Tag Archives: pregnancy

The Saturday morning before Easter

2 Mi Familia, 3 Celebrations & Festive Events, 4 Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, , , ,

There is a coconut cake* in the oven and the doors and windows are open wide to let the spring air flow freely.  I hear something (?) in the neighborhood – is some one mowing already? 

The washer and dryer are at their rumbly-sounds work and my dining room table is lined with colorful Easter bags, each designated for one amazing grandbebe or another, as I busily prepare for THE day, the day more important than all the rest of the days ever – the one celebrating what Jesus did.  Easter.  Resurrection – the complete and finished work.  New life, the new birth, the fulfillment of all longing.  I can’t help humming, singing, contemplating

Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe

Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow

And we are rejoicing for we have a Savior and we are also waiting, longing for the new little bebe who will join us soon.  Jovan and Rocky were “due” on Friday and so, as every woman who has ever gone past her due date will attest, the longing increases to almost unbearable heights for birth, for what has been carried, to see the baby who has been hidden, being knitted by the very hands of God, right here, right now in our arms, in our sights, please, Lord!  From womb to waiting arms.  From darkness to light.  From will-this-ever-happen to the miraculous she is here!  From waning, worn-out hope to bright-light joy!

jovan pregnant

Mommy and daddy are ready!  Mommy is really really ready, doing the hardest of the work.  :)

All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.  Romans 8.22-25

We are enlarged in the waiting!  Oh, my goodness, our expectancy is JOYFUL!

jovan pregnant

So we are remembering Jesus, all He did, what His suffering and death on the cross gave us – while we were still actually sinners {don’t give up on this evil world, my friends and family – what Jesus did was enough and is enough for even these troubled days, for all men, for all times}.  Jesus is all.

And we are looking ahead with joyful expectancy for this new little girl, Baby-Girl Rhoades and we are blessed, so blessed.

So pray for Jovan if you think about it.  Pray for that promised strength to deliver (Isaiah 66) and Have a blessed Easter.

Jesus died.  But He conquered death and rose. And His blood washes white and His wounds brought us healing and what He has done means everything.  So be blessed on Easter!

I hear the Savior say, “Thy strength indeed is small; Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in Me thine all in all.

Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe

Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow”

Soon!

*About the coconut cake…Pure decadence.  I have been delivered of the very luscious, yet too-many-steps-from-scratch recipe I used to make to Heather’s delightful use-a-mix-and-you’ll-never-go-back-deliciousness.  It is a wonderful cake.  Maybe I will share the recipe with you!  Soon.

as promised {CLICK HERE} for cake recipe

Second Trimester

Stuff I Actually Think,

I am surrounded currently, it seems, by young, beautiful and fruitful pregnant women.  Surrounded!  And while I am so glad, sooooooo glad, that that part of my life is over, there is a part of me that is a little bit jealous, too.  For while I endured all the nausea and inexplicable fatigue one goes through at the beginning of any pregnancy as well as the typical I-can’t-wait-to-get-this-kid-out-of-me that happens at 38+ weeks, there is a time in the middle that is like no other!  It is called the 2nd Trimester.

It gets good in the middle.

My friend, Jen, and I were having coffee the other day and began discussing all the pregnancies surrounding us, which is how this all came up.  We run in the same circles so we started listing off all the younger women we knew who are currently “in the family way.” And we remembered our own baby-bearing years.

I had FIVE 2nd trimesters and can I just tell you?  Good times.

Good Times!

Really, all things considered, I think the 2nd trimester of pregnancy may be the most incredible hormonal balance a woman can have.

I mean – you are sort of past nauseousness, but you’re not all popped out and big  yet (well, your breasts are, and that is a good thing for most of us), but the rest isn’t so you actually feel kinda glow-y and you have this heightened sense of well-being.

Since you’re pregnant, you are getting attention and people do nice things for you.  Then, you’re not having periods, new life is growing within, you’re taking those potent pre-natal vitamins so your hair and nails are strong and growing and your skin is in great shape and your complexion clear – thus “the glow.”  You’re still fitting in your jeans even if you have to leave the top button undone, but you can still look pretty cute and have a waistline…even if it is only visible from behind.

I looked up some actual medical facts from the Mayo Clinic about the 2nd Trimester and they pretty much concur.  You feel pretty darn good duirng this phase. Pretty good, indeed.

I don’t know, maybe I am just romanticizing the 2nd Trimester, but this is how I remember it.  If I could just stay in the 2nd trimester, maybe I would consider pregnancy again.  Maybe.

That’s right.  This is the kind of stuff I actually think…Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF:  What happens if you’re 50 and you take prenatal vitamins?  Investigate.  Experiment.