Highlights at 35 Weeks

 Good and beautiful things:

• When I feel baby kick, I find myself imaging us dancing and twirling together. 
• I find a rush of joy thinking of a small girl growing in my home and investing in her. 
• I also find great beauty in the thought of having a little companion who shares her own precious thoughts with me as the years go by (I know that will be a while). 
• Sometimes anxious thoughts want to attack the joyful ones, but I feel God's peace overcoming them with his love and assurance that he holds our little one in his hands. 
• Singing to her and finding that my hopes and dreams easily rise in song...revealing truth that conquers fear. 
• I have been making yummy snacks.  Yesterday it was avocado pudding made with coco powder and coconut milk and honey. Really yummy.  Recently made coconut milk popsicles with local berries!
• I am finding I can rest,  instead of feeling guilty, and God delights in that.  This was an unfolding that came when I was feeling especially tired and reading our daily Bible readings to Zach as he rested on the couch:

• Psalm 127

  ¹ Unless the Lord builds a house,
      the work of the builders is wasted.
  Unless the Lord protects a city,
      guarding it with sentries will do no good.
  ² It is useless for you to work so hard
      from early morning until late at night,
  anxiously working for food to eat;
      for God gives rest to his loved ones."

  
  

  I thought: "Oh, God is not annoyed that I am tired.  He loves me and wants me find my rest in him.  He loves our baby girl too, and knows I need it."  

  I continued reading, not knowing what came next: 

  
  

  ^{3 "}Children are a gift from the Lord;
      they are a reward from him."

  
  

  I felt very loved by the Lord that he not only gave me "permission" to rest, but then followed it up by affirming the fact that the little one who has a part to play in this tiredness is a gift from HIM!  He will build our house, returning my husband to health, and bringing our baby.  In my tiredness I CAN rest in him, in fact, he'll give it to me because I am one of his loved ones.  (That's amazing!)

   
  

Thanks to my farming father and my gardening mother, I have a love for growing things.  I have found that as I see the flowers blooming, it fills me with new hope that our little girl is growing beautifully in me too!  This deep desire to foster life and see it spring forth at the right time is about to take on a whole new dimension as we welcome our baby girl into the family!

Please pray with us: 

• That we will communicate well with the medical professionals our desires, and we will understand each other's perspectives. 
• That God will give us peace about this upcoming transition. 
• That baby will grow well in me, and that the next month will be a time of joy, rest, anticipation, and preparation of our home, bodies, and hearts. 
• That my parents will get their Visa's and arrive safely. 
• That Zach will be completely restored to complete health!