God has blessed Tim and I with a little baby to come. I’m in my 7th week of the pregnancy, very excited, and not feeling too great. We’ve had to wait a while with insurance, so that the labor and delivery wont come out of our pocket. And we are so happy that the wait is over! I can’t wait until I get a prego belly, but I’m sure once I’ll have it I will be ready for the kid to come. I actually haven’t done too bad with the pregnancy. I’ve been completely exhausted, as I am now, and I’ve been a little sick to my stomach, but not full blown. Today was the hardest, I felt like I was close to loosing my breakfast while at work, but I just stood a lot and ate my saltine crackers I have stashed in my supervisor’s filing cabinet. I’ve been guzzling water non-stop, I feel like I can’t get over my thirst.

The fun side has been getting to tell friends and family about our soon-to-be new member of our family. A few people were surprised, but a lot have been waiting a while for the news. I think my favorite time of telling was to my 9th grade girl’s small group. I thought I had it all planned out ’cause the girls the week before had said that they wanted to start our Christmas party early and skip out on the large group game, so I would tell them at our party and Tim would announce it to everyone else, but as usual, my plans seem to change. The girls knew we were gonna play dodge ball, so they didn’t want to miss out. I told my co-teacher and she helped me gather up the girls outside of the gym before the game started. When I told them the news all I heard were screams and squeals and joy! Then was surrounded by 8 hugs! It was so sweet, I had dreamed about the day I got to tell my girls, and I’m glad I got to, some even said it meant a lot that I told them before everyone else. God has really blessed me with my small group, and my girls have such a special place in my heart.

We’re excited about what’s to come with having a kid around the house. We’re also nervous with the unknown, but have confidence that God will be with us and help us through. The Christmas Story feels closer at heart now with a baby in the making.

Gentleness bears hardships. Yes we should stand up for what is right, but we do not seek revenge and wish something unholy against someone. When we are misunderstood we let God work through us in gentleness, forgiving the misunderstanding. I cannot count the times I have been misunderstood, and I’m sure you can’t either.

Tim and I love to play the game Imaginiff, and I am usually either nervous or excited when we start the game, wondering what people think of me when a question is used with my name. It is a great way to get to know each other, and to see how you come across to others. I love playing with my small group girls ‘cause it proves how well we have come to know each other. I am always curious to know if others can see Christ in my life, constantly asking God to reveal to me what I need to work on. Gentleness is something I know I need on the inside in order to not dwell on things that offend me, and instead to think on what is true, honorable and admirable (Philippians 4:8).

In Psalm 46:10 God tells us, “Be still and know that I am God.” We need to stop and let God work. Take whatever happens and give it to God. Let God handle the situation for you, and if He tells you to do something, that is when you act.

Elizabeth George says this about gentleness:

Gentleness develops out of the strongest of underground root system—out of a life hidden in God and lived in His presence, a life that lowers its head, falls on its face, and helplessly lies facedown (A Woman’s Walk with God pg. 181).

Elizabeth George also explains how we are to walk in gentleness (pg. 182):

1. Accept – Accept everything in your life as allowed by God.

2. Pray – Prayer develops the proper posture of gentleness in us – the habits of bowing, bending, kneeling, yeilding, and submitting to God.

3. Refuse to complain and grumble – To complain, one wise believer notes, “is an accusation against God. It questions God’s wisdom and God’s good judgment. God has always equated complaining with unbelief…[because] to complain is to doubt God. It is the same thing as suggesting that God really doesn’t know what He’s doing.

4. Refuse to manipulate – Let God resolve the issue for you. Put your faith in Scriptures.

Tim made a great video of us for Christmas, hope you enjoy!

It’s that time of year. Christmas party after Christmas party, and for some reason I still don’t feel like Christmas is just over 2 weeks away. I don’t know what it is about this year that makes me feel like Christmas just snuck up on me. Our house is decorated, not as much as last year, but I am good with our decorations and don’t feel it necessary to do any more.

Here’s our Christmas party schedule:

Sunday 12/7 – a junior high girl’s small group invited us to join them, had pizza and made really cute christmas trees decorated with candy.

Monday 12/8 – Sr. high small group Christmas party, did a fun gift exchange

Tuesday 12/9 – Women’s ministry Ornament Exchange party hosted by me at home

Thursday 12/11 – Youth worker’s Christmas party, white elephant exchange and dinner provided, hosted by Tim and I

Wednesday 12/17 – my Small Group Christmas party, we drew names and are making a homemade gift for the person we got. I am so excited about this! I really hope what I am wanting to make will stay under our $5 limit.

Once again God has totally amazed me. This morning Tim and I did our budget for December, and this was our first time that we didn’t have to pay on any debt with our left over money. Instead we got to put it all in savings to start building our 6 month emergency fund! My goal for this month was to put a small 4 digit amount into savings, which I thought would be stretching it. When we were finished with the month we had triple my ideal amount to put into savings! What a wonderful surprise! We even have enough money this month to buy us a queen size bed, which we fit into our monthly budget. We’re currently sharing a full size bed, that has a cracked beam, which is not very stable. Last week when I was putting away clothes I leaned on the bed and it collapsed! I am really excited that sometime this month we will get to walk into a store, buy a queen size mattress set out of our checking account with money we already have and walk away debt free!

I am so thankful for all God has done for us with working our way out of debt, and now saving. Once we were out of debt it was hard to keep self control. There are so many things that Tim and I want, and now that we’re out of debt it is very tempting to spend the extra money we have at the end of the month on anything. To my suprise I am over that already. I was glad it was just as exciting to put money into savings as it was to see our debt go away!

I wanted to spread the word for this wonderful website. It is a group of people in different areas who post items that they are giving away for free, and you can post items that you want/need from others. I love checking to see if there is anything Tim and I have laying around that someone is asking for, or if there is anything that we can post to give away.

We have benefitted by getting things from people on the website too. I asked people for coupons with trying to start to learn how to shop with coupons, and a lady sent me a whole envelope stuffed full. We also got 2 boxes of children’s books, and my favorite, a Christmas tree! I’m in the middle of setting it up, wanting to see what it looks like, and it’s a great tree. It’s little, only 6 feet, but it’s free, in good condition and it’s ours!

To check and see if there is one of these groups in your area go to www.freecycle.org. Search for your town, sometimes you might have to search for your county. You wont be able to see what kind of things people are posting until you join the group and are approved by the moderator. It is a great thing to get into. Go ahead and sign up, it may take a few days to get approved, but when you do it is very exciting! I’ve seen everything from furniture to pets given away.