May 18, 2012

Blessed.

Hello all :)

For those of you who may have not heard our news, are you ready for this one? Here it goes! We are expecting another little bundle this December. Yes, it's true, we are having another baby! Blessing #4 is on the way.

I am 10 weeks along and we just announced the news to our families this past weekend on Mother's Day. It was a fun and memorable weekend...always so fun to announce a pregnancy!

To be honest though, since finding out we were expecting, I was feeling a bit nervous to share our news with family. Silly I know, since this is our decision and not theirs, but multiple family members have made comments to me since Lincoln has been born that left me feeling a little uneasy about their support. The good news is once we did share, everyone was happy :) Either that or really good actors who should be getting paid :)

It's funny how we care about what people think sometimes, when others opinions really shouldn't matter when it comes to whether or not we are going to expand our family. However, it seems if you have more than 2 children these days people look at you weird or think you're crazy for wanting more children...I don't really get it.

I get looks all the time at the store or comments like, "Wow! You sure have your hands full!" It used to bother me, until God gave me an answer to those people. "Yes, I do have my hands full and I love it! Children are a blessing from God and I'm so grateful to have healthy children." They usually don't have a response to that. Ha! I'm thankful for the random strangers I run into that encourage me when they see me juggling all 3 kids and the groceries in the store, instead of the judgement I feel from people sometimes.

Recently I had the sweetest older woman who was a greeter at our local grocery store immediately pull me aside when I walked in with the kids, just to tell me how my job is so important and she just poured life into me. It totally made my day, and made me realize how important the words we speak really are. Our the words we speak encouraging? Do they build up or tear someone down? Are they fruitful? Life giving? It can be easy to say things before we think them through sometimes and I have learned the importance of words and what I speak over people.

The cutest old man offered $10 bucks for Gracelyn the other day. Ha! I laughed and said, "Sorry, she's not for sale! :)

All that to say, we are blessed to have another on the way. We are happy. We believe this child is a blessing and gift from God. An inheritance from Him. Yes, we planned it. Yes, we know where babies come from. Yes we know our life can look crazy, busy, sleep deprived, a laundry room with dirty laundry piled 15 feet high, crayon on the walls, lipstick stains on the carpet and everything in between that I missed but we are ok with that. If you don't like it, don't come over :) There are many seasons in life and in parenting. Right now, we are raising little ones...little ones who want their way, have temper tantrums when they don't get their way and bang on their door as loud as possible when they get disciplined and are in time out. It's the season of parenting we're in and it's normal, and we are training, teaching and molding them into who they will become. It's an important job and not one we take lightly.

In Psalm 127, we learn that:

Children are a gift from God. An inheritance from Him!

Children are like arrows in the hand of a mighty warrior.

Children are a blessing.

The Bible says having a lot of children is a blessing. In light of Psalm 127, this is the way we should think of every child. They are a blessing from God and not a burden.

Blessed with three and one on the way,
Momma Keri

2 comments:

Claire said...

oh Keri, I love you! I was nodding, amen-ing, and clapping through this whole post! I'm so excited for you and your beautiful family and this new blessing God is pouring out on you! I resonate with everything you said, and I just want to say you're not alone. I'm right there with you in the mess, the carpet stains and the temper tantrums... and we are bringing glory to God together! so happy to be on this Mom journey with you, friend!

Lots of love xoxoxoxo!

Happy Mama (Lisa Gonzalez) said...

Congrats!! I'm 10 weeks and due in December as well :) Hehe look at us!