HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS! A New Journey Begins for Us

Today is the day we celebrate our risen Savior's birth. I often think of Mary, being so young, a virgin, pregnant, scared, confused, all the many things she felt physically, emotionally and spiritually. What faith she had! She did not know what to expect, she was a virgin. She had no concept of how her body would change, hormones, and all that goes along with that, yet she , "I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve". How I pray for that in my heart, however strange, impossible, beyond belief, just the faith, willingness and obedience to say, "Yes Lord. I'm ready to serve You and Your purpose". I have many questions for Mary when we meet one day. I'd like to know how her pregnancy was different with the immaculate conception verses the children she conceived with Joseph. Since Jesus is the "Light of the world", I'd like to know if her womb ever glowed! Could have happened, right? Such a unique, miracle, I'm sure there are things unknown to us of that time, her pregnancy and the birth of Jesus, Him as a toddler, teenager, young adult. Yet He never sinned. Hard to fathom a child growing up never saying, "NO!" or being disobedient, or lying about something He broke, or being mean to His sibling....so many things the bible doesn't discuss about Jesus' upbringing. I cant wait to hear all about that time.


So, we made our announcement that we are expecting again. I had my IUD out on Luke's birthday, due to the fact that it was in my cervix and not my uterus and I'd been causing me some ovarian cysts, while at the same time, I was having a culposcopy since my pap smear back on my birthday, July 19th, came back abnormal and I had to have a biopsy. So, the plan was to come back and have the IUD replaced. However, although Matt knew, there were a few "times" when this was disregarded. I'm guessing Matt didn't think it would happen so quickly-and honestly nor did I-because we had to try so hard to get pregnant with Luke, doing the ovulation tests, timing it and all just right for about 4 or 5 months. So, upon us discovering I was late, and in fact pregnant, I'd assumed I was only about 6 weeks pregnant because of when I had my last period, but boy was I off. Veronica, my most precious nurse/friend left me a message that she 'didn't know how' but that Joey was going to be in clinic for my visit on Tuesday, 12/20 @ 12:20! That was all God. THEN I got there and after we caught up and I had my exam and went for the ultrasound, the tech discovered that I was not six weeks, but rather 9.1 weeks!! I couldn't believe it, but it did make sense considering I felt like as soon as I'd seen the positive pregnancy test, my clothes in my tummy didn't fit! Also, I told Joey that my headaches had already started, which I'd thought had started towards the end of my first trimester with Luke, and once the tech confirmed the gestation, it made sense cause I was towards the end of the first trimester. Our due date is July 23rd, and if you haven't already heard, the 23rd is a very significant number for us. Here's the list:

my mom's birthday, May 23rd
my dad's birthday, June 23rd
my brother's birthday January 23rd
I was born on July 19th, BUT was born at 1:23am
we grew up on 2304 4th street
I have 23 in my ssn
my BCBS employee number has 23 in it
I was married and had Tobi at 23 years old
Tobi weighed 2 lbs 3 oz
Our first house was at exit 231 in Calera
Our house now is number 230
Layah was born at 23 weeks

So, this is a big deal! Although, that would be the 40 week marker, and I'll most likely go between 38-39 weeks, it's still a pretty awesome 'wink' from the Lord. I truly feel that this is a girl, after all, that vision I had before Layah was born, I truly believe it was to be interpreted exactly what I saw, however, if it was to mean something else, and this is a boy, I'm okay with that too. After all, we have tons of boy stuff, and clothes. It would save a lot of money! Ironically that's what I'm concerned about most. Not that I will have another preemie, but rather that the cost of 2 at Bright Horizon's will be more than we can afford. I'm praying hard that the Lord will bless us and either give Matt the promotion that is a possibility for him, or that either Mom or Matt's parents will offer us to take care of the baby for the first year, as that would be a tremendous help. I just have to leave it in the Lord's hands. So we have the cerclage scheduled for January 10th. It was awfully soon from when I expected, but we'll do it then. I wasn't gonna wait till that Friday and do it on Friday the 13th! So, this year, we pray for several things: this baby to stay in me until SHE is full term, Matt will get his promotion and will stay clean and sober and his desire for the Lord will continue to grow and he'll just dive into the Word and be just consumed with it, that Derok will be wise, have a spirit of discernment and will be sensitive to the Lord's prompting and guidance regarding Christi, and that the Lord will prepare our finances and the day care situation for our baby.



Faithfully His,