Baby Chee-sus

Olivia has a little toy nativity set. She loves putting "Baby Chee-sus" next to His mommy and daddy. We talk about the angels, the shepherds, and the star. I tell her that because Jesus came we don't have to be afraid or uncertain. God keeps his promises. (It's such a good reminder for me! Maybe I should just leave the nativity set out all year long...)

Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement. The good news is that the blood work they've done so far indicates nothing wrong. The bad news is that it means I'll have to have more testing done. So we keep praying and thanking God for His sovereignty.

Let the joyful news ring out

The Prince of Peace proclaim

Lift your heart and voice to shout

Immanuel’s name

God has kept His promises

What a work of grace this is

Son of Mary, chosen One

The Lamb of God has come

From "Glory Be To God"

Words and music by Bob Kauflin
As recorded on Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man (2006)

Funny Story and a Prayer Request

Last night I was putting Olivia to bed. She wanted a different book than the one we were reading, so I told her to ask Daddy to bring us another one. Bless her, she just stood up on her little bed and as loud as you please called out, "BOB!" It was a hoot!
(For the record, I did explain to her that she needs to call him "Daddy.")

On a more serious note, we would appreciate your prayers. I had another miscarriage last week. Because it's my third one, my doctor is doing a number of tests to try to determine the cause. We may never know why I miscarried, but hopefully we can rule out some of the more serious causes.
I've been having a tough time with just feeling overwhelmed, but God is good. My mom came and stayed with us for a week and took great care of us. Thank you, Mom!

We take much comfort in the hope of Jesus - we are seeing Christmas with fresh eyes this year.

O little town of Bethlehem,

How still we see thee lie!

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep

The silent stars go by.

Yet in thy dark street shineth

The everlasting Light;

The hopes and fears of all the years

Are met in Thee tonight.

Advent

This Christmas season our family is making a Jesse Tree. It is a kind of advent calendar where each day highlights a different Old Testament story leading up to the New Testament birth of Christ (Isaiah 11:1-3, hence the term “Jesse Tree”). Instead of strictly following Catholic and Lutheran models, we are using The Jesus Storybook Bible.
Even though Olivia won’t grasp the entire concept of redemptive history this year, hopefully she’ll understand that Christmas is about Jesus. Kids are capable of understanding a lot more than we think.
Olivia helped me paint a tree (which looks more like a bush) on poster board. Then I attached the words “Happy Birthday Jesus” to the top. Each day we will read a Bible story and hang/ tape a paper ornament symbolizing that story on our tree.



Also, it’s probably very obvious at this point that art is not my strength. At least Olivia got a kick out of it!

Camera Etiquette

No, she’s not in pain. She learned how to say “CHEESE!” for the camera…

One of the Best Books on Miscarriage

I recently borrowed a book from my local library called Miscarriage, Medicine, and Miracles by Young and Zavatto. It's the best book on miscarriage that I've read. (Not that I've read tons and tons of books on the matter, but I have read a few!)
It is "comprehensive and compassionate." Young and Zavatto make medical information easy to read without dumbing it down. They also include stories and examples.
It's not a perfect book, but if you are just looking for a good resource for medical issues, I'd suggest trying to find this one. Even though it is not a christian resource, I still learned a lot from reading it. As always, discernment is a must.
I'll try to post some more good resources as I come across them or remember them.

Election Thoughts

Heeheeheehee. I couldn't have said it better myself...

Happy Election Day

Today I voted and got my free Starbucks tall coffee. It was pretty cool. Someone told me that other places like Chick-Fil-A, Krispy Kreme, and Ben and Jerry's were also giving away freebies to voters. What freebies did you get today?