Lots to be Thankful for

I have so much to be thankful for. First of all, thank you God for loving me and sending Jesus for me. Now I can live an abundant life with Him. Next, I am so very thankful for my family. I have wonderful parents who have dedicated their lives to raise us in a godly home. They have shown me the importance of having a relationship with our heavenly father. Then there are my sisters. Oh my. When we were growing up, I never imagined we would ever like each other like we do now! I am totally embarrassed of the way I acted growing up. We literally fought like cats and dogs! God knew what he was doing when he put us together. He knew we would all need each other when we were older. He knew I would need them when I was forty and was going to have a baby!! Each one of them have their own gift. It is so neat to see what God has designed us all to be. Lastly, God has blessed me with a wonderful family of my own. I have a husband that takes a stand in leading our family to serve Jesus. I am amazed every day of how much James loves and cares for his family. He has been right there with me and we have tried our best to do what God wants us to do. God has really blessed us. He has given me more than I ever deserve. Thank you God for my family and my two wonderful children. Your plans are always best!!! Thanks so much!

She is here!!

I know, I know. I should have updated a week ago, but things have been a little busy lately!
Wednesday, November 10, turned out to be the big day! We had an induction planned on the 11th. I kept telling myself and others that I had a feeling she would arrive on a different day. She has never been planned or has followed a plan. So Wednesday, I began having contractions. I really did not think they were the real things. They were not consistent. Well, about 11:00, I began tracking them. Kristi Morgan came over to stay with me. (what a sweetheart!!!) At 11:45 I text James and asked him if he had anyone to cover for his bible study if we had to go to hospital. He came home early for lunch. I called the doctor to ask them what I needed to do. Low and behold my doctor is off on Wednesday!!!!! The PA asked me how many contractions I had have and she told me I needed to get to the office ASAP! Well we loaded up in the truck and when we hit the county road, I looked at the clock. It was 12:50. I remember thinking "this is going to be a LONG trip to Shreveport!! Oh my, have I waited too late? We arrived at the office at 1:40. They saw I was in true labor and sent me to Labor and Delivery at 2:15. All my family arrived by 2:30. I finally got an epidural at around 4:00. Ava Grace was born at 6:09pm. What a day! Needless to say, the epidural did not work!! I worked and worry so much about being able to have a stinking epidural and it did not work!!!! All I can say is this has been an unforgettable experience from the beginning and it continued all the way to the birth! I bet it will continue being an unforgettable experience for many years!!

Another Day

I start my day about 5:15. I had a feeling that I should stay at home. I was feeling a little sluggish and usually that means I have too much dilantin (seizure med). I kept telling myself that I could wait till after school to get it checked. I got finished with my bible study and went to get dressed when I received a text. It was from Robin(my sister) and she always seems to give me encouragement just when I need it. Well after I read it, I began to cry and could not stop! I was having a meltdown!! I had five minutes to get dressed plus my nose was bleeding like crazy. I realized I was not going to make it to school and maybe I needed to take the day off! I called into work and began my maternity leave a day early. On top of all of that, my lower back started hurting. That's just great, was this back labor and what should I do? I got James to cart me around town for a few errands. We decided to have a little lunch so he dropped me off at Daddy Sams (BBQ place) and went down about a block to leave my car to get the oil changed. We ate lunch with several friends who are nurses. When I was was leaving, Robin calls me. As I was leaving, my shoe broke! And I was going to walk to get the car. No such luck. I had James go get the car while stood out in the middle of Daddy Sam's parking lot talking to Robin because I could not walk anywhere. I know this sounds crazy for me to write about but at the time all I could think about is OMG!! What else could go wrong. I finally made it home and took a short nap. After supper, I had a pretty bad pain in my eye. After about 30 min. I started getting drainage from the eye! OMG I could bet you $100 I have pink eye!!!! What in the world? I had a few students that had this Monday. So now I have to find med. tomorrow and find a way to keep James and Ian from catching it. I guess I should have listened to my body at 5:15 this morning and gone back to bed!!!

Birthday Time!

Well the time has come to have the Birthday Party we have been waiting for. We are to be at the hospital at 5:30am on Thursday. We had our last sonogram today and she is pretty big. If I had to go to due day, we would have a good 9 pounder! She is knocking on the door of 8 pounds right now. Ian was talking to my belly this afternoon and said, "hurry up Ava, we want to hold you". I have mixed feelings. Yes, I am ready to hold her but while she is inside, I know she is safe and I know where she is! When she is here, I can not keep her from growing like crazy and sometime she will be out of my site. I guess I will just have to cherish every minute I have with her like I do with Ian. We will keep you posted.

Due Date moved up!

I just noticed that I have not posted about our new due date! Dr. Briery, our specialist, has given the permission to induce two weeks early. That means in five days, November 11, 2010 we will be holding our little girl!!! We go Monday to make all of the arrangements. Since all of this has been God's plan and timing, we would not be surprise if she decided to make her appearance at any time. We will keep you posted!

God speaks through Judges

I hope this is not too long of a post, but I have to organize my thoughts. I am reading in the book of Judges. As I have done several times before, I said Lord what are you going to show me in Judges? It never fells He comes through. In chapter 6, it starts off with "Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord" When will they ever learn? Then I thought they are God's chosen people. We as Christians are His chosen people and we mess up all the time. When will we ever learn? Reading on I came to where God sent an angel to call Gideon to help the Israelites.

Let me pause and tell you that I am in the early stages of labor. I am preparing for the arrival of this little miracle that God has given me. It has been an exciting 36 weeks. None of it has been the way I planned. It has been HIS plan and I have a feeling that her arrival will not be as I plan either! I have a doctors appointment today so I have stayed home from work to pack our bags just in case. I have enjoyed this morning more than you would ever know. The quietness of the house (other than a load of clothes washing) has been so nice. Beds are made, and I have picked up all of remnants of Ian's star wars battle from the living room floor. Then I set down to read my Bible and gaze out all my windows at the calves grazing in the pasture. "God what are you going to show me today?" I have to be honest, I keep thinking about this little girl inside me. What will she look like? What if something is wrong? Her eyesight, her hearing, her mental capabilities, and...what if she is a he! (Lots of crying this morning!)

So to go back to Gideon. The angel of the Lord appeared to him. He told Gideon to prepare a sacrifice. When he did, Gideon placed it on a rock. Then the angel touched the meat and bread and fire flared from the rock consuming it. Miracle #1. Then Gideon proceeds to either test God or needs more encouragement to do what God wants him to do. He lays out the fleece. Gideon knew that asking this might make displease God, but yet demands two more miracles! It is true that to make good decisions, we need facts. Gideon has all the facts, but still he hesitated obeying God because he wanted more proof. In my commentary, it said that demanding extra signs was an indication of unbelief. Fear often makes us wait for more confirmation when we should be taking action. Visible signs are unnecessary if they only confirm what we already know is true.

Lord, you have brought us a long way. There have been more signs than I can even begin to count. Forgive me of my unbelief. Forgive me for not believing you are going to take us all the way through. However you have formed and created Ava will be perfect. You are God. I will be her number one supporter throughout her life. My purpose is to bring her to a relationship with you and I pray you will give me the wisdom and knowledge to do that. You have blessed me with a wonderful family and you have called me to lead them to you.