your birthday every day

When we were praying about coming out here to be the houseparents at New Beginnings, I kept getting so excited about being their for the birth of babies. I would picture myself holding their feet and grunting with them, maybe quietly shedding a tear when she did the final push - standing silently on the side of the room the first time she held her baby. I constantly would tell people, "it's like your birthday every day!". Outside of Jesus & my family, labor and delivery is about one of my favorite things in the world. 

We've had twelve girls live here over the course of the year and because of circumstances, I've only gotten to be present when one of the babies was born - and it was a c-section. For a few Nick has been out of town, for some Glory had just been born, and in general - I've just not been able to be there. Lauren has been a great assistant and is there for them, but in the back of my heart, I'm always dying a little bit when I get the text in the middle of the night saying the baby is out & I'm at home - wishing I could have been there. 

Switch the focus to Victoria, one of our newest girls who we are pretty much in love with. Right after her interview, I told Nick, "I want her baby". Of course, I was kidding - but she is truly the whole reason we think New Beginnings exists. She has a great, supportive family - but just needed some time and space away for the end of her pregnancy and birth, to feel taken care of and get some peace. We got a major little shock tonight before dinner when we found out that she is going to be induced tomorrow due to some minor complications. 

She really only just found out she was pregnant a month or so ago, and tomorrow she is going to be a mama. The adoptive family that is going to raise her baby just found out that they're having a baby tomorrow too, & they're coming tonight to meet her. Right now we're in the middle of an emergency childbirth class and after this we have about a zillion things to do to prepare. She is still in a bit of shock, but her sweet little heart is taking it all in stride. 

If you would, pray for her tomorrow. Pray for her sweet baby girl, for their new family. Pray for her biological family and the doctors who will take care of her. And if you think of it, pray that I'll be able to contain my excitement because I will actually get to be at the hospital WITH Lauren if everything goes as planned. It is one last hurrah for us together and a really sweet gift from the Lord. I mean, it's all really about Victoria tomorrow, but I'd by lying if I said I wasn't about to pee my pants. But don't worry - I'll keep a calm face and won't mention that I feel like it's my birthday because I'm so excited. 

glimpses from bible study

I tried the other night to write a blog about all the girls in our house/ministry update and it was too hard. This is for sure the most intensive period we've ever had here at New Beginnings and there are days when I really would love to hear what the Lord is up to, but mostly we just roll with. It just seems so crazy that when we're all winding down and getting ready to move on, the ministry would pick up and take off. However, we are all trying to finish strong.

When I tried to write about all FIVE of the girls living here, I couldn't write about them lovingly and humorously at the same time and I didn't want anyone reading my blog to be confused about the amount that we love these crazy preggos. Now they are crazy and there are some hilarious and frightening nights around here, often, but we love them like nuts and feel more passionate than ever about being poured out for them while we are still here.

Then last night at Bible Study I realized that I could probably just give you some hilarious little pictures without telling you ALLLLLL about them, and possibly compromising some identities.

So - since I've been on modified bedrest and Lauren has been picking up a ton of slack around the house, I decided to take on bible study with the ladies - since I can prepare and deliver from the couch. Last night, with my crazy pneumonia, it was the last thing I felt like doing - but nonetheless, we started. Rather than trying to study a book of the bible or an actual book, I decided to pick a biblical word/principal each week - research it & discuss it with them. This is also helpful because they're all on really different pages spiritually and it made it easier to meet on common ground. Last night we started with grace.

so, some tidbits:
- Our newest girl speaks actually 0% english. ZERO. But she is about the sweetest thing ever and she was by far the most attentive, watching me, smiling and nodding her head. She even laughed a few times, apparently I am funny when I talk about Jesus.
- Our most intensive-spiritual-work-to-be-done-girl is a harcore muslim who snuck out of her house when she found out she was pregnant (three weeks before she delivered) in fear that her family might actually kill her for being pregnant. She literally stood up & walked out of bible study upon first mention of Jesus Christ. I have to say, while I wish she would have sat around to hear the word, I'm glad that she is not lukewarm.
- One time when discussing other religions, we were mentioning the "works" other gods require for salvation - i.e. animal sacrifices, praying five times daily, sinless living. One of the girls said, "oh yeah - and like kicking stuff. you know how some religions require you to kick stuff to go to heaven". I wish this girl didn't speak english & she had an excuse. Not so.
- At one point I was trying to give an example of how hard it is to forgive people when they hurt you and gave a personal example about a time someone had hurt me and it felt worse than murder. One of the girls looked at me knowingly and said, "ooooooh - he got a piercing?". Apparently piercing is worse than murder. (this girl also has had a tongue ring since age 10)
- At the end of it all, I have to say, I was amazed at how effective our little bible study was. One girl asked to be excused to get something to write with, only one person left in the middle, and at the end they all seemed to grasp the idea of being saved by grace, but only through faith.

If you think of it, keep praying for our ministry. I don't talk about it a ton on the blog, for their privacy & my sanity, but it is a hard job that is proving more and more worth it each day. Of all five, we're not sure that any of them know Christ personally and the process of birth/mothering/adoption is one of the greatest opportunities to share His grace & salvation.

either way: I'll keep the funny bible study stories coming for sure.

Sunday night meetings

So our little ministry is filling back up.
When this week is said and done, we'll probably have four girls living with us.
I don't know how to even begin to describe them all - they are all SO different and pretty hilarious.

• one is from Kenya and speaks very little English - tonight she demonstrated how the word 'beach' can be mistaken for a different word with her accent.
• one is basically from the streets (but not at all) and uses the phrase, "that's bomb" quite often.
• the other is a self-proclaimed hippie and has a mild obsession with fruit. one of her favorite phrases is "right on". not even kidding.

we love those little crazies.

so if you want a glimpse into our lives - here are a few topics we had to bring up at our weekly meeting, these are verbatim words from our house notes:
"- we should not have to bang on your door. ever. enough said. "
"- clean up after yourself. seriously."
"- watch your serving sizes. a jumbo bulk size jar of hummus should last more than a day."
"- we will ask when we want your opinion on our driving, cooking, child-rearing, or lifestyle."

you can infer how fun it can be. seriously though - we love em.

Is it seriously already Sunday again?

So - no, I know it's actually Saturday night but it's almost Sunday. Last Sunday is the last full day I really remember feeling like I was alive. Let me give you a brief update of our lives since my last post.

When Elias finally quit throwing up and Glory was back in bed, Nick and I sat back against our pillows and sighed with relief. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my cell phone light up and I immediately started laughing - with two girls 40 weeks pregnant, I knew our night was nowhere near over. Sure enough, Mickaela's water had broken.

The next forty-eight hours are blurry. I know I got the virus in diarrhea form, Glory got it in throw up form, Lauren got it in throw-up form, & Debi (who runs our ministry) got it in diarrhea form. Mickaela spent 28 hours in labor and eventually had an emergency c-section. (Her sweet baby girl is beautiful)

Our kids have cried & whined for countless hours and between the two of us - we've gotten barely any sleep. There were some sweet moments - Anaya Grace is beautiful & Mickaela is adjusting really well. Marilee made us so many great dairy-free delights that I've been munching on for days. I had some sweet Jesus time at small group. Kalle and I got to hang out for two days in a row, and we haven't for weeks. Also - I got to some awesome phone conversations this week. One HOUR convo with my sis, a good talk with Merry & and a nice update with Luh Hood.

Sooooo... a summary of the week:
- Our ministry here is hard, but so good. Especially when babies are born.
- I am now a germaphobic freak. Watch out for me & my Lysol can.
- I officially miss Charlotte/family intensely. Officially. Intensely.
- My mom was right, when it comes to kids: "One is none & two is twenty." And I'm adding on to that phrase - "When you all get a virus - you want to slit your wrists." Oh wait, that doesn't rhyme.
- Lastly, I'm really glad blogger is letting you write blogs & post them in the future because when I do have time to write, I always want to write like three at a time and then I don't have time for a while.


(ps - here is beautiful Anaya. Look for more new pics under Our pictures Link)

crazy few days....

The last few days have been absolutely nutty. Nick's birthday on Wednesday... Thursday morning I went to my first Mars Hill bible study and Thursday night the girls and I had our first "ladies night/small group". Yesterday we found out one of our girls, Anna, is going to be having a c-section this coming Tuesday due to advanced placenta previa, then last night we went out with Kal/Shawn & Kel/Jason. Today - I'm running around like a chicken... blah blah blah, getting everything ready for Anna's surgery/hospital time - Nick is at the Mars Hill men's training day, Kalle is playing with Elias, and tonight the girls are going to church with Nick.

Two bits of prayer, if you have time: Please pray for Anna - her section is scheduled for Tuesday morning at 7:30am. We would also covet your prayers for the parents/family who are going to be adopting her son. They are truly a blessing and seem to be wonderful people.

Secondly - we may have a temporary fix for our lack of assistant/nanny situation. I really feel like this answer is from the Lord and would be great to get us through our first three girls & Glory's birth - but we want to listen to Him in all things.

On a lighter note - Nick got me a 'crackberry' for ministry purposes. Ha - it's actually not a blackberry, it's a TMobile dash, but I could not love it more and I can't get off of it. Yesterday during Anna's doctors appointment, I was putting all her C-section appointments into it and she pointed out that she thought I would probably need rehab from it when it's time for me to get a new phone. We'll see:)

Our quiver is full.

Last week at church, Pastor Mark said that we should realize everyone's quiver is a different size. For some people, fifteen children is the way to go - for some, two is plenty and what they can handle. As of last night, I think I'm able to say joyfully & thankfully - our quiver is full. We had all three girls staying with us last night and it just felt right. They seem to really get along well and their personalities blend great. Parts of this journey have truly felt blind - we heard God's call and it didn't always make sense... but our sight was restored last night and it looked beautiful. Of course these aren't our children and of course we'll make room excitedly for Glory girl in March - but until then, we're really thankful for all that's in our house.

A day of Firsts for us

Tonight I had the privilege of going to my very first childbirth class - not for myself, but for one of the new girls we have staying with us. We were a hilarious bunch - two pregnant women, only a few weeks apart, there with all the other husband/wife couples. I have to say - I'm not quite sure why we didn't go to childbirth class when we were expecting Elias... but Nick got it goooood. They don't come at you easy - in the first fifteen minutes they had us watching a live birth and a live delivery of the placenta. Yummmy.

So right now, we're living another first with our first night of having girls in the house. We actually only have one, one young lady is slowly transitioning in this week, the last will be here on Friday - then we'll be set. It has been a nice transition week and now we're ready to get going. Nick cooked the girls & I his great and awesome dish of spaghetti casserole.

Another first - we went grocery shopping for six people for a two-week span. My sister and I always debate about whether or not grocery shopping is fun - usually I love it, but today I lost my passion for perusing those grand aisles. After our hour and a half jaunt through Fred Meyer, (for southerners... Fred Meyer is Harris Teeter/Wal-Mart/Target all in one, quite amazing) I was having some massive contractions and I was about ready to die. AND we weren't even done. Grocery shopping for this house is going to take a Fred Meyer trip, a Target trip (mostly because Diet Coke & baby food is cheapest there), and a Costco visit. However - I do think coupon clipping is in my future. Oh the joy of domesticity.

After such a momentous day - I'm pooped and ready for a little husband time. I'm going to run up to our sanctuary of a room - how it's a sanctuary with 20 boxes in it, I'm not sure... but probably just because my husband is there, and a good book.

.... BIG BIG FAMILY NEWS cont'd...

Many of you know and some of you don't - but we've been praying through a big family decision for the past several months. A while back we felt led to pray about some family changes - we felt like the Lord was taking us in a new direction and having us be open to wherever He was calling us to go. We started looking at different ministry positions and the first one we seriously pursued truly captured our heart and through a LOT of prayer & seeking counsel - we accepted that position last week.

So, as of January 1st - we will be living in Puyallup, Washington - a small town outside of Seattle. We'll be living as house parents at a crisis pregnancy home, New Beginnings, a YWAM-based ministry for young pregnant women with no resources. We'll be working with a team of others (social workers, the directors of the ministry, doctors, & other missionaries) to provide support for them and show them what raising children in a godly home looks like.

We can't even imagine what it's going to be like moving all the way across the county, packing up our lives & starting over... but we know this is something the Lord is calling us to. On top of all that, we're going to be trusting the Lord in a way that is very new for us - raising support to live on. New Beginnings will be providing a lot of what we need but we'll also be raising $2,000 a month and moving expenses that we're estimating to cost around $5,000.

So the next few months are going to be very excited and REALLY hectic. Our townhouse is officially under contract, for a price we feel pleased with. It's been on the market for four months and we just received our first offer today. The Lord truly could not have provided better timing... if everything goes as planned - we'll really start focusing on support raising in the next few weeks, packing up, and we'll close on our house around December 20th. We'll spend Christmas saying goodbye to family in Charleston and we'll head out!

In the meantime, we would LOVE to see, talk, pray, and hang out with all of you before we leave. We'll still be desiring your prayers and friendship over the next few weeks - and especially the next few years! Also - if you or anyone you know might be interested in partnering with us through financial support or hearing more about the ministry we'll be working for, of course we'd love to share!

Again, we're so thankful for our friends, family, & "family" for all you've done and for your continued love & support. We're so excited to see what the Lord has in store for us and all of you!

.... Jessi, Nick, & Elias