What should our baby name be?

Ok, so one tired pup and three pregnancy tests later, it is official!!! WE ARE PREGNANT!

So, what should our names be for a boy or girl? Give us some suggestions. We love weird, totally unique and hippy names!!! Go for it, let's hear it!!!!

A Hormonal Heart-to-Heart!!!

Get ready ladies... What I am about to share with you is the inevitable, predictable, never-ending most annoying PMS. Oh yes... This week, I must confess I have been overwhelmingly angry!!! My emotions have been like a ticking time bomb! At any moment anything that doesn't meet my expectation is met with rage in my heart! My poor husband has been trying to endure this illness of mine (if I can call it that). He has been so kind to forgive and overlook! But, for me, this is not the case!

I woke up this morning so thankful and happy to be with my husband, but at the same time, I could feel my heart growing cold. I started praying right away (or not so right away), that the Lord would help me love today! I must admit that sweet victory comes right now only in that I have been rescued from my sin (more on that to come).

But, I want to share with you a few things that I myself need to hear!

1. Don't take your temp!

"On a normal day we should be careful not to spend excessive time analyzing our feelings. But on a PMS day, such self-examination is most unhelpful. If we try to “take our spiritual temperature” when our hormones are raging, the reading will most certainly be inaccurate. And we run the risk of compounding our discouragement and despair." Girl Talk Blog

2. Be wise and Pray

I got the helpful hint that I need to start keeping track of my monthly cycle so that I can ready myself for this difficult time! I began this morning asking God to help me in this!!!

"Proverbs 22:3: “The prudent [woman] sees danger and hides [herself], but the simple [women] go on and suffer for it.”

3. You are not alone

"THIS IS NORMAL." Yes, it’s common. As it says in 1 Corinthians 10:13:“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.” These hormonal challenges are a temptation—not an excuse to sin, mind you—but a significant temptation to be sure. And we are not alone in this struggle...The Lord allows this and He will grant all of the grace needed to endure. In fact, that’s exactly what 1 Corinthians 10:13 goes on to promise: “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” Our Lord does not stick us in the middle of hormonal craziness and leave us alone to find our way out of the maze. No, He graciously provides a way of escape so we can endure it. He provides a way of escape so we can rejoice in Him (even when it’s the last thing we feel like doing). " Girl Talk Blog

4. Truth is not an emotional stimulus!

"“Avoid the mistake of concentrating overmuch on your feelings...Above all, avoid the terrible error of making them central. If you put them there you are of necessity doomed to be unhappy because you are not following the order that God himself has ordained...After all, what we have in the Bible is Truth; it is not an emotional stimulus, it is not something primarily concerned to give us a joyful experience. It is primarily Truth, and Truth is addressed to the mind, God’s supreme gift to man; and it is as we apprehend and submit ourselves to truth that the feelings follow.” D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

5. WE ARE RESCUED!!!

Rejoice for God has rescued us from a life where sin reigns free! Because Christ, who had no sin, became sin our behalf, died in our place, took God's wrath that was meant for us to punish our sin! Christ died in our place! He took my sin on him! "Now, all I know is grace!" Now, even in my weakest moment, even in my darkest hour, God is working in my life for my good and his glory. God is not punishing me! God is not tempting me! He is growing me! Sanctifying me! Loving me! Now, PMS, which was a tool for my own desires, to murder and hate, God is using to grow me to love, to humble me to depend on him! What grace was given to me that I may know God! That I may experience victory! That I may love, when others hate! That I may be wise!

I hope this encourages you to fight! I hope you find yourself ready for battle and encouraged in faith!!!

Come With Me, Together We can Take the Long Way Home

"Come with me, together we can take the long way home" are not just lyrics in the Norah Jones song "The Long Way Home," but there, hidden beneath the notes and lyrics is something waiting to break from the pages. My song!

I have so much to say that has been happening in our lives, some things have been revealing God's goodness and others have been showing us that we need to depend on him for grace to get through it!!

In the book "Relationships, a mess worth making," the author states, "Every painful thing we experience in relationships is meant to remind us of our need for him. And every good thing we experience is meant to be a metaphor of what we can only find in him."

This past year was a really hard season for my husband and I. We had trials, arguments, pain and suffering! Through the pain, God was so faithful and kind to reveal our sin and his love for us. His provision through this roller-coster has been so evident, and I tremble at the thought of how much he loves me!

This season, however short as it may be, has been so relaxing and enjoyable. Just to give you a little background, my husband is a teacher, he just got a job in Athens Tn, (or is in the process of getting), where he will be working for a boss that has the same vision and goals as we do! The city of Athens is what we are looking for, and we are so excited to see what God has in store next year for us!!

In the meantime, however, since David is a teacher, and it is the summer, we have been living in Cookeville and just basically spending time with each other. We have gotten to hang out with old friends and watch one full season of Lost. Silly as it may be, we have been relishing this time and holding tightly to every moment!!!

I can most confidently say that I know what it means to be brought low and I know what it means to abound. I know that whatever my season may be, I am called to depend on Christ alone and not myself. Deut 8 says:

Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. ³ He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. ⁴ Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. ⁵ Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you...

¹⁰ When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. ¹¹ Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. ¹² Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, ¹⁴ then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ¹⁵ He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. ¹⁶ He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. ¹⁷ You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." ¹⁸ But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.

What this means is that no matter my season of life, whether it is ridiculously hard or a fruitful season abounding with the most delectable fruit, God is working. He is always working good for me, and always pouring his kindness on me!

So, like the song lyrics, I do feel I am taking the long way home, that David and I are far from finding out where we need to be, but regardless of the terrain, my goal is Christ!

"So we make it our aim to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it."

Thank Christ for his provision of atonement on the cross. He was perfect, yet took the wrath reserved for me! Not because of anything that I did, but because of his great mercy he was punished in my place!!!