He has a sense of humor

She is on her way and I can not wait to meet her and bring her home. I went to the doctor this afternoon after they called me to come in and they feel the best thing to do is to induce me this evening. I can not tell you how incredibly nervous I am about her arrival. We are frantically getting everything ready to go………..camera….check……other camera……check……bags packed…..check…..boys clothes ready……check…..her coming home outfit…..check! The reason I say He has a sense of humor is because it seems that all of my children have been born either on or very near a holiday. Myself…..Christmas Eve……Superman…….Halloween (which I asked Him nicely not to bring on October 31st :0)……..T-Rex…..2 days before Fathers Day and now #3……St. Patrick’s Day. Ha ha……..I am seriously laughing inside!!

Please……….keep us all in your prayers…………me and the baby for a super smooth and safe delivery!!

Make your bed...

Last night I journeyed with the Apostles in their ministry in the book of Acts and was completely captivated by their dedication, their zeal and their boldness in spreading Christ. It was very encouraging to listen to what they went through and what they were willing to go through and just to see their many struggles and see the Lord shine through each of them.
As I was reading I came across Peter’s journey to Lydda where he found a man named Aeneas. Aeneas was bedridden for eight long years and paralyzed. My heart could in a very small way relate to being bedridden. Peter said to him “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” How truly amazing it must have been for this man to beable to get up out of that bed and then for the first time in years get to pull the covers up over the bed with out him in it.
It is interesting for me to read this last night as I have been put on a very short term bedrest due to some little complications with my pregnancy. I have really been struggling with embracing this and have been depressed about it. In the beginning I was a little relieved……no housework or cooking and my Mother’s Day Out job was now off limits…..Praise God! But then after a week or two of being confined to my bed I realized how much I missed taking care of my family. It has now been a little over a month and the Lord has revealed to me many things through this time. My husband and I have in some ways switched places. He has really done an amazing job and I am so proud of him and extremely grateful for the man God gave me. I think it is truly awesome to know that when this is all over we both will have grown from it and will beable to appreciate each other a little more. I know that as a homekeeper I will be making some improvements in my attitude towards my duties and my husband.

I never really thought I could honestly say this but “I miss doing the laundry…..washing the dishes…..cooking…..giving my boys their baths…..picking up dirty socks and making beds!” It is hard to watch someone else do your job especially when you have your own specific ways of doing things. When Peter tells Aeneas to make his bed…….something that I think we all take for granted being able to do, symbolizing for me all the little things……my own heart rejoices with him at the ability of being able to do this “chore”. I can not wait to beable to do all the little things that bless my home and my family.

Ladies…..think about your little things…..do you realize how privileged you are to beable to do these things for your family? Do they bring a joy to you when they are done and when you know that your hard work is developing a beautiful, peaceful and safe refuge for your precious family?

The Heart of Embracing the Journey: Experiencing the Joy

As a mother, wife and Christian striving to live our His perfect will I have found that daily I am faced with getting through the day with out feeling like I am going to go off the deep end. As I think of all of the many (to many) evenings that I inflicted hours of sobbing, self pity, despair and desperation onto my poor innocent husband I am sad at the days I have allowed to slip through the fog of discontentment and self centeredness. I have been a maturing Christian for (God only knows exactly) 4 years and in those I have had many conversations with other women like myself on the same search….. for JOY in their callings. We are all liberated in our callings but were all overwhelmed at times at the many duties that come with them. Each day that goes by is an amazing opportunity to glorify God through simply enjoying what He has blessed us with even if the only gift we can see is the divine gift of time. It has been extremely difficult for me in some of those years to even get through the day…..they were days of hopelessness filled with out an ounce of Joy in them. My mind was constantly immersed in the dreadful things that needed to be done and I just could not see the Joy in the mundane monotonous duties that I was having to do day in and day out and each night that I laid my head down to sleep I would be filled with a second of relief until I remember that tomorrow awaits with the same doom.

I have since realized that Joy true Joy can only be found in Christ….Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, (1 Peter 1:8) …..and that I must see past myself and not only accept the many struggles of each day but also and I think more importantly embrace them for His glory. Each day that I am give is a wonderful gift and I can either focus on myself or on the cross, see each day seen through the lens of the cross has no chance of seeing oneself and the chance of the day going by with out Joy will be difficult.

So the purpose or design of Embracing the Journey: Experiencing the Joy is to share my love for Joy for my family and my calling with other woman like myself through sharing my struggles, my victories, my homemaking improvements, childrearing adventures, and my wifely duties. I hope and pray that this blog will encourage, inspire and cultivate in myself and any who visit a real sense of Joy in being a Woman of God