In the meantime

Now that we have passed the “most risky” part of our pregnancy and are now over halfway there and without any signs of trouble, I often catch myself thinking, or even saying, that “God has been good.” Instantly, though, the thought comes to mind: Would He not be good if we had miscarried (or still do miscarry)? Would that change the fact that God is good?   Would I still be so quick to say that He has been good?”   Of course, we all agree that our circumstances don’t change the fact that God is good , and that He always will be good.  But our flesh is so much more hesitant to proclaim that He has been good when we go through pain-filled, life-changing circumstances. We tend to be so short-sighted and earthly-minded that even though we love God and have testified in the past that He is good , we usually gravitate towards declaring God to be good only when our  circumstances line up with what we would define as “good.”  And...

I rarely watch any kind of video clips...and I usually scan over lots of blog posts without carefully reading them.  But this 2-minute clip brought encouragement to my heart.  It has been just over 2 years now since our miscarriage.  We are now pregnant with a precious little girl.  But the tears still come.  Unexpectedly. And the pain is still oh. so. real. But God has given us hope.  An amazing hope that gives strength for this life marked by pain and sorrow.  All creation groans and yearns for that day. Watch  Embrace the Life God has Given You by John Piper.

With 20 weeks down and more or less 20 weeks left to go (we're halfway -- woot woot!),  God has blessed with an incredibly easy pregnancy so far!  No morning sickness ever , no super-sensitivity to smells, no weird cravings (except maybe that I simply cannot get enough fresh fruit!), no super-emotional, irrational breakdowns (I guess maybe Isaac would be a better judge of that, haha!)....  I am super thankful for how easy it has been so far.  Despite all my fears of the many unknowns, God has been gracious and good. Last week we had our 20 week ultrasound and our baby GIRL is doing great! :)   Cannot. Wait. for July!!

The Psalms continue to produce timeless encouragement.  Over and over, they remind the reader to lift up his eyes to the Savior, back to the One who made us and loves us, and Whose everlasting character is the very reason we cry out to Him. Reading Psalm 25 this morning was a good reminder of this.  This particular Psalm is pretty easily broken down into " God, this is Who You are.  Because of Your character, hear this pitiful cry of mine.  It is about You, not me."   Verse 2-3 -- Let me not be put to shame...                     ...because I trust in You and wait for You. Verse 5 -- Lead me in Your truth...                 Teach me...                     ...because You are the God of my salvation. Verse 6 --    ... Remember Your mercy                    ...

After the project sat on my kitchen table for a week or two, it is finally finished!   Yes, I filled  the journal that I made  a year and a half ago and decided it was way more fun to make another one than to just go out and buy one!   Here are the two together -- the one one the top has held up pretty well for being well-loved for   1 1/2 years  now!   I wanted to go with a burlap cover this time...we'll see how if it holds up as well as the other cover.  It took a little trial and error to figure out how to make the cover, but in the end, it worked out well! This new journal ended up having twice as many pages as the last one, so time will tell how well this cover holds up! I also decided to connect the front and back covers with some cloth for a bit of color and girliness.  It added a little more of a challenge to the book-binding process...it's not perfect, but it's not bad for a beginner!  And...

Since I'm on a posting spree here... here's the latest at the Stanleys!  We are incredibly excited, thankful, scared, and [lots of other emotions!] But super thankful that God, the Father of lights, Who only ever gives good gifts, has seen fit to give us this good gift. We love our precious Little One.

If you read any blogs, you’ve probably seen a number of posts over the past few weeks that were along the lines of “Top 10 Books for 2016” or “Top 10 Posts of the Year.”  Well, you won’t get posts like that here…because I don’t think I’ve even read ten complete books this year, or had enough of a blog-audience to have a list of the ten most-read posts on this blog. Haha… Instead, I thought it would be fun to do a  slight variation: The Books I Wish I’d Read (or finished) in 2016 and The Posts I Would Liked to Have Posted in 2016.   So here goes… 8 Books I Wish I’d Read (or finished) in 2016: 1.  None Like Him, by Jen Wilkin (On the attributes of God.  Really good—at least the few chapters that I’ve read so far!)  2.  Future Grace , by John Piper (About sanctification...got about halfway through...and then got distracted.  Again, really good so far!) 3.  A Peculiar Glory, by John Piper (Why we believe the Bible is the Word ...