- Tricia L. has new lungs and was discharged from the hospital a mere 3 weeks after her transplant!
- Gwyneth L. , born at 23 weeks, went home TODAY! Alive, healthy, and beautiful. How's that for a 1-2 combo miracle?!
- My sweet new -- I guess they would be my 3rd cousins?-- Alexis and Chloe, are doing well, eating well, and hopefully will be able to come home in the next week!
- My darling husband just finished a BEAR of a semester with an A and 2 B's. He rocked his finals and his papers were outstanding. All this while working a full time job and spending time with his family!
More about Miracles...
Miracles. They are all around us. Fortunately for me, I have been witness to several of them recently:
New life...
Welcome to the world, Chloe and Alexis!
My cousin's daughter had twin baby girls last night. At 34 weeks, they are doing very well and their personalities and temperments are already shining through, according to their grandmother, my cousin (who I like to call Nanny Janny, only because it is annoying and annoying her brings me pleasure).
The psalmist David wrote "I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made...". Anyone who has had the privilege to witness birth can attest to those words. Birth is an amazing and powerful event, and the hidden details always make me stand in awe of our Creator.
One look at Chloe and Alexis will tell the world that they are, indeed, wonderfully made.
Happy birthday, girls!
My cousin's daughter had twin baby girls last night. At 34 weeks, they are doing very well and their personalities and temperments are already shining through, according to their grandmother, my cousin (who I like to call Nanny Janny, only because it is annoying and annoying her brings me pleasure).
The psalmist David wrote "I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made...". Anyone who has had the privilege to witness birth can attest to those words. Birth is an amazing and powerful event, and the hidden details always make me stand in awe of our Creator.
One look at Chloe and Alexis will tell the world that they are, indeed, wonderfully made.
Happy birthday, girls!
The World's Best Homeschooling Mother
Just reading that title makes me feel inadequate! Why is it that mothers feel guilty about nearly every decision they make? Stay home, go to work, homeschool, public school, spank or give time outs.....the list is virtually endless. And when you homeschool, you add pressure when it comes to the end of the "school year" and you are faced with curriculum choices and how well your children are doing academically.
I have to constantly remind myself that this is not a competition. My dear husband is so good at reminding me of Galatians 1:10: "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."
It is *so* not about what others are doing, or teaching, or singing, or learning. It is about my relationship with God and with my children.
If I am teaching my children as I'm commanded to:
...then what have I to fear? I am doing all that is required of me. I can rest knowing that I am the world's best homeschooling mother for Tucker, Griffin, and Anne Claire.
And that is all I want to be.
Have a blessed Mother's Day!
I have to constantly remind myself that this is not a competition. My dear husband is so good at reminding me of Galatians 1:10: "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."
It is *so* not about what others are doing, or teaching, or singing, or learning. It is about my relationship with God and with my children.
If I am teaching my children as I'm commanded to:
| Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. | |
| These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. | |
| Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. | |
| Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. | |
| Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. |
...then what have I to fear? I am doing all that is required of me. I can rest knowing that I am the world's best homeschooling mother for Tucker, Griffin, and Anne Claire.
And that is all I want to be.
Have a blessed Mother's Day!
by their fruits...
"So then, you will know them by their fruits." Matthew 7:20
"Even a child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is pure and right." Proverbs 20:11
Since coming to seminary, we have had many eye opening experiences. I'm going to be honest here and say what I've said many times to Paul that if this (meaning the people here) is the "body of Christ" then I'm not so certain I want to be part of it.
Of course thoughts like these tend to isolate me, because on the surface everyone wants to come across as being the epitome of spiritual maturity and Christian love. No wonder Gandhi said "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." I have to admit that I feel much the same as him.
It is difficult to try to teach your children to act with integrity and to be conscious of the testimony that they are living out when we are living in a place that is shrouded in self serving and self promoting politics.
But we haven't lost faith. There are a few folks we've come across that are living out genuine faith right in front of us. They are quiet. They are struggling. They are raising their children by their examples; to "act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8)
To those of you who are doing just that, thank you.
"Even a child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is pure and right." Proverbs 20:11
Since coming to seminary, we have had many eye opening experiences. I'm going to be honest here and say what I've said many times to Paul that if this (meaning the people here) is the "body of Christ" then I'm not so certain I want to be part of it.
Of course thoughts like these tend to isolate me, because on the surface everyone wants to come across as being the epitome of spiritual maturity and Christian love. No wonder Gandhi said "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." I have to admit that I feel much the same as him.
It is difficult to try to teach your children to act with integrity and to be conscious of the testimony that they are living out when we are living in a place that is shrouded in self serving and self promoting politics.
But we haven't lost faith. There are a few folks we've come across that are living out genuine faith right in front of us. They are quiet. They are struggling. They are raising their children by their examples; to "act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8)
To those of you who are doing just that, thank you.
Trust...
Whenever I start to think that I know best what to do, all I have to do is look at my little girl. She is the epitome of answered prayer... despite all of my worries, fears, and doubts. She is God's way of saying to me, "I know better than you. Trust me."
Regarding miracles...
He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. -Job 5:9
Some say that God no longer performs miracles. I disagree. I look around my life and see miracles every day. Among them:
Some say that God no longer performs miracles. I disagree. I look around my life and see miracles every day. Among them:
- I can look forward to an eternity in heaven thanks to the miracle of God's amazing grace.
- I am the lucky wife of an incredible man who has changed my life forever and who loves me more than I sometimes deserve.
- Tucker - our firstborn, ultra-intelligent, funny, sensitive son.
- Griffin - the funniest, laziest, most athletic child you'll ever meet.
- Anne Claire - a true miracle to have a baby girl after 2 of the most Y chromosome bearing children ever born. She is beautiful, funny, and so girly it's almost ridiculous.
- the city of New Orleans. It's a miracle that it has survived post Katrina. The people that have chosen to stay and make it their home are true survivors.
- Tricia Lawrenson - I mean, the girl's sporting new lungs! If that isn't miracle enough, she married into a wonderful family that we love.
Praying
On Sunday, the Duke transplant team found the set of lungs unsuitable for Tricia, but today is another story altogether!
As I write this, Tricia is getting ready for her double lung transplant this evening. Please pray for her, for her husband Nathan, for her parents and the rest of the Kirschner & Lawrenson families as they get ready for this miraculous and monumental event. Pray for the doctors, the nurses, the entire OR staff. Pray for the donor family, for their grief as they mourn the loss of their loved one, and for their generosity in choosing organ donation. What a tremendous gift it is.
And to top it all off, today is Nathan's birthday.
Like I've said before, isn't God amazing?
As I write this, Tricia is getting ready for her double lung transplant this evening. Please pray for her, for her husband Nathan, for her parents and the rest of the Kirschner & Lawrenson families as they get ready for this miraculous and monumental event. Pray for the doctors, the nurses, the entire OR staff. Pray for the donor family, for their grief as they mourn the loss of their loved one, and for their generosity in choosing organ donation. What a tremendous gift it is.
And to top it all off, today is Nathan's birthday.
Like I've said before, isn't God amazing?
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