Aaron Samuel Garcia

Born: 7/3/09 at 10:24 pm
8 lb 12 oz
19 1/2 in

"Yet you brought me safely from my mother's womb and led me to trust you at my mother's breast. I was thrust into your arms at my birth. You have been my God from the moment I was born."
Psalm 22:9 & 10

Counting Blessings

Caleb woke up on Tuesday and reminded me that it was the last day of June and said "the baby has to come today because you said he'd come in June."

I had an appointment this week with the midwife and we talked about inducing on Monday if he doesn't come by this weekend. I don't know how I feel about being induced because both Alisia and Caleb came a few days before their due date. But we also talked about the risks involved with going past 42 weeks. We're just praying he'll decide to come out on his own. And yes we are trying every trick in the book.

Waiting has been challenging. But God has revealed himself in so many ways these past few days. Since my due date, God has showered down so many blessings unexpectedly and shown me that He really does has every detail under his perfect control. These blessings have been reminders to me of His amazing love.

Blessing #1: Compared to how I was feeling this time last month, God has definitely filled my spirit with peace and I'm so ready to bring this little guy into the world!

Blessing #2: We just finished cleaning up our old house and turned the keys in Tuesday night. I don't know how that would have gotten done if we were in the hospital.

Blessing #3: We've been able to settle into our new house and set up the baby's room! This has been so exciting! And again, God providing! Take a look at what we have started so far:

Blessing #4: These clothes are from the bin I found during the move from when Caleb was born.

Blessing #5: Last week we sat down to seriously discuss names. Angel prayed before we began our discussion. It took only a few minutes for us to agree! It's not even a name that were considering before. We wrote it down and sealed the envelope!

Blessing #6: My parents. I haven't had childcare lined up for this week well, because I thought I wouldn't still be pregnant and working. My parents have been great working with our schedules and watching the kids. They also have freely given up many evenings to help us finnish cleaning our old house.

Blessing #7: These two have been playing so well together with all our crazy schedules going on. They keep eachother entertained and pitch in to help when or before they are asked. They are both so excited to meet their new sibling and have been so patient waiting.

Blessing #8: Don't laugh, but AFLAC. I signed up for AFLAC knowing we wanted to get pregnant. I signed up the end of August and the man said I'd have to wait 10 months from September 1st to have the baby. That put us right at July 1st. With a due date of June 26, I worried we signed up for it for nothing. But now it looks like it'll go through without any problems.

Blessing #9: God's people. We've had a lot going on at our church recently and it seems this is just not a good time to have a baby because every one is busy planning mission trips (including us). There's so much going on in the life of the church, and it's so easy to feel drowned out by it all. But through it all, God has faithfully brought people to our side to support us in so many ways. This has really helped me see the body of Christ as a whole body- globally, not just the people we worship with on Sunday's. We have been blessed countless times by fellow believers, not only from our own church body. This has also helped me be more aware of how I can help others.

All of these things have happened just since my due date. How Great is our God!

Here's another shot of my belly recently. It's not so clear, but you can really see how round it is and sticks way out there.

UPDATE:

BLESSING #10: Even more exciting than my round belly, we've been timing contractions today! Will this be a July 3rd baby or a July 4th?

Waiting

My due date was June 26th.

Today is July 1st.

Enough said.

I'll update more soon. For now, enjoy these most recent shots.

Dear God

Thankyou for our new house. Help the baby to come soon and be safe. Thankyou for my birthday and help it to be here soon too. And Alisia's birthday. And Mommy's. Thankyou for my new friends and my new room and I hope I can get a sports lamp soon.
Amen. (then kisses my tummy)

Someone has alot of thankfulness in his heart!

Father's Day Treasure

Thanks to Alisia, we have pictures from Father's Day! Last week she inherited a camera from Uncle Jarrod and Aunt Stephanie since they are leaving to Korea soon. She's been using it every day since then. It's so nice to have a camera around. And it sure came in handy for Father's Day since my camera is still missing.

We went out for lunch with my parents to wish my dad Happy Father's day and then we just relaxed and spent the afternoon together. Relaxing at our new place really helps make it feel like home! It was a beautiful day.

Alisia and Caleb sent him on a treasure hunt to find his gifts!


This card was great for Papi! It's one of those music cards and on the inside it says "you're the whole enchilada" and sings "hot,hot,hot."


This one was from ME, one of his most recent cravings!

Here's a family pic from yesterday. I'm 39 weeks!

We have been going through Exodus at church, a book that is most often referred to in the rest of the scriptures. God is very clear for his people to pass on His promises and stories of deliverance from generation to generation. He does not want generations to forget His mighty power.

Psalm 78:5-7
"He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands."

The rest of the book goes on to talk about the specific things that God did in delievering his people over and over again. I'm so thankful that my kids have an example of this through their dad. Angel is an example of sharing God's power with his children. In good times he is quick to praise and thank God and in hard times, he is quick to ask for prayer. He often reminds them of how God was so gracious to take him from his old ways and open his eyes to the truth. And how thankful that he is no longer who he used to be. He does not want our kids to forget about where we were, and just as the Israelites were to remind their children, Angel does that with his kids.

"...we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done."

Psalm 78:4

Labor Pain

When I was pregnant with Alisia, all my labor was in the front. My water broke and then the contractions started regularly and I knew it was time. Everything was by the book. With Caleb, I had a lot of back pain during labor. My water slowly leaked, but the contractions were felt both in back and front. With this one I'm not sure what to expect. The past day or so I have been having back pain if I sit too long. I'm very fidgety and it's just hard to just be comfortable.

I finally pre-registered this week at the hospital. Talk about putting things of until last minute. Maybe I should go ahead and pack a overnight bag for the hospital? I am a week away from my due date which is June 26th per the ultrasound. Tonight we are going to stop thinking about moving and enjoy having some friends over for the first time at our new place!

As I anxiously think about birth pain and how it was previously, I cannot seperate it from the joy from after the birth. I ran across this verse in John and confirms this. The joy that God allows us as parents to experience when we first see our child that we worked so hard to bring into the world. The joy of holding that precious gift from him.

"Whenever a woman gives birth to a child, she remembers the hard work no more, for the joy that a child has been born into the world."
John 16:21

That's what I'm clinging to as I think about this week!

Missing from the Move

Yikes. The one thing I can't live without. My camera. I hope I can find it before this baby decides to come. I knew I didn't want to loose my maternity clothes and my camera. My maternity clothes are hanging up nice and neat in my closet. I thought I put the camera somewhere "safe" so I wouldn't miss place it! I just can't remember where that safe place is. I have some pics to upload and am getting behind, so I hope it shows up!

However, so far, that's the only thing "missing" that I've really noticed. Just curious if anyone have any good stories of missing items from moving? Not that it'll help make me any more thankful the only thing I'm missing is my camera, but it might. OR what's one thing you can't live without?

The LORD is my Banner

Last week, I couldn't even imagine getting through the weekend and our big move! By Thursday I was already wiped out from working, kids out of school, painting, packing, cleaning and getting ready for it all. Honestly, I didn't know if I had anything else left in me to keep going. I didn't know how I was going to make it until Saturday, let alone survive the day at 38 weeks pregnant! Whew! But guess what, in all of my weakness, I turned to God. With nothing left, I fell on my knees before Him.

God Answers Prayer. God hears our cries and knows our every tear. God uses his people.

But it wasn't how I thought he would. I was hoping to be full of energy and just buzz around getting tons accomplished. That didn't quite happen though. But tons got accomplished. God sent his people. Everyday. Friends. Family. The church body. I literally felt like Moses, who was completely tired from lifting his hands in the battle and "Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset." Ex 17:12

God used his people. I'm sure God could have just as easily given Moses the strength needed for the entire battle. But God wanted to provide strength for Moses by sending His people to sustain his weary arms. He wanted his people to win the battle together. The extra help we had was great motivation. Angel had to work a few hours that morning and God gave him strength and extra hands to keep going. I was able to help minimally and not feel bad if things didn't get done perfectly. We were thankful that Sunday is a day of rest, cause we needed it! Thank you to everyone who helped and to those who prayed! Here's a picture of Alisia and Caleb on Palm Sunday in front of OUR HOUSE! (At the time it was still my parents)

We are now mostly moved in! We have our rooms set up and not much furniture left at the other house. We still have to clean out closets, then clean the place up. But I am so thankful that we are starting to feel settled. I'm starting to feel ready to have this baby now that we have a place to bring him home and call home! Good thing too, because my feet are swollen almost all the time and I'm starting to waddle! Doesn't that mean it's close?

"Moses built an altar and called it The LORD is my Banner. He said, 'For hands were lifted up to the throne of the LORD."

Exodus 17:15

Strength

What are your reasons for persevering?
Where do you go to fill you up when you are dry?
When all else fails, where do you turn?
How do you keep going when there's nothing left?
Where do you find strength?


"Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. " Psalm 105:3-4

"The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace." Psalm 29:11

"I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." Psalm 18: 1-3

"O LORD, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress." Isaiah 33:2

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13

Cravings

We were watching TV together when someone on a show was eating one of these:

And we had to go to 7-11 to get not 1, but 2!!

OH, but not for me. Nope. They were for Angel!

I didn't know it worked like that! He's also been craving Chineese food, tacos, Carne De Puerco En Chile Verde (Pork with Green Chile), tamales, Mocha Moolatte from Dairy Queen, and much more! Maybe I'll pick up a box of these for him on the way home, cause as soon as he reads this, he'll be wanting one of those ice creams!

Fine with me though, cause I always get my craving while we're out:

I've also been craving squash and zucchini. I'm not sure if it's the season or pregnancy though. I've already made it for supper three times in the past two weeks. Yummy!

Who Washes the Dishes?

Q: How you know your husband washes the dishes more than you do?

A: When you go to the grocery store and he reminds you that we are out of dish liquid. AND he requests the kind that "doesn't dry up your hands."

Honestly, I had no clue we were out. He's definitely been adding his helping hand to our household these past few weeks! Thanks baby your the best!

Our Kidless Weekend

We shipped saw our kids off to Camp Varsity with the after-school program hosted by our church!

Which means, we enjoyed a kidless-weekend!!



This was Alisia's 3rd year going, and Caleb's first. And boy were they excited!

So while they were busy doing this....


We were busy doing this:


Or rather spending lots of time together!!

We heard all about their weekend and the fun they had. Our churh does such a great job celebrating the end of the year with this camp and it has gotten bigger and bigger each year.

They went swimming:


Played Games:


Went Canoeing:


Sang songs:


Praised God:

Pet the wild horses: (not really wild but they are free to roam on the camp ground, very used to people)

made crafts:

Made skits:

Played more games:

Made new friends:

And had a great weekend!! All for the glory of God.

And had perfect weather!

What did we do?

We weren't quite as busy though. We had NO plans and the whole weekend to ourselves (and the baby). The last time we enjoyed a weekend to ourselves, was probably over a year ago. We were able to reflect and see that this year was so different, and God has definately taken me from the place I was last year. I appreciate so much the time I have with my husband, and enjoyed every second of it.

The weekend before was our anniversary, and we were so busy with other stuff, we didn't have time to really "celebrate" and reflect. It also fell on his birthday! We just took it easy and relaxed together. We went to Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowes, and didn't buy anything. But we dreamed of the future. Being together. Moving. The Baby. Family. Life. What a great birthday present!

Preview

Guess what we did that we haven't done in a REALLY LONG TIME!?

Here's your only CLUE:

" For the LORD is the great God,

the great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth,

and the mountain peaks belong to him.
The sea is his, for he made it,

and his hands formed the dry land."

Psalm 95:3-5

A Warrior for the Lord

The other night, Caleb was so eager to share this Psalm with my mom. It was like he was the first to find a hidden treasure and wanted to share it!




Praying that God will continue to mold this little heart for Him. And that Caleb will hide this precious treasure of God's word deep in his heart.

"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, O LORD; teach me your decrees."
Psalm 119: 11-12

Pregnancy Update

Well, here it is. Finally. What you have been waiting for. A pregnancy update. Let me just warn you before you keep reading. It's gonna be honest. And it might not make sense. It might not flow like my usual posts. It's random thoughts. But if there's anything else you really want to know, just leave me a comment and I'll do my best at giving a better answer.

I'm am so excited to be counting down the weeks until our little one joins our family! Today, we are officially at the 5 week countdown! YAY! Thankfully, however, the time is not here yet. I do not feel ready.

I want to hold him, I can't wait to snuggle with him, and I'm dying to see what he looks like. But I'm not ready.

Wanna know what we "have" ready for the baby? Let me remind you that Alisia is turning 10 this summer and Caleb is turning 6. There's no way we could keep bulky baby stuff stored while we are renting for all these years. We have a pack-n-play. We're just planning to let the baby sleep in our room for now. I think I may have saved a bin of baby clothes after Caleb was born. It might be in storage somewhere in my parents attic. I still have to check. I picked up a few onsies at a yard sale last week. A baby doesn't need much, right? Right? ::sigh::

I'm trusting. Trusting that God knows every need this little one will have. I'm praying. Praying that God will provide.

School's coming to an end. Homework. Studying. Tests. Spring concerts. Plays. Field Trips. I want to enjoy these moments with Caleb and Alisia and not rush through them. I've struggled with not being able to be a part of every moment and every field trip, but am learning to say yes when I can, and let "no" be ok sometimes. I'm learning not to promise things I can't do.

I'm learning. Learning what it means to entrust my kids to Him. And praying that God will mold my heart to His will.

Work is on-going. Meetings. Home visits. Training. Documentation. Trying to squeeze everything in before maternity leave. Praying for strength. Leaning on the ever-lasting arms.

Tired. By the end of the day, I'm too tired to tackle my "to-do" list and it just keeps getting longer and longer. Praying for peace. Trouble sleeping. Short fused. Praying for patience. Trying to depend on Him in my weakness and begin every day in prayer.

Oh, have I mentioned we're in the process of buying our first house?

Yeah. That too. Praying for wisdom. Praying for His will. Praying that He will guide us and he will close the doors if it is not his will. We're actually buying my parents house, the house I grew up in. We close at the end of the month. We have to wait until they move out before we can move in. Praying that the house will be used for his glory. He is providing it to us. We want it to be used for him. All of it. Every day.

Trying to pack. Yeah right. More like thinking about packing.

Finances. Praying. Trusting God.

Making plans and arrangements for our summer missions trip. Praying.

Trying to keep our calendar organized and updated so I don't forget things or overbook. Trying to keep some time open for family. And time for my husband. Just us.

Back to the still nameless baby. Oh yeah, he's still nameless. I'm not ready.

Praying for health. Thankfully I've been feeling well health wise. God has really blessed me through-out this pregnancy with no complications. Thankyou, Lord. There's something so comforting knowing that the little one inside is still part of our family now, and I don't have to worry about what will happen with all the rest.

Learning. Trusting. Leaning. Praying. Clinging to the cross. Clinging to what I know to be true and steady. God. Unchanging. My Provider. My All.

"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever."
Isaiah 40:8

When Life Gives You Lemons....

....make Lemonade!

YUM, YUM! Summer, here we come!

Thankyou Grammy for this fun time!

Mother's Day Moments

In my "day job" I interview first time mothers about their thoughts and ideas on parenthood. Essentially this is to see if they are eligible for services offered by our program. I love hearing their story and seeing them reflect on their own childhood experiences. The other day, when I was interviewing an expecting first-time mother, this is what she said to me reflecting on her past. "Parenting doesn't come with a manual, and I know I'm going to make mistakes. But I hope to be the best parent for my child."

I sat there quietly and reflected on that comment as she continued talking. We all want to do the best for our children. Her past was heartbreaking. Her future was filled with questions. Yet she had hope. This life that she was carrying gave her a new reason for tomorrow. She wanted her child's life to be different. The new hope she had with the life she was carrying reminded me so much of myself.

The first time I was pregnant, I remember the high hopes I had amidst the many questions about the future. As the baby grew inside me, with each movement of life I felt, I was reminded of God who is the Creator of life. Words fail me in describing the blessing of having that feeling again. But this time is different. I have learned that parenting is the hardest job in the world. But I do have that manual that is not only for parenting, but every aspect of life, God's Word. I have all that I need. Entrusting my children to God gives me peace in knowing that He is ultimately the one who takes care of them and protects them.

I am thankful for the many times and lessons God uses my children to teach me. To teach me in my weakness about dependance. Using them to teach me about forgiveness, genorosity, faithfulness, and being thankful. Teaching me how to have a true heart of praise. To show me His love. And to teach me how to be a living testimoney of His love. This mother's day I was able to reflect on the life-time job of being a mother. Giving praise to his name for the hope I have in the one who is the Creator of Life.

"But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise You more and more."

Psalm 71:14

The Way God Made Me

Angel was so proud of Caleb when he brought home this picture from school the other day. I was curious to see what his answer would be and asked him why his person was so colorful? He said "Cause that's the way God made me!"



"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made"
Psalm 139:14

Tutt, Tut. It looks like rain...

...all week!!! At least it is in the forecast for the next 7 days!
Oh, bother!



Yes, I am thankful for the rain. Everything is so green and beautiful. It just rained so much the month of April, I was looking forward to "May flowers" and sunny days.
I hope we can all stay dry!

Don't try this at home....

...unless of course you have proper supervision!!