Picture by Slack12

"If the great Luther, with his stirring message of justification by faith, had with Paul moved on from Romans 5 to Romans 6 with its amazing declarations concerning the now justified sinner's position of identification with his crucified Lord, would not a stifled Protestantism be on a higher ground today? Might it not be free from its ulcerous fleshiness?"
F. J. Huegel, The Cross of Christ

It's official...

Friday was my last day of work. Woo Hoo!

Photo by theloveofphotography

Now it's on to getting things done, like...

• Cooking dinner without being rushed. Maybe I'll actually be able to stick to my meal plan!
  
• Running errands and no longer counting down how many hours until I have to be at work.
• Responding to e-mails and phone calls in a timely manner. (Hopefully.)
• Cleaning on a regular (or semi-regular) basis.
  
• Having time to plan and actually accomplish things for the junior high ministry, without having to shove them into my extra hours.
• Can we say scrapbooking? How about sewing? Oh, yeah.
  
• On that note, finishing some sewing projects for the baby and home.
  
• Large open spaces of time to work on writing/blogging.
• And endless hours to spend staring at my baby boy (when he gets here).

Ah, isn't it liberating?

Moving-In

We officially moved in with Joe's dad (Chuck) August 2nd and we're technically out of our apartment August 9th. It was a bit of a crazy time considering the junior high camp was in between those dates, but we did it and survived. Boxes are no longer sitting in the living room and everything we'll need (or at least think we need) for the next year has found a place.

The rest of our stuff went to the garage and attic. The only thing(s) we have left to do are hang blinds/curtains in our rooms, put the crib together, take some stuff to the thrift store/dump, which will (hopefully) make room for our desktop computer to be set-up. Other than that we're moved in! And the other exciting news is that this is my last week of work! WooHoo! So, starting Monday I can find myself a new daily routine until little Joe is born and then we'll see what we routine we get into...

This is what moving-in looked like:









I do have things on the wall in our room now. One day I'll take some pictures and post them. I'm waiting to hang things in the baby's room until we get all the furniture in there and set-up the way we want. When it's done I'll post pictures of that too. Just in case you're wondering (and I don't remember if I've mentioned it) the the colors for Joe's room are yellow and green (like a lime green) and the theme is jungle with an emphasis on the monkeys.

; )

Baby News - Week 28

It's official. We have entered the third trimester! It's crazy to think that this little boy is going to be here in less than 13 weeks (give or take a few days)! We're so ready to hold him and see his little face and what color hair he's going to have...You see, both Joe and I have brown hair, but there's red hair on both sides of the family, a little black/brown from the Indian side, and Joe and his brothers were all toe-head blond as babies and toddlers. We'll just have to wait and see.

Last Thursday, we had our prenatal visit and I had my test for gestational diabetes. I was a little concerned as to what the results would be, because I have 3 out of 4 risk factors for gestational diabetes (two of which I have no control over: being Indian and having a close relative who had gestational diabetes, the third was a BMI that is too high). I got the results back on Monday and the good news is that my glucose is normal. The bad news? I'm slightly anemic.

This wasn't a complete surprise to us, since I've been having some trouble breathing on occasion (usually in the evenings and at night) and I've had a few instances of sudden fatigue and dizziness. I talked with the midwife and she suggested, besides making sure I'm getting plenty of iron rich foods, to take an iron food supplement. I'm sure it will be quite tasty, but it's better that than not having enough oxygen in my red blood cells.

Other than being anemic, everything's fine. We heard little Joe's heartbeat as usual. He was very active on Thursday and both times the midwife pushed the doppler on my belly he kicked it right back. It was funny. Our next appointment is August 28th, we're far enough along now that we have our appointments every two weeks, and as we get closer to the due date it'll be every week.

The big baby news for this week? We start our birth classes on Friday. We decided to go with The Bradley Method. It seemed the most reasonable and practical, so many classes we found involve hypnosis and/or other new age spiritualism. We'll let you know how it goes!




(Oh, and I'm working on the moving-in posts. I just don't want to bombard you with too many posts in one day. Stay tuned!)

Can you believe it?

We're over half way there! This is week 27 of our pregnancy and next week begins the third trimester! Our little boy was been moving and grooving, shaking and rolling around a lot lately. Sometimes he jiggles around so much I wonder just what he's doing in there!

Today we go for a prenatal appointment and to have my test for gestational diabetes (which I'm kind of nervous about). We'll see how it goes.

(Oh, and I'm planning on posting some moving and camp pictures soon!)

Notes from My Bible

1 Thessalonians 4:4
...that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable...

vs. 4 --> Body is not just the physical, but mental and emotional. These too need to be conducted in holy and honorable ways.

Do We Know the Poor?

an excerpt from Mother Teresa's Heart of Joy: The Transforming Power of Self-Giving

A few weeks before my trip to the United States, someone came to our house by night and said, "There is a Hindu family with eight children, and they have gone several days without eating." I took a bit of rice and went immediately to their assistance. The mother took the rice from my hands, distributed it into two equal servings, and went out immediately.

When she came back I asked, "Where have you been? What have you been doing?" "They are hungry too," she answered. Right next to them lives a Muslim family with the same number of children. The Hindu mother knew they had been out of food for several days. She did what Jesus does: she broke bread. She broke her love and shared it with her neighbors.

I cannot describe to you the faces of those youngsters. When I went it, I knew they were suffering. I could see their little faces. I could see their eyes shining because of hunger. When I left, their eyes were shining with joy because both the mother and children were able to share their love with others. What impressed me most in that instance was that the woman knew. Do we know our poor people? Do we know the poor in our house, in our family? Perhaps they are not hungry for a piece of bread. Perhaps our children, husband, wife, are not hungry, or naked, or dispossessed, but are you sure there is no one there who feels unwanted, deprived of affectation? Where is your elderly father or mother?

One day I visited a house where our sisters shelter the aged. This is one of the nicest houses in England, filled with beautiful and precious things, yet there was not one smile on the faces of those people. All of them were looking toward the door. I asked the sister in charge, "Why are they like that? Why can you not see a smile on their faces?" (I am accustomed to seeing smiles on people's faces. I think a smile generates a smile, just as love generates love.)

The sister answered, "The same thing happens every day. They are always waiting for someone to come and visit them. Loneliness eats them up, and day after day they do not stop looking. Nobody comes." Abandonment is an awful poverty.
On one of our nightly walks through London, I discovered a teenage boy, with long, well-groomed hair. He was sitting, thinking. I said to him, "You shouldn't be here at this time. You should be with your parents. This is not a proper place for you to be at this time and on such a cold night." He stared at me and said, "My mother doesn't want me because I have long hair."

There was no other reason. A young man, a mere teenager, rejected by his own people, by his own mother! I reflected for an instant. "Maybe his mother is concerned about the hungry people in India, in Africa, or in the third world. Maybe she desires to meet the needs of all except her son. She doesn't know that poverty, hunger, exists in her own house. It is she who provokes such hunger."

That's why I ask: "Do we know our poor people? Do we know how poor we ourselves are?"

A nation that destroys the life of an unborn child, who has been created for living and loving, who has been created in the image of God, is in a tremendous poverty. For a child to be destroyed because of selfishness of those who fear they may not be able to feed one more child, fear they may not be able to educate one more child and so decide that the child has to die--that's poverty.

*

Notes from My Bible

2 Thessalonians 3:3
But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.

He called us into this fellowship with Himself (1 Cor. 1:9), and because he called us He is faithful and will complete His work (1 Th. 5:24).

Sunday night we took our college ministry downtown to work alongside Horizon Urban Ministries to serve the homeless. We split off into three different teams:

Kitchen Crew cooked up a homemade dinner with dessert.

Prayer Walkers went to nearby Balboa Park to pray as they walked (hence the name) and invite people they met to come for a meal.

Table Crew decorated the tables, set-up dinnerware, and served the meal when the time came. (This was my crew.)

I'm always nervous in doing new things. Once it came time to serve I wasn't quite sure what to do. I knew what to do, but how should I interact with these people? What could I talk with them about? For a few minutes I wandered around the perimeter of the room, trying to figure out how I'd dive in.

I've seemed to adopt a policy to 1-2-3-Jump! Except if I give myself a 1-2-3, then I end up giving myself another countdown, so I've got to just jump. Like diving into a cold pool--you've just got to do it.

It was fun. I enjoyed myself and serving these people. I did spill water on a man and told him that's why I've never been a waitress. For all my hesitation you know what, it was easy.

On the ride home we were sharing our experiences, for myself I felt I was personal, but not "Hey, how are you doing? Let's talk" personal. I can really see areas the Lord is pushing me to grow toward--mostly making relationships with people.

When I came home I was prompted to pick up a book I had bought recently on Mother Teresa (Heart of Joy: The Transforming Power of Self-Giving) and it continued to open my eyes to the needs of these people and some of my own reactions. I wanted to share it, because I think you'd enjoy it (and partly so I don't leave what we did Sunday as a memory).

Here are some excerpts that spoke to me:

- There are thousands of people dying for a piece of bread. There are thousands upon thousands who die for a little bit of love, for a little bit of acknowledgment.

- I am convinced that the greatest of all sorrows is to feel alone, to feel unwanted, deprived of all affection. It consists in not having anyone, in having gotten to the point of forgetting what human contact is, what human love is, what it means to be wanted, to be loved, to have a family.

- Our poor do not need compassion or condescendence; what they need is love and aid. But we have to be aware that the poor are worthy of love, that they are great. This will lead us to love them and serve them.

- St. John says, "If anyone says 'My love if fixed on God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar" (1 Jn 4:20). Therefore, both you and I, let us turn our eyes to our families, since charity begins at home. Do we really understand the poverty of Christ, the poverty of our poor, of our home, of our communities? Sometimes it is hard for me to smile at my sisters. It is easier to smile at those outside than to smile at our own.

- We have thousands of lepers. They are wonderful, they are admirable, even though their flesh is disfigured. Every year we offer the lepers a Christmas party. Last Christmas I told them that they have a gift from God, that God has a special love for them, that they are very acceptable to God, that what they have is not a sin. An old man, who was completely disfigured, tried to get close to me. He said, "Say it again. That has been good for me. I have always heard that no one loves us. It is wonderful to know that God does love us. Say it again."

*

Cute Babyness

I just have to show you some of the adorable things we have

collected, made, and been given for Baby Joe. Enjoy!

*

In Preparation

This weekend we're moving out of our apartment and moving in with my father-in-law. So...in preparation for that we've been busy the last few weeks. I've spent most of my time going through our junk and throwing stuff out, making trip(s) to the thrift store, cleaning the rooms we'll be living in at Chuck's, buying painting supplies, and painting. This week we're packing up our "mess" and moving it all over to our new place Friday/Saturday. Whew!

A showcase of our current project (the pictures are in a random order, because Blogger is weird):

Our new room

Little Joe's new room

All Done!

We cut off a pair of Joe's old jeans for him to paint in and
he thought the leftovers were useful to keep.

The Thrift Store Trip

The "Packed" Corner

Working away...

*

Baby Update

Last Thursday, we had our latest ultrasound/prenatal appointment. It was a good appointment. We had to do a third ultrasound, because at our last appointment little Joe's stomach wasn't very visible and he wants swallowing. But all is well. This time around his stomach was visible and a good size. We also got to see his brain and it's been reconfirmed that he definitely is a boy. As of now, he weighs about 1.25 lbs.

He's been moving around a lot more lately. Joey seems to be on a little bit of a schedule. He's moving around when I wake up between 5:30 and 6am. Then he's quiet until about 8:30ish (so he's moving around now!). Then again around mid-afternoon and evening. And last week was the first time I saw my belly actually move when he kicked! Joe felt him for the first time over the weekend.

But onto the pictures...

He's got his hand in his mouth.

Now, he's posing with his hand under his chin.

This is his little face.

<3

Notes from My Bible

Ephesians 4:17-19
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

As Christians, our understanding is not darkened and we are not separated from the life of God, we are His children; therefore, we have no reason to live in ignorance.

Notes from My Bible

2 Corinthians 4:15
All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

vs. 15 - "all this," all that God brings me through is for my benefit and His glory

Works-for-Me Wednesday

For a Saturday breakfast any day of the week, one thing that works for me is to make it ahead of time. I prefer homemade pancakes, so when I make a batch I'll double the recipe and pour it into a pitcher.

We'll use the rest of the batter during the week. (You might want to enlarge the batch depending on the size of your family. It'll last 3-5 days, any longer and the batter gets yucky.) It makes for a quick, yummy breakfast.

For more WFMW tips, go here.

Let be and be still...

Lately, I've been struggling with feeling that I'm not doing enough. I'll plan my day and be very productive in the morning, but around one o'clock I begin to question myself.

Did I do enough? Did I spend too much time browsing blogs? Should I have organized my sewing mess or baked? Was I productive enough?

And so on...

I'm a very performance-based person. Do things right. Do them on time. Do them perfectly. It's something God has been working on with me, sometimes more forcefully than others. But as I'm making the transition from part-time teacher/wife/homemaker to full-time wife/homemaker (and mom) I've become more aware of how often I question how I spent my day and am seeing the danger in it as I approach this new season of life. If I continue to spend my mornings in productivity and my afternoons doubting if I did anything worthwhile I know I'll go crazy and dig myself into selfish despair.

But this week I found some encouragement amidst my blogs.

Girl Talk has been doing a series on homemaking and two of their posts really spoke to me: Not Her Best and More Like Christ. Here's a little tidbit, but definitely read the full posts:

Twentieth century British author G.K. Chesterton has liberating insight for all homemakers who feel pressure to excel in something besides homemaking. In an essay entitled “The Emancipation of Domesticity” he observed that woman is a “general overseer” in the home, and as such, she must be able to do many things well—she shouldn't have to worry about being "the best" at something. Read here

Quoted from Noel Piper's Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God:

Perhaps the deepest underlying personal factor in Helen's tension was the need she felt to do her very best and, if possible, to be the very best. God called her to Africa where that was not possible. There were continuing lessons for her: learning to treat malaria by symptoms rather than with prescribed lab tests, having to operate without having been trained as a surgeon, needing to make bricks rather than spending the day with patients.

Perhaps that is an issue for some of us--struggling with the reality that God has called us to do less than we want to do or less than what we believe is best. [...] When God called Helen to less than she expected, he was helping her become like Christ, rather than like the best doctor or missionary she knew of. Who is it we want to be like?" (p. 172) Read here

And then, Simple Mom had a guest post from Small Notebook, and do you want to guess what it's about?

7 Benefits of Imperfection

Doesn't everyone need a little encouragement?

Sharing the Blog Love

Two new blogs to my blogroll that I enjoy.

Creative. Helpful. Fun.

.

Vacation...all I ever wanted...

Vacation...had to get away...

So...it's been about almost a week since I got back from our mini-East Coast tour, South Carolina and Tennessee (via North Carolina). It was fun. We headed up to Gatlinburg and did some cabin "camping" with our old friends from the Beaufort days--the Closterman's and the Patterson's.

It was the first time we've all been together in well, likely over fifteen years. Three retired Marines, their wives, and brood of youngins (minus one Amanda Patterson and her husband who couldn't make it from Florida and plus one Rachie's boyfriend). It seems everyone has stayed pretty close to home, except for the three oldest kids. Nicole's in Cincinnati, Amanda's in Florida, and we're, obviously, out here in San Diego. The big news in the group (besides us having a baby) is Matt (whom we still affectionately call MattMatt...he's the big guy in the green shirt) got a full scholarship to some SC state school as the kicker...and he'll be starting.


So...we spent most of our time hanging out, eating, playing putt-putt, and learning a few new card games. Great fun was had by all.

Once back in Rock Hill, Joe left Wednesday and us girls set to painting and redecorating Mom's sewing room amidst some thrift store shopping and What Not to Wear marathon watching.

Random shots from our tour:

Bird compliments of Joe

Bonding with our bellies

Maddie's all-time favorite picture

Joe talking to Junior with the little
finger puppets we'd just bought.

Peanuts!

Roasting smores on the grill

Waiting at Hard Rock

Debating over which ice cream would be best.

Our cabin...just kidding.

The cat who took up residence at our cabin.