Voting

Thursday, November 10, 2011

The One Where We Relocate

One of the reasons we even discussed induction, other than the fact my doctor would be out of town, was because Spencer and I were fixing to make a huge move and job change. We had been apart of the search for a new worship leader for First Baptist Church Marlow that started in December and we were in the final stages where we go to 'In View of a Call' at the church and are voted in by the church members. In order to get a date set, Leslie needed to be born because I was not going to travel 3 hours away from my doctor anymore nor was I about to relocate and change doctors and hospitals! Not that anyone was rushing us or this event, but there was a goal start date for all parties and we were very ready and excited to get it going! It worked out so well....well obviously! We had her (which was a big deal) and 2 weeks later, after another big birthday (my sister's son), a wedding, and the weekend of events in Marlow leading to the 'In View of a Call' that Sunday, we were voted as the new contemporary worship leader!! About 2 weeks after that we were newbies to Outlaw country.
God called us here and in every possible way He kept and keeps confirming our decision to be obedient to His call. Was it hard leaving a church family and what we called our home and family? Absolutely. At the same time one of the most exciting times of our lives. We have two children the the Lord has given us and this move/job was an answered prayer. He knew our needs and provided. It was a hurricane of insanity during those times and we knew it would be challenging and we also knew that because we were being obedient that Satan would most definitely be attacking. He did, but our battles were already overcome. Looking back, a new baby, a toddler adjusting to new baby, a move, a toddler adjusting to a move, and leaving everything known to enter into a new life of unknowns doesn't sound like something I would be interested in, but that is the beauty of our Jesus. It's so amazing how he takes care of us. Even in finding our house. Because we moved so fast, we didn't have time to look at homes and moved into an old 'dentists office' that is apart of the church's property. Not the best living quarters for our particular situation, but we only stayed there for 3 weeks and were very thankful that it was an option. Found a house the very day we moved that was being flipped and it just so happened it was in our price range and move-in ready! Met Jacinda, the owner, loved her, she was kind enough to let us move in before we closed!! Who even does that?!! The whole church family is like that! We have never been more embraced or loved on, which made the move 100 times easier! Now, we feel like we've always lived here and it's only been 5 months!
First Baptist Marlow is a small town church with the biggest heart! The senior pastor, Joe, is an obedient man of God and is great at being a pastor and also a wonderful speaker. The evidence is the growing number of members and the blessings the church reaps. It's very refreshing to be apart of a church that cares about being obedient to God's word no matter what. Come visit or visit us online! Just search First Baptist Church Marlow! You can even see the sexiest, sweetest, hunkiest music leader (but you can't say that about him)! He leads a mean worship time that captives a sinners heart to value true worship to our one and only Redeemer!! Amen!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

The One When Leslie Was Born

Okay, okay, I haven't written in almost a year! That went by fast! So many things happened, so I'll start from where I left off...

The last post was in January and I was still pregnant with Leslie (which her name was still a secret), and I was due in April. Well, she was born a week early on the morning of March 31, 2011 at 10:13am. Completely perfect weighing 7lbs 10oz (Audrey was 7lbs 9oz) with a ton of jet black gorgeous hair and a tan. She did resemble Audrey, but was also so so different! She has tiny features and is very elegant in her motions.

The labor and delivery was amazingly smooth....here's the story.

For reasons I will talk about in another blog and the fact that our doctor would be out of town, we discussed inducing at 39 weeks (side note- I don't agree with inducing just to induce and neither does our OB, but he has a different school of thought for 2nd babies and it can only be a week before due date and you had to be at least dilated to a 3.) But, we agreed to be induced and of course I couldn't really make up my mind. I didn't like it. So, I called our sweet nurse and told her to cancel our induction for that Thursday. We went in that Wednesday for a regular appointment and I had changed my mind again...thankfully the nurse knew me and disregarded my request and we still had our induction date. He checked me that day and we were at a 3, so all was good to continue! After the appointment, I went with Spence to his 2nd job (Parview Baptist) to help him get things in order, then we were going to get dinner before the normal Wednesday church events. I started having contractions. They started as soon as we got to the church and intensified enough to pay attention to how far apart they were. I was so thankful because I didn't like the thought of being induced. So, they were about 20-30 min apart. Spencer told the guys we were gonna leave to eat and that I was contracting and we went to Red Lobster per my request of a last stuffing and while we were there, they shortened to 5 min apart. We were excited and calm at the same time. I wanted to finish eating, and we got our waitress involved in our excitement until my sister told me to get to a hospital!! No dessert for us, we is gonna go have a baby!
We call for grandma to come stay with Audrey and grab our bags and head for St. Francis South!
It's always awkward walking in...especially in a calm manner. Not at all like the movies where it's obvious I'm in labor, so I say, "Hello, I know you're probably busy, but I think I'm in labor." and then you go sit in a waiting room until they get you a room ready. It was like that with Audrey too. It just feels like people should be screaming and rushing and that you shouldn't have to wait in a waiting room for your turn. Crazy!
I really didn't have to wait a long time and they got me settled in our room and the monitors on the baby and sure enough I am now contracting every 2-3 min! Looks like we're having a baby tonight, right?!! WRONG! After about an hour of contracting and not moving from a 3 it just stopped. They had me walk the hospital and it just wasn't happening. But, remember I am already scheduled to be induced that next day, so they just kept me overnight and started Pitocin at 6:00am the next morning. Of course, I didn't sleep at all. At 6:10, the contractions started again, this time they hurt pretty darn bad and progressively worsened for a good 2 hours! Finally got the good stuff and it was easy breezy from then until she was born a little over 4 hours later. With both girls the delivery went way to perfect and quick, which I am very thankful for. Now, I have TWO precious, perfect, sweet girls! I love that the Lord had us in his timing. I was anxious about inducing and going into labor the night before gave me peace that she was ready.
Giving birth is one of the sweetest gifts we can have as women! That's why we love to tell the stories!

Is this it? I don't know...we'll have to wait and see!