Peanut

I have been away for a few weeks because we have had another foster care adventure!  A little over two weeks ago we got a call from our foster care agency asking if we wanted to foster a premature infant.  He would come home on oxygen and an apnea monitor and was expected to progress quickly at home.  We had to give an answer in a few minutes since it was Friday and baby Peanut (we'll call him) needed to be discharged Monday. 

A quick phone call to my husband and a short prayer together later, we were foster parents (again!).  This time to a baby. 

Since then it has been a roller coaster.  Preemies are hard.  Peanut is like a newborn even though he is around 2 1/2 months old.  He is on oxygen so being at home a lot (as opposed to trips to the park, etc) is the best plan for him, but he still has lots of doctors appointments.  We have had a few apnea/turning blue scares at home.  One which resulted in a trip back to the NICU for several days to be monitored. 

Most recently my emotions have been on overload as I process how this poor little baby has lacked an advocate for the first two months of his life.  Someone to notice when he has reflux (not diagnosed until Christian and I came on the scene) or a milk intolerance (have begun suspecting this in the last couple of days).  He hasn't had anyone to make sure he has learned to distinguish days from nights... sing him to sleep... or be a consistent parent to receive love from. 

Peanut has not necessarily come to stay with us permanently (in case you were wondering)... but we already love him as though he were ours.  Caring for him during this fragile time in his life is going to be a special thing, and I am so thankful we get to do it.  

Just as before, I will be limited to how many details we can share about Peanut's situation, but mostly I wanted to share with you where I've been and what an amazing adventure God has us on.

.... and while I have your attention, I would also like to ask for prayers for Peanut for these things...  

• His lungs to develop fully and properly... and soon. 
• His episodes of apnea to go away entirely.
•  His birth family... all foster children need prayer for God's intervention in their birth families... 
• Wise choices to be made on Peanut's behalf by everyone involved in his life- from doctors, to specialists, to social workers, to foster parents and everyone else.

Thank you for your support and prayers on Peanut's behalf!

Love,
Rachel

Bible Reading Plan

 

I signed up for a Bible Reading Plan!  

I'm sure there is a whole host of people who might not think this is exciting, but to me... it is! 

I have had trouble for a long time with Bible reading because I have started to feel like I have been doing the same thing for too long.  I have tried reading the Bible from beginning to end (you have no idea how many times I have read and re-read Genesis) and I have used the open-your-bible-and-see-where-you-land-approach (which is how I have read most of my Bible so far).  Those methods are great, but lately I have felt lost when I open my Bible.

So today I googled "Bible Reading Plan" and found this website.

I signed up for two plans: reading the Old Testament in 2 years and reading the New Testament in one year.  I think it comes out to 2 chapters per day.  I am not a super focused gal so reading two chapters a day from the Bible is probably about as much as I can handle.


Now when I have quiet time, I have a flexible plan.  I plan to try to choose to do some or all of the following things on any given day.

* Read/study the two chapters that are recommended in my Daily Reading Plan

* Read a short devotional 

* Have some journal time

* Time in prayer

* Read another book of some type that is uplifting

That may seem like a lot, but I am a girl who really likes to have reflective time.  I could be reflective ALL DAY LONG (but if I did that I guess I wouldn't have much to reflect on- at least about my own life- since I wouldn't actually be DOING much). 

The main gist is this: I don't plan on doing all the things on the list above every day, but I DO plan on (1)reading scripture, (2)having some type of response/study (such as prayer, journaling, researching more about it what I read) and then (3)if I have/want more time with God, I can do it by choosing something else I enjoy.

Surely, I am not the only one who has had trouble keeping their time with God fresh over the years.

So what do you do to keep your time with God from getting too run-of-the-mill?  

God is not a boring God, in my opinion, so it makes sense to me that we shouldn't always relate to Him the same way all the time.

I remember serving in Miami, feeding the homeless on Sunday mornings and another intern saying, "This is my church today."  Sometimes we encounter God in unconventional ways!

Love,
Rachel

Inspire Me! Monday: I'm back

I am taking a deep breath as I write this post.  Breathe in.  Breathe out. 

Nothing truly substantial has happened in my life in the last two weeks, just a busy week followed by an impossibly exhausted week.  My husband said that last week was a Super Moon... or a Super Full Moon or something.  Meaning that not only was it a full moon but that it was the closest the moon can possibly be to the earth.  I was just talking to a friend in church who said that last week she was extremely exhausted also and lived for a week in a "brain fog."  Then on Sunday morning we both felt a lot better. 

Christian was awesome last week-end.  I lived for an entire week where each day I would say to myself "I'll go to bed early and feel better tomorrow," then I would lay in bed for two hours without being able to fall asleep and awake to being more tired than before.  Finally though, my hubby was able to give me the day off on Saturday.  I literally laid in bed almost all day.  I wasn't sick- just tired- so it was hard not to feel guilty... but Christian's brother was in town also (Hi Austin if you are reading this!)  and he was a big help with Melody.  Then Saturday night I fell asleep about 8pm and slept until 9am on Sunday morning... 13 hours of sleep... 13 hours of sleep!  Who does that?! 

Apparently I do. 

Apparently I needed to.

I felt like a whole new person on Sunday morning...

Thus the title of this post...

I'm back!  I feel more like myself than I have in awhile and I have so many thoughts I am looking forward to sharing with you soon.

In the meantime here are some inspiring (and a bit random) posts to read from across the blog world.

What I made for Monday: Easy Cookies

Freezer Cooking:  A Day's Work-out to Be Thankful for Later

Playroom Progress: Basket-Labeling

Do You Live Slowly?

And tell me, were any of you affected by the Super Full Moon this last week? 

And do I even have that right? A Super Full Moon?

Haha... it's good to be back!

Love,
Rachel