Her Side
John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay his life for his friends.
Ephesians 5:25
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
My husband. I cannot fully express how much Andy has done; how much he has loved; how much he has sacrificed for our family and mainly for me. I have lacked as a parent and wife these past 8-8 1/2 months and Andy has stepped up to the plate and filled in as dual roles when I couldn't. He has greatly encompassed the mentioned verses at the top. He has been the example our children need to see. For our girls to know what a true husband and best friend is like; for our son to know how to truly love his future wife.
Andy has put up with my emotional break downs, my lack of energy to do anything around the house most days, my exhaustion and desire to just lay in bed some days/evenings. He has supported me in my lowest moments and been the one person that I needed. And this is only the beginning. As he pointed out recently: we have 32 days until our due date and if this baby and pregnancy follows suit of its siblings, we have less than 32 days to go. More like 29 or less. That's less than a month. And when that day comes Andy will be there, once again, showing his love, devotion, and support as he has done the past 3 times. Holding my hand, crying with me, encouraging me, smiling, pushing me to do what I have to do to birth our child. To see the joy on his face as he sees our child finally coming in this world and holding this precious child for the first time. He is always right there, telling me when he can see the baby's head and this will be the first time he will be able to tell me what gender our child is and that is just as exciting to think about.
I love my husband and praise God every day that He brought us together. I know what true love feels like. I know what being with my soul mate feels like. And it is quite possibly the best thing in the world.
Olive juice, Andy.
Friday, June 6, 2014
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
The joys and challenges
I was introduced, today, to a blog that has been making its round on social media about having multiple children, more specifically, 4. I was intrigued so I went ahead and read it. Boy, did everything in that blog mirror our life completely.
We always get asked, "Are you done?" "Were these pregnancies planned?" "Did you plan your children to be this close in age?" "How do you do it?" "Kids are so expensive!" "You are brave!" "You know how this happens, right?" "There are ways to stop this." And the surprised looks when they learn of the spacing between our children. We have faith in our mighty, loving God. He has a plan for us. He is in control of our lives. Why should we live any differently? We have been blessed with the opportunity to conceive and have children. God has entrusted us with His precious children. God can stop us from having children just as easily as He can help us have children. He is giving us what we have prayed and desired for before we even got married. How can we possibly be discouraged from that?
Being 35 weeks pregnant with our fourth has had its ups and downs, that's for sure. It has been one roller coaster ride of unbalancing hormones and emotions. Between the stress of daily chasing after our children, taking care of them, and making sure they don't kill themselves or each other and trying to spread myself equally for each of them I was starting to have weekly emotional break downs. I would be crying by Thursday morning at 9:30 when Andy would call me. I wanted the children gone. I didn't want them to touch me or be near me. I dreaded just the thought of taking the children out of the house by myself, whether that included our backyard, the store, or the park down the street. On my way home from work, just the mere thought of walking through the door, I would panic a little, knowing what I was coming home to. I was feeling lonely, abandoned by most of my friends.
But then Andy sat down and talked with me. I told him everything I was feeling and his concerns made him tell me to call my doctor. So I did. And I was put on some medicine to help with the anxiety and depression that I was apparently dealing with. It is still a daily battle but we are making it a little bit better than before.
We are thrilled...THRILLED...to be adding to our family. The joy of our 3 year old tickling Baby Bear and asking, every time I go for a regular check up, if we are going to get Baby Bear to bring home makes me smile every single time. When our 2 year old plays peek-a-boo with Baby Bear, which is really just her lifting my shirt, exposing my belly, then lowering my shirt, is comical. Watching our 2 year old get her baby, a little baby blanket, diaper bag filled with bottles and other appropriate accessories for a baby, and putting her baby in her little carrier and walking around the house saying "bye-bye" takes away the stress and anxiety just a little bit, because I know she will help out as much as she can. She will love her sibling and make sure the baby is OK.
We have been having a daily dose or two of Frozen in this house. All the children have learned the words and/or tune to all the songs. Our precious 3 year old will run around the basement singing and doing the exact motions to the Let It Go scene. Our 1 year old son will try to sing along to Love Is An Open Door, the only word understood being Door. Our 2 year old will at least get the tune down to all the songs since she has a lack of vocabulary right now. That is precious to my eyes and ears. Seeing them all get into the songs and movie.
So, in short, there are challenges of having more than one child, especially in 3 1/2 years. But the joys out weight the challenges. It doesn't always seem like it at the time but when you sit and think about all the times you have heard your children laugh; seen your children play together; heard them sing Jesus Loves Me to themselves and to their siblings...life is good. Life is GREAT.
We are forever thankful.
We always get asked, "Are you done?" "Were these pregnancies planned?" "Did you plan your children to be this close in age?" "How do you do it?" "Kids are so expensive!" "You are brave!" "You know how this happens, right?" "There are ways to stop this." And the surprised looks when they learn of the spacing between our children. We have faith in our mighty, loving God. He has a plan for us. He is in control of our lives. Why should we live any differently? We have been blessed with the opportunity to conceive and have children. God has entrusted us with His precious children. God can stop us from having children just as easily as He can help us have children. He is giving us what we have prayed and desired for before we even got married. How can we possibly be discouraged from that?
Being 35 weeks pregnant with our fourth has had its ups and downs, that's for sure. It has been one roller coaster ride of unbalancing hormones and emotions. Between the stress of daily chasing after our children, taking care of them, and making sure they don't kill themselves or each other and trying to spread myself equally for each of them I was starting to have weekly emotional break downs. I would be crying by Thursday morning at 9:30 when Andy would call me. I wanted the children gone. I didn't want them to touch me or be near me. I dreaded just the thought of taking the children out of the house by myself, whether that included our backyard, the store, or the park down the street. On my way home from work, just the mere thought of walking through the door, I would panic a little, knowing what I was coming home to. I was feeling lonely, abandoned by most of my friends.
But then Andy sat down and talked with me. I told him everything I was feeling and his concerns made him tell me to call my doctor. So I did. And I was put on some medicine to help with the anxiety and depression that I was apparently dealing with. It is still a daily battle but we are making it a little bit better than before.
We are thrilled...THRILLED...to be adding to our family. The joy of our 3 year old tickling Baby Bear and asking, every time I go for a regular check up, if we are going to get Baby Bear to bring home makes me smile every single time. When our 2 year old plays peek-a-boo with Baby Bear, which is really just her lifting my shirt, exposing my belly, then lowering my shirt, is comical. Watching our 2 year old get her baby, a little baby blanket, diaper bag filled with bottles and other appropriate accessories for a baby, and putting her baby in her little carrier and walking around the house saying "bye-bye" takes away the stress and anxiety just a little bit, because I know she will help out as much as she can. She will love her sibling and make sure the baby is OK.
We have been having a daily dose or two of Frozen in this house. All the children have learned the words and/or tune to all the songs. Our precious 3 year old will run around the basement singing and doing the exact motions to the Let It Go scene. Our 1 year old son will try to sing along to Love Is An Open Door, the only word understood being Door. Our 2 year old will at least get the tune down to all the songs since she has a lack of vocabulary right now. That is precious to my eyes and ears. Seeing them all get into the songs and movie.
So, in short, there are challenges of having more than one child, especially in 3 1/2 years. But the joys out weight the challenges. It doesn't always seem like it at the time but when you sit and think about all the times you have heard your children laugh; seen your children play together; heard them sing Jesus Loves Me to themselves and to their siblings...life is good. Life is GREAT.
We are forever thankful.
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