Families

Families are precious. Not all families are created equal, so to speak. But having a family is a gift. You only have a certain amount of time with your family. Only God knows how long you have your family members for. When that time is up the only thing left is memories. How you interacted with your family members determine what kind of memories you have. If you had a poor relationship, then you may have memories filled with regret. If you had good relationships then you have precious memories.

I know there are many members in a family. Sometimes not everyone is going to get along. Life is real, and so are disagreements and arguing.  Sometimes it's hard to understand harsh words and actions.

I try to see the underlining problems that stem from harsh words. We have all been hurt. No one is exempt from hurt. Sometimes emotional pain and hurt takes longer to heal than physical pain. Hurt runs deep. Sometimes the feelings of rejection and hurt never go away. We are controlled by our emotions. Sometimes things that happened in the past keep triggering our hurt and it makes it raw again.

Forgiveness is harder said than done. I know some people don't seemly deserve forgiveness, but neither do we. Without God, we have nothing to glory in. We are wretched and miserable.

I think alot of families are throwing their family unity out the door and making the devil's job of destruction easy. The devil is good at destroying things and people. And we are so selfish and blind that we let him tear our families apart without a fight. And the ones that suffer the most are the children coming after us.

Not everyone has to agree. Instead of disagreeing and moving on. Often times we devour each other. Maybe not literally, but with our words. Words are very powerful. And what we say can't be taken back.

Sometimes I get so caught up in the emotion of the argument, that I forget what is really important. I have "guilty" stamped on my forehead.

Time is quickly fading. I see that now, more than ever. We don't know how much time we have left. But we can embrace now, and live to the fullest.

It's time to put the past behind us. Our feelings of hurt and disappointment shouldn't control us anymore. We can't waste our lives being bitter or upset with others. Life has far more meaning than that.  It's time to grow up and start fresh with those we have broken relationships with.

I know you may think that you don't need a family, but you do. God knows what we need and He has given it to us. Maybe your family needs you more than you need them. Don't rob your family of the blessing of you.

Family can be a beautiful thing, not just a dreaded word. But we have to work at relationships. We have to mend broken fences. We have to try while we still have our family with us. If we let this opportunity slip by because we are too prideful, then we will be filled with regret.

So in short, love, forgive, and live with the blessings God has given us. Family is not forever, but memories do last a lifetime.

More importantly, are we showing our lost family members what life in Christ is all about? Or are we turning them away by our hypocrisy?  Life is forever. Are we pointing our family members to eternal happiness or are our lives leading  them to eternal damnation? I know we can't make that decision for anyone. The decision to accept or reject Christ is their own. But we can influence them by our words and actions. This is what life is all about. The petty arguments are just distractions to steal our focus off of what really matters.

Let's determine to heal shaky relationships and seek peace. The world has so much hate and anger already, let's make our family a place of peace and rest. Let's extend grace to those that are difficult to get a long with, and use our words to help and not hurt others.

Life

   I haven't written in quite sometime. But I want to try to make more time to write in this blog. 

I am a busy mom to six precious children. I spend most of my day taking care of my children, cleaning my house, and homeschooling. But I am truly blessed. 

  Life is precious. Life is not always easy. There are hard times and discouraging days. I have seen emotional battles as well as physical ones. Through everything, I have seen God's mighty hand work. Being a Christian doesn't mean life will always be easy. It means that I will always have Someone to carry me in the dark valleys of life. 

I see the hard times, but I try to dwell on God. He can handle our biggest problems. He even cares about our small problems. God still amazes me. I wake up feeling blessed with each new day. The hugs and kisses I receive everyday, are small rewards, but they mean a lot to me. I am just so blessed to have a wonderful husband and 6 wonderful children. 

Yes, life is busy, and full of messes. I am constantly cleaning up spills and stopping wrong behavior. I hear lots of fussing and fighting. I get tired, and overwhelmed sometimes. I fold way too much laundry daily. But I count my blessings as I am doing the mundane things of life. God didn't have to bless with me such a precious family, but He did. I don't deserve them. I raise my voice too much, and fall short of being a godly wife and mom. But God doesn't give up on me. He sees what I can be, not exactly what I am right now.  With God's help, I can run this race. 

I see God's blessings all around me. I am so thankful for this life. My hands may be full, but my heart is also full. Being a parent is worth it. It's the hardest job, but it is all worthwhile. 

If life is too overwhelming for you, count your blessings. Your blessings far out weigh your problems. This doesn't make the problems go away but it does help us to focus more on God. 

Our 6th Blessing From God.

I have not posted anything in quite a while. I have been busy and have neglected this blog. But I thought I should write about our 6th child's birth, more so for myself than anyone else. But if you find encouragement from reading it, then praise the Lord. 

On February 3, 2019, we went to the hospital because I wasn't sure if we were in labor or not. I had been having contractions for days and I hadn't been feeling well. After an exam, I was only 3 cm dilated and I had the option of going home or walking around. I chose to walk around. We had two hours to walk around the hospital until my next exam. 

For two hours my husband and I walked around the hospital. My contractions were 5 minutes apart. But when I was hooked up to the monitor it showed every 35 minutes. So we were able to go home. One doctor told me I was going to have a baby soon but not tonight. 

I have a high pain tolerance, and this is my 6th child, so I was told to come back when my contractions were 3 minutes apart for an hour. 

We got home around 8 something that evening. When we went to bed I had contractions all night. But I didn't think anything of it. 

On February 4, I woke up still having contractions. I started timing them at 6:50 A.m. I was having contractions every 2 to 3 minutes. The pain wasn't that bad so I figured it was nothing. I had contractions for days and figured it was like the previous days. I also did not want to go back to the hospital for nothing. 

My husband left to go do some work and my contractions picked up. They started getting more intense. I scheduled a doctor's appointment with the midwife for 11:20.  My Mom came over and my husband came home in time for me to go to the appointment. I was really in pain, and I was crying. 

I have had other natural births. I also had a son who was born rather quickly when we arrived at the hospital. We were 8 cm dilated with my third child when we got to the hospital. I wanted labor to go fast like with his. My two labor and deliveries after my third child were long to me. I walked around the hospital for hours until they were born. I prayed that this time would be fast. I even joked that it would be nice being fully dilated and making it to the hospital just in time for delivery. 

By the time we arrived to my doctor's appointment I was in so much pain. I couldn't move through the contractions and I was crying. I don't normally cry a lot. So I felt bad about crying.  

 I told my husband if I was only dilated like 4 cm, there was no way I could do this. He knew we were having a baby today. I, on the other hand just didn't know. I knew the pain was real but I just didn't know. 

When the midwife arrived in my exam room, I was still having awful contractions. She was talking me through them. After the exam she said I was 6 cm dilated. I thought that it was a lot of pain to only be 6 cm. I was also shaking. She told my husband to drive straight to the hospital so the baby wasn't born in the car. She also told me to keep moving. When I got out of the clinic I didn't know if I could walk anymore. It was just painful. But my husband said we had to. 

One thought I kept thinking was, how I was ruining the image of birth for some of the people in the doctor's office. I was in labor and some might not have experienced that yet, so I might have terrified some people. I didn't scream or anything, I just looked awful and I was crying. 

When we arrived at the hospital, maybe 5 minutes later, I had to stop and breathe through the contractions and all of that. I was wheeled back in a wheel chair. I always chose to walk but they told me I wasn't allowed to walk. 

When we got in a room, another midwife was there and they were bringing out the baby warmer, bassinet and all the things for labor. I told the midwife that I needed some pain medicine because I couldn't do this again.  

She told me to just see how far along I was before we decided. After the exam I was fully dilated. She said the midwife at the clinic had lied to me and we were 7/8 cm dilated at the clinic. She didn't want to scare me so she didn't tell the truth. I realized that we could have had the baby in the van or in the hospital lobby. But praise God we didn't. 

Of course, I did not get any medicine. I did not need it anyways. I was already at 10 cm dilated, and I had prayed through the pain. Knowing I was going to meet my son soon really helped.  

My midwife broke my water. I had to wear an oxygen mask because the baby's heart rate was not stable. (I learned it was because of the cord being wrapped around his neck 3 times.) I pushed for 15-20 minutes and our son was born. He had the cord wrapped around his neck three times so the midwife took care of that fast. It was such an amazing feeling knowing that God had answered so many prayers in my son's birth. They laid him on me for a minute and then they had to take him. After a few minutes, he was placed back on my chest and I got a look at God's precious gift to us. I was so overjoyed that I cried. I was also so happy that it was finished. It was a lot of pain and it happened so fast. He was born at 12:33 pm. Remember my doctor's appointment was at 11:20 and my son was born at 12:33. That was cutting it close I know, but it was amazing and I'm so thankful it was fast. 

My son is 3 days old, but I look back and see God's hand in every step of this labor. I can't praise Him enough for working everything out, and blessing us with another child. 

I know some would say that 6 children is a lot, but their opinion doesn't matter to me, but God's does. And I am so happy with the family that I have. God has blessed us with one daughter and five sons. I truly believe that God has made no mistakes when he has placed our children in our care. 

Hours later my mom, her husband, and my five children visited the hospital. They were so excited to finally meet the baby that they have asked about for months. My 18 month old wasn't sure about the baby, but I knew he would love him. 

We went home the next day. We like to stay for 24 hours in the hospital and go home if everything with the baby and I are well. We didn't go home at the 24 hours mark but by 6 or so we were discharged and we were excited to finally be going home and starting our adventure as a family of 8. 

I can say that God is good and He truly does answer prayer. He still amazes me today, and I never want to get over that amazement. 

Introducing our son Gideon Nathaniel West

. He was 6 lbs. 14 oz. and 19 inches long.