The Power of a Praying Wife.

I've started going thru the book "The Power of a Praying Wife" again. This will be my second time thru this book but I've gone back and reviewed sections of the book many time. I highly recommend this book and have given it at several bridal showers. The book is divided into 30 chapters, each one dealing with a different area of your husband's life that you can pray for. One suggestion she gives is to pray one "topic" per day for a month.

One of the things I love about this book is that she uses so much scripture. Every piece of advice she gives is backed up by at least one Bible verse. The second thing I love is that her advice is so practical, she even provides prayers to pray when you have no idea how to even start praying for your husband. The third and probably one of the biggest reasons I love this book is because she's very clear that praying for your husband is not a "magic potion" to "fix" him or all your problems; in fact praying for him is really about the wife and fulfilling your role as helpmeet. The very first area that she says to pray for is "his wife".

As I was going thru this study again there were a couple of points that I had underlined before that once again really spoke to me. I thought I would share a few.

"Gradually I realized it's impossible to truly give yourself in prayer for your husband without first examining your own heart...I had to first pray God's favorite three-word prayer: 'Change me, Lord' " The verse she gives to go along with this is Psalm 66:18 "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear"

"Let go of as many expectations as possible. The changes you try to make happen in your husband, or that your husband tries to make in himself to please you, are doomed to failure and will bring disappointment for you both. Instead, ask God to make any necessary changes" Ecclesiates 3:14 "whatever God does, it shall be forever, Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it" Psalm 62:5 "My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him"

She also talks about creating a haven at home for your husband. "Part of making a house a home is allowing your husbnad to be the head so you can be the heart"

There is so much more in just the first chapter. It is such a wonderful reminder to always be in prayer for my husband and that God has given me the privilege as his "second half" to pray for him in a unique way that no one else can.

Some other things...

I thought I would update what we've been doing at home in a separate post.

As for home, we are beginning to work on getting things ready for the baby's arrival. This past weekend we bought a new dresser at IKEA for Ethan so that we could move his (which has the changing table on top) into the girl's room. We rearranged the furniture some to fit it into the room. The plan right now is for Matt to build Ethan a loft bed so that Hailey can have his toddler bed (right now she is sleeping in the crib with the side rail off).

Work on the kitchen is continuing. I feel bad because I can't help much with the work but Matt is working on it in the few spare moments we have.

As for the baby, I had an appointment with my Midwife on July 22nd. All is looking well, my BP was good, weight gain was good and the baby's heart rate was in the 140's. She continues to be very active. The kids are loving it because she is pretty responsive to when they rub or press on my belly so they've gotten quite a few kicks in response. It's hard to believe that I'm 28 wks already. Time is still flying by. Now that we have the dresser for her I need to get some Tide Free & Clear and wash all of her clothes to see what she still needs.

I also had my glucose test on the 22nd and since I haven't heard anything from my midwife I'm assuming that no news is good news and I passed. I also got all the paperwork for the cord blood donation filled out and signed so that went in the mail today.

So that's a quick update on what is going on in our lives here at home. I hope you are all having a great summer.

Our Vacations...so far :)

One of the reasons I've been so bad at getting blogs written is because of the busyness of our summer. As I mentioned in a previous post we took a "mini-vacation" the last weekend in June. We went to Whitefield, NH with Matt's company (each year they give trips to the employees). It was nice to have a long weekend to relax and spend as a family. I thought I'd share a couple pictures that I took that weekend.

One of the things we tried to do was to take the kids on the Hobo Railroad in Lincoln. Unfortunately, as we were pulling out of the station the train broke down. The kids still had a great time playing on the "trains" in the playground there and after they played we took them on the Tram up Canon Mountain.

At the playground:

On top of Canon Mtn. with daddy.

Also, as previously mentioned we took a trip to VA to spend some time at my sister-in-law's house. We drove at night so the kids could sleep; this worked really well for the kids but I have to admit it was rough for me, not sure if it's because I'm pregnant or just getting old :) because we have done overnight driving many times before.

We had a wonderful visit with both my sister-in-law and mother-in-law. The kids had a great time playing in the pool that Auntie Manda bought for them. We also took them to the Life Sciences Museum in Durham, NC (again, thanks to the family membership we were given, this was free). The museum was nice because it had both indoor and outdoor exhibits. Here are a few pictures from our time in VA.

Being VERY silly in front of the sand sculpture:

Playing in the pool:

Another silly one..yes that's the bag for a camping chair that she's standing in:

At the museum, in a space "pod":

The ant farm was really cool:

In the butterfly house:

So as you can see we've been making many great memories. We still have one more trip before our summer vacations end. We are headed to AZ with my parents. We leave this Saturday for a week. We will be seeing the Grand Canyon and other sights there so I will try to upload pictures soon after we get back.

A quick update.

I had mentioned in a previous post that I did not want to buy a contoured changing pad because they were so expensive ($22). A few weeks back I went yard-saling with my neighbor and found a contoured changing pad in perfect condition for $1 !! I was so excited, at the same yard sale I found 3 adorable dresses for Hailey for 0.50 each.

Another "deal" I was able to get was on the infant car seat. The car seat we used for the other two kids is going to expire and the plastic is showing some wear so to be safe we wanted to replace it. The one I wanted (it has the highest safety ratings) was $130. I received a notice from Babies-R-Us that if I set up a registry I could get a $10 gift card. I decided to register, even though this is our 3rd, so that I could get the gift card. In a separate mailing from Babies-R-Us I received a coupon for $20 off any car seat. So using those two combined I was able to get the car seat for only $100. I know this may still sound expensive but it's actually quite reasonable for an infant seat, plus we are not willing to compromise on the safety of the seats we buy for our kids.

It's been a blessing to find so many useful things for so little money. I 've really been trying to use coupons more and look around for deals and it has been exciting to see how God has provided.

A busy summertime.

Summer always seems to be such a busy time for us and this year is no different. We have been enjoying trips to the park, visiting friends, and a mini-vacation so far.

Today I am taking the kids to the Boston Children's Museum (thanks to a museum membership we received as a family Christmas gift it will be free). This saturday is our 2nd annual block/street party with our neighbors. It's always fun to get to know the people who live on our street a bit better and the kids have fun playing with all the other kids on the street.

Next week we head to VA to spend some time at my sister-in-laws. My mother-in-law is flying to Thailand as a missionary on July 22nd so we will be able to spend some special time with her before she leaves (she is staying at my sister-in-laws).

I also have been in a very "crafty" mood lately (I think all of my nesting energy is going into doing crafts :) ) so I have crocheted a blanket and coming home outfit for the baby. As for the baby, she is doing well, she is still very active and growing bigger all the time. She seems to respond alot to when the kids talk to her (at my belly :) ). I have my next appointment on July 22nd.

Here are pictures of the items I've crocheted: