A Big Week!

We're as busy as little worker bees these days trying to get everything ready for our baby girl to arrive (in only 16 weeks!).  This was a big week in particular.  After 3 1/2 years of driving around our FABULOUS Toyota Highlander, we were finally able to pay off the remaining balance on the car and we now own it free and clear!  AWESOME!  This was one big step towards amending my work schedule as much as possible after Audrey gets here.  Next we purchased a sleeper sofa from an acquaintance we met on Craigs List.  The sleeper sofa takes the place of the queen bed we had in our guest room since we're now having to shuffle rooms upstairs and make that room in particular as multi-functional as possible.  After searching and searching for a few months now, we had some great luck this week in finding our new couch!  It's a 2008 La-z-boy sleeper sofa and still in EXCELLENT condition!  Compared to the retail selling price listed, we walked away with this "new" couch for a third of the price!  What a great deal!  And last but certainly not least, we spontaneously stopped by the baby consignment store in Mooresville today on our way home from picking up the sofa and ended up driving away with Audrey's entire travel system!  We loved the look of it instantly, but rather than getting carried away with our "excitement", Chris pulled out his smart phone and starting researching the system first.  After a few minutes, we read that it received superb reviews and that it is a high quality, top of the line travel system.  So we inquired of the store manager a little further and drove away with it for less than half price!  Holy moly!   It's rewarding to see the benefits of our frugality and patience!  I don't think we'll ever pay full price for anything ever again :)

A Hard Lesson to Learn

This week was a tough one.  We received some terrible news on Tuesday that some dear friends of ours delivered a full term stillborn baby.  This was shocking news indeed.  I felt like it shook me to the core and I'm still in tears every time I think about it.  Baby Maddox was due to enter this world to 2 loving parents anxiously expecting his arrival right before Christmas.  To receive the news that your baby no longer has a heartbeat after carrying it in your womb (successfully I might add) for 39 weeks is beyond unbearable - it's completely incomprehensible.  This is certainly one of those times when you just look up at God and question what His plan could possibly be through this?  It's been a delicate week as all of their friends/family have tried to tenderly minister to their broken hearts.

Needless to say, it has certainly made Chris and I step back and be reminded of the gift we have been given through this baby we are expecting in May.  I feel even more protective of it now than ever before.  I know that God ultimately controls what happens througout this pregnancy and after it is born, just like He did with Maddox, but I can still do everything in my power to protect it as much as possible,  Which brings me to my next point . . .

While sharing my sorrows with a friend this week, she reminded me that the worry for our children doesn't stop after we give birth, it will carry on into the rest of their lives.  She said that it's a daily struggle to wake up and purposefully remember that her son is not her own, he belongs to God, and ultimately it is God's protection and plan for his life that matters most.  She is simply a vessel that has been entrusted with the responsibility of taking care of him for as long as God allows on this earth.  To be honest, I hadn't really thought of that before.  But when hit with the news that we received this week, I am so grateful to have been taught that lesson now.

I'm reminded of the story in the Bible of Hannah and Samuel.  Hannah desperately prayed for a child for a very long time.  After a considerable time of waiting, The Lord blessed her with a son, Samuel.  In her dedication of Samuel to the Lord, she says "I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD."

What a sweet reminder of what it is we are specifically called to do as parents.  We can try and hold on to our children as tight as possible and protect them as much as possible, but we'll be doing ourselves a huge favor if we turn them over to the Lord to fulfill His plan for their lives instead.  And it would be a huge disservice to our children if we didn't teach them this valuable lesson about God's sovereignty and perfect plan for us all.  This is not to say that the responsibility of parenthood is easier as a result, but it can certainly be more peaceful.

So to our dear friends, Andrew and Amanda, we are mourning your loss with you but are grateful for the testimony you have shown us as expecting parents and pray that we are able to handle life's tragedies as well as you are thanks to the saving grace of Jesus Christ and the intercession of the holy spirit in our hearts.