Lee and I work with Chi Alpha Campus Ministries at the University of Louisiana Lafayette.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Bella Boo is Turning 2

Bella turned 2 on Sunday. What a special day. I was up at 6 that morning to feed Brennan. As I was getting into bed almost an hour later, I opened Bella's door to check on her, and her head popped up. She said, "Lay down Mama." So I brought her to bed with me. I was holding her almost exactly at the time I had her 6:41 am. So neat.
We were able to really spoil her this year, which is something we've never been able to afford to do. The Lord has really blessed us, and we got her everything we wanted to: a new tricycle, princess dress up clothes, and the winner - an automatic bubble machine. It was so much fun watching her get what she loves!! The only thing was that she found her tricycle hidden in Brennan's room, and was quite disappointed when I wouldn't let her ride it until her daddy got back from picking up her cake.
She spent the day surrounded by family and played her heart out with her 2 cousins - Diamond and Mercy. She played so hard that she crashed on me at 8:30. Talk about another sweet moment...I had one baby in each arm. I absolutely loved it.
We are so blessed. We have 2 happy, healthy, beautiful babies. We pray every day for that, and ask that they will serve the Lord for the rest of their lives. A lot of that will be determined by our personal relationship with Jesus. If they see our relationships with Jesus, it can give them the desire to have a relationship of their own with Him.
I'm disappointed in some of the students who have come to UL and have a strong church background - and they are MIA. It makes me think that they never really had a relationship with Jesus in the first place. I know that seems harsh, but it's how I feel. I don't understand it at all. And I don't want it to happen to my children. I want them to love Jesus on their own and continue to no matter what happens and where they go when they leave our home.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Surviving and Thriving

so, blogging has not been a priority for me lately. Survival has. And, I'm happy to say that we are moving out of the survival stage. I grew up in Buras, and my extended family was all around us. The saying "It takes a village to raise a child" can easily be applied there. My children's village will look different. Bella knows who her grandparents are. She's really good with names and faces. She often pretends to call her Popie (my dad) whenever she gets a hold of a phone. But, she doesn't see our family every day or whenever she wants to like I grew up doing. It's just different being a US missionary. It's not the same sacrifices as a world missionary makes, but there are a lot of sacrifices.
The thing about being a missionary is that you are sent. We've been sent to a group of college students who need to know about Jesus...because if they don't meet Him now, there is a small chance that they ever will. So, there is a huge responsibility in front of us. We are training our student leaders to reach out to their roommates, classmates, and peers so that we can work together to reach the 19,000 students in Lafayette. It's working. Our events have been blowing up this semester so far!
The one thing we don't want to sacrifice is our family. It's weird saying that we're a family of 4 now. That's just crazy. We want our kids to love Chi Alpha, to love being missionaries to UL, to love the Lord. In order to do that, we need to put them first before the ministry. We have to work hard to do that.
For a while I felt like if I wasn't at a Chi Alpha event, I should be at home. I don't know why I thought that way - besides the fact that Bella is really fast and it is hard to chase her around! I've decided to participate in a women's Bible study at our church Crossroads on Thursdays while Lee is at TNL. They provide childcare, and Bella is loving getting to play with the kids. She easily goes to the nursery now. Praise the Lord! So, tonight will be our first night. I'm really looking forward to it. It feels weird not being with Lee, but before I know it, my kids will be old enough to come to TNL with me or even on their own. Time flies so quickly. I mean, Bella is going to be 2 this weekend. She's a little girl...and we're going to get to spoil her for her birthday like never before. Life for us as missionaries is quite an adventure.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Brennan's Here!!!

He's here! It's almost 2 weeks ago that it all started. That's crazy to believe. I started having contractions on Saturday - yep, he waited for every Welcome Week event to be over...All day Saturday, I wasn't sure if it was false labor or not. I spent several hours in the triage when we went to the hospital for Bella, and I wasn't going to repeat that mistake. So, we waited it out. Lee cleaned like a madman last Saturday. Bella played. I had contractions every 10 minutes. All day long. I tried going to sleep at 1 am. I guess if I had wanted my contractions to speed up, I should have tried going to sleep. They got closer and stronger. Around 3:15 am, they were about 4 minutes apart, and I told Lee we should call Hope to come stay with Bella. We got things ready, Hope got here, and we were off to the hospital. They almost put me in a room, but made me go to triage first. I told the nurse that if I was at 1 cm, I was going home. I was at 3 cm. I started to tell the nurse how quickly I went through transition and my delivery. Thankfully, she believed me.
To be honest, I did not feel as brave this time. I wanted to deliver this baby naturally as well, but I'm not going to lie...these contractions hurt worse than for bella. I just wanted it to be over with. I seriously contemplated medicine. It was awful. Thanks to my nurse Jordan believing me, they brought me to a room even though they didn't check me again. After getting in the room and getting in the bed they checked me. I was at 6.5 cm. this was only about an hour after being at the hospital. Everything intensified. I moaned - ok, screamed - a lot more this time around. I couldn't help it. It just hurt. Before I knew it - yet it seemed like hours - they checked me again and she said I was complete. She pressed a button and the doctor was there a few minutes later. All of the sudden, I felt pressure. Last time they told me to tell them when I felt pressure and they would tell me when to push. This time, I said, "OK, somebody help me, I feel pressure!!" The doctor said, "OK, push when you're ready." So I pushed. Then I leaned back to take a breath. They said that it was ok to take a break and to push again when I was ready. I did. They said they saw the head. I pushed again and he was out. 3 pushes in 3 minutes. No stitches needed this time. Everything was perfect. The first thing I said was, "That's a big baby!" All I saw was little rolls.
He is absolutely perfect. God has blessed us with 2 happy, healthy babies. God is so good to us. We couldn't ask for more. Another new adventure begins. It is definitely different this time around. Experience helps so much more than you would ever believe. I'm still tired, but I know that this is only for a short season. Bella's almost 2. Brennan will be 2 before I know it. I want to enjoy every moment, and that is what I plan on doing on this wonderful adventure with my beautiful family.