3rd times the charm!

If I time this just right, this should post right about the same time we share with our church family that we're expecting baby number 3 July 18th. Larry and I are thrilled with this new blessing and look forward to welcoming a new Gilbreath to the family.

 This is our first pictures of baby #3.

I know it looks like a little blob, but that is a person, a unique creation of God.

It amazes me that all of his or her days are known to God. Their life is ordained by the great creator of the universe. And God has chosen to bless Larry and I with this wonderful gift of life. What an honor to be entrusted with this little person.

Even at 8 weeks this baby has strong heartbeat, 174 beats a minute.

What a miracle that a little life is growing inside of me.

What a blessing to be able to hear the heartbeat for the first time.

That whosh, whosh, whosh  sound is one the sweetest sounds I have ever heard.

"Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;" 

Psalms. 127:3-5

The difference between boys and girls!

The difference between girls and boys.

Eden wanted a wagon ride but freaked out because there was a frog in the wagon. She squealed and jumped up and down, well like a girl :)

Josiah seeing the frog thought, Wow that's neat. I think I should catch it. And he did!

That's a little frog leg under his thumb. I was so impressed that he caught it, then fearful he might squish it. 

So I quickly put down the camera to free the frog.

This was one of those times I loved seeing the difference between my boy and girl! It' is a blessing to have one of each. They are so different, but they are supposed to be :)

*** no animal was harmed during this episode. Maybe a little freaked out, but not harmed.

Happy St Nicholas Day

Larry and I are trying to develop Christmas traditions for our family.  You can see my earlier post for some of the traditions we have started. In starting traditions, we have asked ourselves what it is that we want to teach our children about Christmas. We want to be very purposeful about what we are teaching them, not just going along with what culture or tradition tell us. We have examined the traditions that we grew up with and that our culture, even our church do to celebrate the Birth of our Savior. We have kept some and have chosen not to engage in others.

Our biggest desire is for our children to know Jesus through a personal relationship. We want them to celebrate His birth at Christmas. There is no need to teach a toddler to be selfish,  it comes naturally. But we are training them to be other focused, not self focused, especially during this season.  What we hope to get across to the children during this Christmas Holiday is to love and serve others, as Christ has loved us. At 3 and a half and 22 months, Eden and Josiah are just beginning to understand most of what we're trying to teach. We believe that the Word will not return void. Little minds absorb so much. Only God knows what Truths are being planted in their hearts each day we sing Christmas carols and talk about Jesus' birth and death.

Now what do we do with Santa? Larry and I have decided not to have Santa be a part of our children's Christmas tradition. That's not an easy task. People often ask our children what Santa's going to bring them or if they have been naughty or nice.  Santa is in all the stores, he even comes to the Christmas party for our church. He's everywhere this time of year.

At this point, I am the one to answer that Santa is not part of the way we celebrate Christmas. Most people just look at us strangely, others don't know what to say and it leads to a moment of uncomfortable silence. A few people have encouraged us and said we were doing well to teach our children the real meaning of Christmas. My hope is that I can be  a good example when responding to people's questions and that Eden and Josiah will learn from that how to respond with kindness and Truth to people's questions.

Eden is beginning to be aware of what is going on. We have told her other children celebrate with Santa, But that her Momma and Daddy are the ones who give her and Josiah their gifts. Then we tell her that all gift come from God. Everything we have comes from God. "OK mommy." is her response. No big deal, she takes us for our word and that is enough for her. The trust of a child is a blessed thing.

There are many reasons why we have come to this decision. I know there are extremes to this position. Please keep in mind, we're not trying to kill Santa, and No we do not believe that Santa is an acronym for Satan. Larry and I feel that legalism fuels most of that thinking. We don't think we're better Christians or more holy than families that do have Santa in their family traditions. We desire to have hearts that seek God and want our children to enjoy the holiday without the commercialised aspects that our society places upon it. We want Christmas to be about Jesus and His humble birth. And we always want to keep in mind the Cross behind the stable.

Last year, My cousin Kelly posted this about celebrating St Nickolas Day. I was intrigued. I had never heard of St. Nicholas Day. Another of my favorite blog Mom's Molly Sabourin, wrote about their families St. Nicholas day celebration.  Larry and I started to talk about it, and I  have done a little research on St Nick. I loved this article from Cyberbrethren.com. St Nick was a feisty Christian. He was a man of conviction who was one of the writers of the Nicene Creed. We still don't want the commercialised Santa in our home. But the heretic slapping, children loving Bishop, St. Nick,.... I hope my children love him :)

Keeping Christ in Christmas- Advent

Lately, I’ve been reading with great interest how other families are celebrating Christmas. It's always neat to find things to incorporate into our family traditions. Maybe you'll find some of this helpful too. My cousin Kelly had some great ideas on her blog. You can check her out here. Kelly is super creative and always has great ideas that are inexpensive and fun. Another friend, Dana has wonderful Godly insight and ideas on her blog as well. Check her out here.

So I’ve decided to share a few of our family traditions to make sure Christ stays the center of our Christmas celebrations. Each evening we light our advent candles and read from A Family Advent Celebration. The white candles are lit  one each for the four Sundays before Christmas. We re-light the candles each night. The red candle is the Christ candle, which  we will light it on Christmas Eve.  The Book has a daily scripture reading and songs that help keep us focused on the real meaning of Christmas. It recounts how the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Good stuff :)

 We also have this large wall Advent calendar that I got last year at Kaplan’s. I think it was a seasonal item, only sold in their stores. I have been unable to find it online. If your interested in it e-mail me and I'll try to find it. The calendar has neat things under each flap that give a scripture for a child to read or a craft activity. Super cute!

We also have The Story of Christmas Book Set and Advent Calendar and Family Life Adorenaments.  Josiah likes to play with them, Eden loves to hang them on the Christmas tree each day :) Each one has a book or reading that describe the birth and life of Christ. We also hang them as ornaments on our tree. The Adorenaments have some of the characteristics of Jesus' life like, King of Kings, The Good Shepherd, and Savior. Each of the ornaments have the story in scripture where they come from as well as a book to read. Both have been great sources of Truth and fun for Eden. She looks forward to me bringing them out each day.

I'm still searching for the Little People Nativity Set. This is one of those elusive things that I keep searching for, but have yet to find. We have a real Nativity set that I let the kids play with, but I would love to find a non-breakable one.

Our heart's desire is to have our children understand the real meaning of Christmas. The fact that Christ came as a baby, to live a sinless life, so that he might purchase us from an eternity in hell is mind blowing! I know that our children are very young, and we are sensitive to how we engaging them with the Gospel. But we are PURPOSEFUL in giving them the Truth daily.I pray that this is their beginning to a never ending hunger that will lead to a relationship Christ.

A lesson in answered prayers.

Why is it that when I pray, I don't live like God has heard and answered my prayers? I admit to praying prayers of repetition and with all the right words, going through the motions but lacking in the fervency that God deserves. I am so glad God still hears and protects us, even when I don't put in the effort I should.

Then life happens and God intervenes, and I got to see God's hand of protection over us in such a dramatic way, that it caused me to stop and PRAISE HIM. Our recent trip over Thanksgiving gave us one of these opportunities. If you would like to read of another incident you can read this post from back in June.

On Sunday Evening, we left for Charleston to visit family. I fell asleep for a few minutes.When I woke up the front end of the van was shaking. I asked Larry if he noticed it, he said yes. So we pulled over at  at gas station at the next exit. Larry looked at front end over and found this:

Our tire was completely shredded!  I was shocked! We put the van in the shop the Friday before for an oil change and check. They noticed we needed new windshield wipers, but neglected to notice our tire was about to fall apart!

I went in and asked the clerk if there were any tire shops or place that we could get a new tire. Keep in mind this was Sunday at about 4:00pm. She said no, but she knew someone who might come help. A moment later she was on the phone with Mr. Eddie. He showed up about 10 minutes later.

I wish I would have gotten a better picture of Mr. Eddie, a real life hero to my family, but I was keeping an eye on these two. The kids were completely unaware of the danger we had been in and the anxiety that I was feeling in determining how we could continue our trip. They were enjoying the cookies I bought to keep them sitting still.  Oh the sweet innocence of childhood. :)

Mr. Eddie is a mechanic and told us he was amazed that the tire had not burst. He helped Larry put the donut tire on, and 20 minutes later we were on our way. Thanks to my tech savvy brother in law he found a Sam's club in Lumberton with a tire section that was open. By 7:00 we were on the road with two new tires and the kids were full from the pizza dinner we had in the Sam's deli.

This incident could not have been dealt with any better if we had planned it. God was so GREAT to protect us, to have the kind people help us like the cashier and Mr. Eddie. I am again amazed at the goodness of God for answering our prayers for traveling mercies.

We often pray for traveling mercies before we leave on long trips. This is the first time I have ever seen "mercies" revealed so obviously! I wonder how many other things I've miss because I am so busy with life that God's blessings pass me by.

More Great Grands :)

We also were able to visit with Grandpa Clifford and Alice while in Charleston. They had a great time with the kids as well :)

Great Grands

While visiting Larry's family in Charleston we had a chance to visit with Larry's Grandfather, Papa Joe. He is doing great and has adjusted well to living in a Alzheimer's home. I don't think he knew who were were, but he enjoyed the visit, especially the children.

Josiah started to fuss for the pictures. Papa Joe leaned over and kissed him. It stopped him immediately. I guess we'll have to try that in the future.
Josiah's response was priceless.

Larry's Parents, Jeanne and David, Papa Joe and Larry .

Haiti Update

Dr. Vlad and Dr. Merline with some of their Patients.

I received an e-mail from Dr. Vlad tonight. Things in Haiti continue to be difficult. This is a part of his e-mail:

"CHOLERA is spreading day by day in Haiti and about 1000 people has been killed by this Intestinal Infection, i just transport 6 new cases to a treatment center of Samaritan's Purse(SP) where they had already about 60 more hospitalized. SP suggested us(NCBM) to join them on Cholera treatment,  Discussing that on a meeting with the Haitian Health Ministry, they advice NCBM to keep up the Good Work that we are doing via the Mobile Clinics so, we(Mr Curtis & Dr Vlad) agree with the Health Ministry cause it's a good way to Help other people suffering with other diseases and also those with Cholera to refere them."  

Please be in pray for the doctors, nurses, and workers with North Carolina Baptist Men and Samaritan's Purse. Pray for the Haitians who are suffering through these difficult times. Pray the Lord would continue to work in and amongst these situations to bring Glory to His name.