Our life as of late...pregnancy update

Well, we have had a CRAZY last couple of days. On Sunday, I woke up with pain in my left leg and by the evening it was swollen and a little discolored. I took it easy and thought that my hips were out of place, which they were, or that it was because of the way the baby was laying. Well, on Thursday the midwife said that I needed to go get it checked out and right away.

So, we headed to Sturgis Hospital to the ER in the evening. Once there, after doing an ultrasound of my leg, they discovered that it was a blood clot. They took me then to Kalamazoo to Bronson Hospital as they aren't able to care for such a thing as this. The clot, they thought, ran from my knee to my groin area. Major problem and more difficult to treat since I am pregnant.

After seeing the high risk doctor and him consulting with some other types of doctors, they decided to do an MRI to make sure of really how big this clot is. So we did that yesterday afternoon. We were in our room for about 30 minutes when the high risk doctor came in and said that this is not good. The clot didn't stop at my groin. It actually runs up to my belly button area, which is a huge concern since it is so close to the heart. They immediately sent me down to get a filter put in my vein in case a piece breaks off it won't go to my heart and kill me. But I really wasn't expecting such a huge ordeal. After surgery, all went well and I believe the doctors feel a little better knowing that my heart is protected.

So, what about this clot....well, there isn't anything they can do for it since I am pregnant. So, they have me going on some medicine to get it to stick where it is and not continue growing. We are hoping that they will send me home after they get that medication regulated and then I will have to give myself shots twice day at home to continue the meds. The home birth idea is out the window now as they have to monitor me to mak sure that I don't bleed to death with taking this medication. So many factors involved with all this. After the delivery, then they will deal with the clot and remove the filter that is in my body.

All of this seems so unreal but hear I sit. I know that if I didn't have the Lord's hands upon me, I would and really should be dead with as big of a clot as this is (the doctor said it is the 2nd largest that he has ever seen). Why has the Lord spared me? I do not know but I believe He has big plans either for me or those that this situation is really challenging. He has been faithful to us because of our faithfullness to Him.

This journey isn't over with. I still have a baby to delivery and this clot needs to be gone. We have three more weeks until baby is due, so another month and half or so of dealing with stuff and Lord willing we will be free and clear. Keep me in your prayers that the clot won't break up and go elsewhere. I am still having some pain and swelling in my leg- pray that that all goes away and the circulation to my leg will resume as normal. Pray that the filter won't cause kidney damage as that was one of the "could possibly happen" things that the doctor had to let us know of. Pray that baby continues to stay safe and healthy. So far, he/she is going strong and not showing any signs of stress after all the tests and procedures his/her mom has gone through.

We bless the Lord for His protection and His hands upon us. He is so wonderful to have shown us mercy with all the scenarios that should have easily caused the clot to have broken up. He spared me! It's humbling to think that I should be dead and for some reason, I'm not. Scary thought but very true! And even after I go home, I will still be on bed rest, so I bless Him for all the great friends and family that we have who have already stepped up and are helping us. What a blessing from the Lord to have these people in our lives to help us through this. We love you all!!!!!

Waiting and wondering what the plan is.....

Some of you may know that I have been struggling this week with some severe pain in my leg. This is my shout out for prayer. We have lots of our church family praying, but the more the better. Sunday I woke up with a funny feeling in my left leg, but figured it would pass after I got up and got moving. Well, it didn't pass at all and is actually worse. The left leg is swollen, discolored, and very painful. The chiropractor said that my left hip was rotated at the sacro illiac joint but today when I went he seemed quite pleased with how it felt. So, that leads us to thinking that the baby is just snug in a spot that is not the best comfort wise for me. I am okay as long as I can find a comfortable place to sit or lay down, but the minute I try to get up or even walk, it's BAD! So, if you would lift this up to the Father who hears our every prayer and knows our hearts, I would greatly appreciate it! I'm not sure I can deal with 3 more weeks of this kind of pain. But at least I know that eventually, once baby comes, it will pass. I'm thankful for a decent pregnancy thus far and glad that I haven't had these kinds of problems all through. So, now I sit and am thankful for a healthy husband who can plant garden, and weed, and clean up outside, and thankful for children who really do a good job at helping me clean up after themselves and even entertain themselves.

I'll update how things go as I feel able to be up and do that.

A package in the mail

The children looked out the window the other day and saw that the mail lady was coming to the door. We had forgotten that Aunt Judi from California had sent an email telling us to be watching for a package. So, we were very excited to get a package that day! We opened it up and the children were so happy to see new blankets that Aunt Judi had made. They loved the one that was for them and of course wrapped up in them right away. We love blankets, especially soft blankets, around our house. But after the blanket fun, they found the box to be much more entertaining. They turned it into all sorts of fun things, so I decided the next day as part of art class we would decorate it into a boat. And here is the final results after much coloring with markers, crayons and paint. We even added some waves on the sides...

And boy did they have fun with it!

But what is a boat without fishing poles and fish? So, I had to put my creative knack to work and create some poles and fish. Now they were all set!


And thankfully, nobody rocked the boat and fell out into the water with the shark. That was a big deal when Josiah hid the shark and nobody knew where he was. But the boy took great joy in knowing where he was and scaring his sisters. A fun day with a box that had no intentions of being played with so much by three little children when it was first packed with soft warm blankets.

THANKS AUNT JUDI FOR THE FUN!

A cupboard needing a little babied for our baby.

Well, we have this cupboard that we are putting in the spare space in the children's room for all the baby's belongings. It obviously looks a little bit in need of care...well, the above picture was taken after Jonathon sanded for nights and days on it (not really, but he wanted me to make sure he got some credit for his hard work at sanding it- Good job honey!) Anyways...we put a shout out for unused brown paint at church and thanks to many of our brothers and sister, we found just the shade we wanted. So, on to the painting....
Josiah fell asleep earlier in the evening, so we decided the girls could help with the painting since he wasn't around. They had so much fun! Wish they would do my walls, and I would be assured that it would look good when they were done. :) After I let them do most of the front panel, I decided that I would just finish it up and make sure they got all the cracks and that it looked smoothe. And then I debated on the inside.... I should have taken a picture of the inside. It was awful! I figured we had enough paint, so on to the inside.

We didn't get a final picture of the outside, but isn't this a nice picture of the inside all painted and pretty?! Much happier with the color, and it sits in their room waiting for more baby things. I think it will be getting some stuff in it this week after a much needed cleaning and sorting week. The agenda: painting my bedroom, painting the kitchen, washing windows, restaining some of the window sills, going through baby clothes to have what we need ready, setting the crib up, bringing the cradle over, washing the tops of my cupboards, and having all supplies ready for the birth. Ugh! Sounds like a full week, but I'll feel better about having it all done and ready before labor starts.

With the way things are feeling lately, it would certainly be nice to go early, but that's usually wishful thinking. Keep us in your prayers as the day nears and pray that all goes well with the delivery. We would appreciate it! And I am very much looking forward to the Celebration of Motherhood the ladies at the church are doing for me next Sunday. It seems I have given so many of the celebrations that I won't know how to act being the recipient of it this time. It will be a blessing and I'll be sure to post about it afterwards.

Enjoying the beautiful day today! And enjoying looking out the front window and seeing the bees buzzing around the weeping cherry tree that is beginning to bloom. What a wonderful sight!

Some pondering thoughts on the present holy days

So many thoughts running right now, not sure if I can get them out in words....

Thinking on "Easter". If you don't know it's origin, I highly recommend looking it up and finding out for yourself what it originally was celebrated as. It certainly wasn't the death and resurrection of our Saviour, which christians say it is now. Easter Celebrations are really not a Bibilical thing at all. And why do we say "Happy Easter"? Just some thoughts we have been discussing.

Anyways, we gathered together at our church this evening for Passover. This is a Biblical holiday unlike Easter. And as the Feast of Unleavened Bread approaches us, we are very much challenged. We take this time to rid our homes of leaven as a reminder of the sin in our lives that needs to be gotten rid of. Why don't christians consider this a holiday as they do Easter when it is more Biblical? We can't figure it out. In one sentence they are talking about the death of Jesus for our sins and in the next sentence they are talking about candy and egg hunting. I'm pretty sure that the Father is unimpressed with this kind of worship.

Tonight we were challenged to not just do the act of ridding our homes of leaven, but to further that in doing the act of going through every part of our lives to see if there is sin. How do foods with leavening get under the oven or behind the refrigerator? The same way that sin gets into the darkest corners of our lives and grows into something we can't just walk away from.

So, this year instead of "hiding" eggs (which actually represents fertiliy and the sin of lust), try ridding your house of leaven and searching your own hearts for sin that is hiding. It is just like satan to have us thinking that we should do the total opposite of hiding rather than finding and cleaning out.

But the best part of all is that tonight before the service started, Alegra talked with us about wanting to live for Jesus and make the right choices that would please Him. What a joy to hear our daughter speak of her desire to do what would be pleasing to the Father. This pleases me so much more than seeing her have fun hunting for eggs and talking about the easter bunny. Following the Biblical way is far more rewarding eternally. That's what we want!

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Just wanted to add a few more thoughts since we have dealt with others in our family that we love, who are mixing the worship of our Saviour this time of year with worship of pagan traditions.

It is exciting to see christians coming to the understanding of the traditions that man has put into place with it's celebrations that God would call an abomination. And it's also frustrating to us when we hear of our own family members who attend the "sun"rise service and do the whole shabang of a program in honor of His Resurrection, and then they go home and decorate eggs with their families. We just dealt with this in our own family this past week. It's heart wrenching for us because it appears that the Words of the Lord are merely written on tablets of stone for them and not on their hearts. If it were on their hearts they would want nothing to do with something that is an abomination to our Creator. Just some scriptures that the Lord showed us this past week, that we had never considered before.

In studying the word "abomination", we were amazed at what things the LORD considers to be things that are an abomination to Him. The following verses refer to that of pagan worship being an abomination to Him.

Deuteronomy 7:25&26

"You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is among them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the LORD your God. Nor shall you bring an abomintion into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing." - this doesn't sound like anything we should want to have any part of. Do we bring things into our homes that are idols (idols don't have to be just carved images or silver or gold. It can be something the TV brings in or something that relates to paganism or the world. Or it could also be your christmas tree -Jeremiah 10- that you are just not able to give up).

Deuteronomy 12:29-32

"When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you diplace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, "How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise." You shall not worship the LORD God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughter in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it."

He has given us HIS feasts to observe. The Feast of First Fruits is the celebration of HIS Resurrection. Why did we have to add to it by incorporating pagan things? He clearly says that that is an abomination. And you may say, well we don't burn our sons and daughters. Do you know what the jack-o-lantern represents? It's an abomination to HIM. And that the bunny and eggs are used in worship to the fertility goddess along with some other sick and twisted sacrifices of children honoring fertility. I don't believe He takes anything that He calls an abomination, lightly.

You might say, well, that is all Old Testament. Yes, it is, but He teaches us many things in the Old that we need to become new in Him. But here is a verse that we stumbled across this week in the New Testament.

1 Corinthians 10:14-22

"Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread. Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? Rather that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the LORD and the cup of demons, you cannot partake of the LORD'S table and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the LORD to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

In talking with those who have come to understand that we were mixing the paganism with Biblical teachings, realized that the celebrations of our traditional holidays were in fact a form of idolatry. The LORD clearly says that we cannot partake of both HIS table and the demons. Earlier in the Old Testament He lays out what are abominations in regards to the worship of other gods.

We find it more complete to only observe that which He has called us to observe, not adding to or taking away anything to make it defiled. We encourage you to do the same!