The thing about pregnancy and dependency

Pregnancy teaches us a lot.
Of course it may be easier to see as i'm not the one experiencing it.

It certainly teaches us dependence.

For one, the experience is painful and uncomfortable. Soo needs to pray to ask God to help her thru the difficult time.
i can do nothing about her pain. i want to comfort her, i want to help her, i even often wish i was the one going thru it so she didn't have to. Sure there are a few things i can do to ease the pain, but there is nothing i can do to take away the pain or discomfort completely. i give her a massage, i get her food, i do some chores - mostly i pray.

More than that we can't do anything to control the health of the baby. There is a baby inside Soo, but we can't see it, we can't hold it, we just wait.
Yes, there are eating & lifestyle habits that help. But there are no guarantees. Miscarriages happen to 1 out of every 4 expectant mothers. Some can't even conceive. We want to control how things will turn out. We want to make sure everything will be good. But we still have to wait on the Lord

More than a healthy child we want a child who knows the Lord, who loves Jesus. And again this is outside of our control. We can't force our children to believe in Christ. We can teach them the Bible, take them to church, be an example, love them, give them grace, etc etc. In the end it is up to God.
We are praying for the salvation of our child. We are pleading with God. We are utterly dependent on Him!

And so is true in all of life. As much as i think i am in control or somethings are up to me or i can handle a problem or how hard i work will determine results - in fact i am dependent on God. In ministry, in my work, in marriage, in friendships/relationships, in my spiritual growth: in all aspects... i need to depend on Him lean on Him, pray to Him and trust Him in all things and for all things. He is God and i am not.

My wife's 1st mother's day

We're pregnant!

You may have been fooled when we wrote such on facebook on April Fool's day... but the trick was, we really were pregnant!

i guess the years at Michigan - my then director now has 11...12 kids... and one of my key disciples had 3 kids in his first 4 years of marriage - rubbed off on me...

We weren't trying, but we weren't not trying either...

So, we are incredibly excited and feel incredibly blessed! Children are a blessing from the Lord and we are thankful.

We are entering into the 2nd trimester now and hope Soo's morning sickness will subside.

Please join us in praying for Soo's health and the health of our future child!


Addendum: for Mother's Day i made Soo breakfast in bed, then read her a bunch of verses about the blessing of children (Psalm 127:3-5; 113:9), the responsibilities of being a parent (fr Ps 78 & Deut) and the guidance of God (Ps 121:4) and the blessing she is (Pr 31). And then prayed for her and gave her a foot massage.
i had hoped for a better evening, but made an easy dinner and watched "How to train your dragon" great flick!