Our Newest, Grandest News :-)

EXTRA!!! EXTRA!!! READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!

Today I wanted to tell you about our latest news... our newest, grandest news. Exiting as this news is, I'm also a little trepidatious. Let me explain why...

Francis Nichol

In 2005, my husband and I found out we were expecting our first baby. We were overwhelmed with joy and gratitude to God! We were going to have a baby!!!

When our baby was eight weeks, five days old, we had a miscarriage... our first. It was devastating.  So many people tried to help by saying things like, "You can always have another one", "Well, at least you were only 2 months along instead of 8 months", and "Think of all the people who can't have children... You're lucky that you can get pregnant!"

They WERE trying to help... but it didn't help. My heart was broken, my hopes were dashed, and my uterus, which had been carrying a baby... our baby... was empty.

What I really needed was time... time with God, time with my husband, time alone... time to heal. I needed to quit hearing people talk about my baby... my baby... as an IT. My baby was a living person... a very real, living person, not an IT. I needed to be loved, but I needed people to quit reminding me about my loss.

Yes, I know there are people... many people... who suffer from infertility. I know there are people whose arms ache to hold a precious bundle of joy of their own. I knew that then too, but knowing that didn't help me at the time.

Sierra Rennai

We soon got pregnant again, and Sierra was born March 6, 2006... healthy and screaming her lungs out.

Manasseh Ephraim 

A little over a year later we got pregnant again, and that baby is also awaiting us in Heaven. By this time, we had dealt with the first miscarriage. We had learned to rest in God. We had come to realize that in allowing us to lose our baby, God had opened a very special doorway through which we are able to help others who have gone, or are going, through a similar experience.

After we lost him/ her, we named the baby Manasseh Ephraim, which basically means "Let go, and let God". The night we lost the baby, we went to the revival service that was going on at our church, and the preacher preached on how God brings tough times into our lives, but that He always brings us through them and how, on the other side of the valley, we find ourselves closer to God. Isn't it just like God to lay the very message on your heart that you need to hear?! He had based his text in Genesis in the verse where God tells us about Manasseh and Ephraim, thus the name.

Hannah Marie

Soon after, we got pregnant again. After many attempt to come early and forcing Mommy onto bed-rest for 2 months, Hannah came on July 7, 2008 at 10 pounds and an ounce.

Rebekka Ruthann

When we got pregnant a fifth time, I just KNEW we were going to lose this baby too. After all, that was the pattern: lose a baby, have a baby, lose a baby, have a baby... Surly this would be another loss... but we didn't lose the baby! Rebekka was born on July 14, 2011 after an uneventful pregnancy!

Introducing Peanut! :-)

Well, you guessed it... We're pregnant again! Normally, I wouldn't tell people this early, but I've decided to give it to God. What good will worrying do anyway? Prayer, however, is the key. If it's God's will that this baby make it, we'll have another bundle of joy... or two (My oldest has been praying for twin brothers for about a year and a half now... and we all know how God likes to answer the prayers of children! LOL) around Mother's Day. As of right now, I'm due May 13, 2013, but my due date always change to an earlier date, and my babies almost always come late. :-)...

Introducing a New Series!

I wanted to give you that wonderful news, and I also wanted to inform you that I'm going to host a series on infertility on the blog. I'm not sure when the posts will be up. There are a few ladies who are writing about their personal experiences with infertility specifically for this blog, and I'll post them as soon as I receive them! I'm excited about this series, because, although it's a hard topic, it's a problem many women face. We that have children can't really grasp the things they go through or the pain they endure... I'm hoping this series will open our eyes a little more, allowing us to see into the heart of the ladies around us who suffer from this painful condition, so we might know how better to pray for them.

Also, please keep me and the newest Peanut in your prayers as we trudge this wonderful journey again.

If you have any comments you'd like to add, please do. If you are someone who struggles with infertility and would like to write a blog post on the topic, please inbox me on my facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/ChristHonoringBooksByNishoniHarvey.

Thank you all for your prayers, and God Bless!

Unfinished Projects

Many people, when starting a job, don't realize that the completed job will bring them so much satisfaction! I kind of feel sorry for those people who never finish anything. What a sad state that must be, to have so many unfinished projects laying around, staring at you... taunting you... I know what it's like, because I have a few of those myself!

Aren't you glad that when man fell in the Garden that God didn't just say, "Oh well! Guess that didn't work out... Moving on now..."? Aren't you glad that when Jesus was tempted He didn't give up and go Home and leave His sinless time on earth as an unfinished project? I don't know about you, but I am so very happy that Jesus didn't come down off that cross, calling 10,000 angels to come destroy the world and leave our salvation an unfinished project! I'm glad He didn't decide to stay in Heaven with His Father instead of coming back to life and leave our redemption an unfinished project! God is so good!

One of the things we see in Scripture is that, as a homemaker and virtuous woman, we have a lot of mandates upon us. If you're a wife or mother, then there are even more. 

The Proverbs 31 virtuous woman  is hard to find, which is very sad, but she is who we should strive to emulate. A virtuous woman protects the heart of her husband, adds to the finances of the home through hard work, and takes care of her own--even in the middle of the night. She cares for the poor, offering them food and raiment. She makes sure she is modest, even if she has to make her own clothes for that to happen. She isn't idle, but has a clean and very well-run, organized home. She seeks God and teaches Him to her children. She is truly a virtuous woman.

What if this woman left her tasks undone? What is she left all of her duties to become unfinished projects? Odds are, her heart would be straying toward another man and other men would be straying after her as she wore the latest fashion with its skin-tight pants and blouse that shows off enough cleavage to form the Grand Canyon. If she didn't care for the finances of the household, she would probably detract from them instead, being one of those woman who buy everything they see whether they have the money or not. Her servants and family, after working long, hard hours, would come home to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches they made themselves because Mom spent all day on Farmville and is still not at a place that she can stop without losing everything she has worked so hard for. The poor would continue to walk around hungry, naked, and destitute. Her house would look like a tornado had trashed it, and her children would grow up without knowing God or seeing Him in her life. What a sad life for her... for her husband... for her children... To have all of those unfinished projects...

Let's not drop the ball... Let's not leave any unfinished "projects". Keep your eyes on God, your goal on the prize, and your hands busy! Don't let anything... especially your husband and children... fall by the wayside. And... if it already has, pick up the pieces and decide that from now on, you are going to finish every project God sees fit to give you!