Our CG

We love our Community Group. These people have become so dear to us in the past two years... we cherish the friendships we have with each family. We have laughed with them, cried with them, and shared our sins, struggles, and our victories in Christ with them. We thank God for giving us such an amazing group of people to walk through life together with. We look forward to raising our kids with their kids, strengthening our marriages together, and all becoming closer to the Lord with them. As Proverbs 27:17 says "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." We pray we will be able to sharpen these people as much as they have sharpened us, and moved and encouraged us on towards Christ. We love you CG!!

Andrew's Birth

My contractions started in the evening of the 12th after a walk to the nearby CVS to rent a movie. Marci's small group was meeting at our house and we were glad to leave the girls in bed while we got out for a bit. The contractions were stronger than normal on our walk, and continued but were less intense, through the entire Harry Potter movie we rented. At bedtime, Justin fell fast asleep, while I was half asleep, still feeling contractions. At about 1am I got up, unable to sleep. It was about two contractions later (at about 5 minuets apart) that I woke Justin up. I flipped on the light and told him it was time to go. We called Hannah, who came right over to spend the rest of the night with the girls. We got to the hospital at around 2am. I was dilated to 5cm. I got an epidural at around 4am. As soon as I got the epidural, my contractions slowed down and became less intense. I was extremely worried that the epidural might cause something to go wrong with the baby or the labor. I was thinking of having them turn it off. Justin was very calm and, in his typical fashion, was trusting fully in God. His wise words were helping to ease my mind. The baby's heart rate dropped for a short time and the nurse came rushing in to reposition the monitor. I was worried once again. Justin came to my side and said "Lets pray." He prayed for the labor to progress and the safety of our sweet baby. At once after he said "Amen.", my water broke! It was amazing. It was as if God was reassuring me that everything was fine. After that the labor progressed very quickly, and our sweet son was born at 5:48am. About 45 min after we prayed.
God is powerful, and this is yet another lesson for me to learn to trust him. He is in control no matter what happens. This reminded me that i still have a ways to go in learning not to worry in hard or scary times. I thank God for my faithful husband who is such a wonderful example to me in so many ways. He has tremendous faith.
I was reminded of these two verses during labor:
Phillipians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Romans 8:28 "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."
I have the confidence that I know God enough to really love Him... and I do... I really love Him. So therefore I can claim and hold to this promise that God gives. If we love him, no matter what happens it will work out for our good. Thank you God for this promise, and my your peace that surpasses all understanding guard my heart and mind!!

It's A Boy!!

On July 13th we welcomed Andrew Edward into our family! He was born at 5:48am and weighed 8lbs 3oz and was 20 1/2 inches. We love him so much and can't wait to add some blue to our household of pink. God has been so good to us once again. We praise and worship Him for his kindness and this blessing of little Andrew! We don't deserve this life or any of our sweet kiddoes, but because God is overflowing with mercy for those who love him, we receive His grace and blessings.

Thank you Jesus, we are speechless before You.