The Next Season

We never really know what the Lord has in store for us. We know that we can trust Him and that His ways are best and His strength is sufficient. But to assume that we really know what the future holds (outisde of His Word) seems arrogant.

In our home we are always watchful for the return of Jesus. We are excited that world news and the story in the stars and planets continue to point towards the end of time, as we know it. With each new Jewish feast comes an increased enthusiasm and attention to God's promises about "the end" for us. I've even wondered if the Lord might return before our baby is born. We've learned that there is a dramatization of the Rapture in the constellations and planets on June 6 this year. Even with an induction at 38 weeks that would be before our baby is expected to be born...so we have many thoughts and ideas for discussion at our meal table. Regardless of when we are all finally together in heaven, in the meantime we intend to be busy about loving God, learning about Him, obeying His word and loving others.

My more earthly thoughts are constantly changing from enthusiasm towards accomplishing much in the days left before our baby is born and just napping until he comes. : ) I'm still swimming a couple days a week but my 60 minutes of exercise has decreased to merely 20. I'm also still working in the gardens. We have four raised beds now. They aren't big but weeding is always needed. After making a photobook for our hosts and my parents from our vacation, I've decided to not scrapbook anymore for now. I have made a few choices for the children's school books for next year, but am not even close to being finished. Kelsey says that we don't need to freeze any meals since she cooks dinner. Our afternoons at the pool are very limited by my needing to pick Kendal up from work. So, it seems like the perfect season to sleep. But I haven't taken daily naps since the first trimester when I exercised three days a week.

Kelsey, Anna, Joy, Mary and I had a lovely time at the Mother/Daughter Tea on Saturday. All the teacups and saucers our family had collected were beautiful on the tables that our friends had decorated so tastefully. I meant to take a lot of photos but time slipped away. The food, fellowship and presentations were wonderful. We were sorry that Kendal had forgotten to ask for the day off and she wasn't able to join us.

We haven't made any other big plans between now and the baby's arrival. Our twentieth wedding anniversary is Wednesday. We'd hoped to stay at the beach overnight or something special but we've decided not to try anything fancy this year. One day we'd like to take a real vacation alone. But that will be during a different season of our family's life. We are thankful for God's faithfulness to us over the last twenty years. We still have so much to learn about blessing one another as husband and wife. We've agreed to keep working at it. : )

We did find two nests of baby rabbits in our raised beds. They are about two weeks apart. So once we discovered them, the older ones started jumping out and we started chasing them! We currently have two little ones in our lettuce garden, somewhat captive. One is too little to jump out so we're "protecting" him and the other...well, he's there by force and probably won't be there the next time we go out. It is a nice compromise since nearly everyone (except me) in our family thought we should have one in the house for the next month! It was difficult to get everyone to church on time yesterday with so much bunny chasing and holding going on in the backyard. It's all a little silly since we have been going to great efforts to keep rabbits out of our gardens, and in the meantime they built burrows under spinach and strawberry plants! And now we are using our garden as a bunny pen. : ) It has been very educational to observe the mothers' methods in covering their nests, scent, etc. Of course the children were motivated to research the habits and gestation of rabbits and so forth. We can just consider all the lost time- homeschooling!

Isaac's thirteenth birthday is Saturday. My stepdad, our family friend, and Bob had a special blessing ceremony for Isaac during our vacation. My stepdad wrote on a card to remind Isaac of their time together. I hope he will always remember the words that were shared and the prayers that were prayed over him. On Saturday we'll give him gifts and enjoy dessert together.

Bob has settled on the baby's name, my bag is packed, the infant seat is in the van...now I'll just have to be patient and continue to pray against the worries that try to creep in before delivery. I very much look forward to that moment after the baby is born! It is the best! And the reality of having another family member really sinks in when we settle into our bed, in our room at home, for the first time. Precious times are ahead!