The Blessing of Children follow up

Here is another article by Mr. Wait in regards to adoption of children. As always, it is eloquent and thorough. I've often wondered about adoption being compulsory since the thought of adopting children overwhelmed me in an already fruitful marriage. So, I particularly like this excerpt as a clarification on the subject:

...the concept of adoption is a Biblical idea but it is only explicitly
found in the New Testament. But the only sense that Scripture speaks explicitly
of adoption is the spiritual adoption of believers as the children of God. From
the doctrine of adoption we see that it is by free choice rather than
compulsion. So, perhaps we can say that we are free to adopt children who
otherwise would be outside of the covenant, but we are not required to do
so.

The Blessing of Children

Our good friend Erik Wait has posted a very thoughtful and eloquent article on his website covering the issue of children as blessings. Erik is a friend and was a fellow elder at our church back in California. He was also our neighbor in the duplex which we nicknamed Elder Row. His duplex was closer to the street than ours so he would trap all the Jehovah's Witness' in arguments before they had a chance to get to our door. They would be stumped in their defense of their faith after about two minutes talking with Elder Erik. After he moved in I never worried about being bugged by these persistent visitors :) Erik is very, very well educated in many theological issues as well as he is a savy wine enthusiast. Have a go-see on his site and look around a while.

Film festival

Colin got back late last night from the film festival and was very encouraged if not completely exhausted. We both find being around so many wonderful families completely invigorating to our spirits. I stayed home this year so that I could tend to the little ones and especially our newest little one. I was hoping to attend and bring the kids and maybe my niece to help, but my mom ended up having surgery last week and all available hands are on deck with her trying to help her recuperate from an unusually difficult time of it right now. So, I will have to wait until next year. Colin had a great time talking with folks and getting to know many new faces. In fact he has so much fun he forgot to take photos of any of them :) So if you'd like to see the happenings of the event, go visit Doug Phillip's blog or The Rebelution gentlemen or maybe even Kim's Life in a Shoe. :)

In the mean time, how about a memory of film festivals past...

Are you tired of baby pictures yet?

Okay, that's the last one for now. I'm trying to learn to sew. These are t-shirt dresses my mom helped me with. I think they'll fit better come next spring. Not bad for a first attempt at sewing ever!

How 'bout...

a Daddy pic?














There's not much cuter than a sleeping baby!

Vision Forum Contest!

Love the Vision Forum catalog? Wish you could buy everything in it? Here's a fabulous contest hosted by Kim at Life in a Shoe where you can win 700 bucks worth of merchandise from VF! Oh, boy, I hope I win!

The infamous playscape...

Colin works harder than just about anyone I know. Here is the playscape that he sacrificed time, energy, and a healthy knee for. The kids love it and I love him for working so hard on something for the family.

What started out as just a pile of lumber...

Started taking shape...














And soon became taller than our house :)















With lots of sweat in 100 degree August, and a lot of suncreen.















The kids can now enjoy the fruit of Daddy's hard work.

Mercy pictures

I have been very blessed this last week to have my sister visiting and practically doing all the cleaning and taking care of the kids. It's also helped to have her wonderful company through this sometimes difficult time of being house bound. The only bad thing is that I've been distracted so that I've neglected posting any pictures of our newest beautiful daughter. Here she is in her pink glory and also with first time big sister Molly who has been great in this adjustment.
P.S. Please don't forget to pray for Karen. The discovery of her tumor has helped me to be all the more grateful for the blessing of my daughter Mercy and is a reminder to us all not to take these moments for granted.

My friend Karen

When I first moved out to California with Colin back in 2000, I was seven months pregnant with my first child, very lonely, and petrified of starting a new life so far away from friends and family. We got to our new church that first Sunday and a friendly lady about my age come up to me and greeted me with one of the warmest smiles I'd ever seen in my life. I immediately felt like we were good friends and like I was at home in this new church. In the five years that we lived there, those feelings were only confirmed and she has proven to be a lifelong friend who has never let me down once as a friend. Last Thursday, her six year old son found her unconscious and she was immediately rushed to a hospital. A tumor was discovered and after surgery on Saturday, it was found to be malignant. She will begin treatment soon as the surgeons were not able to remove the whole of the tumor. I ask for everyone's prayer for Karen, her husband, and their three young children who are the same ages as Grace, Noah, and Molly. They are headed for a struggle, so we ask God for much grace, mercy, healing, and strength to be added to them at this time. Karen is, by God's grace, one of the strongest women I know. God has taught me much about patience, graciousness, friendship, and being a good wife and mom through Karen and I pray that He will heal her so that many others can be blessed through her as I have been.

Visit www.welovekaren.blogspot.com to get more up to date and accurate information or go to www.homeschoolblogger.com/preschoolersandpeace where her friend Kendra has posted some great college pics of Karen.

Introducing.... Mercy Lael Gunn

It's a done deal!

Both mother and child doing well! A girl - 9lbs 3oz. - name still being debated! Thanks for all your prayers!

Col

Update

Thank you all for your kind and thoughtful notes, phone calls, and prayers. Colin is feeling much better and was able to walk on crutches after the first two days. He went in to the doctor's this morning and the preliminary check looks good. He'll go see a radiologist and orthopedist later just to make sure there are no ligament tears or misplaced bones :( But we think everything is alright now. He'll have to wear a splint for awhile and has limited mobility because of it, but at least it's nothing more serious. The hardest part for me has been the taking care of all things by myself, but this goes to Colin's credit that I was so used to his constant help with the kids and the house that it is so hard to do without him :) As for baby, no signs of an appearance yet. I did have a doctor appointment today but I ended up waiting to be seen for an hour and eventually had to leave without being seen at all so that I could get back home to watch the kids before Colin's meeting started. I'll try and get back over there in the next couple of days, but really I'm hoping to go into labor on my own so that's not a problem. My mom's hoping for the baby to come on Thursday which is her birthday, and the thought appeals to me too if for no other reason than one less date to remember :)

Once again, thank you for your love and support everyone! I hope my next communique is baby news.

Today is my due date. This morning Colin fell off the playscape he is building for the kids and dislocated his knee. He's in a lot of pain and laid up on the couch. Now that Colin's out of commission I'm not sure how I can handle taking care of all the kids, a wounded hubby, the house, and baby preparations.Please pray for us as things are a bit stressed right now.

My little pony- tail that is

Okay, so today was the first time Molly has let me put her hair in a ponytail without immediately pulling it back out. I thought she looked so much like Gracie at this age.

FROOOOOOOG!!!

The kids were playing outside today in the waterhose and were surprised by this little guy trying to join in their fun. Poor thing, I bet he didn't plan on this kind of party! He probably just thought God was finally sending him some rain. Well, the kids had a blast even if he didn't.

Helper

Last night, I decided I was not going to wake up to the dirty refrigerator again- can you say, "nesting?" So after all the other kids were put to bed, Gracie and I got to work cleaning it out. At first I employed her help just for practice, but in the end she was an actual help to me! We got the whole thing done in under half an hour. The whole thing was a pleasure to me, but more so than seeing the sparkling white interior, was the joy of working with my daughter. I must admit, I heard this day would one day come, but I never actually believed it would! Thanks to the Lord for His faithfulness in His promises, for this encouragement, and for giving us both the ability to accomplish such a task - that's no small thing for me at almost nine months prego!

Seven fun things

This weekend was full of special occurrences.

1. First we had a guest preacher at church on Sunday. When he got up to preach I got excited because he had a British accent and I thought how fun for Colin to have someone from the mother land to talk to. Afterwards, Colin did get a chance to talk with him. Turns out he hails from Houston of all places and got his accent from diction lessons! Well, I thought it was a little too weird to have a British, reformed, Woody Allen impersonator preaching at our church. Too many distincitves and it just gets plain creepy. :)

2. We drove down to Redeemer OPC in Pflugerville Sunday evening to hear the great 81 year old G.I. Williamson preach. He was sharp as a tack and his preaching was fantastic!

3. On the way home we HAD to stop for some gas (part of the problem with spontaneous road trips on Sunday). Anyway, the gas station was in front of a field, and while we sat there we saw skydivers swarming the skies right in front of us. Turns out that field is where the Skydivers Temple land. They were swooping in and out - we were so excited to be treated to an unexpected show!

4. This is out of order chronologically, but sobeit! Anyway, last week Colin bought me a laptop that my sister had found and picked up for us. It was a great deal and it has been so nice to be able to be mobile while on the computer. It also helps because I can sit on something soft and cushy so my pelvic bones don't hurt so bad.

5. I'm thirty-four weeks now. Baby's heart rate was in the 150's. Hmmm....

6. There's not much to say here , but I want to get to number seven because....

7. Monday was our seventh year anniversary!! My mom came over to babysit and even cleaned house as a surprise for me while we were gone. Colin and I had a nice time going out to eat then out to Barnes and Noble. It was so relaxing and we laughed a lot and got to talk a lot - how wonderful :)

Pregnancy Psychosis

Okay, it's official...I'm entering into third trimester pregnancy induced psychosis. I am crying at anything, griping about everything, and comfortable in nothing. Please pray for my poor family who has to endure such a mom/wife. Today Colin made me cry for commenting that my legs looked like tree trunks due to the pitting edema. It's actually completely true, and doesn't really hurt my feelings because I know it will go away within a few days of giving birth, but I cried anyway because the swelling just makes me feel so uncomfortable. It's somewhere in the 100's outside today. Depending upon who you ask it got up to somewhere between 103 and 107. I don't think the a/c is working properly. Also, I don't think the refrigerator is properly cooling the water. It still feels just lukewarm to me. I cried twice at church on Sunday. Why do I do that? I hate it when I do that! Unfortunately, I'm learning that this is all a part of the joys of the last few months of pregnancy for me. Not everyone acts like this, I know it's true. I'm not trying to make excuses, just giving reasons. Really, just consider this your public service announcement. "We interrupt this regularly scheduled personality to fine tune the body of the next coming Gunn child. We apologize for any inconvenience. Please stand by..." (really loud annoying beep - actually that's the sound of me whining about the heat)

I thought I'd give an update on the pregnancy and the household happenings. Knox pottytrained himself completely a few weeks ago. We celebrated by going to see Cars at the the theater. It was fun but would've probably been more fun just to rent a movie at home - not to mention cheaper :) Gracie turned six this last week. We'll have a party tomorrow night with the family. I've got just over seven weeks to go in this pregnancy which is great, except that it's 100 degrees outside with no sign of letting up. Sigh... the thought of being pregnant during August makes me want to take a long nap. The upside is that the baby is kicking away, and I'm getting very excited to meet him/her. Did I mention that the heartrate was in the 170's this week? Me thinks it's a her :) but we shall see...

Joy

One of the things I struggle with in life is finding joy in the everyday. God is showing me in many humbling ways that while I may say that the biblical way of living is the only path to true happiness, it is rare that I show that in the way I act. Particularly in regards to children. Sure I may say that God is true and that children are in fact blessings rather than curses, but so many times, my countenance, words, and attitude reflect a heart that doesn't really believe it. Here is an excerpt from an interesting article

In our society parents do a wonderful job of portraying the difficulties of
having children: the financial burdens, the time drain, the guilt, the
exhaustion. But we do a lousy job of getting across something else about
parenthood: It's fun! When you are experiencing parenthood from the inside,
there is an overwhelming pleasure in the funny, fascinating things your
children
do. When my daughter was 2, she put her arms around me as I was
kissing her
goodnight and said to me, "Mommy, you're a wonderful husband."
That was better
than any of the movies I hadn't been to since she was born.

I don't know much about the author, but she, who has only one child, is showing that she has found joy in the blessings of children. Whereas I, who am expecting my fifth reward from God, hardly ever do. I realize that I can easily excuse away these sins in the world's eyes. After all, who wouldn't blame someone who's in pain or exhausted with pregnancy for being grumpy with their kids. But the truth is that this is a heart issue and it involves my willingness to believe, trust, and honor God in all circumstances. It is always one thing to say it in your head, it's another thing to believe it in your heart and practice it throughout your day. When I walk around the grocery store annoyed, when I sigh at having to clean up the spilled milk under the table, when I'd rather let the kids watch a video than interact with them, I'm showing that I don't really believe God.

I feel terrible when I realize this because not only does it mean I'm dishonoring God, but I'm also presenting a lie to the world. They see me saying that we believe children are a blessing but acting like they're not, and what do you think they'll believe? What an awful witness for the Lord I am. I really need to practice what I preach in the everyday, the nitty gritty, the mundane. Then and only then, will my life start reflecting God's truth instead of my sin and lies. May God forgive me and grant me the wisdom and the ability to find joy in the everday. And may you all find it too :)