It's time for a...{Pregnancy} Journal Entry!

Monday night, after an anxious/excited day for me and the girls, one of our BCM students had a precious baby boy. Hearing her birth story the week of Jessica's birthday made me reminisce about what was happening seventeen years ago this week! Here's the story as written in this journal:

And here's an illustration or two!

Now, just in case you couldn't read the story in that picture, here's the one I wrote a few years ago:

Jessica was due January 21 (3 days before my 31st birthday). My birthday came and went with no baby, which meant I had to get a new driver's license picture when I was 9 months pregnant! I looked like a pumpkin head.

My parents came to Idaho from Arkansas, and still no baby. Mom went with me to a dr appointment on the 25th, and my doctor said we could induce if we wanted to, so I said sure! Mike and I went to the hospital that night, so they could start softening my cervix before starting the pitocin. They said sometimes that's all it takes, so we spent the night at the hospital just in case. (Looking back, I say "HA!") They started the pitocin early the next morning...3 bags of it and 12 hours (and a lot of discomfort) later, I was only dilated to a 2 and they SENT ME HOME. It was not a happy time. They said that obviously nothing was going to happen, so we'd just have to wait.

The good thing was, since this was my first baby, now I knew what contractions felt like. And the next night, watching ER, they started again. I didn't sleep much that night, either, since I had them all night long. We drove the 45 minutes from Lewiston to the hospital in Moscow around 7:30 the next morning and they decided to keep me there, even though I was still only dilated to a 3. They gave me my epidural when I reached 5...I still remember looking at the man and saying, "I think I love you." He said he hears that all the time. It took all the pain away. For two hours. That hospital didn't do epidurals on a drip; they administered a one-time bolus. When it wore off I told the nurses, and they tried to reach the anesthesiologist, but there had been a bad car wreck and he was busy in the ER. And then they told me it was time to start pushing. I pushed for an hour. It might not have taken so long, but Jessica's heart rate kept slowing down when I pushed, so they had to screw that little monitor thingy in her sweet little head, and they would have me push through one contraction, put an oxygen mask on me and breathe through the next, over and over. They were talking about doing a C-section, but the dr. decided to try vacuum extraction first. Putting that suction cup on her head, which at the time seemed about six inches across, was the worst part. By far. But she finally came out (Mike's reaction: It's out! It's a girl!! It's a Jessica!). I needed quite a few stitches--45 minutes worth. They put Demarol in my IV, and it made me LOOPY. I hated it. I felt like I was floating over the hospital room, watching everyone hold my baby. I was so weak that when everyone left and I was holding her, I couldn't even put her back in the bassinet without help. But I slept pretty well that night, except for waking up to (try to) feed her. She had low blood sugar, so the nurses fed her formula out of a little medicine cup once in the night. She loked like a little kitten, lapping it up. The next night the hospital gave Mike and I a candlelight steak dinner, and the next morning we went home. And everyone was right, our lives have never been the same since, and I am so very glad. I wouldn't have it any other way. I love my Jessica!

Life Changers

This morning's sermon was about the power of prayer, and Bro. Mike ended by talking about a woman who prayed for him from the time he was 15 to the day she died. It got me thinking about all the men and women who have prayed for me and taught me, such as...

• my parents, duh. They prayed for me, with me, and over me, and I always knew it. They taught me many things, not the least of which is that if you believe it, you will live it. They taught me consistency.
• my Sunbeam teachers in Florida. I don't even remember their names, but when we moved away they gave me a Ten Commandments charm bracelet that I wore til all but 4 Commandments fell off! They taught me that church people love one another.
• Mrs. Jane Price, my Mission Friends teacher in Virginia. And I'll add my GA leaders here, too. They taught me that missions is exciting and missionaries are real people like me!
• my mom's friends, like Mrs. Barrett in Virginia and Mrs. Henderson, Mrs. Longing, and Mrs. Gober in Arkansas. They prayed for me a husband and I done got one! :D They taught me faithfulness.
• "Aunt Barbara" Schleiff, whom I met at OBU. She prayed for my relationship with God and taught me to talk to Him and listen to Him by spending time in His word every single day. She taught me commitment. 
• Bro. Al Meredith in Texas. Somehow he got me praying with him and a bunch of others before work at 6:00--a.m.!!!!--on Fridays. He taught me to deepen and widen my prayers, and to pray conversationally and often.
• Charlotte Lane in Idaho. She taught me that a prayer group can be just the two of you and be just as powerful.
• my husband. We have prayed together every night that we've been together before going to sleep. He taught me to pray God's Word back to Him. And together we have learned that prayer is what God uses to hold us together as a couple and as a family, to hold us up when we're drowning, to provide for us and protect us and remind us of what's important. 

What's amazing about life in Christ is that not only are there more people who prayed for me that I know about but don't have time to list, who knows how many people have prayed for me WITHOUT ME EVEN KNOWING IT?! Because of a friend's prayer request at church, or when they saw me post something on Facebook, or because they were prayer-walking in my neighborhood, or because they prayed for campus ministers, or maybe even because they read my blog... WOW. Thank you. Keep it up!

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to-

My family let me open presents and have cake and ice cream tonight instead of waiting until tomorrow! Usually I'm all about the presents, but this year each one of my cards was absolutely perfect. I opened my mom's first, and started reading it out loud until I read "from the minute we first saw you" and realized she made it be from her and Dad. I got all choked up and teary and wanted my Dad. But I read the rest out loud and then opened Mikayla's card: "Moms can have BIG HAIR and moms can be GRAY..." Then where she signed her name, she drew an arrow to her messed-up K and wrote, "I messed up a little." Which made me laugh out loud. Next came Rebecca's, which said "Hey Mom, Mom..." about a billion times and also made me laugh. When I opened Jessica's, a piece of paper fell out and she ran to her room while I read the poem she wrote me! And got teary again. Mike's card had a $$ and a clue in it which led me to more $$$ and more clues. It was fun and funny and I get to go shopping for new clothes! After presents we ate the cake that Rebecca made and Jessica frosted and then played Spinner. It was the perfect Birthday Eve.

Jessica's poem:

A Mother Is

A mother is a Gentle caress

A forehead Kiss

A mother is two Arms

That make everything Right

A mother is Sacrifice

Giving things up in Love

A mother is snuggly Cuddles

Warming up the Cold nights

A mother is Wisdom

Helping with Life's hard Choices

A mother is a Yummy cook

Always keeping her family Content

A mother is a Cool, soothing Hand

Wiping away her children's Tears

A mother is a Forever Friend

Always there

A mother is a Role Model

One you Always watch

Always strive to Be

A mother is LOVE

She Gives and she Receives

Without Dr. King (and others like him) I probably...

• would never have taught at Como Elementary in Fort Worth. At the time, the school was 99% black. It was my first teaching job, so I would have learned a lot anywhere. But at Como I not only learned things about teaching you can't learn in college, From my fellow kindergarten teachers I also learned some things about being a woman, a wife, and a mother. I learned a little bit about what it's like to be a minority--and I learned (and can still sing) the Black National Hymn and the Texas state song. (Also I learned to NEVER miss school on soul food lunch day and that dirty rice tastes better than it sounds.)
• would not have my sweet niece Emily, who was born six weeks before Jessica was, and taken home by my brother and his wife the day before Jessica was born, and finally officially adopted by them 3 years later. 
• would not be attending a Priscilla Shirer Bible study and being challenged and taught sooo much by that gifted woman of God. 

There are more things I could list if it wasn't so close to bedtime. I guess the main thing I've realized is that the civil rights movement was not just a good thing for black people, it was a good thing for all people. So we can know one another, learn from one another, love one another. Let's make the most of it.

Happy List!

It's been way too long since I added to my happy list.
Here are some I've thought of lately:
#55 Starting a fire in the fireplace...without a fire starter log!! Success!!

#56 When my husband brings me Aunt Sally's pralines from his conference in New Orleans. TWELVE of them!!! And some delicious coffee.

#57 When each of my children, one at a time, comes up to me at supper at church to tell me something. I know, it doesn't sound that spectacular, but I love that even if they don't want to sit at my table, they still want to talk to me.