Saphira Grace has been born!

What an absolutely gorgeous day to wake up and decide we were going to have a baby.  Not that it was in our hands.  It certainly was not.  But it was a great day for Yahweh to start things going and cause our little baby to arrive. 

I had envisioned this whole experience long before I was pregnant this time around. I wanted this home birth experience with Benaiah's birth, but God had other plans for his arrival.  We had lost a baby prior to getting pregnant this time around, and it was a test for me as I felt that I was not ready for another child.  Many emotions played into it all, and The Lord decided to take the baby just after I was beginning to like the idea and feeling okay with going through it all again.  HE sure has a way of teaching us.  So, then we get pregnant this time, and I had a peace from the very start that HE had it all under control as long as I trusted in HIM and rested in HIS faithfulness to us.  I was excited about this baby and all that went with being pregnant.  The pregnancy was beyond what I could have hoped for in that I felt great and had no complications.  I did take some extra precautions with HIS prompting and leading in natural things to assist my body in what it needed to work better than it did last time.  When HE spoke to my heart of things I should or should not take, I didn't ask questions, but just obeyed to later learn of why HE did or didn't want me taking certain things.  HE was so faithful through it all to guide and direct me, but I had to trust that I was hearing HIS voice and willing to obey HIM even if I didn't know the reasons why.

So, now we get to Delivery Day, and it's the perfect day!  I will say that the whole experience went just as I planned it, so I was so blessed that it was also HIS plan or it wouldn't have happened the way it did.  I was totally willing to do what HIS plan was, but oh the joy when HE showed us favor by allowing everything to line up so perfectly.  Only HE could have allowed it to go the way it did.  Thank you Father for that blessing!

My desire was to labor during the day while walking amongst my flower beds and around the yard.  The flowers were just beautiful and all in bloom AND we had green grass which we didn't have a month ago.  HE was so good to allow the rains to come later in the season allowing our yard and flower beds to look so good this time of year.       

Having the feeling that this day was the day, we began preparing the space and blowing up the birthing tub and getting all ready whether it happened during the day or during the night.  Jonathon had taken the day off of work, so it did work out nicely that he was around....until he decided to go paint a little bit at the farm until my urgent call to come home.  : )

Everyone helped.  The contractions kept coming as long as I stayed on my feet, so I hung laundry, baked a cake with Diella and tried to just keep moving.  And the contractions just kept coming.



The tub is all blown up, so now it's time to put things away and have the space ready for all those who came to help.



Jonathon finally got back home after he tried making a deal with me so he could finish the painting.  I told him that I wasn't interested in making any deals and that he needed to come home right away.  : )  He got the message....and stayed and finished up a little section of the wall that was left.  I'm glad he was able to get a little bit more done over there.  Every little bit gets us closer to moving in.

Our good friends were over and Casie walked with me around the yard until Jonathon got home, then he filled her shoes.  It was so pleasant walking around the flowers and around our garden, just enjoying the creation and the Creator as HE was bringing another one of HIS children into this world. 

The area was all set up and ready to go and our assistants were making their way here while I continued contracting.  Contractions were picking up, so to see how far along we were the midwife checked to see how dilation was coming along.  Well, I was only 1-2 cm.  But knowing that the baby was not in proper position, she explained that all the contractions were working at turning baby instead of dilating me, so it might just take a little longer to dilate than usual.  It was entirely true.  I tried resting a little and being in different positions and finally things started picking up.  I labored then in the area we set up with lots of loving  family and friends around to help me through each contraction. It was all such a blessing!  And I coudln't have planned everything the way it went, if I'd tried.  HE caused me to labor during the day where I could walk around the flowers.  HE caused baby to be in wrong position since March, so it would be longer, so I could labor amongst the flowers and deliver under the night sky.  HE caused the sky to be clear with the stars and a beautiful moon to gaze upon during contractions.  HE allowed for it to be cool enough that the bugs weren't bad, but not so cold that we couldn't be outside.  HE allowed me to have wonderful breaks between contractions that helped me to not get the least bit tired.  HE used my children to bless me and bring relief during contractions.  HE blessed me with the whole experience!!!

And then to give us an absolutely beautiful baby girl.....like the cherry on top, super blessing!  Saphira Grace was born on August 29, 2012 in the water, then into our arms at 11:38pm, surrounded by family and friends and under a most beautiful sky.  She weighed 7 lbs, 12 oz, and was 20 inches long.   

I bless the Lord for teaching me the hard way before we conceived this precious child, so that we could all the more enjoy and appreciate what a blessing she is to us.  I thought I was happy with 4 children, but....I'm pretty happy now too.  : )

Just some special thanks:

Thank you, Ireena Keeslar, our midwife who is such a great support and encourager and whose presence is calm and reassuring through it all. You do have a gift, and we are blessed that we were able to be a part of your gift this time around.

Thank you, Mom, for always coming and sharing in these life events with us.  Thank you for capturing all the special moments on camera and in this case helping with the children when needed.  I'm so blessed that you could witness and be a part of this wonderful experience with us. 

Thank you to my dad.  I prayed a week earlier that if my dad was supposed to be at this birth, that the Father would allow for everything to happen when he could make it.  You have to realize that with my dad's work schedule, that leaves a very small time frame for it to have worked out for him to be a part as well.  Well, only the Father could orchestrate such things and my dad was also with us.  Thank you for your presence, your jokes and helping with the children also.

Thank you, Casie.  Your support, willingness, encouragement, faithful walking friendliness and presence was such a blessing!  Thank you for bringing great snacks and keeping me supplied with ice.  I'm so glad you were able to be here and enjoy my dream with me!  Thanks to Phil also, for helping with the children and being so willing to help with whatever needed cleaned up, etc.  There's lots more we could thank you both for, but I must move along.  : )

And thank you, Lee!  Thank you for allowing us to bless you in this way!  We are so honored that you would come and do whatever was needed at whoever's request.  Thank you for truly being a part and not just a bystander.  I pray that this experience blessed you as much as it did us! 

And since I'm writing this blog and not Jonathon, I have to express my sincere thankfulness for my husband.  He has not only been working on remodeling his family's farm house for us to move into soon, but he also took time to set up this beautiful area for my dream birthing area.  He is such a talented man in so many areas.  In building and constructing, he is capable of doing anything he sets his mind to.  In building his relationship with his wife and family, he goes above and beyond what most men would do.  Jonathon, your support and encouragement through this labor was no less than what you've given me before (minus the circumstances that happened last time ; )).  Your humor and jovial spirit added so much to this experience.  You kept the mood light and fun, kept everyone laughing, and did whatever you needed to to help me through each contraction before you cracked another joke.  And just for the record, when everyone else wasn't feeling sorry for you during your toe cramp, deep down inside I was feeling bad for you.....Ha, not really.  You were the only one at your pity party.  Sorry.  : ) 

Saphira Grace Bovee

We always get asked how we pick our names.  This one has been no different than our other children's names.  We look at the meaning of the name and choose according to what we are or have been going through in our lives.  Saphira means Beautiful; Sapphire.  Though the meaning isn't usually what we lean towards, the name just kept coming back to me.  Because of who Sapphira was in the Bible, Jonathon wasn't wanting to go with that name if we had a girl.  I liked the name, but we have always agreed on the name together, so I made a list of other girl names with their meanings.  We couldn't settle on any of them.  Then one day while working at cleaning out the room that will be the nursery at the farm, Jonathon came across a word study on Sapphire.  It listed out all the Scriptures that the word Sapphire is mentioned and talked about how it is one of the most precious and pure gems.  That would be my desire is for my daughter to be a precious and pure gem of the Lords.  After finding and considering what all that word study was saying, Jonathon decided that that would be the name if we had a girl.  I was thrilled and then struggled with finding a boy's name we could agree on.  With just a week or so before due date, we did end up deciding a boy's name, but it wasn't easy.  : )

After having Saphira, Jonathon decided to do a little more looking into the Sapphire.  He found out that it is the second hardest stone, just under the diamond.  Not easily scratched.  He also was looking into the healing elements of the sapphire.  Now, most people would categorize healing powers in stones as being new agey, but if you truly consider HIS creation and what the Scriptures say about it, it wouldn't at all be surprising if HE created rocks/stones/gems to have healing elements in them.  We were singing during family worship time last night, and I thought on the words to one of the songs.  The Scriptures say that even the rocks will cry out, so doesn't that make them alive in some way?  And if they are alive in some way, couldn't there be healing elements in them that the Almighty placed there for our benefit?  Possibly so.  Anyways, Jonathon found that one of the healing elements of the sapphire is in blood conditions, such as helping the walls of the veins be stronger.  After our experience with the blood clot during Benaiah's pregnancy, we are finding this information very interesting.  It's also used to stop nose bleeds.  I typically have nose bleeds during my whole pregnancy, with them getting rather severe at the very end.  I had 1 at the beginning of this pregnancy, then not a single one throughout the rest of it.  Amazing!  Our little Saphira inside of me, that HE used to show me that I must trust in HIM in all things and that HE can allow the healing through this precious gem that HE placed within me.  And in Scripture HE does consider the sapphire to be a "precious gem".  What makes one stone more precious than another?  Is it because of the healing elements, its beauty, etc.  I don't know, but I am loving what HE is showing us about our little girl.  We did not see these things until after she was born, and it's such a blessing to have those confirmations shown to Jonathon now.  

We feel so blessed by what the Father has done for us through this pregnancy and birth.  HIS faithfulness endures to all generations.

"Through the Lord's mercies

we are not consumed,

Because HIS compassions fail not. 

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

The Lord is my portion,

says my soul,

Therefore I hope in HIM!

The Lord is good to those 

who wait for HIM,

To the soul who seeks HIM.

It is good that one should

hope and wait quietly

For the salvation of the Lord."

Lamentations 3:22-26