Registering Fun!!

So Jeremy and I registered this week for baby things. It was so much fun; more fun for me than Jeremy I am sure. I am now 33 weeks and Paisley is really moving alot. We got the pack n play set up and ready to go and Jeremy put up a shelve with baskets to store all of her stuff in. We are getting ready for her to come. We started new classes this week, Ephesians and Galatians. They are going great. One of the things that has been really awesome to me in Ephesians1:3 is "that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ." I have always thought this meant when we get to heaven, but actually it is right now. We are blessed now with every spiritual blessing. If we have placed faith in Christ, we have righteousness, forgiveness, we have been given the Holy Spirit, we are being sanctified, and so so much more. We have so much because we are united with Christ through belief. Jeremy and I are finding that God's word has so much to tell us about all that we have in Christ, but we must be in the Word to know what we have. We are finding God's word to be so much more precious than we could have ever dreamed. Anyway just wanted to share a little about what we are learning. Hope it encourages your heart. Have a great week.

 Babys R Us

 Going scan crazy!!

33 weeks and counting!!

Jeremy practicing to be a dad with our friend's sweet baby, Nora. Our friends have started calling him the baby whisperer because babies seem to love him.  He is going to be such an awesome dad.  I am so blessed!!

Love and Respect

As noted from Mandy’s last update, we attended a marriage conference this weekend called “Love and Respect.” It was based off a book (or the book was based off of the conference, I’m not really sure) authored by Dr. Emerson Eggerich. He has been preaching this same message since about 1998 and it was hands down the best Mandy and I have ever heard on marriage. It was so simple, yet so complex, and so true. The total 7 hours of the conference was centered on one verse - Ephesians 5:33 “However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” He argues that since Ephesians 5 is known as the “marriage chapter” in the Bible and since Paul sums up the whole chapter with this statement, then it must be of most importance. He argues that the reason Paul includes these commands is because it meets each other’s basic needs. Women need love and men need respect. God has wired each one this way. He showed that both the Bible and secular research prove this statement to be true. Over the course of the conference He introduced 3 cycles: The Crazy Cycle – “without love she reacts without respect, and without respect he reacts without love,” The Energizing Cycle – “His love motivates her respect, and her respect motivates his love,” and The Rewarded Cycle – “His love regardless of her respect, and her respect regardless of his love.” God’s word is clear, and Ephesians 5:33 is a command. The great thing (and yes I am calling this great) is that God is calling each spouse to do something that neither one of them naturally does very well. I say this is great because to do these things, we must absolutely depend on Christ. Only as we allow Him to enter into our relationship with our spouses will we ever have success. May our efforts be an act of worship to our amazing Savior.

31 Weeks and Counting!!

So I am 31 weeks now! Tomorrow I will be exactly 2 months from my due date! The time is approaching and Jeremy and I are ready for Paisley to get here.  We are taking a marriage and family class right now and it is coming at the perfect time.  As one of the assignments for the class we are suppose to read the book "Love and Respect" written by Dr. Emerson Eggrichs.  It just so happens that a local church around here is hosting a marriage conference this Friday night and all day Saturday put on by Dr. Emerson and his wife, Sarah, about love and respect so Jeremy and I asked our teacher if we could go to the conference instead of reading the book.  We probably will eventually read the book, but we thought the conference could be a lot more fun.  We are looking forward to it.  We have been talking a lot about needing to focus on our marriage before Paisley gets here and we feel like this is one of the ways the Lord is helping us to do that.  We do not have much time left before she comes and we want to cherish the time the we have together as just us.  I am sure Paisley will bring more joy into our lives than we could ever imagine, so I am not say she will be a burden or anything like that, but Biblically speaking the husband/wife relationship is a much closer bond.  We have been learning a lot about how to love each other in our Marriage and Family class and we want Paisley to see that we love each other and to grow up knowing that.  Our teacher, Harold Holeman, is in his upper 70s and he has so much wisdom to share about the husband/wife relationship.  We love to hear him talk about his sweet wife and we can see how much he loves her.  He is such a servant to her. He also gives a lot of good and sometimes humorous quotes.  Like today he said, "Arguing with your wife is like trying to blow out a light bulb. There's no use for it and it never really works." Jeremy and I just looked at each other and laughed. Our prayer is that we will grow closer as a couple and deeper in love with each other before Paisley arrives.  Our marriage is not perfect, but as we both submit ourselves to Christ's authority, He will conform us into His image and help us to love and care for each other.  We want the love of Christ to be evident in our lives and for our sweet daughter to see his love in us both for her and for each other.  Love you all!!