Last night Israel and I watched 2 videos that I had checked out from my hospital.  One was the birth process, and the other was on Lamaze.    It was…interesting.  I think what we saw was very helpful and it helped us understand what was going to happen, and different techniques that may help block some of the pain.  There were some parts of the video that looked really cooky…like when all of the couples were doing a relaxation technique and they were all sprawled out in the living room.  It almost reminded me of hypnosis.  Overall, I think it was good though.  I think we may have to watch it again just to remember the exercises.  I think at times Israel was having trouble staying focused.  Here I was, trying to learn the different techniques, and then Israel would make some comment like, “Look at that girl’s neck!  She looks like a giraffe!” or, “I think Bentley is doing some relaxation techniques too, because he just farted! HAHAHA!”  So yeah, we’ll probably have to watch it few more times so we can remember all of the information that they gave us.     

I can’t believe the baby is due so soon!!  I’m almost in the 35th week which means that in a little over a week, if the baby is born, it wouldn’t be considered a premie.  In a little over 3 weeks, the baby will be full-term…and could be born at any time from that point!  We along with our friends have been praying that the baby waits for Israel to come back from Australia.  We’ll see what happens.  I am glad, though, that my in-laws are coming to help us!  Juan, Evelyn, and our nephew Jacob will be coming soon to spend time with us and help us prepare everything before the baby comes.  That will be exciting.  

Well, I need to get going because my students are starting to come in for Math…until next time… 

Before I even begin, I’d like to start by addressing Israel’s last comment made in response to the entry entitled “Preparation for Parenting”.  We visited my parents last night with my little bro and of course the conversation meandered its way to baby talk…and more specifically labor & delivery talk.  My mom was sharing with us how there are some women who begin speaking very maliciously about their husbands…one in particular that she mentioned was how she recalls a women repeatedly saying, “Kill him!” throughout the labor process.  Israel, the baby still has several months before he needs to eat solid food, so I think Food Network can wait.  So, let’s not unnecessarily lead your laboring wife into temptation. 

This past MLK weekend, Jen, Kelly, and Steph helped us get the baby room cleared out and organized.  I’m feeling much better about the coming child’s living environment.  Israel’s parents also bought us some of the necessities that we didn’t have yet so we were able to do some more furnishing and assembling of stuff.  I’ll try to post some pictures of the room if I remember.  I’m so grateful for our friends who so willingly gave us baby supplies that they don’t need anymore…and also for those of you who have given us baby stuff as gifts!  As of now, we already have 800+ diapers for newborn until 15lbs, lots of the cutest clothes, almost all of the large baby necessities (walker, strollers, swings, pack ‘n’ play, car seat etc.), and lots of little things.  God has been so gracious to us!  Probably our largest investment will be when that lucky big-booker comes to our door.  Israel insists that we buy the Bible Stories from a colporteur.  He won’t hear of finding a used set or searching ebay. 

Well, Israel is off to New Zealand today with Chester.  I’m praying for safe travels because it is blizzarding outside!  Last night it was wet and rainy, and this morning everything was covered in snow.  I guess winter woke up from his nap.  Hope all is going well with you guys!  I can’t wait to introduce the baby to all of you…       

It hit me yesterday.  Israel and I have not been preparing for the baby to come!  The problem is that we work in spurts.  We’ll have a baby-phase for about 2 days…and then we’ll let a month or so slide by.  Needless to say, we haven’t been very diligent in the preparation part.  So, yesterday, I received a phone call from Melinda (from DKAY) because she was wondering if we wanted some of her baby stuff that she doesn’t need anymore.  I told her that we could use whatever she didn’t need.  Then she went on to asking what baby stuff we had already, if we had our baby showers yet, etc.etc. and it hit me…I’m in the eighth month of pregnancy, the baby’s room is a wreck, and I have no idea what I need to do to prepare!  So~, yesterday Israel and I made a trip to the baby stores and in the process of registering, we got a better understanding of what we still need.  We went home and we went through the baby room which hadn’t seen the light of day in a few months and began sorting and organizing.  Actually, it was more like that’s what I did.  Israel was on the phone pretty much from the time we got into the car to drive home until we went to bed.  (I filled him in on everything before we slept though.) 

It’s so interesting how time goes by so slowly and so quickly at the same time.  Each day seems to go by so slowly as I lug myself around from work to home to the store to let the dog pee/poo.  But I can’t believe I only have 7 weeks until the baby is due!  The baby will actually be considered full-term in only 5 short weeks!  If we were to go by the original due date, that would mean the baby could possibly be full-term in 3 weeks!!!

So, my point is this, I hope we got our act together and start getting ourselves  ready perhaps a little at a time each day, rather than letting inertia push us to the limit and then frantically go on a rampage driven by fear.  May the Lord help us be diligent each day to prepare for the soon coming of baby AND more importantly, Jesus Christ! 

PS:  We’ll try to add pics sometime soon to make our posts more interesting…right, Israel?

It’s so interesting how life is so fickle.  I had a wonderful day at school yesterday.  God really blessed and I could see that my students were progressing.  I also got caught up on EVERYTHING.  Papers were graded, lesson plans set to go for the week, classroom reorganized and neat…everything was going great and I was praising God.  Israel stopped by school on the way home from work at around 5pm and then we drove home to eat dinner.  At 6:30pm we had a hospital tour scheduled.  We had already missed our last scheduled appointment the previous week so we were both carefully watching the clock to make sure that we left on-time so we’d get there early.  At 5:50pm, Israel was ready to go and kept sarcastically telling me that if we were late this time, I couldn’t blame it on him.  I laughed.  I quickly finished dinner by stuffing the remaining tater-tots into my mouth and got my coat and bag and ran out the door.  While walking down the porch steps, Israel asks me if I know where the car keys are.  I replied with a, “Yeah, they’re in the ignition…you turned the car on!”  Then it hit me, he had locked the keys in the car!  I started laughing because he had done the same thing just last week…thanks to the brilliant people who thought of the idea to make cars lock automatically when you change gears.  Anyway, we both went back into the house and began looking for the spare key.  We couldn’t find it anywhere.  It was now 6:15pm and we had to be at the hospital by 6:30 or else they would start the tour and we’d miss it again.  We were supposed to pick up our friends from the airport at 7pm, and we had a Bible study at 8pm.  Israel called AAA and they said it would take them an hour to come by.  I was so frustrated that I just grabbed the keys and said that I’d go by myself.  I sped off to UM hospital and made it 2 minutes late, but in time before the actual tour of the maternity ward began.  All of the other couples looked at me with pity because they didn’t see a ring on my finger and I was all alone.  After all, the tour was more meant for the spouse…where to pull in the car, where to park, where to take their laboring wife upon arrival etc.  And there was me, just soaking in all of the information on how I should admit myself into the hospital when I’m ready to deliver.  After the tour was over, I snuck out as quickly as I could and drove home upset.  I couldn’t believe I had to go through the humiliation of going on the tour by myself.  Israel ended up waiting an hour for AAA to arrive and he was 40 minutes late to pick up our friends from the airport.  On top of that, we missed the Bible study.  We both came home within 10 minutes of each other.  How such a perfect morning/afternoon had turned into a stressful, upsetting evening!  Before we went to sleep, I began reflecting on my life.  Satan is always there to make life a little more gloomy, a little more stressful, a little more discouraging.  It’s so easy for me to think about the countless women who don’t have to work during their pregnancy, who have a husband who has time to help clean around the house, who don’t support a zoo at home (particularly the Jack Russell Terrier species), who don’t suffer from a mild case of OCD…and the list goes on.  But at the end of the day, the Christian will look at one’s life and by faith admit that if we could see the end from the beginning we would have it no other way.  If God is for us, who can be against us?  I want to live believing and trusting that God is leading each step of the way.  He will take care of us!

PS:  With that said, pray for me as Israel travels to New Zealand, New York, and Australia this upcoming month!            

Wow, I can’t believe GYC is over.  (This is Judy, btw.)  It seemed to go by so quickly.  I didn’t catch many of the meetings nor was I able to attentively listen to many messages since I was backstage with 3ABN, but the little that I was exposed to, was so inspiring.  God really blessed through the speakers/messages and so many people responded to the appeals that were made.  I sense that something huge is going to happen very soon…

On a lighter note, I want to thank Sarah Shim and Daniel McGrath for being the best first-time stage managers in the world.  They are the ones who made the programs run so smoothly.  Israel was telling me yesterday how proud he is of you two.  I hope you guys agree to do it next year! 

It would be nice to actually watch the GYC programs on 3ABN if we had a satellite.  OH WAIT- we DO have a 3ABN satellite!  How could I forget?!?  It’s been sitting in our basement for the past almost 5 months now just waiting to be installed!  Hmm, perhaps “Now is the Time” to get that put up…(I hope Israel reads this soon).     

PS:  Hope everyone has a happy new year!