a crib.

The new guest bedroom.

I will show you more once I get it finished. I still want to paint or re-stain the headboard and unfortunately the treadmill will also go in here, it has to go somewhere. I also need to find a cute bed skirt to match.

The new (but empty) Baby room!

We do have a cute dresser in there that has been in John's family, if it's a boy that dresser will stay in there. If it's a girl we will swap it with the dresser from the guest room. That dress was in my room when I was a little girl!

What rules my heart?

A quick update that I am now 6 months preggo! WHOA! I can't believe it and I will try to get a couple belly pics up here soon. I must also make a disclaimer that none of the below may make sense to you, I hope it does but my mind/heart was mixing these very seeemingly different ideas. It made sense to me but may have come out all jumbled, so sorry if that is the way it seems!


Last Sunday, John Henderson taught at church and he said one of those statements that just sits on you and doesn't go away: "What rules your heart, rules your life". The next night at our home group, of course John Wright calls us out on it and asks us to think about that this week and be ready to tell everyone what rules our life, which means what rules our heart.
I've been haunted by that question all week because I know what rules my heart is definitely not always my Lord and Savior. I am not sure what it is exactly. I know the answer is there, i just need to find it, and that is hard when you don't stop very often to sit and listen to the Lord or think about what is in your heart. I get so busy with the everyday, with what I need right now, with what I feel like doing, with John, the house, with teaching, the list goes on because there is always something to lure me away from sitting quietly before the Lord...
I got up early this morning to clean the house before church. I got ready and had my keys in hand when I just felt a need to stay. Do I start planning my lessons for the week, dust & vacuum, OR sit and listen to the Lord, read & pray?
I ended up opening my computer and went to the first Blog on my list of blogs I like: " A Holy Experience". This woman has a way of writing that just makes me start to think and really causes me to think about the Lord and my heart towards him.
I read her blog from Friday (pause and go read it) and it just pointed out my sin, my lack of consistency that is driven by my selfishness (or pride that causes me to think I deserve whatever it is I want). I choose not to have daily "ceremonies" or rituals because I am weak, I want to choose what I want. I choose not to spend time quietly before the Lord because i want to do something else, that seems more exciting. She is right, the word is true- my flesh is weak, and if I want what, deep down I really want, which is HIM I have to depend on and ask for his strength.
So....maybe what rules my heart is my pride by way of my emotions and feelings...
Do we need to embrace rituals and "ceremony" just like the Lord does everyday when he calls the Sun up and the tide in? Do we need to plead with the Father just like the Lord does on our behalf?

The Village Worship Blog

John and the 2 other worship Pastors, Michael Bleecker and Isaac Wimberly have started a worship blog called Sound Doctorine. It is on the churches website. They have posted some great stuff; I would encourage you to go read. John just did a great 2 part post on how we should be worshipping. It was very encouraging! Check it out here.

Sin Boulders

ok, I hope I am not starting a habit. This is only the 2nd "re-post" I have linked of this ladies blog but I am often moved deeply by the way she writes and more importantly the content of it.
Beau spoke this morning of feeling the weight of "The Fall" and our personal sin. Something I have been working through lately. I love the picture she gives us here and think it is amazing that she lives in the reality of that world. Sometimes I wish that we lived like her family because life seems slower and less full of stuff. Anyhow, click here to read!! Enjoy - and add her to your blogroll!

Do you want to be your idols?

I really felt prompted to open my Bible and read all of Psalm 115 after Matt referred to it last night. He was just referring to verse 1,

"Not to us, Oh Lord, Not to us, but to your name give glory; for the sake of your steadfast love and faithfulness"

Sounds encouraging, right. I always want to give glory to his name, right? In theory I do. But in my day to day actions do I? I think that is why I love that scripture and song so much because I am trying to convince myself that I do, my mind is recognizing that I really do want to but it also sees the discrepancy between my heart's desires and what my flesh acts out on. Keep reading...

Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
⁵They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
⁶They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
⁷They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
⁸ Those who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them.


Wow! I will become like my idols! If I keep making idols of myself, my husband, perfectionism, family, home, etc I will become like them- no voice to speak, no eyes to see miracles, to see the spirit work, no ears to hear the spirit, no way to 'feel' or walk out the freedoms I have in the Lord, no ears to hear wisdom and learn, no "sound" to sing and give praises to the Lord. That weight hit me last night. I don't want to be dead, I want life, freedom- not to be lifeless!

This was a beautiful weight for me because for so long I have had a hard time really knowing what my sin was therefore I couldn't recognize the daily grace that the Lord generously gives to me, nor was I accepting it when I did know that I needed it.

Several months ago, maybe a year, I began asking the Lord to show me my sin**, because I didn't see it but knew it was there. He opened my eyes and my heart and I felt like last night was just a culmination of this. I read the Psalms and just felt heavy. Then we sang "Grace Greater than Our Sin". The two go hand in hand. I have to have His grace because I am up a creek with out it (to put it lightly). That song just brought me to tears. It is His grace that He is showing me my sin, and it is His grace that forgives that same sin. It's His grace that separates me from my sin, he literally removes my sin from me. John taught me about expiation a few months ago and it was enlightening! Not only did the cross provide propitiation which is where the wrath that I deserve it put on someone else (Jesus) but the cross also provided expiation, where my sin is taken away from me, removed forever! Thank you, our Great God!


** I grew up where sin was some big moral failure, some big easy to see struggle or sin- so it has taken so many years to really see my sin, day to day, maybe not what the world would see as sin but things that the Lord constantly calls out- pride,selfishness, dishonor, disprespect,etc...

The Seedbed

I was given the link to this blog for another reason but when I went I found this post. I am not a huge poetry person but this was incredibly moving and challenging to me. For some reason the Lord has given me a heart for the family unit and each part within that unit. I feel that our society has diminished the weight and importance of parenting.
I think she has given us a glimpse of what it should, what the Lord intends it to be and puts some meaning back into it. It is a huge job and holds way more weight than this society allows it. Click here to read! Take your time and even re-read it- I just loved it.

learning new things

So tonight has been a night of learning for me...which is giving my husband a lot of entertainment! Two things I learned tonight:

1. Wrestling isn't real, its all choreographed. Who knew?
2. The White House isn't the Capitol Building. (I am a little embarrassed that I didn't know this)
I feel like I might fail one of those Jay Leno "Jay Walking" segments.

Please comment and let me know if you knew these things.

We are going to D.C. in August with some friends so hopefully I will come away much smarter, I am teaching 2nd graders after all.

Is God Green? and Earth Hour

Is God Green?

This Friday is an event that our church (my hubby) has been working on for awhile and I am very excited about it. It is called "Is God Green" and we will be hearing from Dr. Timothy Pierce about how to think Christianly about the environment.

Earth Hour

Also, to make the weekend even more green, I am looking forward to participating in Earth Hour on Saturday night in which everyone turns their lights out at 8:30 local time. For those of you who are teachers there are also some worksheets available online.

Hope you all will join me in both events!!

Spring Break is over

random photo I took awhile back.

Well, I don't really even know what to post about but really wanted a new post on the blog. Maybe I should ask John to start posting...
Well, spring break is over. Sad day! Technically, I guess I don't go back to work until tomorrow but reality proves that I go back to work today. Yes, I do my lesson plans on Sundays. So, I just settled in at Jupiter House with my latte ( that I am not supposed to be drinking) and I need to start my lesson planning for the week.
This was my first spring break as a teacher and I really feel like it is such a tease! Maybe its that the weather has been so beautiful but it feels like summer. So, like I told someone this morning and I was half joking, spring break just leaves me angry. I am so ready for summer but I have 2 months of teaching left. And maybe me just saying all that reveals alot about my heart and the state of its contentment, or lack of! I saw on itunes that Josh Patterson recently preached on contentment, I really need to listen to it!
In other news, we are going to paint the laundry room soon! We were set to do it yesterday but John was starting to get sick, he didn't though- thanks to Influenza, a natural medicine! So hopefully we will get to that next weekend and I will post pics.
We also have bought several plants lately. I have decided that I love plants. They are so beautiful and add so much to a room! My latest purchase was 3 different succulents, I love succulents! I will post pics of them soon- they look so good!

Hopeful Doctrines- Take 2...

You may have noticed that I have deleted part of this post. I decided to edit it because I may have said too much in the previous post. I am so sorry if I made anyone feel betrayed or hurt by what I said.
I do still want to share The following which was found on John Pipers blog recently, I found it very encouraging especially when I find myself doubting!


J. Gresham Machen, one of the great proclaimers and defenders of the Christian faith in the early 20th century, went through a season of fearful doubt on his way to solid confidence. Remarkably, it was his mother who spoke one of the decisive words of rescue. He tells the story:

The question is not merely whether we can rest in our faith, but whether we can rest in the doubt that is the necessary alternative of faith. We pass sometimes through periods of very low spiritual vitality. The wonderful gospel which formerly seemed to be so glorious comes to seem almost like an idle tale. Hosts of objections arise in our minds; the whole unseen world recedes in the dim distance, and we think for the moment that we have relinquished the Christian hope....

My mother [spoke to me] in those dark hours when the lamp burned dim, when I thought that faith was gone and shipwreck had been made of my soul. “Christ,” she used to say, “keeps firmer hold on us than we keep on him.”

My mother’s word meant...that salvation by faith does not mean that we are saved because we keep ourselves at every moment in an ideally perfect attitude of confidence in Christ. No, we are saved because having once been united to Christ by faith, we are his forever. Calvinism is a very comforting doctrine indeed. Without its comfort, I think I should have perished long ago in the castle of Giant Despair. (J. Gresham Machen: Selected Shorter Writings, 561)

Culture and Theology

Friday night we attended The Village's Culture and Theology Event: Jesus and Politics. It was amazing. The open question time created great dialogue and it was often a little tense. I so appreciate that our church is willing to talk about where we are in this world and the issues that we face. Dr. Darrell Bock was the speaker, check out his blog here.

A first...

So, quick story:
John and I went to Costco today to do some grocery shopping. There was a guy there selling those "Little Giant" ladders, you know Costco always has companies in there selling their own product. Well, John and I walk by and the guy looks at me and asks "Are you grown?" I responded: "Yes." What else do I say. He just laughed after I answered. I was so taken back, mostly because I had never been asked that question before but partly because that is kind of a rude question to ask. Don't you think? Did he think I was a dwarf, or did he think I was young? It was just a weird question! Now, I got over what I thought to be a tiny bit rude but for the rest of the afternoon was just plain shocked that someone would ask someone that. I wish now, that I would have told him that I was 9 or something. I don't know what he would have thought then but...it might have been funnier for us to answer that way.

Update

Well, I am going to make a quick update...mainly so I don't have to see that same last post everytime I click out blog.
*John and I spent the last week and 1/2 in Portland. It was cold and snowy but we had a great time with little things scheduled. We hung out with a few friends but mostly relaxed, celebrated Johns birthday and saw family!
*John turned 30! We had a big party for him at the house Saturday night- thanks to Kimbo, Lyn, Diane and Emily it was a success!
*My brother had their second baby- Madison Grace. I heard she is adorable!
* I head back to school today- I am seriously struggling with this, I loved not working over the break and so I probably should go spend some time with the Lord and pray about being content where He has me...
This should be an exciting semester, it should go by really fast and I think that I will be working less than last semester- yay! ( which hopefully means more blogging!)