Emma Joy!

Emma Joy Theobald

born November 9, 2010

3:22pm

7 lbs 10 oz

20"

Our little Emma Joy is four weeks old today. She is all the sweetness you can imagine wrapped up in one growing bundle.

She is God's precious child, wonderfully made in His image, fully known and loved; entrusted to David and I for her days here on earth.

Her demeanor is calm, content, steady. She has a myriad of facial expressions at which we gawk and laugh and try to imitate. There's the pursed and pouty lips, the look of confusion with a furrowed brow, the smirky "man, that milk was good" side smile, the full face smile that could bring anyone joy, the glazed over "I'm really tired but am trying so hard to stay awake" face, the full face yawn, the stick-out-your-tongue face, and the list goes on...we could watch her for hours...

She is welcomed by a loving, believing family and close-knit community of friends who will love her like their own.

In such a short time we can't imagine life without Emma. What a gift we have in her!

Now, off to change another diaper! :)

Fall and Baby

We are big fans of fall in Minnesota. In fact, I think it's both David and I's favorite time of year. What's not to love about fresh air, beautifully colored leaves, bonfires, hot coffee/cider/hot chocolate/tea (take your pick), and getting to wear sweatpants?!

This morning we went to Whistling Well Farm to enjoy their orchard and goodies.

Mmmmm...honeycrisp (my favorite) and haralson (David's favorite) apples, the sun shining, and a baby in my belly, ready to make its entrance into this earth in just four weeks!

After finishing up our chores and the last touches on the Geranium duplex today, David and I got to work re-arranging our home to prepare for baby.

While it was certainly a physical transformation,

we're even more excited about what it did to mentally and emotionally prepare our minds and hearts. It was fun and necessary to spend the time together getting our thoughts around what life will be like and how we're going to do certain things, etc. We are one step closer to being ready for baby and enjoying this wonderful season!

Busy Is the New Lazy

We worked till 7:30pm or so on a house tonight, and till 9:30pm the night before.

(We keep forgetting to take pictures cause we're so task oriented!)

Frequently these days, I find myself saying "As soon as we finish this house, then I will...

...spend more time with people

...get other projects done

...slow down

...have more fun

...slow dance with abby

...help others with their needs

…give more money

…be more stable

I keep telling myself these long hours and intense focus are only a season, the same way a farmer works a few extra hours during the harvest.

And that is true, it is for a season, but the scary fact is, it is easier for me to work than slow, rest, plan, enjoy...and my fear is that it is a lifestyle I am moving towards, not simply season we are in.

My favorite quote right now is "Busyness is a form of laziness".

To me it means we are often too lazy to figure out how not to be busy, too lazy to say “no” to the unimportant things that make up our busyness.

Also, it is hard work to face the silence of leisure.

To slow down means I have to feel...and my feelings aren't always the easiest things to face. I feel anger, anxiety, depression, lonely, sadness along with joy, peace, and happiness. To stay busy means I don't have to wrestle with any of my internal world. I don't have to do the hard work of making sense of my emotion. So I stay busy.

I love that I was taught to rest on the Sabbath. My dad worked a ton, but always protected Sundays. I love that we even have a God who rested. Abby and I have always been good about avoiding work on Sundays.

And that is what we will do today! Rest.

The season will end. Because we will not be lazy about ending our busyness! And well, we have great people around us (including the Great Counselor) who will let us know if our season has turned into a lifestyle!

I was able to set my paint brush down for 20 minutes yesterday to throw the football with jake, the 10 year old neighbor boy. Next to yanking staples, slopping paint, wielding the vacuum hose, it was the most important thing I did yesterday!

Headaches

As most of you know, we're pregnant! (16 weeks along now)

(We just got to hear our little one's rapid little heartbeat again! So perfect.)

With pregnancy comes many beautiful moments, thoughts, fears, questions, physical changes, emotional changes, and seemingly some level of "growing up" that comes with the preparation and new responsibility of a life. It's wonderful!

For 2 1/2 weeks straight I recently had a tension headache, which was really starting to wear on me. Most nights after fighting through it all day at work (Tylenol didn't do a thing!), I'd have to just try and sleep it off, but would then wake up with it the next morning. I was frustrated. I started researching the causes and treatments. My midwife said to try massage or acupuncture, the former of which I did. Then my mom gave me this book on headaches that emphasized stress/anxiety as a main cause of tension headaches. I couldn't really think of anything obvious that was stressing me out-nothing I didn't seem to be taking in stride, both pregnancy related and non.

I went to sleep Monday night after reading some more of the book and woke up completely awake at 1:30am. My mind was running through various anxieties and thoughts so much so that I decided to finally get up. Maybe this was for a reason, I thought.

I poured everything out on three full notebook pages, laying down these anxieties, and just sharing my thoughts and prayers with the Lord. It felt so good because I could say exactly what I felt. I was understood. I was able to cry and talk to God like I haven't in awhile. It helped me realize that I really do trust Him to do His part. And most of all, I felt like God gave me this time to be vulnerable with Him so that He could soften my heart to receive His love in a fresh new way. Maybe God not letting me sleep was just Him pursuing His daughter, for which I am humbled and feel so loved. He knows what we need and is always willing to give it to us in His mercy.

If that wasn't good enough, He brought Psalm 23 to my mind and made it like a new revelation, particularly these parts:

"He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters" (Lord, be my refuge and resting place!)

"Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me" (I am free from fear of evil!)

"Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life" (He has promised me these things if I choose to abide in Him and look to Him!)

Holy Spirit, empower us to live out your covenant love where there is no fear that inhibits, but rather love that empowers us to overcome evil and fix our eyes on You, the Creator and Finisher of everything. You are always good and loving. You are so very good. Thank you for pursuing us relentlessly!

...So I went back to bed by 5am and guess what?! I woke up the next morning for the first day in 2 1/2 weeks without a headache! The Lord actually gave me two days with no headaches.

Lord, thank you for your sovereignty; for your reign in the heavenly realms where you battle for us. Thank you for the freedom you gave me and the love you have shown me in this healing. I receive it as a gift from you and am so thankful!

...What a reminder to fight spiritually, not just physically. I'm still learning how to do this better. It's been back to daily headaches again, so I would appreciate any prayers for healing you can send my way! In the meantime, I am encouraged through faith and know the love of God for me, even in physical pain. I trust these headaches will seem more than worth it the day we get to hold the precious little one growing inside of me :)

Old Whispers

I was born a few years after the "Free-Love" movement, so I missed the hippy's efforts to draw the world towards perfection. An earlier birth might have prevented a couple of naive comments I am about to make, but I doubt it.

Who really listens to you?

Who hears your words and understands?

Who blesses you?

Who tells you you are of "infinite value" and "wonderfully created?"

Who affirms you?

Who do you feel safe around?

Who choses you?

Who includes you?

Who touches you in a selfless way?

A masseuse will touch you, but asks for payment at the end. A counselor/therapist will listen to you and understand you, but also asks for payment. Church would seem like a place for these to happen, yet more often then not, we hear a few words from a celebrity preacher, and slide out the door.

Our Culture is LOVE-DEFICIENT.

The demand, the need, the longing of culture is to be Loved.

I know it because my soul craves it.

Every addictive, criminal, and behavioral problem stems from love starvation.

I long and desire to be filled by "A Source",

Sometimes I make friends so that I will feel affirmed by them.

I give hugs, just so I can feel the warmth.

I am often selfish.

Yet I want to be filled, filled so full that I overflow with selfless desire to give. I find it quite difficult to love anyone more than I love myself, to put their interests higher than mine...yet this is what I pray for. It is what I need, and the world needs!

Receive. The first part, the hardest part. It is funny how much I try to serve God, when really he is like the sun. I cannot do anything to make him burn hotter or brighter. I could run to the nearest service station, fill a five gallon pail of gasoline, go into an open field, and toss it into the sky...hoping to encourage the sun to burn another moment or two. Inane!

That word is mighty close to the word insane.

It is insane. I can't increase my exposure to the nourishing vitamin D by working harder.

I can only position myself to receive. Rest. Haha...I can't earn the suns light! I can't do anything to deserve it more or less. So I sit in it's heat. I must find places to sit in His heat. I can't give out of an empty cup.

So even on this cold rainy day. I am going to sun-bathe. I am going to lay on the carpet with my arms open...and talk quietly to The Source. After receiving, from the Provider, my belief is that I will be more equipped to offer love others by

affirming them.

listening to them.

touching them.

showing them safety.

chosing them.

including them.

Loving them...

So partake in the "too-good-to-be-true" gospel. Do nothing!

The overflow of it will change the needy world!