Adventures in La La Land

I just finished Forgotten God  by Francis Chan . . . and I loved it. Can you believe after my experience with the last Francis Chan book I read that I would enjoy a subsequent one so much?? [Sidenote: I didn't really hate Crazy Love  that much. It just terrified me. But it was actually a good thing. It was that book that has spurred me to study and search so much since then.] Anyway, I started reading through the New Testament a while ago as an attempt to fall more in love with Jesus. I got to Acts a few months ago and have just been stuck. I'm dumbfounded by the way the Spirit worked in the first believers, and don't understand why we don't experience Him that way anymore. (At least I don't!) When I heard about Forgotten God , I knew I wanted to read it. I was telling Niki that I think she should read this book because it addresses so many of our questions. She asked if it gave any answers. Haha. Really, I'm not sure it does. But it was reassuring to have

1. Lucy is obsessed with reading books to herself this week. She makes me stack all her books in one big pile next to her pillow, then plops down and "reads" every single one. Usually a couple times. I  love  it! 2. Justin and I made a list of the good things that will come of not  having a baby this fall. He'll be able to coach at Northpointe again. I was due on August 17, and soccer usually starts around August 10. I was putting the kabosh on coaching this year, but no more!  I'll be able to work longer (I was going to quit my job when the baby was born), and pay down more of our debt. (Hopefully we didn't just accrue some more debt with the hospital bills.) I don't have to stress about getting Lucy potty trained, in a big girl bed, and broken of her binkies as quickly. I won't be pregnant all summer. I'll be able to go to Ladies' Retreat. (I wasn't sure I'd be able to go, since the baby would be 1 month old.) I can go back to dri

I found out I was pregnant on December 9, 2011. I was overjoyed . . . and terrified. [Xanga entry about my terror here ] We had been trying for a couple months. I had prayed that God would let me get pregnant in his timing - when Lucy would be ready to be a big sister and when Justin and I would be ready to be parents to 2 kids. So when it happened that quickly, I was nervous, but confident that God had a plan. I didn't expect his plan to include a miscarriage. Justin and I agreed to keep the pregnancy a secret until Christmas. We told his parents on Christmas Eve, and I made this to announce it to my family on Christmas morning: I was only 6 weeks along, and knew it was a little bit of a risk to announce it so early, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity for a Christmas surprise. I took a video of Lucy unwrapping the picture frame and Niki crying when she realized what it said. It breaks my heart, now, to watch it. It breaks my heart that the shirt Lucy's wearing in

I've been debating over whether or not to write this entry because I don't want to come across as an attention whore. But it keeps rattling around in my brain and I just need to get it out! So here goes . . . I had a miscarriage this weekend. I was actually pretty far along - 10 weeks. I was keeping it a secret so I wouldn't have to tell everyone if I lost it, but I don't know who I was kidding. If I have a story to tell, I'll tell it! *Disclaimer #1: Parts of this entry are very graphic. Read at your own risk.* *Disclaimer #2: It's going to be very long. Haha.* I started spotting on Saturday night. By Sunday night, it was bright red and I had no doubt I was miscarrying. Justin worked a half day on Monday, then took me to the doctor for an ultrasound. They only found a sac with a non-viable embryo, measuring 6 weeks. (I should've been 10 weeks, 3 days.) The doctor said that now that I've had 2 miscarriages, they'll run tests on the baby. If no

1. I had a great time last weekend on our little mini-retreat. Lots of good food, laughter, games and spiritual discussion - about sin, grace, heaven, and everything else! We were staying in Muskegon, and in the 3 days we were there, we got 14 inches of snow. It was crazy! Thank goodness for Niki and her sweet driving skills. 2. Good news: we made it an entire week without puking!! I'm really hoping that means we're done with it, and the doctor was right. 3. I bought Lucy some Elmo underwear and we did a little trial run of potty training this week. She wanted to wear the undies, and I wanted to see if she has any concept of what it means to "go potty." I really don't think she does. Haha. I'm not rushing it. I think she needs to be a little bit more verbal before she'll really be ready. I just wanted to see what would happen if we tried it this week. 4. I read a couple more chapters of Forgotten God  this week. Chan talked about how we tend to have

1. You're getting a special advance version of the Saturday 7 this week because I'll be gone for the weekend. I'm going to Muskegon for a mini-retreat with some of the ladies from Bible Study. Of course, we're supposed to have our first big snow storm this weekend, so we'll see how well that turns out. Haha. 2. I got some bad news about my job this week. My boss got a new part time job, meaning less hours for me. Subsequently, she'll be making less money, so they can't afford to pay me as much. I'll be working less and making less per hour. Faaaabulous. 3. Lucy threw up again on Tuesday. She was shoveling macaroni in her mouth when all of the sudden she stopped, started crying, and regurgitated every bite she'd just eaten. This is the first time it's happened while she's eating, so I don't think I can blame it on eating too quickly. I called the doctor later that day and she said it's probably still just after-effects from the flu

1. This is my 100th post. I think it's been less than a year since I started this blog. Go me. :-) 2. I only worked 2 days again this week. I think that's going to be my new normal. It's amazing to be a mostly stay-at-home mom, but our bank account is severely suffering as a result. We have to live in this house for 3 years since we took the $8,000 first time home buyer's tax credit when we bought it. It'll be 3 years in June, and I'm seriously considering buying a much  cheaper house. If we could cut our house payment in half, I might be able to stay at home full time. That said, Justin isn't totally  on board with selling our house. So we'll see . . . 3. Lucy had 2 random puking episodes this week. I think it's been almost a month since she had the flu, so I don't understand what this puking is about. The first time was at Niki's house for my extended family Christmas. It was crowded and hot, and she had eaten a lot. So I figured it was