The cupcakes are iced and decorated, and we’re ready to party!!
Who Can Do The Most
I read this excerpt on Pastor Toby Sumpter’s blog recently, and it’s just too good not to share. No, I haven’t read this book by Spurgeon… but still… the quote is just excellent even out-of-context. 🙂
Husbands should try to make home happy and holy. It is an ill bird that fouls its own nest, a bad man who makes his home wretched. Our house ought to be a little church, with holiness to the Lord over the door, but it ought never to be a prison where there is plenty of rule and order, but little love and no pleasure. Married life is not all sugar, but grace in the heart will keep away most of the sours. Godliness and love can make a man, like a bird in a hedge, sing among thorns and briars, and set others to singing too.
It should be the husband’s pleasure to please his wife, and the wife’s care to care for her husband. He is kind to himself who is kind to his wife. I am afraid some men live by the rule of self, and when that is the case, home happiness is a mere sham. When husbands and wives are well yoked, how light their load becomes! It is not every couple that is such a pair, and more’s the pity. In a true home all the strife is who can do the most to make the family happy. — C. H. Spurgeon, John Ploughman’s Talk, pp. 79-80.
Breaking Ground
Officially breaking ground and getting the real work started! Finally! It’s exciting stuff. I’ll post updates as I can along the way. 😀
a year of paradise for Victory Athanasius
My little Victory-girl (who I had been so certain was a boy), it has been an entire year since Daddy and I had the pleasure of enjoying your presence here with us. I can’t pretend to know what time is like in heaven, but here on earth the time has both flown and crawled.
Your name reminds me of the beautiful victory you have obtained by flying to the glories of heaven. One of my little immortals. Oh, how glad I am to have the confidence that, since you are a child of the Covenant, I will see you again. How thankful I am for the promises which are not only to your grandparents, but to your parents, and thus down to you!
You make heaven that much sweeter. Oh bliss!
iloveyou, Mommy
1 Corinthians 15:54
“When the perishable puts on the imperishable,
and the mortal puts on immortality,
then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
‘Death is swallowed up in victory.'”
Maybe Baby
Since I don’t have the “normal” luxury of saying things like, “we’re having a baby” or “my due date is xxx” or “Gabriel is going to be a big brother again,” there are a lot of “maybe“s and “if“s and “we’ll see“s in my conversations these days.
This reminded me of a poem I wrote when I was pregnant with my little boy, Hosanna, last fall. I don’t know if I ever shared it here or not. I can’t remember. But it feels true again even now. I find myself somewhere in the middle of this poem currently. Knowing that today this baby is alive ~ what an incredible, surprising, stunning thing! One we will never ever take for granted.
But there is still the “maybe” factor, even if it is only because of my history. While Number Nine has given us zero indication that he/she will head to heaven anytime soon, there is always that question for us. There is always the qualifier of “maybe.”
So here I share with you the poem I wrote called “Maybe Baby.”
Maybe Baby
by MJC, October 2010
This might be the month
When I will conceive you in my womb.
Or just as likely, this might not be.
But I cling to the hope of that tiny chance.
Maybe, baby; just maybe.
This two week wait feels endless
As I wait to find out the truth.
Are you there? Are you created?
Or will we begin this circle all over again?
Maybe, baby; just maybe.
I thought I saw two pink lines
But now I just can’t tell.
Going cross-eyed staring at the test,
Nobody else can confirm or deny ~ are you here?
Maybe, baby; just maybe.
Waiting for the lab to ring
To tell us what facts my blood revealed.
Soon I will know if you are here
Inside me, in my womb ~ or not.
Maybe, baby; just maybe.
You’re here! You’re real! Alive!
One hurdle down, a hundred more to go.
Don’t know how long I have you,
Perhaps not long, perhaps many years.
Maybe, baby; just maybe.
I tell myself not to think of milestones:
Don’t let my brain head down that path.
Maternity clothes, kicks, hiccups, waddling…
Will we reach that point together ~ you and me?
Maybe, baby; just maybe.
Will my belly get round, and its button pop out?
Will your brother be able to feel your kicks?
Will you hear your daddy talking to you?
Will we get to kiss you, hold you, raise you?
Maybe, baby; just maybe.
The one thing I know for certain, little one,
Is that you are alive. Amen!
You are an immortal, and we will live forever;
Together for eternity, no matter what earth holds.
Not maybe, baby; not just maybe.
Mother’s Day 2011
Mother’s Day is always bittersweet for me. It reminds me of the precious children who I anticipate reuniting with in the glories of heaven when my Father calls me home. And it makes me thankful for the son I am blessed to mother here on earth, and the child who inhabits my womb (what a tremendous mercy) even now. And it overwhelms me with gratefulness for the gift of devoted and godly mama, mom-in-law, and grandma who remain with me on the earth. It reminds me of the grandmother who I loved and who I miss.
It reminds me of the beauties of womanhood and the fruitfulness that God blesses us with, even when it is tainted with bitterness. Go to [http://naomiscircle.weebly.com/2/post/2011/05/proverbs-31-for-pregnancy-loss.html] to read my friend Kristi’s take on Proverbs 31, from the angle of a bereaved mother ~ it is beautiful.
And it reminds me that the monotony of every-day living is glorious, thanks to the glorifying work of God. In the very apt words of a dear friend of mine (if she is okay with me sharing her name, I will!),
“Isn’t it amazing that God takes the daily humdrum and drama of living in a family (the never-ending service of washing loads of laundry and cleaning and drying dishes, and wiping faces and sweeping up after small feet, and reminding and re-reminding learning brains in what they need to and need not do, and so many more things that I neglect to mention), and turns it into the glory of growing His kingdom, of building healthy bodies and sound minds and Godly souls for eternity? It is one of the sad paradoxes of our world that so many people think this job is for the lazy, the incompetent or the small-minded, when it is the task that needs the most visionary and quick-minded and hard-working people to do it well!” ~R.J.D.
The Lord is good, my friends. My husband, my son, my baby, my in-laws, some particular friends… God has enabled these people to specifically bless me this weekend, even when my heart could be tempted to be overwhelmed by the bittersweetness, or by anxiety. God is good to give me rest in Him, and to remind me of His continued daily mercies which simply never end. Hallelujah!
Chef Gabriel
Gabriel loves to cook dinner for us sometimes.
He was making “sammiches” this time. Pizza and cinnamon roll sammiches. 😀
He even asked us to sit at the table and partake of them together. And of course, he likes to bless the food.
Oh blue-eyed boy, how Mommy loves you!
Ladies’ Tea, Blackflower & Company
“Bread and water can so easily be toast and tea.”
Last evening our church hosted a beautiful Ladies’ Tea to celebrate the end of a year of monthly fellowship nights where we encouraged one another in the joy of Christ. Over the year, we discussed the book “When I Don’t Desire God; How to Fight for Joy” by John Piper as well as discussed other things from Scripture, one another’s lives, and God’s beautiful gifts around us. While I was usually doing table decorations for each monthly meeting, as well as setup & teardown, this time I delegated those roles and took on some different jobs (the above picture is a portion of the room and some of the girls who were setting up and decorating, for whom I am so thankful). I was in charge of doing something the leaders called “Joy Overflowing” ~ which is where one woman shares something she loves, enjoys, excels at, is passionate about, etc. and I was asked to share “The Joy of Tea.” While I was nervous about it beforehand, I really enjoyed it in the end.
Everyone signed up to bring different types of food that you might find at High Tea: savories (meats, stuffed mushrooms, tea sandwiches, vegetable platters, canapes…), scones (we had ginger scones with nutmeg cream and cranberry scones with homemade jam), and sweets (chocolates, tartlets, cupcakes, shortbread cookies…).
I brought the cranberry scones, made with this recipe (I got about 45 scones out of one recipe, as I made them tea-size, i.e. small). They turned out really well and were a hit.
And, perhaps the most exciting part, has to do with a company I am newly in love with called Blackflower & Company. This is a small business owned & operated by friends of mine in CA (I grew up together with the wife). When I asked her if they would be interested in donating a giveaway for the event, in hopes of helping their marketing endeavors, they offered to sponsor the entire evening for us! They sent the most delicious teas (we chose three flavors: Signature Chai, Earl Grey, and Relaxation Tisane) for the evening, which were so fun to brew, pour, smell, sip, swallow, and enjoy. Mmmm. In addition to some pretty amazing loose leaf teas (and my mother & I know tea fairly well, so when we say it gets our true and devoted stamp of approval, you’ve got to believe that it is that delicious!), they also have an assortment of tea accessories, like the most adorable little teapots! I got to see one of the little teapots in person, as they sent a personal-sized blueberry-colored teapot for one of the giveaways. Oh, I wanted to win that giveaway. 😉
Not only is the website classy, their products both beautiful & scrumptious, but their packaging is perfect (resealable bags for the tea, to keep the loose leaf tea airtight if you don’t use it all at once), their service prompt, and they are incredibly helpful in the Customer Service realm. In addition, they do something called Giving Back codes, and they made one for us! So if you order something from Blackflower & Company (as you know you want to!), if you enter CCSpokane (yes, you) in the coupon code box when checking out, $1 for every $10 you spend goes as a donation to our church. What a generous gesture and blessing!
At any rate, our ladies’ tea event was a huge success last night. Everyone enjoyed the fellowship, the food, the elegance, the teas themselves (I’m pretty sure earl grey was actually the top-choice last night, although I really just heard good-gushing all around!), the giveaways, the talk on The Joy of Tea, and the encouragement to continue seeking joy in the Lord… and I am so thankful that I was able to help coordinate the event and shower blessings upon these women.
(And if I get better pictures from the photographer who was there last night, I will add them. I am ashamed to admit that I was so busy boiling water and doing my presentation and cleaning up that my poor camera was horribly neglected. Sigh.)
Babylost Mother’s Day
I don’t suppose this is a day that is well-known really to anyone, especially someone who is not involved in online communities for bereaved mothers. But I wanted to briefly mention it anyway.
Today is International Babylost Mother’s Day. A day when mothers are honored, even when their babies are no longer in their wombs or arms.
Next Sunday will be the big one. The Mother’s Day where all of us (in the US at least) will do something for our mothers, maybe even our sisters or grandmothers, and for those who have borne a child, where something sweet may even be done for us. But Mother’s Day is bittersweet for some of us. For those of us who have babies that we can no longer hold, the day holds reminders of emptiness. Of grief. Of those babies who we so desperately miss & anxiously await reunion with. While those memories are beautiful in their own right, they are tainted.
I remember my first Mother’s Day. I didn’t know about Babylost Mother’s Day back then. But on the second Sunday in May of 2008, my mother gave me a pair of earrings with little pink pearls. Two pearls, she said; one for each of my babies. One was in my womb and the other was in heaven. It was so bittersweet, and so beautiful, to be acknowledged as a mother of two. Because it’s true.
Someone walking around the store might not know I’m a mother of nine, especially when they see how young I am or see just Gabriel as my companion. But today, on Babylost Mother’s Day, I remember my seven children specifically who are no longer here with us on earth; I also remember the dozens (hundreds, probably, if I include all the women I know and minister to online) of babies of friends who are also no longer here. I honor those stalwart women today. For walking this road none of us have chosen for ourselves. And for loving our babies enough to acknowledge them, and to acknowledge ourselves as their mothers.
Next week, I will rejoice over all nine of my children. I will rejoice over my mother. I will rejoice over my mother in law. My grandma. My sisters-in-law. I will thank God for the gift of their motherhood, for the blessing they are to their children.
But for today, it is a lesser-known day. Almost a hidden, silent day. Everyone seems to want to attain admittance into the world of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day… but Babylost Mother’s Day isn’t a holiday that anyone desired to know. Nobody wants to be included here.
God knows. He bottles our tears. He cradles our covenant-babies in His arms. He has vanquished death, and it will therefore not have the final victory.
Psalm 139:13-16
“For You formed my inward parts;
You knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in Your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.”
New Life
We have new life in Christ! What a blessing ~ what a miracle!
And we have new life in the womb! Another blessing ~ and a sort of miracle of its own!
Although I wasn’t planning on spilling the beans quite yet (although we’ve known for a number of weeks, I was trying to keep a semblance of a secret for once…), my husband jumped back into the world of blogging today and opened the can. So in case anyone happened to peek over there, I figured I had better do it too.
Happy Easter, friends. Happy praying. Happy rejoicing. Happy living together in light of the Resurrection.