Thursday, August 18, 2011

Eleven Days



   Eleven days since  Sebastian was born. Nine days spent with him and his parents.  Nine days and nights cooking, cleaning, changing, burping, swaddling, loving, rocking, adoring this sweet family.  I feel like I am producing, acting in, and watching a movie--the most informative documentary, the most dramatic drama, the most exciting adventure, the tenderest comedy, the most beautifully creative animation, the most diverse musical to be filmed since Gracie, Ruby, Emme, and Jonah were born, and before that since Christel, Becky, Joy, and Kathleen were born.


   
Father God is tenderly loving us and rejoicing over us, preparing a secure and appropriately nurturing environment for us just as we do for Sebastian.  He feeds us His Word--both written and living--as we come to Him, hungry for more of Him.  He swaddles us when we are overstimulated and too needy for rest to even know that we need Him.  He prepares a table for us always--Jehovah Jireh. He chuckles when we make new discoveries and include Him in our social contacts.


He watches over us as we sleep and as we are awake.  He goes before us to prepare a place for us.

   
   He send us flowers, visitors, and new gifts just because He is happy that we are His.  And His Father-Mother-Grandparent heart is always saying "I love you. You are awesome. You are the best. You are the most wonderful to ever live. You are beautiful. You are perfect. You are mine. You are worthy of a new song. You are worth watching over day and night. You are worth all the work. You are special. You are the reason I sent my only Son.  It was worth it all."

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Fearfully and wonderfully

God, you are sooooooo Good!  You have known us before we were ever formed in the depths of the earth and made us fearfully and wonderfully pronoucing us as "good."  You did many things well this week and long before, too.  You told me which flight to choose in June for an August trip.  You spoke to me and said, "this one, on August 9th departing at 9 a.m. is the right one."  Sebastian was born on August 7 after 40 weeks and 40 hours of labor and was released from the hospital on August 9th.  My departing plane was delayed on the tarmac for almost one hour while a broken gauge was replaced, but none of the children on the plane got restless. Our arrival time was perfect, and my taxi trip was perfect, and I arrived less than one hour at Mike and Joy's home after they brought Sebastian home.

You gave Sebastian a Mommy and Daddy who love him so very much.  Once again it just makes my heart all warm and fuzzy like a peach ripened in the sun to observe my children with their babies.  I think You like to see Your children enjoy their babies too.  When I see your Holy Spirit in worship He always appears in swirls--light, color, water, or sound swirls--like a ribbon dancer or beautiful swirls in nature.  I think the Aurora Borealis is You showing off in the sky.  I think waterfall rainbows are You showing yourself to us.  I think sundogs in the clouds are You.  I think air bubbles in water are You.  I think sound waves, and bells and chimes, and bird calls, and echos are all You, just showing off for us to see if we notice You.  Most lately I've decided that swirls in nature--roses as they open, doodle bug holes, fingerprints, skin on our knuckles, hair growth on our head--are all kisses from You. Unique prints that you leave on us to remind us that you made us fearfully and wonderfully and know us full well.  Thank you for your stamp, My Maker.

Monday, August 8, 2011

He is born!

Sebastian Michael
Born 8/7/2011 at 7:14 EDT
Weight: 7 lb. 8 oz
Length: 20.5 inches
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Dark and alert
Fingers: Long and expressive
Cheeks: Chubby
Name means: venerable, esteemed

It was only a minute ago that Sebastian's Mommy was born and I was there.  She arrived on a snowy weekend when my doctor was not on call.  It was an adventure that ended in wonder and love when she was born at 2:40 pm.  
Sebastian's Mommy

Every time a beautiful baby comes to live in our family my response is to praise God, for each one is fearfully and wonderfully made, and He has known them and formed them in the depths of the earth.  A new temple for His glory has come on this earth!  Glory! Glory! Glory!
Psalm 29:9; 48:9
And in God’s temple everything says, “Glory!” NAS

Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love. NIV

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Drought

As the deer pants for the waterbrooks so my soul thirsts for You O Lord.

Texas is now in extreme drought. Yesterday it was 106 here. That is normal now.  The average temperature for July was 101, and we received zero rain. ZERO. More than 50 days this summer have been 100 degrees or more.  One inch of rain fell June 6 and that was the last time we had measurable rain.  Our landscaping that represents 21 years of growth is in danger because there is just not enough water to satisfy the deep needs of the plants.  Every day on the TV news there is a report of the extraordinary conditions and results--plagues of ants and grasshoppers trying to escape the heat. Water snakes on hoods of cars.  Devastating wildfires. Lakes with X number of days of water supply remaining. Fawns dying in deer herds in high numbers.  Electricity alerts and warnings of outages.

We need You, O Lord!  We need You to come and pour out on us rivers of living water!  We need you to break open the heavens and let it rain! Open the floodgates of heaven!  We need the cooling wind of your Spirit and the rising river of your love flowing all around us!  You are the only One who can satisfy us!  Our souls thirst for You!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Wanting a Do-Over

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Summer is a great time for me to read books. I have read several education books, one novel, and a number of titles that have just interested me for months, if not years. One of those is a book by Danny Silk, Loving Your Kids on Purpose. 

I cannot begin to describe the conflicts this writing stirs in me.  Our four daughters are grown up and are very nice people, so I know we didn't fail as parents, but this book so makes me want a do-over.  I knew when we were raising them that I was very conflicted about our discipline style, and truthfully, I wasn't very good at being consistent because I just wanted to love my girls, shaping them gently.  The problem, of course, is that they had days where they just wanted to learn outside the gentle box.  Memories of losing my temper, spanking to not "spare the rod and spoil the child," trying to be the person with the power, are playing over and over like an unwanted advertising campaign in my head.  God knows that over the years I prayed almost daily that He would erase our mistakes and keep the girls' memories full of love and security, that they would fear God, not man, and love their neighbor (including their sisters!) as themselves, that they would hide His word in their hearts so they would not sin against Him.  My biggest problem was ME.  Ugh!  That is a nasty billboard displaying all the uglies.

So, now I have a chance at a "do-over of sorts."  That is with my children and their children.  Three of them have a copy of Danny's book.  All of them will have a shot at Love and Logic® --the basis of Danny's Loving on Purpose book.  It is, after all, what we wanted to teach them in the first place--that God loves them unconditionally, no matter what they do.  We all still need to discipline ourselves because in doing so we learn to become more Christ-like and love the Lord our God with all our hearts. We all still need to love our neighbor as ourselves because in doing so we show the love of God, His Son, and Holy Spirit in the home, the Church, the marketplace.

Still praying every day that God will erase all the mistakes we made and will fill them with His love and His character.

Monday, August 1, 2011

What have I been doing this summer?

 A little harvesting--very little.  There is a major drought happening with triple digit temperatures. It was 104 again today.
 A little working out.  My Pilates trainer thinks up new ways to challenge me weekly.

 A little partying.  We celebrated Gracie's third birthday at our house with the cousins!

 A little girl time--with the Rowdy Girls and with our girls.


 A little time just for the boys--Jonah and Grandpa did some science experiments in the kitchen.  This is not one of them, but was the preferred toy of the day.

A lot of Baby Music and Studio teaching this summer.  This is my first week to not teach.

And lots of praying and waiting for Baby McV to arrive!  Joy and Mike have the nursery ready to go and are just waiting for the big boy's birthday.