Catching Up

Wow, it has been so long since I've blogged. I miss it! With so many major life changes going on I've just let it slip. I will try to highlight some of the more important things that have happened lately...

Joslynn Rayne Smith was born October 6 at 11:19 AM. She weighed 7 lbs 3.5 ounces, was 19.5 inches long, and I was in labor for 8 short hours. The real scare came when I almost had to have a c-section because her heart rate dropped extremely low. That was intense and scary. All sorts of doctors and nurses rushed around me within seconds, stuffing me with medicine and fluids to prepare me for the c-section. My husband was dressed in scrubs within seconds, ready to go with me to the operating room. We were both anxious and worried about our little baby...but thanks to the grace of God, her heart rate came back up and stayed healthy. Yay! I had a great delivery, recovery went very well, and she is now 7 weeks old and is a very happy baby.

Scare #2 happened when Joslynn was 2 weeks old. After nursing her in the wee hours of the night, I noticed she felt very warm. I took her temperature, which was 101.9 degrees. That seemed way too high so in to the emergency room she went. The next 48 hours were a blur of IV's, a trip in the ambulance, and watching Joslynn lay in the hospital crib. She had meningitis, and until they were sure it wasn't the life threatening kind, we had to wait and wait and wait...2 days later they told us she was healthy and good to go home. Whew...praise God again that she was okay.

We bought our first house in Thorndale, Texas. We live in a very small town with 1, 278 people (1,282 now with our litte family!). Our home sits on just over 2 acres and it is surrounded by trees and wildlife. We love it!

Phoenix has been doing great with baby Joslynn. He calls her "Jos-lit" and loves to softly rub her face or tickle her toes. Phoenix has grown really close to his Daddy since the baby came...maybe a little too close even! Every night now, Phoenix wakes up in the middle of the night, leaves his room, and crawls into our bed to sleep next to Daddy. I used to say I would NEVER let my children sleep in the bed with me. But I am realizing that Phoenix will only be 2 for so long, and I want to just enjoy the time I have with him. So for now, we don't mind snuggling him in our bed each night, even though he sweats a ton and takes over most of the bed.

We are in Mesquite for Thanksgiving. It has been a great holiday so far. Phoenix has really enjoyed running wild with his cousins, and I enjoy sharing Joslynn with everyone. We fly back home to Texas next Tuesday. The flight here wasn't so bad at all, except for the cranky old man that sat in front of Phoenix and kept accusing him of kicking his seat. I wanted to ask him "Do you have any kids? Don't you know what it is like to sit for over three hours on a small airplane with a rambunctious 2 year old and a newborn baby? Chill out please!" But of course I just smiled and tried to keep Phoenix as calm as possible. Yeah, right.

The Lord has been good to us.

I will praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything He does is right and all His ways are just. Daniel 4:37

AWESOME

I have been worrying. I hate to say that, but I have had feelings of anxiety for a couple of days. This is hard for me to admit because as a believer in Christ, I have His Word hidden in my heart to help me through times like these. Scriptures about trusting in God and giving Him all my burdens come to mind, but I just couldn't seem to lay it all down at His feet, and the feeling of peace as promised in Philippians 4:7 was not there in my heart and mind.

So, very late last night, Isaac and I prayed together about what is going on in our life, seeking the Lord's wisdom for our life. I felt the Spirit bring to mind the parable Jesus says in the gospel of Luke, when He says "Consider the lilies of the field..." the parable that reminds us that if God clothes the flowers with such beauty and splendor, how much more will he take care of His children? I also felt a strong urge to go to church in the morning, sensing that God had something planned for me there. And He did.

The worship was sweet, bringing tears to my eyes. I just love singing praises to my Creator. And instead of a sermon, we watched something called "Indescribable", which was so neat. We got to see several pictures from outer space of things like galaxies, stars, etc. It helped me realize how small I am. Just one small person in a huge world, on one small planet in a HUGE universe. There is more out there than just our nine planets and billions os stars. Our telescopes cannot even extend far enough into space to get a picture of what is really out there. Wow...and to think that as small as I am, God loves me. God loves ME! The last image we saw in the video was of Jesus on the cross. Wow, what a moment of silence. Jesus, the Creator of this universe, so vast and powerful, came to this little speck of a planet because HE LOVES US. Death on a cross, so that we could live with Him forever, so that we could have a personal and intimate relationship with our God.

So I realized that the worries of my life are nothing compared to the awesomeness of God. If my Creator could create the universe, so big that astronomers haven't even begun to touch the surface of it, then surely He will take care of me. God looks through the galaxies and vastness of the universe, and sees right into my heart. He knows the name of every star, sees every leaf that falls, and knows every thought in the mind of every person who has ever lived. The same God that created planet earth also created the baby inside of me. Try to wrap your mind around that...I sure can't! He has got it under control! And life is about so much more than me, anyway. Thanks for the powerful reminder, God! And now I have peace.

"Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10

"Wait for the Lord. Be strong and take heart, and wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:14

Birthdays

Phoenix celebrated his 2nd birthday on August 24th. We had a small celebration, since we aren't near family or friends right now, so it was just me, Isaac, Phoenix. He was more excited about the candles on his cake than actually eating it. In fact, after the candles were all blown out, he asked us to light them again. And a few minutes later, he proceeded to put a candle in his mouth, eat the wax, and spit out the wick. Yucky. He did all this while I was cutting the cake, so praise God he didn't choke on it or something. I guess he thought the candles were edible...after all, they were covered in yummy tasting frosting.

Isaac turned 25 a couple weeks later, on September 4. He had to work on his birthday, but that night we had a little barbecue complete with confetti cupcakes, one of his favorites. He bought some new undershirts for work as his present. Holidays can be a little lonely out here in California, but at the same time they are wonderful because we are starting traditions that include just our small family of three (soon to be four).

Our anniversary was on September 8th. Four years of wedded bliss! We celebrated a week early by spending the night in Las Vegas at our favorite hotel, the Red Rock. Phoenix spent some time with Gamma and Papa, and stayed the night with his cousins, Weston, Andrew, and Madison. It was so nice to enjoy some time with my husband without Phoenix screaming or running around the restaurant. What a nice surprise and blessing that trip was!

I am 35 weeks along, so there is only about a month left until this little baby is born. I feel great and have been blessed tremendously with a healthy pregnancy. This summer has been such a learning experience. We have learned many lessons, mainly to trust in the Lord even more than we have in the past. In a world of suffering, economic uncertainty, and just the trials of day to day life, the Lord is our Rock and He will never change. Praise Him for His faithfulness! No matter what happens here on earth, if we trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior, then we are given an eternal inheritance to look forward to. This life is just a mist, a vapor. But life for believers in Jesus will go on forever.

"Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ." Philippians 3:20

Timing and Trains

Timing…the time has come for us to move again, and this time I think it’s for sure. This weekend we’ll be moving to Corona, CA. This will be our final move of the summer, where we will stay until the baby is born in October. After that we plan to pass through Mesquite, load a U-Haul with the few things we have in storage, and then head to Texas to start another adventure.

Time is interesting to me. For example, the timing of this pregnancy couldn’t have been better. Isaac and I got pregnant with Phoenix the same month we started trying, but with this baby, it took four months. Each month I kept wondering why I wasn’t pregnant yet, since it happened instantly with Phoenix. Actually, four months is not very long at all to wait to get pregnant, but now I see why the Lord gave us this pregnancy just when He did, and not a month sooner or later. For one thing, I was extremely sick with this pregnancy from week 7-week 20. It just happens to be that during my sickest weeks, Isaac worked a job that allowed him to be at home most of the day, every day, so he was able to take care of Phoenix for me and help me through the all-day sickness (it was definitely not “morning sickness”…it seemed to get worse as the day went on. Ugh!). Then, during my 2nd trimester, we moved out here to California for Isaac’s job and our apartment lease with the company will be up November 1st. This is great for us because the baby is due at the end of October, just in time for us to deliver him or her. If this pregnancy had happened any sooner or later, then I would not have had Isaac’s full-time help with my sickness, or we would have had to leave California when I was close to delivering and scramble to find a doctor in Texas at the last minute. It turns out that God’s timing is exquisite, the best timing of all.

Phoenix absolutely LOVES to play with the train table at Barnes and Noble. We go there every week so he can play with the “choo choos.” Last weekend Isaac found a little train set for $19 at a kid’s second-hand store, so we bought it as Phoenix’s early birthday gift. I brought it home and tried for 20 minutes to put it together. I just couldn’t seem to get it to make a full circle, so Phoenix would have to move the train back to the beginning every time it got to the end of the track. I was disappointed that it wasn’t a complete train track. Then Isaac got home from work that night, took a quick look at the train, made a few adjustments, and just like that…the train tracks made a complete circle. What? How did I miss that? We both laughed at how differently God has made men and women. I spent all afternoon pondering how to get the train tracks to come together right, and it only took Isaac 10 seconds to figure it out. I revel in the differences between men and women. Together, we make such a great team. I only wish society would accept that God made us different, instead of trying to make us more like each other.

Just Kidding...

We are not moving yet! I don't know why I post these things, because when your husband is an alarm salesman, nothing is ever for sure! We will probably be moving within a month or so, but who knows? I don't get anxiety anymore about our gypsy lifestyle. It has driven home the point for us that this world is not our home, and it keeps us looking up to where our home truly is.

Last weekend I decided to be brave and take Phoenix to the beach alone, without Isaac, since he works Saturdays. I was prepared for lots of screaming and frustrating moments with Phoenix (he really is a wild child), but it turned out to be a very relaxing and fun afternoon, much to my surprise and delight! We spent most of our time just sitting in the sand, while Phoenix played with his new beach toys that I managed to hunt down at Target (the absolute last set of beach toys left anywhere in Southern California, I swear!), and I sat and soaked in some sun. I just love it when Phoenix surprises me with great behavior. Don't get me wrong, he is an awesome kid, but sometimes he can be more than a little feisty and independent. Definitely gets that from his Daddy. :) Also, we saw a dolphin out in the ocean! It was so awesome. I have never seen a dolphin out in the water unless it was at Sea World, so that was exciting. Dolphins are my favorite animals ever.

We went to a great church on Sunday, Calvary Chapel El Cajon. Phoenix had a lot of fun in his class, and we learned from the book of Revelation. Exciting things! Isaac is still working as hard as ever, and my belly is still getting as big as ever, and the weather here is just as wonderful as ever. I am going into my 30th week (the Big 3-0!), which means this pregnancy is winding down to a close. I can't wait to hold my little newborn in my arms, and also I can't wait to sleep on my tummy or back again, I'll take either one. If I get any sleep at all. Who needs sleep when you've got a wonderful husband, a wacky toddler, and a little newborn baby to share your life with? :)