Happy (one day early) Thanksgiving!
I'm so thankful for the two sons God has given me. Nicholas is doing wonderfully overall. He loves school (and cried when I told him he would be missing this week to come to Bakersfield) and is doing well there. He just blows my mind regularly with the little things that he picks up and I love it. I can't believe he's starting kindergarten in less than a year! They only have half day kindergarten at his school, so at least there's a transition period for the mommies ;)
Baby Brother is doing well... he moves constantly and is kind enough to let Nicholas feel him a lot. He actually moves a lot whenever Nicholas talks to him, which makes Nick feel special. We had our last baby ultrasound about 5 weeks ago and he was measuring exactly on track, just like his brother did... so it looks like once again the 4'11" woman is going to look horribly massive come the end of February. :P We are having some mild concerns. I've been being watched for incompetant cervix and while my measurements have been great, a week ago we had our first not-so-great measurement. Unfortunately, that also came with a horrible experience with the specialist so today we see a new specialist and take some new measurements. If they're the same we'll probably just keep seeing the specialist every other week. They're just concerned that my body might not hold him in as long as he needs to be. My normal OB said we'll shoot for 34 weeks minimum. I'm nervous and paranoid, but I'm also trying to remind myself that God created my body to carry this child specifically... that He handpicked this little boy to be our second son... and His will is perfect and must be carried out to the fullest.
Work is going fine. As usual, I love what I do, dislike the politics and semantics that come with it. I know every job is like that, but it kills me because the politics and semantics are hurting our kids' education. God has used this job as a wake-up call to me. He's shown me what lack of discipline turns kids into. Yes, that sounds harsh... but I see every day how important these early years are to Nicholas and Baby Brother's future. I know my parenting isn't approved by all... people think we're weird for having Nicholas call people by Mr. & Mrs. Lastname even when they're fairly close friends... people think we're horrible because (maybe once every 6 months) Nicholas gets his bottom spanked. I don't know that everything that we're doing is perfect... but I know that we approach everything we do with Nick with prayer and requests (and begging and pleading shamelessly) for wisdom. So far, we're confident that we're doing what God wants us to do.
Do you ever wonder where exactly God wants you? Or feel like you're not quite there yet?
I feel like that lately... it's a weird "what next?" feeling.
So this blog might turn into more of a devotional area. The format that I like for devotion is SOAP, Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer. I'm realizing that, frankly, unless I'm willing to give God ample amounts of my time, it's unfair to ask him to direct me. You build relationships by spending time with people... a relationship with God won't strengthen if I don't give Him time and read His word. So if you notice SOAP posts soon... that's what it's for :)
