A letter to baby

I wrote this to our unborn child on April 02, 2010.

Dear Baby,

You are so loved. Mommy and Daddy love you so much, but God loves you even more. “God loved you so much that he gave his one and only son that if you would just believe in him, you will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Baby, you were desired. We prayed for you and the Lord answered our prayers. “For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him.” 1 Samuel 1:27 “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.” Psalm 37:4

Baby, you are thought about every day and every night, not only by us and but also by God. “God’s thoughts of you are precious, they can not be numbered.” Psalm 139:17

Baby, you were created by the very hands of God and you are a wonderful work of art. “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb…” Jeremiah 1:5 “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

Baby, you are the greatest gift we have ever received. “Every good and perfect gift is from above…” James 1:17

Baby, we love you,

Mommy and Daddy

Katelyn's Arrival!

So much has been happening lately. It's been a very busy few weeks. I've been living life and not having time to reflect on it all. Kev and I have been working very hard to get ready for the arrival of Katelyn Joy Kilgore. She will be here tomorrow via C-Section! We are so excited!!!

Last day of work was September 17th before going on maternity leave. I had made up my mind to work up until I popped. Thankfully, I had a great pregnancy and had no complications that kept me from working. Some ladies from the office took me out to lunch on Friday, September 10th just in case Katelyn decided to arrive sooner. I picked Olive Garden-yum!

Thanks Sue, Kathy, Pam, Martha, Leslie and Tu! I had a great time with you all. I'll be missing you : )

I finally decided on Katelyn's coming home outfit-I saw a picture and decided to make one myself!

Kevin and I spent this weekend together just relaxing and having fun together. We went out on a real date Friday night. We went to Ribeye Steakhouse for dinner and then went to see Despicable Me at the movies. We had a great time! Now, it is the night before and we are just wrapping up a few more to-do's. We're going to bed early (if we can sleep) to get up bright and early at 4am! It's going to be one of the biggest days of our lives! I'll keep you posted!

Grace Cup 8/31/10

This morning I decided to drink from my Infinite Grace cup because spiritually I drank from God’s cup of infinite grace. Earlier in the morning I read from Joshua chapters 7 and 8 the story of the Israelites’ defeat of Jericho and Ai. The Israelites followed the exact commands of the Lord in how to defeat Jericho. It was quite dramatic I must say, all of the marching, the horn blowing, and the shouting . But they did it, the walls came down and they defeated the town. However, in their victory sin crept in the camp. One person disobeyed the commands by taking a portion of the plunder that was already clearly told did not belong to him. Not only did he take what did not belong to him, but he hid it. He covered it up to keep it for himself. So no one in the camp knew about this sin. The next scene the Israelites take off to defeat the next town. Having more confidence in themselves they took a fewer number of men. To their surprise the men of Ai chased after them and the Israelites retreated in fear and shame. “What happened,” they wondered. God revealed to Joshua that there was sin in the camp. Once it was revealed and the sin destroyed as the Lord instructed, the Israelites set out to defeat Ai again. This time God took the shame of the first try and used it for their good. This time He told them once they defeated the town they could have the plunder. The strategy was to take the strongest men to hide in ambush the night before and then send the rest the next day to defeat Ai as they tried before. When the army of Ai gathered to attack, the visible Israelite army pretended to retreat as they did the first time to distract the Ai army while the men hidden in ambush set fire to the town and attacked the Ai army from behind. The Israelites defeated Ai the second time around! I say all this to show how the shame of the Israelite army the first time was used as a trap for the enemy the second time. But this was only done after the sin was revealed and destroyed. Sometimes God has promised us a Jericho and an Ai, but in the victory of Jericho we may mess up and then Ai is out of our reach. But once we come to God with our mistakes and sincerely ask for forgiveness, He will give us back what He intended us to have and not only that, but He will use the shame of our mistake to get it back. “And we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

Dar la Luz

A woman who is working part-time to help out while I am gone on maternity leave came to me Monday and said something that at the time I didn’t know how to take other than, “oh that’s nice.” But for some reason I knew there had to be something much deeper about what she said. This woman was a missionary to Mexico for several years. She is now in the retirement stage of her life. She came to me and said I wanted to tell you how to say “to give birth” in Spanish. It is “dar la luz.” She said it literally means translated “to give light.” Like I said, I was unsure how to take it other than that was nice of her to share. We went about our business. The next day I was getting ready for work and was having a nice talk with the Lord. During my time of prayer I asked the Lord to “help me to give light.” That’s when it hit me! Dar la luz-to give light means to give birth in the Spanish language. As I thought more I realized there is a life in me that has been at work growing and developing and when it is fully grown then the time comes to give birth. The same thing happens when we are born again. God places His light within us that does a work within that matures us. But that light is not meant to stay hidden inside us. There is a time that comes to “give light” into this world. When we give light there will be labor. Once the light is brought into this world, it is then that we lead and guide that light in His will and in His way. Just as the world patiently awaits for the woman to give birth, so the world awaits for us to "give light."