I have a casual friend here. She was probably my first friend here. She home schools and has four kids roughly the same age as mine. Our oldest daughters get along really well. She was 36 weeks pregnant with twin boys on Thursday when she got up to use the restroom and her water broke. She called for her husband and as he walked into the bathroom she collapsed into his arms dead from amniotic fluid embolism, an extremely very rare condition that is fatal nearly every time. They called an ambulance and by the time they could get the boys out one was already dead from lack of oxygen and the other one will be removed from life support this afternoon. Her husband is left with a 13 year old daughter, and 9, 7, and 2 year old boys. They are the Boone family. Please pray for them.
It seemed like an appropriate day to share pictures of my blessings. And now we will go to church, we will praise the God who gives and takes away and has a beautiful plan for even the most horrible things. He is good. My friend loved and lived for Him and loved her children and husband and lived a life of joy here on earth. And now is at home with the Lord, participating in a worship service none of us can fathom.
4 Comments
"We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:5
The Lord has put this verse in my path at every turn! You know how that happens sometimes. Well, I've been meditating on this verse and thinking about it a lot. I used to think it had to do with destroying false teaching outside of myself (like recognizing when you're being fed a false gospel). But now I realize it's about destroying false teaching inside of ourselves!! Hence, "take every thought captive to obey Christ". And there is a huge thought! Every one of our thoughts are suppose to obey Christ too! That's daunting! Because I'm just proud of myself for not saying that snide remark about another mom to my friend or husband, but I still thought it! All the more reason for grace. But back to this verse. Here is a simple example of how we allow worldly advice to sit in our brains without taking it captive. Several months ago (could it have been practically a year ago??!!) I was talking to a younger mama who is about my height but is much skinnier and prettier. She was sharing her recent conviction about wearing short shorts because her daughters were getting older and she wanted to set a great example for them! I was so excited for her following the Lord in modesty! Then she said, "The problem is, I don't look good in anything except short shorts!!" Obviously anyone who has been exposed to the fashion world knows that if you have long lean legs short shorts look really good on you! This is what she meant and it was causing her real frustration. She had allowed bad advice from the world to sit in her mind and tell her what made her most beautiful! If she had taken that thought captive and examined it in light of the Bible then she would've discovered what the Lord's advice is on a woman being beautiful. Obviously we spoke about that and I hope that she was encouraged in knowing that she didn't have to show off her body to be beautiful. A more deceptive example... early in this pregnancy I struggled a lot with grief. I cried constantly from the time I got the positive pregnancy test until I heard that heart beat at 12 weeks. We had very prayerfully decided that we wanted to continue to trust the Lord with any future babies He might bless us with but when I saw that positive test I did not immediately feel like it meant another baby, I just KNEW that it meant another loss. So I started mourning right away. Total lack of hope and faith. Around 9 weeks I called a friend who is about 15 years older than me and she had had four miscarriages around the same time that we had our three. I called her and confessed my horrible, morbid thoughts. And told her it was time for her to preach at me and get my heart into the right place! Turns out, she was 9 weeks pregnant too and was battling the exact same thoughts. But seeing as how she was older than I and so much better she had great biblical advice for me. In Ecclesiastes 3 we find the famous "There is a time for everything" passage. There is a time to grieve and when you are pregnant with a healthy baby, then it's not time. Also, in Philippians 4, we find a list of the things we should be thinking on: Whatever is honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. No where in there does it say, "think on the worst case scenario". I still struggled a LOT until I heard the heartbeat, but I had the correct thoughts to replace my "arguments and lofty opinions". On a side note, my friend is still pregnant with a growing baby and her and I have the same due date! Obviously this post could be endless with examples because the more closely I pay attention the more I unearth false advice/teachings in my brain. It's an all day long kind of job. And the only remedy is knowing the Word more thoroughly so that you can recognize that lofty opinion when it rears it's ugly head. The World and our flesh constantly feed us lies and the problem comes when we spend too much time listening to ourselves and not enough time listening to the TRUTH from God. I challenge you to ask yourself "where is that in the Bible" every time a thought crosses your mind! "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set your mind on things of the flesh is death, but to set your mind on the Spirit is life and peace." Romans 8:5-6 "The main trouble in this whole matter of spiritual depression in a sense is this, that we allow our self to talk to us instead of talking to our self. Am I just trying to be deliberately paradoxical? Far from it. This is the very essence of wisdom in this matter. Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? .... The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul: ‘Why art thou cast down’–what business have you to be disquieted? You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: ‘Hope thou in God’–instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way. And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and what God is and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: ‘I shall yet priase Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God’." Martin Lloyd-Jones http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmAdRluq2hQ This is a link to a song from Propaganda's new album called "I don't see it". The song isn't totally on this topic but close enough that I've been listening to it a lot lately! It is really good. So today is the first day of the third trimester! Very exciting! I realized that with all the chaos of the last few months I haven't spoken much about this pregnancy on the blog. So I thought I would do a whole post on the topic! So here are some fun facts about this pregnancy.
First: I'm huge. I started the pregnancy off seven pounds heavier than I had been at the beginning of Wild Man's pregnancy so that didn't help! In the last month of Wild Man's pregnancy my arches fell under my weight and my shoes didn't fit anymore and they hurt really bad!! So to try and prevent that from happening this time I am wearing my $$ running shoes as much as possible (instead of flip flops or flats). Second: I was really sick for the first 16-18 weeks. Like, really sick. Sicker than I ever was with any of the boys. Which leads me to believe that it must be a girl. But I've had horrible food aversions too, which has typically been a boy pregnancy thing for me. So I'm pretty stumped as to a prediction. I think a little more strongly that it's a girl. Third: Heartburn has started but it's different than any other heartburn I've had with my previous five pregnancies. Always before it was more of acid reflux, flame stuck in my throat. Now it is more of what I imagine normal heartburn/indigestion feels like. And I've gained a ton of control over it by eating more raw foods, papaya enzymes, sipping on ACV, and causticum homeopathic remedy. Fourth: During the move my back hurt in such a way that I knew not was possible! I could barely walk and totally couldn't crawl!! I went to my normal chiropractor but things just got worse because she isn't certified in the Webster Technique like my Georgia chiro had been (info about Webster Technique here: http://icpa4kids.com/about/webster_technique.htm). So I searched for another chiropractor here and found a guy that is certified at the Webster Technique and his hands are blessed by the Lord because it was a miracle how fast he had be walking and feeling like I wasn't even pregnant!! I just feel like chiropractic care is so necessary for pregnancy! Fifth: We are seeing a midwife from Topeka, which is about an hour drive for each prenatal. She has an apprentice/assistant who lives in Manhattan, which is only about 30 minutes away. I like them both a lot and look forward to having them attend our birth! My due date is August 26th, which, amazingly, was Wild Man's due date three years ago. Sixth: Speaking of Wild Man, he has been "ready" to potty train for some time but I haven't done it because of the general chaos of life at the moment. Now that we have settled down in a new house I could do it. BUT he has some behavior issues that are more of a priority. So for the next 2 1/2 months we will be addressing behavior instead of potty stuff. I would rather have a newborn and be changing a three year old's diapers at the same time rather than have a newborn and be dealing with temper tantrums and screaming from a three year old. It's for both Wild Man and I's sanity. : ) Seventh: Everything has been normal. Great heart rate every time we check. My blood pressure is perfect. I'm measuring right on. Normal weight gain. Very active baby. Eighth: My girls are awesome. Tender is such a "doula"!! She's concerned about my comfort and feelings and emotions. Hurricane is such a "midwife"!! She is concerned about the heart rate and my diet and how I'm measuring. She makes sure I drink a mug of pregnancy hot tea everyday that she makes herself! Together, they are the whole package! I am so blessed. Ninth: If you are interested, I've started a Baby pool! http://www.whatsinmybelly.com/baby-pool-coffmans-sixth-baby-4859 All you have to do is go that link and you can try your hand at predicting the sex, weight, length, birthdate, hair color, eye color, and you can vote for which baby name you like best!! Fun!! |
LindseyI'm the mama and wife. Updating you on our life! Archives
January 2022
Categories
All
|