Here's my side shot at 27 weeks! Alathia enjoys kissing baby Justus and he kicked hard right at the moment this shot was taken. I'm officially in the home stretch AKA the last trimester where fatigue and discomfort reign. With all the summer activities I know this last few months will fly by faster than ever before! I'm still feeling pretty great.
Have you ever been encouraged unexpectedly by a wise comment from someone? The other day at church I was juggling my kids and herding them into the building when an older woman passed by, must have noticed my big belly for the first time and said, "Oh, I see God is blessing you with another wee one!"
This comment really surprised me, but I found it to be such a good reminder. While we haven't gotten really negative comments necessarily this time around, we've gotten plenty of, "You'll be so busy!" "What were you thinking?" "Your kids are sooooo close!" "I couldn't do it. How are you ever going to handle three?" and, "You do know how this happens right?" It was surprising when someone said something different, yet so true, and so refreshing. Sometimes I'm tempted to believe everyone's comments and wonder if everyone just thinks we're young and "irresponsible" for having so many children so quickly in a world that doesn't do that. Not to mention we don't own a home yet and King Jo doesn't plan to work his job permanently so career changes are likely ahead in the next couple of years. Sometimes on those rough days with whining or fussing kids I begin to believe that when another kid joins the mix, it's going to be chaotic and awful.
This is why it's good for me to be reminded that GOD, the author of life, saw fit to bless us at THIS particular time with another baby. We weren't trying to have one but we were open to the possibility, and He caused it to happen unexpectedly. And it is a blessing! He's giving us another precious gift, not a burden.
You have the power of encouragement or discouragement on your tongue! Remember that today and bless others!
4 comments:
I love your post today Linds! I was thinking of the same thing, as I heard myself complaining and arguing yesterday. I was ashamed to be setting such a bad example for my girls. Thanks for the great reminder of who we should be striving to resemble, our Jesus. :) By the way, you are sooo cute at 27 weeks! I love your shirt.. very pretty!
praise God :) I wish God would bless us with another one, so I really can't understand all the comments about you having three kids. Three kids seems such a small amount to me, I'm used to big families!
I am sure you WILL have difficult days, just as you do now. But remember that God's power is made perfect in our weakness, and His mercies are new every morning...His grace is sufficient! You have the God of all eternity on your side, girl, so how can it be impossible? Anything worth having is worth the hard work...work is a good thing, and a blessing. I think our society has lost sight of that.
Anyways, I was encouraged by your post. You bless me!
What a precious reminder by that lady and I just want to echo it-- what a special blessing baby #3 is!!!
My sister is expecting her third baby August 6th. They have two little boys ages 2 and 1; the boys are just 13 months apart and the new baby will be 18 months younger then their second son. They are thrilled at the thought of another baby, but the comments they have received have been almost exclusively negative. Our family is very excited for them, and really trying to be a huge support for her, so that the discouraging comments she get frequently will fall to the side and she will rejoice whole-heartedly about this baby!
BTW, I've been reading your blog for around 3 months now, and enjoyed it!! I was interested because one of the first posts I read on here was a post where you were questioning the concept of large families, the ups verses the downs. I'm from a large family, and have always loved it. I hope someday to have many, many children.
God Bless You!!
~Elizabeth
Thank you for this post. I too am expecting #3 this August. While I know people with larger families, like five or more) get a lot of comments, I didn't think having three was that unusual until I became pregnant again. I've received some looks, grunts, eye rolls, and comments that I couldn't believe. Encouragment is hard to find, much needed, so I appreciate this.
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