Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Why should the great God listen to you?

He is holy and you are full of sin.
He is of purer eyes than to look upon iniquity, but your heart is full of it.
Why should he pay any attention to what you say to him?
On what do you base your hopes of being heard by such a God as this?

If you argue that you pray often, or sincerely, or with energy, and this is why God should listen to you,
then you may know that you do not yet have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you rely upon the fact that your life is not as bad as others, 
or that you are a Bible-reader or churchgoer, 
this also is a proof that you do not yet have saving faith.
Perhaps you think that God must listen to you because of your great need;
but even this will not do.

The problem with all this is that you are pointing to something about you 
as the reason why God should hear.
Your hopes of being accepted by him are to do with yourself.
This is not faith in Christ.

But if all your hopes of being accepted by God are to do with the Lord Jesus Christ, 
this is the faith of which we are speaking. 

Do you see yourself as filthy in God's sight? 
Do you see that there is nothing about you which he will ever find attractive?
But do you say in your hearts, 
'Yes, but the Lord Jesus Christ has taken upon himself the punishment that I deserve.
What is more, his perfect life has been reckoned to my account.
It is on the basis of who Christ is and what he has done, that I expect God to receive me.
God will not turn away a sinner who comes to him through Christ. 
It is on him that I rely.
I look outside of myself and away to him. 
I have no other hope than him'?

This is how faith speaks and behaves. It does not think about itself. Its attention is all fixed on Christ.

Stuart Olyott, Alive in Christ

Monday, January 21, 2013

a look at the nursery nook

I had today off and Jonny and I decided we would go for an afternoon walk.
Our neighborhood is pretty neat with lots of little shops, a cafe or two, a public library, even a flea market.
The way the sunshine had been shining through our windows tricked me into thinking Spring is near
but one step outside and we were reminded to the contrary.
Absolutely frigid. But beautiful nonetheless.
I brought along our new camera, a Canon Rebel T3i (eeeeek!)
Learning the ins and outs of this thing will be quite a challenge, but I think I'm up for it.
 
Since I had the camera out, I decided I'd go ahead and give you a glimpse of the little guy's space.
Which also happens to be Jonny and I's space. 
Our apartment is pretty teeny.
It is technically a 2 bedroom, but our kitchen is awkward so we made the second bedroom a dining room. We'll see how this goes for a while.
First up, our new dresser. A Christmas present from mom and dad.
Because the apartment is small, closets have been used for storage, therefore taking up room for clothes, 
and leaving us in need of another dresser. 
I was being pretty particular about what kind of dresser since I needed it to hold lots without taking up lots of space. 
And you'll never guess who eyed this beauty first...
Jonny.
I love it! The curved wood, the knobs, the detail, even the scratches. 
And best of all, it fits so much! 
(Thank you, husband (for seeing it) and mom and dad (for buying it hauling it through 4 states))
You may remember that empty frame from this post.
It has now been spray painted white, my new obsession, which you'll realize further down this post.
I was originally thinking burlap behind it, but now I'm going with chalkboard.
Now I just need all my ideas to become reality.
The dresser is topped with trinkets of my great-grandmother's, Meme, that hold chunky necklaces and other odds n' ends.
Next there is the vanity.
Which I never gave a second thought until the other day.
It is actually used for vane purposes.
This is where I do girly stuff that Jonny doesn't understand.

I love this vanity. It belonged to my Grandma Great, as we called her
(my great grandmother who also happened to be great, and that would be an understatement).
She had a typewriter sitting on this vanity in her guest bedroom.
She wrote letters to everybody, and poems too.
I remember always going back to that bedroom and pretending to type away on it.
I don't think I would ever get rid of this vanity, too many memories!
Then there is the bed directly in front of the vanity, as you can tell in the reflection. 
On the bed are embroidered pillows that also belonged to my great-grandmother (Meme).
Are you noticing a trend here?
We love vintage hand-me-downs. 
Well, that should be rephrased to I. I love hand-me-downs. Jonny is just a fan of functionality.
Now on the other side of the bed we finally get to the third of our bedroom that we are considering the nursery nook.
The cradle is the same one I slept in as a newborn, just with a fresh coat of paint.
The changing table was also what my mother used for me, also with a new coat of paint.
(A massive thanks to my mom and dad who hauled them up to Kentucky and spray painted them entirely.)
Mom and I found the tricycle painting at the flea market just down the street, before we knew the gender.
Can't wait to have our little guy here, just hanging out with us. 
Right beside the cradle is a reclining rocking chair that was also given to us from a family member. 
Jonny and I already spend lots of time reading here. 
One time I found Jonny reading here while simultaneously rocking the cradle.
I reminded him that the baby isn't here just yet.

Like the cracks in the wall? Just one of the perks of living in a house over a hundred years old. 
Really though, we are so grateful for how God has provided for us! 
We have a dresser full of clothes for our unborn child, 
a place for him to sleep, 
to be changed, and to be rocked to sleep, 
which is all more than necessary. 
How sweetly the Lord does provide for His children. 








Saturday, January 19, 2013

who needs an appendix anyway?

Not this guy.
So Jonny had been complaining of some pains in his lower abdomen for 
well over a week. I kept telling him I'd take him to the doctor
but he just seemed like he couldn't bother. 
The way he described it, neither of us really thought it was appendicitis
and the longer we waited, I thought surely it would have burst by now 
if it was his appendix.
But on Wednesday afternoon he decided it was time to do something.
He had to wait until I got home from work and then we headed to urgent care.
After waiting for an hour and seeing the doctor for about 5 minutes, 
she poked around on his middle and promptly said,
"You need to get to the hospital for appendicitis!"

So off we went to the ER at Norton Suburban.
(We've been joking back and forth about Jonny being able to get us to the hospital
when I go into labor, so we just used this as a practice run.)

After two hours of blood work and a CT scan in the ER, 
it was confirmed that Jonny definitely had appendicitis and was in need 
of an emergency appendectomy.
The surgery happened around midnight and lasted about an hour.
**The hospital waiting room is sort of an eerie place at that hour.
People going in and out for smoke breaks, eating hot Cheetos and corn dogs.
And on top of that I was actually in the Labor & Delivery waiting room, 
so people kept looking at me confused, as if I should be seeing a doctor or something, 
I wonder why that would be???

The surgeon came back to tell me that though they had tried a laparoscopic technique 
in two different places, they weren't able to get his "nasty"
appendix that way and had to actually open him up.
Poor guy. 
Wounds in three places in his belly!
About 30 minutes later I was allowed to see him in the recovery room.
He was still loopy from the drugs but also in a lot of pain.
It's horrible to see someone you love so much in a lot of pain
but at the same time he was doing some pretty funny things
(that he has no recollection of)!

A little after 2am we were able to get him to a room, 
after an hour of more intake questions, we were finally left to rest.
Well, Jonny slept pretty well off on on the whole time, 
and I got a few periods of rest in a recliner next to him.

The whole thing is a blur now really... 
somehow it became morning, and then afternoon.
They monitored his intake and as long as his body tolerated the solid food he was given
at lunch, we would be able to go home.
We left around 2pm and he has been recovering well ever since.




thoughts on 31 weeks and cloth diapers

I know I just did a thirty week post
but as of Tuesday I am now 31 weeks pregnant.

I have given notice at work that my last day will be March 15th
which is now less than two months away.
Things are starting to get real.
Nothing makes it more real than the piles of baby things
accumulating in our apartment.
Like cloth diapers for instance. 
Go on, shriek. 
Tell me I'm crazy.
I've heard it all.
Cloth diapers wouldn't be a common practice where I hail from. In fact, I'm pretty sure my 
mother thinks I'm nuts. And I'll admit it, not having a washer and dryer in our apartment may 
pose as a challenge,  but I'm determined (and Jonny too) to embrace 
the creepy basement in exchange for some serious $$$savings$$$.

We now have a total of 12 cloth diapers, which is encouraging because about two weeks ago we only had one.
One wouldn't get us very far now would it?

But I am beyond blessed that upon moving to Louisville, 
I quickly joined a women's bible study that was newly forming at our church,
At the time I was engaged and naive.
Here, I met some wonderful, wise and Godly women who have so loved and cared for me and
taught me, by example what it is to lay your life down for your husband and family.
It wasn't easy moving to Louisville, knowing no one besides Jonny.
A girl has gotta have some girl time...ya know? 
And though I'm positive you'd never hear that come from Jonny's mouth, 
he would definitely tell you I have been incredibly blessed by fellowship with these ladies.

Our bible study group is continually changing as God moves each family where he wills, 
to serve his kingdom and spread his glory.

All that to say, 
that last photo is from this past Saturday.
Two of my dear friends hosted a baby shower for me,
where our cloth diaper collection more than doubled! 
More than gifts, I have been showered with love and wisdom from these ladies,
for whom I am truly thankful to God for!






Monday, January 14, 2013

we are still here.

My mom asked me today, 
"Have you done a blog lately?"
No mom.
No I haven't.
I've had every intention to, I just haven't.

Kinda like vacuuming my kitchen, I've had every intention to, I just haven't.

(Yes you heard right, I vacuum the kitchen. Don't you? It's the latest rage!)
(Okay, just kidding, our kitchen is carpeted and...I love it...not.
But it's a kitchen so I have no reason to complain!)

We are thirty weeks along in this pregnancy. 
Progressing nicely.
It seems painfully slow, but we're progressing nonetheless.


When I say painfully slow, I guess I really don't mean it.
Yes, I feel like I've been pregnant forever but really, 
there's no nee to be dramatic.

The truth of the matter is, we are so excited to meet our little boy and we
only have to wait about two months now. 
A third of our bedroom is overflowing with baby stuff.
His dresser is full of clothes.
His changing table is full of diapers (cloth and disposable).
All his blankets are washed and put away.
We are ready for this precious gift!

Soon I will post pictures of his little nursery-nook.



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