Cora Delight

In case you missed it on Facebook, we found out last week that we are having another precious baby girl!! Both Brian's and my heart are truly delighted by this gift from God. Brian's response (as he was trying to keep Ruby entertained) at the 'private part' of the ultrasound was, "Another girl! Ruby you get a SISTER!"

I think it was during our pregnancy with Ruby that Brian and I consciously decided that children are a blessing from the Lord. Not only sons, and not only daughters. Children are a blessing - God's gift to us. Realizing this, we decided that we need to no have preferences on the genders of our babies. Each baby is a gift, each baby is a life. What an incredible thing! Why set ourself up for disappointment if our baby isn't the gender that we had hoped for?

Since we found out about Cora, we have been amazed by the responses we have gotten from a lot of friends. "Oh, so will you try next time for a boy?" or "Poor Brian." or "Oh....... well you want more, right? Maybe you'll get a boy later." WHAT?!?!? This has been quite bothersome to both Brian and I. I respond graciously, but in my mind I'm thinking, "Our DAUGHTERS are a blessing!!! There is nothing wrong with having more than one girl!!!!" I wouldn't say it is hurtful to hear these things, but it is really shocking, especially to hear from Christian friends who know what the Bible says about children. Ok, end rant.

The more that the reality is setting in that in 4ish months we will have a sweet baby girl in our arms is so pleasing. Her name couldn't be much more fitting. I get butterflies in my stomach day dreaming about what she will look like. Will she have more or less hair than Ruby? Will she also have green eyes (like Ruby), or blue (like dad), or brown (like mom)? Will she be as big as Ruby or smaller? Or bigger? How will her birth go? I am so thrilled to discover each and every one of these things.

Praise you, Jesus! I pray that this little girl would grow healthy and ready to meet us in about 4 months. I pray now that you would be working on her heart. Lord, with Ruby and Cora both, I plead that you would draw them to yourself. Jesus, give them the desire to spend their lives with you, here and into eternity. Help Brian and I to train them well, in spite of our short comings. I love you so much.

He Provides

Over the past week or so I have been in awe of how the Lord has used people to provide for us. I was amazed during my pregnancy with Ruby at how generous people were. I was loaned maternity clothes, given loads of baby girl clothes, given a crib, given a dresser, given a changing table, and SO much more.

We are at a stage in life where we do not have much extra money to buy a lot of fun / unnecessary things. I do not want to sound like I am complaining, though. We are abundantly blessed, even with a modest income. We have enough to get by, absolutely, and we are debt free (except a mortgage), and have savings. Even though there's not a ton of extra each month, we are learning to be wise with the money we do have, so we aren't just treading water. {SO thankful for Dave Ramsey.}

Anyway, I have been almost brought to tears over this past week with how above and beyond blessed we are. I've been given TONS of maternity clothes this time around. So much so, that I almost get overwhelmed with all my clothing options each day. :) That's a good problem for this changing body of mine!

I made a trip to Albany last week to pick up a box of maternity clothes from a gal who is done having babies now. I picked through and chose a bunch of tops, and ended up with a packed full box. As if that wasn't wonderful enough, she gave me a semi heavy duty sling that has an adjustable shoulder strap. I wanted one of these!!! She wanted it out of her house, so mine it is! Then she told me she had a double stroller in the garage, and really wanted to get that off of her hands. I will be honest, at first I was hesitant. I had just started a registry online, and registered for a beautiful, heavy duty, double jogging stroller. I had a prideful moment.

When she told me it was passed down to her, I thought about that beautiful brand new stroller I had found online. I told her I would take it, but had every intention of giving it to Mother Goose Resale or Goodwill. The day after I got home, I took the stroller out of my car. I thought I'd take it out back and clean it up and just "see" what I thought about it. The more I scrubbed, the more I began to like this old double stroller. I scrubbed and scrubbed and this thought ran through my head probably dozens of times, "God not only provides our needs, but sometimes He provides our wants." I kept telling myself this. After spending time cleaning out this stroller and really checking my heart along the way, I had an epiphany. I needed to overcome my pride! I needed to drop the whole idea of a brand new jogging stroller, when this perfectly good used stroller was given to me. This might seem kind of ridiculous to most of you, but it was truly a heart checking experience for me. God gave me a stroller. I don't technically NEED a double stroller. I could use our other one, and a front pack for the baby. Or many other combinations, I'm sure.

Even typing this I am watery-eyed. God uses the most normal, even simple, experiences to change our hearts. He does this to me a lot. While I am emotional that my heart even needed to be checked in a situation like that, I am so thankful that it was. I have learned that there is no need in the Christian life to be attached to any THING. While I know that in my head, the Lord is always reminding me about this in my heart. There are a number of things that I have grown attached to (though probably wouldn't have admitted it at the time) that the Lord needed to teach my to let go of and trust Him.

Thank you, Jesus for always changing my stubborn, prideful heart. Help me continually to learn to have an open hand with things, and to not be attached to anything but You. Teach me to be generous like You are generous.

Thank you, wonderful friends and family, who have been a vessel of blessing from the Lord to me. Each and everything that has been handed down to me has touched my heart deeply.