Learning Joy

well, i might as well tell our news.
We’re pregnant – rather unexpectedly, but for a while now, as I am 16 weeks along. We have been cautious, and I’ve had a cerclage done. that’s a procedure where the dr. sews your cervix closed.
we went to the dr. on Tuesday and discovered my cervix is open, and short (it should be long and closed). the cerclage is holding, but it’s still risky. so, I am on severe (that’s what they call it) bed rest until the baby comes or my cervix starts behaving again.

that’s our news. thanks for reading.

oh, we’re having a boy!

Here we are – July 20, 2008
(back) Jeff, Sonja, Daniel,
(front) Jonathan & Nicholas

See the great t-shirts the kids have? We were at our church picnic at Pt. Defiance. We all got a t-shirt with our church logo on it.

Today was the first day of our soccer VBS camp. It went really well! The kids all seemed to have fun & they all played hard.

This morning, while I was washing dishes, I watched the third “Christy” movie. It has different actors in it than the TV show – only the Dr. is the same. The TV show often went Hollywood in its interpretation of spiritual things. The writers often wanted to tone down the need for man to be saved from sin, and the need of God in our lives. They always make it more “God is in everything” rather than God is God, and we have a need for Him and He is the only One who can save us – He is the only One who can fill that need.
In this movie, Mrs. Henderson tells Ruby Mae that she should do an “act of faith”. She should do something nice for Miss Christy to show God she believes He’ll bring her back safe. Rather than bolstering her up with Scripture, which tells us to call on & lean on God in times of trouble or stress, Mrs. Henderson takes the attention off God and turns Ruby Mae’s focus onto herself, and what *she* can do. That bothered me. Aren’t we supposed to point people to God? Shouldn’t we as Christians always be redirecting our thoughts to align with His rather than trying to make Him fit our will?
Then, Mrs. Henderson had an opportunity to talk to Mr. Taylor. Mr. Taylor was a grumpy, mean person whose son, Lundy, had died. When asked by Mr. Taylor if she thought Lundy was in heaven, Mrs. Henderson replied that God cares for all of us, especially the children. She was certain Lundy was in Heaven. This whole conversation seemed preposterous to me. Why give false hope to someone? I know when the baby died, I wanted to know that she was in heaven – with God and my mom & my Grandma & Grandma Bell, and Grandma Betty & Grandma Pier. But I don’t know that. And I wouldn’t presume to tell anyone that their child was in heaven if I didn’t know. God knows , and we have to trust Him – not what we know, or think we know. Somehow or other He has a plan in all of this, you know?
The whole conversation about Lundy showed me just how much the movie people had missed the point. Christy did go to the mountains to change people and make things better. In the process of that, though, she learned a lot about God and how He works. She learned to trust Him more & align herself with His will.
Anyways … just a ramble. Thanks for listening.

One of my favorite movies is “French Kiss”. It stars Meg Ryan & Kevin Kline. In this movie, Kate (Ryan) & Luke (Kline) discuss French women. French women, Kate has noticed, have this pout that helps them get their way. Finally Kate comes to the point where she says she’s not like that –
Kate: “Happy-smile. Sad-frown. Use the corresponding face for the corresponding emotions.” You can hear the clip here –click
This morning my verse for the day is as follows:
“Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.” James 5:13

Simple, but very good, advice.

day 5!

well today was fun. It started out way too early for me – I didn’t want to get out of bed this morning. But, Lori was coming to get me for work, so I had to get up. We did well at work today – it only took us 2 hours. More often than not we are there 2.5 hours on Saturdays.
After work, I came home and fed the kids and then showered. Barbara had called me last night to say we had flowers, so I went to the church to help arrange flowers. I really enjoy doing that. The ladies are fun to hang out with and I’m learning a lot about flowers & flower arranging. We had a lot of flowers, so it took us a while to get them done. I went home around 1:45PM (I’d arrived at 11AM).
I’d had a headache since I’d arrived at the church. Tried drinking water, but that didn’t help much. When I got home, I ate some lunch and drank more water & took some Tylenol. After a bit it started feeling better.
Tina & Kamali came around 4 and Mom popped over around then, too. Mom has been making shorts for the boys, so she wanted them to try them on again. Kamali, Jeff, Jonathan & Daniel left at 5:30 to go to the Rainiers game. Tina & I & Nicholas left a little later to go shopping.
The evening was the highlight of the day. The Rainiers game was a lot of fun for the boys & Kamali. Jeff said the pizza was huge and the seats were terrific (they all thought I’d picked them, but I hadn’t!!). They got hats, pizza, and two youth tickets to the Zoo. Jeff also got them popcorn & peanuts (because what’s a baseball game without those?!). Kamali got them sodas. 🙂
Tina, Nicholas and I had fun at the mall. We ate supper first, then went shopping. Nicholas was a real trooper. He looked at everything with us and gave opinions and everything! We bought him a sundae on the way home ’cause he was so great. Tina & I both purchased an outfit and were pleasantly surprised when the items cost less than the tag price and we got a $5 off coupon! 🙂
God is so good to us – it amazes me. The way He cares about the little things. The weather was perfect for the game, the seats were awesome, clothes were cheaper and Nicholas was great at the mall!
Thank You Lord, for making today so nice!

Today was pretty uneventful. We went to our rental agency & handed in our lease (they renewed it for a year, and upped the rent), then we went to the coffee shop and visited with Kamali.
While we were there, Jeff saw a deal in the paper for a Tacoma Rainier’s game. (it says “May 17th” on the page I linked to, but it is also good for tomorrow night!) It’s a Little Caesar’s Family Meal Deal. You get 4 tickets, 4 hats, 4 pieces of pizza, 2 vouchers for Little Caeser’s pizza and 2 vouchers for Crazy Bread. All for only $44! So the big boys, Jeff & Kamali are going to a Rainier’s game tomorrow night! 🙂
Nicholas & I will have to entertain Aunt Tina or something. 🙂
Then Sunday is our Church picnic at Point Defiance. I’ll keep you posted!!

Daniel, Jonathan & Nicholas – 7.16.08

Awhile ago, Nicholas asked me to give him a buzz cut. I didn’t have a razor, so I told him he’d have to wait, as I didn’t have a razor. Nicholas’ hair kept getting longer, and my courage to do this thing was increasing. We talked about it, and Nicholas told me he didn’t want a regular haircut. I asked Michelle where she’d bought her razor. She said she’d got it at Costco.
July 5th, I went to Costco to purchase the razor. It was more than I expected, but I bought it anyway. The kit is pretty neat. It has two razors – one for hair and one for trimming the edges and beards & mustaches. The big razor has two blades – one is a child blade, made for less pulling and stuff like that. There are a bunch of things to make the hair different lengths. The kit also came with two combs, a pair of scissors, clips and a cover-up thing. 🙂
I wanted to cut the kids’ hair outside, but we don’t have any plugs outside. I was going to do it over at Mom’s (she has plugs outside), but we didn’t make it over there. This is why it’s taken until now for me to do it. 🙂 So I just did it – in the kitchen, where I usually cut their hair. Nicholas & Jonathan opted for buzz cuts, Daniel asked for a regular cut. 🙂 Jonathan wanted a flat top, but I told him I wasn’t sure if I could do that. I said, “Well, I can try, but it might turn out to be a buzz cut anyway.” He decided to just get a buzz cut. 🙂
So there they are. They are getting so big!!
And that’s my story. And my second post of the 100 days.

Since Brittany said she’d read them, I will try the whole 100 days of blogging. Hopefully more people will come and comment, too. Otherwise, I’ll just feel like a lame person with only one friend – who, by the way, is much better than no friend! 🙂

so – this is my first 100 days of blogging post.

I’m going to try and give Nicholas a buzz cut now. Maybe there will be pictures tomorrow.