9 months up and 9 months down

Posted September 8, 2009 By Andrea and has 2 comments.

Not only is there much to learn about pregnancy and becoming a mother, there is also that pesky weight gain. Whether you are a light gainer, a heavy gainer, or a moderate gainer, you think about your body constantly and notice the ways that it is changing- and there ain’t no stopping it! I think jiggling body parts are synonymous with expecting.

Everyone I meet or share a conversation with about this likes to remind me of the (apparently) old adage “Nine months up, nine months down. Don’t expect it to all fall off immediately!” Well, gee, thanks….?

I feel like God is trying to work with me though. Soften me to importance I have placed on physical appearance and perhaps still place on and lead me towards a place of more emotional, physical, and spiritual health. Balance. Finding beauty and peace in the absolute miracle (and pain) of bringing another life into this world.

So next time you are conversating with a woman, don’t try to argue away the weight gain, don’t try to share the lamest adage in the world, just focus on the wonderful, beautiful thing she is doing.

Okay, okay, you can remind her that she looks great for being a preggo, but don’t overdo it. We know we look different!

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Categories: Spiritual Reflections, Staying Healthy
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Yesterday

Posted September 1, 2009 By Andrea and has 1 comment.

I had a miniature breakdown. I had to admit to my husband and myself what has been going on.

Pregnancy is not easy for everyone. While a lot of women love being pregnant some women really find it a time of struggle and low self worth.

I am the latter. I am lucky though. I have good days and bad. It is not all darkness. And I can see a happiness with bringing a new life into this world. I have great people around me and most of all a great God.

It is time to start turning over my emotion and my doubt to him. Thank you for all your prayers and support during this time.

And thank you most of all for keeping my husband sane. He needs the support as well since he is living with a crazy preggo. ;)

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Categories: Random
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Compassion Thursday- Thank you!!! Brian is sponsored

Posted August 27, 2009 By Andrea and has no comments yet.

It is time to open your heart to Brian. Brian is from Uganda, a nation that has been torn by war and violence (especially against children and using children) with Joseph Kony’s “The Lord’s Resistance Army.” Your sponsorship of Brian, your prayer and support, can make a huge difference in his life. Please consider allowing Brian to be part of your extended family. He is so young and has so much in front of him. Show him the love of Jesus, you never know what God has in store for this relationship.UG4500038-Fullshot-200w Click on Brian’s picture or name to sponsor or learn more!

Name: Brian Matovu (UG4500038)
Birthday: September 10, 2004    Age: 4
Gender: Male
Region: Africa
Country: Uganda
Program: Kyanamugera Child Development Center

Personal and Family Information:
In his home, Brian helps by carrying water. He lives with his father and his mother. His father is sometimes employed as a farmer and his mother is sometimes employed as a farmer. There are 7 children in the family.

For fun, Brian enjoys soccer and singing. He attends church activities regularly and is in kindergarten where his performance is average.

Because of your sponsorship, Brian will have new opportunities to learn and grow physically, mentally, and spiritually. Thank you for your concern and prayers.

This child lives in an AIDS affected area. In Africa, the disease has impacted the entire continent, creating a generation of orphans and vulnerable children. God can use you to help ease the pain of a child in desperate need.

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Categories: Compassion
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Remember Who You Work For

Posted August 24, 2009 By Andrea and has 1 comment.

As I get older I realize that life moves ever more quickly. Each passing day is a smaller percentage of our time here on earth. Still, each day counts. Each day gives us new opportunities and chances. In the past and present I have looked at my jobs more or less as means to an end (with the one very large exception of teaching). The truth is there are some positions where it is easier to remember who we are representing in the world. It’s simple, yes. But I hope that as each of our days passes and every time we clock in or out thinking we are being taken advantage of, that we remember who we ultimately belong to, and that any corporation or boss we have to deal with is not bigger than a God who can forgive us and love us and see through our entire being simultaneously. Regardless of our position, power, or job title, we aren’t working for ourselves or just a company, we are working for our Maker. Representing him in a world that often acts out of fear, rejection, or reaction. We can’t let our stories and our work say the same. What does it seem that our Savior has then saved us from? He has saved us (probably from even more than we would be comfortable sharing), and we need that to be evidenced in our lives.

We ARE Jesus to the world, in our workplace, every place where our identity is known it should also be known some of that identity: love, forgiveness, acceptance despite flaws.

My jobs might not be glamorous or even fulfilling in a worldly sense, but I am not there without a purpose.

Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way. Colossians 3:17, The Message

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Categories: Personal, Spiritual Reflections
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Not Spiritual Enough

Posted August 12, 2009 By Andrea and has 4 comments.

Most days I feel not spiritual enough. I look up from where I am and say, no, you don’t know what you’re talking about. You have not read your Bible in a week, you forgot to pray about that one thing you promised you would, you’re just not spiritual enough. You failed.

But it’s all a distraction. It’s all my head and my humanity taking me away from time I could be spending with my Savior. I really believe that there is no such thing as not spiritual or spiritual enough. There is only where your heart is and where you are allowing your heart to be led.

Are you consumed with the day to day mundane? The betterment of your personal situation? Or are you thinking of others, striving to reach out and love them in some way?

I have my good days and my bad days, as do you I am sure. But then I remember why I am here, why I have a hope, a certain peace, a joy, a sense of forgiveness for the all the wrong that I have done. The grace and love of Jesus.

And if I cannot take that and offer it back to others then it doesn’t matter what I’m praying or how much I’m reading. Somewhere along the way though, I have fallen in love with a Savior and now my life, my everything, is about making sure that others can experience that, that others can know their full worth.

So although there may be days where I am distracted, I am neither here nor there on the “spiritual scale.” And that is okay, because I have a purpose that rests in him, and I cannot imagine that anyone is perfect when it comes to their spirituality.

So, live out your calling in Him, and don’t get distracted by the little voice in your head that tries to point out all your shortcomings.

This is not a post to discount spiritual discipline, prayer, or reading the Word. Those things are important and I do very much enjoy my conversations with God and my times in scripture. But you know what? I have faked it too many times, you have faked it too many times. Let’s be honest about what we are doing, who we are, and why we are doing it instead of quoting a verse just to quote it or praying out of rote memorization. Jesus wants us- our lives, not just our empty words or actions, that yeah, to be honest… might make us appear really spiritual.

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Categories: Personal, Spiritual Reflections

Back to School

Posted August 11, 2009 By Andrea and has no comments yet.

I remember going back to school each year. The nervousness that my first day outfit wouldn’t be cool enough (it never was) or that I wouldn’t have any friends in my classes (sometimes I did, sometimes I didn’t). Whatever year it was, it was usually THE biggest thing going on in my life at that moment. That first few days sets the mood and can make or break your spirit. While children can be the kindest and most open of souls they also have the uncanny ability to pick up traits in an instant or learn the “adult way” far too early. The rejection that can penetrate through your entire being when someone acts like a seat is already taken or they choose to talk to the person on their other side and completely ignore you. Is it because of that outfit you chose? Your hairstyle? Smell? Simply because you are not popular?

As I sit here I pray fervently for those kids that feel that this week is the biggest in their lives so far. Those kids that might feel they have already been or are on the verge of being rejected. I pray that as a parent and an elder (in a respect sense, not that I am old and wise- yet), I encourage kids to be open and not be dismissive or sectarian. Last year in the neighboring school system a young boy of eleven, Jaheem Herrera, took his own life because of taunts and bullying at school. As an eleven year old he already felt so hopeless and dejected that he hung himself after getting home from school.

Please remind your kids (or any young one that you may have influence over) to smile at everyone, say hello to the new kid, and be open to the uncool kids that their friends might be ignoring. In the life of a child one person CAN make a difference. ONE person can show the love of Christ and change a day or a lifetime. Our words and our influence is real. Perhaps Jaheem would not have felt so lost.

I may not be a teacher anymore but I’ve seen the faces, and I remember well my own. Many of us as adults still struggle with the fears and rejections we had as children. I was never in the “right” socioeconomic class, so in turn that led to me not having the right things. Thankfully, I was in a place where some kids didn’t care about those things. But what if I wasn’t? Where would I be, or what I be dealing with, today? Let’s be proactive and not reactive in the lives of not only our own children but those around us. Pray, be an influencer. And remember that everyone is whole and loved by a great God.

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Categories: Education, Relationships
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The Cold Hard Truth

Posted August 4, 2009 By Andrea and has 1 comment.

You are just not the same person when you are expecting a child. You may look the same (besides inflation), smell the same and sound the same, but your body has been taken over by ten times the amount of estrogen that you were used to pre-baby expecting. TEN TIMES!

Suddenly I am reduced to six-year old Andrea where everything is suddenly the biggest deal in the world and my eyes suddenly, instantly even, well up with tears anytime something is disappointing or does not go my way. Then there is the fact that there is this other person inside of you, depending on you to be healthy and smart with all your decisions. Not to mention the person lying next to you who helped you make the little one.  And even if you realize you are being unfair to said person, the estrogen ride will not stop and let you off, no matter how hard you kick and scream (and cry ofcourse).

I cannot speak for all women. I know there are some out there who absolutely love being pregnant and cannot wait to be pregnant again once it is all over. I now know that I am not one of these women. I can only hope that there is some balance for this in the actual birthing of a child. What is that prayer? Oh of course, the Prayer of Serenity.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace.

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Categories: Personal
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Reduce Reuse Recycle

Posted July 31, 2009 By Andrea and has no comments yet.

So…I’m looking around. I’ve been praying hard the last couple days- mostly just “HELP!” cries to God for my hormones and stress, but still, I am feeling calmer and blessed today. Intrinsically I know this all the time, but there are certain moments when you get caught up in yourself and it is harder to realize.

As I look around I see a lot of stuff. My books are my prize possessions, but clothing, lotions, earrings, they are all lying around in superflous amounts. I need to share! Just a reminder to pull all of your stuff together and give it to someone who needs it! Sometimes staying in your own little bubble prohibits this, and honestly pregnancy makes that all the more easy. But, this week has taught me to look past myself and see the bigger things (i.e. not always me!). Okay not ever me. So, give it away. This is going to be one of my little projects over the next two weeks. I usually give to Partners Against Domestic Violence or Salvation Army, but I might just post it or give it to some lovely ladies that give me a shout out. Whoever you give it to, don’t hoard, let a little air in your house! Anyone have any fave organizations to give to?

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Categories: Social Justice
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Disappointment

Posted July 27, 2009 By Andrea and has 4 comments.

I am very disappointed, verging on upset, about the response, rather lack thereof, I have gotten to One Year Without. I think I assume that people are passionate about the same things as I am, and sometimes they just aren’t. That’s not a bad thing, we all need different interests and passions.

But I do think this is an important thing. Heck, they don’t even have to acknowledge what I am doing. Just send a little to someone in need!

Trying to come up with some positive ideas to reach people/ make them see what a great thing Compassion is. Any ideas? Maybe my approach has just been wrong. Praying about it, definitely don’t want this to turn into a personal negative!!!

Please pray too.

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Categories: Personal

Life's little blessings (literally and sarcastically)

Posted July 21, 2009 By Andrea and has 8 comments.

babyThis week Andy and I have gotten good news on nearly every front. I am so excited to say that it seems life is moving forward just in time for baby. So…thank God for this week.

However, I wish that I felt that I knew what I was doing. I know it is only going to get worse. Everyday I read something else that makes me go WHAT??? No one tells you that happens after birth. Apparently the world keeps many secrets in order for people to pro-create. Then, just as you are about to enjoy the “miracle of birth” you discover just what lies in store.  For anyone out there that doesn’t want to know and wants to continue on in their happy bubble, I completely understand. For anyone else… keep reading.

  • Leakage- occurs grossly for the day after birth (as in “Oh honey make sure you bring 3 extra pairs of socks because it might run down your legs.”)
  • Soreness- breasts, down there, all that…for about 10 days. Apparently this is how long it takes to acclimate to breastfeeding. Umm….I thought it was supposed to be natural?!?!
  • Hemorrhoids- you’re about one billion times more likely to get these after you give birth. I don’t need to explain them. If you don’t know exactly what they are google them. NO thank you!
  • Clots- Bleeding occurs for 1-2 weeks after. During this time you might pass clots. One healthy pregnancy mag commented “may be painful and as big as a plum.” What the— No comment.
  • Weight- yeah, yeah, yeah. Everyone knows about this one. But it’s still unfair. No one likes cellulite. No one. Not even chubby chasers.

Get the concern? These are only the mild wowsers that I learned. I left out more explicit ones for fear of losing 3 of my 4 readers (thanks for being a constant baby).  I will be sure to let all my friends who desire to know the real truths about child bearing in the days after.

Are you already a mom? Do you agree or disagree? This is all merely hearsay right now. Give me two more months!

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Categories: Personal, Staying Healthy
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