Poured Out

I’ve been meditating on Isaiah 40:25-31 over the past week or so.  It’s a passage we memorized a few years back, maybe for such a time as this?!

I can’t say I’ve been maintaining a great attitude all the time as we wait for this baby to arrive.  It’s not been easy and I’ve definitely had my “down” moments.  We still may have quite a few more days or even a couple of weeks to wait!  But we know God, our loving heavenly Father is on the throne.  There is no one like Him.  His “understanding no one can fathom.”  If He can create all the stars, call them each by name and make sure none of them goes missing, I think He can plan the perfect time for our child to arrive.  I also love that He is a God who doesn’t just want to overpower His creation and show His dominance over us.  But He “gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak (ie tired pregnant mums!)”  Those who wait for Him (or HOPE in Him) will renew their strength.  I am hanging on to that.

As of tonight, this baby is setting the record for the Mead baby to stay inside the longest.   I’m glad he or she finds my belly comfy but I am looking forward cuddling the baby on the outside soon.  In the meantime, we wait on the Lord.

In other news, Joel is approaching the finish line of his 100 Easy Reading Lessons.  We always have a party to celebrate so we’ll probably do that with my parents when they arrive next week.  I guess the race is on as to whether he’ll finish his lessons first or the baby will arrive first.  The other race is whether the baby or my parents will arrive first!

Lastly, Cor Deo 2012 has now commenced and we are excited to see how God works in the lives of the four guys participating.

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement to our family!

 

It does feel like we are watching the clock at the moment.  A couple of times we’ve thought things were starting, but nothing yet.  God knows the best timing and we have nothing to worry about, but everyone is longing to meet the new Mead!

Meanwhile, if you scan our bookshelves, we’ve finally updated them.  We both love books so they’ll soon be out of date. I just reviewed a book here that you need to get hold of when you can (in March in the UK, in the Fall in the US)…a tremendous little book!

We feel a bit in limbo waiting for littlest Mead to appear, but no sign yet.  Meanwhile we’re trying to help Melanie as much as possible, which is providing some cute moments.  She had been given a massage as a Christmas present, so we all went with her to Bristol last week.  I sat in the waiting room with the children while Melanie was gone for the hour.  I’d asked them to read books because I really needed to be reading too.  They did really well (the receptionist was the most disruptive saying how good they were being!)  After a while Mariah and Joel were snuggled up next to each other looking at a book together.  Joel turned slightly, stroked her cheek tenderly and whispered “you know that I love you?”  Cute.  And a nice change from the fighting that has been a marked feature of home life in the last month or so.

I have taken them to the sports hall at church a couple of times to burn of some energy.  They are really getting into that.  We play five football matches starting with me against them, then me with each of them against the rest.  It’s fun to see them improving.  Hannah is getting into it, Aliyah continues to be a tireless worker, Mariah has improved significantly and likes to score goals running from deep.  Joel runs enough to rival Aliyah, and the delight when he scores is worth all the effort of going!

Actually Joel is football mad at the moment.  He loves to play in the living room too, with a soft ball.  He has to score against one sofa, and he defends a smaller goal at the other end.  This is quite fun and he keeps saying “give me a chance!”  Truth is that while I don’t exactly play intensely, I don’t give away soft goals, but he always scores plenty.  Last night Aliyah and Mariah joined in, with Melanie resting on another sofa…that did feel crowded – four people on a twelve foot long pitch!

After finishing the game I sat down to read Mariah and Joel their bedtime story, while the older two finished off the kitchen and putting the rabbits away for the night.  We’re reading through a little book called Winter Pony, about a girl who gets her dream, a pony of her own.  Appropriately the pony was about to give birth, so Melanie listened along as we read of the anxious waiting, then finally the successful birth story.  We all wondered if that might be a catalyst for action.  Not so far.

 

Well, we are thanking God today because I am officially “full-term” (37 weeks pregnant) and so we are able to have a homebirth now if I go into labour.  We would love to have the baby at home if all goes as planned.  I had Joel at 37 weeks, Hannah at 38 weeks, and Aliyah and Mariah at 39 weeks . . . so we’ll see when this baby decides to arrive.  We have prayed for a slightly early birth all along, so as to give us some time before Cor Deo starts on the 24th but we are trusting God for the perfect timing.  Who knows, maybe I’ll go 42 weeks this time!   Please pray for us as we wait, especially for this pregnant mummy, to keep a thankful and persevering attitude.  I think any mum will tell you these last weeks of pregnancy are the most challenging . . . it’s easy to be grumpy and impatient and I don’t want to be that way.  We are all very excited to meet this baby.  Please pray that Peter and I will be really bonded together during labour and that we can be a testimony to the midwives through the way we conduct ourselves (ie with trust in God and not fear).

While we wait for the big event, there is schooling to work on, a household to run and ministry to be done.  Peter preaches twice tomorrow at our church . . . in the morning he will be speaking at a baptism and we expect many unbelievers to be there so please pray for soft and open hearts to God’s Word.  In the evening he’ll be starting a series from 2 Chronicles called “Devoted” that will stretch out over the next few weeks.  They should be posted on the website so if you are interested you can listen in.

Lastly, we had a lovely Christmas and I thought I’d share a few photos with you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know that a lot of our friends and family who read this site are outside of the UK, so I thought I’d share something truly regal with you.  Every Christmas the Queen makes a televised speech that many will tune into and hear in their post-Turkey-dinner state of bloating.  Last year she made some fairly overt statements about the King James Version of the Bible as we entered the four-hundredth anniversary.  This year she excelled anything I’ve heard before.  Check this out, the final couple of minutes of her speech:

“For many, this Christmas will not be easy. With our armed forces deployed around the world, thousands of service families face Christmas without their loved ones at home.

The bereaved and the lonely will find it especially hard. And, as we all know, the world is going through difficult times. All this will affect our celebration of this great Christian festival.

Finding hope in adversity is one of the themes of Christmas. Jesus was born into a world full of fear. The angels came to frightened shepherds with hope in their voices: ‘Fear not’, they urged, ‘we bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

‘For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.’

Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves – from our recklessness or our greed.

God sent into the world a unique person – neither a philosopher nor a general, important though they are, but a Saviour, with the power to forgive.

Forgiveness lies at the heart of the Christian faith. It can heal broken families, it can restore friendships and it can reconcile divided communities. It is in forgiveness that we feel the power of God’s love.

In the last verse of this beautiful carol, O Little Town Of Bethlehem, there’s a prayer:

    O Holy Child of Bethlehem, Descend to us we pray.

    Cast out our sin, And enter in.

    Be born in us today.

It is my prayer that on this Christmas day we might all find room in our lives for the message of the angels and for the love of God through Christ our Lord.

I wish you all a very happy Christmas.”

Whatever your nationality, or view of a British monarchy, let’s pray for her to influence many in a very secular society and world with this increasingly rarely seen overt Christian message!

Melanie has added two new book reviews – click here to go there.  And Hannah has added another one for the children – click here.  Meanwhile, we had our home assessment with the midwife today (to make sure they are willing to deliver the baby here if all goes to plan).  So we had the house cleaned and tidied and organised and children playing quietly upstairs.  All went to plan.  However, I went to make her a drink in the kitchen and managed to knock a heavy vase onto the floor.  Actually, I knocked it onto my foot, where it bounced, then landed on the floor and smashed.  I returned to the living room briefly before noticing the blood seeping through my sock.  I wonder what she wrote on her notes – “home ok, mother doing great, watch out for the Dad!”

We’re about to enjoy our Christmas Eve tradition of pancakes and a few presents.  I’m sat here with Mariah and Joel.  Joel’s message:

“Even though I have been missing out on cake I still love Christmas Eve.  When I go to sleep at night I wish that I could see God, and when I wish that Christmas was near, I think of God and I think of when Jesus came and was a little baby and when I loved to play with the things I got for Christmas.  I love you all, this is the end.”

Mariah’s message:

“I love Christmas Eve and I hope you have a nice Christmas too.  Thank you for praying for us.”

Hang on, Hannah’s here:

“I love the time of Christmas.  It’s such a lovely time with friends and family.  I want to thank you all for praying for us, you’re such a blessing to us.  I hope you have a lovely Christmas and a happy New Year!”

Hope you have a great Christmas.  Time for us to go for pancakes!