JOYS of pregnancy!!!!

Pregnancy is such a GIFT that brings so many JOYS with it.  Yes, there is the not feeling so well stage, the  extremely tired I'm going to fall asleep standing up stage, the backaches, heartburn, and some other "hard" things (like labor!), but the JOYS far outweigh these.  I came up with a list of my top 11 things I enjoy with pregnancy -- yes, I know it should be a top 10 list but I just couldn't narrow it down =)

1. The first thing I love about being pregnant is finding out!  I can remember when, where, and how I found out with each of my babies.  What a moment of complete and utter JOY!!!!  Finding out that new life, a miracle, is growing inside my womb. 

2.  I love telling others our good news and especially love the excitement that our children show.  They just light up and say the most precious things.  We're raising them to view children as God does, as blessings, and they are so quick to say "I'm so excited God's blessed us again!"   It is also so fun to watch their excitement throughout the entire pregnancy. 

3.  My husband is such a part of each pregnancy, and is so supportive the whole nine months.  He goes to every Dr's appointment with me (he's missed only 1 appointment out of all 5 of my pregnancies!!!), he picks up food when I don't feel well enough to cook, and he gets so excited to see me grow and to feel the baby kicking.  It is such a GIFT to have a husband who thinks pregnancy is a beautiful thing!

4.  Pregnancy also makes me feel close to God.  I know that each baby is a GIFT from HIM and I feel so blessed when he chooses to grow another miracle in me.   Pregnancy makes GOD very real to me.

5.  I love hearing the heartbeat for the first time and confirming that there is life growing inside me.  There is no sound like hearing your newborn baby's heart beating for the first time! 

6.  I know this is an odd one to a lot of people but I actually love to show!  I love to feel my "baby bump" and to see it.  It makes baby even more real to me.

7.  It is such a GIFT to feel the baby moving around inside me.  I love feeling the kicks, turns,  and even the hiccups (although sometimes they feel a little too weird!).  I also love it when baby gets big enough for my husband and children to feel these movements with their hands on my belly. 

8.  I love seeing the baby in the ultrasound.  I never want to know if the baby is a boy or girl so I do get a bit nervous we might be able to tell.  I make it clear to the Dr. though and so far our surprise hasn't been spoiled.  It is so fun to see baby's little face, hands, feet, everything is just so cute!!!

9.  My husband and I usually have fun picking out baby names (at times this has been stressful too!).  We have just started throwing some names around and yes it did keep me up awhile last night thinking about this.  It is just so fun to come up with just the perfect name for each baby.   We have always agreed on a a girls name going into labor (I guess God was trying to tell us that is what we were having!), but have had a harder time agreeing on a boys name.  We'll see what happens this time. 

10.  Another reason I love pregnancy is it is my dream come true!  My whole life I have always wanted to be a wife and mom.  I went to college and got my degree, but my desire never changed.  I wanted to get married, have children, and stay home to raise them.  At times I just can't believe how God has blessed me.  We had some fertility issues with our first pregnancy, and it took over a year.  I wondered if I would ever be pregnant.  I am living my dream come true with each pregnancy. What a GIFT!

11.  Finally, my very favorite part of pregnancy is that final push during labor when the baby arrives!  Finally, I get to meet my precious boy or girl.  I love the little, screaming, wet newborn being laid on my chest the second they arrive.  What a very precious moment!!!   As odd as it sounds, I am always sad that my pregnancy is over, but so joyful to be holding my baby. 

Pregnancy is such a GIFT.  I would love to hear what were/are your favorite parts of pregnancy. 

"Every good and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."  ~James 1:17

Just wanted to share....

I so enjoyed the posting at "Raising Homemakers" today and wanted to share it here.  I so often feel like a failure as a mom. I just want to get this "mom thing" right.  This article was an encouragement to me and I hope it encourages you too.  Click on the link below to read the whole article.

I’m not sure there are any words more frequently bounced around the heart of a mom than some version of “I’m a failure.” (I heard that amen.)

In fact, I am prone to wake up in the middle of the night only to start rehearsing all the ways I’m letting my kids down, all the inadequacies and deficiencies, what I’m not giving them, and on and on. Until one night around 3am, as I was praying all my fretting back to the Lord, He’d had enough.

“Are you trusting in your good parenting, or are you trusting in Me?” He asked point blank.

Um, whoopsies (to borrow daughter’s terminology.)

That night stopped me short because He had just placed His finger on an idol in my life: my self reliance and overemphasis and worry over being a good mom.

The Bible teaches it’s not my own good parenting choices or how together I am as a mom that God wants me to feel confident about. Paul said it this way, “I place no confidence in the flesh…” (Phil 3:3) I’ve learned that failure can, in fact, be very useful because it exposes the object of my faith.

God has allowed me to be utterly broken as a mom in order for me to get this lesson right. In it all, He has shown me He wants me to transfer my trust from myself (my good choices, my hard work, my skills and abilities, my wisdom, etc) to Him and His character. Because God’s good plans for my life and my children’s lives never depended upon me in the first place. 

http://raisinghomemakers.com/2011/the-making-of-a-mother-how-to-overcome-failure/



Words are so meaningful....

I just love the new song "Blessings" by Laura Story.   The words are so meaningful and so true.  I do pray for blessings, peace, comfort, protection, healing, prosperity ... for my life to be "easy" with no trials.  But what if through our trials we see HIS mercies,  that HE is made known.  As my faith has grown stronger in the last few years, I've often said I'm afraid to get too close to GOD because then I'm afraid HE'll throw a trial at me to see how I (through HIS strength) handle it.  Anyhow, I just wanted to share the words to this meaningful song and hope it blesses you too! =)   And I'm new at this blogging thing but here's the youtube video .... http://youtu.be/1CSVqHcdhXQ  ... hope it works =)

We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
And all the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come thru raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
What if  trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
And we doubt Your goodness, We doubt Your love
As if each promise from Your Word is not enough
And all the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

'Cause what if Your blessings come thru raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
What if  trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win, we know
That pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come thru raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
What if  trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?

What if my greatest disappointments
Or aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise?

"Blessings" by Laura Story