Random Thursday

I have been the worst blogger :( Ok, here's my week in bullet points...

• Katie got a Kitty....
  
  Who I am referring to as Cat Stephens (since that's her last name). This poor baby is 3 weeks old and discovered outside of the flower shop. Tucker (Katie's Bichon Frise furbaby) LOVES her
  
  and is helping taking good care of her. She has to be bottle fed for 3 more weeks.
  
  I love her! (Sorry the pics are bad, I took them with my phone...)

• We are having trees cut in our yard.
  
  Maybe we can have grass now! Here's my cat's view of it.
  
• The Eight Family Yard Sale is at our house this weekend. I'm almost finished tagging. It's time to make some money! 
• My friend Ashley's husband starts a new job on Monday! Yea, Dustin!!
• We paint Mother and Child tomorrow night at Paint The Town.
  
  Woo hoo! Ok, that's it.

On the fertility front: I go next Tuesday to ART to find out what the "plan" will be. I'm excited to find out, but am really enjoying not being on any hormones right now ;)

Sad day today for some of the blogs that I read...Today is the year anniversary of Courtney and Andrea losing their babies. Please keep these families in your prayers! 

Good Recovery So Far...

Recovery is going well and I've been very well taken care of this week. My precious small group girls have brought us dinner every night (and always enough for lunch the next day!) We've had chicken tetrazzini, chicken pot pie, breakfast casseroles, fruit, salads, pigs in a blanket, and lots of desserts! We've had lots of sweet visitors that have entertained me in my cabin fever :) Mom, Joe, and Kipper also sent me these beautiful flowers (that my Katie arranged) with orchids and gerbera daisies...

I've tried to do a few things around the house. Yesterday I caught up on laundry and priced some things for our yard sale. 

I also made a diaper cake for a shower my friend Meredith's mom is doing this weekend... 

and made some extra "puffs" for decorations...

Mostly I'm on the sofa with my shadow, Charlie,

(I think he's having a great week!) 

Thank you for your prayers and have a fantastic Friday!

Surgery Surprises...

First off, thank you so much for your prayers for my surgery. I feel so incredibly blessed by my friends, family, and fellow bloggers :) My surgery was yesterday around 1:00. During the surgery they made a few discoveries. One is that my endometriosis wasn't nearly as bad as last time and they were able to get most of it out. Dr. Long told my husband and mom that my endometrial lining was very puzzling because it looked like that of an older, obese woman. Yikes! They put me on a medication called Megace to get rid of that lining and safely grow a new one. When they told me what he prescribed I didn't believe it. The only thing I've ever heard Megace used for was for an appetite stimulant! There goes any dieting plans :(

The most random occurrence during surgery is that they took out my appendix! I guess it had too much endometriosis on it, so they went ahead and took it out. Random! Overall, surgery was very smooth. I didn't get nauseated and I was able to pee quickly after surgery (that has been a problem in the past). Right now, my worst pain is in my shoulders from the gas that they blow you up with. I'm not sure about the timeline for future fertility endeavors will be, but I have a follow up appointment on May 11th to find out.

By far the worst thing from yesterday was reading about RachelP's miscarriage. Please visit her and let her know that you are praying for her during this difficult time. I'm so sorry for your loss, Rachel :( please let me know if there's anything I can do for you!

Thank you again for your prayers and have a great Wednesday!

Weekend and Big Week Ahead!

I think this is the longest I've gone without blogging! I have been reading everyone else's, but I've got to get back on the blogging ball! Ok, this weekend was GREAT! I went to see Beth Moore in Woodstock, GA. I knew it was being telecasted from there to some churches, but once we got there, we were told it was going to be viewed by almost 300,000 women! Whew! (I just knew they would put the camera on me and I would do something stupid, but I didn't make the cut :)
The topic of the weekend was "So Long, Insecurity" and it was an excerpt from part of her awesome book by the same title. I went with six fabulous girls. Here are some pics...

Me and Bethany

 

Me and the girls (sorry so blurry!)

 

Marianna and Ashley 

 

Kala and Katie (coffee in hand...it was Early!!)

She taught out of Ephesians 4 and 5 and spoke about us fulfilling our calling to be secure women in Christ. Putting off your old self, putting on the new. Her outline was an acronym spelling out "Secure" and were six statements that describe a secure woman. These were: 

Saved from herself - We are our own worst enemy at times. Insecurity tries to keep us "in check" in our environment, but ends up making us think too often of ourselves. She taught is a Latin term: "Homo incurvatus in se" which means "A human being curved in upon self". Basically, our insecurities always curve back onto us. Real Biblical security curves up to God and then out to others. We cannot continue to compare ourselves to other women!
Entitled to the truth - When we don't walk in the Spirit, we get caught up in deceptive desires. Insecurity makes us think, "If I could just _____, I would be secure." When need to seek our security in Christ alone. As a child of God, we know, believe, and walk out the truths and promises of God. 

Clothed with intention - This point had her most often stated expression in the book. As it says in Proverbs 31:25, we are "clothed in strength and dignity." We put off the old insecure self and put on the new. Also, we cannot wait until we feel secure before we start acting out what we know to be true.   
Upended by Grace - Oh! My favorite point. Grace takes up the space in a secure woman. As insecure women we take everything as an offense. Insecurity is literally unbelief. People who really feel forgiven, will forgive! People who have received Grace will give it! Grace is the only thing you can give away that you can also keep! 2 Corinthians 5:17 states that we have been made "new creatures in Christ." The grace of God turns everything upside down. We have to forgive, because we have been forgiven. Unforgiveness is like a giant tapeworm that will eat away what God sows into us.
Rebounded by Love - We must accept how much we are loved by God! We need to live like the dearly loved children we are! We are never going to be more secure than knowing how much God loves us. You cannot out-sin His forgiveness. When we know we are loved, we love. Instead of entering each day with an empty cup walking around with thinking "Say something that will make me feel better about myself to fill this cup up" we need to start each day knowing: Our cup is already FULL! We have the love and the grace of God. Period.
Exceptional in Life - When you decide to put off that old insecure self, you will be exceptional. If you were able to live secure,  you would stick out like a healthy thumb :) We can give into our culture or change. People could say, "No one can survive that....except maybe her." Be able to live secure that people want to know where your security comes from. Be the exception!

This has turned into a long post! Basically, my take aways are: 

• I have been given grace, I need to give grace to others.
• My security comes from Christ, not the end result of having a baby. Not from my husband. From Christ.
• I must become secure for that baby, especially if it's a girl! 

Speaking of the fertility world: Surgery on Tuesday. I have to be there (starving to death) at 11. Pray, Pray, Pray :)

Have a wonderful Sunday night and remember who your Father is this week. Your cup is already full!

Lazy Sunday

This has been a pretty good weekend. Mostly, because it was pretty uneventful. Friday's Paint The Town was fun. We painted "House on Swirly Hill" again

(and we will paint it again on the 30th...very popular!) It was a packed house, but they were a good group of girls (and one boy:) 

We also have our line up for May ready including these paintings...

 

Mother and Child - May 7th

 

Little Birds - May 14th

 

Spring Tree - May 21st

 

Zebra Cross - May 28th

Saturday, I bought some ferns. For those who know me, this is a big deal because I have a black, black thumb. I hope I can keep them alive! Saturday night, we went and played "Nurch" at the Laughlin's house with some friends. It was so much fun!  Nurch is a card game that is very fast (almost too fast for me!) 

Today I've been trying to pull out stuff for our yard sale in May. We need some money, honey! Dinner was hotdogs at the river with Mom. My favorite!

This week should be interesting because my husband took this week off for his projects. I'm so jealous!

On the fertility front...Lisa at While I'm Waiting posted a GREAT article that was so, so informative. Please take some time click here to read (and print it out for your husband, too!) Right now, I'm 8 days away from surgery...
Have a wonderful Sunday evening!

Countdown to Tax Day

I hope everyone is having a sunny Wednesday like it is here! Tomorrow is a national holiday at our house...Tax Day! My husband the CPA will be free at last (except for all those extensions...you know who you are!) Now he can take some time off and work on his "projects" around the house. So excited for him!

Also, my small group wrapped up Esther (I noticed a couple of weeks ago that I kept trying to spell "Easter" as "Esther"...It's been on my brain!) We are going to do some video sermons from The Church at BrookHills called "Secret Church". You can read about Secret Church here.  

We are also looking forward to going to see Beth Moore in Woodstock, Georgia on the 24th to hear about "So Long, Insecurity". I read the book a couple of months ago and it was GREAT! Then book not only described our insecurities, but also covered what men think about them AND what we can do about them. We are going to have fun!

In the fertility world, I stopped taking the birth control pills they gave me because they were making me crazy so I should start some new ones tonight! (Thanks, Lea!!) And still looking forward (I'm sure it sounds weird, but I am) to my surgery on the 27th of this month. 

I realized I just typed out my April calendar, so that's how April is looking for us :) 

Have a wonderful day!

What If...Take Two

I wrote a post yesterday about the "What If" project on a popular infertility website. I deleted it and decided to start over. Ok, Take Two: 

I believe that all people go through "What If's" in this life, not just infertile people like me. Single people think, "What if I never find Mr./Mrs. Right?". Unemployed people think, "What if I never find a job I enjoy." People live in fear. What if my mom/dad/spouse/sibling, etc. die and leave me alone? What if I never find joy?

The most often stated commandment in the Bible is not to love (which is so important) and not to obey (also very important), but the most often used statement is...

"Don't be afraid"

My small group Bible study is finishing up the book of Esther and Beth Moore stated something so profound that I blogged about here, but I'll put it here again.

"And if ___________, then _________"

The answer to the second blank HAS to be GOD. My God will take care of me!

"And if I can't have a baby, then I'll get out of bed and My God will take care of me!

"And if I'm not pregnant this month, then God has a plan!"

"And if I'm not meant to be a mother, then God desires to accomplish something monumental in me!"

"And if my marriage suffers through a lack of children, then God's going to demonstrate His sufficiency to me!"

Let me tell you, I'm the first to not make these "then's" be the first "then's".

My first "then" will probably be:

• cry my eyes out
• not want to get out of bed
• whine, wail, and pray

But THEN......GOD!

The postings that the women recorded on that blog were absolutely heart wrenching. And I have had many of those same "What If's" play through my mind again and again, but I believe this...

The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
your love, O LORD, endures forever...
Psalm 138:8a

Have a wonderful Sunday and I pray for all who read this that all of the "What If's" in your life turn to "Then God".