warrior, tenacious, resilient, perseverant and strong faith

Well, here we go...

I had not made this official in my blog, even though all of our family know, but we are pregnant with baby #2 :) I am 17 weeks along and we are doing well. The first trimester was really hard and had some difficulties, but the Lord is so faithful and good. I was so sick and then I got Pneumonia and that just did it :) I am feeling so much better now though and I am so thankful to the Lord for that. The due date is April 24th...Matty's b-day is the 27th...so we will see :)

You are probably wondering about the weird title :) Well, let me explain...as I have been praying for this baby I have felt those words strongly of his/her character. It is neat how the Lord gives us little glimpses of our children's personalities. With Rebekah I remember that it was joy and sweet spirit, and she truly is both. We shall see!

We are excited...so excited. We are going to arrange for the baby and REB to sleep in the same room. Our house is small, but enough for all us. We still want to keep a guest room for family or friends when they visit, so we thought this was the best arrangement. Plus I grew up sharing a room with siblings my whole life and we think that is good and healthy for children. We are not finding out whether it's a boy or a girl...so it will be another beautiful surprise. Who needs to prepare when the Lord has already done that for us :) And we are also planning on another natural and not medicated birth.

If you think of us pray for continued healthy mama and baby and pray for the Lord to prepare all of us physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally for this new addition to our family. I am sure there will be more adjustments to make and we want to glorify our Lord through all of it.

Meditation...

"God is not a man, that he should lie,
nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?
Numbers 23:19

I have been meditating on this verse this week and the more I think about it and commit it to memory and heart, the more I love it! What a great verse to remind us that God's Word is True and that He is completely trustworthy. I don't know about you, but I struggle at times believing that what I read in His Word is TRUE. I can read and even memorize verses, but when it comes to having to face reality sometimes I waiver. I am ashamed of that and hate it. This verse has been so good for me to meditate on because as I face life and situations I can think of specific promises from His Word and truly believe in my heart and it has brought so much freedom and joy. His Word is Truth. It is the ultimate and only Truth and I love that we have it in our hands. Lord, help me in my unbelief. I desire to not only read your Word, but that it truly becomes alive and active in my life.

Prayer and family time

It was hard to decide what we would do for Halloween this year. We really prayed a lot about it and gave it a lot of thought. We had mixed feelings about it. I did not grow up celebrating Halloween because I was raised in Honduras. Matt did, but he is not big on it either. We really didn't plan anything....well, not until the last moment.

We were having dinner that evening and we were still talking about what the Lord would want us to do. Our church was doing a Fall Festival, but we did not feel like going. We did not want to take Rebekah trick or treating either, but we wanted the Lord to lead us. After a while of talking about what we felt in our hearts, we decided to make it a family fun time and also an opportunity to pray for each of the children that came to our door.

Our two conflicting thoughts were that Halloween is such a dark holiday, but as children of God living in this world, how could we bring glory to God. We knew that he would not shut the door of his house and turn all the lights off because He came for the sick and broken and dead...He desires that all come to know Him. He could have gone to a fall festival to gather with all the believers and have some good fun, but still he was so purposeful in all that He did that we didn't think that would be his choice. What we thought most represented Christ would be to be a light in the darkness. Matt said something that I believe was God's answer for us at that moment. He said, "What if all the believers at the fall festivals stayed home, lighted up their homes, and shared the love of Christ with their neighbors and all the different people that came to their doors. What if they stayed and prayed for each of those children and made it a day where the Lord is glorified through it." This is what we did and it was so neat! We have not felt the spirit of God so strong as we felt it that night. We were praying in the spirit for each of those children after they left and it was powerful. Rebekah also joined us as we prayed, but she mostly enjoyed the caramelized and candied apples. Matty carved her a happy face pumpkin and she just thought it was so neat :)

I am not saying that this is what everyone should do or that if you went to a fall festival or took your children trick or treating that you are a terrible Christian. But I believe that as you as a family seek the Lord in every decision, that He will lead you and give you the desires of His heart. We believe that this is what our Lord placed in our hearts to do. We are thankful that as we seek God for every decision with a desire to glorify Him, He is so faithful in answering even if it's at the last moment. We serve a beautiful God! We love you Lord!