Children Are A Heritage From The Lord

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate." Psalm 127:3-5

That's right, baby Phillips is on the way!! Looks like May 1, 2010 is the due date for now! Perfect timing, baby P, I am pumped to eat like crazy at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Even though, the thought of 99.9% of foods that exist currently make me want to vomit, I am hoping that I will be fat and happy by the time the holidays roll around.

And, for this first post, I think I am going to follow the same format as the last one...questions that are undoubtedly on most people's minds:

1) Whoa! Sounds like you had a honeymoon baby!
Close, but not really. Baby Phillips was conceived around two weeks after our cruise. Too much information? Oh well, just pretend you didn't read that, then.

2) Wow, pregnant AND your first year of marriage? How miserable! I don't think I could have survived...
Well, not many years ago, you wouldn't have had the option whether you got pregnant or not in your first year of marriage. Therefore, more people than not have been pregnant their first year of marriage and have survived just fine! Don't worry, we're not miserable. Have my mood swings already started? Of course. Is John the most laidback guy I've ever met and puts up with me without thinking about it twice? Absolutely! He has been so crazy awesome through all of this so far. Getting up and going to Publix first thing in the morning to buy my random craving for the morning. Picking up around the house when I am to exhausted to even think about it. Taking his lunch break at work to make me (or buy me) whatever I can stomach for lunch that day. If anything, this process has brought us so much closer together already! It just feels so natural to have a baby on the way. We love each other so much and now we are going to have a baby to share in all the love!

3) Buuuut, you're so young? Don't you two know how these things are made? Don't you two know how to prevent these things from happening?
This thought process is always the one that makes me laugh the most, especially from people that have children. It's almost like they're saying, "I hate my children, why on earth would you want any?". But, if I said that to them, they would deny it instantly. Well, if you enjoy your children, then wouldn't you want as many as you could have? If they bring so much joy to your life, then wouldn't it be great to start that joy as soon as you can?

Birth control...the big question we have been getting since before we were married. And, one of the things we discussed very early on in our dating life, that was actually dealbreaker for me. This is a very long, drawn-out thing to discuss, that I would love to sit down with you and talk about if you're interested in hearing our point of view. We are absolutely NOT saying that everyone should have our opinion or that it's the only right way. We both know many Godly families that differ on this topic and we do not think any less of their opinion than ours. For us, at least for now, we have decided that any form of contraceptive would not be following God's will for our life. We had discussed some natural family planning and might use it in the future. We did decide very early on, before we really knew what to think, that I would not go on any type of horomonal birth control. I was on it for a year in high school because of lady problems and I hated the way my body reacted to the horomones (which is one more reason why I think the first year married and pregnant horrified reaction is ridiculous, birth control is horomones and provides mood swings just like pregnanacy, although, so far, birth control gave me worse mood swings than pregnancy has so far). So, after the horomonal therapy was out, we began to talk through different options, which finally led us to our current philosophy.

We really do trust that God is in control and that every time He provides us with a child, He is going to provide us a way to take care of that child. (This is where a lot of people roll their eyes because we've all known a family that said this and turned out with tons of kids, tons of welfare, and giving the rest of us a bad rep). But, all in all, we looked at Scripture and saw verse after verse talking about children being a blessing...talking about the parents of children to favored from the Lord...etc...etc... We never found any verses talking about it being okay to decide how to run your own life and pick when to have children. That probably seems a little blunt, but personally, we couldn't find any Scripture (or a peace from the Lord) to have any type of birth control. Our encouragement to people is to just pray a lot!! That's what we did! We just kept praying that God would show us what to do with this issue and He did. It was not easy for me. I still remember, through tears, about 2 months before our wedding, in the car, saying to John, "I just really want to be like Jesus," and he responded with that he does, too. And, then I said, still teary eyed, "I have tried everything to figure out a way to make birth control okay, but I just can't get a peace about that. I think we're supposed to not go on a birth control and not go out of our way to try and have a child either. We just need to completely trust the Lord and see what happens". Then, John responded saying the Lord had been showing him the exact same thing! And, that he was like me, not sure what to do with that, but God has spoken and we need to obey.

So, there we are! A precious baby Phillips is on the way and we are so thankful to our beautiful God above for giving us life.

Ahhhhh, Newlywed Bliss

Where in the world do I start?? I have gotten so behind on things lately. You know, I'm a wife now. So, I am trying to figure all of that out and this blog probably doesn't rank high on the charts of my priority list. But, all in all, I do miss this little blog. And, my faithful 2 readers :o)

I guess I'll just answer the questions most people seem to ask when they see us these days....

1) How was the honeymoon?

We're not going to lie to you, this question usually makes us slightly uncomfortable. We want to shout, GREAT! But, we're not sure you're asking what it is that we want to shout, GREAT!, for. So, just don't ask us. We loved our honeymoon and can't really tell you the details of Key West or the Bahamas, because we simply won't know. Okay, okay, enough of that, but, hey, a thousand of you awkwardly asked :o)

2) Have you had a big fight yet?

Once again, bit of an awkward question. Do I ask you the last time you got into a fight with your spouse, mom, brother, pet dog, etc.? But, if you would like to know the answer, not really. I guess we've had some disagreements here and there that could have escalated, but we never let it get to that point. I really mean that. John is a lot better than me at this, but when a situation starts to go south, we take care of it pretty fast. The faster we communicate and calm down, the faster we are back in newlywed bliss. But, so far, we've been sailing through life and loving every minute of it! Have we had some trials already? Sure! (I mean, heck, people weren't kidding when they say you're broke as newlyweds!) But, now we have each other to lean on as we approach the Lord for guidance. So, bottom line, any big fights? Sorry to disappoint, and even though people still try to dig for more, we really haven't had a big blowout.

3) How are settling in to your apartment?

This is the question that I always wish I had a better answer to! While pretty much all of the boxes are emptied, there is stuff in piles and waiting to be organized. Who knew that John had a million DVD's or that I had the most random assortment of just plain junk that I still think I'll use one day? We are slowly making progress on creating this apartment livable. I can't stand disorganization and clutter. So, our home probably wouldn't seem that terrible to an outside visitor, but it's driving me nutso! But, like I said, it is getting there and looking cuter each day. Too bad money doesn't grow on trees so that we could finish everything in a day! But, it's teaching me to be patient and to focus on one task at a time.

4) I heard you, destroyed or trashed or did something absolutely unspeakable to your wedding dress. Please please please tell me this isn't true and if for some strange reason it is true, why in the world would you do such a thing?

Yes, I "trashed the dress". And, if by trash, you mean, it only has a slight smell of lake water and a few dirt and makeup stains that can be easily removed with dry cleaning, AND, I am still completely able to preserve my wedding dress to stick in a box under my bed until I die, then yes, I really did trash the thing. If you wanna see some pretty cool pictures, just google Trash the Dress or stay tuned to my Facebook albums. John and I decided to do this for two reasons:

1) who wouldn't want really cool pictures with a graffiti backdrop in a junkyard and in a lake, with a WEDDING DRESS on?! I mean, come on, that just sounds magazine-esque. And, since I am not cool enough to ever be in a magazine, I am going to live up the "I am in a wedding dress, so I instantly look pretty and you must make me look good in pictures" as long as possible

2) I highly doubt that if the Lord ever blesses us with a daughter that she will just be dying to wear my wedding dress. Therefore, why not jump in a lake to show my husband that I don't care if the dress is destroyed beyond repair? I will never need another wedding dress. When, I made my commitment to John, I meant it. So, what a neat, artistic way to show my husband that my devotion is to him.

All right, I guess that is it for now! Hopefully I will find the time to post again very soon and share some more! Hope that life is treating you well; until next time...