Tuesday, October 2, 2007

     My due date was yesterday and I've been ready to meet this little baby for a good week and a half.  Everything is ready and waiting and time has nearly slowed to a standstill.  They say that no one has ever been pregnant forever and that the baby will come one of these days, but it's getting increasingly hard to believe!

     Last Friday night we thought we might get to see our daughter in the morning because I had regular contractions all night long.  Starting around one I was able to time them at about five minutes apart fairly consistently.  We called the doctor and he came and slept on our couch, waiting for things to get more serious.  However, the contractions only came when I was laying down.  Every time I got up to go to the bathroom or something, they would take a while to start back up again once I went back to bed.  By about seven thirty in the morning, they petered off completely. 

     That was a pretty disappointing experience!  I got so excited when contractions were so regular and allowed myself to imagine how happy times might be in the morning.  I would have gotten to use that cute little outfit lying in the crib, I would get to count the toes on the feet that I feel poking me from the inside, and Joshua would get to hold his little sister.  Ever since that day, I have been afraid that if I stay home alone time will stop all together and the baby will never come!

     Here's a picture of me at forty weeks and one day.  Yes, I know, I don't look that big, but believe me, I feel pretty full.  Maybe I shouldn't have smiled so cheerfully.  I don't think that picture will get me much sympathy!

"Why Was I Made to Hear Thy Voice?"

     On Sunday we joined several families from church at my parents' house for a time of singing and one song we chose was the old favorite, "How Sweet and Awful is the Place."  As our voices joined in the lilting strains of the Celtic tune, I was struck with the beauty of the words:

How sweet and awful is the place
With Christ within the doors,
While everlasting love displays
The choicest of her stores.

While all our hearts and all our songs
Join to admire the feast,
Each of us cry, with thankful tongues,
"Lord, why was I a guest?"

"Why was I made to hear Thy voice,
And enter while there's room,
When thousands make a wretched choice,
And rather starve than come?"

'Twas the same love that spread the feast
That sweetly drew us in;
Else we had still refused to taste,
And perished in our sin.

     Those third and fourth verses particularly caught my notice.  God made me hear His voice and sweetly drew me in to taste His lovely feast.  If He hadn't chosen me, I would have made the wretched choice to starve and perish in my sin.  I don't know why He chose me to be a guest at His table, but I thank Him and pray that He will fill me with the strength I need to make Him pleased with me, His humble servant.
 

Fewer Movies, More Books
   Books to read in 2007

Amanda's Short Stories...
Go Back to Sleep, Baby
Amy's Math
The Importance of Fathers
The Little Yellow Dress with Blue Flowers

...and Book Reviews
The Golden Age,
     Kenneth Grahame
Horatio Hornblower series,
     C. S. Forester
Kim, Rudyard Kipling
Reforming Marriage,
     Doug Wilson
Story of the Trapp Family Singers,
     Maria Trapp
So Much More
     Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin
Stepping Heavenward
     Elizabeth Prentiss

Links
Exodus Provisions
Karen's Cookbook
Choosing Home
Stoos Gallery
Walker Gallery
Jal Duncan Photography

...Etc.
October 7th, 2007
     A Letter to Lucy
January 24th, 2006
     The Birth Story
     A Letter to Joshua
December, 2005
     Christmas Letter
March 5th, 2005
     Bridal Shower

     If you have any questions, comments, corrections, or communications, I can be reached at "amanda at exodusbooks dot com".