Great expectations

So, have I mentioned that we are expecting a new arrival? I confess that this little guy has been keeping me quite busy the last few weeks, and not letting me get much rest in return! He and his big brother are already conspiring against me!! No fair! :)

But I see this sleep deprivation as the good Lord's way of preparing me for the months to come. I already know that sleep will be in short supply, and I am amazed at how well I have been able to function on about 4-6 hours of sleep a night!! Thank you Lord for a husband that works nights and lets me nap in the afternoons. Don't know how I'd do it without the afternoon nap. It's still a far cry from the amount of sleep I got before Ian came into our lives though. I'm hoping that the transition to life with a newborn will be less traumatic this time around, having spent the last 35 months in training and all. Well, we can hope.

At any rate, the little guy is due November 22nd... about 4 weeks away... but since Ian was 2 1/2 weeks early, and caught us quite by surprise, I have been determined NOT to be caught so unprepared this time around. So my goal has been to have everything ready by the end of October, even all the holiday shopping. I'm sure I'm making my poor hubbie crazy. And to be honest, I'm making myself crazy too. Because the fact is, I feel so sure that this kid's arrival is right around the corner that I can't rest. I have over-psyched myself out, friends!!

Even Ian has caught the fever! A few days ago he began saying to me, quite out of the blue, that he was going to have a "bro'r" and that he would be "comin' soon!". Since then, that seems to have become his new mantra. He tells everyone he meets... in church, in stores, you name it... that his "bro'r" is "coming soon!". He seems pretty excited about it. I know it may not last, but it is the first I have seen that he's seeing this baby's arrival as a positive thing, so I find it very encouraging.

On that note, I'm going to head to bed for the second time this evening and hope that this time I can stay there!!

A Parable about reaching

I think I will always be thankful to my friend Christa who, in her motherly wisdom, shared with me the joy of blowing bubbles at bathtime. For some reason, it had never occured to me. The tub is the PERFECT place for bubbles!! Duh!!

We don't use them every time, but a few times a week, I pull out the bubbles and start blowing them at my delighted son. Lately, he has taken to standing up, and reaching for the singular bubbles just beyond his grasp, even though there are usually neverending clusters of new bubbles surrounding him...

As I sit there, marvelling at the way he turns his back to the abundant supply all around him, and reaches for things that he will never be able to touch, I am reminded of how often I have done the same thing in life... ignoring the blessings God supplies everyday, and always wishing for more.

It reminds me of this song, which has never failed to minister to me. It's called "Reaching" by Carolyn Arends...

There’s a time I can recall
Four years old and three feet tall
Trying to touch the stars and the cookie jar
And both were out of reach
And later on in my high school
It seemed to me a little cruel
How the right words to say always seemed to stay
Just out of reach

Well I should not have thought it strange
That growing causes growing pains
‘Cause the more we learn the more we know
We don’t know anything
But still it seems a tragic fate
Living with this quiet ache
The constant strain for what remains
Just out of reach

Chorus:
We are reaching for the future
We are reaching for the past
And no matter what we have we reach for more
We are desperate to discover
What is just beyond our grasp
But maybe that’s what heaven is for

There are times I can’t forget
Dressed up in my Sunday best
Trying not to squirm and to maybe learn
A bit of what the preacher preached
And later lying in the dark
I felt a stirring in my heart
And though I longed to see what could not be seen
I still believed

I guess I shouldn’t think it odd
Until we see the face of God
The yearning deep within us tells us
There’s more to come
So when we taste of the divine
It leaves us hungry every time
For one more taste of what awaits
When heaven’s gates are reached

Repeat chorus:
We are reaching for the future
We are reaching for the past
And no matter what we have we reach for more
We are desperate to discover
What is just beyond our grasp
But maybe that’s what heaven is for

I believe that’s what heaven is for
There’s a time I can recall
Four years old and three feet tall
Trying to touch the stars and the cookie jar
And both were out of reach