You will gain life

Lately Ive been worrying alot (Im sure too much) about everything going on with our govt and whatnot. There's fear of losing our freedoms as Americans and as Christians. With issues being snuck into bills that could threaten our way of life as Christians here in America, I can't help but worry. With the news out recently that the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child is being urged to be pushed through Im out and out scared for our future. What does the future hold for our families and the raising of our children? But, as a Christian I'm told not to worry....numerous times in fact. This is easier read than practiced Im afraid. How wonderful to serve the God I do!

It seems as though we're getting closer and closer to the end. But as a Christian the end is actually the beginning for us. I have such a hope in my future that while the world seems to be falling apart and turning upside down all around me....I have been given hope! While I relish the hope we've been given through Jesus, my flesh is afraid. We've been given some insight through scripture what the end of this world will be like. Scary stuff! But I know I have not been given a spirit of fear. I try and remember the 1st century church and the awful things they endured while refusing to deny their faith. Is our future on this earth similar to that of the first church and the countless others who lost their lives due to their unyielding faith in past centuries? Will my family and I have a strong enough faith to withstand what might happen if we dont deny our faith?

All these thoughts have been rushing through my head lately. Where do we draw the line and stop fighting against what is bound to happen? But then I am reminded had the church of America stood up for truth in the past 50 or so odd years we might not be as far gone in America as we are today. Not having as many battles to fight for truth as we're faced with right now. So, if we still have generations left on this earth....shouldn't we be fighting tooth and nail to save what is left of Truth in our country and world? Surely we cant just throw in the towel now and let the future suffer for our lack of opposition and willingness to stand for what is right. Right??

Where is the balance though? Where do we say enough is enough...I cant be consumed with this anymore? Where is the balance between being wise to prepare for what is inevitable and over reacting?

I see part of the Church with their eyes wide open, seeing the future for what it is. Preparing our lives (spiritually and physically) for it. Then...there is this other half, still sleeping. Eyes shut tight and not wanting to acknowledge what is obviously taking place right before us. Or, worse yet....encouraging, accepting and being "tolerant" of the evil that is seeping in. Im reminded of the Parable of the Ten Virgins. Some were ready for the bridegroom, others were not. The ones who had prepared ahead of time got to enjoy their bridegroom while the ones who didn't prepare were shut out and excluded. While this talks of salvation I can't help but wonder if it means preparation in other ways as well.

All of that to say that I have been in need of peace about all this. As I was reading my Bible tonight I ran across Luke 21:8-19.

8He replied: "Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and, 'The time is near.' Do not follow them. 9When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away."
10Then he said to them: "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.
12"But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. 13This will result in your being witnesses to them. 14But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 16You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17All men will hate you because of me. 18But not a hair of your head will perish. 19By standing firm you will gain life.

WOW. What a wonderful hope we have. While the end can seem so scary, and so near, we are told not to worry! When I wonder what I would do if worse came to worse and I were to be faced with denying my faith I am told HE will give me words and wisdom! Some will die and we WILL be hated (we see this already starting to happen because of our faith and stance for Truth?) because of our following Jesus but WE WILL NOT PERISH! We wont die!!!! By standing firm we will gain life!!

Thank you Jesus!

What nonsense!

I was reading another blog I follow and she posted a link to this article.
What nonsense!!!!!!! We (Derek and I) have some pretty strong convictions when it comes to our family size (and birth control...or lack thereof) so I know we're not the "norm" even among Christian families. But give me a break!!!! Our world is NOT overpopulated! Countries like Germany, Italy and Sweden are dying populations. The only reason those populations will survive at all with their current birthrates are because of the (muslim) immigrants. (Thats a whole other can of worms....SCARY!!!) Its only going to take 3 generations from now....THREE, for Germans to be the minority in Germany. In other words, in 3 generations Germany will be a muslim populated country out numbering true Germans something like 6 to 1.
Ohhh how I wish I could get into this topic. I guess I will a little bit :)
Can you imagine what the world is going to be like with the muslim population taking over most of Europe. Theyre having, on average, 6 children per family to the less than 2 children per family most European families have. The Europeans cant even maintain their population rate, much less grow it, with birth rates that low. Countries like Italy and Japan (yes I realize thats not a Euro nation) are actually paying their citizens to have children bc their population is a rapidly aging one. Japan is sending workers home early in hopes theyll have sex to help along their population problem. Read this! Italy offers hefty incentives to have MORE children bc their population is aging so quickly. And they still cant get people to have more kids!
Although I cant say I blame most of Europe. I dont know I would want to be raising my kids in a country that has ratified the UN Rights of a Child either.
If you really think our population is out of control I suggest you watch Demographic Winter if you want the truth about our worlds population. It used to be on google videos to watch for free, but I cant find it there anymore. You can search youtube but you mostly get the trailers. Anyways, what a bunch of nonsense it is to try and tell us our world is overpopulated!!!!
I'll just continue to trust and obey God when He told us to "be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth".

The week in review

I dont know why I haven't posted in the past week. Theres been many "blog-worthy" things to post about. Lets see....where to start.

Well, a week ago either Weds or Thursday night we decided to night wean Audrey. (Finally!) Actually it wasn't such a conscious decision but just kinda happened. I had a really bad cold Weds and was very achy so Derek delt with her every time she woke up in the middle of the night that night. She actually did ok and didnt give him too hard of a time not getting to nurse. So, we thought...we should continue this. The second night she did just fine too. She only fussed a little when he would pick her up and tell her mommy wasnt gonna feed her. She whined but eventually took the paci. By the third night she was only waking like 2 times!!!! Now, this may seem like a lot to some people. I always have to laugh inside when people complain about their 3 or 4 month old waking up once a night. Im thinking I have a 15 month old who still wakes up, on average, about 5 times a night. Anyways, I cant tell you how good I started feeling. It was amazing the difference I felt!!! By the end of last week she was down to either just waking once and Thursday night she SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!! I rolled over and looked at the clock and it said 5:45.....I was like omgosh! I nudged Derek and said "look at the clock...now look at the bed...its empty!!!!!!" I could hardly contain myself, lol. I cant believe we've waited this long to night wean...considering how easy it was!

Friday night the girls went to a "real" babysitter for the first time. Theyve only ever been watched by family or really close family friends (Crystal and Shannon). Well, we wanted to go to dinner with my parents, kids free, so we asked some girls from our homeschool group and church to babysit. They do it at their house, so their mom is there to supervise....just in case. They have 2 younger sisters, one a year older than Ava (and in Ava's Sunday school class and co-op classes at our homeschool group) and the other a year older than Elisa (and in Elisa's class during our Bible study class) so that was an added bonus. The girls had soooooooooo much fun. It was more of a playdate for them then going to a babysitters house, lol. Audrey seemed to do great too. She had 2 young teenage girls playing with her the whole time, so I dont know how she couldnt have! Anyways, it was just overall a great success, and blessing!

We (FINALLY!!!!) got a new digital camera!!!! Now I can start documenting life again. And posting for everyone to see!!! Saturday I finally found some maternity jeans that fit decently, so that is GREAT! I got 2 new maternity skirts too....which Im excited to wear once the weather warms up!

Another great thing was that God totally showed Himself faithful about something I had been praying about. I dont want to get into it but the answer was very obvious and just reminded me how much He really does love and care about us!!!!!

I guess I should post some pictures :)

Tuesday/Weds we had an ice storm. This was one of those mornings. It was pretty creepy looking. All the trees were iced and there was major fog.

Random picture of the girls. Ignore the messy table.

We never buy chips or junk food for the most part around here. My mom sent these chips home with us one day. Audrey and I had been snacking on them while Elisa and Ava played upstairs. I told Audrey they were all gone and to go throw the can away. She walked it to the trash can but had her own plans. This is what I found..... The camera doesn't do it justice. There were chip crumbs everywhere. She was determined to get every crumb possible out of that can!

This is my toothless girl. She has lost 3 top teeth since the begining of Dec. The last 2 were about a week too late for her to sing "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth". Too bad, would have been cute!

Here is Ava's silly face. Notice the red ring around her mouth? Its her kool-ade ring. But...we dont drink kool-ade around here. Shes been licking her lips and now we're waiting for her to stop and for this ring to go away!!

And here is a picture of me at 17 weeks 1 day. Im making a crazy face :)

16 weeks

Well Im 16 weeks pregnant so I thought it was about time to post a belly shot. This is the first one Ive taken of this pregnancy *gasp*. Ava insisted she show her growing belly as well. LOL And Audrey soon joined in all the fun....see her head? Its not a very good picture so I'll have to take a better shot before the week is over. But here it is.....

Here are some other random pics. Since I havent posted pictures in waaay too long. We still dont have a digi cam, but that should change here in the next week or two. (woohoo!) For now, these were all taken with my MIL camera, which for the record has nothing on my old camera. I miss my camera........

Here we are playing Rock Band at Dereks sisters house. Yes, I know. Awful music selection for little ears. We went with the least offensive songs for Elisa to play along with. She actually got really good by the end. Notice Audrey singing with me :)

Concentrating on those drum notes.........

Girls being silly with Daddy.Here is a random Christmas picture of Audrey. I was trying really hard to get her in her pretty dress. She would not stay still! I thought the ornaments would keep her occupied...no such luck. Where did my mad photography studio skillz go???? I never got a picture of all 3 in their dresses...bad bad mommy. I still might take them somewhere to get "Chrsitmas pics" done :)

Praying for a.......

boy? Well I have to admit it’s not much of a secret that we would LOVE to be blessed with a little boy. Obviously, another girl would be a blessing too but how about just a healthy baby regardless of the gender? Seems like an obvious prayer request of a parent, right?
For whatever reason in the past week I have ran across 2 separate blogs, through separate ways, that are chronicling or chronicled the journey of sick babies. Last week I began reading the story of little Audrey Caroline. As I sat reading her story I was consumed with the ugly cry. I don’t know if it hit so hard because we have our own little Audrey or if it was because I’m pregnant or because they already had three girls. For whatever reason, the blog just struck a chord with me.
The faith of Angie and her husband (who happens to be one of the singers in Selah) is just amazing! What a strong woman of God she is! Reading through this story made me stop and think….shouldn’t that be our main prayer? Just a healthy baby? And shouldn’t we be just as overjoyed with another girl as we would be with a boy? Judge me if you want but I can’t honestly say that there wouldn’t be disappointment if we go next month and are told that it’s another girl. (Talk about being brutally honest here!) We didn’t plan (or rather allow God to plan) this baby in hopes it would be a boy….just having a boy would be a big perk! I am settled that it may be another girl, what else can I do!?, so I am constantly praying that the Lord prepares our hearts for whatever the gender of this new blessing turns out to be. I am also praying, more than before, for a healthy baby. I’m praying for a heart of excitement (I would have eventually gotten to this point) as soon as the sonographer tells us the gender of this baby. And a heart of gratitude was we find out I’m carrying a healthy baby.
I just assume that I’ll have healthy pregnancies, I’ve never had otherwise. But, when I run across these blogs of other families who have had to experience the pain of something not being perfect, reality hits.
So, if you have some extra time check out the faith of this family in the blog


.

And please please begin keeping this family and little Harper in your prayers.

I had to come back today and ad this blog to the list of babies to pray for. I cant imagine what they are going through.

Seriously!?

So I just had to get on here and blog about this.
We were on our way home tonight and hit a giant raccoon. We couldnt swerve bc it came out of nowhere and going 70 miles an hour, didnt want to take a chance of flipping off the road. So anyways, we hit a raccoon. It was a loud thud that we could feel under the car. Keep in mind this is a Yukon XL (GMC version of a Suburban) so its not like its close to the ground. We get home and Derek starts examing the car. It knocked a flood light out, busted off some under panning and busted part of the underneath part of the bumper. SERIOUSLY!?!?! This is almost getting comical the random things that keep happening! Derek went back to search for the underpanning in hopes that it hasnt been hit and smashed to pieces and can be repaired. We shall see........

Faith builders!

I just had to take a minute and blog about our day. God has shown Himself faithful and its so exciting to see Him work! First, Thursday night was family skate night at the local skating rink. Derek wasnt feeling well and Audrey has had a nasty croup type cough at night (only at night) so they stayed home. That left me, Elisa and Ava. We rarely get out just the 3 of us so they found this time to be a treat. The girls skated for a little bit and then we grabbed some food for dinner. I planned on getting them something for dinner at the skating rink but the place only took cash! No credit/debit cards. Weird. I rarely carry cash bc I always use my debit card. Fortunately they let me write a check. So, I had no cash for the snack bar. They were troopers and held out until after skating to eat.
We stopped at Taco Bell on the way home. I was craving a Taco Pizza (mmmmm....sounds good right now!). The girls normally hate Taco Bell and Derek isnt a big fan either. So I normally just go by myself. That night though I convinced the girls to try some nachos. They love nachos at home when I make them, so I figured they'd like Taco Bells too. They did :)
Well Friday night (they ate the nachos Thursday night) Ava woke up crying that her head, legs and arms were aching. I knew what that meant. She was having a dairy reaction to the cheese on the nachos. Dumb me! I cant handle that cheese so of course she couldnt! Let me tell you though....the body aches from a dairy reaction are some of the most painful things Ive ever experienced. This coming from a mom who's had 3 c-sections mind you! So, I knew she was in alot of pain. I gave her some tylenol and rubbed her legs until she fell back to sleep. ALl of this at like 3 in the morning.
She woke up Sat with a headache still. We just assumed it was from the reaction but we could tell she wasnt feeling well. We ran some errands and went to my parents house for a late Christmas with one of my brothers (well everyone was there) and his family. They had been visiting my sister in laws family in Roatan Hondoras. (aka tropical paradise!) Anyways, while we were there she started running a fever. Poor baby. Elisa, who freaks out about anyone being sick immidiatley started panicing about getting sick. So, my parents prayed for Ava to recover quickly and everyone else to be protected from sickness. That put Elisa at peace. Ava went to bed with a fever and.....woke up 100% completely well!!! Praise God!!We still stayed home from church though bc we didnt want to risk taking any sick germs and sharing them throughout kids church and the nursery. Good thing we can listen to the sermon online bc I HATE missing our Pastors teachings. It was so neat to discuss with Elisa how God answered her prayers so quickly! What a way to help build a little girls faith! !
Then, Derek had been looking online this week into more about his car and the timing belt issues. He ran across a website that instructed something to be aligned differently then the manual they had been going by did. So, today he and his dad worked on his car...again. Derek and I have been praying about the car situation everynight. We are fine with only 1 car. Its almost been nice not being able to get out of the house everyday and been forced to stay home. But the gas in a Yukon XL vs the gas in a little Mazda protege is a big difference!!! Plus we hated putting 80+ miles a day on our new car. So, after realigning whatever part it was...the car started!!!! Praise God!!! They drove it around a little and it seems to be doing fine. The only problem that remains is the oil light keeps coming on, eventhough Derek just changed the oil. Other than that...his car works!!! Thank you Lord!!
And...to top the day off I did our taxes. This is the first yr that we've ever gotten a W-2 back before Jan 31st, so that was a nice surprise when Derek brought it home last week. We always E-file through Turbo Tax bc it walks me through everything and bc our returns are really basic. Well, our return is MORE than I had anticipated!!! YAY!!!!! Sooooo excited about that! We can pay down some debt PLUS add on our master bedroom and bath like we were planning. We were just going to get the bed/bath started but now we'll be able to almost complete it, if not completely finish it before the baby gets here!! Im so excited!!!
Once we find out what we're having (Feb 11th) I can decide how Im gonna do the nursery (our exsisting bedroom). It will be sooooo nice to have 3 bedrooms instead of just 2. Audrey and the new baby will share a room together until Audrey is big enough to move into the "girls room" upstairs with big sisters. The baby will be in our room at first anyways. Well I guess I should get real...the baby will be in our room at least the first year, lol. Maybe this time around we'll get a baby who will sleep through the night quickly and wont rely on nursing to fall back to sleep. I wont be holding my breath though :)
Well, so much for this being short! I just had to update about all that God has done for us this weekend!!