He Knows

"The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust." Psalm 103:8-14

This passage came to mind as I was thinking about the last several rough nights with Emma. Yesterday I felt like I was at the end of my rope and then last night Emma slept, ate, and slept again like a champ! I know sleep won't fix a bad attitude, but I'm pretty sure it gives me more patience. It also helps me to see and appreciate how the Lord is at work in our growing family--and in my own heart. He is merciful and gracious and compassionate and doesn't treat us as we "deserve." I don't "deserve" to have easy days raising these girls, but He gives them to me joyfully and lovingly. He also lovingly gives the hard days to me as He desires for me to be made more like His Son. No, that's not the first thing in my mind at the end of a hard day, but He is faithful to teach me and remind me. Praise the Lord!

Good Day

I wanted to share a praise, but I need to get back to work so it will be short (for me). The Lord has brought some very encouraging people into my life lately and I'm seeing answers to prayer every day. That alone is a praise, but there's more! Today is payroll day and my boss came to work barely functioning. He asked me to check the report he usually checks, which is usually when I take my lunch break. I'm about halfway through (I have been eating lunch at the same time), but my attitude is better than it has been in a long time. I thing it's mainly because of the prayers of faithful friends, but I'm sure getting enough sleep for several days on end REALLY helps. Also, I'm feeling physically better today than I have for a while, which just makes the whole world seem brighter. So, praise the Lord with me for His work through friends, prayers, sleep, and gospel-centered music that I can listen to at work :-)

First Pictures

"For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them." Psalm 139:13-16

We had our first "real" appointment today with the midwife. As you can see, an ultrasound was part of it, which included seeing and hearing our baby's heartbeat. I must admit I was sort of shocked to see an actual little baby on the screen... Our baby... This whole pregnancy thing is REAL. I think one of the first things I said out loud to Happy was "There's really a baby in there!" The midwife poked around a little and we saw the baby's arms flail a bit and a tiny leg kick out. I went back to work and showed EVERYONE pictures of our baby. Yes, I'm excited :-) I'm a bit scared, but mostly excited. When we heard the heart beating it was strong and consistent; I was praising the Lord for good reports of health and lots of just-as-it-should-be from the midwife. I know it's still early, but I'm amazed at how quickly God works to make a tiny little baby! Children really are a blessing from the Lord!

YUGO Update

Okay, it's not going to be that exciting. I did get to talk to Happy on Tuesday for approximately 12 1/2 minutes :-) He's doing well, even though he forgot his notes and Bible for the first message he was giving at an evening service. I didn't get many details in that 12 1/2 minutes, but do pray for him as the week is winding down.

Lisa, I figured out why you couldn't see the haircut album.... and now it's there. I had accidentally made it "Unlisted" instead of "Public." Oops.

For those of you who have been praying for me as Happy is gone all week, I greatly appreciate it! So far, the week seems to have gone fairly quickly and I did get to take my accounting mid-term last night. I'm feeling a little less pressure at the moment. This post isn't all that exciting, but I decided it was worth it to share that God answers prayer! I'm thankful for my relatively uneventful week :-D

So cool

At times I look through my cell phone to see what random pictures I've taken and forgotten about. This one is a classic. As you can imagine, we thought we were SO COOL! By the way, in case you couldn't tell/didn't know... those are my feet and Happy's feet.

Thank you all for your prayers yesterday! We are told that "it went well" and the students seemed interested in how God has worked in our lives. Praise the Lord for that! We are very much looking forward to getting more involved with the youth group so I'm sure we'll be adding prayer requests here and there... along with sharing stories which should be interesting :-)

Some Thoughts

After the long weekend, I had the largest stack of invoices EVER. I just finished all of them. Some times that is the best feeling. I'm DONE! ....until the mail comes tomorrow :-)

Since we've been pretty bad at updating our blog over the last few weeks, I figured I should post even if I have nothing in particular to post about. But, then I realized that it'd be really boring to read and no one would want to comment and encourage my writing. Then I remembered that people commented on the "I'm pregnant... just kidding" post. But I decided I wouldn't give my dad-in-law heart failure again.

So here's what's been on my mind and heart lately: I've been quite challenged by some situations that bring up my biblical counseling training and it's really exciting, but I can't exactly share the details of that. I will say that it is a wonderfully undeserved blessing to see God working in the hearts of His children! Praise the Lord for His faithfulness! Praise the Lord for His perfect plan in our lives! Praise the Lord for His holiness and His justice and His grace! Praise the Lord that no matter how crazy life seems to us, He still knows what He's doing and it's not out of His hands! What a blessing to rest in that hope :-)

Exciting stuff!!!

Our refrigerator comes tomorrow!!!! Yay!!!! I just wanted to share that little excitement. As for the rest of the apartment, it's coming together. Happy and I have been working hard to unpack boxes and make our "home" a hospitable place. Once things have settled a bit we're hoping to have a "Get to Know Your Neighbor" party for the whole complex. Yeah, we need to talk to the manager and 1) make sure it's ok to do that and hang up flyers for it and 2) find out how many people we might expect! Pray that the Lord opens doors as we seek to be a light for Him in a dark world!

Other news.... I got the job at the plumbing company as their receptionist! I start on Thursday (one week from today) because I wanted to have Happy's birthday off (it's on Wednesday). Big plans, y'know :-D I'm very much looking forward to the job but I'm anticipating a good amount of traffic to and from the job. Ah well, I guess that's just life in southern California. Praise the Lord for this job though!