Pregnancy, Exhaustion and Hunger, Oh My!

I am so tired, boy oh boy, there is nothing like pregnancy to let you know that you are a finite human who is bound by the need for sleep =)
Of course, today is the day I was planning on getting lots of work done, so yesterday I took it slow. Lesson learned: when you are feeling good, get the work done so that when you are exhausted and suffering from a headache you can rest.
Don't put off 'till tomorrow what you can do today.
But, by the same token, acknowledge that there are some seasons more restrictive then others and learn to work with them. As my darling reminded me last night, just being pregnant is work in itself. Caring for our growing baby and doing my part to protect his life by not overdoing it and risking miscarriage is important.
So, I will clean out the fridge tomorrow, for those of you who wanted to know =)

I have been thinking a lot about pregnancy and the importance of seeing it through biblical worldview glasses, if you will. Carrying a child is not a picnic to say the least. The adventure includes, though is not limited to: dealing with boughts of all day long nausea (forget "morning" sickness) for the first three months, finding that your bladder seems to be shrinking as you run to the bathroom for the third time this hour or getting up at 2 am for a bathroom break; you start wondering how your stomach became a bottomless pit that demands to be filled even when the very thought of food makes you sick; You may find yourself running from the kitchen, thinking that if you smell, let alone see food, you just might keel over and die, you can sleep for 12 hours straight and by 2 pm feel like you haven't slept in a week, and to top it all off your lower abdomen is sore from muscles being stretched as your uterus grows. Yep, the Lord wasn't kidding when He told Eve that in "sorrow thou shalt bring forth children". It can be easy to have a weak moment and cry about not wanting to feel this way for the next 20 years of your life.

We all need to take encouragement, the Creator and Sustainer of life sees a much bigger picture:

"And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God. . . blessed shall be the fruit of thy body. . . and the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body. . . " Deut. 28 :1, 4 & 11

"So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. . . he also had seven sons and three daughters" Job 42:12-13

"Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is His reward" Psalm 127:3

"The wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house. . . "Psalm 128:3

"And did He not make make one? Yet had He the residue to the spirit. And wherefore one? That He might seek a godly seed. There for take heed to your spirit and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth." Mal. 2:15

"That they may teach the younger women to . . . love their* children" Titus 2:4


Scripture teaches that children are a blessing, that they are to be raised to the glory of God and that God will never give us beyond what we can bear. So when pregnancy wears on my body I try to remember the blessing of this little life that God has intrusted to us, to realize the priviledge of having a child knit together in my womb- a priviledge that men don't have and the barren don't have-one that shouldn't be taken for granted.

*in the greek "their" is not in the text, it is literally to "love children"

Birthday and Baby

Today is my Darling's 22nd birthday!!! I made him breakfast in bed, a tradition I brought with me from the Hoffman family (my folks!). We had fun taking the morning slow and spending time together. Yesterday we had gone hunting with two of his brothers, Isaac and Phillip. The boys got up sometime between 4-5 am, I personally waited until the last minute and then jumped out of bed, ate and dressed. We were out there and in position by, I forget, 6:30 or so? Jon and Isaac both got deer; Jon got a 5 point buck and Isaac got an 8 point buck.

Since we didn't get home and in bed until 11pm we slept in today =)

Also, today marks the 12th week of pregnancy!!!

Jon and I have a little one due in June. The baby weighs approximately 1/2 oz and is the size of a large plum (about 2 1/2 inches!) Almost all of his systems are formed and just need time to mature. He already has teeth buds in his gums, a heartbeat, sexual organs, bones, cartilage, white blood cells, muscle, hair and finger nails! According to a site I was looking at, the baby can already move around: doing stretches, somersaults, and forward flips.

". . . Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise Thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are Thy works, that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from Thee when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in Thy book all my members were written, in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them.

How precious are Thy thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them." Psalm 139:13-17

Picture credit:

Family Culture, Part 3: Honor

In 2 Peter the Apostle Peter addresses the redeemed of God, fellow saints. As he goes about instructing them (5-11) and mentioning his approaching death (14-15) he makes an important statement in verses 12-13 :

"Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things,

though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.
Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle,

to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;"

Peter is concerned that he remind he brothers/sisters of things they already know, but need to be continually reminded of. I think sometimes we get this idea in our heads that we 'know' the 'basics' and we are ready to move on to weighteir matters. It is important that we are reminded of these 'basics' and that we continually strive for the mastery of them, though we know that we shall not obtain it in this temporal body.

One such 'basic' is the duty of a child to honor his/her parents. Dishonor and rebellion, are a common part of our culture, parents are even instructed to expect this, especially during the teens years, and to just go with the flow. The message to them: just hold on, you'll survive it and then you can ship them off to college so you don't have to put up with it. The message to us? Rebellion and dishonor are just a part of growing up, it's normal, besides you're just trying to find your identity and assert yourself. No big deal. I'll never forget my graduation banquet in '07; a pastor had been asked to come in and give us a word of encouragement as we finished highschool and prepared to enter the world as adults. I was sorely disappointed in his address, to be honest, I came home and fumed about it in a journal I am keeping for my future husband, and if he can ever read my handwriting from that entry, I'll be blown away :-)

Back to the point of my short narrative, the guest pastor said that our "parents are right more often than not, but, if we don't realize that now, that's okay, we'll figure it out soon." Excuse me?

Granted, there is a wisdom that comes with age which I do not have and to which I must submitt with honor regardless of whether or not I understand the reasoning, but the wordly attitude implied by his comment, demeanor and lack of follow up (i.e. he should have followed that with a quote from Proverbs or something, a little 'Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.") is what grieved and angered me.

The honoring of our parents has multiple aspects, some in the form of positive admonitions, others in the negative form of warnings.

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and thy mother, (which is the first commandment with a promise;) that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth." Eph. 6:1-3

To obey in the Lord is to be obedient so long as the commands are not in direct violation of the Word of God (Acts 4:19), a concept which I think is pretty universally understood in the Christian community. It is interesting to note, however, that the command to honor is not conditional. If we must disobey because a command is in direct violation of scripture, not in opposition to our plans/emotions, we are to disobey while giving our parents the honor they are due, regardless of whether or not we think they are worthy of this honor. God does not take the dishonoring of His apointed authorities lightly. For example take the rebellion of Korah, in Numbers 16. Korah, Dathan and Abiram, along with 250 princes of the assembly rose up against Moses and accused him of arrogantly taking too much upon himself. "We are all God's chosen people," they argued, "so why do you place yourself on some kind of pedestal?" In the end, we all know what happened, the earth swallowed Korah, Dathan, Abiram and their families as well as consuming with fire the 250 that were with them. They rebelled against God's authority and were severly punished. Romans 15:4 tells us that the things written before (the Old Testament) were written for our learning, let's learn from this example and honor our parent's for their God-given authority.

"Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, "Amen"" Deut. 27:16

My understanding of "setting light" is that it is a reference to mockery. A child who mocks their parents, whatever the age of that child and whatever their status in life, is cursed. We must not take the honor of our parents lightly.

"Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you." Hebrews 13:17

I had the priviledge of hearing Doug Phillips speak once on Ephesians 6:1-2 and he brought out a very interesting aspect of honor. We are to defend our parents' honor. Not only are we to respect them, but we are to refrain from dishonoring them by speaking of them in a disrespectful manner/context. Our parents aren't perfect, they have sins and failures, inconsistencies, some of which may be frustrating to us. But, it is not anyone else's business. Those things remain between my parents and the Lord, my job is to pray for my parents and continue to honor them, not vent and complain. If I have a problem, I take it to Christ in prayer, I should not go and tell Susy and Jane all my woes that my parents "cause". If one struggles to honor, it may be good to get an accountability partner who will pray and encourage. However, it would need to be someone who is strong in this area, who would resist the temptation to sulk with you. In sharing the need for prayer/accountability, don't elaborate on what you don't like about your parents or the way they lead the home, rather focus on your need to lovingly honor them.

"My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: for length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee." Proverbs. 3:1-2 "Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father and attend to know understanding. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law." Proverbs 4:1-2 " A fool despises his father's instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent." Proverbs 15:5

Listen and learn from the wisdom of your parents, especially if they are children of the Most High. Learn from their example and guidance. Honor them by learning from them.

How beautiful is obedience to the commands of God! Let us purpose to honor our parents and to obey them in the Lord.

"The way of the Lord is strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity" Proverbs 10:29