Excitement at the Short's House!

So what is this excitement at the Short's house all about?  Well the excitement began on Saturday morning but didn't reach it's climax until yesterday evening when we could bring it home.

At 4:45 I set about preparing an early dinner so that the children and I would be right ready to go when Daddy got home!  Things got rather delayed when I suddenly noticed I was cooking dinner without a toddler hanging off my leg or hip...  I deemed the absence of her presence necessary to investigate.  I crept into the lounge so she wouldn't see me if she was happy playing with something sensible, but she was no where to be seen...  in fact.... it was frighteningly quiet (all those with toddlers will know why is say frighteningly quiet).  She wasn't about down stairs so up I went and I found....  evidence of where she'd been:

O NO!  That's not good!  Rosina found my lipsticks!  :/

I turn into my bedroom and see more lipstick over the bed and the gym ball.  I go into the en suite and find my darling little artist sat on the floor trying out some eye shadow.  I was feeling so overwhelmed at what I'd just seen, but when I saw Rosina I had to cover my mouth so she wouldn't see me smiling - she was such a sight!  My smile quickly turned to flooded eyes though as the reality of cleaning up the mess sank in.  In the following picture Rosina shows a face of sadness as she realises that she's been naughty.

After turning off the dinner, throwing Rosina in the bath, turning the dinner back on and finally sitting to eat we managed to still be 'nearly' ready for daddy when he arrived.

And we're off....  to Chichester.... to pick up....

THIS:

A Mercedes Vito

The boys eagerly transfer over their car seats!

and they are just a tad excited! haha

Rosina said she wanted the front seat please!

We got it home safely - my goodness it's a different drive to our Zafira!  Felt like I was driving a coach!

The kids get SO much more space now and there is plenty of room for baby when he/she arrives!  :O)  And there is plenty of room for the double buggy too, which wouldn't have fitted in the old car for love nor money!  This beauty of a car comes with a fold away table! (makes me want to be a kid again!) and a built in DVD player!  O those longer journeys are going to be so much easier in this giant of a vehicle that we have been blessed with!

This car is a direct answer to prayer and I feel totally overwhelmed at how God chose to give us so much more than we needed.  This is the type of car we intended on, but it is in so much nicer condition then we thought we'd end up with and has so many extras that we would not have paid extra for. (but so excited to have!)  

This car was priced to sell and we 'just so happened' to see it advertised only hours after it was listed.  We snapped it up quickly after both of us feeling that this was God's chosen car for our family.  We were amazed to hear later on that despite it's short listing on the web they had lots of enquiries and it almost certainly would have sold that first day even if we'd not bought it.

'With God things don't 'just happen', everything by Him is planned'

Freedom to Choose - A Christian Perspective

Last week I read a book called, 'The Shaming of the Strong' by Sarah Williams.  It is an inspiring read.  It is about parents that chose life for their special child that was unlikely to survive birth.  It was an extremely gripping book, especially as I have walked that road myself....  I cried many tears reading it through.  

There was one particular paragraph that I thought was especially inspiring and I wanted to share it here.

The paragraph comes after a colleague of Sarah's questions her decision to keep her baby and not choose abortion (or termination as some would rather call it).  The colleague probed at how awful it would be if the child were to live (against the odds) as the child would have been severely disabled. 

This is what the mother and author, Sarah, wrote in her journal after the confrontation:

"Rather than being a liberty of autonomy, freedom from obligation or the power to mobilise resources for our own ends, biblical liberty is first and foremost freedom from the consequences of sin, the freedom to enjoy the space to choose to serve others and most of all to choose to serve the living God.  Biblical liberty is the Spirit empowered ability to choose to fulfil our obligations, to lay aside comfort for the sake of another, and to use all our resources to honour and fulfil our created function."

'Quote taken from The Shaming of the Strong by Sarah Williams.'

(underlining is my addition)

I love the way this was written!  As a Christian I posses the 'Spirit empowered ability' to choose the things that Christ calls me to.  When I'm struggling to lay aside comfort, to fulfil my obligations, to honour and fulfil my created function, I just need to remember that I was not called to do it on my own. When Jesus returned to heaven after His resurrection, He did not leave us to fend on our own, He left us the Holy Spirit, who empowers us to live the life that God has called us to.  When I am struggling with laying my life down to love, honour and serve my husband, to mother the children I have been given, to bring a new life into the world, ....  when I am struggling to serve in my community, to give time I don't think I have, to use gifts I have been given when I'd rather rest - I just need to remember that I am empowered by the Holy Spirit...  I just need to remember to pray and ask for the help that I have been offered.

For I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

'biblical liberty is first and foremost freedom from the consequences of sin' - The least I can do to thank the God who saved me is choose to live my life serving and honouring Him, which is in fact my created function; what I was created for.  There is no greater satisfaction, no greater delight, no greater meaning to life, than fulfilling the purpose for which you were created.

Thinking back to the book and the situation that prompted such thoughts - Sarah choose life for her unborn child because it was the life that God had given her to take care of for as long as God determined.  It wasn't an easy choice for her physically as the pregnancy gave her many physical challenges, but she choose to 'lay aside comfort' for the life of another.  As is always the case when we do things the way God intended, Sarah was greatly blessed by choosing life for her baby.  

Society is scared by new life that is 'unique' in some way or 'different', but aren't we all unique?  Aren't we all different?  Aren't we all created with our own God given purpose?  Who are we to decide who should and shouldn't be born based on what society deems as 'normal' and/or acceptable.  Is it impossible to believe that God would create a soul who's entire earthly existence would be in the safety of his or her's mothers womb?  God decides our paths and some are very long, some very, very short, but each soul has as much purpose as any other.  The meaning of ones life is not determined by how long you live - you ask a mother who's child has died, most will tell you that their child's life had more meaning and achieved far more than most people who live to 90 yrs old.

Here is a quote that Sarah quoted in her book when she touched on the above subject:

In reality there is no such thing as a non-handicapped life.  But ideas of health set up by society and the capable, condemn a certain group of people to be called handicapped.  Our society arbitrarily defines health as the capacity for work and a capacity for enjoyment, but true health is something quite different.  True health is the strength to live, the strength to suffer, the strength to die.  Health is not a condition of my body, it is the power of my soul to cope with the varying conditions of the body.  ~ Jurgen Moltmann

Pregnancy - 2 down 1 to go!

Time has flown and yesterday I reached a massive landmark - 28 weeks!  This marks the beginning of the last trimester - 

'2 down 1 to go'

Baby is very active - such a comfort to this here mummy that dreams frequently of still birth at the moment.  :-/  

I'm so excited to find out who it is that's causing my belly to grow and grow.  I so enjoy pondering over if baby is a boy or a girl and what he/she will be like!  One things for sure and that is that this baby likes to be awake at 11pm for a good exercise session - every night, without fail!  :O)  I wonder if this pattern will continue on after s/he is born!?


There is nothing like new life - what a gift!

The children are so excited about the new baby and even Rosina has started to take an interest in the ever expanding waist line.  I tried to explain to her one day that there was a baby in mummy's tummy, but she's so little and I knew that the concept was beyond her so I told her that the baby was hiding (a game she loves to play). Ever since then she randomly pulls up my top to try and find baby!  :O)  So cute!  She has taken such an interest in babies lately, she seems awestruck by them!  What good timing for such a development.  :O)

Cravings - Trout & orange juice w. sparkling water
Waist -  36 inches (8" gain)
Feeling - Good... tiredness is not too bad (yay!).  Feet are giving me pain, along with my back, but my spd (that was so painful during my pregnancy with Rosina) has remained very mild for which we are very thankful to God - is making a huge difference!  I am struggling with still birth thoughts at the moment and all the things that could go wrong.  It's pretty normal I guess, even without my history, but it makes the emotional journey hard some days.  God is so merciful though and despite these plaguing fears, I have a peace I know is from Him.  My heart feels on the line, but I know I can trust God whatever the outcome of this pregnancy is.

He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.   Psalm 40 v 2s