Setting up Stones

As I am making my way through Genesis while reading my One Year Bible(see earlier Post) I continue to see a common thread of setting up a stone. Abraham did this many times as the Lord led him from place to place he would set up a stone at a specific spot to worship God. I've noticed many other figures in Genesis doing this..and in our Sunday School lesson from 1 Samuel 7 this past Sunday, Samuel led the people in doing this as well. 1 Samuel 7:12 says, Samuel then took a stone and place it between Mizpah and Jeshanah and named it Ebenezer (meaning, the Stone of Help) for he said, "The Lord has certainly helped us!" I guess we still do the same thing as a country today. We set up a landmark or monument to mark something special or noteworthy. We do this so we never forget the sacrifice or event that occurred.

I feel led to figuratively "set up some stones!" Stones of remembrance of what and how the Lord has worked in my life. As the next two weeks lead up to my Samuel's third birthday in heaven...I want to remember the Lord's real and active work in my life during this difficult time in our lives. I hope as this encourages me it will encourage you as you see the Lord working in the events of your life as well.

Stone #1- In September of 2005 I was about 12 or more weeks pregnant and I began to have a strong desire to move to a different area of our town. We lived very close to my school and I knew once I had the baby I'd be staying at home. I really wanted to live closer to our church, friends and my family....about 25 minutes away. Within a weekend we decided we'd move and that same weekend we got boxes and began to pack up our house. This is crazy to me now because we had no clue when we'd move...didn't even have our house on the market...and I began to pack. Those of you who know me well know that I like to be organized and have everything ready..especially with a baby coming! I think I was hoping we could move quick and get settled before March when I was due. I think this was just the Lord's prompting in our lives to get us to where we needed to be. So I began packing!

Stone #2-After our diagnosis in November, I was told that they had no clue if I'd go to term with the baby or if I'd go early. So I began weekly doctor visits as they monitored my progress. As a teacher, I had to find a certified substitute who could do my maternity leave. I had no clue if I'd need them in Nov., Dec., or even up until March. The Lord worked this all out as a friend and certified teacher who I knew, who is a missionary to another country was planning to be home during this time. She was looking for some work while she was back in the states. She had taught in our district and her twin sister taught at my school. The Lord just worked it all out. She is also a believer and I felt confident that I was leaving my students in good hands while I was out for six weeks of leave.

Stone #3- As I said earlier that I like to be prepared and organized I also knew I needed to have lesson plans as together as I could prior to being out of school. Again this was hard because I had no clue when I'd be out. I'd always planned about a week ahead but the week prior to going into labor I began to get so stressed about my lesson plans. So much time and a lot to cover and I ultimately was responsible for what my class learned. My stress led me to plan a good chunk of the next six weeks. I worked endlessly that week and thought at least I was ahead on plans (this was the end of Jan. and I was not due until March). The Lord knew that when I left school on that Fri. that I would not return for 6 weeks. He knew I needed to be prepared. All my preparation and talk got my mom a little stressed and she thought...maybe she'd better plan ahead too. That week she planned the entire next week for her K-5 class! Isn't God Good! (Oh and would you know that I even planned my math lessons completely to the day that I would return to school...this still blows my mind)!

Stone #4- So when we received our baby's initial diagnosis of either multi-cystic dysplastic kidneys or either polycystic kidneys...we were sent to a specialist for a second opinion. They confirmed the previous diagnosis and sent me back to my regular OB. Here is the problem...my regular OB only delivers at one hospital and they all agreed that I'd need to be delivered at a different hospital (this one is more specialized, is where our genetic counselor was and would preform a free autopsy). So I continued to see my regular OB while knowing that when I went to deliver I'd be being seen by completely different doctors, hospital system, etc. This always stressed me a little and the week prior to labor (God was really moving this week..or should I say moving me to action) I called and asked to be referred to the other practice. This did create some problems as I will explain later but ultimately got me to where we needed to be.

Stone#5- The Wed. night before I began going into labor I asked a friend at church if he would sing at our baby's funeral. Granted this was January and I still thought we had a while to plan our baby's funeral, but I knew I probably should go ahead and ask. He asked me if I'd given up on God...that God could still do a miracle! I knew this and hadn't given up but also knew in my heart that this was part of God's path for us to walk. For me it was taking more faith to believe and trust God that He knew what He was doing in this situation than to have faith that He could heal my child. I was able to tell him the song we wanted him to sing and he agreed. Once again God was working the details and I didn't even realize.

Stone #6- In December, a few days prior to Christmas we went to look at a home. We were still planning on moving and had seen a few but nothing had worked out. This was at the height of the market and home prices where we were moving were higher than we'd expected. So we found this house in the neighborhood we were looking in. It came on the market and we saw it the next day. It was an absolute disaster. I mean you couldn't walk through it. There were piles and piles of trash, food everywhere, holes in the walls, ripped up flooring...I mean it was disgusting (smells and all). And we said, "We'll take it!" What was I thinking. I was giving up my fairly new, clean, organized house for this...and I wanted it! Let's just say the Lord gave us a vision of what it "could be." We put a contract on it and although there were difficulties (needless to say these people had some issues they were dealing with) we finally got our contract accepted and our closing day was set for...January 31, 2006.

Stone #7- So we had our house to sale..YIKES! No problem...Kevin's parents decided they wanted to buy it. Problem solved! So we sold it without a realtor... directly to his parents...and we set the closing for the same day! Thank you Lord.

Stone #8- On Thursday of that week a few things began to happen to my body and I began to realize that my time of being pregnant was coming to an end. I had prayed and prayed that the Lord would take our baby early. As the weeks passed and he grew.. the lack of room and lack of fluid just left him no room to move. I didn't want him(at that time we didn't know if we were having a girl or boy) to suffer. The weeks of waiting were also so hard on me! I felt like I couldn't breath or move on with life until I walked through this trial. So at almost 33 weeks I began to go into labor. The Lord had answered this prayer.

I will stop here. There are many many more stones to be set...but I'll save that for another day! Do you see how evident it is that in the midst of our trial the Lord completely had his hand on us..guiding and directing our path.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5, 7 "What a wonderful God we have- He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the source of every mercy, and the one who so wonderfully comforts and strengthens us in our hardships and trails. And why does he do this? So that when others are troubled, needing our sympathy and encouragement, we can pass on to them this same help and comfort God has given us. You can be sure that the more we undergo sufferings for Christ, the more he will shower us with His comfort and encouragement. But in our trouble God has comforted us-and this, too, to help you; to show you from our personal experience how God will tenderly comfort you when you undergo these same sufferings. He will give yo the strength to endure."

Upwards Saturday!

This morning it was back to Upwards Basketball and Cheerleading! This is a program that our church has been doing now for probably 8-9 years...can't believe it's been that long! The Lord has truly blessed this program and I enjoy watching the games, the social aspect, as well as the snack bar (awesome french fries) ! Kev coaches K-5 basketball every year and I coached cheerleading for several years and assisted with basketball one year...might I add that I really know nothing about either! Good thing I had people who did helping me! At this season of my life I just get to be a fan. E is at an impossible stage to coach right now. I look forward to being more involved again one day. If you have kids this age in our town this is this place to be on Sat! It is fun to see how packed our church gets every Sat. We now have teamed with another church due to the need for another facility and it is awesome to see 2 churches packed each week. Each game has a testimony/gospel presentation at half-time which is the main reason of Upwards...to share Christ with those in our community who do not yet know Him. The first time I was able to share my testimony there was almost three years ago. I remember it so clearly because it was the Sat. before I had Samuel. I was so nervous as I stood in front ALL those people with my little index cards SHAKING...telling them of the state in which I was in. It is amazing how the Lord works things out because if I had been scheduled even one week later I would not have been there and most likely emotionally wouldn't have been up to it. The Lord knew the schedule for Samuel's arrival and had it all planned out. It's funny because now three years later I still have parents at Upwards games who speak to me, ask about e, and remember my testimony that day.

This time of year always seems to be a little hard for us. It all seems to be such a reminder of that time in our lives...even Upwards games! I have been thinking over this past week of sharing with you more about Samuel's story and more specifically the unique details of the way the Lord worked out every little, specific detail during that difficult time. I hope as it encourages me to trust the Lord with His timing that it will encourage you as you also trust the Lord. So more on that later. For now I think I may catch a nap while I have the chance!

15 months today!

My little e is 15 months today. Time is really flying. I thought I'd use this post to document things about her today...I do realize that no one other than me, my mom and maybe my sis are interested in her accomplishments thus far! but, I love reading back through my blog after a few months and see what she was doing when..and I am also a proud mommy!

All about E

She likes to eat chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, some pastas, dried apples, bananas, peaches, milk and apple juice...and well... that's about it! I have a picky little thing on my hands. I did get her to eat a little Fettucine Alfredo with peas in it last night so maybe we are making progress. She loves her papa...in fact she wakes up saying Papa and goes to sleep saying papa. When we pull up to their house she starts acting like she is gonna hyperventilate because she is so excited. She also loves her Mimi too and is no longer calling her Day-Day but can now say Mimi. E loves her books and her babies. She is already quite a little mommy. She now is feeding her babies with her play spoon, bowl and bottles. She can ride on her car all over the house all by herself. She likes to put her baby, bear, bunny and Leapfrog Caterpillar all in her chair...and then she tries to sit in it. She loves to wave and blow kisses to strangers at Wal-mart. She loves people and never really meets a stranger. E loves her passy and her bunny! These are her favorite two things (we really should have ended the passy thing a long time ago...I think we are in trouble now). She also loves to snuggle in mommy and daddy's bed...why did we ever start this??? Oh yea because we love to snuggle with her just as much! We are trying to limit this to only first thing in the mornings...most days! Over the holidays she loved our "Bee"...."Tree!" Now she is noticing trees everywhere and exclaims..."A Bee, A Bee, A Bee!" She can hear an airplane coming from miles away..and always lets me know. We have been working on animal sounds for quite a while as we talk and read her books. To no avail they all say "ha, ha, ha" to her (which is what she has always done for the monkey.) She has learned recently that the sheep says "baaa" and she says "aaaa" when she gets the book that the sheep is in. I have been doing baby sign language with her since she was small and she never really got it except all done. (I had decided that I must surely be doing something wrong!) Well, over the past month she is now signing please, thank-you, and more. It is so cute and I love making her use her manners.

Okay so I know that is way more than anyone wanted to know but I am amazed everyday by this little girl. She has brought more joy to me and fills each day with busyness, fun and learning. I still have not gotten over the fact that she is mine and I get to keep her. Thank you Lord for my e!

The One Year Bible?

So I am not much on new year's resolutions...follow-through has never been my strong point! So this is not a resolution...we'll call it a goal. I was in the Christian bookstore this past week and saw the One Year Bible. I decided to make this my goal for 2009. The truth is I seem to flounder aimlessly with my bible study without some sort of bible study or plan! I usually read a little Psalms...maybe a little Corinthians...and catch a little Genesis on the way out as I pray the Lord would show me something! Needless to say my effort is not what it should be...oh how I fall short. So I today is Jan. 7th and I am loving reading it! Do you find that the more you read and study...the desire to also increases? I always find that this is the case for me. The one I got begins in Genesis and Matthew and also has Psalms and Proverbs each day. The reading amount is very do-able (how in the world do you spell do-able??) So I am praying the Lord will open my eyes to His truths as I plunge ahead and for faithfulness to daily read His word.

I also got the NLT. I know everyone has different opinions on translations..but this one is simple for me to understand. I also like the NIV as well.

Daddy needs a new Christmas Shirt!

2008

2007
Or maybe this will be a new tradition! Look how little my e was last year! So sad how fast they grow!

Giants??

Last night as we were channel surfing we came across Facing the Giants. This is a Christian movie that came out in late 2006 (i think). It is a Christian movie..opposed to a big budget Hollywood movie...and has a powerful message! The acting was pretty good too I think! I remember watching this movie in the theater not long after it came out...with the majority of our church..I think they sold the tickets. I think I cried..or maybe I should say sobbed through most of the movie. It isn't even a "tear-jerker" and I am not even an easy crier! It spoke so clearly to my heart unlike any movie ever has. It was such an encouragement to Kevin and I. So we stayed up until midnight watching it again last night...and once again it was just what I needed!

Some of my favorite lines from the movie...

"We'll praise Him when we win and we'll still praise Him when we lose!" (Don't we all need to really get that message!)

"If he never gives us a baby...will you still love HIM?"

"I ask you, what is impossible for God?"

"I am just preparing for rain!" (watch the movie and you'll understand)

Have you seen it? What did you think?

New Year and recap of 2008

January

May

July

October

November

Happy New Year. Is it really 2009 already! Seems like it's got to still be like 2003...where do the years go? I am excited about starting a new year and honestly a bit nervous too. I love putting my Christmas tree up early...this year we did right before thanksgiving in hopes to "enjoy it a little longer"...but as soon as Christmas is over I am ready to take it all down! I mean... like the next day! I am always ready to clean up the house, de clutter holiday stuff, buy a new planner for the upcoming year and get on with it!

2008 was a great year for us as a family. We celebrated lots of first with our precious little one. It is crazy how little she was last Jan. and now I have a toddler! January brought us trying out the exersauser for the first time learning to roll...what a big accomplishment that felt like. February brought beginning yummy rice cereal and going to the church nursery. March began in a flur..with Jess and Ryan's beautiful wedding and e's first Easter! April brought sitting up and scooting..and beautiful spring days. May brought crawling, giving hi-fives and first ear infections. June meant first beach visits and the neighborhood pool. July brought real food for e and pulling up on everything! In August we celebrated daddy's 30th and a trip to Fripp Island. In September we traveled to Atlanta for a wedding and e learned to walk. October began with e's first birthday party and ended with the cutest cow I'd ever seen. November brought Thankfulness for the new life God had given our family. December brought heartache and joy all mingled together. What a great and blessed year it has been.