Unfailing Love: And He spoke to me.....

Vincent Gerard

This is my hubby. Also known as Vinny, Dowey, Dowebally, and (as of last night) Pickle Juice. (You may learn that I have an affinity for nicknames, comes from my daddy!) Unbelievably, the hubs and I have been married for 9 years! I can't believe it! Seems like just yesterday I was a freshman in college and my friend introduced me to this hunky senior with a hot red car! Vince is working hard to support our family and traveling here and there. Vince is a WONDERFUL father and his girls (all of us) are the most important things to him!

Barclay Kathryn

What to say? I'm Barclay, usually known as Barclay (not much you can do with Barclay). I was an elementary teacher for fours years until I had Bella. Now I am doing the job I have wanted to do ALL of my life, being a mom. I love these two girls more than I can possibly express and it is my joy and privilege to be able to spend each day with them. I recently entered the blog frontier, and although my blog followers will probably be able to be counted on one hand, I thought it would be exciting to be a part of something so neat. I love that there are many other moms out there facing the same joys, hardships, questions, surprises, and challenges that I am. I also hope to be a sort of medium to spread awareness for others that need prayers, help, or just someone to walk through life with!

Isabella Kathryn

Usually referred to as Bella. As well as Bells, Bellie, Belly Boo, Bellsie Bubs, Bubs, Bubba, Bells and Whistles.... Bella is our first born daughter. She is 6. Bella enjoys school, reading, riding her training-wheel free bike, she could color and write for hours, she loves singing to the Momma Mia soundtrack, anything princess or pink, having bows in her hair, playing dress up, and her little sisters! God blessed us with Bella a month early but she was perfectly healthy. In six years she has become such a bright, outgoing, sensitive, and fearless little girl. Bella really is the sweetest girl you will ever meet. She is eager to please. If she hurts or disappoints someone it literally crushes her to tears. This last year she asked Jesus to be her Lord and Savior and we could not be more proud!! Love this sweet, blonde, blue eyed beauty!

Bryanna Karina

Usually known as Brynn. As well as Brynnie, Miley, Miley Moo, Geegs, Geegers, Brynnie Boo, and many more. Ten days before Bella turned 2 years old we were blessed with another beautiful, healthy girl by planned c-section. This time I was able to see my baby right after birth, watch her get weighed, bathed, etc. I couldn't wait for Bella to meet her. Brynn is now 4 and keeps me laughing all day long. Brynn, since she was about 2 months old has been the smiliest baby I have ever met. All you need to do is look at her and she will flash you a world class smile. Brynn is smiley, more shy and reserved about things than her big sis, can be quite the clown when she feels safe or gets in a silly mood, amazingly brilliant, she's been speaking full sentences since she was 19 months and continues to amaze us with what comes out of her mouth. She loves doing whatever her big sister is doing, dressing up, looking at books, her blankie, being held, twirling in her dresses, singing, and dancing whenever she hears music! Brynn is my compassionate baby, she hates to see people hurting. We just love this sweet, shy, snuggly, smiling little girl!

Brooklyn Blythe

Also known as Brookie, Brookie Cookie, Cookie Lu, Lulu B just to name a few. Sweet, sweet Brooklyn is our family's latest addition! We welcomed Brookie into our family on August 23rd 2010 at 12:23pm by planned c-section. I was nervous she would be a bit high maintenance since she came out screaming bloody murder and continued to wail anytime anyone touched her- get her footprints, take her temperature, etc. Amazingly, she would instantly stop the moment the Hubs touched her or began talking to her. And since her birthday, we have barely heard a peep out of her..... And fast forward 18 months, she definitely makes plenty of peeps now! :) We are full blown in the the terrible twos (which IMO last from 18-36 months) I believe. To make matters worse she's also cutting her 4 molars. She definitely knows what she wants but can't quite articulate it, so gets frustrated. Eating is also a hit or miss these days which is very foreign to me. Mixed with the crabby days though is the funniest personality ever. She is a riot! She LOVES chasing after her big sisters or having them chase and imitate her. She also has this adorable chubby face and will peek out of the corner of her eyes and just melt your heart! She is definitely shy at first but if you can get through to her she will keep you in stitches with her antics. We love you little BB and couldn't ask for a sweeter addition to our family!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

And He spoke to me.....

I HATE waiting. I am so impatient. Something that has always been really hard for me is waiting those 2 or so weeks after attempting to conceive to see if in fact we were successful. It KILLS me. Perhaps that is why with all of my pregnancies so far I have had at least one negative result before receiving my positive one. So after our miscarriage last month and being anxious to move on from that and grow our family I thought I would surely die before before I could take the next test. The D Day came and went, my "friend" did not make an appearance. So I thought I'd give it another day and maybe one more. Perhaps proving to myself that I can be patient when I want to be. But really instead, as each day passed I was just that much more convinced that I was pregnant. Until today. My friend arrived. Right before walking into my small group at church. It took about everything in me to not go grab Brynn and go back home. And really the only reason I didn't was because I had already dropped my things off in our meeting room. I wondered why I wasn't pregnant, why do I need to keep waiting, is this another miscarriage, are we going to be able to get pregnant and keep the baby,why, why why? Currently we are doing Beth Moore's study on the book of Esther. If you are a woman, it is AMAZING. Well in today's lesson, He really spoke to me. Honestly, I have felt God's answer to prayer and such but I'm not sure I have ever really had Him speak to me so profoundly or right when I needed it the most. Today Beth talked about time. Her points were: Reflect on the importance of....
1. When its time.
2. When its time to wait.
3. When its time to wait for someone else's time.
4. When the meantime is God's time.

Being the impatient person that I am Number 4 was the most profound for me. One point that she really stressed was that when you are waiting, waiting, waiting, that's God's time. God is never inactive. He's always up to something. And the biggest lesson that touched me was that our strength is depleted the longer we wait on that ONE THING or that ONE PERSON. We must Wait on the LORD.

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31 kjv

Its so crazy (well actually a total God thing) that she chose that verse. It has always been my favorite but today it took on new meaning for me.

So I just want to say, as you wait upon, whatever (to get pregnant, your child to get better, to find a spouse, to find that perfect job) this is just a reminder to wait, wait on the Lord, not that thing.

And so I'll wait. Not to get that positive pregnancy test (although it will take all my strength and constant reminding not to) but on the Lord. He has perfect timing. And he's never inactive. So I know he has a plan and I will wait on Him to reveal it to me. Will you pray for me as I try to do that, without it I don't have a chance? : )

Hope that can bring you some encouragement today, it sure helped me. : )

3 comments:

Anonymous said...: Thank you for being so open and honest. What a perfect message today was. I will continue to pray for you and I know that God's timing in perfect. When we tried to conceive for two years I asked why, but I look at Avi and Anderson and totally know why. Though waiting is so hard! Love you!!!!; October 22, 2009 at 4:03 PM
Kelly said...: Wow, thank you so much for sharing this! I appreciate your honesty. It is soo hard to wait, but it's so worth it in the end. I've heard so many great things about Beth Moore's Esther study...I really want to do it. I will definitely continue praying for you. You are on my list of several girls wanting/trying/waiting to get pregnant that I pray for everyday!
{{hugs}}; October 22, 2009 at 5:27 PM
Hilary said...: Oh, how my heart goes out to you :( I know what it feels like to be impatient waiting for a positive pregnancy test.
And Barclay, I am so sorry about your mis-carriage :( I'm sorry you had to experience that. I'm sure you know from my blog, but I too had a miscarriage Oct. 2006. It took until Jan. 2009 for us to get pregnant again! I was very impatient for a long time. But one day, I woke up filled with God's peace and knew it was all about His timing..not mine.
How great that you are learning that right now. It's hard though, isn't it? But so worth it...God wants to bless us (you!) more than we can even imagine.
You are in my prayers as you grieve the loss of your precious baby and as you wait upon the Lord for the perfect timing to increase your family.
Thank you for your honesty...; October 23, 2009 at 10:32 PM