01
Mar
Mar
God is good, all the time
I am so blessed and so thankful for my family. At the end of September, just days before our 15th anniversary, we found out we were expecting our 8th child. Many months before we had picked a name for a boy, if God was going to bless us with one. That name means God is my strength.
We waited about 4 days to tell the other children because with the last few we have come up with a special way to tell them. Once we played charades and I acted out that I was pregnant. Another time we made donuts in the shape of their first initial, with an extra one for the baby. The donuts tasted pretty good, but professional donut-maker, I am not.
Well this time we decided that since the children have called themselves Alphabet Soup and like super heroes, I would draw little sketches of the Alphabet Soup-er Heroes. All the Heroes are things that make great soups.
So we have Arracacha.
And beefy Beef. 
Carrot.
Daikon radish, purple of course.
Then Eggplant.
And Fennel.
Little Garlic.
And for the new baby, Herbert Squash. 
The children loved their little characters. (About that time, I realized I had some of their hands backwards. But that’s what you get when you draw after bedtime.) They wanted me to draw a headquarter and give each of them special powers. They also talked about making them into magnets or stickers for the back of the van. And of course they were super excited about the newest baby.
None of us are promised tomorrow and I serve an amazing God who knows the number of our days. Sadly, our little Herbert Squash wasn’t going to get to be held in anyone’s arms here on earth. Just 3 weeks after telling the children about their little sibling, I found out I was miscarrying. I morn the loss of my little one, but I know he is in Heaven and will never have to deal with sin and pain. But as hard as this was for me, I feel it was worse for my husband and children, who love him and never got to hold him or feel the changes because of him. I am very thankful for his short time here on earth where I was able to hold him in my womb.
So we named him God is my strength, because He is. He has carried us through this emotional time. He has protected us and comforted us. He has been our strength when ours has ebbed.
God is good all the time.
At the end of January we were over joyed to discover God had again blessed us, baby I was on her way. We told the children by displaying a drawing of all our little super heroes together, with the newest super hero, Italian Parsley in the midst of them. 
Unfortunately 2 weeks later I started spotting and although we saw her heartbeat February 13th, by the end of February she had died. After much prayer, we decided to name her Gracious gift of God.
We don’t know or understand why God has decided to give us 2 blessings that we will never be able to cuddle and instruct, but that doesn’t diminish how much we love these babies. It doesn’t diminish how good He is.
God is good, today, yesterday and forever.
If He chooses to give us another blessing, we will rejoice.
If He chooses not to let us hold him or her this side of Heaven, we will mourn but we will rejoice.
If He chooses to never give us another a blessing, we will be content remembering He loves us.
