38 (and a half) weeks. . . and we're READY

I love my husband Benjamen. :)

This is less than 38 weeks. I think 37.

But this child may decide to wait until 42 weeks. We don't know.

But my belly is wiggling with baby's anticipation of joining Mommy and Daddy in the great outdoors (aka not hotel Mom anymore).

And my body, not my brain, or our baby, gets to decide when little Delpling comes out, so the patience has begun! I'm past ready to do this thing, though, because 1) I want to be able to stay asleep unless woken up (whereas right now, I'm not sleeping all night) 2) I'm ready to meet this child, find out it's gender and give it a name (and so is Ben)! 3) I will have something to do with my time besides keep up with America's Got Talent, washing dishes, and reading the Screwtape Letters (which is not a bad choice). 4) ready to have my body back? Yes!!! Especially so I can stand up with much more agility, put my wedding rings back on my finger, and move in the direction of running again (after healing up, of course)

We have had little prep-labor spasms (mucous plugger showing up, back achies, Braxton Hicks almost all the time) but nothing is starting and staying started. This is where the patience continues.

Right now I need to go sit on my hands and knees so the baby moves a little more in the direction it's supposed to be relaxating (so labor is more "comfortable" (attempt to be without backache)). And drink water and play Solitaire until my husband comes home from his practicum.

Tomorrow is 36 weeks!

So this baby could decide to come anytime now!
I'm officially very round, tired often, and ready to push this baby out. We'll be doing a child birth education class at the beginning of September though, so hopefully it will wait until after then. We are almost set (cloth diapers in the mail, still, but the plan is to use the disposables we received at our baby showers for the first few weeks while I recover and don't have the mobility to do laundry every other day (we don't have a washer or dryer)).

34 weeks

Right before 36 weeks

Baby keeps kicking, sometimes when I am leaning over and it kicks it actually slightly hurts. I have not developed a waddle yet, but I'm probably getting close. My hips are sore as of late.

Ben is getting ready to go back to school for the semester, reduce his hours at work, and become a daddy! He's most excited about the last thing. We are looking to apply for Medicaid for the child, since we are both under our parent's plans and cannot add a child to those. This gets a little complicated because of the waiting time that often occurs with medicaid. We can't really afford anything else, though.

We have our midwife appointment on Tuesday, and I'm excited for them to tell me that my uterus is huge. I've had normal appointments, normal blood pressure, normal weight gain, and have had an uneventful pregnancy besides the normal aches and pains of a growing uterus (both abdominal, back, and hips), extreme hunger (in the middle of the night), emotional roller coasters, and having trouble sleeping.

Oh, and I got my trial run with a four month old baby boy from babysitting on Thursday--everything except breastfeeding. but swaddling, napping feeding, and two older brothers were the main focus of the day, and I was tired afterward! It's a bit bizarre to hold a baby while another one is kicking you from the inside. Oh and I got the poop blowout. Yay! Four dry heaves later, the diaper was off and all the poop removed from the little squirming (but happily content) body, and a new outfit was on.

We met with our pediatrician that we'll work with as we remain in Harrisonburg and that was a good experience for both Ben and I, and the doctor had much experience and could discuss that with us, and we appreciated it.

So in conclusion, this baby will most likely show up in September, within a week either way of it's due date, and we are excited to meet our little munchkin. :) 

And I'm ready to go to bed.

Patience

If someone had told me last December that I would weigh over 200 pounds in July I would have rolled my eyes and said something along the lines of "Yeah, right."

But here I am, 32 weeks pregnant, tipping 200 on the scale!

And so while I used the elliptical machine at the gym and felt my legs rub together I have to sigh and remind myself that this is just part of the season, part of this time. My body will realign itself after Delpling is here, and I need to be patient for the arrival of this child.

It needs me to gain this weight so that it can be healthy long term. I know this. And I am doing good things for my body in the mean time. Like exercising. Not running as long as I'd like to, as often as I'd like to, but I'm exercising. Getting my heart rate up and stretching out my body, prepping for this baby's arrival.

Pregnancy, as of now, has been one of God's ways of reminding me to slow down and savor. Though I want to weigh less so I can run four miles, I need to remember to savor and enjoy this baby wiggling in my womb, reminding me of God's crazy glory and creativity in making it!

Everything is beautiful in its time. 

Odd Jobs and what we've been up to!

My work schedule has changed over the past month, I went from babysitting full time to no time, and now I'm doing odd jobs for people at my church. These are small jobs, but they are steady and are accomodating my growing belly. :) Ben is getting full time work at his job at Family Christian Bookstore, and may possibly accept a promotion.

Right now, I am pet-sitting for two different families, while they are on vacation, and will be doing some housecleaning and plant watering in the next few weeks. Besides those things, I've been up to the normal stuff-- baking and washing dishes, cleaning up the house (not so much). I made kidney beans, brown rice, and my normal bread (with some brown rice in it) yesterday. I also decided I wanted to start knitting a baby sweater. :) Yay me!

I'm going to post some pics from my most recent escapades. Enjoy!

This is the space ship that Henry and I made. Lots of tape, cardboard, and toilet paper rolls. I'm pretty proud of myself (we just worked from a picture in a magazine (seen in bottom right).

This is how I stabilized my structure... making triangles (thank you 7th grade science class!)

Again, using triangles.

Henry with his fully decorated plane, using colored paper and glue to create the patterns that were in the picture of the magazine. It's a space ship from Star Wars.

Rosie, my companion for three times a day for the next week. :) We get along great.

This is NOT an animal I'm petsitting. This is the groundhog that still prevails on our landlord's garden, seen through it's hideout in the shed.

That would be my 31 week, 3 day belly. I could feel the baby growing today.

Ben and I went to the Creation Museum in Petersburg Kentucky. Here I am with a Veliocoraptor

We found a onesie for Delpling!

An alpaca at the petting zoo. It was quite hot while we were there. He is only napping, not sleeping.

Benjamen with out new pet in front of the Creation Museum!

This is Lucy the "missing link" according to evolutionists. In reality, she's just another handsome ape. Just look at the skull!

Yes, they admitted pregnant women to the Creation Museum too! I'm looking wide!

My buddy King David.

King David's shoes. . . I can tell that he's the son of Jesse. Jesse had those same shoes!!! (and still does) lol

The apostle Paul. "See with what big writing in my own hand!"

Hate, LGBTQ Rights, Christ, and Living the will of God

Attending EMU moved my opinions on homosexuality all over the field. I love my friends dearly, regardless of their sexuality, and would stand for their rights. When a gay acquaintance put on a senior theater show depicting the discrimination he experienced at his church after coming out, I remember seething with anger at this superficial judging of a person.

And now I recognize that this is justified, but not like the LGBTQ community may want to see it.

The issues portrayed in the theater show were helpful, painting a picture I hadn't seen, helping me see pain I hadn't seen. These things were good. It also brought to light the issue of how members of the body of Christ are supposed to address homosexuality. And it is not through discrimination.* I say this with a disclaimer. I do believe if a person is not following the word of God, and also the will of God, there is room for guidance. But guidance has love, and relationship. Discrimination has neither of these. Discrimination shows fear and dances on the line of hate. Hate is the product of fear.

If a person is attending a church and comes out as homosexual, instead of labeling, the fruit need to be examined. Is this person following Christ fully, do other members see the fruits of the Spirit in them? If the members do, and the person continues to serve God in all aspects of their life, truly seeking God's will in their life rather than their own will in their sexuality, then I feel there is no need to remove them from leadership positions or participation. What I think is the issue in churches is that people spend too much time worrying about 'a certain person who is homosexual' in leadership rather than being prayerful and careful about all of the other people put into leadership who are heterosexual, and have the capabilities of sinning and leading others to sin as any person.

It's hard to read the Bible, believe it as the word of God, AND follow it. While I was at EMU, I found myself deciding that certain passages were only culturally relevant* (and there are some that are just culturally relevant, but it is not reasonable justification to say that all of Paul's writings about women and men's relationships or homosexuality are simply cultural. Remember "Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever." This means that what He said through Paul in the 1st century is also relevant now, and should be followed as such).

I've committed my share of prideful sins with my relationship with Ben prior to being married. We didn't wait. We "couldn't find the reason" in the Bible, because it didn't state anywhere that sexual relations in a committed relationship was wrong. I knew it was in the back of my head, but that messed with my desires, and I didn't let the little voice of Wisdom speak most powerfully in my heart. Eventually, we recognized our sin and regretted our poor decisions and lack of repentance prior to marriage and after parents and friends came to us in Christ, reminding us we could always turn from it. So now, as you probably well know, we are expecting our first child in September. We will always have a humbling story to tell this child.

The point I make with these past two paragraphs is it's very easy to frame the Bible to meet our desires or our hopes, the easier way of doing things, our way of doing things. I feel that this is the way it is with homosexuality. First of all, the world that we live in is sinful, fallen because of Adam, so there is corruption in everything, including sexuality. I'm not saying that a person with homosexual tendencies is "more corrupted" than a heterosexual person: we are the same in corruption. Just as someone with homosexual tendencies has the capability to lust after, and have sex with someone of the same gender, so does a heterosexual person.

The path Christ has called us to live is separated from our sex-soaked society. It is a path of purity, where sex can be enjoyed and love made, within a marriage between a man and a woman. That's a hard statement for most people who are heterosexual. I can only imagine how depressing and harsh and discriminating that can seem to a person who is homosexual. Is life fair? No, we live in a fallen world. But is God just? YES! and you know what else? God promises not to let us be tempted for more than we can handle.(1 Corinthians 10:13).

So just as many heterosexual Christians can handle being chaste for their entire lives if they do not find their Christ-given human soul mate (and instead Christ fills that role for them), so can homosexual Christians.

This next idea (which has been displayed in action by this story http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/when-homosexuality-became-a-man) seems impossible, to all people who are homosexual and probably to most heterosexual people. But it's the idea that a homosexual man or woman falls so in love with Christ that they leave the life and love sucking lifestyle that they used to serve and seek unconditional love with Him. So much so they seek relationships like God and the Bible describes as holy. I found this story beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time, but you could see the fruit of God in them! Amen to that!

Relationships aren't just about the sexual aspect. Anyone who has been in a relationship or a marriage understands that, and I know that homosexual couples also understand that. But can a person who is homosexual find the unconditional love of Christ as the third cord braiding their relationship together? Can a couple seek first God's kingdom and His Word FIRST and still be in that relationship? You know what the Bible says, God says, and I feel the Holy Spirit speaking for me now? The answer to that is no. Why is the answer no? Because God is just. This world is sinful, corrupted, cultured to say "Do what YOU want, do what feels good."

But instead "Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Romans 12:2

My Take on Evolution

So I've been married to Ben for two months on July 5th, and during this amount of time, we haven't been that employed (some part time jobs), so we've spent a lot of time together (which has been absolutely wonderful. :)). One of Ben's hobbies is learning about Creationism, watching Ken Ham speak (answersingenesis.org), and watching debates between old earth and young earth creationists, and creationists and evolutionists. So naturally I've been watching them with him.

Now, for those of you who knew me at the beginning of my EMU college years (2009-2010), you might recall I was a self defined liberal. As I look back, I recall that there were many questions I had about Genesis, and Jonah, and all of the other crazy amazing things that God did in the Old and New Testament. I didn't have the answers, and nor did I have the time to pursue them. You know how I filled the gaps? I plugged in "Oh, we're not supposed to take the Bible literally." and "You know, I believe that God had the power to do that, but I'm not sure it happened." And I plugged in evolution. How did God create the world in just six literal 24 hour days? "Oh, a day can mean a thousand years according to God's word. I don't think day really means day in this context. I mean, I think that God could have done it, but in reality, that's not what I really think. I think that Darwin's theory of evolution definitely was how the world was created. Over a long period of time."

Little did I know about evolution. . . and this "theory". Darwin's theory exemplifies micro-evolution. There is so much variation within a species. Think of wolves to poodles (yes, that is a KenHam reference. Get over it). Lions can breed with tigers. Donkeys can breed with horses.

The fact is: Darwin's observational science points out natural selection, and micro-evolution to the T. These are clear. We see them all the time. But when it comes to macro evolution, (change from one species to another, the evidence stops. If the evidence existed, we would see transitional animals in the fossils, in the present! But presently, there are no transitional fossils.

And if we talk biochemistry, getting down to the nitty gritty of DNA, evolutionists can pull the "mutation" card. But the truth is, they can't find any mutations that have occurred that have added to the genomes, or have benefitted them. Mutations remove genetic material (which is what has been happening for thousands of years since the animals got off the ark. Thus why poodles exist (that, and artificial selection by humans. . . do you think those animals would survive in the wild?)

Dating methods: evolutionists will also argue that their radioactive decay and dating methods are sound, and that's evidence enough for an old earth. But of the dating methods, these are fallible, especially the ones that they use. . . How could a dinosaur bone be 20 million years old and still have connective tissue? (Look it up!) They also took the layers created by the lava layers (just laid and cooled) by Mt. Saint Helens and said that those layers, according to their technique, were millions of years old.

Could science be fallible? Who said humans had it right? Why did the question of God creating the earth even come up? Could it be because sin entered the world.

One of the biggest problems with the Old-Earth, but God still created it view is that it would mean that death, thorns, and cancer all existed before the fall of man. The literal view of the Bible states that these things came into play after humans sinned. If they came before sin, that would mean that God created them and said they were good. Does God think that death, suffering, and cancer are good? No! God is just! (see Ezekiel 18), but also think of how much he labored about having to kill the whole world with a flood, and Sodom and Gomorrah. The Bible says that God is a loving God, slow to anger and rich in love. But if we take Genesis figuratively, then we take the entire Bible figuratively.

The Flood. So this is one of those highly debated things, and we never hear about it in a science classroom (more likely in a history classroom as a story). But instead of the billions of years plot, laying rock layers, plate tectonics, animals dying year after year, the various periods of dinosaur times, could it be that dinosaurs lived with humans? There is evidence of this! Cave drawings, stories passed down from generations. Where do you think dragons came into play? And could it be that those layers were caused by a global flood, burying animals and plants in silt and fossilizing them? That would be a much simpler way of putting them. But humans have to be complex. We have to be smarter than the previous generation.

Do you want to know why the word dinosaur isn't in the Bible? Because the word wasn't created until the 1800s (at the discovery of dinosaur bones). In the King James Bible, they use the word 'dragon', but modern translations change it to "jackal". Don't ask me why. The Bible states, in many locations, that there were flying and swimming serpents (at least in the King James, they do change them in translation for modern times (NIV, ESV).

I could go on and on, because I have been learning a lot, and honestly, I find it more sound than many other discussions. Have you ever watched a debate between an evolutionist and a creationist? There is a lot of information that is out there that isn't discussed much, (and there's also a lot of dissing from evolutionists and atheists, rather than sound debating). I think there is much to learn.

Another issue that has come up is that all this information, all this discussion... is it necessary for the kingdom of God? Some say no. And that's because they are not sound in their own beliefs in this area. Isn't God's Word stronger than any double edged sword? So shouldn't we let it be our sword to fight against the evil one? Why diss the Bible, limit God's sovereignty, and praise humans, and with that our secular world by saying evolution is true? If we don't believe a piece of the Bible, doesn't that give people the right to argumenatively rip it out of our hands? If we don't let God's word be Truth in our lives, then we might as well not even read the book, or follow it, because we don't let it be our guide in this way. We might use it for morality, but hey, someone might try to argue that away too.

I encourage you to do your own research. There is a vast amount of ambiguous research by evolutionists that is easily reachable through the internet, but if you need to find some information that counters that the start painting the picture of creationism as a possibility and reality, check out answersingenesis.org.

I once heard a person say, I'd rather be on the right side of wrong than the wrong side of wrong. Meaning, I would prefer to believe something that God did, rather than saying that He didn't do it, and I get to heaven and He did. I think this is true for this case. How serious are you abour your faith? How much of your life is focused around following God, and His word, seeking His kingdom, and how much of it is centered around doing the things you want to do, with the money that you earned, and with the people that you want to be friends with? Isn't that too comfortable?


So, my disclaimer for this entire post is that, if I want people to read it, I'm not going to get into references, or search for quotations. Most of this information has been learned from various videos and articles on the Answers in Genesis website (which, by the way, are written by people with PhDs in all of the different levels of science). I am also not a scientist. I am a learner, and these are tidbits of what I've been learning. If you seek to debate, do your research. 

I've heard it said that you need more faith to believe in evolution than in Jesus Christ. There's more evidence for Jesus than evolution? Hallelujah.

PB&J, and water guns

Ben and I have been up to all sorts of things since my last post!
Mainly,  I've been working. This past week I babysat one of my families of three kids Monday through Thursday and then Saturday also.

The day would start around 7:30 and end around 5:15, and then I would go home, snuggle with my husband and crash around 9:30. During the day with the kids, I made them toast, I made them cereal, I made them PB & J (they really test my culinary skills) and try to figure out ways to turn the TV off (NO MORE DISNEY Channel! EVER!) and to get them to not fight (and maybe put some clothes on.)

The middle child decided that he wanted to be in charge of walking the dogs in for the summer, and he is supposed to do that before noon. Thus, my job is to walk one of the dogs with him, and we walk around the block (a little bit more than half a mile, I'd say). So I can usually get him dressed. The youngest, on the other hand will run around in his underwear and will only get dressed if he has to, and that usually doesn't happen, unless we go to the park. We did this on Friday (which was a nice break for me).

I've been reading books while I'm at their house and they are watching TV and require little attention (unless I hear screaming of crying). I've read through all the books that the mom owns by Dean Karnezes, an ultra marathon runner. I got back into Experiencing God, and also have continued my Bible reading, finishing Amos, Obadiah, and Galatians.

On Friday, I had off, so I made bierrocks, (and also bread) something Ben hadn't had before. He liked them, which was good because I figured we could have them the next day as part of our meal plan with the kids (who, again, requested PB & J).

We drove out to Canaan Valley Resort, where the mom and boyfriend were going to be running a 40 mile trail race the next day. ON the way, I was feeling pretty carsick, and Ben happened to scent the car with a fart, and I dry heaved a bit from the smell (this of course, made him lose it. He thought it was the most hilarious thing in the world.) We got in, got acquainted with the area, and then were too tired to do anything but sleep. We were in a room that was connected to the room the kids were in, we got to hang out with one more kid that day, whose dad was also doing the run.

Once they were all awake, I gave them breakfast (notice I did not say "made". it was bagels), and saved Danny, the extra child, from eating chocolate cake for breakfast (it was the only food that was available to him. Oh dear). Then I convinced them that we were going to go swimming in the morning and in the afternoon. But they had to digest breakfast, so they played with water guns (and I convinced them to change into their swimwear.). Once all the boys were soaked to the skin, we decided to go to the pool. Gigi brough her sketchbook to the pool but then decided that she would swim with Rowie, who was the youngest and wasn't going to be able to swim in the deep end.

They brought the water guns to the pool. Enough said. I got bored and Ben and I needed to check out of the room we were in by noon, so I made them all get out and move out of the two attaching rooms by noon. Then I made them lunch (PB & J, anyone?) and they decided to play a version of the Hunger games with water guns. and guns guns guns! I got so sick of those freaking guns. After the second round of the Hunger Games, we went back to the pool and they swam while I watched to see when the parents would come through the finish line (which was by the pool.We waited, and waited, and 4 pm came and went, and then it was 5 and the dad of the extra child I had came through the finish line, and then the mom's boyfriend came through. I went to talk to him, even though he'd just finished the race and was clearly exhausted, and told him I was leaving, gave him all the keys that I had and told him where the kids were.

Then I walked back to the room, and removed my sunburnt, sick-of-bierrocks, chair-ridden husband from the porch, and we went to dinner at a seafood restaurant down the road from the resort we were in. And drove home. On the way home, we were joking about being pulled over for passing on a road with double yellow lines.
Ben's best one-liner: "I like to pass in those lanes because I like the challenge."
Mine: "The two double lines in the middle of the road represent the two lanes in the road, and they both go the same way, representin' how we're supposed to be drivin'. Side by side. I was trying to drive next to you, officer, and instead you pulled me over."

Yep. It was a long Saturday.

Tasty Scripture

This is often what happens in the morning: I read some wonderful passages in the Bible, and i can't put it down. Then all the goodness that I keep reading gets sloughed off because I have other things to do. But when I meditate on it, by writing about it, either in my journal or elsewhere, I come to great conclusions, get super excited about the things that God says through the Bible, and live life fully.

The past few weeks I've been enlightened with an overall theme of a righteous leader: how to be one, how to live like God wants us too, and how to serve others as leaders. This post is not about that, because I feel there is much more scripture that I haven't come across yet that I deeply desire to, that will continue building my thoughts and post (or sermon/book).

This is about 2 Corinthians, which is a quite delicious serving of Scripture. :)

We'll start at chapter four verse seven, although I could start at chapter one verse one and never finish this post before church. This is the passage that talks about Jars of Clay. Not the band. But the band's inspiration. Now I hadn't figured out what Paul meant when he wrote  

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay yo show this all-surpassing power is from God and not us."

Now I have a new Bible since the last time I really thought about that, and there's a commentary. When I read what it said about jars of clay it totally clicked! Humans are made from clay, we are these jars of clay! But it's important to note that instead of gold, silver, cedar, topaz, or bronze, we are clay. This means that we break, we are fallible, as the commentary states.

We carry the treasure of God within us, but it's full proof it's God working through us at any time because we are wimpy jars of clay. We have no capability to be kind to others in the face of persecution, to bless our enemies when they hurl insults at us, or to endure harsh trials. Paul says it so well in the next verse (v8).

"We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."

This is because we have Christ within us! We can persevere through any hard time because we have Christ within us! :)

This next verse I'll be talking about (v13) is great.

"It is written, 'I believed; therefore I have spoken.'" 

Now I'm going to start there: we have this faith in Christ, and so we need to speak about it. It's not just something that we can believe with our whole hearts and not say a word about when we are surrounded by people that are going to "hard-press us from every side." Doesn't God want us to "consider it pure joy when we face hardships of any kind"?

"With the same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence." (13-14)

Faith means speaking. So if you don't speak, do you not have faith? Do you know why we are speaking? Because at our deaths we are going before God  in judgement for the things that we did for the Kingdom. What will you be able to say? Did you speak?

"Therefore do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly,we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen,but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary,but what is unseen is eternal." (v. 16-18)

Does what we look like, what this world looks like, what our homes, our careers, or how our facebooks look like matter? What really matters is our hearts. Where are we in our hearts? Are we pursuing Christ 100% all the time? Then is doesn't matter that your hair line is receding or you can't get rid of that last ten pounds. It doesn't matter that your lawn isn't perfect or you aren't popular enough. It doesn't matter if the audience you reach with your music is small (quality over quantity!). As long as you fix your eyes upon Christ, all that is supposed to happen in due time will happen. In due time. :) But nothing more.

Are you okay with nothing more? Are your wants overcoming letting Christ reign in all of your life?

I'm going to stop there, even though I read two more chapters after that that are chock full of spiritually whole grain goodies!

Cravings, Company, Avocados, Babysitting, and Bread-eating

So the past few days have been rather busy. We've had several people over to our apartment, have fed them and enjoyed their company! We had my grandparents over for chili on Saturday and then our good friends Daniel and Meg over for taco salad on Sunday for dinner. We had a great time, playing Uno and Rook, talking, and giggling. We ended with a prayer for our transitions and for a job for Ben.

I haven't been craving much of anything really, although earlier I had an inclining to cottage cheese and chocolate. But yesterday and the day before, I was craving oven fries. The day before, I decided it would take too long and settled for eating other things. . . several other things. So I decided yesterday that it wouldn't be too much of an issue to make the oven fries. So I sliced up a potato, coated a pan with olive oil, placed the slices on the pan with sea salt and black pepper, stuck it in our tiny toaster oven, set it to 400 degrees and 30 minutes and waited.

In our beautiful bowl from Mexico. :)

They came out nice and toasted, (I flipped once during the cooking time) and I enjoyed them with ketchup. Mmmmm! Totally worth it.

Ben and I have been enjoying a few avocados lately, and last night had guacamole with our taco salad. I decided to keep the pit and see if I could get it to take root and start growing, just for kicks, so I did that today. If you look at it, you will see I did not have any toothpicks on hand, so used paper clips and our (empty :( ) honey jar.

Today I started my second babysitting job. I'm working with two different families this summer, one on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and the other on Tuesday and Thursday. I had a great time today! The kids built a hiding place with stuff animals, pillows, and blankets in the bottom bunk of a bed. We went to the library and signed them up for the Summer reading program, and got some books (and I got a library card!) I helped the oldest boy make a puppet out of an old washcloth (and retaught him to sew). I made them lunch (mac n cheese and fresh peas!). I played two square with the girl (for a little while, and then played two square with the younger boy. And soccer, and ultimate frisbee. And I taught him how to play Rummy. It was an eventful six hours.

Prior to rising in the pans, the beautiful bread.

I made bread yesterday (two loaves), and as it is, there is only one left. There are a couple reasons for this. Reason #1: Ben sliced inch thick slices for Daniel and Meg (and me and himself) last night for after our meal. Reason #2: Ben really likes the bread. Reason #3: I like the bread too, but take smaller slices. Reason #4: Ben thinks the bread is cake.

Chili (modified recipe)

Something I'm good at is improvising. This happens often with recipes because the only grade I receive on them is flavor, and it might as well be the best flavor ever, so I change things to suite the recipe, plus my, and my husband's taste.
In this case, I was using the recipe my mom always made when I grew up for Chili.

I've always loved thicker chili, so I used less water, added more chili, and changed a couple other ingredients. Sorry there aren't any pictures. I was multitasking while making this chili, including having a friend over, breaking and cleaning up a glass jar, band-aiding a cut from the broken glass, and trying not to forget any ingredients.

Grace's Modified Chili
First, I sauteed, in olive oil, the following veggies until they were softened a bit. Didn't want any crunchy celery disrupting the digestion of this chili!
1 medium onion (chopped)
1 clove garlic (i'll do more next time, probably 2 or 3) (minced)
1 green pepper (chopped)
1 stalk celery (chopped finely)

Then I added:
More than a pound of chicken (we roasted it on Sunday, and it was a chunker of a bird. We hadn't finished it yet and so we put it in the soup.)

Then I poured in
prepared black beans (these were made in the crock pot, about 2 cups)
1 can pork n beans
1 can dark kidney beans
1 can tomato soup
1 can diced tomatoes

From there, I added
2 Tblsp chili powder
Salt and pepper

And then I let it simmer for an hour, let the flavors blend (not on heat) for an hour, and then served the chili to my grandparents who were coming for dinner. :) It was delicious. We ate it with Greek yogurt and sharp cheddar cheese as toppings.

Yum. Yum. Yum. There were barely any leftovers.

Pancakes for supper!

 Ben and I decided not to go out for date night because we wanted to save money, so I brought the date night to our home! At the Little Grill, they have a breakfast night, and I wanted to have pancakes. So I decided to look up a healthy wheat pancake recipe that Ben and I could eat. It was easy to find. (http://www.food.com/recipe/hearty-honey-whole-wheat-pancakes-159535/review)

Here I am pouring the batter on the pan, which was lined with olive oil.

I halved the recipe and changed some of the ingredients to fit our pantry: more cinnamon, soy "buttermilk" (add 1T apple cider vinegar to almost a cup of soy milk), olive oil, more honey. It also required more liquid. I used 3/4 c. water to get the right consistency.

He's excited about the Bible reading.

 Here's Ben, this is what he was doing while I made pancakes. At first, he wasn't sure about pancakes, but when I promised berry capote to go with it, he got excited. This facial expression is an accurate portrayal.

The berry capote that I made. I used about a cup of blackberries that were frozen, I added about a tablespoon of honey.

These are the beautiful pancakes on their way to cooked perfection. :)

 Sometimes the pan gets too hot, especially when you are using the stove. So the quickest way to cool it down is to remove it and turn the heat down. I removed it and walked around the living room with it.

Me cooling the pancakes down so they wouldn't burn.

Finished product without toppings.

With peanut butter and berry capote! YUM!

Ben raving about the pancakes. He was super happy about the scrumptious pancakes. :)

They were a great success, very good. There are leftovers for me to eat tomorrow for breakfast.

Running again. YAY!

So you might think I'm bizarre, but I have been craving running since I haven't had enough time to do so. I've been thinking about it every time Ben and I go for a walk, and how I miss it. I think easily of last summer when Mom and I completed four 5Ks and I was running four miles like it was nothing. Then last fall I had two writing intensive classes and knew I needed to get A's, but still ran a couple times a week. Then I had my internship, and 6 or 7am runs were out of the question once I started getting exhaustion and nausea and found out I was pregnant. I ran once in March (with my sister Marie) and once in April at the EMU track and have missed it so much, but couldn't get back into it.

It was hard mostly because I was gaining weight, and when I'd wake up in the morning (opportune time to exercise), I would be ravenous and walk straight into the kitchen to make breakfast. Well, last night Ben and I attended the small group we are now pretty sure we are going to be a part of. It consists of four couples with children, and a couple of weeks ago, several of the dads did this warrior dash run that they just loved. And people kept talking about sports through out the night and I realized that I missed my sports. (When asked about things I liked to do, I said a couple of things that I liked to do prior to being pregnant: running and playing contact sports, which they thought was hilarious that I would specifically identify that I wanted to play sports with contact. :D)

After the group devotion and discussion was over, we were all down in the yard where the kids were playing and there were two ropes to climb, attached to one of the trees. Ben, after much goading, decided to see if he could climb up the one without the knots without using his legs, and got halfway up before he freaked and ripped the skin off a couple fingers and figured out how to get down. But this goaded me all the more: I wanted to try climbing the rope (the one with the knots).

When we got home I had decided that I was going to go running in the morning and that was that, although with an ounce of doubt in my mind. But when I was awake at 7:20, and not too hungry, I decided I would do it. I walked over to EMU (around half or three quarters of a mile), and ran a mile around the track inside. Then I walked back. And it felt good! and has been feeling good since I've been home.

I love the feeling of soreness after a run. It means I did something. I pushed myself. I love the feeling in my lungs after a run when I kept my heart rate up and need for water and rest and pushing myself just a little further! Plus, this is the best way for me to prepare for this baby's birth. Walking has always felt like it's not quite enough. Running has been my perfect exercise. Ben thinks I should throw in some strength training and I think I will (we have these nice weights, push up platforms, and a pull up bar that someone isn't using presently). I love feeling strong. It's empowering.

What empowers you?

Sustainable Wife! I mean... Life!

 So today we are 24 weeks pregnant, also meaning six months. It's hard to believe that we're this far along. We have 16 weeks to go, and our child is alive and kicking! Hardcore. I mean, really, you don't understand. :) This baby has feet and fists that wiggle my uterus. Sometimes. Not every time.

So before this picture was taken, Ben went to work out, and I took over the kitchen. :)

But first, the epic events of yesterday:Yesterday, you probably weren't aware, but I roasted a chicken. Now this was an exercise of patience for several reasons. We'd put it in the refrigerator from the freezer the night before, but the hunker was over eight pounds, and hadn't budged in it's frozen ness. This would be fine and all, but the dang giblet bag was frozen into the cavity of the bird, so I valiantly tried to unthaw it by spraying hot water into the anus of the bird. This did nothing. So while I was waiting for the fattie to unthaw, soaking it in hot water in a large bowl in the sink, I began removing the skin from the bird. Ben preferred his chicken to have a low percent of body fat (like himself), so I obliged by peeling/ripping/cutting the skin from the dead bird's body. There were many points in this process that I wanted to murder the bird for being such a pain, only to remember that it was already dead. After I'd removed mostly all of the skin, the giblet bag was still frozen in the depths of the bird, so I returned to spraying it with hot water, yanking on the bag and removing various organs (they could hire me at a chicken processing plant. . NOT.) FINALLY, the bird let it go. In the process, I was fairly certain I'd severed the spine of the bird. Anyway, I tossed it in the roaster and seasoned it with liberal amounts of salt, pepper, thyme, and rosemary and put it in the oven. It was done within two hours, even though the package says 6-8 pound birds should take 2 to 2 1/2 hours. It had lost some weight in the process. After finishing roasting, I waited for it to cool, and deboned the meat for the week.

We use the chicken during the week for sandwiches and other recipes to feed my hungry husband and my baby belly. This saves us time and money on lunch meat, not to mention sodium, nitrates and nitrites, and other preservatives.

Crockpot and lovely blender.

 We use the crockpot a couple times a week, and today we used it to make black beans for Ben. He's addicted to their deliciousness and protein content. I just like it because we can leave it for hours and don't have to be nearby, and it's only dirtying one dish. How wonderful. It also saves us money on canned beans, which cost more per ounce, and the black beans we get in bulk are actually organic. Plus, most cans are lined with BPA, so we are avoiding that as well.

I also unloaded the blender today to make a lovely chocolate banana soy smoothie. The blender has a capability to chop fresh veggies and I hope to use it to make salsa or pico de gallo sometime this summer. :) Fresh is best!

My whole wheat oatmeal bread rising on the stove.

Ben and I live to eat fresh bread.  We like it best when it's fresh from our oven, whole grains, and uses ingredients that we can smile about. At the beginning of May, we discovered a white whole wheat flour that is unbleached (it's a different wheat than the red wheat berries used in most whole wheat flours). It gives bread a pretty yellow tan color. We use butter for our non-stick spray on our glass pans, and this time, Ben requested olive oil. In addition, I used brown sugar instead of white sugar to use a holistic sugar. I might try molasses in the future, and have used honey in the past, but we're low on honey from our weeks of having coughs and making homemade cough syrup (1 part honey + 1 part apple cider vinegar).

 Here you can see the chicken and fresh black beans in the fridge waiting to be eaten. Yesterday, we also made many cups of brown rice at one time, because it takes SOOO long to make for just two servings (and last time I burned it). I think we'll use chicken broth to cook it next time, for flavor and to use the chicken broth.... This makes me crave plough! Oh you have to try that recipe. It's LOVELY.

 Here we are in our kitchen, with our awesomeness. :) We're ready to eat all the food NOW!

Also, we found this epic raw choconana pudding recipe that we're going to try. It was in a Mothering magazine from May-June 2010. It's made of
an avocado
1/2 a banana
1/4 c. cocoa powder
1/4 c. honey
1 Tablespoon coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Blend in a food processor. Can't wait to try it.

What do you do for sustainable and time-saving yumyums?

Married Life at the Delps!

So what have we been up to lately?

Ben had an interview on Monday that went really well, and we hope to hear back about that position next week at some point. Meanwhile, you can pray for God's provision of a job for Ben. :)

I had another job interview for babysitting this week. I already have a position with a family of a girl and two boys, aged 11, 8, and 6. They are adorable and so much fun to be around. This is more part time, and I decided that I wanted to work some more while I still can, before this baby starts a marathon and comes out of me. This job would be for the other three days of the week (making me work a total of five to six days a week, depending on if mom #1 is going trail running or not), there are three children, two boys and a girl, again: 11 and two nine-year-olds.

So far the babysitting has been great! We've been hanging out for a couple hours in the afternoons, playing games like capture the flag and whatever the two younger boys can invent to play between the two of them. They've eaten a lot of cereal, granola bars, watched a good amount of TV and minecraft videos, and gotten some exercise too. They have also consumed a good amount of apple juice.

On Tuesday, Ben and I went to Social Services and finished our application for WIC. We got checks for food that I need as a pregnant woman growing this child inside of me. This was humbling for Ben, and he hopes to pass up the amount of money that is the cap for this government program with a job. I'm content with it: I think it's important to prevent getting to the point of desperation with our finances, and this can be a cushion for us. We're going to have to start paying my loans in November, when I'm not working, and it's better to have some assistance before to save up to that point, than to struggle.

I got all my name change stuff--including my Virginia driver's license. . . the day before my 21st birthday, and I had realized the day I got it in VA that it was going to be vertical (like for under 21 youth), and was bummed because I thought they might have the sense to change the direction because I would be 21 by the time I received it. But no, instead, I will be questioned of my youth until 2019. That's not so bad though. But when I'm toting around one (or two, or three) babies, will they question me?

Wednesday was my birthday, and I didn't have to work which was a nice surprise. Mom #1 also found out (from her son, whom I told) that I was pregnant, and gave me three different baby carriers to use when the child is born. That was super exciting, because I've been thinking about what type of carriers I'd like to have. One is a sling carrier, another is a Baby Bjork (I still don't know how to pronounce this!) and one is for carrying the baby around once they can sit. I felt really blessed by people giving us things. :) One of my parents' seminary friends had a bassinet, execucer, and a high chair that they were going to give us, and there have been several people sharing maternity clothes and books. 

On my birthday, we didn't get to go for a walk like I wanted to--it started thundering and raining right when we wanted to go. I got a couple cards from people, and a package from Mom and Dad, with my apron in it! I was super glad that came! Also with it were several cards and some birthday banana bread. . . Apparently Mom has been cooking up a storm. :) We also got a card from Ben's parents who gave us a gift certificate to Taste of Thai, one of Ben and I's watering holes (when we have the money). We decided to go there for dinner on my birthday, and we both enjoyed appetizers with our meals (I had fried tofu with sweet and sour sauce! Yum!). Ben wrote me a card a day later and is still trying to figure out what to get me for my birthday, (like Marie is. I think they both have the most trouble because they are some of the people who know me the best. Mom, who knows that I like things that I can use, asked me what at LL Bean I would like. I found a pair of Tevas I would not have bought for myself otherwise, and already love them dearly.)

Today began a little earlier than some of the other days... we had our first extended appointment at Brookhaven with our midwife, Misty. She's very informative, helpful, and we are excited about this little baby inside of me. Ben keeps saying he wants to hug and kiss the baby now, and I have to remind him that we want it to still be in the womb. :) We got to hear the heartbeat again, this time between 144 and 152bpm--our child was moving during the Doppler heart beat reading. My blood pressure is good too-- 104/68, I think she said. That's very healthy.

The main concern we brought up in the conversation was the fact that I'm A Negative blood type, which means that I'm part of the smaller 25% of the population that may have to get the Rhogam shot after the birth of this child. There's a possibility that I won't have to--if the baby also has a negative blood type, if our blood doesn't mix, there's no need. Unfortunately, the test to tell if the blood mixed and the shot to prevent antibodies from building up against future babies in my womb costs about the same. So we can pray that God already decided that this baby would be negative when it was conceived, or we will pay the cost of the shot being administered (which is not that much, it's just an icky product and I would prefer not to have anything extra pumped into my system).

Our midwife also gave us a baggie full of dried greens... no it's not pot. :) It's pregnancy tea, made of nettle, red raspberry leaf, oatstraw, and alfalfa. It's full of nutrients, and is to be brewed overnight and then drunk daily. I already looked up how to buy the herbs in bulk (they sell it at the birth center, but I'm a frugal nerd, and if I drink a lot of it (like a quart a day), we're going to need a lot of herbs.)

Ben and I decided at the beginning that we were going to exclusively breastfeed our baby for the first six months, and then introduce solids, and let the child decide when it was done with breast milk. I'm planning on staying at home and caring for this baby for the next couple years, maybe working part time. Marie expressed a desire to come nanny for a summer. :) We'll see what happens. While having that conversation, Ben said something about having two or three by that time. . . I can't even think about having more than one at this point. We're also talking about having a co-sleeper--a crib that is level with the side of the bed--for the first year to help reduce nights that we're up all night and increase breastfeeding. Plus, we don't have space in our apartment to put the child in another room. So it will be perfect for these first few months.

I made brownies again. They are super chocolatey and a perfect way to calm a sweet tooth. :)

Ben has been studying Biblical Greek, and LOVES it. He gets super excited about it and spends a couple hours several times a week studying.

God is good, but sometimes life is not fair

It would be nice to say that the finishing of my last semester and the graduation from EMU was satisfying, happy, and joyous. But it wasn't. In fact, I'm still angry about it, because I feel like I got screwed.

A wave of events happened that I felt totally out of control of, and I found myself removed from my internship, kicked out of the social work program, and not receiving recognition for the Cords of Distinction that I deserved.

Now, weeks later, I'm still working through my emotions. Things I feel: Betrayal. I thought that my professor, my supervisor at my internship--I thought they were supportive of me, and concerned about my needs. But there was a lot more going on there than I knew about. Accountability was not taken, support was not shown. I stand by myself, knowing that everything I did, I did for a reason, but no one seems to hear my rationale.

I'm so ANGRY. I'm angry at people who didn't hear that I had needs, or give me mercy, or show flexibility with this whole situation. After this, I just got angry about every little thing. They forgot to print that I was in the Honors program in the graduation bulletin--this pissed me off. I'm so angry that I tried to appeal this harsh decision, and no one had the grace to change the procedure so that I could feel less traumatized.

I feel traumatized by this whole thing. It happened so fast, and I don't understand it all. I hate systems, and administrations. The peace that I find in this whole situation is in the fact that some people have seen the worst of the world and can empathize. Just not my supervisor, or my professor. And also, that this decision does not define my life. And is not the end of my academic career. There is not an end. I will never stop learning. You can't take that away from me. But unfortunately, it's ruined social work as a career for me, and it's ruined the Harrisonburg area for me. It's ruined EMU for me. So all I want to do is move away from here.

Cool Book (of the Old Testament) of the week: Ezekiel

Have you read Ezekiel all the way through? Ok, how many times? Did you pay attention? If you did, you probably noticed the most awesome of all awesome passages! Ezekiel 18.


If you've read Ezekiel, you probably remember the gruosome parts: sacrificing of babies, graphic descriptions of Jerusalem as a prostitute to other nations, but one of my (current) favorite parts of Ezekiel talks about repentance and forgiveness. Wait! Isn't that a New Testament idea? Apparently not, because God is speaking through Ezekiel to lay out the idea. Let me lay it out for you: the chapter of 18 begins with a quote from Jeremiah 31:29,
"The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge"
Now, does that make sense? Only if you know the context. Here, they are talking about sin's effects being passed down a generation. But you know what God says?
"Surely you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son (and daughter)--both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die."


God then gives a great poetic example of this, talking about if a righteous man lives a righteous life, he will live.(v 5-9) Then He talks about this man having a violent son. (v10-13). God follows with:


"Will such a man live? He will not! Because he as done all these detestable things, he will surely be put to death and his blood will be on his own head." (v. 13)


Does this look familiar? Sound like a Romans passage "for the wages of sin is death"?


God thus proves that he is separating the sin to the actions of the specific person. He continues with another example, talking of the son of the violent son living a righteous life, and not being held accountable for the sins of his father. (v. 15-17)


Now here's the part where God starts talking about repentance, in verses 21-22:


"But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, hi will surely live; he will not die. None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him. Because of the righteous things he has done, he will live."


Alright! Check that out! Freedom from sin equals life!


Now here's the part that some people who call themselves Christians tend to ignore, verse 24:


"But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked man does will he live? None of the righteous things he has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and because of the sins he has committed, he will die."


So if we say we're Christians, but live like the world, where are we going? Heaven, or hell? So what does that mean for your life? Are you righteous or wicked? There is no grey area.


There's more in this chapter. God isn't finished with what he's saying. Check this out. He addresses their reactions to these statements, in verses 25-29, concisely saying what he just spelled out.


"Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' Hear O Israel: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?" (from verse 25)


God is just because "[He] will judge you, each one according to his ways." So! "Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why do you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!"


This is a clear, awesome statement about God's justice. He cares about each one of us, but he gave us freewill to act like the world, or act like Him. We need to make up our hearts, and spirits, and get Christ in our ways and actions, rather just in our academics and our conversations.


Something for a person who may read the Bible with more of a self-interpreting mindset--at the end of this conversation with the elders the Lord was speaking to, they (the elders) said, "Isn't he just telling parables?" (Ezekiel 20:49)


Does God want us to hear what He says and change it to our needs, feelings, hopes and dreams, or does God want us to read the Scriptures as they are meant to be written? Weren't the Pharisees guilty of taking the Scriptures the wrong way? I think we all are able to do this, including me. So when you read the Bible, take into consideration to pray before reading, asking God to lead your heart to understand what He is saying, rather than you taking the wrong interpretation.


What thinks you?

Beginning a new phase

We graduated from EMU at the end of April! What a relief for me, and Ben, who just walked, has just one more semester. I received Cords of Distinction, magna cum laude, and was in the Honors program. More more bachelor's degree--Hallelujah! Ben's parents came down for graduation, and so did one of his groomsmen. . . Thought the wedding was a week earlier than it was!

My reaction to graduation was priceless, after all. :D About a week or so before graduation, we found an apartment that was perfect for us--furnished, a great deal financially, and was beautiful! So we have a place to live and are getting more at home in it everyday.

Here's Ben relaxing on the couch. He was reading Bible, and stopped to pose. Also, we were trying a natural remedy for pink eye: green tea bags. Ben and I finally got married the Saturday before last! It was a beautiful wedding, not without it's own uniqueness. We had it at Wildwood park, the park I lived next to as a child. We got drizzled on, I got blue paint on my dress, and there was laughter during the ceremony! Everyone looked gorgeous and we were joyous as we left our reception (and then came back, five minutes later, to open gifts).

That night, we ended up staying at our apartment because Ben hadn't packed yet. We left for our honeymoon, at Highland Retreat, the next day. We cooked over a fire, played board games, killed a nasty looking spider (who turned out to be harmless) and also countless ants, and took a nice walk around Highland before getting sick and heading home after two nights.

And we've been sick ever since. Coughing, sneezing, phlegm, and we're finally, finally getting better. And things are starting to pick up! My pregnant belly is making itself known (we are 22 weeks along ~ five months), our little Delpling someone is starting to kick more often, and I'm comfortable only in maternity clothe. I'm starting to babysit some, as my job for the summer. Ben is looking for a job, and is following a couple leads. But meanwhile, we keep house, and do things for name change (for me), and location changes (for both of us), like getting a new license for Virginia, and SSN, and we got our marriage license.

Thinking

I've been thinking about updating this blog lately.

But I haven't.

What is there to update anyway?

I start my internship tomorrow, wedding planning is going well, I am addicted to chocolate (what's new?), and I'm adjusting to being a commuter.

Long story, shortened.