early voting

I was supposed to get up early this morning, but the fall chill trapped me in the warmth of my bed next to my babe. Ah, these are the most wonderful things in life, cuddling with my little nursling. It only lasts for a little while but its a memory that can be put in your pocket for a rainy day-- that rainy day being when your sweet child is a monster screaming "I hate you!"



This is our fifth child, and probably our last. Maybe...oh, I don't know!



I name all of our children accordsing to what their life means to me on my journey with God. Its a secret name, and one that my heart gives them. For my first daughter it was Consecration to God. She was the embarkment of our life (my husband and mine) as a family in the kingdom. She was our first great gift from the Father and it was our duty to raise her as one in service to Him. It doesn't mean that we will make that decision for her, But should she come to us someday and express that she wants to devote her life as a missionary in some hostile country, then I will have to remember that her life doesn't belong to me, and that she is first a child of God. It was also her that God showed himself to be the giver of life, both by healing my body and by putting her in my diseased womb.

My second daughter's name would be God With Us. Throughout my pregnancy I was so fearful. Yet, she was my only child that arrived right on time. The labor was horrible, because of extensive scarring from cervical surgury that I had right after my first daughter. Through horrendous pain and prayer our daughter was born at home, safely. Through that excruciating, ongoing pain I learned to trust God, because I had no other choice. Immediately after her birth, she was ready to eat and clamped onto my breast hard. This one was born hungry.

to be continued...