We found out a week and a half ago that we are expecting another blessing from the Lord. We are so excited and feel so blessed and thankful that the Lord would choose us to be parents again. We are praying that this baby grows to full term and is born healthy and happy and strong. I have an incredible peace about this baby (or babies) with the affirmation that this life was planned since the beginning of time and whatever happens is in the Lord's hands. The due date is July 26, the day before Emily's birthday ;).
Probably the biggest challenge that Wes and I have been facing right now is the lack of enthusiasm and excitement over conception that we see within our Christian community. We have some old friends that rejoice with us, but many look at us like we are crazy.
Yet, when we look at the Bible we see so many examples from Hannah, Mary, Sarah, Elizabeth, and more where women and men look at having children as an incredible blessing and honor. We see women and married couples in the Bible looking at barrenness as a curse from the Lord and that the lack of children is as horrible as death.
Psalm 127:3-6 says:
Children are a heritage from the LORD,
offspring a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their opponents in court.
And in Psalm 128:3-4 it says:
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.
Yes, this will be the blessing
for the man who fears the LORD.
We see so many verses that prove children are a blessing (which is more meaningful than just a gift) from the Lord. The Bible is the same yesterday and today! If you believe the Bible, then you would believe that children are a blessing. Yet, in our world today, in homes where Christ is the center of the home, countless married couples look at children as a curse (or a problem)...the opposite of how God sees. The OPPOSITE of how God sees.
It can be obvious when married couples view children as a "curse" when they choose to hold off children with birth control or not to have any at all. But, I believe the subtle attitude is just as dangerous. This is where Satan works hardest and we see this most in how parents talk about their children or their attitude towards children in general. Instead of speaking positively about their children to others, they speak down about their children or having children. Lately I have been noticing this more often and my heart breaks when I hear the critical, negative, gossipy type talk that I hear parents say about their blessings. I hear it when they say things like..."oh it's so nice to be out without the hassle of the kids!" or "I can't wait to get the kids to bed so I can do what I want" or "I wish they would hurry up and grow up" or when they talk about how they can't afford any more kids because they cost too much, or it's too much energy to deal with the problems of having children, and more. The list goes on. When we talk disrespectively about a blessing that God has given us, it is sin. Plain and simple. We are talking disrespectively to God when we talk about our children that way - or even think it!
What can we do when we feel negatively towards our children? We all face struggles. Life is definitely more full and more challenging with children. What does God want us to do when we face any kind of hardship or struggle? He wants us to get on our knees and turn to Him. We must learn to cry out to God instead of trying to solve our "problem" on our own. He has the answers even to the smallest issues like when to potty train your two year old or when to teach your 5 year old to read. We must go to the Lord.
I can testify with my whole heart that because I have surrendered my life to Jesus and especially this area of having as many children as God wants to give us, it has deepened my relationship with the Lord more than I could have ever imagined. It has caused me to understand Him more, rely on Him more, trust Him more, love Him more, and want Him more than ever and I am so thankful for that sweet surrender. I am by no means perfect and I fail often and in many ways, but I am continually learning to be the Mommy God wants me to be...thanks to Jesus. I have to go to the Lord daily and pray for his guidance and wisdom. But, I am changed and have learned this only because of learning to surrender to Him.
So, it has been a struggle for Wes and I to find friends who can rejoice in our news and understand fully what we understand in how God sees children. We are praying for more friends who can rejoice with us.
Until then, we are rejoicing together and our children are so excited at the thought of another Carpenter baby. Thank you Lord Jesus!
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
My second best friend
I was soooo happy to be able to go out to coffee with my (second) best friend, Jenn. We've known each other for 37 years and have never lost touch. Even though we live hundreds of miles apart it only takes a few hours to reconnect and catch up. It's so great to have a friend like that. I'm so thankful for her. Her boys are adorable and my wonderful hubby watched all 7 of our children and her two boys swim while we got to go out and chat. What a great guy!!! Love ya babe!
Making history
Woo-hoo...I must be making history for myself in how many blog posts I've done this week! I guess I needed something extra to do while on vacation. I'm having fun, fun, fun posting pics though and hope you are enjoying seeing the memories we are making. Here are some pics from our day at the beach where I spent many days of my childhood...Newport Beach. It was such an incredibly beautiful fall day. It was about 70 degrees, and we had a gorgeous sunset and then a full moon rising above the palm trees. Just incredible! The kids had so much fun playing in the sand and collecting sand crabs. Wes and I had some fun with Emily taking pictures of us! It was a nice day to hang out and take a break from the business of Disneyland. We're off to the parks tomorrow though and well rested for two more full days.
Wes and I swinging Eliana as the sun sets...
I absolutely LOVE this pic of the Balboa Pier with Ruby's in the background where we ate lunch
Look at my adorable Josh just absolutely enjoying himself and the INCREDIBLE sky! God is so good!
Congratulations Jim Bob and Michelle
The Duggar's have been such an incredible inspiration to our family in how to parent by depending on God for strength and wisdom. We often will apply some of the tools we have learned from the Duggars to our family such as how to teach them to put others first and focusing on character qualities shown in the Bible. We were so blessed to watch the Duggar's make their recent announcement since we have cable in our hotel! It brought tears to my eyes! Wes guessed it and Emily thought they were just announcing their recent trip to Europe and Asia. We were all surprised that Daddy knew before any of us especially Emily since she is always up to date with Duggar news. Here is the announcement
Monday, November 7, 2011
Disneyland!
After leaving Tahoe last week, we headed for Southern Cali and Disneyland! Woo-hoo! We are staying in Newport and as I write this I'm sitting on our lanai (Hawaiian for outdoor porch) looking out at the Pacific Ocean with Catalina Island on the horizon. The sun is glistening on the ocean water and I can see sail boats and palm trees in the distance. The air is crisp and clear...feels like a gorgeous fall day. Here is the view we woke up to this morning from our lanai...so picturesque!
We are going to Disney's California Adventure today and can't wait to see the changes since the last time we went. They've added new rides and are completely changing the park. We are so excited! Wes' sister and hubby, Stephanie and Greg, are coming to spend the day with us on Friday. Hopefully it won't rain!
Yesterday was awesome. Disneyland was really uncrowded because it rained in the morning. We got to go on tons of rides and meet lots of characters. It was so cute seeing Eliana's surprised face!
We are going to Disney's California Adventure today and can't wait to see the changes since the last time we went. They've added new rides and are completely changing the park. We are so excited! Wes' sister and hubby, Stephanie and Greg, are coming to spend the day with us on Friday. Hopefully it won't rain!
Yesterday was awesome. Disneyland was really uncrowded because it rained in the morning. We got to go on tons of rides and meet lots of characters. It was so cute seeing Eliana's surprised face!
We got this fun shot yesterday. Eliana was soooo excited to meet Mickey Mouse!
Here's Wes and Joshua...Joshua LOVES Goofy!
SNOW!
This week we were so blessed to hang out in Tahoe! My parents were able to join us for the beginning of the week and we had a blast with them traveling to Virginia City one day and learning about the Gold Rush era. Besides a history lesson, we also got a little science lesson too and went to see the salmon spawning! It was awesome!
On the last day, it snowed! We had such a blast playing in the snow and watching it come down. It was so beautiful! What a wonderful time we had. It was in the 60's in the beginning of the week and then dropped down to the 20's and 30's! Amazing!
On the last day, it snowed! We had such a blast playing in the snow and watching it come down. It was so beautiful! What a wonderful time we had. It was in the 60's in the beginning of the week and then dropped down to the 20's and 30's! Amazing!
Here's Sarah and Hannah enjoying playing in the snow
Here's our hotel during the snow storm...
Above Rubies Retreat 2011
I was so blessed to be able to attend the Above Rubies Retreat a week ago in Zephyr Cove, Lake Tahoe! My wonderful hubby more than encouraged me to go and I also was doubly blessed to go with my new very dear friend, Laura! Laura is from Santa Cruz originally and we never met when we were both living there. However, we both have 7 children and embrace the Lord's blessings with open arms. We have all the same friends from Santa Cruz, but never crossed paths in the 10+ years we lived their at the same time! Anyway, we had such a great time together listening to Nancy's message on motherhood and our roles as godly wives.
Nancy spoke about "The Overflowing Land" - in other words our homes are to be overflowing.
First, God made our homes to be "A Good Land" (Numbers 14:7) that is to be overflowing with hospitality to others and healthy foods and meals.
Second, our homes are to be "A Delightful Land" (Psalm 106:24-25) that brings God glory. Nancy says "Motherhood is the glory of the nation!" But, many mothers do not have that revelation of motherhood being glorious. Instead they despise their land only wanting their children to grow up quick or even to go to work to escape "their land" instead of delighting in it each new day. They are like the Israelites, despising their land that God brought them in to.
Third, our homes are "A large Land" (Exodus 3:8). Do you realize that when couples say no to just one child because they feel they are too tired, it would be inconvenient, too expensive, or whatever other excuse they have that is self driven, they are actually effecting thousands, even millions of people for God? One child can be a future dynasty for God! I couldn't imagine if we had said no after having just three children, we wouldn't have Jonathan, Sophie, Joshua, or Eliana!
Satan wants to minimize Israel and in the same way he wants to minimize godly families that can be Nation Changers - World Changers! He wants to minimize our land and when godly Christians use excuses to stop God's blessings upon their lives they are giving in to Satan and selfishness. There are so many verses in the Bible about children being a blessing and a gift from God. God commanded Adam and Eve to "be fruitful and multiply" and that command hasn't gone away. God's desire is to have more children in Heaven with Him! How can that be if Christians continue to say no to God's blessings for children? How can anyone refuse God and especially take part in "birth control" contraceptives when they are so clearly not from Him? Many contraceptives are actually abortificants and many babies have died through naive use of the Pill and other types of contraceptives and even Christians that are pro-Life have no idea that this happens! It breaks my heart! Read about it here.
Fourth, our land is to be "A Flowing Land." Twenty times in the Bible it talks about the land being flowing with milk and honey. Are you "flowing" in your land or are you doing your motherhood or fatherhood role "out of duty?" Are you being creative and joyful with your children each day? Are you abounding in the work of the Lord? Are you reaching out to the needy, loving your children, and loving your husband or wife? We have to constantly remind ourselves to ABOUND in order to have our land be flowing with God's love and fruitfulness!
We must strive to have a land flowing with milk. What does it mean to flow with milk? Milk in the Bible represents nourishing and nurturing. Are you nourishing and nurturing your children? Do you plan and prepare nourishing meals for your family? Do you take the time to think about what God would want you to feed your family? Or do you just quickly grab a meal full of preservatives and junk for their bodies because you are too busy running around from here to there and not being purposeful in your day?
I have to admit, I am guilty of this. I need to spend more time planning and preparing nourishing meals and am making a commitment to ask God to help me with this. It takes self-discipline to plan and also say "no" to things that have become a habit in your diet and that are unhealthy. God will bless your efforts!
God wants us to nourish and nurture our families. Are you nurturing your family? Are you comforting your children and taking the time to just be quiet and let them talk? Or are you running around commanding them and telling them what to do and what not to do all day because of your business? Stop and smell the roses with them or watch a sunset. Take time to just sit and be still and enjoy them. Read to them, play games with them, or relax with them. There is always time to do one more thing or go one more place, but we must stop and just "be" with our family to bond and make memories. Along this same subject of nurturing is lovingly managing our homes. There is something within us that wants to manage our homes each day. Do you manage well or in a "crazy state?" Are you calm? Do you bring peace and harmony to your daily activities? Or do you cause chaos with your words and attitude? The mother creates the atmosphere in her home. Do you use "sweet words" in your home management? We must manage the home with both gentleness and efficiency and seek the Lord to find out what that looks like for our family.
Fifth, our land is a "Dependent Land." Deuteronomy 11 talks about how Israel had to completely depend on God for water and God supplied it for them. In the same way, we need to completely depend on God in our homes. We need to go to God for wisdom, help, and understanding and completely depend on him for taking care of our children, home, and husband EVERY day. When we choose not to pray for God's help and wisdom, it is only showing that we think we can accomplish what WE want by ourself and that we don't need God. We need to have a continual conversation going on with God throughout each day asking for help and wisdom in every decision.
Sixth, our land is a "Fruitful Land." When the Israelites were captive in Babylon God told them what to do...we can follow that same commands today. This is what God said:
1. Build houses and dwell in them.
2. Plant gardens and eat.
3. Take wives and have children.
4. Have grandchildren.
5. Increase (do not be diminished)
6. Seek peace, pray for the city
7. Don't be deceived!
Isn't it so simple? God's ways are so simple and yet we still choose not to follow them. We cannot pick and choose what verses or commands from the Bible we want to choose and not follow all of them based on what we think or want. For example, we cannot say well, I will follow #1 because I do want a house and #2 because I agree it's good to have a garden and eat organic. And, #3, yes I'll get married, but I'm not ready to have children yet, so I'll wait on that. #4, grandchildren, sure that will come later. But, #5, no I don't want to increase yet, that must not apply to my situation today since God wanted the Israelites to increase back then, but surely that doesn't apply today...and so on. It is a sin to pick and choose only part of what God wants. We are not being humble if we decide what God wants by only following some of his Word an not all! We need to follow the Word 100% even if it is scary. But, it is only scary if we aren't truly putting our complete faith in Him. He IS in control!
Finally, our land is a "Life Giving Land." God is a God of LIFE. We have to be pro-life in everything we do. We must strive to eat life-giving foods, not dead junky foods, and feed ourselves and our families well. We must strive to have life-giving attitudes towards our children and family and speak life giving words into them by blessing them and telling them what a blessing they are to our family and to the world! We must strive to think life-giving thoughts, not destructive thoughts that will only break and tear down ourselves and our families, taking every thought captive. And, finally we should be open to Life from God. He is the life giver and He has the power to open and close the woman's womb. He is in control of that and we should never pretend that we should be in control of life!
Nancy spoke about "The Overflowing Land" - in other words our homes are to be overflowing.
First, God made our homes to be "A Good Land" (Numbers 14:7) that is to be overflowing with hospitality to others and healthy foods and meals.
Second, our homes are to be "A Delightful Land" (Psalm 106:24-25) that brings God glory. Nancy says "Motherhood is the glory of the nation!" But, many mothers do not have that revelation of motherhood being glorious. Instead they despise their land only wanting their children to grow up quick or even to go to work to escape "their land" instead of delighting in it each new day. They are like the Israelites, despising their land that God brought them in to.
Third, our homes are "A large Land" (Exodus 3:8). Do you realize that when couples say no to just one child because they feel they are too tired, it would be inconvenient, too expensive, or whatever other excuse they have that is self driven, they are actually effecting thousands, even millions of people for God? One child can be a future dynasty for God! I couldn't imagine if we had said no after having just three children, we wouldn't have Jonathan, Sophie, Joshua, or Eliana!
Satan wants to minimize Israel and in the same way he wants to minimize godly families that can be Nation Changers - World Changers! He wants to minimize our land and when godly Christians use excuses to stop God's blessings upon their lives they are giving in to Satan and selfishness. There are so many verses in the Bible about children being a blessing and a gift from God. God commanded Adam and Eve to "be fruitful and multiply" and that command hasn't gone away. God's desire is to have more children in Heaven with Him! How can that be if Christians continue to say no to God's blessings for children? How can anyone refuse God and especially take part in "birth control" contraceptives when they are so clearly not from Him? Many contraceptives are actually abortificants and many babies have died through naive use of the Pill and other types of contraceptives and even Christians that are pro-Life have no idea that this happens! It breaks my heart! Read about it here.
Fourth, our land is to be "A Flowing Land." Twenty times in the Bible it talks about the land being flowing with milk and honey. Are you "flowing" in your land or are you doing your motherhood or fatherhood role "out of duty?" Are you being creative and joyful with your children each day? Are you abounding in the work of the Lord? Are you reaching out to the needy, loving your children, and loving your husband or wife? We have to constantly remind ourselves to ABOUND in order to have our land be flowing with God's love and fruitfulness!
We must strive to have a land flowing with milk. What does it mean to flow with milk? Milk in the Bible represents nourishing and nurturing. Are you nourishing and nurturing your children? Do you plan and prepare nourishing meals for your family? Do you take the time to think about what God would want you to feed your family? Or do you just quickly grab a meal full of preservatives and junk for their bodies because you are too busy running around from here to there and not being purposeful in your day?
I have to admit, I am guilty of this. I need to spend more time planning and preparing nourishing meals and am making a commitment to ask God to help me with this. It takes self-discipline to plan and also say "no" to things that have become a habit in your diet and that are unhealthy. God will bless your efforts!
God wants us to nourish and nurture our families. Are you nurturing your family? Are you comforting your children and taking the time to just be quiet and let them talk? Or are you running around commanding them and telling them what to do and what not to do all day because of your business? Stop and smell the roses with them or watch a sunset. Take time to just sit and be still and enjoy them. Read to them, play games with them, or relax with them. There is always time to do one more thing or go one more place, but we must stop and just "be" with our family to bond and make memories. Along this same subject of nurturing is lovingly managing our homes. There is something within us that wants to manage our homes each day. Do you manage well or in a "crazy state?" Are you calm? Do you bring peace and harmony to your daily activities? Or do you cause chaos with your words and attitude? The mother creates the atmosphere in her home. Do you use "sweet words" in your home management? We must manage the home with both gentleness and efficiency and seek the Lord to find out what that looks like for our family.
Fifth, our land is a "Dependent Land." Deuteronomy 11 talks about how Israel had to completely depend on God for water and God supplied it for them. In the same way, we need to completely depend on God in our homes. We need to go to God for wisdom, help, and understanding and completely depend on him for taking care of our children, home, and husband EVERY day. When we choose not to pray for God's help and wisdom, it is only showing that we think we can accomplish what WE want by ourself and that we don't need God. We need to have a continual conversation going on with God throughout each day asking for help and wisdom in every decision.
Sixth, our land is a "Fruitful Land." When the Israelites were captive in Babylon God told them what to do...we can follow that same commands today. This is what God said:
1. Build houses and dwell in them.
2. Plant gardens and eat.
3. Take wives and have children.
4. Have grandchildren.
5. Increase (do not be diminished)
6. Seek peace, pray for the city
7. Don't be deceived!
Isn't it so simple? God's ways are so simple and yet we still choose not to follow them. We cannot pick and choose what verses or commands from the Bible we want to choose and not follow all of them based on what we think or want. For example, we cannot say well, I will follow #1 because I do want a house and #2 because I agree it's good to have a garden and eat organic. And, #3, yes I'll get married, but I'm not ready to have children yet, so I'll wait on that. #4, grandchildren, sure that will come later. But, #5, no I don't want to increase yet, that must not apply to my situation today since God wanted the Israelites to increase back then, but surely that doesn't apply today...and so on. It is a sin to pick and choose only part of what God wants. We are not being humble if we decide what God wants by only following some of his Word an not all! We need to follow the Word 100% even if it is scary. But, it is only scary if we aren't truly putting our complete faith in Him. He IS in control!
Finally, our land is a "Life Giving Land." God is a God of LIFE. We have to be pro-life in everything we do. We must strive to eat life-giving foods, not dead junky foods, and feed ourselves and our families well. We must strive to have life-giving attitudes towards our children and family and speak life giving words into them by blessing them and telling them what a blessing they are to our family and to the world! We must strive to think life-giving thoughts, not destructive thoughts that will only break and tear down ourselves and our families, taking every thought captive. And, finally we should be open to Life from God. He is the life giver and He has the power to open and close the woman's womb. He is in control of that and we should never pretend that we should be in control of life!
Here's Nancy, Eliana, and I on our last day at the retreat!
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