Love, love and more love...just can't get enough love.

I am very excited to announce something special that Mattie at Beauty Will Rise has coordinated for February. This sweet mama has coordinated a group of baby loss mamas that will be taking turns blogging about love from February 1st thru February 14th.  I will post a link on my blog each day to the love post for that day. Some of these ladies will be having give aways as well. Mattie wanted to do this as a way to encourage others and I think it is a wonderful idea.  I will be posting my love blog on February 13. 







As you follow this event you will see the hearts of some beautiful women who are all walking on the same path.  We are all in different places on this winding path, but know the true love of God. I promise you each day will hold a different and new aspect of love. If you feel so inclinded, leave a comment to encourage these precious women. The encouragement of a comment or even the asking for prayer are things we really take to heart. I hope you are as excited about this as I am and I hope you check in each day to read a wonderful message that will encourage you. 

Much love,

Blog award and a wink!

Thank you Kat for passing along this award!

Here are the rules for sharing this award:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers.

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

So here goes...
1. I am first and foremost a child of the King.
2. I am married to the greatest man on earth.
3. I have four children and am currently pregnant with our fifth.
4. I am the second oldest of four children.
5. I have two best friends...my husband and my sister.
6. I love to read.
7. This is my first year homeschooling my children and I love it.

Okay, so I am going to break the rules a little also and not pass this along to fifteen new bloggers. I am going to cheat just a little and leave this open for any blogger who would like to share a little about themselves to grab. There have been so many blogs that have really touched me that I'm afraid I would leave someone out and I just do not want to do that.  Thanks again Kat for passing this along.  If you have not visited Kat's blog you really should go and show her some love.  Her very recent and fresh loss of her baby girl Luisa will really touch you down deep.

I also wanted to share a picture with you that I have shared before but failed to realize something special about.

This is a picture from the October 15th balloon release that we did in Troy.  My oldest son Jay was looking at these pictures a couple of weeks ago and he called me in to the computer and said, "Mama, have you ever noticed the cross in this picture."  Well, I had never noticed it and told him so. If you will look up close to the top almost center you will see a cluster of balloons.  These were a group of balloons that I had done for BLM blog friends that had gotten hopelessly tangled.  When we released them, they made the appearance of a cross.  Maybe this represents how we mothers of babies in Heaven help each other bear our cross daily! I don't know.  I do know that it is a really wonderful "wink" from God that I have needed these last couple of weeks!

Much love,

Sacred Life

Are there such things as accidents?  Really, really think about this for a minute.  Just like God does not make mistakes, there are no accidents. There are things in life that we do not intend on...things that we do not plan for, but these are not accidents.  They are unplanned events. Never once as parents did Jamie and I plan on having to bury a child. We planned on having children...we planned on raising them...we planned on being able to tuck them in every night and being able to teach them about God and life.  These were all things that we talked about...dreamed about...hoped for. Being told that our son was incompatible with life was NOT in our plans, but it was no accident.  The doctors told us that Eli's condition was a fluke. Fluke is defined as an accident or chance happening.  I do not believe that for one second.  God had a plan...a greater plan than ours.  He planned for Eli's condition.  God was not caught off guard like Jamie and I were.  He was prepared to guide and carry us through this difficult storm.  He was prepared to receive my son into His home.
What the doctors called a fluke was actually a life, a baby...one that I felt move and hiccup...a life that was so wanted and loved. Because it was a fluke, we were advised to terminate.  We were advised to take the life from the baby that we so desperately wanted and loved.  It was plainly and simply not my life to take and not my decision to make.  I would carry this baby...we would love this baby until God's plans were fulfilled. Well, we would love him long after...forever, but I guess I'm saying we would show him love until he left us.

So, what about that young girl that finds herself with child? Is that an accident? Is it a fluke and something that needs terminating? NO! It is the result of a decision that two people made to behave in a manner that they should not have. It is a life...one that is loved by God...one that someone would jump at the chance to love and raise. Is it unplanned?  Probably, but that does not mean that there should be an "easy" way out.

Think about this for a minute.  What if Mary had decided that being an unwed teenager who found herself pregnant was just too much?  What if she had rebelled against God and chosen to terminate her pregnancy? Now, I am well aware that her circumstances are completely different than those of other girls or even women in this situation. Mary's conception was immaculate.  She did not have premarital sex and find herself with child. God placed Jesus in her womb.  However, look at her situation.  I am sure the most difficult thing she has ever done was telling her parents that she was with child. Can you imagine her telling her fiance (Joseph) that she was pregnant? He knew the baby was not his. Had it not been for the angel of the Lord visiting him, he might never have believed Mary.  Do you imagine like I do, that she was a social outcast to many? I do not know for a fact, but I would imagine that even during those days there were ways of terminating unwanted pregnancies. I could be wrong.  I just do not know.  Imagine if there was though and Mary had exercised her freedom of "choice" in an adverse way.  Now, I know that God chose Mary because He knew she would be just the mother for His son that he wanted.  He knew she would love Jesus and raise him in his will and way.  He knew that even given the opportunity, Mary would not make bad choices where His son was concerned.

Every baby conceived is not as blessed.  There are ways for women and girls to avoid tough situations...to avoid responsibility to their actions. It is called abortion or termination.  It makes me sad and downright angry to think about. I think what makes me the most angry are the people who can get up on a daily basis and go to a clinic and perform abortions. They know what they are doing.  Many times abortion occurs from ignorance.  I have read story after story of women who said that if they could have seen that heartbeat flickering on the ultrasound screen they would have walked out with out terminating. Sometimes, I think these girls and women are so desperate to be rid of a problem that they can not think about what they are actually doing. That does not justify their decision.  I just think that many times especially young girls are lured in by the easy fix. 
Which brings me to my next thought.  Is abortion really "easy"?  I know that it can be a quick fix to a difficult problem physically.  What I am talking about is emotionally.  I know first hand that the grief of losing a baby can be unbearable. When a baby dies, it is permanent.  He or she is gone forever along with the hopes and dreams you had for that child. I imagine that once a woman or girl realizes exactly what she has done after terminating a pregnancy, she does grieve.  I do not know this for a fact, it is just what I think. It may take years for this grief to occur...it may take minutes for this grief to occur, but I think at some point it does.

Here is the most wonderful and awesome thing for these women.  God will forgive them if the seek him and ask for his forgiveness.  There is forgiveness to be found for every sin.  You just have to ask God for it. 

No pregnancy is an accident...No abortion is an accident.  They are both the result of decisions and choices. I encourage you to go to Youtube and watch the Silent Scream series on there.  It will touch you like nothing else.  Just know that some parts of the series are very hard and difficult to watch.

This week is Sanctity of Life Week.  Let's take a moment to remember the lives of those lost to abortion.  I leave you today with a video that I hope you take the time to watch.  It just shares a few facts about abortion. 



Much love,

My Prayer for Today

Why is it that I feel like satan is never far away and just when I think there might be a little normalcy around the next corner, he jumps on my back? I feel like I can't get away from him. It is almost like the nightmare where you are trying to run away from an enemy and you just run in place never getting ahead.
Today, I hate tears! They make me feel weak right now. I hate them, but they are always there... I know I've said before that tears are healing and sometimes they are...just not today.  I need to be strong right now and I just cannot muster the strength I need.
Just like God knows our weaknesses, so does satan. He plays on them and messes with our emotions.

Psalm 27

1The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

2When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

3Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

4One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.

5For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

6And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.

7Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

8When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.

9Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

10When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.

11Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.

12Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.

13I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

14Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Much love,