Friday, July 25, 2008

Third time is a....?

I've come down with a cold for the third time since being pregnant. Three times in less than nine months! Seriously - what's going on here?!?

At least I'm not sick while pregnant AND raising a sick toddler AND packing up/moving to a new apartment AND having my husband start a new job like my friend Lisa was managing back in June. Now that's an impressive display of fortitude.

I'll just try to relish this last chance at being sick when I only have myself to care for. Hmmm, sounds like a great reason to treat myself to another scoop of ice cream!

Friday, July 18, 2008

Seeking Faithfulness

I enjoy the random musings of the blog Seeking Faithfulness. I'm not sure how I stumbled upon it. I don't know this woman personally, but have been inspired at times by her perspective on being a mother and a Christian.

Her most recent post about following our life's passions stirred my heart. I can relate to her sentiments of not having a natural bent for children. Reading about how God has changed her heart and mind through the process of having her own children inspires me to consider how my own life will be changed. While I might not relate to a desire to have eight children, I do relate to the idea that we should abandon our personal presumptions when asking God what He wants to do with our life.

I'd encourage you to check our her blog and read her most recent post. "Whose Passions? His? Ours?" You never know how someone else's perspective might affect your own.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Proud to be a Wet Blanket

On Friday I there was a delay on the Metro, so I took an earlier stop and waited at a shopping center for Peter to pick me up. A local news crew was loitering outside the Metro, finding people to interview for a nightly news segment. Their eyes lit up when they saw me, a pregnant lady, walking by. Since I wasn't in a hurry, I let them interview me.

The topic was rising prices. The local electric company will be raising their rates by 18% in the coming months. They wanted to get my opinion. I think I was a wet blanket on the type of story they were hoping to get from me.

They pepper me with many versions of the same question. Was I outraged at the price hike? How was I, a pregnant woman, going to make it with rising prices? With gas, food - heck *everything*, costing more, was I scared about the thought of having my baby with the skyrocketing costs? How would I adjust? What types of hardships would I face?

Since their questions were basically from the same vein, so were my answers. Yes, rising costs mean we'll have to sacrifice. We'll have to cut back. We'll have to conserve our resources. However, there are very few Americans who don't have luxuries they can remove from their life to accommodate our changing world. Will I have to change my lifestyle? Yes. Is that an outrage? No.

Don't get me wrong, there are injustices in how our economy prices goods and services. I just don't see a lot of good in making a blanket statement of outrage. In reality, we all need to balance of sacrifice/frugality with fighting the specific injustices.

They couldn't seem to accept this perspective. I think I disappointed them. No heart-tugging sound bite of a pregnant lady's sacrifices to air on the news.

Next time I get irritated with the "whiny citizens" on the local news, I'll stop to question if it was really the news crew who had an agenda.

Friday, July 11, 2008

I Do What I Don't Want to Do

I was not prepared for the emotional roller coaster that accompanies pregnancy. I fancy myself as someone who can fully embrace emotions while still being controlled about it. Since becoming pregnant, I definitely have days where I lose this (semblance of?) control. Usually, these "bad" days are triggered by me not being able to handle simple changes to a plan or schedule. For some reason, I can't seem to let go of my own expectations and roll with the new plan. It will take me hours to recover from something as silly as changing the meal plan for the week.

One of the oddest parts of this experience is that occasionally I am fully aware of how irrational, disproportionate and unkind my reaction is in the very moment of my reaction. Yet I don't stop. I keep on sulking or angrily responding.

Thankfully others are quick to forgive my outbursts. I've learned to show myself grace in these situations as well, despite my disappointment with myself. These reactions have piqued my curiosity about times where we act one way, knowing full well we should act differently and even wanting to act differently. It's as if I'm acting out a dramatization of Paul's words in Romans 7, watching myself do what I don't want to do.

It's amazing to think that we have the power to be different. That we don't have to succumb to our rebellious, prideful, stubborn, tendencies. Maybe we don't get it right all the time, but there is hope that through Jesus we can be different and choose to react differently.

My emotional reactions during pregnancy are an amplification of my non-pregnant tendencies and reveal a lot about myself. While I may not like the picture they sometimes paint, I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn from it for the future.

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Registry

"Congratulations...for choosing to register at Babies R Us!"
Those were the words that greeted us as we sat down to start a registry. I've heard a lot of funny comments since being pregnant, but this is one the most hilarious so far.

Next time I'm feeling down, I should remember to commend myself! hahaha...