Ultrasound Pics
We went in for our first ultrasound today. It was a fun experience getting to see our first glimpses of the little life that is growing inside Julie’s belly. The ultrasound equipment at Winnie Palmer hospital is much better than when we had ultrasounds with our two daughters. But that was several years ago also. Seeing our baby’s little fingers, arms, heartbeat and all of the movements was a really neat experience. We also found out that we are having a little boy! We were all kinda hoping for that. Laurel and Marybeth were running around quoting a line from “Lady and the Tramp“…”Oh boy, it’s a boy! Oh boy, it’s a boy! Oh boy, it’s a boy!”
This also serves as the complete answer to my youngest daughter’s prayers. Back before we got pregnant…and keep in mind that we were not planning to have a third child at the time…Marybeth prayed for a brother. I don’t know what it is about that child praying…but God seems to do backflips whenever she prays. She not only prayed us pregnant…she prayed herself a brother. (And yes…when she later started talking about twins…we both cringed.)
So…what does our baby look like now? Here are the five pics the hospital gave us (three are after the break). Also…if you don’t want to see the proof of “boyhood”, avoid the last picture.
Sobering start to the day
Got a text message from Tim first thing this morning asking me if I had heard about Steven Curtis Chapman‘s five year old daughter. Yesterday afternoon Maria Sue Chapman died after being hit by an SUV in the driveway of their home. She was Steven and Mary Beth’s youngest daughter and one of their three adopted daughters. The news report that Tim heard said that one of Steven’s sons was driving the vehicle.
I can’t even begin to imagine what their family is going through right now, but I know they need for us to be praying for them today.
What has made this all the more sobering is that Maria was five years old. My youngest daughter is five. Her name is Marybeth. When Julie was pregnant with Marybeth, she had been reading a book by SCC and had come to really appreciate the honesty and transparency of both SCC and Mary Beth Chapman. As we were thinking of names for her, we kept coming back to Marybeth. Not that she is named after Mary Beth Chapman, but her name was influenced by MBC. All the more sobering.
Just tell me it will be fun someday
I know that eventually this pregnancy will be fun. I know that I will love this child more than my own life. I know that I will cry at his/her birth and be amazed at each new little thing that happens with this baby.
Eventually.
Right now this pregnancy just isn’t very fun at all. Julie is in the midst of another “bad day” (morning sickness). Some days are good. She is functional on those days. Some days she is almost normal. This is not one of those days. She is sick. She barely feels like moving at all. Taking care of our five year old involves moving. Thankfully I am able to work from home, which I am doing today. But then…if you read yesterday’s post, I’m not feeling all that great myself.
But really…how I feel is nothing compared to how bad Julie is feeling. We would still very much appreciate your prayers.
Bible Study or Prayer Time at MMS?
Over the last couple of years I have made contact with quite a few people in the SMS/SCCM community who have let me know that they are a Christians. Typically the conversation came up when they found out that I work for a non-profit ministry.
Last year at MMS I wondered if there would be any interest in having a Bible Study or prayer time during MMS, and wanted to throw out this idea to see who would be interested, and if so what type of time people would be interested in. Right now the idea is really wide open. Some ideas of what it could be…
- A daily 15-30 minute Bible Study (before breakfast maybe?). I could adapt the material that I have been teaching at my church on the book of Philemon.
- A single longer Bible study at some point during the week.
- Daily short prayer time.
- Any other time for the above that could work with the really busy MMS schedule.
So…what level of interest and availability would you have for something like that? Let me know via my contact form, and I will gather the responses and send out an email to let you know what (if anything) we will end up doing.
[Update: The Bible Study will be happening. Check out this update. I still need to know if you are interested so that I can arrange for the proper size place for us to meet.]
Why didn’t we ask for prayer sooner?
Last Friday we posted asking for prayer because of Julie’s extreme morning sickness. First of all…DON’T stop praying! Second…thank you. We should have asked for prayer sooner…one of these days I will get it through my head that prayer should be my first response instead of my last.
People started praying on Friday, and on Saturday morning Julie was able to eat a full breakfast…heck that was the first full meal she had eaten all week. She was able to leave the house for the first time in four days that afternoon. She was even able to go to church on Sunday (where we got to tell our LIFE Group that I teach). She is doing a lot better, but everything is still very tentative. We don’t think she is out of the woods, but we are hopeful.
Thank you again for talking with God on our behalf.
Our Little Surprise
A little more than a month ago I came home from work and was talking with my wife about what had gone on that day. In the midst of the conversation she said that she felt like something was poking her through her clothes and asked me to look to see if I could find what it was. When I started looking I saw this:
That picture may not mean much to some of you. It’s a pair of “precious feet“…a lapel pin the same size and shape of a baby’s feet at 10 weeks after conception. Julie had used this same pin to tell me that we were pregnant with our youngest daughter. To quote my friend Jason, “Holy Schnikey!”
Now I know what some of you are thinking…I thought Jarvis said they weren’t going to have any more children. Well…what I actually said was that since our first two children didn’t sleep through the night til they were almost two years old (and sleep deprivation is a very effective form of torture…even if inflicted by a small child), God would have to speak very clearly for us to have another child…birth control would have to fail. Uh…well…God spoke.
Julie is currently 8 weeks pregnant, and we are still a bit shellshocked. This little one is definitely a surprise. We are adjusting to the fact that our family size is going to increase around the beginning of November or so. It still hardly seems real except that Julie is experiencing the worst “morning sickness” that she has ever had. BTW…has there ever been a bigger misnomer? “Morning” sickness? Please. I beg you…give us sickness that is just in the morning. This stuff is “24-hour-a-day-sickness.” And it is killing us.
We were originally planning to keep the pregnancy a secret for a bit longer, but at this point we really need your prayers. This sickness is brutal…on Julie and the rest of the family. Because the sickness has been so strong, Julie has barely been able to get off the couch most days which means that she hasn’t been able to do the things that she normally does around the house…so those things fall to me after I come home from work. We are both simply exhausted. I don’t know that I can remember a time when I have felt more fatigued.
So, please pray for us. Specifically you can pray for:
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Safety/health for our baby. While we have been too sick/tired to be joyful yet, we are looking forward to meeting this little person and want the best for whoever he/she may be.
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For the sickness to let up soon. Like I said…this is killing us.
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For strength for me as I try to be both Dad and Mom to our two daughters (who are eight and five years old). I am desperately trying to not let my tiredness bleed over into being impatient/snappy with them. Some days I do well…some days I don’t.
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