It's good to be back at home here in Reading after much visiting and traveling over Christmas and New Year's. My parents came out to visit us all from Christmas Eve through the weekend, and it was SO good to see them! It was my first Christmas away from "home" (where I grew up), which was a little different, but I thoroughly enjoyed Kory's and my first year together as a new little family. We had our own time together on Christmas morning of reading Scripture, praying together, and opening gifts from each other at our home before we headed over to Elizabeth and Joel's where my parents were also staying. What a blessed day of fellowship and celebration of our Savior's birth! It's so crazy to think that next year at Christmas we will have a little 8-month-old!
On the Sunday after Christmas Kory and I headed out to Columbus, OH, together for a joint trip for both business and visiting his family. He had been accepted to serve on the Grand Opening team for a new Chick-fil-A opening out there, so he essentially got paid to spend a week with his family (oh yeah...and to work about 43 hours that week, too). It was a great deal, though, because all of our travel expenses were paid for! Kory's immediate family was visiting in Columbus, as well, from Phoenix, AZ. What a wonderful week we had with them--playing lots of cards and games, eating tons of food, and of course laughing a LOT. We were also around a lot of little ones, which made us all the more excited for Baby Kaye to come!
We had a bit of an adventure coming back from Columbus on Sunday evening. First we hit some scary, snowy weather in southwestern PA which made the roads a bit slippery and our visibility obscured. Although I grew up in western PA and have driven in this kind of weather my whole life, we're both more on edge these days about driving in bad weather since we have a little one to protect. We prayed and inched along the roads, and before we knew it the weather and roads were completely clear--thank the Lord!
Then when we were about an hour away from home (so close!) one of our tires went flat, forcing us to pull over off the turnpike. We called for a tow truck, and after waiting for a little while we discovered that we actually had a spare tire in the back (totally my fault--I had mistakenly told Kory we didn't have one). Kory immediately ventured out into the cold and went to work to change it. He was about 3/4 of the way done when the tow truck finally showed up. Since my incredibly skilled husband had already pretty much remedied the situation, the tow truck guy very kindly filled all our tires with air, and we went on our way. We ended up getting home about 2-3 hours later than we had originally planned, but we were just thankful to be home safe and sound!
So now we are in the year 2010....Year of Baby Kaye, as I've been jokingly calling it. As I think back to the past year and reflect on how much life has changed (leaving the Ranch, getting married, moving to a new town, finding out we were pregnant), I know looking ahead to this coming year that there will be major changes as well--namely, having a baby! Talk about our world being turned upside down. My constant comfort in the midst of all the change continues to be the unchanging Rock of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am in awe that such a mighty, holy God would stoop to lift me out of the muck and mire of my sin (of which I continue to be more and more aware each day!) and give my feet a firm place to stand in Christ (Psalm 40:2). So no matter what transpires for us circumstantially, we can take comfort in remembering our eternal security and hope in Christ which cannot be shaken and our Abba Father's great love from which we cannot be separated. We are held in His mighty grip from which no one can pluck us. Thinking upon such Truths bolsters me to stand strong in the midst of whatever change or whirlwind the Lord leads me through!
It's good to be back with Jackson and Sydney after not having them for a week and a half. It's so neat, too, to hear them start articulating basic aspects of the Gospel that I've been trying to teach them. When I ask them why Jesus came, it's awesome to hear them say "He had to save us because we were dead." I then have to prompt them to remember what this kind of being dead means--dead in sin. But we're getting there! When I ask who sins, they usually say something like "Me!....And daddy...and you....and everyone!" When I start to feel like there isn't much purpose in my constant changing of diapers, heating up food, and monitoring play time, I am reminded of the eternal and ultimate value of teaching them these Truths and what a huge responsibility it is to do so. I am humbled at the thought of the role we will have with our own little one to teach and raise him/her to know the Lord, the Gospel, and the Truth of Scripture. I think of how imperfect and inadequate I am at teaching Jackson and Sydney now, and I am just so thankful that the Lord is the Sovereign One at work in these kids' (and our coming little one's) hearts.
In other news, I went to my first music team rehearsal last night at church. How refreshing to play my guitar and sing with other musicians in worship to our Lord again! I will actually be playing in church this coming Sunday, since one of their usual guitarists will be away. Then we will see where I can fit in--possibly continuing on guitar so that one of the guitarists can switch to bass. It had been a few months since I had picked up my guitar, and it's a little different now that I have such a baby bump sticking out! In fact, when I started playing, the vibration from my strumming was felt by our little one inside, and he/she started kicking away! I wonder if we have a little future musician in there who was already kicking to the beat....or maybe he/she was just saying "Mommy, what in the world is going on out there??" Haha.
I can't believe how quickly our due date is approaching. Now officially into my third trimester! I definitely have mixed feelings of excitement and slight anxiety at the thought of labor. I am looking forward to taking our 5-week child birth class starting in February, which I'm sure will help me feel more prepared and ready for the experience. I think a lot about Genesis 3 and how it is part of the Curse that it is such an ordeal...but I also know that it is the most normal thing in the world, and the Lord designed our bodies so amazingly for this process to occur. We are planning for a natural birth, too, which can be a little bit intimidating. But after all of our research and discussion, we believe it will be the most rewarding way to do it--as temporarily painful as it may be! I am excited for the bonding experience it will be for our family, too...for all 3 of us. Kory coaching and comforting me, speaking Truth to me through it all....and the raw thrill we will have when we make it over the peak and behold our little one. I cannot wait for that moment!
Signing off now to go cook dinner and to await my darling husband's arrival home. Then Joel and Elizabeth are coming over for a game night! How blessed I truly am. :)
Much love--
BK
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