All that happened in June

Well, June was a month of happening as you might have noticed in the past few posts.  It began with dear friends visiting from Oklahoma with their three-soon-four munchkins.  The amount of wildlife we saw with them was phenomenal. 

After our friend's departure, we left for a couple days to go on a "family vacation" which was actually glorified truck shopping.  Since we live so far away from anything, we had to spend the night in areas of the state that had trucks for sale and drove around to car lots for 2 1/2 days.  Alas, we still haven't found anything.  

This vacation ended for me when I hopped onto a Seattle-bound plane for my dear friend, Jennifer's, wedding.  Jen was my college roommate all four years.  She is an absolute treasure.  Here I am with her and her sister, Heather.  Excuse my red puffy eyes, I bawled like a baby.  It was such a beautiful day and she was a glowing bride.  I've been praying for her husband long before I knew his name!

Jen wasn't the only college friend there!  Some of my closest college roommates and friends were there from far and wide.  I haven't seen many of them since graduation 6 years ago.  What a crazy and fun reunion :-)

I came home where Doug picked me up and we immediately drove three hours to another dealership, got turned out of Costco (they close at 5pm on Saturday - who knew?), bought food at Wal-Mart then drove another three hours home.  It was kind of miserable to tell the truth.  But it was wonderful to see my little family again.

The next morning, we had our cake after church and discovered if our little person is a boy or girl?  And four days later, I was on a plane again headed to Orlando for TGCW12 and to see my sister Heidi!  The first day before the conference started, she showed me around Ligonier Ministries where she works with their Reformation Bible College branch.  I'm a little proud of her.  I also could not open my eyes in the sunlight that day.

After Orlando, I was off to Greenville, SC to see my sister Marie, her husband Michael and my nephews Tobias, Joram & Simon.  You just have to catch babies when they are little or they will suddenly be 5 years old.  It was fantastic to visit with all of them!

And, at long last, back home again.  The flights had some rather awful moments, the highlight being my puking all over myself 15 minutes into an hour long flight.  No, there wasn't a barfy bag to be had.  Believe me, I frantically searched.  And it only continued being pretty awful until I was at last in the arms of my beloved with my babies hugging my legs.

The last few days of June were again busy with work, parties and cleaning, but today I'm just lying low.  My pregnant body hurts.  June was a month to be remembered.  I can't believe all the people I was blessed to see and the places I was able to go.  I'm glad to be home, though.  Summer is here!

TGCW12

When I first saw that The Gospel Coalition was having a women’s conference in Orlando, my heart bounded for joy.  My sister lives near Orlando, so with housing covered, the price became feasible.  I registered and then began saving for my plane ticket by cleaning hotel rooms and waitressing on days that Doug could study at home and watch the kids.  Around Christmas, my mother-in-law from Colorado offered to watch the kids during the time I would be gone – Hallelujah!  God worked out so many details to get me to TGCW12 (The Gospel Coalition Women 2012).

Just the pre-conference was worth every penny.  Tim & Kathy Keller, Don Carson and John Piper – for a pre-conference, mind you – spoke on topics close to their heart: “Marriage in Gospel Focus”, “Preserving the Gospel”, and “The Search for Joy and the Supremacy of God in the Gospel” respectively.  Phew.  And then the actual conference began.

I started crying the minute the Getty’s broke out in song and never really stop choking up all weekend.  This conference was water to my soul.  I was hopped up on pregnancy hormones and a $10 sandwich then overcome by the glorious vision of almost 4,000 women from countries around the world praising our One True God in unity.  There was no flowery, pinky, glittery theme of love, marriage, shoes and shopping - only the Word of God taught as the holy and awesome authority on Himself.  Not that they didn't completely understand women...there was ice cream!  (This is my sister, Heidi.  We attended together!)

The topic was “Here Is Our God: God’s Revelation of Himself in Scripture”.  The plenary speakers worked beautifully through the Old and New Testament with texts from Exodus 19, 1 Kings 8, Isaiah 6, Psalm 40, 2 Corinthians 12, Matthew 17:1-15; Revelation 4-5 and then Revelation 21-22.  Each was stunning and each only a small glimpse of our infinitely terrifying, forgiving, holy, delivering, personal, transcendent and spectacular God - the One who has come and is coming again.

It was at the same time far to much and yet never enough.  I wanted to hole up for perhaps a hundred years and ponder it all but I also wanted to hear it again and again, more and more, the Gospel of Truth.  Thankfully, I can hear all the sessions again as they will be posted on TGC’s website within the next few weeks.  And that means you can hear them, too, which makes me beyond joyful.

The caliber of the speakers was amazing.  But even more amazing was seeing such brilliant woman glowing with Christ seeking to have His word rightly taught in a Biblical context.   I think I heard “complementarian” once but in this particular case, actions spoke volumes louder than words.  The men present - speakers, staff, volunteers and husbands - were displaying loving, sacrificial, servant leadership in a powerful way.  The dad with the three boys, one strapped to him, one in a stroller, one at his feet, kissed his wife goodbye as she headed to one of the sessions.  I told him he was a hero and he is.  I promise, guys, this type of conference can only result in mutual benefit.  Thank you.

Someone Twittered about all the cute pregnant women attending the conference.  Oh my goodness, they were everywhere!  And so were lots of babies in strollers and slings!  It was gorgeous to see another future generation being raised up hearing God’s word.   I’m not sure *I* was one of those cute pregnant women, but if you saw a preggo with streaky mascara and frizzy Florida hair, that would have been me.  I had this daring thought of gathering all the expectant moms and those with children on stage for a group picture but, alas, I had to leave 30 minutes into Don Carson’s last session in order to catch my flight.  Each time I heard a crying baby, I prayed for it.  I can’t help but think I wasn’t the only one praying, either.  Raising babies to love Christ is a massive eternal work.

There is so much more to say but if you're interested, the plenary session videos, audio workshops and interviews will be available on thegospelcoalition.org.  May you be blessed by them as much as I was.  I'll sum up with: This conference didn’t motivate me towards something to "do", but instead showed me Someone to pursue.  That makes a world of difference.

 

If You Give a Fox a Sirloin...

If you give a fox a sirloin - well maybe the fatty bits of sirloin...
she will come back and want some bacon scraps.
The bacon scraps will entice her to come back
for some baked chicken skins
which will lead to leftover pork roast
from a picky toddler the next night,
and she will know that you know
she has three little kits just down the road,
and that you're in a weakened state of pregnancy,
and cannot resist her chocolatey eyes
and expectant ears and shabby coat,
so she'll come every night for some little tidbit,
which you may or may not warm in the microwave
much to the mockery of your husband,
but you won't care
because there is a sense of companionship in motherhood
and you are friends in a small sort of way
even if she scares the bejeebers out of you at night
by jumping on the table and staring at you through the window.

Twinkie Time!

The Gospel Coalition Women's Conference '12 will take a much longer post but I simply HAD to share pictures of my adorable nephews I visited after the conference! 

I've shared about my sister and her husband Michael's paralysis through Guillian-Barre Syndrome, a trial that started over two years ago.  Progress is slow, but it is still coming.  He can breath on his own for starters (the trach was removed after about 6 months) and that improvement has continued all the way to teaching full-time, driving and changing diapers.  He is still pursuing walking but that has been the longest and steepest learning curve.  Oh, and he's going to start his second Master's degree this fall, because he's bored or something (haha).

On May 3rd, after a rough pregnancy, Marie and Michael welcomed twin boys - Joram and Simon!  Simon was in the NICU for two and a half weeks due to his heart not working properly but they are now both home and hearty little fellows.  I couldn't wait to see them and was extremely blessed to be able to fly up from Orlando after my visit with Heidi & the conference to spend two wonderful days with my Garreaus.

Isn't it almost to much preciousness???

 Here is Tobias.  He is two.  

His favorite pastime is to spell out every word he sees.

He called me "Nan-nan".

 This kid is a hoot.  Here he is watching Muzzy.  

He's bilingual: French and English.

  Joram is cuddly and outgoing.  I caught a smile!

Simon is sweet and quiet.  He is 9 minutes younger than Joram.

 Such amazing little boys!  You can see how different they look.

Joram Scott

 Simon Clark

I'm one blessed Auntie.  I can't believe my little sister has three boys!

See me holding three boys? 

This only motivated me more to build a commune in which all of my siblings and their families would live.  

I guess that will have to wait until eternity, but in the meantime we're all pursuing eternity where God has placed us :-)

And We're Having a...

We had an ultrasound on Wednesday.

Everything looks great!  Baby #3 is happy, healthy and wiggly.  

And it doesn't like ultrasound dopplers, either.  It kept kicking it.

Here's the bump!

Going with the trend, we decided to have a "gender reveal" party after church.  (If someone comes up with a better name, it might become more popular - ha!)  Since we already have one of each, this baby didn't have any pressure.  Neither Doug or I could tell from the sonogram but we had the sonogram technician write it down on a piece of paper and seal it in an envelope.  I stuck it in the car's glove box and tried to forget about it - which turned out to be easier than I thought since I promptly flew to Washington for a dear friend's wedding.

Anyway, I stressed about this cake a tad because I didn't trust a baker (my sister's sister-in-law got a blue cake when the sonogram and note from them clearly said "girl").  So I decided to trust it to a friend!  To make it easy, I purchased an angel food cake along with some blueberry filling and strawberry filling.  I had my friend fill the center with either strawberries for girl or blueberries for boy and then slather the top with whipped cream, blueberries and strawberries.

So after church...

 ...we had BLUEBERRY shortcake!

 Yay!!!

Charissa is smiling down there.  She's a happy little minority.

Brandt is obviously excited although I'm not sure he quite gets it.

 Hello Baby Boy Fourtner!

 We should have known it was a boy with those big guns ;-)

I do love blueberries.

Here's the note!

We're all so excited and can't wait to meet this baby around November 10th!

God Gives Us Rainbows

It's been a while since I last posted.  I miss blogging.  The reasons I haven't come here are numerous.  They have caused me to sit down to type and words either can't come or I am so honest what I say scares me.  It's been a hard past few months.

But when God brought this to our sky this morning I knew I had to share because His love and faithfulness simply overwhelmed me.

Because I prayed for this rainbow.  This exact rainbow.  I knew it was mine right when I saw it.

We read the story of Noah's Ark three days ago during night time devotions.  Charissa sighed when she saw the picture of the rainbow saying she missed seeing rainbows.  We haven't seen one since moving here to Cooke.  I prayed silently that God would give Charissa a rainbow.  I knew it was a little thing, there are so many more important things for Him to do.  But He gave us a rainbow this morning.  Charissa was excited, but I was so full of wonder it hurt.  God answered my prayer so quickly and right in our backyard.  I stood in my pajamas on the porch watching as the colors intensified and then split into a double rainbow.  I was spellbound.

Early this winter I struggled so much with my own inadequacy for what God has called me to as a wife, mother and our ministry.  I was stretched thin, filled with depression and guilt as my arms ached for the baby I would never hold. 

But God has only wooed me through His Word, His faithfulness, His love.  Now the bird's sing outside as a new little person flutters with life in my womb.

This rainbow reminded me to keep looking up with expectation.

I just saw this link up and I knew I had to share :-)

Happy Birthday, Man-oh!

I realize this is a week late but these were my thoughts on April 20^th.

**************

Sweet boy.  I sit by your crib on the last night you are one.  You hold my hand tightly through the rungs of your crib as I softly sing you hymns, my thumb smoothing your hand as I keep time to the rhythm.  I’ve kept time to your life Little Man, as well as I can.  But it can get so fast.  You will be two tomorrow.  

You were born on a quiet April evening.  That morning, I walked with your sister, Aunt Laurel and your Nana in the fresh morning air, feeling my body flex with the coming power of labor.  As the strength grew, I planted seedlings in the garden and waited knowing you would come in time.  The labor was fast.  I will never forget the moment you were laid on my chest.  You didn’t seem pleased by the chill around you but at the sound of my voice you immediately stopped fussing and opened your eyes wide.  I propped you in front of me and we stared at each other.  We all stared, your Daddy, Nana and me.  I don’t know how long we were like that - 20 minutes?  An hour?  It seemed like forever in a moment.  The miracle of you left us spellbound.  Now we are here with our eyes meeting again.  Yours blink with sleep.  Mine fill with tears as I remember that first time.  

You are such a joy to us.  I don’t know how you can be so different from your sister and yet just as sweet and wonderful.  You are all boy with a love for engine noises, buffalo, and outside.  We joke that if you were left outside with a sippy cup of milk and some goldfish crackers you’d live happily ‘til your dying day.  You do all things with your whole heart as you run, crash, play, and love.  Your strong hugs and kisses are a highlight of our lives.

Passion describes you.  Your name, Brandt, is the maiden name of your Daddy’s grandma a woman who always spoke the truth in love and thought the best of everyone.  She said her father, Alex Brandt, was passionate for the Gospel and was the godliest man she had ever known.  I’d say she gave her father reason to praise for her own passionate faith.  Brandt means “sword, fiery torch, or beacon”.  We pray you will be just that for God’s truth.

Your middle name is Andrew after my father, an amazing man who has passionately pursued the furtherance of the Gospel both in his work and raising his 13 children to be servants of the King.  Andrew means “manly” and that you are with your barrel chest and adventurous spirit.  In a culture were masculinity is losing its God-given strength, may you be a manly beacon pointing others upward to God’s design.  

I finish my song and bow my head whispering a prayer for you.  Your thick lashes close over chocolate brown eyes with a deep sigh of peace.  It is your last night being one.  We cannot wait to see what all your tomorrows have in store.

Happy birthday, Man-oh.  We love you - passionately.