Eden’s Birth Story

As my pregnancy was drawing nearer to its end, I was becoming increasingly impatient for Eden’s arrival and was hoping he would come early! There were some timing issues that I was a little bit anxious about, as my parents were planning to go on a vacation a couple days after his due date and we were going to need their help to take care of our two older kids for a couple days while we were in the hospital, but mostly I was just ready to not be pregnant anymore and to meet my baby boy!

Thursday evening, when I was putting the kids to bed, Justice suddenly said, out of the blue, “Eden is a present in Mommy’s tummy.” I told him he was exactly right – Eden was a gift to our family straight from God! Justice then said that we would need to put a bow on him. So, when I woke up in the early hours of the morning on Friday, February 10th, with regular contractions, I thought that this could be it! I couldn’t sleep, so I got up and walked around, sat in Eden’s nursery in the rocking chair, hoping that the contractions would progress and start coming closer together. But, alas, they did not and only slowed down until they came to a complete stop. After being up for four hours, I was pretty bummed and exhausted.

The next night, the same thing happened. I woke up early Saturday morning with regular contractions. I thought certainly this time it had to be the real thing. The difficult thing for me was that I had tested positive for a certain type of bacteria that could cause infection in baby if I didn’t get to the hospital in time to receive an antibiotic four hours before I delivered. This had also been the case with my daughter Rayah and even though I hadn’t been able to get the antibiotic in time with her, she had been fine, but they generally like to keep you in the hospital longer to make sure baby is okay. Since both of my previous deliveries had been very fast, we knew to expect this one to be fast as well, so I was anxious about making sure we got to the hospital quickly.

So, I woke up Joe and told him that I thought we should go to the hospital. We have a tenant living with us in our basement, so we told her we were heading out and she was able to stay home with the kids. However, as we drove to the hospital, the contractions again began to slow down and by the time we arrived, they were about 10 minutes apart and I knew that they would just send me back home anyway, so we turned around and went back to bed. I was so discouraged and disappointed!

All that day (Saturday), I thought for sure I would go into labor. I was still having contractions, but they were very random, with no consistent pattern and they weren’t really increasing in intensity. I went grocery shopping with my daughter that morning and then we went to the mall and the two of us walked through the hallways, even though none of the stores were open yet, with me hoping that the walking would help induce labor. When I called my mom on the phone to give her a heads up that I thought today might be the day, she was just slightly horrified that I was walking the mall without Joe there with me and she begged me to go home – lol.

Shortly after lunch, I called my friend Kristi who is a labor & delivery nurse and who had been at both of my previous births and who I was hoping would be able to be at this one as well, even though she has a newborn of her own! She offered to come over and check to see if there was any change in my cervix, which had been dilated to 3 cm at my most recent visit to the obstetrician. Sure enough, when she checked me, I was now at 5 cm, so there was some progress, but the contractions were still not regular.

Joe and I then headed to the YMCA with our kids so they could play on the big play structure there and I tried walking again to get things going, but still wasn’t having much success. We continued on with our day as usual and that evening, I showered and put on a little bit of makeup before finally going to bed – lol. Again, I was so discouraged that baby had still not come, but I figured that at least I would be clean and looking somewhat decent if anything happened in the middle of the night! That evening, as I was putting the kids to bed, I reminded Justice of what he had said about Eden being a present in my tummy and we prayed that God would unwrap and open the present so that we could see him.

Sure enough, shortly after midnight on Sunday, February 12th, I woke up and had 3 quite intense contractions that were very close together. I knew that it was definitely time to go to the hospital! Thankfully our tenant had just gotten home and was able to stay with the kids again and we headed to the hospital. By the time we got to triage, it was around 1:00 am and when they checked me, I was now at 7 cm dilated. Knowing that this was my third child and that I had a history of quick deliveries, they didn’t waste any time getting me admitted to a room.

The contractions were quite intense already and fairly close together. They were working at getting my IV in so that I could get the antibiotic, but the way things were going, it definitely wasn’t going to get in 4 hours before this baby was coming! After they had got the IV in and were finished doing some monitoring of baby’s heart beat, I stood leaning over the bed and gripping Joe’s hands with the grip of death as each contraction came. I swear I could actually feel Eden’s head being pushed further down and I soon began to feel the urge to push, so they got me to lay on the bed so they could see if I was fully dilated yet.

Sadly, my friend Kristi was not able to come along this time, as she had her own little guy to take care of during the night, but Joe did an amazing job of coaching and supporting me. He helped me to remain in control of my breathing and reminded me to relax and focus on him as each contraction ended – he was great!

When they checked me, it was an intern or something (I couldn’t keep track of who was who), and she thought I was only at 8 cm, but it was hard to know, since my membranes (the water sac) were bulging. They then got the resident to come and give them the okay to break my water. Again, this was very reminiscent of Rayah’s birth, where they had broken my water for me and she had been born in two pushes. This time, it was quite funny, because I don’t think they were really ready or expecting things to go so quickly, because as soon as they broke my water, Eden’s head just popped out and there was a little bit of frenzy as they started shouting, “We have a head! Call the OB for delivery!” Ha – as if the obstetrician had time to get there! I gave one good push and the rest of Eden’s body was out, just like that!

Shortly after 2:00 am, Joe had called out his bet that we would have a baby by 2:40, but even he overshot it, as Eden was born at 2:31 am, weighing 7 lb. and 14 oz, exactly the same weight as his older brother Justice.

Eden was of course beautiful and perfect in every way and I was overjoyed to finally meet him and hold him in my arms. Though the last couple days had been challenging, both physically and emotionally, the pain and waiting had all been worth it. Even without getting the antibiotic in, Eden was perfectly healthy and we had a very peaceful and relaxed stay in the hospital, with the staff virtually leaving us alone, figuring that we didn’t need much assistance with our third baby, and they released us the next morning!

We are so thankful for our precious gift from God, who we named Eden Joseph, after his daddy.

Top 10 Tuesday: Favorite Pins

I’m linking up with OhAmanda’s Top Ten Tuesday again this week with a list of my top pins that I’ve added on Pinterest since I joined the site. I really love how great it is for bookmarking ideas and things I find that I like. To have some variety, I’m going to choose one pin from 10 of my boards.

 

 

1. Dream Home - A beautiful breakfast nook by a nice big window – I have always had a thing for window seats & this looks like such a lovely place to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee or a good book!

 

2. Kids Room Ideas – A cute desk made by re-using an old crib

 

3. Yummy Food – Pie in a canning jar – how fabulous is that?? Now all I need is to find some cute little jars like that…

 

4. Art & Craft Ideas – I have a journal fetish and I especially love seeing the creative ways people decorate and create within their journals!

 

5. Photography – I love this maternity photo idea and loved that I was able to use it in our little maternity photo shoot we did this last weekend!

 

6. Party Ideas – I created this board to collect ideas for my 30th Birthday Party & this decoration was definitely one of the favorites of all my guests!

 

7. Quiet Book Ideas – I’m totally not a seamstress or super crafty person, but I love the idea of having quiet books for my kids. If only I had the time and ability to make some of these! This barn with animal finger puppets is especially cute!

 

8. Cute Boy Haircuts – I LOVE this shaggy mop of hair – if only my boy’s hair would lay down so nice and flat like that!

 

9. Beauty – I’m getting so bored with my hair – I wish I could pull off this cute and sleek asymmetrical bob with bangs!

 

10. Organize – I love all things about organizing!! For someone with two small and useless entrances, this boot room is a dream come true!

 

Are you on Pinterest? What are your favorite ideas or pictures that you’ve pinned lately?

Maternity Photo Shoot

Thank you so much to my lovely friend Steph who took these maternity photos for us and to my parents for hosting it in their beautiful home.

**Note: In case you were wondering, yes – I did airbrush my stomach – it is no where near that perfect in real life! **

Longing for Eden

Today I am nearly at the 38 week mark in this pregnancy and the above photo couldn’t be more true – in more ways than one.

First of all, I am longing for my baby Eden to be born and am getting increasingly impatient for his arrival! As the end draws near, there is literal  discomfort and pain in the longing as my body aches from this journey of pregnancy, mixed with hope and anticipation and joy, knowing of the reward to come!

As I talked about in a previous post about how we came to name our baby Eden, part of the reason we chose this name was because it speaks of another, greater longing for the original garden of Eden where man lived in unbroken, intimate communion with God. This is the second longing which I think we feel more intensely even as we sense that His return to the earth is drawing near. This longing is also one of aching as we feel the pain of His absence, as well as joy as we look forward to the day when we finally get to see Him face to face!

In Ecclesiastes 3:11 it says that God has put eternity in our hearts – or in other words, a longing for Eden, our original home, to be restored. I believe that this longing exists in everyone, believer or not, for we were all created this way – with the belief that there must be more to life than what we are experiencing – whether we choose to acknowledge that or not.

I read a quote recently from the book The Longing for Home by Frederick Buechner, where he writes, “What is the connection between the home we knew and the home we dream?…The first home foreshadows the final home, and the final home hallows and fulfills what was most precious in the first.“  As another writer put it on their blog, “Maybe we have lost Paradise but our hearts long for Eden. A place of wholeness. A place where creation and the created ones coincide without incident. We long for the new heaven and the new earth. Creation groans and so do we. We long for things to be put back in place. Back the way they were supposed to be.” The new heaven and earth, our final home, is the fulfillment of the original home that man had with God and it is where all things will finally be made right again.

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:3-4)

Michael Milton, in his sermon entitled Longing for Eden, writes, “Every man and woman who ever lived intuitively longs for his or her eternal home. You were made for Eden…So there is a longing. That is the eternity God has placed in your heart — to be fully restored with God and to be home with Him. However, the longing is confused by sin. We cannot get home, we cannot identify or come to terms with the longing, much less fulfill it ourselves. We must have help to fulfill it. Jesus is the fulfillment. He is our way home…The longing inside of you, fulfilled in great part by the [first] coming of Jesus and the salvation of your souls, is going to be completely fulfilled at His second coming.”

And so, as I feel the discomfort and pain of longing for my baby to finally arrive and to get to hold him in my arms, I am reminded of the greater longing for my Bridegroom and to finally see Him and be with Him in Paradise.

“Indeed, the Lord will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places.  And her wilderness He will make like Eden,  And her desert like the garden of the Lord; Joy and gladness will be found in her, Thanksgiving and sound of a melody.” (Isaiah 51:3)

Even so, Lord, come! (And you too, baby Eden)

Top 10 Tuesday: New Recipes

I’m linking up with OhAmanda’s Top Ten Tuesday once again with a list of new recipes that I am trying, which I have been pinning like crazy on Pinterest.com to my “Yummy Food” board as of late! I have found a couple of different food blogs that have been tempting me with many simple, healthy, and delicious-looking recipes and I just want to try them all! Here are my top ten recipes I want to try very soon or which I have already tried.

 

 

1. Tortellini Spinach Bake – I made this a couple weeks ago and it was a BIG HIT with the fam – they all loved it! I added some cooked chicken so that my man would get his meat quota, but I honestly don’t know that it really even needed it.

 

2. No-Bake Energy Bites – I tried the original recipe and really liked it, but then tried it again with some cocoa (and fewer chocolate chips) and loved it even more!!

 

3. Spinach Lasagna Roll Ups – I liked this one and so did my kids, but it wasn’t a big hit with the hubby, as it was meatless

 

4. Pizzadillas with Homemade Pizza/Dipping Sauce - while this is very simple and is just another variation of pizza, it was nice for something different. Joe really liked being able to control how much sauce he got for each bite and the kids had fun dipping their pizzadillas in the sauce too.

Source: budgetbytes.blogspot.com via Jacquie on Pinterest

Source: budgetbytes.blogspot.com via Jacquie on Pinterest

5. Chorizo Sausage & Sweet Potato Enchiladas – haven’t tried this one yet and I’m a little nervous about what the family will think, but it looks so interesting! However, I did discover that I couldn’t find Enchilada Sauce in Canadian grocery stores to save my life, so the blog author pointed me to some homemade recipes that you can try here or here.

 

6. Cheesey Shepherd’s Pie – a classic dish, but one I’d never made before. I think it was received well by hubby & kids, though Joe has an aversion to rosemary and thyme. I think I would also consider cooking the veggies a bit first, because they were crunchier than I like.

 

7. Chicken Taco Bowls – This one was okay. I’m not a huge fan of cumin, so I might not include that if I make it again. I actually liked it bit more when I put it in a soft tortilla, but the spiciness was also not agreeing with my heartburn that I’ve been having lately.

 

8. Baked Banana Bread Oatmeal – haven’t tried this one yet, but I did try an altered single serving of cooked oatmeal with half a mashed banana, some chopped walnuts, brown sugar, flaxseed, cinnamon and nutmeg and it was pretty good! If I were to try that again, I think I’d do a whole banana and perhaps eliminate the walnuts, but I still plan on trying the baked version as well.

 

9. Pizza Puffs – haven’t tried these yet, but don’t they look yummy?? I’m not sure this could pass for a meal, but it would be a great appetizer!

 

10. Butternut Squash Gratin – haven’t tried this one yet, but it does look very tasty! It’s suggested as a side dish to a baked turkey, so not sure what I would serve it with?

 

Have you discovered any new recipes lately that you’ve loved??

The Essential Jesus – Hebrews 1:1-4

You can read about the origins of this blog series on The Essential Jesus here and catch up on previous posts here.

Hebrews 1:1-4

My Father has always been speaking to humanity and throughout the ages, He spoke through His prophets. But in these last days, He spoke to you through me, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the worlds. Instead of speaking through men, though dreams and visions, He chose to use me, His very own Son, as His mouthpiece and His representative.

For I am the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person. I uphold all things by the Word of my power. I, myself purged your sins and am now sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on high. I’ve been exalted above the angels, having inherited and obtained a more excellent name than they.

No longer do you need prophets to tell you the Word of the Lord – you have me and my words and the Holy Spirit to give you revelation on it. Before, my Father spoke in part and in mysteries and veiled images, but in me He spoke with resounding clarity and volume and fullness! For unlike the prophets, I share the very nature of God, His character and likeness. I am His glory and splendor and divine light all wrapped up and manifested to you in the flesh.

It is by my Word, by my power that the entirety of creation is held together and kept from crumbling into pieces. Without me, it would all fall apart and cease to exist. There is nothing in all of creation that can claim to have power or control over its life – for it is all within my hands. Everything depends and relies fully on me!

Yet, with all that power and all that glory, let me remind you that I chose suffering and death that I might completely eradicate and deliver you from sin! With this power I could have destroyed mankind or chosen an easier way to redeem it, but I didn’t. I wanted you to know and see my love for you and that I am not a cold-hearted, distant, all-powerful deity that has no concern for his creation. No! I am God and therefore I am all-powerful, but I am also love incarnate and I willingly sacrificed myself for you because my heart is alive and full of passion and affection for you!

I am even now sitting at the right hand of my Father, with my scars as a vivid reminder of the blood I shed for your sins, as I act as your Mediator and Intercessor. It is my joy to sit next to Him, working in partnership with Him, for your good. There I am seated, higher than any majestic or powerful angel, higher than all rulers or principalities. Only to me has there been the name given of King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

There is no being who can compete with my excellence in my identity and nature and position beside my Father. I am superior in every way – especially in the depths of my love for you, my Bride! There is no other love like mine – there is none that can compare to me, none who can satisfy like I do!

Top 10 Tuesday: Books To Read

I’ve been reading OhAmanda’s blog for a while now (she’s the author of Truth in the Tinsel that I recently reviewed) and reading her Top Ten list each Tuesday, but this week I finally decided to join in, since I wanted to share with you all the books that are waiting for me on my to-read list. Some of these have been sitting on my night table for months already, while others are new ones I just discovered and are waiting for me on my iPhone in electronic form. So, without further ado, here are my Top 10 Books to Read in the near future, in no particular order…

 

1. One Bite at a Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler by Tsh Oxenreider ($5 e-book)

2. Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian by John Piper (free download)

3. Bringing the Gospel Home: Witnessing to Family Members, Close Friends, and Others Who Know You Well by Randy Newman (free download)

4. The No Brainer Wardrobe: Get Dressed With More Confidence and Less Fuss by Hayley Morgan ($7.99 e-book)

5. Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living by Tsh Oxenreider ($6.88 – $11.55 on Amazon.com for Hardcover-spiral or free Kindle download for a limited time)

6. The Spirit of Adoption: Winning the Battle for the Children by Randy & Kelsey Bohlender ($12)

7. The Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell ($10 on Amazon.com)

8. The Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian ($3.84-$10.98 on Amazon.com)

9. Any of the Books on Prayer by E. M. Bounds (free downloads – public domain)

    

10. A God-Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards by John Piper and Justin Taylor (free download)

Since it’s going to take me a LONG time to read all of these, let me know if you have read any of them or if you decide to read any of them and how you liked them!

 

Book Review: Has God Spoken? by Hank Hanegraaff

Using the memorable acronym MAPS, radio host and Bible scholar Hank Hanegraaff masterfully reveals four proofs that confirm the divine origin of the Bible:

M represents the strength of the manuscript itself as many actual fragments have been located
A stands for the archaeological proofs that have been uncovered
P is for the prophecy that has accurately predicted events
S represents the scriptural synergy found in the unity, consistency, and harmony of the sixty-six books

These clearly presented proofs provide powerful indicators that confirm the trustworthiness and divine nature of Scripture, that God has indeed spoken, and that the Bible is the reliable repository of His words.

Several months ago, I received the book Has God Spoken? by Hank Hanegraaff for my review. I was very interested in discovering the proofs for the validity of the Bible, for though I have always believed it to be the infallible Word of God and to be Divinely inspired, I didn’t really have any facts to back up that belief. As you can see, this book took me a long time to read, as it is rather lengthy and uses a lot of theological and literary terms and language that doesn’t always make for easy reading. Despite that, though, I did find it to be helpful in many ways to educate myself on why the Bible really is a trustworthy source of both historical information and spiritual guidance.

Hanegraaff has a very obvious love for acronyms, as MAPS is only one of many that he uses throughout the book, which I think he implements to try and help you remember the key points of his book. While these are possibly useful for retaining the information he presents, I think I would still need to make notes and be intentional about trying to memorize those key points if I ever hoped to use this information in an intelligent way in a discussion with somebody. Though I feel better educated on the subject, it would still take some studying to become familiar and confident with these evidences in order to try and present a convincing argument to somebody who doubts the validity and trustworthiness of the Bible.

Having said that, I think Hanegraaff makes an excellent point in his book – in many cases, even presenting the most educated, fact-filled, clear debate on this subject will often not be enough to convince a skeptic – what people really need is revelation from God and for Him to open their eyes. So while I am thankful for this resource and I hope to find it helpful in being able to prove the Bible’s accuracy, I think I am even more convinced of the need for prayer and for divine revelation from the Holy Spirit to convince the unbeliever. There are many lies of the enemy that have been used to shake people’s confidence in the Bible, many of which can be answered in this book, but we also need God to break in with His light and truth to illuminate people’s minds and hearts!

Lastly, while I think I would recommend this book to any believer who wants to have a more solid foundation for their belief in the inerrancy of scripture, I also need to mention that I did not agree with everything Hanegraaff said about his interpretations of certain Biblical passages. In this, I believe it’s also important to recognize that while the Bible is in fact completely accurate, our interpretations of it may not always be. We all need to read and study the Word for ourselves and realize that none of us has the full picture. We need the entire Body of Christ working together to search out His Word and seek the truth of what He is saying to us through it. We need the Holy Spirit to teach us, to show us our errors, and to lead us to Jesus through it.

This book was provided to me by Booksneeze.com for my honest and unbiased review.

Butterfly Princess

We gave our kids their presents this morning and one of Rayah’s gifts was a butterfly fairy dress and a jewelry set to go with it, complete with shoes, crown, earrings, rings, and a wand. Her Royal Chubbiness could barely fit into the dress – lol – but that was part of what made her look so cute. I couldn’t resist posting a few pictures…

Our Advent Experience

Yesterday we finished our 24-Day Advent Experience using the eBook Truth in the Tinsel and I’m so glad we did it! Having never celebrated Advent before, it was a new experience for both me and the kids and we all loved it. Justice especially loved retrieving the daily clue, reading the scripture passage with daddy and doing the craft for that day. Each one helped solidify his knowledge and understanding of the birth of Jesus and it all culminated with the message of the Cross and how Jesus came to die for us to save us from our sins and give us the gift of eternal life.

While I don’t know exactly how much Justice and Rayah comprehend of the lessons we are teaching them, I believe that these seeds we are sowing will produce much good fruit. I eagerly look forward to the day when my kids will make their own personal decision to accept Jesus’ sacrifice for them and make him their Lord, but until then, I am simply enjoying the journey of telling them, and hopefully showing them, who Jesus is and how much He loves them.

I love seeing these seeds of truth being planting in their hearts.

I love hearing them sing songs of worship to Jesus in the wee hours of the morning.

I love watching them pour over the Bible and becoming familiar with its stories.

I love hearing Justice drum to worship music and watching Rayah dance or lift her hands.

I love listening to these early, innocent, creative and sincere prayers that they offer up to God.

I love seeing and experiencing the story of Jesus’ birth through their eyes.

This Christmas, I am just so thankful for how much we have been given and for the opportunity to share with my kids what God has so graciously and abundantly given to me. My prayer is that this Christmas, my kids will receive revelation of who Jesus is and how He feels about them and that His love will go deep into their hearts in a way that will root them and ground them in Him for the rest of their lives. My heart is full.

  
  
  
  

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