...I am a Witness

Our new little one is due to arrive somewhere around April 21. As we were announcing the news, I have had four friends also announce the coming of babies in April. One friend is due in early April, two in mid-April and the other about the same time as myself.

All of us are in different circumstances. This is my first. Jaci is having her fourth and everything seems to be going very well (although she is VERY tired from moving on top of being pregnant). Erin is due with her third, and when her sister Allyson told me, she asked for prayer. Erin has two little girls, but she has miscarried her last several pregnancies. We are now rejoicing that she is further along in her pregnancy than she has been during the last few.

Charity is having number three also, and this in itself is a miracle. She had concerns that she would never be pregnant. And Tirzah is having number two. They are just now spreading the news because she was at a high risk, the baby’s heart beat being very low. She was taking it easy (as easy as chasing a one-year-old can be) and we were praying the Lord would take care of this little one. Just this week, she had an appointment on Monday to hear the baby’s heartbeat. Still low, the doctor was very concerned and they did an ultrasound on Wednesday. I got a text that afternoon that the baby’s heartbeat was at 153 and the baby seemed to be doing so well, they moved her due date up! I sat at my desk and cried in joy.

Today, Ed and I went to the doctor for my second check-up. I was a little concerned, wanting to talk to the doctor about something that had happened the day before that scared me. She told me it was nothing to worry about and then we got to listen to the baby’s heartbeat for the first time. You could hear it pounding in there as if the baby were running a race, right at 160. You should have seen the look on Ed’s face!

As my friend Haley signs off on her e-mails:

God is good…

…I am a witness.

God is Good...

I’m a thinker. Not a deep, deep thinker like some people I know who can wax eloquently quite philosophically. But I am always thinking about something, just not usually talking about it. My thoughts go all over the place. Spreadsheets for work, what to make for dinner that won’t make me sick, books I am plotting, books I want to plot, books I’m reading, places I want to go, chores I need to do…and more serious things like what in the world life is going to look like with a baby.

The latter has consumed my most serious thoughts as late, and I can’t deny that some of my thoughts cause me worry. Can we make ends meet if I don’t work? Should we stay in the duplex where we presently live? What sorts of things does the baby need versus what sort of things does his/her new mother just want? Is the baby healthy? What happens if something happens to the baby? Am I eating too much? Not enough? Exercising and sleeping enough? Or too much?

Not to mention that life goes on with or without a baby. Ed’s truck has inspection this winter and it needs work if it expects to pass. Or do we try to squeeze some pennies and purchase something else? Ed’s had to work a couple of Sundays lately, which bothers me and causes questions to arise about his job and what is right or wrong.

Thankfully, I have a God I can take all these troubles to.

In the long wrong, my troubles and worries are quite small. I read the Voice of the Martyrs newsletter and slap myself for worrying about affording baby furniture. But, to me, my concerns can often seem so overwhelming I just sit down and cry. Again, thankfully, my God knows this.

Perhaps that is why, as of late, every time I open my Bible “randomly”, I am brought to a passage where God provides. Whether it is Christ telling His disciples that God feeds the birds of the air and clothes the flowers, or Habakkuk rejoicing though he has nothing but God, or the Lord providing a means for the kings of Judah to defeat enemies four or five times their size. The needs are all different. But God can meet them all.

Because God is good.

Almost There...

I’ve got the Social Security card.

I’ve got the voter registration card.

I’ve got the passport.

Now all I need is to fill out forms to get the driver’s license fixed.

Finally – I’m nearly 100% Melissa Sturm Camus!

The Education of Edward Camus

Well, marriage is an education. I have learned things I didn’t know anything about…or even thought about. Some things I’m still learning (like there’s someone else to consider in decisions…being single for 34 years gives a lot of practice in just making up your own mind and going at something!). But I’m also teaching.

First, I took Ed blueberry picking this summer. A couple of weekends ago, I took him apple picking for the first time. We found a smaller orchard north of us and off we went one Saturday to explore. It wasn’t the type of orchard I was use to. The couple who own it have trees growing throughout their fields in no particular lines. They operate out of a small barn, weighing the apples in a brown paper bag. And they deal in cash only. We had a good time picking the three different types that were in that day. We got enough apples to fill a crisper in the fridge. In a couple of weeks, we’ll need to pick again – just because I intend to freeze some.

But along with apple picking comes the Sturm family tradition: apple dumplings! You must, Must, MUST make apple dumplings from the first apples you pick for the season. Admittedly, it took me several days to get around to it. (These days I’m just not always up to doing anything in the kitchen that involves food…or being near it.) Now we have a few left in the pan in the fridge, but they’ll be eaten soon! It was Ed’s first time to have apple dumplings. He approves.

The seasons for introducing him to the picking of fruit are coming to an end, but we have lots of experiences yet to go. I mean, exactly how many kinds of Christmas cookies MUST the Sturm family make over the holidays? And there’s the tree that must be put up when Navy plays Army. Besides all that, we’re both about to be educated together in Baby 101. Crib, stroller, onesies…we’ll see what we find this weekend at one of the many baby consignment “shows” that go on around Pittsburgh this time of year!

Across Town

Last night, Ed’s mom had us over for dinner. We left the house a little after 5:30…we arrived at her place about 6:30.

I know that Pittsburgh can’t be the only city in the world that it takes a full hour to get from north to south. But between winding roads and Ed attempting to avoid as much traffic as possible by taking roads I will never find again…it took us a full hour to get from one side of the city to the other side.

I can see it now when the baby gets a little bit older and we say we’re going to visit Grandma:

“Do you have to? It takes FOREVER to get to Grandma’s!”

And that’s the Grandma that lives not only in the same state as we do, but the same city!