Beyond Belief

Apparently I didn't have long to wait after that last post! I went to sleep around 2:30am and awoke at 7 with contractions 5 minutes apart. By 3:04pm, after a rather frantic dash to the hospital, our Caitlyn Grace was born.

We are blown away by God's gift...we feel like we couldn't have planned it any better...2 boys and 2 girls. NO WAY!! Neither B nor I thought Sparky was a girl, even though almost everyone else did--even Ethan, who thought we should name her Nick. Or Lenny. He's since decided Caitlyn is an acceptable alternative.

I'll post more pics later. I can't stop looking at or taking pictures of her!

Thank you, Lord, for this indescribable gift and tender care of our family! God be praised!!

Waiting

OK, I've officially passed the time frame in which I expected to spontaneously go into labor. And now it's one in the morning. I went to bed exhausted at 9pm after a couple of hours of false labor and now I've been awake since midnight with a brain that refuses to stop thinking about my uterus. So, what to do? Blog, I guess!

I woke yesterday morning and had a few minutes with the Lord to start the day while B was downstairs with the chitlins. The word "wait" was on my heart, so I spent some time in Ps. 27. The ending of the psalm is,

"Wait for the Lord;

be strong and take heart

and wait for the Lord".

I knew that's what I needed to do. But it is hard! I'm not good at the waiting and I'm definitely not good at being strong while waiting! I struggled through the day until rest time and then sat down at the computer. DJ (fellow waiter, due that day) had sent me a note of encouragement with this poem:

Waiting

Dear baby, hear beneath my heart,
I thought that you might come today;
The timing just seemed right.
But the stars are out
And the moon is high
And sheepishly I wonder why
I try to arrange the plans of God,
For I know
You will not come until the One
Who holds eternity rustles your soft cocoon
And whispers in tones that I will not hear,
“It’s time, precious gift.
Now it’s time.”

Robin Jones Gunn

What a beautiful reminder of God's sovereign reign in all of this! There will soon come that moment when He will whisper to my baby and it will be time. I was reminded of Ps. 139:10 which says that Sparky's days are already ordained--every one of them. Who am I to say when they will begin?

So why am I sitting here in despair? Why can't I just let God be God and rest until He brings about this miracle? Lord, help me trust you more. Be my strength while I wait.

One bright spot: it's past midnight and kare11.com has another crossword puzzle posted...something to take my mind off of my uterus for awhile!

Check Out Those Cheeks!

This is our most recent picture of Sparky, taken last Monday to check baby's size in hopes of not having another Butterball. All looks good...the ultrasound measured baby at 8 lbs. 10 oz. and the doctor thinks he or she isn't even that big and probably won't come out over 10 lbs...I could have kissed the guy!

But despite Sparky's petite (by Crim standards) size, he or she still has the trademark chubby cheeks, one of which can be seen in the picture above. The big round shape on the left is the tummy, the little round shape in the upper right is the cheek, next to the nose with two black dots for nostrils and two dark eyes. Baby was busily sucking on something while we peeked in. So amazing!

I guess we're pretty much ready around here. I know I would love to bend over again without a watermelon in the way! But I'm scared about going through labor again...funny how we don't think about that when we're excited about getting pregnant again but how vivid my recollection of it all is now that it could happen at any time! Please pray for me to endure.

Glass Doesn't Last Long Around Here

This is the result of our latest glass-tastrophy. Apparently Ethan was on his bed for a time-out while Mommy was gone trying desperately to regain some sanity. We'll never know what inspired our little monkey to think that the light fixture's glass could support 45 lbs. of weight. And yet, somehow, the thought entered his 4 year old cranium and was acted upon. I wonder how long it held him before it broke...? He then fell down onto the footboard and the glass thingy fell on top of him and then shattered as it hit the footboard as well. Daddy was not amused. I have to admit that I was...after all, I wasn't there to deal with the disaster cleanup!

This is the most recent in a growing list of glass-breakage events in our household. To date we have lost the glass to our entertainment center door (by one of the chitlins slamming it), the glass in our big picture over our couch (by a toy thrown at it), the picture window (by Ethan's head or body--we didn't discover the crack until we got back from 5 weeks in Indiana), and the lid to our upstairs toilet (by a tantrum-throwing boy kicking the wall during time out and subsequently knocking the picture above the toilet off the wall and onto the lid). Impressive, huh? Makes us wonder if it's really a good idea to install french doors between our living room and dining room for some much-needed noise reduction...what are the chances of all those little panes surviving the next 10 years in our house with our boys?