Ear piercing adventure

Mia got her ears pierced today and I just wanted to post a few pictures. I had wanted to get her ears pierced since she was born but I was continuously afraid. I just hated the thought of having something done that would hurt her but was completely unnecessary. After six months of deciding to go for it and then not going through with it, I finally did it. I went to Walmart not really thinking about getting her ears pierced. I filled my cart full of groceries and when I passed by the jewelry counter I thought, "It's now or never" and I just went for it on my way to the check-out. The lady marked her ears with the purple marker and called another worker over to help. I hated having to hold Mia's arms down and her head still but she did really well and didn't fight against me. They each took their turn with the piercing guns...pop, pop...and it was over. Mia screamed for about 20 seconds as I prepared her bottle, but as soon she got it in her mouth she had forgotten about the whole incident.

One of the reasons I wanted her to have earrings so badly was because she doesn't have much hair and a lot of people have thought she was a boy...even once when she had a pink shirt on with flowers. So, I thought that getting her ears pierced would keep people from calling her a boy, but I guess that was too much to expect because as we left the post office today...with her new earrings shining in the sun, her shirt with a lace collar, her sweater adorned with flowers...a lady commented, "Aww look at him, he's so cute." I've done everything short of tatooing "I'm a girl" on her head. Oh well...

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Matthew: A Call to Humility

Is anyone else attempting to read through the bible in a year? I've made it so far...although I'm about 5 or 6 days behind. It has been relatively easy to keep up with this time despite that I now have a 6 month old, a house with more rooms, and a new role as a pastor's wife to compete for my time in the Word. God's grace has really been upon me and He has kept my heart and mind eager for Him.

A theme that I have noticed over and over as I read the book of Matthew, is resisting pride and striving to be humble. In Matthew 6 we are reminded that if you seek your recognition on earth that is your reward but if you are humble and do good things because it pleases the Lord then you will be rewarded much more in heaven. In Matthew 18 the disciples ask, "Who is the greatest?" and Jesus tells them that unless they become humble they will not enter the kingdom of heaven. And in Matthew 20 James and John's mother desires for them to be at Jesus' right and left hand but Jesus simply reminds those who were listening that he had come to do the will of his Father...he came not to be served but to serve.

Jesus is our ultimate example when it comes to being humble. He healed the sick, he spoke to the outcasts and he spent time with the sinners who no one else would have anything to do with. He humbled himself to leave heaven and spend time with people like us knowing that we would reject him and he would end up on a cross to be a sacrifice for us. How can we have an ounce of pride in our hearts if we would even think of how awful our sin is in the light of Christ's holiness?

Update and Prayer

I finally feel like I've established some sort of routine here after the craziness of the holidays. I realized today that it has been over a month since I've posted and so much has happened over the last few weeks. My family and I had a successful move back to the great Scioto county where I was born and raised. The minor problems we had with the truck seems so minuscule to me now after all that has happened.

David's job at Bigelow Church was in full swing only a week after our arrival. He is currently in charge of the order of service as well as leading the worship on Sunday mornings. He co-teaches one of the adult Sunday school classes--a review of the Reformation (if you know my husband well, you know that is a complete dream come true). And he is helping to write the curriculum for the next class on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. He also is scheduled to preach next Sunday morning. He gets along really well with the other pastors and elders and we are constantly amazed at how quickly this church has begun to love and welcome us.

I've already had many opportunities to get involved at the church. My first calling is to help my husband, so I have helped him introduce new songs to the congregation and given him feedback on the service and his Sunday school lessons. I'm getting to know the other pastors' wives pretty well and have already learned so much! I'm excited to glean from their experiences. I've read a lot about being a pastor's wife but nothing compares to observing a wife who has been by her husband's side for over 20 years while he pastored the same church. David and I are meeting new friends at our small group and I've been asked to help plan a women's retreat in the Spring.

As many of you know we had been praying that David would get a job. Our prayers have been answered! David was hired on Tuesday last week as an adjunct professor in English at Shawnee State University. He had wanted to teach there since the first time we thought we were going to move last July but had continuously been discouraged since they weren't hiring and he found out that they required a PhD to teach there. He thought this job was out of the question and had applied at Starbucks, Kroger, and UPS (all places he was just willing to settle for) until our pastor mentioned he knew someone and could get David an interview. The next day he was hired on the spot. God is so good...he orchestrated it so that our faith was strengthened and that David got the job he had truly wanted. Now David is in a position where we are more available to minister to the college students at Shawnee, which is what we had really had a passion for all along.

Please continue to pray for us as our ministry here progresses. We need prayer to help us reach out to the people in our community and to minister to the members of our church. And as well, I still struggle with trusting God with Mia's health and the complications that her condition presents as we try to find insurance. But in all, I am praising the Lord because He has done so much for us and taught us so much...I'm excited to see what He has in store for us.

Emotions about Moving

As many of you know we have less than a week left here in Louisville. I have mixed emotions about leaving.

• I'm excited to be a member and to serve at Bigelow church in Portsmouth, OH and to finally have a house with a washer, dryer and dishwasher and to be near my family and to finally be in a place that we plan to stay for the rest of our lives
• I'm nervous about meeting new people, my role in ministry, family dynamics, finding a job for David, and making sure our insurance is dealt with properly so that Mia's surgery will be paid for later
• I'm sad to leave our church family who have helped us to grow so much spiritually and who have guided us through some of the most difficult times of our lives. I am sad too, because I know this place will never be the same--when we move on, it is only the beginning of the long line of people who will be doing the same, scattering the members of 3rd Avenue Baptist church all over the world.
• I'm happy that I was able to be a part of such a wonderful body of believers, that one day I will see these people again after the long journey of life and we can spend eternity telling each other stories of our ministries, and that I have a whole new group of Christians to build relationships with and learn from at Bigelow.
• I'm tired from packing for weeks and trying to get my 4 month old daughter to sleep through the night
• I'm thankful for the fun going away party that some of our friends threw us last night

Trusting God

I realized that I had hardly posted in October at all which means I had failed to include anything on my blog about the work that God is doing in our lives right now. I guess I should start from the beginning, though I know most of you that read my blog already know the whole story.

Our daughter Maleigha was born with a small dimple above her bottom. The first time I saw it I didn't think it was anything to be alarmed about...I wasn't even sure if it was that abnormal (I haven't really looked at that many bottoms..hehe). But when every doctor and nurse that came into the room said something about it, I began to realize that it might be a little more serious. They told us to keep an eye on it--make sure no fluid was coming out of it, it didn't get bigger, etc. And we left the hospital not really hearing another thing about it.

It wasn't until her 2 month check-up that they decided to look into it a little more. She was scheduled for an ultra-sound (this test was the most tramatic for all of us. I ended up having to hold Mia down for 15 minutes while she screamed until her face was red and she was covered in sweat, drool and snot) and when that seemed to show signs of a condition called tethered cord (where some fibers from the spinal cord attach to the tail bone) they proceeded to do an MRI. This included making a 2 month old baby fast for almost 6 hours. We thought this would be a much bigger ordeal than the ultrasound but it went smoothly. We definitely felt the prayers of our family and church. We got the results the next morning and found out that she indeed had tethered cord and would require surgery on her spine to repair it.

We are now at the point where we are simply trusting God and waiting for answers. We found out today that they won't do this surgery on children under the age of 2. We were frustrated because we thought they would need to do surgery right away. We had planned on moving at the end of this month and had decided not to so that Mia could get her surgery here...but after finding out we would be waiting over a year, we have started looking harder for a job for David in Ohio and researching the neurosurgical department at Children's hospital in Columbus.

I'm learning to trust God in new ways. We had our life planned out for the next few months and God had a different plan. And just when I became okay with the new plan, God threw us for another loop and we are back to having to take it one day at a time and not really knowing what the future holds, trusting God with every step. Though I know this is the way I should be living my life anyway, it still feels so scary. I know when we come through this I will see all that God has taught us and done for us but right now I feel like I can't even see my hand in front of my face. Please pray for our family, that we would trust God and lean on Him only. He has brought us this far and I know He will lead us through this as well.

Happy Halloween!

Wheww...Mia and I just made it back yesterday afternoon from a busy, exciting, fun and crazy time with the family in Ohio. We went on Saturday to surprise my mom for her 50th birthday. She was so excited to see her little Mia (and Mia's mommy and daddy too). David had to come back on Monday for work and class but Mia and I were able to stay til Wednesday so that we could participate in all the festivities of Halloween. We had such a fun visit with everyone...we were both very sad to leave.

On Tuesday, Mia dressed up and went Trick-or-Treating with her cousin, Bryce...I mean, Scarecrow. (While in costume, he insisted on being called "Scarecrow" and Mia was "Baby Butterfly") She had so much fun. She laughed at all the kids walking by and kept her eye on Bryce. She had a continuous smile on her face until we made it back to Jayme and Josh's house where she crashed and slept for an hour or so. Mia's first Halloween was better than I even imagined it would be. She stayed pretty happy (except for the extreme breakdown she had when we visited Josh's office, but we don't like to talk about that). And she looked so adorable in her butterfly costume.

Mia's 2 month check-up

This is the story of Mia's 2 month doctors appointment. To begin the adventure she decided she didn't want to sleep through the night after doing so for a whole week. She cried off and on during the night...I even tried feeding her and she still cried when she was done eating. She probably heard David and I talking about her having to get shots and she was feeling anxiety about it...I don't think that was it because I was worried enough for the both of us. So, after a rough night, I drug myself through the morning until my spirits were lifted when I saw how cute Mia looked in this outfit (picture on the left). Even if the appointment was going to be horrible, she could at least look cute.

I didn't anticipate that Mia would spit up a large quanitity of her noon feeding (which was usually at 1 or 1:30, but because of her rough night she was all confused and ate too early, so my plans to take a well fed, happy baby to the doctor at 1:40 were foiled). So, I had to change her cute little outfit. The picture on the right was what she looked like when we left the apartment...she looked a little scared.

I arrived at the doctor's office with a sleeping baby in tow but when the nurse weighed and measured her she was forced out of her peaceful slumber. When the nurse left the room I was happy to see Mia play and coo with the baby in the mirror above the examining table but deep inside I knew it wouldn't last long. By the time the doctor arrived, Mia had already had enough and all the poking and prodding only made it worse. The screaming began and I could not get her under control until minutes before the nurse came in to give her 4 shots but by then it was too late. Tears welled in my eyes as she writhed and screamed on the table as the needles went into her legs.

Finally the tramatic experience was over and we were able to go home but for Mia, the screaming had only just begun. She cried all the way home and could not be consoled until she was in the safe and loving arms of her daddy who came bounding out the door to greet us the moment we pulled into the parking lot. I was afraid that this was only the beginning of what our long evening would look like, but Mia proved me wrong when, after I finished feeding her, she cooed and played. She was happier than I had seen her in a few days and was full of energy.

By God's grace, Mia and I made it through the ordeal. I experienced a difficult aspect of being a mother--seeing your child in pain, knowing there isn't much you can do about it. And although I would hope that I would never have to experience that again, I know there will be many times that I will have to be there for Mia when she gets a boo-boo, or gets her heart broken or when she gives birth to her own little one someday. This was a big step in the direction of trusting God with my precious daughter...He can protect her like I will never be able to.