Ok, so we went to our first “Orientation” to foster parenting at an agency last night.  I left a little nervous and slightly doubtful we can do this.  But I was reminded in my heart that God doesn’t call us to “easy”.  And James reminded me we live in a world where we aren’t expected to do hard things.  But God didn’t take the easy way out.  He sacrificed his Son for my life, I can sacrifice time and comfort to care for his children.

It was interesting to see that we were the only heterosexual married couple at the orientation.  Everyone else appeared to be a single parent or there was a lesbian couple as well.  I won’t make judgements, but it did open my eyes to the desperate need for Christians to open their homes to these kids.

We have had another agency recommended to us by three different sources, and I have an email to set up an appointment to meet with a worker from that agency hopefully soon to gather more info from them.  Their training doesn’t start until January and goes through April, so it looks like we wouldn’t be licensed until next spring or summer.  A lot goes into this, and as we move forward, I know it will take a great deal of sacrifice, but I pray that it is our joy to give our time, energy and love to care for a child.

Keep praying that we will follow the Lord’s leading in this and will be a good home for a girl in need.

Combine that with the fact that in my Tuesday morning women’s Bible study at church, we have been studying 1 and 2 Timothy, and as Paul admonished Timothy to fan into flame the gift given to him, I wondered and prayed about my spiritual giftings and asked if there was something more I could be doing with what God has given me in this current stage of life.  I confess that while I’ve always wanted to adopt, I’ve always thought it was something that would happen “in the future.”

Even more on our hearts lately has been foster children, and with James’s prior experience working with Child Protective Services, we are both well aware of the children out there who are abused and neglected, and in need of good, loving homes who can teach them about Jesus as well as care for and protect their little hearts and minds.  I brought this all up to James the other day while I was making dinner, simply by saying “I want to be foster parents.”  He replied, “I thought we already talked about this.  We are going to be.”  But what he wasn’t ready for was the fact that I meant now.  In our little two bedroom apartment, with our baby girl.  It didn’t take him long to see that God has prepared us for something like this from the beginning, so we are now in the process of contacting agencies, to decide who to foster through.

When I look at it from the outside, it seems a bit crazy, but there’s no doubt that this is what we are called to do right now.  I desperately want my baby girl (and other children down the road) to grow up knowing without a doubt that our Savior cares about widows and orphans, and that there is something we can do tangibly and physically to help them, even at the cost of our own comfort.

I wish I could show everyone how amazingly everything that God has been teaching both of us comes together to really make this step make sense in our lives.  So if you want to know more about the why or the how of what we’re about to do, don’t hesitate to ask.  I’ll be using this blog to document our journey and to praise our Lord for the provisions he makes that allow us to provide for a child who needs us.

Sunday: Grocery planning–I make my list and scour the ads to find anything I need on sale
Monday: Grocery shopping.  It’s fitting that I do something I particularly don’t enjoy to make my Monday feel more like everyone else’s.
Tuesday: Bible study at church, then clean the kitchen.  I should probably clean it every day, but at least it gets a good scour once a week.
Wednesday: Clean the bathrooms and go to Oasis (our high school youth group.  Love  my time with my group of girls there!)
Thursday: Dust and vacuum.  It’s amazing how dusty things get in a week!
Friday: Laundry.  I usually end up doing laundry a few times a week, but at least I know I have to do it on Friday if I don’t get to it before.

I also created a workout schedule for myself so I have a goal to get to the Y 4 or 5 days a week.  Still “trying” to lose this baby weight.  Although whenever I start dieting, my milk supply basically disappears, so maybe in a few months I’ll have better results taking this weight off.

So basically, this post was just about schedules.  But this is my life right now, and I’m loving every minute of it!  Even the 4 am crying baby minutes…

And for your viewing pleasure, our baby girl is 11 weeks old tomorrow!

Anyway,on August 23, 2011, our little girl arrived at 10:23 pm.  Although it was a long day waiting for things to progress, (my water started leaking and I had to be induced), once the rest of my water broke at 8pm, things went extremely quickly.  The epidural was in place shortly thereafter, and I quickly (I don’t think I can accurately express how QUICKLY) she decided to come then.  I had to call the nurse in because I thought I could feel her coming out, so the Dr came in, and after pushing for 4 contractions, our little Bailey Noel Pruch made her appearance in the world!  Oh what an experience.

Here’s our baby girl, moments after birth.

Family Picture

Bailey has certainly kept us on our toes.  Within 3 days of going home, we were back in the ER with her, due to some breathing that was sounding pretty bad.  Her pediatrician advised us to head in and get her checked out (it was a Sunday).  After a few blood tests, a chest xray, and many tears from all three of us, we found out she most likely has what’s called Tracheomalacia.  Basically that means her windpipe isn’t hard, so it makes noise when she breathes.  Unfortunately, there’s nothing they can do but just let her grow out of it, but the good news is most kids grow out of it by 6 months of age.  Until then, we have a snorting, grunting & gurgling little girl.

I am not returning to work, so I can stay home and raise our kids.  This is something I’ve always wanted and felt convicted to do, and I praise the Lord for a husband who feels the same way, and for the budgeting abilities to make it work.  That being said, Bailey and I are still trying to find our rhythm throughout the day.  We pretty much have her on a 3 hour schedule, and are attempting to follow the Baby Wise advice.  (check out the book here).  However, I have never been at home this much before in my life, so I have struggled with knowing what to do.  Feeding has been a chore so far, and while that takes a good chunk of my day, I generally struggle with feeling guilty that I don’t get much else done.  Now that she is on a better routine (most days) though, I have been able to get a little more done around the house and have it be more of a peaceful and clean space when James gets home from work.

I really want to create a place of “Shalom” for my family.  I read this on a blog once, Shalom meaning “completeness, soundness, safety, peace, quiet, tranquility, contentment, friendship, peace (from war).  To be in a place of peace, to cause to be at peace, to be complete, to be finished, to make safe, to restore.”  More on that later.

Anyway, the past five weeks have absolutely flown by.  So much has happened!  Bailey has met all her grandparents and aunts and uncles except Ben and Amy who are in China and will be until she’s two!  She had her pictures taken (what a disaster that was!), she’s experienced 3 or 4 Husker games, all of which she has slept through.  At one month, we very unceremoniously transitioned her from sleeping in her bassinet in our room into her crib, which has gone very well.

She only wakes up once during the night to eat, which is a huge blessing.  We had a few rough nights where she was up every hour, but she has been a champ!  The next thing we are working towards is transitioning from disposable diapers to cloth diapers.    Think I’m crazy?  Well, maybe I am, but I am for sure crazy about the amount of money we’ll save instead of buying diapers every week!  And they’re so cute!

Well there you have it folks.  Life in the Pruch household is every bit baby right now, and we’re loving every exhausting minute of it.

]]> http://carlyforsman.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/life-in-the-pruch-household-newborn-and-all/feed/ 0 carlypruch Bailey birth sepia IMG_1253 IMG_1629 diapers recolored http://carlyforsman.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/bring-him-unto-me/ http://carlyforsman.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/bring-him-unto-me/#comments Mon, 19 Sep 2011 02:15:49 +0000 Carly Pruch http://carlyforsman.wordpress.com/?p=170 ]]> Saturday morning I read this entry in Charles Spurgeon’s “Morning + Evening” devotional, and thought it so appropriate for our stage of life with a new baby in our home.

“Bring him unto me.” –Mark 9:19

Despairingly the poor disappointed father turned away from the disciples to their Master. His son was in the worst possible condition, and all means had failed, but the miserable child was soon delivered from the evil one when the parent in faith obeyed the Lord Jesus’ word, “Bring him unto me.” Children are a precious gift from God, but much anxiety comes with them. They may be a great joy or a great bitterness to their parents; they may be filled with the Spirit of God, or possessed with the spirit of evil. In all cases, the Word of God gives us one receipt for the curing of all their ills, “Bring him unto me.” O for more agonizing prayer on their behalf while they are yet babes! Sin is there, let our prayers begin to attack it. Our cries for our offspring should precede those cries which betoken their actual advent into a world of sin. In the days of their youth we shall see sad tokens of that dumb and deaf spirit which will neither pray aright, nor hear the voice of God in the soul, but Jesus still commands, “Bring them unto me.” When they are grown up they may wallow in sin and foam with enmity against God; then when our hearts are breaking we should remember the great Physician’s words, “Bring them unto me.” Never must we cease to pray until they cease to breathe. No case is hopeless while Jesus lives.

The Lord sometimes suffers His people to be driven into a corner that they may experimentally know how necessary He is to them. Ungodly children, when they show us our own powerlessness against the depravity of their hearts, drive us to flee to the strong for strength, and this is a great blessing to us. Whatever our morning’s need may be, let it like a strong current bear us to the ocean of divine love. Jesus can soon remove our sorrow, He delights to comfort us. Let us hasten to Him while He waits to meet us.

His mind was in and out of clarity, but in one of his clearer moments, he saw me sitting across the room where I’d been all morning and proclaimed “Carly!  You’re still here.  I love you Carly.”  Then the fog came and he said “I wish I would be able to make it to your wedding.”   I laughed and reminded him we’d already done that and patted my protruding stomach and whispered, “we’re onto the next big thing now.”  Oh what a joyful sound those words were to my heart.  He still knew who I was and wanted me to know he loved me.

It’s amazing how many memories can be made from sitting by your grandpa’s side in the hospital for 10 hours as he hangs onto life after a heart attack the day before.  From getting thrown up on (just a little because I wasn’t quite quick enough with the trash can ) asking me if I was going to paint the grass, handing us things that none of us could see to take care of for him, and reminding us he loves us, I wouldn’t trade those 10 1/2 hours in that hospital room for anything.

My grandpa was 91, and I’m 24, so needless to say, he was quite a bit older than other grandpas to my generation.  Because of that, I wasn’t extremely close to him, or my grandma (who at 90, is still alive, and on August 2 the two of them would have been married for 70 years).  However, in those final moments of his life, it was my joy to serve him and take care of him alongside my mom.

Monday morning after I got the text message that he had a heart attack, I read Psalm 144 before James and I trekked to Aurora to see him one last time.

Blessed be the LORD, my rock,
who trains my hands for war,
and my fingers for battle;
he is my steadfast love and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield and he in whom I take refuge,
who subdues peoples under me.

O LORD, what is man that you regard him,
or the son of man that you think of him?
Man is like a breath;
his days are like a passing shadow.

As my grandfather slipped away before our eyes, I am so thankful he loved Jesus, so even as my eyes spilled tears, my heart completely rejoiced that God was his rock and his foundation.  I watched him labor to breathe and wondered what it would be like to take a new breath in Heaven with the creator he has served for so many years on this earth.  His hope was in Jesus, and mine is as well, so there is not much room for sadness in my heart because of the joy at the reunion that is taking place at the moment beyond our current vision.

Whenever my time comes to die, whether it be 91 or 25, I hope and pray that Jesus would be the center of my death as he is the center of my life.  I pray that there would be much rejoicing at the thought of being with Jesus over any sadness at any length of life left unlived on earth.

“…as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.  If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me….” Philippians 1:20-22

Last week, I studied the name, Yahweh Rophe, which means “The Lord who Heals”.  I have heard this before, and I’m no stranger to asking God to heal someone or even myself, but as I read and studied, I realized I was missing the most important part of this name.  I could only see the physical healing that God had done–we’re all familiar with how many miracles Jesus performed in the New Testament.  Healing the blind, the lame, the sick, even the dead.  But the part I was missing the mark on was Jesus incredible healing of my heart and my soul from the sinful nature I was born with.

I love the symbolism God uses in the Old Testament to point to the coming of His Son in the New Testament.  Read Numbers 21:4-9 with me.  The Israelites complained and lashed out at God, saying they had it better when they were slaves in Egypt.  So God sent snakes to bite them, and a lot of them died.  On a side note, I think it’s interesting that he sent snakes, when the serpent was the original symbol of evil after the whole Adam and Eve forbidden fruit thing occurred.  Anyway, the Israelites then repent, and God tells Moses to make a serpent on a staff and anyone who is bitten, but looks at the staff will be healed.  My first thought was, God could have just killed all the snakes and everyone would have been safe.  But I think he left them alive,  to show the Israelites how to act in faith.  If they were bitten, they had to have faith enough to go find that staff and look upon it.

Now check this out–¹⁴And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. John 3:14-15.  Jesus was lifted up, to heal us from our sin and brokenness.  To restore the relationship between us and God.  Much the same as that serpent on the staff.  When we look to Jesus and repent, we are not only forgiven, we are healed.  We are raised up with the Son and held as righteous in God’s eyes.

Have you placed your faith in Yahweh Rophe?  He can heal you physically, but more importantly, He will heal your soul, and that is far more precious and valuable.

I recently finished studying Hebrews again, which was just amazing.  The call of God to continue looking towards the end–keep your eyes on the Prize (Jesus and eternity with Him) and you will not only endure, but live your life to the fullest here on this earth.  When I finished Hebrews, I was again convicted that I frequently avoid the Old Testament out of fear of boredom. There, I said it.  Yes, the Old Testament seems boring at times to me.  So I looked through the books I haven’t read yet, and decided it was time to tackle Leviticus.  Just the name of the book makes me want to not read it.

Oh how God is gracious to me.  In my complacent heart, He began to stir a desire to see how the Old Testament connects to the New Testament and ultimately points to the Bible’s central and main Character.  Jesus Christ himself.  But again, as I considered my book of choice, I thought maybe I should spend December in Luke instead.  You know, really studying Jesus and the Christmas story.  But the press to stay in the Old Testament remained, so I began to read.  About animal sacrifices.  About removing entrails and fat and pouring and throwing blood on the sides of the altar.  About the priests getting to eat the remaining grain offerings.  It was all a little bit repetitive if you ask me.  But I pressed on, and God began to show me how indeed all of these rituals and rules and laws and sacrifices paved the way for the Ultimate Sacrifice to come and offer His own Flesh and Blood in place of any animal or grain offering for the rest of eternity.  From the time sin entered the world through one man, God has been setting the stage for His ultimate redeeming act.  Everything He created and put on this earth points back to His Son. And this Christmas season, we celebrate the birth of this Jesus Christ into this fallen world.  We celebrate the birth of the man who came to live a perfect life and then be crucified and sacrificed on behalf of our sins.

So, while Leviticus might not seem the Christmas book of choice for most, it is where I will be camping this Holiday Season.  Because His birth led to His sacrifice which allows me to have a relationship with Him, and for that I am and will be eternally grateful.

“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” -Psalm 118:29

(he’s writing about the once a year atonement for sins by the high priest)…

“According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, [10] but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. “
(Hebrews 9:9-10 ESV)

So even with all of these sacrifices for sins, they still can’t perfect the conscience of the worshiper?  Because only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place, and only once a year, humanity was cut off from God.  We had no access, but through one imperfect man, who was offering sacrifices that even then couldn’t provide peace and relief from a heavy conscience.

This makes Jesus all the more incredible.  What he did, he laid his own body down as a human sacrifice, to atone for our sins, so that we may enter the presence of the Most Holy God.  And not only did he die, but he came back to life and is now seated at the right hand of God. Incredible.  If you don’t find this absolutely incredible, let’s have coffee or something, because you’re missing something.

The symbolism that God has created and interwoven into our entire world is just astounding because if you look at anything closely enough, you can see how it points back to the gospel, or sin, or himself.  Nothing is created without His glory in mind.  Even you and me.