I've been...

I haven't had much time to write over the past week or so, but in a effort to be a better blogger, I thought I'd keep y'all caught up on my life.

So I've been...

reading: Romans

listening to: Chris Rice, Peace Like A River: The Hymns Project

watching: Madagascar, Harry thinks he is Alex the Lion

enjoying: constant baby motion, she is so active

feeling: better, definitely more good days than bad

craving: hot dogs with French's yellow mustard, in normal life I consume neither of those things

fretting about: my son's behavior

learning: great child training principles, the Ted Tripp series at Resurgence is AMAZING!

debating: girl names, why can't we just find one we both love? Here's the current list: Claudia, Naomi, Genevieve, Juliette. Recently booted: Elisabeth, Violet and sadly, Lola.

keeping busy with: nesting big time... thrown out tons of junk, painted lots of walls and made my honey move lots of furniture

encouraged by: God's work in our church. The leadership group has been meeting regularly to go over a fantastic series called "From Embers to a Flame" and there is such an expectancy among us.

praying for: Abby, a sweet little girl adopted from the same orphanage as Harrison, who is fighting for her life in a battle with Leukemia.

overwhelmed by: the sheer volume of work Tim and I need to do before this baby comes! We need at least 12 good weekends where we are free to work, we have have about 4. I have NO IDEA how we will get it all done and keep up with all our commitments.

leaving for: Florida on Wednesday! I am taking Harrison to see his grandparents for a week. Tim will fly in for the weekend. (Pray I can enjoy the break and not spend the whole time fretting about what we are not getting done at home.)


I could expound on so many of these topics, but for now this post will have to do. Hopefully, there will be plenty of free time for posting by the pool (complete with virgin dacquiri) in just a few days! :) A girl can dream, right?

The first time ever I saw...

We had a big scare with our baby about a month ago.  We had a detailed sonogram and found out she had an echogenic bowel.  This basically means the babies intestines were glowing on the screen and this is considered a marker for Down's Syndrome and Cystic Fibrosis.  I initially broke down sobbing to one of my dearest friends, but after 20 minutes of that, my dear husband came home and brought me back to reality.  God has never let us down before, and He will equip us for whatever He calls us to.  As we talked, I realized that this baby is our miracle; medically she should not exist, but here she is.  And so when God gives you a miracle, it is not for you to question the details.  She is our miracle baby and we will take her however He has sent her to us. Gratefully! 

I saw a specialist a few days later, who confirmed the echogenic bowel and ran a lot of blood work.  We did not want an amniocentesis, due to the risk if miscarriage, so we were hoping the blood tests would give us the clues we needed.  The good news was the specialist could finally get a look at her girly bits and confirm the babies sex for us.  (She had been shyer in all previous sonos.)  

It would take 2 weeks to get all the blood work back, but in the end, they showed that her chances of having either Down's or CF were very, very low.  

Tuesday I went for a follow up with the specialist.  He told me the brightness had faded and given that fact, plus the test results, I should just put the matter out of my head.  And since I was there with goop all over my belly, he was nice enough to switch over to 4D and let me take a look at my beautiful little girl. To see her face, her movements, I can't even describe how amazing it was.  

She would only give us profile pics, but I thought I'd share a couple...  

Snow day!

Harry finally had a chance today to play in the snow.  There really has been no good snow in Maryland since he has been home.  We got a few inches at the end of January, but we were in Florida and missed it completely. 

  

His grandparents gave him his very own snow-shovel for Christmas

this year, and he so loves the opportunity to be Daddy's helper. He has shoveled paths all over our yard.  It is so cute and how determined he is. In most places, the snow comes up to the middle of his little thighs and still he tromps through shoveling his paths "for Daddy!"  Here he is in the path he cleared up to his play house.

Having a little taste...

And protesting the suggestion of lunch...

Some Thoughts on Lent

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me."

John 17:20 -23

The Lenten season began this week. Lent is a precious time in the church calendar, a time of repentance, prayer and fasting before the Lord. For many years, I did not understand Lent and the season passed unnoticed by me. I felt that in each believer's life there were seasons when God drew us to repentance, prayer and fasting. Why should the calendar tell us when to do this? For me, the answer to this question, is the very reason now I so appreciate the season. Lent is both a corporate and personal time. When an individual member of the body of Christ lays aside earthly pleasures to seek the Lord, it is a precious thing. But when the Body of Christ moves in unison toward a common purpose, we are accomplishing the will of God, unity. And when the common purpose under which we unify is repentance, our God is sure to respond.

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14

I see so many areas where repentance is needful and I am desperate to see His healing from sin manifest in my own life, in my family, in my local church and in the Body of Christ as a whole. I am so grateful that healing and forgiveness have been assured through Christ and I eagerly wait to see the Lord move in the coming weeks.