Stephanie, Elliot, and I got some much needed time away today. We’ve been very busy lately and just haven’t had time to connect. A very gracious family from our church (thank you Umsteads!) allowed us to hang out at their lake house today. We left home just after Elliot’s breakfast and got home in time to put him in his crib. It was a great day to relax, enjoy the sunshine and the lake, and enjoy just being with each other and not having anything to do or worry about. It was a great day. Here are pictures of our day and an album with some recent pictures of Elliot. I had no idea, but apparently he likes doing the laundry. How cute.
Am I suffering for the sake of the Gospel? Or I am I just another middle class suburban christian who thinks that suffering includes missing a meal or being on a budget. Oh Lord don’t let me miss out on Your amazing plan for my life.
We were convicted by this video and by the overwhelming impact Christ should be having on our life. I found myself thinking I need to do more, I need to BE more however THAT is not the gospel. What I do need to do is SEEK more. I know that we will suffer if we follow Christ with reckless abandon. This question is when it comes, will I turn my hands up and be thankful, will “I consider it Joy” as the Bible says or will be despondent and cranky. I was convicted firstly to be infinitely thankful for the gift God has given us currently and then to turn to him with the inconveniences of my current daily life in hopes that one day, He will trust me with true suffering.
That is how long I have before the most dreaded experience of my life. (Forgive me for being a little overdramatic…) For those of you who don’t know, I will be examined tonight and tomorrow morning. If all goes well, ordination is looming around the corner.
These last couple of weeks have been…hard, tough, long, exhausting. I really don’t know how to finish that statement. All the words just seem so void of any real meaning. Very simply, it has been a lot.
And not just for me. Yes, I’ve been studying just about every free moment. I’ve been going to bed late and waking up early. I’ve been doing flashcards when I drive and listening to Q&A’s from the Westminster Shorter Catechism. But I honestly believe that my beautiful bride is the one going through the most. She’s stepped up so much in the last few weeks. She’s taken over many of the things that I normally do, and she has done it with grace. She is amazing. Those of you who know her well know that this is just par for the course for her. She is an amazing wife to me and spectacular mother to our son. I can’t wait for this all to be over, mostly for her sake. She deserves a spa weekend.
Its at moment like these, I thank God that He is sovereign. If he wasn’t, I don’t think I could go through with all of this. But I feel this calling in my life, and if he calls me to it, he will guide me through it. This examination is less about me and more about him displaying himself through me.
Thank you for your many words of encouragement and prayers. I have felt them, especially today.
I’ll let you know how it all goes!
As I sit hear in the quiet after my sweet child cried for twenty minutes after 45 minutes into his morning nap I continue to keep the long view in mind. Mike and I have participated in “parent directed feeding” since Elliot’s birth. (For more info read Babywise by the Ezzo’s). It seems that people either love it or hate it. For us it has worked beautifully. Elliot starting sleeping 6-7 hours per night at 7 weeks and we dropped his 10 pm feeding a little before 4 months which meant he was sleeping from 7:30 to 7. This has been the case with few exceptions for the last five months.
As you can tell from my first line this has not and is not always an easy system. Lately Elliot has been waking up 45 minutes into a nap, which is normally when you change sleep cycles into a deeper sleep. He has become curious about things and thinks he has had enough sleep. However, I can tell you from experience, if he does not wake up happy – He is not happy. Therefore I have to let him “cry it out” for his own good to have a restful nap.
Mike and I have been amazed to see how Elliot can be so upset having to go to sleep to completely happy and content upon waking up rested. I think it helped knowing too that Babies weighing over 10 lbs do not need food at night. That is when there little bodies start burning glucagon, the enzyme that breaks down fat. All I have to do is look at Elliot’s thighs and think God gave you that for a reason. We want to train his body to burn fat.
Disclaimer – If this is not your preferred parenting method – Please do not see this as a judgement. We love it and it has worked for us, but do as God leads you.
Last week was quite eventful here in Augusta. Yes it was Master’s Week, and our little town becomes the focus of the golf world. This town completely changes. Most of the people who live here “get out of Dodge” as they say, while so many other people are flocking in. I was able to go to one of the practice rounds on Monday to see what all the fuss was about. Needless to say, I was extremely impressed and got caught up in the mystique of it all. Ive never seen anything so perfectly manicured as that course is. Granted, I don’t have a whole lot to compare it to, but it was still amazing. The grass in the area that crowds were able to walk on was like carpet. I can’t imagine what the greens were like. And yes, I did get to see Tiger. I got within about 10 feet of him. Pretty cool. (Sorry that I couldn’t get you tickets Gameech. This opportunity came up on Sunday night.)
Not only was it Masters Week, but more importantly, it was Holy Week. Unfortuntely, the two weeks coincided this year. I’m sure it doestn’ matter anywhere else in the world, but it matters a great deal here. We had a great Maundy Thursday service at our church, but with everyone out of town, we only had about 20 people attend. I honestly am not concerned about numbers at all, but I was just sad that others missed out. It was great to have an intimate service with those who were able to attend, and I was moved by the significance of it all. What really struck Stephanie and I this year is Christ drinking the cup of God’s wrath for us. The physical pain that he suffered was one thing, but having the wrath of God poured out on him is in a totally different category. I can’t even imagine, nor do I want to. Thank you Jesus.
And finally, on Friday, we headed up to Dalton for the weekend to celebrate Easter with part of Steph’s family. We could have just sent Elliot up there, and no one would have noticed a difference. He was such a hit! Everyone really loved him and kept saying how good and happy of a baby he was. He was definitely on his game this weekend. We had a great Easter Celebration at Grammie and Paw Paw’s church on Sunday (He is risen! He is risen indeed!). Oh, that every Sunday was like Easter Sunday!
Now we are back to the grind, and my nose will be in books all week long. My oral examiniation in front of presbytery is now a week away. I will be going before the candidacy committee on the 20th in the evening and then before the floor of presbytery the following day. Please pray for me. I would appreciate it. Please remember Stephanie as well this week. Even though she isn’t the one who is studying, she has to deal with a husband who is always studying and stressed out. Please pray that we both have grace and patience this week! Thanks so much, and I’ll let you know how it goes!
For those of you who have been wondering if I would ever post any more videos of Elliot, I have finally gotten to it. Every once in a while, I’ve needed to take a break from burying my head in theology as I am studying for ordination. This has been a good release, and thankfully has been very easy. Check out the Video link at the top of the page, or if you’re kind of lazy, you can just click here.
The videos are a couple of months old at this point. He is just an amazing crawler right now. I can hardly believe it. He is just amazing.
Speaking of amazing, I thought I’d throw in this picture for fun!
What I missed most about living in Florida for five years was the change of seasons. I especially love Spring. Now that Stephanie, Elliot and I are living in Georgia, we get to experience a little taste of the seasons (nothing like growing up in Chicago, but it’ll do for now).
The weather has been a little up and down here as of late, but I knew that Spring was officially here yesterday. I went for a run around 5 pm in 65 degree weather. At one point, I passed a guy mowing his lawn while the kids across the street were playing wiffle ball in the yard and I could smell someone grilling not too far away. It was amazing. Spring is here.
This weekend I went with our Senior Pastor’s wife to a conference for Minister’s Wives. I hope I am never the same. This role has been more difficult for me than I anticipated. Actually, it is not so much the role rather the role +. I have a young child at home, I am the wife to an amazing man, I am a part time physician assistant, and also I have all that comes with being the youth pastor’s wife. I needed clarity of God’s call and I got it.
The conference was put on by Beth Moore with help from pastor’s wives. Although Beth is not a Pastor’s wife (which she made very clear), she is a women in ministry and can identify with so many of the difficult things we go through. The conference points were all in 6 word phrases Aggravations followed by Alternatives.
A) Ministry by Default, Life long misfit OR A) Chosen by God, have Holy Fit
A) Seek their Approval, Become their Slave OR A) Seek God’s approval, we find peace.
A) Work with People, Expect Titanic Problems OR A) We Choose to Trust, not to Rust
A) Trade you Bondage, Keep your chains OR A) Don’t Ignore;Get Restored, Then Restore
A) Sow the Flesh, Reap the Dregs OR A) Sow the Spirit, Reap the Life
A) Lose what Counts, Watch Misery Mount OR A) Keep the King, the Thing – JESUS
One thing I was really encouraged to think about was doing a few things well. There is no way I can be give 100% to all the things I have on my plate right now. I kept seeking God’s guidance to see if He was calling me to quit my job – I honestly wanted Him to call me to that, but He did not. For now I felt I needed to continue to work – It is one way that God has truly gifted me to be able to support my husband. I am so thankful that He encouraged me to get my masters before Mike and I met. So I will be a good wife and mother, and a good PA, for now I will have to hold of on doing some of the other things I was doing with the youth group. I hope that someday in the future I will be able to participate in Mike’s ministry in an active/different way, but for now I am called to support him from home.
The thing I keep thinking about is “God did not make a mistake.” He called us both here for this. I have access to so many lost people that I work with, I see several broken, and hurting patients daily that I have the opportunity to pray for, pray with, and help heal. I am there for a reason. God knows the desire of my heart is to be with Elliot as much a possible, but for now, He has said wait.
The more I encourage my husband, the more he has to pour out on the students.
My six words:
There for him, him for them.
On a funny note, check out this You Tube video to see how Pastor’s wives feel about being used as sermon illustrations.
It seems like Elliot is doing something new each and every day. He really is growing up right before our eyes. Here are a couple of recent videos charting his progress!
We want to train his body to burn fat.
