Sunday, November 9, 2008

A few more...and some personal growth




This week has been a whirlwind! I do apologize for not keeping up my blog as much as I could...but we all know what craziness is like. Jason has been on his sabatical for the past week and a half. He's been so helpful when he's able to be around...most of the time he's working on his papers for seminary. Thankfully, two are finished and he has one more to go. Then he'll be caught up with the rest of his class. I will say the Lord has been growing us in uncomfortable ways during this break. It's almost as if the time of rest and renewal we were supposed to enjoy was eaten up by arguing and miscommunication. The Lord has shown me how important it is to first of all, NOT have expectations, and second, to not hold him to those expectations that I haven't even informed him of. He's had his share of struggles which he'd admit--but the Lord laid our time of frustration aside Wednesday night. I had just finished sharing with my quad girls all that had been going on when Jason called me and asked me to meet him on the back porch. After working at Apex with his quad guys, he picked up some beautiful roses and brought them to me! We had a good time of hugging and I of course cried. Side note--the Lord has been confirming in my heart that it's OK to share what I struggle with...in moderation of course. Sometimes it's tough being a pastor's wife because there's this expectation (probably self-induced), that our marriages should be without blemish. So I tend to clam up when I need to ask for prayer the most. I do thank God for the girls in my quad and also for Amy who's been very encouraging. Back to the main thought--it was just so nice to receive beautiful flowers the minute after I shared what was on my heart. I feel like God showed me that it's ok to share struggles and ask for prayer among believing women...and then He rewarded me with flowers from Jason and an awesome remainder of our week. So now it's Sunday and I've written a novel...I'm very excited to see what the rest of this sabatical has for us.
Looking forward to: going to Bath and Body Works today, watching more West Wing episodes with Jason, dentist appointment tomorrow (seriously, I love going to the dentist), Ikea trip with Amy and Traci, check up for Gideon, house church Thanksgiving meal, hanging out with fellow stay at home moms while Jason works on his paper.

3 comments:

MTH said...

Speaking of the dentist, the receptionist at our dentist scheduled me for Thursday, November 9. The problem? That day doesn't exist.

Great pics!

Great things you're learning, too. Keep sharing so we can learn from you. And we don't expect anything from either of you guys.

Just a heck of a lot from Reagan. Love.

the clemensuz said...

Rachel, I SO appreciated this post. Thank you for sharing what's on your heart! We've been praying for you three the past couple of weeks while Jason is away from Apex, and it sounds like God is definitely using that time to grow your family, even if in unexpected ways!

I completely agree, sometimes it's REALLY hard for me to be completely transparent because of self-induced perception issues, but I was really encouraged by your post. Praying for you all, and looking forward to seeing you again soon!

Oh, by the way, forgot to mention to you how great you looked the other day when I saw you at Target...love that pregnant glow :)

Amber said...

That picture of Jason and Reagan is priceless! Amy did a great job capturing those moments.
We love you guys!