Archive for the 'Thoughts' Category

Supporting Obama?

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Mommy Nurse
2 months, 3 weeks ago
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This election I’ve tried to look at both candidates….candidly.  To be honest I wasn’t thrilled about either one, so I needed more information before making my decision.

I watched the Saddleback civic forum with both candidates given the same questions.  This is my kind of information because it’s truly “out of the horse’s mouth”.  I must say that McCain answered the questions directly and it showed his character in a way that I admired.  Obama surprisingly fumbled and gave many vague answers, and I didn’t feel like I was given a glimpse of who he was as a person.

I try to look at all the issues and not harp on just one issue.  However, the issue of abortion is near and dear to me.  I believe that life begins at conception, and with the help of technological advances infants are considered viable earlier and earlier.  Because our country has valued a woman’s choice over a child’s life, we have created a culture that allows a woman to kill her baby because she doesn’t want it.  If you take two babies of the same gestational age, one could be born and life saving measures be given and the other could literally be put in a trashbag left to die.  So how do we decide which baby lives and which baby dies?  Oh we let the mom who doesn’t want a baby decide.

A friend of mine, MommyZabs, has a great post about Obama and also has videos to support it.  I encourage you to watch it.  Make your own decision.  Do we really want someone to lead our country who wants to let living babies die in trashcans?

provision

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Mommy Nurse
8 months, 2 weeks ago
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I’m taking a great class at my church called the Truth Project, which Focus on the Family puts out.  I HIGHLY recommend taking it if you get a chance.  It will challenge you in so many ways.  I would try to unpack what I learn here, but it’s too much for me to process really.

One of the highlights last night was a revelation that the Lord had given my small group leader.  She said, “If you stay on the path of obedience, you will eventually have a collision with provision.”  She is believing for a husband, but when she said it, I realized that it was a word for me too.  Whether it be financial, relational, or even situational, God will provide for our needs as long as we are obedient to His ways.  The question is, do I really believe that?  Because if I really did believe that (and I mean believe with my heart of hearts, not just with my mind), then it would be easier to stay on the path of obedience.  If it weren’t for that pesky enemy and all his lies that get us so caught up in ourselves, then it probably would be that simple.  I can only speak for today, but today, I will obey His ways and trust Him for all my needs.

Friends

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Mommy Nurse
9 months, 1 week ago
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I love having friends that will stay up until almost 2 in the morning to talk about God, life, and anything else that comes to mind–reminds me of college days! Thanks friends for a good hang-you know who you are!

Church is like high school musical

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Mommy Nurse
1 year ago
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Some little friends of mine are in love with the movie “High school musical”. Apparently, it is the younger generation’s equivalent to my generation’s “Grease”, but has a better message.

High school is such a strange time in life. There are always the cool kids that somehow define what is “cool”. They are the kids who tend to set the trends. For those of us not in the cool kids club, we think we must be missing out. We want to be cool, but for whatever reason we don’t quite make the cut. In high school, I was friends with all the cool kids, but I wasn’t really in the group. I would hear of parties or sleepovers (after the fact) and wish that I would have been invited. I wasn’t deprived of friends or even parties, but there was always this “core” group of cool kids that I somehow felt on the fringes of. Maybe I never quite fit in because I hadn’t been there as long or maybe just because I had a different perspective. For whatever the reasons, thankfully, in my senior year, I found my own core group of friends. The four of us packed more memory into those few months than most probably had in years.

Trying to get niched into a church can feel a bit like high school. You can make friends and still not feel connected to the “core group”. The closer you get to the core the more you learn of its culture-what books to read, what music to listen to, how to raise your children, what to eat, etc. etc. As I sit on the fringes, I’m having to use my filter and ask the questions, “Why exactly?” and “What do I feel about_____?”. I guess it would be easier to just accept this culture without question, but I’ve learned a lot since high school.

College opened my eyes to a bigger world, that was more diverse and beautiful than I had ever imagined. In high school there seemed to be this underlying message that there was the right/cool way and then the not-so-right way. In college, the very definition of cool was challenged. All of a sudden there wasn’t just one cool club, but there were several, and they were all different! It’s as if all the awkwardness felt in high school was not only acceptable, but it was celebrated.

Back to the movie “High school musical”, the moral of the story is basically to accept people as they are-both the cool and the not-so-cool. Hollywood can easily write in the lesson, but for most of us it takes life experience to really “get” it. So why does church have a cool club? Isn’t it the very place that people are supposed to be accepted as they are and not judged? Oh yeah! Because church is full of people. Most church going folks wouldn’t probably admit that there is a cool club, but if you are on the fringes you have a different perspective.

Maybe we should play the movie “High School musical” on Sunday morning. It would be a reminder that there is more than one perspective or way of doing things, and just because it’s different, doesn’t make it wrong.

accept or embrace?

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Mommy Nurse
1 year, 1 month ago
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 Sometimes I’m given a gift, and  I receive the gift with gratitude.  When I accept the gift, I think of all the ways that I could use the gift, because I generally like it.  Then it has to find a place to live…usually a drawer or a closet.  I always have great intentions of using the gift, but somehow life tends to busy me, and I can tend to forget about it.  After a while, I start to feel a bit cluttered, and decide to clean house.  I become motivated to organize, throw away, and basically get a new grip on my stuff.  I then begin the process of acquiring more things, some of which are gifts, and some are things that I pick up myself.  I sometimes find that I spend more time keeping things organized and in their place rather than actually taking time to use/enjoy them.

I find this to be true about spiritual things as well.  I am finding myself in a season where the Lord is challenging me to clean out my closets and drawers.  I tend to spend more time looking at my well organized spiritual closet, rather than taking the truths out and enjoying them.  As a Christian, over the years God has given me many spiritual truths.  In the moment, I receive it with gratitude and eagerness to to accept it as truth.  I believe it, and even recognize that it’s true for me.  Then I tuck it away in a place that I’m sure to remember, and before I know it, I’ve forgotten it.  Now if reminded, I can say, “yeah that’s true, I have that somewhere”.

Why don’t I bring it out more? Why don’t I know exactly where it is? Why can’t I embrace the truth so that it stays with me and becomes a part of me, instead of just a part of my spiritual closet?

So this is what the Lord is challenging me with right now….learning to embrace the truth, instead of just accepting it.  I know I’m a child of God, but now He is asking me to embrace my inheritance as one.

Good news!

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Mommy Nurse
1 year, 3 months ago
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Well yesterday we received news that our little girl needed a blood transfusion.  They rechecked her blood level (PCV) and it was much lower than it should be.  The good news is that her anemia may be the cause of her disinterest and fatigue with eating.  So she had a four hour transfusion both yesterday and today-and my, what a difference it has made.  She is now taking all of her bottles without any difficulty at all.  When we went to see her this morning,  she looked great-her coloring is much better now.  I don’t think we realized just how pale she was.  Better yet, we heard the wonderful words from the doctor, she can go home.  So as long as she does good tonight and tomorrow, then we get to bring our sweet girl home on Monday morning.  We are so anxious to have her with us.  I’m sure there will be times when a 24-7 babysitter seems like a welcomed idea, but we want her HOME!  We will keep you updated!

Sweet face!

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Mommy Nurse
1 year, 4 months ago
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I fall more and more in love each day with this face. It is all still somewhat surreal-I am a mom. Leaving her Saturday is probably the hardest thing I have ever done.

Beyond the disappointment of not getting to bring my baby home, I had to leave her. No one can love her like I do, and although I feel that we can take care of her best, apparently the NICU team is what she needs. I don’t like it, but it’s what is best for now. Coming 5 weeks earlier than she should have, has given her added challenges. Merely sucking and swallowing tires her out so easily. Sometimes they even have to tube feed her to give her the nutrients that she needs. Right now her body just needs time to grow and develop, and in order to do that she needs lots of rest and little stimulation. It has been so hard to see all the tubes come out of her little body. Today was the first day that we were able to take a picture of her without any tubes or wires! I am so thankful that she has not had any major setbacks.

Since her move to the step down NICU, we have been given more ability to care for our little girl. Finally being able to hold and feed my baby girl is such a gift. I have waited so long for these moments, and it has been so hard to have them on a limited and supervised basis. The doctor told us this morning that if she continues to progress then she will probably be coming home within a few days. We make frequent trips to the hospital (2-3 times a day), and we hope and pray that each day we get a little closer to hearing the words, “she can go home”. I’m sure someday this will all seem like a distant memory, but for now, it seems as if this will be the longest week ever. Thank you to all for your prayers, calls, visits, and meals! It is wonderful to not walk this journey alone.

34 weeks!

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Mommy Nurse
1 year, 4 months ago
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So we have made it to the pivotal 34 week mark! If Savannah is born now, her chances of needing the NICU are much less. She only has 2 more weeks in there, and then we will get to see her sweet face. There is still a chance that when she is born at 36 weeks, she won’t be quite ready to embrace all the challenges that the world presents. We are believing that she comes out screaming and ready to take on the world.

It’s hard to believe that our journey of infertility is truly coming to an end. For so long it has felt like a part of life, a focus of prayer, a burden to carry. I know that motherhood will carry its own weight, but I must say that this has been quite the journey. Everyone is given different trials and struggles, and although comparing them can be difficult, there is a central theme.  They are all designed to give us the choice to press into the Lord.  The past few years I have gone through valleys of sorrow and great peaks of faith-neither better than the other, just par for the journey.  I’m in a bit of disbelief that the journey is ending, but then of course it would at some point.  God wants to deliver us from our trial; it’s often not by our timing or plan-but His.  Would I have loved to have a child before this?  Sure, but then I might not be having this child.  It’s much easier to say this now, but it is still true-I’m glad that we went through what we did to get to this point.  For one, it has made my faith and understanding in God much stronger.  It has deepened my relationship with my husband in a way that no one can really understand.  It is giving me THIS child-which I wouldn’t trade for the world right now.

Whatever journey that the Lord is taking you on right now, be encouraged.  It too has an end.  Whether you are in a valley or a mountaintop, the Lord wants to teach you something. In the end, you won’t want to trade the lessons learned.

church in the am

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Mommy Nurse
1 year, 4 months ago
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Last Sunday we were in the hospital, and the Sunday before that we had company in town.  I won’t be able to go to church until September at the very soonest!  This morning was one of those times that I was thankful for media.  Our dearest friends lead worship at Winston Salem Assembly of God, and since we’ve moved we have missed their worship IMMENSELY.  Today we got a taste of it-albeit through the internet-and it was great! We both enjoy the pastor’s speaking too, so it was a great answer to our “homebound” situation.  If you ever find yourself at home on a Sunday and wanting to tune into a church service, be sure to check out http://www.firstassembly-ws.org/

We plan to stay up-to-date with our church’s podcasts, but it’s only the sermon and usually takes a little while to access, so tuning into our friends church was a great way to feel as if we were at church.

Our church family has been amazing through all of this.  One of my good friends organized people to bring meals for the next few weeks.  At first I had trouble saying yes to this, but then I realized that it would not only be a blessing to me, but to my husband as well-since he is the one in charge of all the household duties now.  We feel like we are able to connect with people when they drop off the food, which helps us to feel not so isolated.

We went through a season while living in Orlando that we weren’t connected to a church, and it felt very isolated.  We had a community of Christian friends that helped a bit, but there is nothing like being part of a church.  I know some say that it isn’t necessary, but I believe it is.  It may not be necessary to be a Christian, but I think its necessary to grow as a Christian.  I am very thankful that we are blessed to come back to Nashville, and fit right into the church community that we left.  It’s nice knowing that you aren’t alone in this journey of pursuing God in the midst of life.  The truth is life can be very challenging at times, and we all need people to help us during those challenges.  Being on bedrest and having to ask for almost everything has been a humbling experience.  I welcome it though, because it is a lesson that I know God needed to deal with me about.  I tend to be very independent, and I typically don’t ask for help from people  (because I can usually figure it out or do it myself eventually.) God doesn’t want us to be independent though; He wants us to depend on Him.  I’m sure there is a direct correlation with my ability to depend on people and my capability of depending on God.  The truth is oftentimes God uses people to provide for our needs, so I’m not going to be too stubborn to accept it.

777

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Mommy Nurse
1 year, 4 months ago
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I remember New Year’s Eve 1999.  Unfortunately I had to work the night shift at the hospital, but my sweet husband came to the hospital so that we could at least spend those few minutes between the chasm of one year to the next together.  There was such speculation and concern as to what was going to happen because of the technical glitches, and then nothing happened.  This taught me that often times conjured significance is only that-conjured up by man.

Today has its own significance.  The world has decided to make it a day to recognize our planet and the harm we are doing to it.  The church has decided to make it a day of repentance and prayer.  Then some say its just a lucky day.  Regardless of the conjured significance of 777, today is a day that Christians of all types are coming together and crying out to the Lord.  Ironically, this gathering is happening in my hometown of Nashville, and I’m on bedrest.  Obviously, God had a different plan for my day.  My husband is with me, and we are just relaxing.  We’ve been able to watch some of the Call’s webcast on-line, but apparently a lot of people are watching it too.  My prayer today is that the church’s prayer of repentance is heard.  I know that the Lord hears it, but I hope that the people of this nation hear it as well and for once see the true heart of what it means to be a Christian.