She Said YES!

Caleb's Baptism

Psalm 33:11

 Psalm 33:11 - 

The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations.

We Love Our Church

 

 This weekend our church celebrated its 30th anniversary!  This morning's service was God-honoring and reminiscent.  And we all got new shirts (and cake pops, yum!) as a fun bonus!  

After lots of years, memories, friends, and familiarity at our former church, the transition to this new one a year and a half ago was not super easy for me (although everyone else in the fam was just fine!).  But the Lord showed His faithfulness (like He always does) to me in so many ways and He brought me to a place of true thankfulness for our new church home.  It's a warm and safe place where His Word is foundational, His name is worshiped, and His people are loving and compassionate.  We feel cared for and our kids are cared for.   Everything there is done with such intentionality and thought.  We have learned and grown and made new and wonderful friends.  I'm so excited to continue living life with people there, and I am beyond grateful for the children's and youth ministries in place that will help us in guiding our kiddos to love Jesus and to be more like Him.  While we haven't been there for much of its 30 year existence, we have been there long enough to know that we really do love our church!

2!

I will never forget the first several weeks of my pregnancy with Norah.  Just days after finding out we were expecting a baby I experienced bleeding that rivaled the amount I had experienced during my miscarriages.  An ultrasound the next day revealed a very large SCH (subchorionic hematoma - or in other words, a blood clot in my uterus) that threatened my tiny sesame seed baby's life.  I'll never forget seeing that first ultrasound...the blood clot was at least 3x the size of my little baby's sac; it was an ominous and scary foreigner in my otherwise healthy womb.  I was prescribed bed rest, as in I was only supposed to get up to use the bathroom.  With 3 other small children to take care of, ages 4, 2 and 1, I couldn't fathom what that was going to look like.

Regular ultrasounds over the next few weeks showed our sweet babe growing, with a strong heartbeat.  I remember thinking how unfair it was that this little baby could stop developing and possibly die, despite her perfectness, because of the stupid clot that wouldn't go away.  We hunkered down, and accepted gracious offers from my parents to care for the kids, and friends to provide us with meals.  Those first few weeks seemed like an eternity to me.  It was too early to feel the baby move, so I had no regular affirmation that she was okay.  It was hard and sad.

I was so encouraged during those weeks by friends who prayed for our baby.  They prayed with such faith and confidence that God was going to take away this clot and that our little one would thrive.  I remember leaning on their prayers because I was shamefully afraid to pray with such faith and confidence.  

My doctor was always encouraging, but realistic.  The baby is doing great!  But that clot...

Then the day came.  She turned on the screen and I was confused.  What was I looking at?  Where was the clot?  As much as I hated it, it had become a familiar presence at each appointment.  An acquaintance for sure, but certainly not a friend.  She moved the wand around and I watched her face closely.  She had tears in her eyes.  She looked at me and said "it's gone."  She cried and of course I did as well.

I was so confused.  This thing was so large and everything I had read on the Internet assured me that because of its size, it would definitely be there until at least 20 weeks, if I didn't miscarry before that point.  It couldn't have just disappeared. 

But it had, and the joy I experienced that day was unlike anything I had before.  I remember just knowing that God did this.  Despite statistics and my lack-of-faith, He brought my womb from dangerous to safe in an against-the-odds amount of time.

My doctor told me to take it easy for the next few days (just for good measure), but there was really no reason to be overly cautious any more.  So I got down from the table, and slowly walked out of the office with such a burden lifted.

As the rest of my pregnancy progressed, I tended to forget about how it started.  Jumping back into life with 3 young and energetic kids will do that to a person!  As each week progressed, I became a little bit more numb to the fear and sadness I experienced at the beginning.  When Norah was born, some friends reminded me how amazing it was to see her here and healthy, after such a scary beginning...and while it was hard to believe that the life of the plump and healthy baby I now held in my arms was once so incredibly fragile, I am thankful for the reminder of God's protection over her.

It's now 2 years later.  That tiny sesame seed baby is now a super sweet and equally feisty toddler.



 Birthday buddies, now and then.

Norah is by far our most affectionate kid, and sometimes I wonder if that is because her speech has been so delayed...she doesn't talk much, but she has more hugs and kisses and snuggles than you can count each day.  Around these parts, she is known for her "drive-by" hugs.  At random times, she will stop what she is doing, run over to give you a hug or a kiss, and then go back to whatever she was up to.  Her kisses are emphatic, with the "muuuaaahhh" sound accentuated, and she likes to eat her meals while holding my or Kris' hand.  Seriously, guys, this girl is pure love.

She is adding more words to her spoken vocab regularly, and while her speech therapist is confident she'll catch up soon and be just fine in the long run, her services will continue.  She loves her Wednesday morning sessions with Mrs. M. and it's a fun change of pace for us all. 

Birthday donut!

Norah loves animals, babies, and dolls.  She loves to dance and her favorite song right now is "This old man...".  She loves fruit and yogurt and will eat her veggies when necessary. ;)  She loves her big brothers and sister, and thinks they are hilarious.   She loves to sit in your lap and read books.  she loves to be silly and make us laugh. 

Unintentional matching stripes!

Our girl didn't totally understand everything birthday related, although she did add a new word to her vocab this week - cake!





 

 

 



Happy birthday to our baby girl!  We love you oh so much, Norah Jane, and we are so thankful that God protected you from that icky blood clot way back when so that we could meet you and celebrate these special days with you!

Psalm 23:1-6

Psalm 23:1-6

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,  He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul, He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I should fear no evil,
For you are with me;
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.



AMEN!

Ephesians 6:10

The kids' current memory verse for church is Ephesians 6:10 - Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.  I just love hearing Shane recite it!

Sparks Verses

Caleb is in his first year of Sparks at AWANA.  Sparks is for Kindergartners, 1st graders and 2nd graders.  And, it is a lot different than Cubbies!  One of the big differences is that they can recite as many memorized verses each week as they can, as opposed to just 1 verse per week in Cubbies.  There is no required amount of recitation each week, though we were encouraged to do at least 1 verse per week, to keep on track.  

I went in to the year a little overwhelmed, I have to say.  Between his school work, Sparks work, work for Sunday church, and just life, I didn't know how it would all fit in! 

Thankfully, though, we've managed to establish a pretty decent routine, and I have been pleasantly surprised with Caleb's motivation in many areas - his Sparks memory verses being one of those areas!  

Granted, a lot of his motivation comes from getting his "jewels"...but whatever works.  The kid has memorized so many verses this year so far, I am amazed!

For this week, Caleb was determined to memorize 6 verses.  To be honest, I didn't think he could do it (shame on Mom!)...it just seemed like a lot.  But he was determined, so we have been practicing a lot.  At the beginning of the year, I had purchased a CD with all of the verses in his book set to music...and that helps a ton.  We listen to it a lot in the car, and he often sings a verse to remember how it goes.  I'm so glad my friend Jill told me about this CD, as I know that having them to music will help them "stick" for longer!

Anyway, here is a quick video of the 6 verses that Caleb has memorized in 1 short week.  It's so great to see him set his mind to something, and then accomplish it!

Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth.
Genesis 1:31 - And God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good.
Romans 3:23 - All have sinned, and fall short of the Glory of God.
John 17:17 - Sanctify them by your truth; your Word is truth.
1 Peter 1:25 - But the Word of the Lord endures forever.
John 14:6 - Jesus said to him, I am the Way and the Truth and the Life, and no one comes to the Father except through me.

Colossians 5:2

The monthly memory verse for January:

Colossians 5:2

"Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth."

As we were practicing this today, Caleb said..."This means that we need to think about God.  And Heaven."   Couldn't have said it better myself...

Gotta love Meredith's excitement.   And her pronunciation of things ("fings") and earth ("irf")! 

1 John 4:14(b)

The monthly memory verse for December:

1 John 4:14(b)

"The Father (God) has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world."

It's a little hard to hear Meredith, but if you listen closely, you'll hear that she got most of it all by herself!

Caleb likes to make up songs, and his creations oftentimes incorporate truths he's learned from the Bible.  His latest "song" goes something like this....

Christmas is oooooover,

But Jesus is still with us.....

I hope that our little ones never forget the truth of John 4:14, that God sent His Son to be our Savior.  

And that even when Christmas is over (or, oooooover), He is still with us.

Counting Down to Christmas - A Journey to Jesus

 Last year, I put together this "Christmas Countdown" as a way to go through the Christmas story with the kids and to help all of us over here keep our hearts and minds on the reason we make such a big deal out of this time of year!

 This year, we'll be using this same countdown, though I added another little element to it (inspiration from here).  The kids helped create a "game board" (more like a sticker chart) that will serve as a simple visual of the events leading up to Jesus' birth. 

While there's a lot you could do with this, we are keeping it simple once again.  Each day, after we read that day's part of the Christmas story, the kids will put a sticker in one of the squares...as each day goes on, and another square is filled, the kids will see how each event brings us closer to Jesus' birth.

Last night, as Caleb was explaining to Kris how this "game" will work, he used the term "journey" to describe what Mary & Joseph were doing.  So, we'll call this "A Journey to Jesus".

We'll start at the top, near the picture of Joseph and still-pregnant Mary riding on the donkey.  As the kids were coloring today, we talked about why Mary's belly was so big ("because there's a baby in her tummy!") and who that baby was ("Jesus!").

On Christmas Day, we will end at the picture of Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus.  Oh - and the sheep.  Can't forget about him.

Hopefully, as each day of December ticks by, the kids will have a greater understanding and appreciation of all that led up to the birth of Christ.  Most importantly, we hope that their hearts are softened to the great love that God has for them.