REJOICING IN THE SMALL THINGS

This afternoon I was able to put the meat in the oven to roast!

This evening I sat with the family at the table, and had a tiny plate of food in front of me!

When Daddy prayed we all held hands and our little 2 year old was beaming. Mummy was back!

It's been about 4 months since I was able to sit at the table with the others when they ate and not feel horribly sick.

I am rejoicing!

Must be halfway through now if I feel like this.

In a couple of weeks I will be VERY WELL!!!

"Morning" sickness (bad in the mornings, worse mid-afternoon and terrible in the evenings) is something I am used to, this is the sixth time. I have learned a little how to cope with it, but once or twice I found myself falling into the sin of self-pity while I have felt so bad.

That is the worst thing I can do. "Give thanks in all things". And so I do. :o)

I have a dear friend who does not have an appetite for food. That only happens to me when I have morning sickness and it's not pleasant at all.

Food, and taste buds are a wonderful gift from God. It's easy and awful to abuse the gift with gluttony - and that doesn't just mean eating THE WHOLE PACKET of chocolate biscuits. It means having four biscuits, when one or two would have been entirely sufficient. It's also awfully easy to abuse the gift by eating food that is over-processed, over-fatty, over-sweetened, over-flavoured, genetically-engineered, chemically treated ... what have I missed?

While we love to eat good organic food most of the time, we are still on a journey to get it right. We have a grain mill and make our baked goods (without or with very very little sugar) with our freshly ground wholegrain wheat, we are starting our vegetable garden up this year finally, the children have very little dairy - we substitute cow milk for Rice Milk, and I am always willing to research and learn how to take care of these precious children, and my darling husband better.

So all that has been very tricky while I have been sick.

But it's nearly over now. It was just a season, although it seemed long when I was in the middle of it :o)

If you are going through a trial I would encourage you to give thanks in all things. We don't need to understand WHY are going through this trial. We don't need to understand WHY we are giving thanks! But we give thanks, and the grace of God will surround us, encourage us and get us through.

Blessings
The Mummalady

BABIES AND PREGNANCY TESTING

Dear Readers
We were blessed to be present when our doe gave birth to the little kid that we named Robyn - shown above in 2006. Just in case you are wondering - she didn't stay that pink colour! How amazing to be part of the miracle of birth.

And now - our family is very pleased to announce that the Lord has blessed us with another baby!

New Baby has been, for nearly 4 months, dwelling in the secret place - Mummy is feeling very sick but excited. Going on past history then I may be well again in about 2 - 4 weeks. Until then the older boys are honing their cooking skills! I often have to sit outside as the tea cooks and the family eats, but I feel a lot more positive than I have done in previous pregnancies where the sickness really got me down a lot.

I am taking two supplements which I believe are helping me - Blackmore's Morning Sickness tablets which have 250mg of B6 and ginger. I'm having these three times a day. Twice a day isn't enough! Also Usana Essentials - Multi Vitamin and Mega Antioxidant. When I ran out of these I was definitely sicker - so I guess they work!

I just wanted to share an opinion (I have an opinion? Oh yes!) about pregnancy testing. Speaking to older Mums they will often say "Well, they didn't have all that when I had my children".

Indeed.

Reading through the latest pregnancy handout I came across information about blood tests that can tell you if your baby has a problem - but it can't tell if there is a definite problem.

Or the results can tell you if your baby DOES NOT have a problem, but it can't tell if it definitely DOES NOT have a problem.

So really, why have the test at all?

A different, and in my opinion, more acceptable test is the urine test which shows if sugar and protein are present. These are the sort of things we can take action on if a problem is spotted.

But I have read so many testamonials from ladies who were advised there either "could be" or "definitely was" a "problem" with their baby - and they were advised to "terminate" (i.e., kill) their baby. They chose not to. Subsequently they went on to have wonderful healthy babies.

We had scans with our first two children, then decided against it for the third. However, at one stage it was thought we were having twins so we went in for a scan. I was uncomfortable about it, and if I NEEDED to have one again I would ask that it be over and done with in the shortest time possible. No need for measuring thigh bones and skull etc unless ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.

So for the last two babies we had no scans.

Same with this baby - no scan planned.

We often joke about "The Babies" as Mummy's tum has grown very quickly - more to do with bad stomach muscles though probably!

Twins would be absolutely wonderful - but a home birth would be out in that case which would be sad.

Nevermind - we rest in God's plan and leave it totally in His hands.

Amen :o)

Blessings
The Mummalady