Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Update 4 on Doula-hood and Costa Rica

Doula-hood

Over the weekend, I had the priviledge of attending the final birth for my doula certificate.  It was a 3 day process and a great experience for me on this road to doula-hood.  This past week I had a name contest going on facebook.  I will update you soon on the outcome of this and when my certificate arrives!  Very excited to have this complete!!

As always, birth is an amazing process and experience.  Each time I head to the hosptial, I am reminded of my own birth experiences.  Watching a new mom and dad to be and their excitement and emotions, brings me closer to my own husband.  Seeing a baby be born, draws me closer to my own children as well.  It is such a neat experience that I can't even describe it.

Costa Rica

In order to save me some time, I am just going to copy the email update that I sent to some friends and family this moring on Costa Rica.  You may have recieved the email already but I didn't have everyone's email address.  In addition to this info, on Sunday June 5th during the first service, our Costa Rica team will have it's commissioning.  Not sure exactly what this means, but am guessing it will be some prayer and discussion around our upcoming trip. 

I wanted to give you an update on Costa as we prepare to leave in a little over 2 weeks! I want to thank you all for your encouraging words, prayers, offer of help, and contributions towards the trip! They mean so much to me and are very much needed! I was able to raise almost $3000 (including my own contribution) - praise the Lord! This covers my expenses and the surplus of funds will go to the wall building project and other team members who were finding it difficult to raise funds. I am thankful that there doesn't seem to be alot of preparing left so now I can spend my time mentally and prayerfully preparing, getting things ready around home, and spending good quality time with my family!


What will I be doing on the trip? First off, I will be helping with the eye care clinic. We will be heading into a couple of schools and pulling classrooms of children out at a time to have their eyes checked (probably for the first time ever). During their time waiting in line, we will be sharing the gospel with these little children via salvation bracelets that they will construct while in line (with the help of an interpreter). During these days, we are providing a buffet style lunch for the teachers that work there and sharing the gospel with them. We have prepared tote bags for them which will contain some supplies they need to do their jobs better!

Secondly, I am planning the ladies luncheon which will take place that Thursday afternoon (the 16th). It is predicted that around 100 ladies will be there with 3/4's of them being unsaved! We are currently working on a devotion and believe it or not, I am singing a duet which will hopefully minister to the ladies! (Hopefully after hearing me they won't decide to leave!) The song we are singing is Glorious Day (Living He loved Me) by Casting Crowns (see lyrics and listen to song here: http://www.elyrics.net/read/c/casting-crowns-lyrics/glorious-day-(living-he-loved-me)-lyrics.html). I just found out last night that we are also singing the song at church this summer (not sure on the date but possibly July 10th)...and by the way, sweating and feeling sick as I write this (terrified of singing in public).

Lastly, I will be helping with some other things like the teen dinner (serving food mainly) and other items like that. We do have a free day in which I was told we are going zip lining and white water rafting (another terrifying thing for me! - see, the Lord is at work in me).

If I could just ask for some prayers surrounding the trip. They are as follows:

  • Safety - for travels and while there

  • Order and detailed the next couple of weeks as we prepare and while there

  • My emotions as I leave and while gone. I know that I will miss my family terribly. This is the longest I will have been away from my kids and husband at the same time. Give me peace that they are well taken care of and they aren't too sad. Make the time go fast for me so that I don't think about it too much.

  • Courage and a good singing voice. I'll tell you that when I decided to go on this trip, the last thing I thought I would be doing is singing. I use to sing a lot on stage and in competition type settings but I let my fear of it overtake me and I stopped doing it. Over the past couple of years, I felt the Lord calling me back to it but I have been very hesitant and disobedient, because of fear. I know the Lord is asking me to trust Him during this time, but still feeling like "why me?" since honestly there are way better singers out there than I! I am seriously crying as I write this because I am petrified!!!  We have been practicing and it was been going very well.  I am finally believing that I am not tone deaf.  My biggest fear is that I am tone deaf and no one has told me yet!!  But I am thinking in this case since I am singing with someone, she would want me to know!  As we practice and my parter is giving me encouragement, I am feeling more confident.

  • That we will see many come to know the Lord and that He will be glorified through all of it. We know that this is the most important thing out of all these bullets, even if that means I totally destroy the song!

I continue to welcome your thoughts, advice, prayers and encouraging words! I need them more than any monetary contribution! I will try to update the blog while I am away but just not sure how accessible the internet will be.

St Louis

On Mother's Day we left for St Louis to take the kids on a little "long" weekend away.  The hotel had a pool which the kids loved!  We went to this Incredible Pizza place which had mini bowling lanes for kids.  So we spent some time teaching the kids to bowl.  It was a lot of fun.





 Monday, we went to the St Louis Zoo.  We spent 6 hours there and still didn't see it all.  It was a wonderful zoo and the kids had a blast.  I still can't believe how well they ride in a car and amazed that they can "hang" with us for so long without many melt downs.  This is a picture of petting the sting rays and sharks.  Brody wanted nothing to do with this...



 Thought this was a cool picture....love sea otters!
 Fun kiddie playground.



 Train ride while it rained...
 I think Brody is thinking "hey, this guy kind of looks like me"...
 Brody's favorite part was the reptile house...he loved the snakes...such a boy.  Reece's favorite part (she told me) was riding the carosel...she's such a girl!
 They had so much fun!!  We went to St Louis City Museum on Tuesday but my camera was dead after taking so many pictures at the zoo.  I highly recommend it.  It's a fun place.  Lots of climbing - like a huge indoor McDonalds playland.  We even went down a 10 story slide!!

Reece's last day of school

Reece's last day of school was last Thursday.  They had a fun swim and pizza party.  We got to watch a video of pictures and stuff from throughout the year.  Each child got to take a copy home as well as a disc of pictures that were taken only of her throught the year.  What a great keepsake for her!  I highly recommend Normal West's pre-school program.  If you want more info on it, please let me know. 
Reece and her classmates and some of her teachers.

 Each preschool class has their own section on the walls of the room where they get to put their hand prints and put their name on the wall.  She's forever stamped on the walls of Normal West!

Mother's Day weekend

On Mother's Day weekend, we had a mother/daughter brunch at our church.  It was fun to sit with my mother in law and sisters in law with their mother in laws...confusing!!
 My mother couldn't go this year so that was sad for me as she has always come to it with me.  I went ahead and asked our neighbor Bernie (that many of you have heard so much about).  After all, she is my mother-away-from-mother!
 The new thing the kids like to do is sit up in the tree.
 Daddy has been working on pa-pa's tractor so while we have had it, the kids have enjoyed taking rides.  Brody likes to pretend he's a big boy driving his tractor too.  Boys and their toys...
 They even share their toys...how nice! 

Friday, May 6, 2011

Pray me through

There has been this situation/area in my life that I have struggled with for several years now.  I am not going to go into too much detail here because I don't want to cause anyone to stumble and I don't want to hurt anyone.  Few of you would know about it but if you don't, I am open to talking about more offline if you geniunely want to know and pray for me. 

It's one of those situations that in the scheme of things really shouldn't matter but for some reason, it always rears it's head and hurts me to the core.  It will be okay for awhile and I think I can deal, but once in awhile it peaks and I just feel so hurt over it. God always reminds me during this time that I place too much of my faith in people and in things instead of looking to Him to fulfill me.  I struggle with this so much.  I know that He is with me and is doing big things in my life, but sometimes I just need the quality time and love from people.  I feel bad even saying that...is that selfish?  Shouldn't He be all that I need?  I can't help but think about if I was truly alone in this world - no friends...no family...would I then fully rely on Him?  I am reminded to be thankful for what I have and to go to Him for comfort. 

The last month or so it has really been bothering me.  I know most of it is Satan just trying to drag me down.  Even facebook has been a root to some of the problem.  So much that I have thought seriously about deleting my account.  I mean if you look at some of the benefits and losses of facebook, there's hardly a competition between the two.  Some benefits might be you gain access to new and old friends; possibly gain information that you may not have otherwise (items for sell, inspiring quotes, events going on).  But when you look at the losses...loss of time (it's addicting, you know?), loss of friends, unwanted/hurtful comments, temptation, lack of comments (maybe as opposed to others), competition, etc.  I really don't even tell anyone happy birthday anymore (just family) as I am afraid I will forget to do it for someone else and make them feel bad...maybe I am just sensitive.  I guess the reason I bring facebook into it, as that lately it has been the cause of some of my hurt feelings over this area/situation in my life.  See how Satan uses these things??

Last night I was truly broken over the situation.  I went in the office to cry as I didn't want my husband to see! :)  I reached for my bible to find some truth but I keep it in the living room right next to the chair he was sitting in.  So I looked in my "library" of books in the office knowing I had bibles in there somewhere.  My eyes were immediately drawn to my first "real" bible.  It was the bible I was given when I graduated 5th grade.  It was given to me by my old church where I grew up and has my name engraved on it.  The binding is broken and pages are falling out.  I flipped to the back of the bible in hopes to find some verses on peace.  I begged God to show my why this situation hurts so much.  Why do I get so brought down by it?  I was actually getting angry that it has gone on so long and that I have tried so hard to understand it.  I begged God to show what He was doing in this situation.  I know He is up to something in it, but why is it taking so long for me to undertand it??!!  Maybe it's not for me to understand...maybe it's working on someone else...maybe I'll never know in this life.  I don't know...all I know is that I am frustrated.  So I looked under peace and saw a reference to Isaiah.  As I started flipping to Isaiah, a post it note fell out and had these two references on it Jer 29:11 and Jer 33:3.  Not sure what I was going through at the time I wrote these down, but felt these were written for exactly what I was going through now (even though I know these were written down a long time ago). 

Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 33:3 "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know".

By this time, I'm sobbing and it can no longer be hidden from my husband (oh, darn! :).  I am so thankful that God reminds me to seek Him out for truth.  What a blessing it was to read those words and know that they are true and for me.  He does have a plan in the situation...and He will not harm me in the process....only prosper me and give me hope and a future.  It is so good to know that I can call out to Him and He will give me the answer I need...even to these unsearchable items that I just can't seem to put my finger on.  I can't do it without Him. 

I wrote this to be an encouragement to you!  I hope you can find some out of this somewhat depressing post.  I beg for more prayer surrounding this area in my life.  I love the new song by Sixteen Cities "Pray you Through". 

The walls are closing in


You feel alone, you feel afraid

Your heart begins to bend

You take a breath and then

It starts to break



Chorus:

I'm all out of words

There's nothing I could say to you

To take away the hurt

So let me pray you through

Let me pray you through



So lift your shaking hands

Don't say a word

I'll stay with you

The tears will heal the pain

You shouldn't be ashamed

To come undone



Chorus:

I'm all out of words

There's nothing I could say to you

[ From : http://www.elyrics.net/read/s/sixteen-cities-lyrics/pray-you-through-lyrics-18.html ]

To take away the hurt

So let me pray you through

Let me pray you through



Fall down

And let me carry you

I'll carry you



Chorus:

I'm all out of words

There's nothing I could say to you

To take away the hurt

So let me pray you through



Chorus:

I'm all out of words

There's nothing I could say to you

To take away the hurt

So let me pray you through

Let me pray you through

Let me pray you through

Let me pray you through

Let me pray you through

My Cubbies

"Our Cubbie time is over and we are going home...good-bye...good-bye...be ever kind and true".  Our Awana year has come to an end and I will miss my Cubbies until next year.  Awana is a program put on by our church to teach children the truth in God's word.  The kids learn verses and songs each week as well as play games and hear a bible story.  I pray that those verses will stick in their hearts forever!

My little cubbie was so excited for her little debut on stage - a chance to say one of the verses they memorized through the year and sing a few songs.  She has her "A" filled with the verses she learned through out the year (around 30) and next year she'll work on the "C".  A stands for "All have sinned" and C stands for "Christ died for us". (Romans 5:8)


 My cubbie line - green squares rock!!

Dr Oz - Top 10 Daily Essentials

I have been watching Dr Oz while the kids nap as opposed to Dr Phil or any of the other talk shows...they are all getting so tacky!  I think Dr Oz is pretty much the only thing I watch these days (sometimes the Doctors too).  Anyway, he shared a top 10 daily essential list the other day that I thought was worth sharing.  He says being healthy can be very overwhelming when we try to remember all the things we need to remember.  So he gave a top ten list...saying that if you just do these every day, it should be enough!

Top Ten Daily Essentials - do these EVERY DAY unless otherwise noted.

10) Eat a hard boiled egg - any egg really but these are best for you and great for people on the go.  Boil a dozen on Sunday so you have them for the week to take with you wherever you go (I ate one in the car yesterday)

9) Check your poop (yep...).  The color should never be white and it should be S shaped.  At mininum you should "go" 3 times a week as long as you aren't uncomfortable and there hasn't been a change in your routine

8)  Make 1/2 of every meal with vegetables

7) Take 1/2 of your multi vitamin in the morning and 1/2 a night.  This will stabilize your dose throughout the day.  (Note: small intestine absorbs most of the vitamin)

6) Supplement with bone boosting - 1000 Vitamin D (if you do not have enough of this, you will not make the most of your Calcium); 600 Calcium; 400 magnesium (helps with the constipation you might get with the calcium)

5) Get at least 7 hours of sleep - how to sleep faster/better - read a book (not the computer - the bright light does not help you sleep); turn alarm clock light away from your face/eyes; wear an eye mask

4) Sex...not only does it connect you with your spouse and is good exercise, it gives you interconnectedness in your brain - new connections

3) Breathe and stretch for 5 minutes

2) Eliminate Simple Sugars (white or processed - get rid of it!).  Look for HFCS or Brown rice sugars and get rid of them...there was one other he mentioned but I didn't get the whole name - I have evaporated cane?? not sure if that is correct

1) Sit less and move more - sitting is actually bad for you!