Anticipation

"Are we going to have the baby today mom?"
"How do you feel Angie?"
"Anything???"

Everyone is excited around here these days. Waiting in anticipation for the "arrival" of the new baby! It is an exciting time in a family's life. Very personal & special... not many other experiences in life truly compare to the birth of another member of a family or the "birth of a son or daughter." For the woman giving birth it is an especially intimate, introspective time. Every woman prepares for birth differently of course. Some are relaxed and have an aire of confidence there body will do what its supposed to and so they just go with the flow calmly, some women are so wound up nervous they feel scared...the unknowing of what will happen over comes them... they don't like not being in control. Then there is the in between crowd... they aren't paranoid or nervous (maybe a little, but thats normal), but they exhibit confidence and emotional stability.
Having giving birth naturally 5 times already, I can say that you don't just "become a pro" like some may think (or say). The anticipation still gets to you a bit... you still have moments of doubt... maybe even moments of fear, but those can all be overcome through Christ who gives us strength. When I was pregnant with my first born, I wanted to be educated so Isaac and I attended prebirth classes, I read as many books on pregnancy and childbirth I could find. To my dismay, I only found 1 good book ("The Christian Woman's Guide to Childbirth" by Debra Evans) that had a strong solid Christian foundation when it came to natural childbirth. Now there are more resources and I have benefited from a few; however, Nothing prepares you more for childbirth than studying the scriptures on the topic. When I was pregnant with my fourth I decided to go through scripture and write out every verse that related to pregnancy or childbirth in the Bible. What the Lord showed me was far greater than what I could have read in any childbirth book.

In Genesis 4:1 Eve gives God the Glory for the birth of her son when she says...."With the Help of the Lord I have brought forth a man."

Eve didn't do it on her own... she is giving Him the glory and praising Him for His part in the creation and birth of a son. How is this missed in Christian Childbirth books? In my mind this is so critical to truly experiencing God in the process.As Christian women we should learn a lessn from Eve. She was the first woman God created, she was the first woman to disobey God and he personally punished her (and all women) with pain in childbirth, but even though that existed... she Glorified and praised him. Was she overwhelmed with the joy of her baby boy? Yes, but she was still very much in pain... she had another son to birth... in between there births she praised God. Shouldn't we do the same?
Now, I am not in any way trying to knock the "Bradley Method" or any other great books out there on Childbirth... ("Ina May Guide to Childbirth" although I do have to warn people about the new age stuff in this book, "Gentle Birth Choices" by Barbara Harper- founder of Waterbirth International and my first midwife when I gave birth to Kelsey under water) all I am saying is in all the preparing we do as women do we get into scripture and rely on God completely? When you are packing your birthing bags and nesting getting every thing "just right" for the arrival of the new baby... do you prepare spiritually for one of the most spiritually, emotionally, physically, and mentally challenging experiences you will ever get the privilege of experiencing.... and prepare to invite the Lord of Lords into your experience?
I have to be honest, I have for many years hesitated in sharing these thoughts with women... not wanting to make people feel judged. I am sharing now b/c until this week I wasn't preparing like I had the other five times. I was distracted by nesting, activities with the other five children, business adventures with my husband, household projects, etc... the list could go on and on. So I began to get anxious last week, feeling unprepared. Not b/c I didn't have my bags packed, b/c I did. Not b/c I didn't read the childbirth books through again, b/c I did. But because I hadn't rested in the strength & peace that comes only from the Lord and being in HIs Word Deeply. For me, I have always given my birth experience to Jesus 100%... all of me. I bring worship music to keep my focus on Him and that He knows more pain than I. Keeping my perspective clear. I have family to be praying over me. I sing during and in between contractions, I pray, I cry out for God to help, He is my focus, the fact the He is giving me this gift of a child is the focus. I am not trying "sleep" through the contractions. I am not trying to have a "painless birth" b/c scripture says we will have pain. Instead I accept it, and I ask Him who is able to help me and give me strength to Glorify Him in those moments. And when I have self doubt... HE is the ONLY one that "brings forth man."
I have been so incredibly blessed to have the Holy Spirit present at every birth, whether in the Hospital or Birth Center, God is not to be put in a box.... he can be everywhere- anywhere! And he wants to be! I have always had the perspective and openness during my labor & delivery to let my light shine before men through the process. God has blessed it ten fold spiritually for me. Each of my children have a "birth song;" a song they were born too. I remember after my longest labor, Drew (my 4th), he was 9lb 7 oz big guy... 16 hours... and I was at 10 cm FOREVER... the nurses linked arms and started singing "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee, God of Glory, Lord of Might" which was the song that was playing when he was born. Who knows if they were Christians or not... they were moved. That birth was at Kaiser Permanente. They experienced God with us... in His Sovereignty & Mercy. I thank God He allowed me to be a light. One nurse had never seen a natural birth before and was so moved she came to see us everyday we were there (very out of the normal). My point is... it is so easy for us to waste our energies "nesting" or getting ready for the baby, but I we putting our energies in the right places. Are we preparing to have music and prayer, are we preparing for this to be an opportunity to witness or to mentor up our daughters (let them come), are preparing for an exciting journey of letting God be in control. Inviting Him to be present and helping you.
I am back, I am confident, not in myself, but in my God b/c He has never let me down. He has always shown up when I needed him most and blessed my marriage and my relationship with my children b/c I have given it to him.

Thank you Lord for allowing me the time I needed, even by going "over due," to get back with you, spiritually prepared for the adventure to come. I am not anxious, but confidant that the baby will come in your timing, which is always perfect, even when we don't understand why. And thank you for showing me why already and speaking to me through your word.

May I Glorify you while I am in Labor... may I "praise you in the storm" and give thanks to you fr you are good in all things. May I call on you to help me and remove my burden through the relief of birth. May I praise you through it all and when my work is done in birth, give me the strength Lord to continue to prepare and give you my days as I raise this son you are girting me with. Let my energy not be in vain, help me to stay the course and stay motivated all the days I am called to raise him for your Kingdom's Work. His birth is one very quick event... help me not to forget to prepare spiritually for the every days of training him up with the same diligence and perseverance. Thank You Jesus, for understanding our pains... and blessing us through suffering by making us stronger. I look forward to this sacred time with you Father in Heaven.
Amen

The Gift of Giving

My good friend, Kristi just posted about how her family has turned average gift giving into something more over Christmas. I was inspired by her willingness to share and love reading her posts and those of other friends when they have such great ideas for traditions that are simple but can be life changing. So I thought I would share what we do every year, though we usually don't tell people. So in the past we struggled with the whole "Santa" controversy.

A few years ago we told the "all" kids the "whole truth." Some of the kids had questions others were confused, some were still too young to care or didn't even know who he was anyway since we didn't focus on him. Isaac and I told them the truth, that Santa was a real man named St. Nicholas and we shared with them this beautifully illustrated book put out by Voice of the Martyrs.

It is the true story about a gentle man's heart for God and how out of love for the Lord he would secretly slip money into poor families homes so their daughters could have a dowry and get married. After reading to the children about who he was and what he did for the people in his community, we were inspired. Not because he was Santa Clause, though some called him that, but because out of a love for the Lord he was spurred on to do good things for people in need. If there is ever a time to do that it is a Christmas. During a season that the worldly culture bombards people into spending... and getting, we should focus on giving in ways that really count or make a difference. Like buying a goat for a family in Africa or paying for a child to go to school for a year through Gospel for Asia, or paying for a new translation of the Bible to be made available in countries that don't have the Word of God of very little of it. To do this all the time, all year is truly a blessing to ones soul. It needs to become part of who we are and I want it to be a part of who my children are when they grow up... for so they have deeds but so their hearts are owned by God. The Bible teaches that a man can not have 2 masters. We can not love money and God at the same time. They best way to not "love" money is to give it away, not to whom ever, but for the Glory of God. My hope and one of motivations behind obeying in this way is that there will be a Legacy of Giving in my children's hearts. That as they grow up remembering how we as a family take a certain sum of money and praying and discussing how it should be used to help others, and then doing it, it will become their habit... which is formed by a transformed heart that is owned by one Master!

Jesus is the reason for the season. So let us give in the name of Jesus!


So here are some practical ideas and resources we have done over the years.
Gift Giving Catalogs:
World Vision
SIM
Gospel for Asia

Voice of the Martyrs has Sudan Action Packs this year. you can go shopping with your kids to buy the certain items on the list for other kids and ship it to VOM and they deliver them to Sudan children. We are doing this for the first time this year.

Another obvious idea is to find out if there is a family in need at your church and anonymously donate money through the church for them or send it in the mail. (Safeway gift cards are a great idea for people you don't know as well, but know they need food)

There are lots of refugee/ missions in cities all across North America... donating to them either financially or through serving is really impactful. We have done Project Angel Tree (a ministry to prisoners and their children), Operation Christmas Child, Youth Guidance Association in the past. All great experiences!

Another local idea is the Pregnancy Resource Center or sponsoring a room at My Father's House (either with another family or as a family)... you can furnish a room, and provide the basics for a room to help get a mother back on her feet. You get to be as involved in their lives as you want and they will allow you to be. This is a huge evangelistic opportunity. We had talked about it last year and need to do it. This is motivating me just writing this! Woo Hoo! Praise God!

I really want to wncourage you because our family has been so blessed during Christmas when the focus is not on us or the selfish desire to get more "stuff." it is great to listen to all the kids, of all ages, come up with ideas of what they want money to go towards. My goal is to encorporate more serving during the holidays as my children get older, but I would love your ideas on what to do that is out in the world, but safe with young kids.


Well these are just a few ideas... remember to go check out Kristi here to see what she is doing this year with Advent and her Jesus Stocking!

I would really enjoy to hear your ideas of things you have done or want to do!

May we a Be a Blessing because we have been so Blessed!

Halloween & the Occult

Hi Beloved,

Here we are again... another fall. Beautiful fall with all its glory. Wonderful bounty, plentiful harvest.... and then sickness and hallo-ween. We are "ween"ed off hallo-ween.

I know that Halloween is a controversial issue for Christians. So in light of the season, I thought I would stick my neck out there and share our convictions on the topic.
Here is our story:
Isaac and I have gone back and forth over the years as to whether or not let the kids dress up and go trick or treating. When we were first married and for years we didn't participate in any type of Halloween traditions, other than going to the pumpkin patch. Once Kelsey was 2 we decided to start having close friends who also don't celebrate it over for games. We would pass on candy with bible verses attached to be a light. But that was the extent. Then a few years ago when Kelsey was 7 and going to a Christian school... we felt pressured into letting the kids dress up and go to the harvest party at school. Then we did our first trick or treating experience.. reluctantly I must say, but still tried to make it fun, for the sake of fun. While the kids liked getting the candy... they all agreed they never wanted to trick or treat again. People and houses were "too scary." It just convinced us more that we didn't want to participate in Halloween. On top of that, because of our health conscious diet... we had to ration the candy and then they forgot about it after a couple of days and didn't desire it anyway. This year our church is having our first Reformation Party... unfortunately we won't be going since we are all too sick with this swine flu.

Since we have been sick we have been listening to audio tapes and watching videos... then good old mom got sick and we went to just videos... then I got sick of our videos and we tried to see if anything was good on TV... I should have known better. There is hardly ever anything healthy for the mind on Television. It is even harder for the Christian when every commercial sells sex, drugs, lingerie (porn), witchcraft, animist ism, homosexuality, cursing, betrayal (adultery), lieing (teenagers to parents/kids to parents/ kids to kids/ wives to husbands/husbands to wives), liberal agenda, birth control (rejecting God's blessings/ not too mention health risks- don't get me started) since I don't see TV very often I was sick of it within a a few minutes and quickly shut it off. Usually if there is something we want to watch we record it and then when we watch it, we fast forward through the commercials. (Usually it is fox news...sometimes 18 kids and counting)... I was just so disgusted. I was shocked by how bad things have gotten... it is so difficult to raise godly righteous children in such a fallen and perverse world. AS Christians we are so easily, tempted into believing falsities... we don't even realize how much of what our core beliefs we molded by the government and there agendas, the media and their agendas. Though this life has been a fallen life since the fall of Adam and Eve, we are living in a different day today then even 15 years ago, 30 years, 60 years ago. It is no wonder that most of the children raised in the christian church of today fall away from their faith by the ages of 19-21. What can we do about it? I suggest for one thing we try with all the strength of the Lord to stand firm, then stand firm, and when we are sick and tired, stand firm more. One way we can stand firm is by standing up for the Lord and standing against what opposes God... witchcraft is one of those that oppose God. If we as Christians do not stand apart and look different how can we be any different... how will our children ever be any different.... if what they see is the same as the culture. We teach our children not by just our words, but more through our actions... what we do as well as what we do not do. I am opposed to participating in Halloween however, we have something more exciting to celebrate on that same day that is worth celebrating. Especially in light of the politically issues endangering our spiritual freedoms today. Oct.31 was first (before Halloween came about) celebrated as All Saints Day... Reformation day!
I suggest we take this opportunity to actively teach our children about the reformation as well the spiritual numbness of society. Teach them about the spiritual battle we are living in and how visible it is in the weeks leading up to this pagan ritualistic holiday. We as Christians are told by God to flee from all evil. We need to flee from this evil as much as possible because it is everywhere.

Recently a respected woman at church sent me an email about Halloween & the Occult. You can read it here to see it. It is a concise article with tons of scripture worth your time.

http://www.teachinghome.com/nlimages/fall_nl.jpg

over all I believe God calls us to be a light to this world, but I don't feel consciously clear by participating in a pagan holiday. That's just me. I haven't for a long time. If you believe the false thinking of pagans who say... "that's not being a light. That makes you look judgemental"... you are taking advice from the world. They are claiming judgemental ism in order to get you to stand down from you faith so they can justify their lack of it. When in reality aren't they judging you for saying "NO." Whatever happened to "JUST SAY NO." We as Christians say yes too often to the world to make them feel comfortable... but then we loose our "saltiness" and the bible says in Matt 5 "You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt looses its saltiness, it is worthless and should be thrown out." I don't want to be salt-less. Do you?

Tell me what you think!


Happy Reformation Day is Oct 31, 2009!

Steps For Life

Thank you to all of you who Sponsored Us today
as we walked in the Steps For Life Walk-a-thon!

With your help we raised $410.00 for the Pregnancy Resource Centers here in Portland, Oregon!

Thank you for partnering with us today!

We were blessed with beautiful weather!
Join me in thanking the Lord for this ministry and pray with me for all those who volunteer so much time to make it possible.
I have to share the saying of the day, which was coined by Megan who is four. "We are saving babies!" "Where are the babies... can we hold them now?"
Out of the mouths of babes...
WE'RE SAVING BABIES TODAY!

I SURE HOPE SO!
Lord bless them!
Lets pray together for our country... for the people to really believe in the sanctity of life and live what they believe!

Thanks again!