Thursday, February 25, 2010

Thankful Thursday


Psalm 100:4
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give
thanks to him and praise his name.

Sometimes it's hard to be thankful. Sometimes it's so easy to dwell on all that is wrong in our lives and lose sight of all of our blessings. I've been that way this week. One of the things I love about Thankful Thursday is that it makes me more aware of all the ways the Lord has blessed me. So first offf, I'm thankful for Thankful Thursdays!

Even though the Teen is really struggling with school right now, and we've had some attitude problems as well, we seem to be reaching a resolution. Part of that may include some homeschooling, which I admit I was at first feeling like I wasn't ready for. God has changed my heart and opened some doors that I never thought possible. Mr K has been fabulous as we have wrestled through these things together. He is such a good step-dad and I am so glad I'm not facing these tough times alone.

I know I say this every week now, but once again I am so thankful for this precious life growing in me, especially after THE BIG SCARE earlier this week.

What are you thankful for this week? For more Thankful Thursday check out these other great blogs:

Welcome to the Nuthouse

Grace Alone



Tuesday, February 23, 2010

The Scariest Thing and the Sweetest Sound

The scariest thing:


I had a scare this week which gave me an even greater appreciation for every precious moment this baby grows within me.

Yesterday afternoon I discovered I was spotting; not a lot of blood, but after two miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy it was definitely NOT what I wanted to see. I would love to say I responded with complete faith, but I didn’t. I freaked out. I cried. I prayed. I begged God to save my baby.

By then it was too late to call the clinic, so I called the after-hours number and the on call OB said to stay down and see what happened; there was not much they could do at this point (12 weeks).

My husband prayed with me and I slowly accepted that all I could do was wait on the Lord.

On the way to the clinic early this afternoon there was a preacher on the radio talking about Genesis 1 “Let Us make man in our image, according to Our Likeness.” That really struck me. This tiny little baby is already an image-bearer of God, and surely God already loves this child as I do; or more.

The sweetest sound:

The first thing the OB did was check for a heartbeat, and it was the most wonderful, glorious, reassuring sound in the whole world. Everything was fine; it was just a broken blood vessel.

On the way home I couldn’t help but think of all the times I nearly lost my son while I was still pregnant with him. Yet he’s now a healthy fourteen-year old. And even though I didn’t know the Lord at the time, God had His hand on my Son. He gave me this boy, an image-bearer of God. We have had some really tough times with him lately, and this was such a good reminder to me that he really is a gift from God.

Thank you Lord, for a little blood spotting to remind me of how great and powerful You are.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Thankful Thursday


The Teen has been down with a migraine the last few days and I have had a cold. It has been so nice to have a couple of days at home. I've had time to rest, recharge, and get myself refocused on what is truly important. While it seems strange to be thankful for illness, it really has been a wonderful few days.

The Teen is feeling better and went back to school today and I will be on my way to work after I pick up my inlaws at the airport. Being home for a few days was great, but so is getting back to real life.

I'm so grateful for Ali's post over at An Ordinary Mom on Proverbs and Parenting from yesterday. It was exactly what I needed to hear. What a blessing the blogging community is!

What are you thankful for this week? Check out these other great blogs for more Thankful Thursday posts.



Monday, February 15, 2010

Not Me! Monday

 
 

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

-I am not still tired after sleeping fourteen hours last night. And that was not after a two hour nap yesterday afternoon.

-I have not fed my family fast food or pizza four times in the last week because I'm too tired to cook! Nope, not me!

-I have not completely given up on wearing anything but sweatpants, nor did I wear sweatpants to work everyday last week!

-I have not been living on frozen waffles with powdered sugar and muffins for last week, since nothing else seems to stay down. Nope - it's all fruits and veggies would be best for the baby!

-I did not upload the sermon outline and PowerPoint to the church website on Friday and then forget to make it live. Nor did I decide to sleep in on Sunday only to get to church just before the sermon to find the PowerPoint operator panicking trying to find the slides! I would never do such a thing!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Things Happen For a Reason

Some things are too good not to share (not my writing):


The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned

to their first ministry, to reopen a church

in suburban Brooklyn , arrived in early October

excited about their opportunities When they saw

their church, it was very run down and needed

much work. They set a goal to have everything

done in time to have their first service

on Christmas Eve.


They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls,

painting, etc, and on December 18

were ahead of schedule and just about finished.


On December 19 a terrible tempest - a driving

rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days..


On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church.

His heart sank when he saw that the roof had

leaked, causing a large area of plaster about

20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the

sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about

head high.


 The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor,

and not knowing what else to do but postpone

the Christmas Eve service, headed home.

On the way he noticed that a local business was

having a flea market type sale for charity so he

stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful,

handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth

with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross

embroidered right in the center. It was just

the right size to cover up the hole in the front

wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.

B y this time it had started to snow. An older

woman running from the opposite direction was

trying to catch the bus.. She missed it. The pastor

invited her to wait in the warm church for

the next bus 45 minutes later.



She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor

while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put

up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor

could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and

it covered up the entire problem area.

Then he noticed the woman walking down the center

aisle. Her face was like a sheet.. "Pastor,"

she asked, "where did you get that tablecloth?"

The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check

the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into

it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had

made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria


The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor

told how he had just gotten the Tablecloth. The

woman explained that before the war she and

her husband were well-to-do people in Austria ..



When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave.

Her husband was going to follow her the next week.

He was captured, sent to prison and never saw her

husband or her home again.


The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth;

but she made the pastor keep it for the church.

The pastor insisted on driving her home, that

was the least he could do.. She lived on the other

side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn

for the day for a housecleaning job.


What a wonderful service they had on Christmas

Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the

spirit were great. At the end of the service, the

pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door

and many said that they would return.



One older man, whom the pastor recognized

from the neighborhood continued to sit in one of the

pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he

wasn't leaving.

The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on

the front wall because it was identical to one

that his wife had made years ago when

they lived in Austria before the war and how

could there be two tablecloths so much alike.


He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he

forced his wife to flee for her safety and he was

supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and

put in a prison.. He never saw his wife or his home

again all the 35 years in between.


The pastor asked him if he would allow him to

take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten

Island and to the same house where the pastor

had taken the woman three days earlier.

He helped the man climb the three flights of

stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on

the door and he saw the greatest Christmas

reunion he could ever imagine.


True Story - submitted by Pastor Rob Reid

Who says God does not work in mysterious ways..


Thursday, February 11, 2010

Thankful Thursday


Colossians 2:6,7



So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

This week my mother made me a whole batch of my favorite muffins that I have been totally craving lately.


It really made me stop and reflect on how no matter how old we get, our mothers are still mom's to us. They still love us, and care for us, and worry about us, and pray for us.

I'm so thankful to have such a great mom who loves and cares for me so deeply.

What are you thankful for this week? Check out these great blogs for more thankfulness.







Monday, February 8, 2010

It's Real!

It's really, really real!

I heard the babies heartbeat this afternoon.

Psalm 139:13 For you created my inmost being;


you knit me together in my mother's womb.

Not Me!










Last Monday I woke up thinking it strange that I did not have even one Not Me! to blog about. What a perfectly well-behaved week, or so I thought. What followed the rest of the day proved to be quite a Not Me! Monday after all.


I started by calling the OB clinic because the anti-nausea prescription they gave me on Thursday had given me a migraine by Friday. After not having taken it all weekend I was right back to constant nausea and vomiting. I thought surely they could just call in a new prescription for something else. Really, it seemed simple enough.


After a brief conversation with the crabbiest, rudest OB nurse I had ever had the displeasure of speaking with, I was on my way to the clinic for an appointment.


- I was not muttering under my breath the whole way about the crabby nurse, or the stupid appointment which was sure to result in another $22 copay. 

-I was not disgusted by the idiots in the always-overfull parking ramp who park crooked and take up two parking spaces.

-I was not annoyed that I had to park all the way on the top level while it was snowing to go to the appointment, all the while cursing HP and the crabby nurse who was making me come in.

-I stopped down at the lab first for a UA, as told to do by the aforementioned nurse and was as polite as could be not rude to the person at check in who had no idea why I was there. Apparently Nurse Crabby forgot to tell them I was coming.

-I was not completely fed up by the time a reached the OB clinic.

-Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised to learn there was no copy.


-It was not me who started to fell slightly guilty about being so mad when a very kind nurse discovered I had lost another 2 lbs over the weekend.

-I was not eating my angry words when the Dr came in with the results from the UA which showed I was dehydrated and had protein in my urine.

-I did not feel even the slightest bit silly for being so upset about having to see the Dr as they set me up for IV fluids that I was in great need of.


-I was not feeling guilty for cursing HP when Nurse Friendly brought me extra blankets and a heating pad.

-The guilt did not immediately dissolve back into irritation when Nurse Friendly couldn't find a vein for the IV and had to get Nurse Crabby to help.

-The part where Nurse Crabby blew up one of my veins, leaving an ugly black and blue mark on my hand, didn't bother me at all. Nope, I was perfectly calm. And I did not feel the least bit bad when she was very kind and apologetic about it. Nope, I didn't need to feel bad since I was not upset!




-I did not end up having a wonderful nice nap under the extra warm blanket that Nurse-not-quite-so-crabby-as-I-first-thought brought me.

-I did not end up feeling even worse about my own crabbiness when Nurse Crabby-now-Nurse Friendly II stopped in all afternoon being very kind and compassionate.


All in all, I felt much better after the afternoon on the IV and I left HP glad that was my clinic and even appreciating both nurses.




At least up until the part where I got to my car that was buried in snow!




Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.




Thursday, February 4, 2010

Thankful Thursday

Colossians 2:6,7



So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.


 After two very rough weeks or morning sickness and dehydration, I am so thankful to have had two days of feeling like myself again. Working full days, keeping food down, and sleeping at night...things I took for granted until recently!  Which also makes me thankful for modern medicine and all the amazing things that can be done. And, I am so thankful for a wonderful job that gives me the flexibility to just stay home when I need to.


I am very proud of the Teen who made it to the section finals for Nordic Ski this year...Way to go T!

I had a wonderful time at Bible study with my mother and father-in-law last night. What a blessing to be able to study God's Word with them.


What are you thankful for this week? Check out these great blogs for more thankfulness.