Last Wednesday

was a day I will not soon forget. That morning I skipped breakfast, except to eat the last few bites of my kid's gluten free rice krispies, and I just did not feel well. Honesly, I hadn't been feeling well for a while. The Sunday before I thought I had some kind of stomach bug. A few days before that I thought that maybe I hadn't been cooking my meat well enought. I just felt sick. Well, last Wednesday was no exception. I felt bad. But, life went on. School was done, snacks packed, and off we went to Bible Study, where I felt so darn tired. I mean pooped! In fact during the last half our I was taking notes, well, trying to take notes, but my eyes kept closing and my head kept dropping, and my notes were just illegible scribbles on a page, and that's when it hit me . . . I'm pregnant! I knew I had to be pregnant. I felt sick, I felt tired, I felt like a pregnant lady. So after Bible study we joined our dear friends for lunch, and then I went by CVS to get a pregnancy test. I had to pee so bad, I thought I might accidentally pee in my pants at the check out!! Thankfully that didn't happen, but I unwrapped the box and the test on the way home and ran in the house to the bathroom as soon as I could! I didn't even get the kids out of the car! Sure enough, there was a cross . . . not a line on the test.

Shock!

It wasn't that we didn't want more kids, because we did. However, we also wanted a little space between kids. It wasn't that I didn't feel pregnant, because I did, it was just a shock to see that test. The crazy part (WARNING: this may be too much information, proceed at your own risk) is that I never had a cycle after Michael was born. I guess it was from all of that nursing. Did I know you can get pregnant nursing, of course. But I had never not had a cycle between babies before, so I just figured I would worry about birth control after I had that first cycle.

Anyway, here I am. Pregnant. I don't know for sure how far along I am, somewhere between 6 and 10 weeks it seems. My midwife has a plan to figure that out without an ultrasound. There is a good chance that this baby will be born either towards the end of May or the first part of June. Yes, June. This may well be my 3rd June baby. It seems that September is a really good month for Luke and I :)

Later that day I wrapped up my pregnancy test in tissue paper. Wrapped the tissue paper in a box. Wrapped the box in a bag. Put the bag in another box, Wrapped the box with ribbon, and left it on the kitchen table for Luke when he got home. When he came home, he asked what it was and I just told him to open the box. When he got down to it . . .

Shock!

Then he smiled and said, "Hooray!" I love that man. I love the way he reacted to that news. He is such a great man. And an awesome Daddy.

Kids take work, so much work. They require money. They take up all kinds of time, energy, effort. They push us to our limits emotionally, phyically, spiritually. But they bring with them joy, love, laughter, enlightenment, relationship. They teach us about ourselves, and about our God, even about our parents and our grandparents. Raising children is good for the heart, good for the soul, it is good. Children are a gift from the Lord. They are a precious treasure that bring back ten fold what you put into them. I am honored to carry a child in my tummy. I am humbled to have another little one under my watch and care. I am excited to see how this child changes our family. And I am eager to teach this child in the way he/she should go.

Praise the Lord! Let all that is within me praise the Lord. His timing is perfect. His love covers my sin. His word lights my path. His way is good. Praise the Lord!