Our Family Journal

Coming and Going
We enjoyed lots of visitors the past month. Both our parents, Aunt Marie and Uncle Andy came for Thanksgiving, Steve’s folks came again in mid-December, Uncle Scott came for Emily’s birthday and Christmas, and Melanie’s parents, Aunt Cindy, Uncle Todd and cousin Jackson came for New Year’s.

Giving and Receiving
Steve often gave away photos he took that came out well. In particular, he enjoyed taking pictures at a friend’s wedding and surprising them with several beautiful photos and a DVD slideshow he created. Emily (7) and Matthew (5) enjoyed making magnets for their cousins’ Christmas gifts. Melanie made 2006 photo calendars. On the receiving end, we’ve been blessed all fall to have so many willing friends and neighbors to help take Emily to and from school, watch children, help clean, run errands, and make meals.

Sickness and Health
Elizabeth (22 mos.) has been gaining weight at a good pace since June after three months of no gain at all. She’s responded well to physical therapy and began walking in early December. Melanie is thrilled to no longer be pregnant; the abdominal pain has gotten worse with each pregnancy and while her back was fine this time, it was difficult for her to have to ask for help since she wasn’t able to walk anywhere, had to limit housework and stair climbing, and still had to carry Elizabeth a lot. Steve caught a nasty viral cough in November and gave it to Melanie in the delivery room. The doctor said it probably wasn’t whooping cough, but we did wonder. The cough has lasted us more than four weeks before finally going away. Her recovery from delivery couldn’t have gone better otherwise. Emily fell at school a few days after Jonathan was born and needed five stitches in her chin. She then got a 12-hour stomach bug, which she passed on to Elizabeth; thankfully the rest of us were spared. At birth, Jonathan weighed almost two pounds more than any of our other children and he’s growing like a weed. He caught a cold after Christmas, but is otherwise a sturdy, healthy boy.

Labor and Rest
This was Melanie’s 3rd natural (unmedicated) labor and delivery. By her account, each contraction is bearable but they go on and on, seemingly forever, and get stronger and more intense. To breathe through them requires concentration and effort. They hurt, and if you fight them rather than relax, they hurt more. Melanie likens it to life; it’s not always fun, nor enjoyable, and there will always be trials and challenges. God gives His children what they need to get through whatever comes their way but they must cooperate. Fighting God makes things harder! Melanie wishes she was as “good” at life as she is at childbirth. The single-mindedness she’s able to achieve in the delivery room is in her opinion lacking in her everyday life. Since pregnancy required Melanie to rest a lot this fall, she’s been reading Abide in Christ by Andrew Murray, a gift from Steve as encouragement in this area. This book, and the Bible, remind us to find our true rest in Christ. We really don’t enjoy labor, and we’re not supposed to. It’s a result of our sin and is meant to cause us to long for God. Romans 8 (v.22ff) states the whole creation groans as in pains of childbirth, awaiting the redemption of those who love God and whom He has chosen and adopted as His own children. Just as the labor of childbirth brings the delivery of a child and joy to the tired but expectant parents, our life’s labor results in Christlike character, and we’re eventually “delivered” to eternal life.

Life and Death
Jonathan was born on December 2nd. A week later, Melanie’s maternal grandmother died unexpectedly. Likewise Christmas, a time when we celebrate the birth of Jesus, God made man, while a joyous occasion, was also shadowed by death. Jesus was born to die in the place of sinners like us. Death is the “wages of sin” (Romans 5:8), the opposite of life. But it doesn’t have to end there. II Timothy 1:10 says that “Our Savior Christ Jesus . . . abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,” the labor of love, his death on the cross and subsequent resurrection to eternal life. What good news, and what promise this holds for all who believe in Him. It is this hope, hope not in this life, but in eternal life in Christ, that we have for our children and for all those we know. Jonathan’s life and Grammy’s death are wonderful reminders to us of these eternal truths.

Wishing you hope and happiness that do not disappoint in the new year.