The Project for the week

I'm working this week on getting our bar-height office counter cleaned off so that we can lower it this weekend to desk height. We've needed more room in our office for quite a while, but with my belly growing, it's becoming a dire situation! lol

So yesterday, I finished cleaning off the counter - a major accomplishment, that. Now I'm working on making room in our big filing cabinet for the contents of filing cabinet drawer from our big school teacher desk, which takes up way too much room in here. I'm hoping to move that out this weekend as well, and since I got the counter clean earlier than I expected, I'm working on other things in the office that will enable us to make better use of our space.

I indulge in HGTV when I have the chance, and the Blessings have watched their share of Mission Organization, one of my favorites. A couple weeks ago, they were working in someone's office, and Davey says, "Mom, maybe you need to have them come and do *your* office!" Oh, yes, in my dreams! :-)

I've realized that I just don't have a spot for everything that needs one, and I'm working on figuring out how I can fix that. The combination of a home office/busines office/homeschool office is just a high demand for a space. Any ideas would be met with great appreciation!

This is what it's really about

Here is a terrific article about Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith, the two head coaches who are taking their teams to the Super Bowl. I'm so glad someone's talking about what really distinguishes these gentlemen... and it's not their skin color! Take a look. :-)

Changing Shapes

In the search for my maternity clothes, hubby and I found a box last night that had my old "skinny" clothes in it... clothes from back in the days when I thought I was chubby, lol. I'd given away most of my clothes from back then, but these were things that I just couldn't let go.

Well, today I finally put most of the rest of them in a bag to take to Agape House (a resale shop close by that supports a ministry to unwed mothers). Other things I had to just go ahead and toss.

So all this got me thinking...

I remember my midwife chuckling during a prenatal with my first baby. When I asked her why, she said, "You know, your tummy's never going to be this tight again." I was, in my youthful, idealogical state, slightly offended by such an assumption.

Well, several years ago, before I got pregnant with our 6th baby, I got back down to the weight I was when we got married. Yay for me!! Out came the skinny clothes I'd been hanging on to! And guess what? They didn't fit. At first, I was sooo dissapointed. Then I realized something...

No matter how well-conditioned I am, my body is not going to return to the shape that it was before having (as of this coming summer) 7 bundles of Blessing. And you know what? That's okay! What matters is that I do my best to take care of my body, because it is the temple of the Lord. In many ways, my body, though different, is in much better condition than it was before I had children. I want to strive to continue to improve my physical condition.

Similarly, the circumstances that we go through in life change our shape, whether it be our physical shape, our spiritual shape, our emotional shape, whatever. It's okay that we might not ever be the same. God wants to use all the circumstances in our lives to change our shape to be more like Christ.

What about the things that hurt and scar us? Is the goal to be restored to where we were before the hurtful circumstances entered our lives? I don't think so... I think the goal is to not waste the pain, but rather to let the Lord use our circumstances to mold and shape us into the image of Christ.

So if you look back on who you were and what you looked like 10 or 20 years ago and don't like the differences you see, maybe you could reconsider your perspective. If the changes don't fit with HIS goals for you, He can still salvage them and use them for your good and His glory.

Isn't God good?!?

Fundal Height

This is mostly for my own documentation...

I'm looking forward to my next prenatal - to seeing what my caregiver thinks of my fundal height. I've been consciously practicing self-palpation for my last several pregnancies, and I'm regularly feeling the top of my fundus at my belly button. On me, that's ~22-23 cm. Generally, your fundus corresponds to the number of weeks along you are, and for me that's held true through 6 previous pregnancies.

Here are some possible reasons I found on babycenter.com for measuring "large for dates":
• Your due date is off. (Nope, don't think that's possible)

• You have looser abdominal muscles than most women as a result of an earlier pregnancy. (rofl!! I've had 6 earlier pregnancies - ya think?! But my abdominal muscles have been looser than normal for 10 years, so I'm not thinking this is it)

• You have uterine fibroids. (This is a known side effect of estrogen dominance, so I'm not ruling it out. However, looking at the list, pre-pregnancy I had no symptoms of uterine fibroids, so I'm not super concerned about this)

• You're carrying twins or more. (Twins do run in my mom's family...)

• You have too much amniotic fluid. (I suppose this is possible, but honestly, what I'm feeling does not feel like amniotic fluid to me)

• Your baby is positioned high above your pelvis, which might be the case with a breech baby or if you have a placenta previa. (This early in the pregnancy, I don't think these would really be issues)

• You have a bigger-than-normal baby because of gestational diabetes. This condition is known as macrosomia. You may need to be tested to rule it out. (Given my history, the list of risk factors, and my current condition, I really don't think this is it. And my urine's been "great"! lol)

So that's the fundal height report. Any reasons you know of that aren't listed here?

Corn Adventures and The Simple Life

Months ago, I read an article by Debi Pearl on the No Greater Joy website about different uses for corn. It fascinated me - though we are far from being self-sufficient or old-fashioned in our way of life, anything related to the simple life appeals to me. We would love to become more simple in our way of living, and thanks to the wise advice in the Cumberland Books catalog, we are working on making Baby Steps in that direction.

Anyway... we received our NGJ magazine last week and I was thrilled to see that they had reprinted Corny, Ten Different Ways. I showed it to Jonathan and he thought it looked pretty neat as well.

So last night, the guys come home from work with a 50# bag of Deer Corn (which J had researched and found was the same thing as the feed corn Debi refers to in her article). Woohoo!

Here's what we've done so far:
**We have hominy in the works. We cooked the corn in the ashes last night for quite a while, but it's not quite done, so it's back on the stove this afternoon. I'm going to wait for Jonathan to get home to do anything with it, because he's really enjoyed our experimenting.
**We roasted corn last night to "grind" for corn meal (to use for corn meal mush and corn bread, two things we really like but have never made from meal we ground ourselves).
**We tried "grinding" the roasted corn in the Cuisinart last night, which sent me into the giggles - using the Cuisinart to aid our "old fashioned, simple life" experiments, lol. It was evident that we really do need to be on the lookout for that handgrinder Debi Pearl refers to, but I went ahead and put some of the "ground" corn into the crockpot to cook overnight into corn meal mush. Again, what to me is a humorous blend of old and new.
**The corn meal mush this morning was yummy but rather chunky, due to the incomplete grinding. I also could have used more water in the crock pot. But a successful breakfast, nonetheless.


Here are some of our goals for this year, as regards the simple life:
**Find a hand grinder for corn (this can be used for other grains, too, of course).
**Get our feet wet with Square Foot Gardening. The Blessings are each going to get a few squares, and Jonathan and I will probably have a 3x3.
**Hopefully... Chickens! We need to start small, but we'd really like to have chickens, for eggs especially, but also for meat.

And now it's time for a nap!

Getting back in the saddle

We're working on getting back in the swing of things around here. I'm trying to be careful to not do too much too soon, but we're thankful to all be feeling much better.

We're trying some new stuff with school this week, with help from An Old-Fashioned Education. Public domain works + the internet = wow! Also trying to get back on the ball using our Ray's Arithmetics. Since we have the whole set anyway, I need to stop doodling around and get with the program! That's the one area in which our Blessings are "behind."

I think I'm going to go ahead and make the big $8 plunge for Motivated Moms for this year. I'm not in a rush to get it, though. Since I basically lost last week due to sickness, I'm just going to do what I can from each day off of that page of my sample.

I have lots of stuff I'm wanting to blog, but I'm going to stop for right now and try to make time to do several posts today.

Notes to self (cause my brain is still stuttering):
Fundal Height
Corn
Philosophy of dealing with Illness
Balancing

I'm still alive!

I haven't posted much lately, but thought I'd at least check in. I've been sick since before Christmas, and it seems every time I start to feel the least bit functionable (I think I coined that word - are you impressed) I go nuts being productive and set myself waaaaayyyy back on the path to health.

So this Monday, I was feeling better than I had in a long time. Got a bunch of stuff done around the house and sent myelf into a tailspin. Tuesday morning I was committed to watching a friend's children (interesting set-up, that - segregated babysitting to try to keep her kiddos from getting our yuck). Got home Tuesday afternoon, went to bed at 3pm and slept till 9 Wednesday morning (with a couple hours up to eat supper and such). Wednesday and today I've done very little active stuff, just trying to rest and get well.

I wonder sometimes how many times I will have to re-learn the lesson that if I don't take care of myself, I can't take care of anyone or anything else. I owe it to my family to be wiser than this, I tell ya! :-)

If you have "extra" prayer time...

I haven't posted about this because I am at loss for how to ask for prayer in an appropriate way. But if you have the chance to pray for our family relationships right now, I would so appreciate it. I can't say much, though I can say that Jonathan and I are doing well with each other, and the kids are doing well with each other and with us.

But we desperately need your prayers, especially for Jonathan and I. For grace, for wisdom to "honor" and yet do what is right for our children and our family.

For me - that I will be taking "every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" and that I will have discipline to have my mind dwelling on the things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent, and worthy of praise. That God will give me a gentle and quiet spirit, and that I will be like Jesus ("while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously").

May God be glorified as He works His grace in us!

Pregnancy Stuff

16 weeks today!

I had a wonderful treat last night, thanks to our cat Beren. He climbed up in my lap to be petted, and started purring away. I've often heard that babies in the womb really respond to cats, but I'd never experienced it myself, as this is the first pregnancy I've been through while having a cat.

It's true! Our little one must have felt that purring and gotten excited. I got to feel the baby move for the first time. And the second, third, etc. It was so special!

His Ways vs our ways

We never really thought we'd be in Missouri for more than 5 years or so. We hit six years this past August, and it was hard for both of us. We believe we are where we are supposed to be right now (and are blessed in so many ways by being here), we just don't understand why we are still here.

Desired Earthly Home -
In 2006 we were blessed with more trips back to Kansas than we'd had in the five previous years together, I think. They were times of growing and of learning lessons that I think were necessary to prepare us to move back to Kansas. They also rekindled our desire to move home. That desire comes with mixed feelings as we really treasure the dear friends and church family we have here, but Kansas has always been home, and we feel the Lord preparing us to move back. Someday.

Desired Ministry -
Many years ago, a wise and godly man, Gordon Wakefield, shared with me the following truth: He said that if the Lord puts a fire in you for a certain ministry and never lets that fire go out, you can be pretty sure that at some point He's going to put you there, even you live with that fire for years without any visible assurance of it coming to fruition.
Jonathan and I have both longed since before we were married to be involved in ministry to the Navajo Nation, specifically to serve at Immanuel Mission. This is the fire that has never gone out. And we cannot, with our human vision, see a path that will lead us there anytime soon. We think there are many lessons and lots of growth that will have to come first. But the fire burns, and on days like yesterday, when we get newsletters from three different dear friends serving at IM on the same day, the tears flow and I wonder "why???"

So there they are, our unfulfilled desires. And we have a Father Who knows our hearts and minds, Who longs to give us the best gifts, Who knows far better than we what the best gifts are, and Who is strong enough to move any mountain to give us what is best, both for our good and for His glory. And we must trust Him with both our present and our future. That's the bottom line.

Incidentally, we do think we might have gotten a clue while we were gone as to why we are still here in Missouri. It seems rather obvious and simple, but it really hadn't occured to me before that perhaps one job that we must finish before we move on is to help get midwifery legalized in Missouri. Not like we're doing it ourselves - we're a little cog, but maybe that's something the Lord has for us to accomplish before we move on to other things.

In the meantime, I love these lines from a favorite old song of mine -
The Lord has a will and I have a need
To follow that will,
To humbly be still,
To rest in it, nest in it, fully be blessed in it,
Following my Father's will.

And Isaiah 55.8&9 -
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD.
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.

I have been a bad blogger!

Okay, so I've been sick for over a week and just struggling to get through each day. I hope you can forgive me. :-)

Our trip to Hutch for Christmas was a good one, though we all came home sick or got sick soon after getting home. I personally wasn't doing so hot before we left, so we can't blame it on Kansas. I should probably check and see if all of our KS family is sick on account of us!

It was kind of a surreal Christmas, to be honest. We stayed at Mitchell (aka KBC East Campus), and while we were sooo thankful for a place to stay that allowed us some family time, it still wasn't a typical Christmas. It was good to see family and friends, and as always, we came back homesick for Kansas - a topic for a whole other post.

So for the past week we've been trying to kick an intense round of head/chest crud that just doesn't want to let go. Our prayer has been that even in our illness, we will be pleasing to the Lord and honor Him.

Before I get to the Christmas trip update, I have to say...

You've got to check out this amazing new artist!!

Gregory Paul Smith on Shoutlife

Gregory's website

I have listened to this CD... ummm... I don't know... bunches of times since we got settled in from our Christmas trip to Kansas. God has given Gregory a phenomenal musical talent - both vocally and as a songwriter/arranger. And the message that He's given Gregory to share has been Such a Blessing to me these last two days.

Go check him out and friend him!

And yes, he happens to be my cousin-in-law. But I think I would be shouting about this CD even if he weren't. :-)

Thanks, BloomBaby, for the neat link!

Update on Pregnancy/Cramping

Things seem to have calmed down with the cramping I was having, praise the Lord. Yesterday I had almost no cramping, and today I haven't had any so far. I'm going to continue being careful with my activity levels (and use my timer whenever I'm doing anything standing up/moving around!) today, but I'm optimistic that I'm over the trouble spot.

I'm putting more details here of this whole thing, just to be sure I'm tracking stuff well.

Mental/Emotional Notes:
The hardest part for me of this experience was feeling like it was my fault. See... I ran out of my progesterone cream about a week before I started cramping. I'm supposed to be using it until I'm at least 15 weeks, which is when the placenta is really supposed to kick in with extra progesterone production. So I kept telling myself I'd run to the herb store (we have a Terrific herb store here in our tiny town - it's called Root Diggin' Nation - isn't that a hoot?!). But I kept not getting it done.

To my guilty sobs Friday night of "How will either of us every forgive me if we lose this baby because I was too lazy to get more Prog. cream?," my wonderful husband assured me that if the Lord took this baby home, it would not be my fault. All life is in His hands, and if He chooses to take this little one home to praise His name for eternity, we can trust Him with that.

I found myself repeating Ps. 131 over and over to myself:
Oh LORD, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty;
Nor do I involve myself in great matters,
Or in things too difficult for me.
Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;
Like a weaned child rests against his mother,
My soul is like a weaned child within me.
O Israel, hope in the LORD
From this time forth and forever.

What a wonderful thing to know that we have a loving and sovereign God.

"Treatment" notes:
~~I've been drinking Tons of water (dehydratiion can cause cramping, and Thursday was not a well-hydrated day) and focusing on taking it easy and trusting the Lord (read: accept His peace and Stay Calm).
~~Mom Smith picked up some Cramp Bark extract for me Friday afternoon, and that seems to help a lot. I haven't needed to use it since Saturday late afternoon, though, praise Him!
~~She also picked up some Prog. Cream, but it had Evening Primrose Oil in it, which is a phyto-estrogen - Not Good! So Jonathan picked up some simple Prog. Cream on his way home that evening, and I've been doubling up on that since Friday.
~~I remembered to take Vit E on Friday, but have forgotten it since unitl just now. I need to take some today, probably.

That's the scoop!

Prayers Appreciated

Late yesterday morning, I started cramping and spent most of the day on the couch. I haven't had any signs of bleeding, which is an encouraging thing. I'm not feeling "normal" today, but I'm not as tight as I was yesterday. I'm focusing on trusting the Lord and taking it easy as much as possible. Today I'm 13 weeks 4days.

Thanks for your prayers.

What a day yesterday!

Our van has really been needing to go into the shop, and as we're contemplating going to Hutchinson for Christmas, the need had become more pressing. So the Blessings and I took the van to Carriage Care yesterday morning. You should see the lovely paper chain we made in the waiting room!

The Diagnosis:
Lots of brake work (including dropping the axle to get to the needed area) - around $500.
New Tires - $???
New Throttle Position Sensor - $170

The exciting part of the day yesterday came when they figured out that our parking brake cables had gotten locked in the "On" position and had ruined our rear brake drums. They had to order the cables and couldn't get them till this morning. Pretty fast when you think about it, but there were my children and I (all of us!) sitting in their waiting room. We obviously weren't wanting to spend the night there, but it's not that easy to find a 30 minute ride for 6 children and a pregnant woman!

My terrific mom-in-law wound up driving over to pick us up and we crammed into her car. Before anyone calls the cops on me for that, Missouri seat-belts laws say that if you have more people in your vehicle than seat-belts, you don't have to worry about seat-belts. :-P While we waited for Mom, the Blessings and I walked several blocks down the street and had lunch at a fast food place - a rare treat for us. So I think for the Blessings especially it was a fun day overall.

You know the really amazing thing about all this? The thing that gives me perspective and makes me so very thankful? Last year about this time, our van broke down. A few weeks later, some dear friends of our Gave us the van we have now. This is a family with 10 children, whose own van was not running all that well. Yet they gave us a van that someone had given them, and trusted the Lord to meet their needs while they were His hands and feet to us. I believe this repair will be the first significant money we will have spent on this van. Isn't that neat??

And an additional note on God's amazing ways is that our homeschool group recently collected money and bought a "new" van for our friends that had given us their backup. It's the nicest van they've ever had (even has AC!!) and it was sooo wonderful to see the Lord reward them for their cheerful selfless giving.

To finish telling about our day yesterday, I got to have a shopping date with Jonathan last night, and we finished up most of our Christmas shopping together.

There are so many things in life that look "bad" to our earthly minds. Isn't it terrific that His ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours?! He is working ALL things to the good for those who love Him. More importantly, I think, is that He is working everything for HIS glory. How amazing that our lives, in the pleasant times and in the rough times, can be used to bring glory to our Savior!

What an awesome God!

Advent

Do any of you use the traditions of Advent to aid their family's focus at this time of year?

We've been learning bits about Advent traditions over the last couple of years, and have decided to incorporate some of them into our family celebrations this year. It seems like such a neat way to focus on what we truly have to celebrate!

Yes, we're in the second week of Advent already, and I just finished our Advent Wreath today. But that's okay, because this is a Tool to aid our worship, not something by which we will be ruled. So we're going to act like the next few days are the first week and the rest of this week will be the second week.

Last year, some friends of ours were using an Advent wreath for the first time. The husband ran into one of the elders from our chapel at the store and asked him a question about Advent wreaths. The elder looked aghast and replied, "I don't know - we're not liturgical!" So maybe we won't advertise at chapel on Sunday that we're using an Advent wreath this year. ;-)

Here's our wreath:

My Balancing Journey - Part 5 - The Big Lightbulb!

Part 4 is new today also! Be sure to read it first!

As I dug into learning about Estrogen Dominance and hormonal balance, it became obvious to me that I really was showing many symptoms of Estrogen Dominance - not just the early pre-menopause. Many things clicked into place over the next few weeks.

The immediate question at hand, however, was what to do next.

When I returned from the retreat and began researching, I was simultaneously getting back on my diet by returning to the "Jump Start" phase - 3 days of nothing but protein/fruit shakes to help make a break from the sugar habit. As I was researching, I kept seeing how soy is tied to estrogen dominance, because it is a source of phytoestrogen. I dismissed this as relevant to me, because I had read enough other research on soy that we just don't "do soy" in our house.

However, on the fourth morning, as I prepared my breakfast protein/fruit shake (a shake which I had been making myself for breakfast almost every morning for over a year), I took a look at the label:

Soy protein.

I ran over to the pantry and took a look at the protein bars which I had used as a regular part of my dieting efforts for over a year:

Soy protein.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I was angry because I had worked so hard for over a year to lose weight and get in better shape - and my reward, due to lack of education, was early pre-menopause and the possibility that I might never have more children. At the same time, I was relieved that I finally knew a direction in which to go to help myself.

Obviously, that was the last protein shake I had for breakfast. And the protein bars went uneaten.

Two weeks later, I had my next period. It was a week early, but my symptoms were obviously lessened. The only thing I'd changed was dropping the soy protein. I honestly thought it might be a fluke, so I waited to see what the next month would bring...

My Balancing Journey - Part 4 - Some things I've learned...

... about hormonal imbalance.

There are two primary female hormones secreted by the ovaries - estrogen and progesterone.

There are actually three types of estrogen made by the body, but when we talk about hormones, these three are usually lumped together, along with animal estrogens, synthetic estrogens, phytoestrogens (plant estrogens), and xenoestrogens (environmental estrogens), because the body responds to all of them in the same way. Estrogen is a pro-growth hormone.

Progesterone is the other side of the hormonal coin. It is a pro-gestation hormone, balancing out the estrogen at the proper times in a woman's cycle.

The key with estrogen and progesterone is Balance. It isn't that estrogen is the bad hormone and progesterone is the good hormone. It's that they must be in proper balance for the body to function properly. In our society, there are so many sources, both environmental and dietary, of estrogen, that Estrogen Dominance has become extremely common.

Here is a list of some of the physiological effects of estrogen and progesterone. It's copyrighted, so I can't just copy it here. But it's very important information - please check it out.

Some of the most common effects of Estrogen Dominance are breast fibroids, PMS, moodiness, forgetfullness, excessive tiredness, hypothyroid-like symptoms, early pre-menopause, miscarriage, breast cancer, and endometrial cancer.

Here are a couple of websites I've found that have good information on hormone balance:
The official website of Dr. John Lee, MD - Check out the main Articles page for lots of good information. Dr. Lee has also written several books, which you can probably check out at your local library.
Dr. Lam's extensive article on Estrogen Dominance


And so you have it - the tip of the iceberg of the learning journey I never thought I would need to begin at age (almost) 33. Please take the time to check out some of this information.

First Prenatal - at last!

Monday, we had our first prenatal - probably the latest we've ever had a first prenatal, but all is well.

Random notations from the prenatal-

Need to drink more water. I haven't been feeling as "green" lately, so it's easier to slack on the drinking. It's cool all the stuff your urine call tell you, eh?

My iron is great - 12.something. I was a bit concerned because I haven't done the best job of taking my vitamins lately.

Fundal height - not measured, but in the right spot.

Diet's okay, but could use improvement. Got sheets to keep track of what I eat. Guess I'll start tomorrow.... that Snickers I got at the hardware store today probably blew it, lol. ;-)

Need to find a way to exercise again. I was doing so well with this for a while, but...

Due to a communication glitch between Jonathan and I, we ended up hearing our little one's heartbeat. We usually have our care providers use a fetascope unless there is an indicated need for a doppler check, so except for once when we were leaving on vacation and I hadn't felt movement yet, we generally just hear the doppler occasionally during L&D. I have to admit. It was Such a Thrill to hear that little hearbeat. Wowsers. 164, by the way.

My cheapo wheel was off by a couple days (something I would have realized if I'd bothered to look at the calendar). Our new official ETA is June 19. The big deal with the wheel being off is that I actually hit 12 weeks yesterday (instead of tomorrow). No cramping, no spotting. So I think I'm ready to do the next post in My Balancing Journey - what I've learned about hormone imbalance. Praise the Lord!