Musings from the Threshold

Monthly Archives: May 2007

Grace’s Birthday Party

We had cake and ice cream last night for Grace’s birthday – a couple days early, since we’re leaving today for Kansas. Thought I’d post a few pictures. 🙂

White cake with pink icing, as per Miss Grace’s request:

It’s hard work opening these presents!

But it’s so worth it in the end. 🙂

Getting Close!

We leave tomorrow for Kansas – woohoo! My hubby is convinced we won’t have to wait long there till the baby comes. He might be right, but I’m trying studiously to not expect to go into labour as soon as we arrive! Besides, I’d really like to get to help out at camp for a least a few days… We’ll see what the Lord has in store.

I’m feeling good; still having lots of contractions and having to listen when my body signals me to sit or lay down if I don’t want to have this baby yet. 😉 I have a busy day today, so if you think of it, I’d treasure your prayers that I will be wise in my actions.

Talked to an acquaintance last night who is at opposite poles of so many spectrums from me. When she heard that we were going to Kansas so that we could have our baby with a legal midwife she asked, “And you want to use a midwife instead of a doctor because….?” with that special tone in her voice that clearly labeled us as idiots. 😉 I didn’t bother to get into quality & quantity of care; into the fact that the midwives we’ve worked with have respected us, the parents, as wise decision-makers for our children; into 5 minute vs. 30-45 minute prenatals, etc, etc. I just said, “Well, repeated studies have shown that they have as safe and healthy results as doctors, with fewer of the interventions that can cause problems later.” Brief synopsis, but I didn’t get any more idiot comments. 😀

Well, anyway… I’d better get going on my tasks for the day. I hope to post pictures later of Grace’s B-Day cake and such from tonight.

Rutherford’s Hymn!

To add to my excitement today (see the first two posts of the day for reference), the Lord has given me another wonderful gift!

Background:
I first read Elizabeth Elliot’s Passion and Purity when I was in my teens. It had a huge impact on my life, but it’s relevence to this little tale of God’s goodness has to do with a precious hymn.

Elizabeth references in Passion and Purity that Jim had memorized all 12 verses of Rutherford’s Hymn. I’ve tried for years to find the other verses of Rutherford’s Hymn, more commonly known as “Immanuel’s Land” or “The Sands of Time are Sinking.” What we commonly sing of this hymn has made it one of my favorites for years, and I’ve longed for years to know the rest of the verses.

Today’s gift:
Totally by “accident” – I found it! This page actually has 19 stanzas of a poem by Ann Ross Cousins inspired by the writings of Samuel Rutherford. I haven’t even read them all thoroughly yet, but I had to post in my excitement. I hope you enjoy it!

Our Champion

I haven’t posted very much here about the process, but we have been, for the 7 years (yikes, I can’t believe it’s been that long) that we’ve lived in Missouri, very involved in working to legalize midwives here.

Without even trying to make a long story short, I’m excited to announce that the Missouri legislature passed a bill this year that will legalize certified professional midwives (CPM’s) in Missouri, and the Governor has stated that he fully intends to sign the bill. It’s not the end of the road (the doctors have said they plan to take it to court, etc), but it is a HUGE victory, and such a thrill.

The law won’t be in effect until August 28, so we will still be travelling to KS for the birth of this little one.

Here is a video interview with our champion, Sen. John Loudon. We can never thank he and his family enough for all they’ve done for homebirth families in Missouri:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIRS-hez-qg]

Hallelujah, we have our hours!

Some of you have heard me state before that the one blight I see on Missouri homeschooling law (which is really one of the best in the country) is the logging requirement. It’s been my biggest struggle in homeschooling, though I think I’ve finally found a system that is helping me keep it under control.

Anyway…
At the beginning of May, I figured up the hours we had and realized that we had an unbelievable number of hours still needed for the younger two. I’ve been feeling totally overwhelmed with the idea of trying to work in these impossible hours of schooling during May and June, while I’m doing some serious nesting and will be having a baby.

Yesterday, I realized that I had logged almost no “non-core” hours for most of the year. So yesterday evening, while the guys played the great railroad game 1835, I reconstructed some of the non-core hours that are a part of our weekly life (like running around outside = PE; washing dishes/helping with dinner = Home Ec, etc). I found that I actually DO have enough hours for this year at this point – for all the required loggers. Woohoo!!!

So this week is going to turn into a wrap-up week, and then we will be off school until at least the beginning of July!! Praise the Lord!

Note to self for future use: Log the Non-Core hours from the beginning of the “school year” and you will have less stress!!