A Special Family with a Special Prayer Request

The Macfarlan family is very near and dear to our hearts, and really need to be covered in prayer right now. Below is a copy of an email I received this morning. Before reading it you should know that the Macfarlan's really helped our family out when we were first learning about Abigail's diagnosis. Our laundry had gotten piled up because of hospital stays, doctors visits, and more pressing matters. That doesn't even do it justice. It was ridiculously backed up; so badly they took it to the laundry mat and spent several hours washing, drying, and folding our laundry. When they brought it back to me their kids cleaned my house while Laura took me to lunch. Not because they had to, but because they were showering us with His love and service that day. We had never been touched by a family in quite the same way before or since. Please join us in prayer for their sweet Lydia.

Please be in prayer for Lydia Macfarlan. She is the 11 year old daughter of Kevin and Laura who taught our Sunday School class for several years. Their children Ginger and Luke (with Lydia's assistance!) have watched our boys. They are a really special family to us. Lydia is the baby and their "miracle child" - her birth was what caught her mom's ovarian cancer in stage 1. Please join us in praying for this little girl. From what we have been told, she was in Branson with her mom this week and got sick -- that progressed and when they returned, she was really sick. They went to the doctor and her blood sugar was in the 800's. They decided to life flight her to Little Rock Children's Hospital for stabilization, but because we had storms last night, they ended up having to make the four + hour drive via ambulance. Please join us in prayer for this beautiful little girl. For God's healing, for peace and comfort for their family, and for wisdom. Please be in prayer for Laura and Kevin and their other three children, Kyle, Ginger, and Luke. Classes just began on Wednesday at JBU and Kevin is an Engineering professor and Kyle is a junior and Ginger is a freshman. Please pray for their studies in the midst of all of this!

Poor Jonathan Doesn't Have a Chance!

See our friends' blog, more specifically the August 24th post and you will understand! Thanks Angela, for the insight on what it is like to raise a son! =)

Contractions

So, I had an appointment with Dr. Pickhardt yesterday. On a side note...I just love him, he really is a great doctor! He said that since the contractions were not progressing anything that there is no need to worry at this point. I am to treat these previous contractions as a baseline and if they differ from that I am to call him right away. They have backed off quite a bit; more like true Braxton Hicks contractions now. He said that I could have uterine irratibility. That basically means that I am having consistent regular contractions (unlike Braxton Hicks which are random) that are not productive. If these contractions continue there is a test that can be done at 24 weeks to see if I am in or at risk for preterm labor. This test is very accurate, so if it comes back negative he said that I could contract all day long for several days and still not go into preterm labor. If the contractions cease or become more random then we will not have to do the test at all. Hopefully this was just a fluke one time ordeal. Since I have had to be induced all three previous pregnancies and never gone into preterm labor it is a really good sign that everything is going to be okay. Thank you all for covering baby Jonathan and I in prayer over the past few days!

The Little Man

Contractions. Bet you weren't expecting to read that word so early in my pregnancy, but for the past few days that has been our reality. Friday morning around 6:45 am, the contractions began. At first they were just cramps, and I really thought they were just Braxton Hicks contractions. By about 11:30 am I realized that the contractions were regular and coming more frequently then they should be at only 21 weeks pregnant. They also changed from feeling like cramps to actually tightening and relaxing my uterus. Mandy and I took the girls to the park and I began timing my contractions. It was nice having Mandy there to feel my belly tightening up and relaxing...she was my proof that I hadn't just imagined having contractions. By this point they were coming every 10 minutes pretty much on the dot while sitting and every 5 minutes when walking or standing. Ross took me to the doctor, and I had to see the doctor on-call. This proved to be more frustrating than helpful. Long story short, he said that there was nothing they could do so go home and wait. Wait for what? To loose my baby? I don't think so! This did not set well with either of us. The contractions did slow down a bit later in the evening and I was able to sleep well. I really thought that I would go to sleep and wake up the next morning fine. That was not the case. I awakened at 6:30 in the middle of a contraction and they just kept coming. At one point they were as close as 3 minutes apart. After trying to decide what to do, I called our lovely family member who just happens to be an OB here in Siloam Springs. He checked me out and gave me several meds. Two antibiotics and a medication to stop the contractions. Luckily today my contractions have pretty much ceased. It seems the medicines have worked. I have had a few here and there, but nothing like Friday and Saturday! So much for "there is nothing we can do!" Even if the medicine had not worked, at least I felt like I was being pro-active and not just sitting waiting to deliver a baby that would not have survived. Thanks, Chad! You have no idea how much it that means to us!! I guess the little man is making his presence known early. This is not a problem I have faced before. Braxton Hicks contractions and high blood pressure yes, but regular contractions no. In fact, I have had to be induced with each of my other pregnancies. Boys...ornery already! ;)

Cleaning Machine

Apparently I am sticking to my new motto "out with the old, in with the new." Although I don't have any new yet; that will come soon enough. I have cleaned out toys, closets, dresser drawers, and old baby stuff. All of this was done while also cleaning the house. I am consigning my "good" baby clothes, threw away icky toys, rearranged closets and drawers, and donated the rest. I started at 8 am and stopped at 4 pm. Oh, and did I mentioned the loads upon loads of laundry I have done today?! I have not vacuumed nor clean-cleaned the bathrooms, but that will just have to wait until tomorrow. That will give me something to do while the big girls are at school. School. I am so not ready to be sending Hannah to Kindergarten. I am way more upset about sending her than I was Mary Grace. Probably because MG was six going into the first grade, not 5! My baby is only 5...why do we have to send them to school so young? I do not like it! Can you tell this is a sensitive subject? She is so ready for the first day of school to get here. I am sure tomorrow will be exciting. We met their teachers last night, and both of them seemed very fitting for each of the girls personalities. Although it will take some adjusting to not having them home, I am excited to see how they will each grow throughout the year. Sorry for totally switching gears in middle of my cleaning conversation, but hey that is how a pregnant mind works!

Out With the Old, In With the New

So, I spent several hours last night going through the one and only baby tub of clothes I had saved, plus Abigail's old clothes. It was much tougher to get rid of those last few baby girl clothes than I originally thought. Plus, it just felt wrong to be getting rid of Abigail's clothes that only she wore; they would have been perfectly fine to pass down to another baby ;). I am selling the old clothes to a consignment retailer in hopes to make enough money to buy Jonathan some new clothes. Bye bye old clothes, hello new! Let me also just say that it is really strange having clothes in blue, brown, and green hues. It seems as if they are the wrong color. Ha! I still find my eyes wondering to baby girl clothes, bedding, and accessories. I have to admit, it has been fun searching for the perfect "coming home" outfit. Which by the way, I have not found yet. Okay, I suppose that is enough of the boy talk for today. I can't help it. It's new. It's fun. A little scary. And totally exciting!

"Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord." Psalm 127:3 (HCS)

The Boy's Name...

Jonathan Ross

Jonathan means "God has given", and after re-reading his story in the bible we both decided this would be the perfect name for our son. You can find the story of Jonathan sprinkled throughout 1 Samuel and in the beginning of 2 Samuel if you are interested. Before you ask, we will not be calling him Jon. He will be Jonathan. :) Ross was actually the first one to mention this name; and the more we thought about it and said it, the more we liked it! It replaced our old standby of Nathanael that we have had since before we had Mary Grace, but it seems to be a better fit. Funny how those things change.

IT"S A.....

BOY!!! Can you believe it? Neither can we. We are having a son! Wow, that still seems surreal. It almost seems as if we are starting over. From scratch. Like it's our first child. Ross keeps saying, it almost feels like we are having a child of a different species. I have to admit, it does feel strange. We thought we were meant to raise daughters and both of us were happy to do so. When the ultrasound tech said it was a boy, I think we were both a little numb and totally shocked. Although we were hoping for a girl and after the shock and fear wore off; we are very excited about the adventure raising a son will bring! The adventure began the moment she said, "It's a BOY!!" We have nothing! Not a car seat, stroller, nothing. No clothes, no bedding, no toys...poor boy, he will have to go to the garage with daddy to find any "boy stuff" in this household. :) I am thinking we have a lot to do and not much time to do it in. It should be exciting and will definitely keep us on our toes! When the girls go to school, mom will go to painting in hopes to bring a little "boy" to our lives.

Our Purpose

This is an excerpt from Beth Moore's Blog found here.

“I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills His purpose for me.” Psalm 57:2 ESV

Here’s what God is using that verse to say to me right now: When I’m in a really hard and hurtful situation, somehow the present difficulty of it overrides my conscious thought that God is going to use it in my life and then through my life. Not one time in my entire tenure on this planet has He ever failed to turn around and use the hardship for good. NOT ONCE. Not when I gave Him enough time and cooperation. Yet, in the midst of it, I often can only hang onto Him for dear life while we ride the wave to shore and then stand there in the aftershock and look like I’ve just been on the spin cycle of a washing machine. Afterward, when He invariably turns it into some kind of maturity, intimacy, insight or ministry, I think, “Why didn’t I just trust Him for that at the time??? Why did I have to take it so personally and injuriously?” I want to learn to CONSISTENTLY claim the victory right there in the worst of the pain or crisis. At the very moment that I’m crying out to God Most High for help, as the psalmist says, I want to proclaim that He’s smack in the middle of fulfilling His purpose for me. Challenging stuff.

There are several of us in this same situation that Beth is speaking about in this expert. God has shown me many times personally that every situation, place, and timing were for His purpose; most of the time it is for nothing more than for His and His Son's glory (John 11:4). Although He has shown me that there is a purpose in everything, I do not always remember this during the midst of a trial. It often comes to me afterwards. May we strive to remember to "...cry out to God, who fulfills His purpose for us!" I hope this brings forth encouragement for you as it has me.