Daddy

This is what dads are for. Well, dads have lots of great purposes, but this is one of them. You won't find this mommy giving her newborn a noogie. Daddy takes care of the boy part of life.

My Two Boys

I've been spending a lot of time looking at Abel lately. So much so that when I look up at Rob, I'm amazed at the size of his noggin. I guess I'm just not used to adult faces right now. Maybe this is a sign that I need to spend more time making googley eyes at Rob.

Irresistible

I have to say, it sure is a challenge keeping these little guys warm. They're just too little to hold on to any of his cute booties.

Sorry, Mr. Blog.

Dear Blog,
Even though you have definitely been the most neglected in this whole process, just know that we are notoriously horrible at keeping people up to date. With this momentous occasion, we only got worse - just ask our family and friends. But, I promise the wait was well worth it. He's here!... and has been for 4 days.

He was born on his due date, Friday the 18th. However, he started his journey on Wednesday. He takes his time with things. He just knows he's special and worth it. Why rush things? The labor was not what I was expecting, but it was special. Many many times I cried out to the Lord in my silence. A couple of times I asked him to stop the contractions. It doesn't hurt to ask. But, he was with us in a unique way. Looking back I'm amazed at his care and tenderness throughout it all. He sure loves me, and he sure loves my new baby.

8 lbs. 11 oz. 21.2 in. Did you see the size of my belly? It's all making sense now. His precious name is Abel Justice Vis. His first name means "breath." Abel was the first martyr in the Bible and the first to offer a pleasing offering to God after the fall. I'm excited to see him grow into his name. His middle name is close to our hearts. We want him love justice and seek it for the lives of others as he lays down his own. And...Vis means "fish" in Dutch. Hmmmm....I could make something cool up. Let's see...nah - that's just our last name, and it sounds rockstar. You know you want it.

Soon... very soon

Call me crazy for blogging right now, but we are now in labor. It's been going on all day since I woke up. It's still pretty mild except that I'm nauseous. My contractions are about 5-10 minutes apart and really not that bad yet. If I weren't so nauseous I'd be pretty functional still. So, instead of walking around and getting the baby to come down, I'm stuck on the couch trying to keep my food down.

It's going well so far. Keep us in your prayers. Pray that we won't get nervous or scared but just stay relaxed. Pray that the labor is as easy as possible. Pray for health for Rob, me, and the baby. Pray that my cold will stay away during all of this.

I'll see you on the other side!

The Journey from Two to Three

We are 39 weeks and one day. That means - any day now. Soon we'll go from a family of two to a family of three. I think that fact is too big to actually wrap my head around. Somedays it excites us, and other days it scares us. In answer to my prayer, God has made the exciting days more frequent than the scared days this past week.

A big bummer is that I have a bad cold. I pray for healing and energy before this baby starts its journey into the world.

For maybe the last month or so, Rob and I have running around like crazy people trying to get millions of things finished. Work, baby stuff, cleaning...it all fills our days very easily. Today we decided that we need to take these last couple of days and focus on what's left - silence, just the two of us, relaxing moments. We might have today to do that, and we might have two weeks. But we've made it a goal.

So, these are all things you can pray for.

Names

I was just looking at babycenter.com at an article about names. Rob and I are almost decided on what to name our boy or girl, but it's still fun to look at all the options. I saw a list of the top 100 names of 2007. As I looked through each gender, I found both my name and Rob's name on the list. AND THEN, I realized something, "Hmmm, How special. We're the exact same number." Check out #86. I think that means we're supposed to be married or something.

Another day

I'm alive today.

It's not because I'm only 26. It's not because I am healthy. It's not because I live in a safe area. I'm alive today because God decided to keep all of my organs running together. Is my heart really smart enough to just keep beating like it needs to? No way, it's just a lump of flesh. God is working that thing and keeping it pumping.

This is what I read this morning to make me think about all this:

"I lie down and sleep; I wake again because the Lord sustains me." Psalms 3:5

Yesterday I worked all day. Seriously all day. Is that what he sustained me for yesterday? I think it's an interesting idea to wake up and contemplate what God's reason is for sustaining me this day.

My secret for you

Do you feel like you're always struggling with the same thing? You want to be closer to God, but no matter what you try there's always some road block or perhaps the same roadblock? I've definitely been feeling like that the last month or so. But, a couple of days ago I discovered a secret, and it's already helping me.

I'm reading The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. In one of the chapters, he explains that faith is keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus. We need to keep our focus on him, being in awe of him, enjoying his presence, seeking his glory, striving toward simple intimacy with him. If we can only keep our eyes fixed on him and nothing else, he will take care of the things inside us that need changing - the things we've been focusing on so long, the things we think are keeping us distant from God. We just need to ignore those things, focus our eyes on him, and he'll do the work.

LIE - Let us fix our eyes on the things we can do to increase our faith.

TRUTH - "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith." Hebrews 12:2

LIE - It is my determination and obedience that makes me stand firm in Christ.

TRUTH - "Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ." 2 Corinthians 1:21


Freedom.