Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

If you read the title of this post, you get the idea.  Waiting for little girl to make her appearance is the story of our life right now.  Yes, there are lots of other things going on in our life, but this is the overwhelming thing.

Her official “eviction” due date is this coming Tuesday, October 23 but because I made progress early on (36 wks) we expected for it to come sooner.  And it hasn’t.  Just proof that no one can predict what the Lord has planned and when she is going to decide to come.  We are enjoying this time as a family of 3, but we are also really excited to meet her and hold her and introduce her to Kinsley.  Kinsley constantly talks about the baby, so we think she is excited too!  Please pray that I would progress, that the midwives will have wisdom as to what to do next (should they need to make that decision with us), and that she would come soon!!  I am planning my schedule full this week hoping that I will have to cancel and knowing that I will be busy and occupied if she doesn’t come.

We made another trip to the fair this week with our staff team.  We told Kinsley that she could only ride two rides (we figured watching her ride rides wasn’t our staff team’s idea of fun…especially since all of them are single or married without kids) and after giving her a few choices, she choose to use both of her rides on the merry-go-round.  She loves waving as she comes around to us!  What is it with kids loving anything that spins them – from office chairs that you spin them in to merry-go-rounds?  Here are a few pics of us at the fair the second go-round, including one of her touching my belly, which I love!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Kai.  She helps co-lead the team with Ed and is also a dear friend of mine (even before we joined this team!)

 

 

 

 

RIP Timone

This week has been a week of highs and lows.

Highs –

  • Ed came back from Fall Retreat on Sunday and shared about how great of a weekend it was!  The music (which he helped to lead) went well (this was a prayer as they were combining musicians from several different schools who never played together), the speaker was amazing, real, and honest as he shared from God’s Word, and students were really impacted by the Lord and what He taught them.  Two girls even accepted Christ (one from Wake Tech and one from UNC Pembroke)!!  The students not only caught a vision for what the Lord wants to do on their campus, but they are excited to go to Winter Conference in December and bring more students with them.  Over all, it was a highlight of the semester so far!
  • Had a good doctors appointment on Thursday.  While little girl has not made her appearance yet and there wasn’t a lot of change from the last time they checked me, the doctor was encouraged and said it could happen at any time based on some things.  So the waiting continues….  I am anxious to meet her but content with waiting because I know she will be here very soon and I want to go into labor when the Lord wants it to happen, not when I want to make it happen.  I am not opposed to having them induce me, but would like for that not to have to happen if at all possible (you can pray for that!).
  • In an effort to try and “walk” this baby out, we went to the state fair last night.  We are supposed to go with our team next Thursday but we wanted to make sure Kinsley had a chance to go just in case little girl makes an early appearance, and with our team, they are “big kid” who don’t want to hang out at the “little kids” rides, so by going last night, she had a chance to ride all of the rides made for little people her size.  Although she isn’t quite tall enough to ride most rides on her own (believe me, she would if they let her!), she had a blast!!  We also got to eat lots of good (but bad for you) food, watch the racing pigs, see a pumpkin that weighs our size, and pet the animals.  I think I secretly love the state fair more than Kinsley does!!  The first picture shows her riding the train by herself and giving us thumbs up (thanks Elaina for teaching her that….not only is it cute but she says your name each time she does it :)…she remembers you even though you are in West Africa!).  The second picture shows her petting the cute goats.

Lows –

  • Even though there is really only one low this week, it is a big one.  Our sweet, laid-back, old man of a dog Timone passed away.  Even though he was only 12, he had a lot of issues from gum disease to liver problems to a heart murmur to arthritis.  We knew that he was slowly going down hill, and then last weekend, he started taking a turn for a worse not being able to control his bowels at all, hardly being able to move around, losing weight, and then eventually not eating or drinking.  The last time we remember him having anything to eat or drink was Sunday and when we finally took him to the vet Thursday, he only weighed 6 lbs (had lost half his body weight).  Needless to say, his body was shutting down, he was limp and didn’t have strength to walk or hardly pick his head up, and he had even developed an ulcer in his eye from staring into space.  Although he may have survived a few more days, when Ed took him to the vet on Thursday, we knew it was time to let him go and made the decision to put him down.

While it was and still is sad for us, we were more worried about how Kinsley would     take it since she freaks out when he is gone for half a day getting his hair trimmed.  But she has taken the news like a champ, and although she asks about him every day, she talks about him being in heaven with Jesus, and how she wants to run and jump with him there.  It has been neat to learn through her about having “faith like a child” as she has no problem believing and hoping we will see him again because he is in heaven.

Thanks for all the sweet messages and calls offering your condolences….it has meant a lot to us that you feel our loss.

 

The Girl Loves Dancing

Kinsley LOVES dancing!  I am not one of those mothers that thinks that everything applies only to their child. While I am aware that most kids like to dance, it is a great joy to see her dancing and singing and we would love to share with you!  This video (linked below because it was too large to upload – any high tech people know how to make this work?) was taken of Kinsley singing and dancing to Ed playing guitar.  Ed has been doing a lot of guitar playing as he gets ready to help lead worship at our Fall Retreat this coming weekend and Kinsley loves to join in.  We have recently figured out that while sometimes we don’t know what she is singing, most of the time she is singing “Jesus Loves Me” which melts my heart!  So enjoy watching our little one break a rug.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdTAgS0af8U&feature=em-share_video_user

The other thing that has been happening at our house is waiting, waiting, waiting.  I have been having contractions (some false, some real) and know that I am progressing – but as moms who have had children before know, that doesn’t mean a thing.  Here is a picture of me at 36 1/2ish weeks (yes, a week late as I am now 37 1/2 weeks along).  While having another child and enjoying life as a family of 4 makes the waiting easier, the increasing uncomfortableness does not.  Whenever the Lord is willing, we are ready!

Please pray for our Fall Retreat this weekend (I am stuck at home as my doctors replied a definite no when I asked if I could go too).  We were praying for 35 students from ENC to go (10 more than last year) and the Lord has answered our prayers (and we may even be a few students over that)!  The ENC students combined with the Southeast Impact students and all the staff, there will be over 100 people at this retreat.  There are even students coming from a few schools that have not traditionally had students come in the past – 3 from Campbell University and 10 from Wake Tech (which is particularly fun for me because that is the school I have been focusing on this year).  Please pray the Lord changes students’ lives this weekend, draws students into a relationship with himself (we know there is one Jewish student and a few others who don’t know the Lord), bonds students together with each other and the staff, and that they catch a vision for what the Lord is doing on their campus and how they can be a part of that.  Thanks for your prayers, partnership, and making this possible!