you can't do it all

You've probably heard the popular phrase, "God won't give you more than you can handle."  Is that true?  If God never gave us more than we can handle, why would we need to depend on Him?

I might, in fact, argue the opposite!  God ALWAYS gives us more than we could possibly handle on our own. (Not more than our faith in Him can handle, but more than our own strength could handle.)

He did it with Israel.  He gave them the law.  Why?  So that they would realize how incapable they were of keeping it on their own and turn to Him instead.  He gave them more than they could handle so that they'd realize that they need a Savior, Jesus.

Since we are not God, our plates are always filled with more than we can handle, whether we realize it or not.  This is God's grace - so that we'd stop trying to pretend that we are gods and that our strength is sufficient and that all things are in our control and that we have all the resources to make things happen.  He gives us far more than we can handle so that we would turn to HIM, the One True God, who is all-sufficient, all-powerful and whose resources are truly infinite.

So he gives us trials, he gives us insanely busy schedules, he gives us demands that compete with each other, he gives us sickness. He gives us a Standard of righteousness that we could not ever meet.  What is out of your control at the moment? What is causing you anxiety?  What are you constantly failing at?

God has given this to you as a GIFT so that in your weakness, He could be strong.  He has given me these things as a gift so that I would cease my silly striving, know that HE is God (not me, not anyone else).  He will be exalted in our weakness!

it is a...

Okay, before I reveal the gender of the babes in my tums, let me tell you a little story.

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Leah.  Leah was pregnant.  For about six weeks during her pregnancy, Leah worked out and bragged about it on her blog. 

But then, all-or-nothing Leah stopped working out as much.  But you see her appetite was through the roof.  But Leah pretty much despised healthy food, so she ate a lotta junk.  She ate McDonald's, Chick Fil A, DONUTS, Ice Cream, Candy Bars, Candy, Coke, Dr. Pepper, Root Beer.  She ate breakfast two to three times a day.  She ate dessert after every meal.  She ate CHEESE, FRIED FOOD, BROWNIES from a box.  She loved every minute of it.

After about three weeks of this lifestyle, Leah went to the doctor for a routine visit.  It had only been four weeks since she last went to the doctor. As per usual, Leah hopped on the scale.  Leah watched as the nurse KEPT SLIDING THE MEASURER-THINGY TO THE RIGHT.  Leah watched in disbelief as they confirmed that she had gained quite a bit of weight since the last appointment. [I'm NOT exaggerating.]

Leah waited nervously for the doctor to enter the room because she feared his reproof.  The doctor said that blood pressure looked good, but when he started eye-ing the weight chart he exclaimed, "Wow!  You had a big month this month!  Did you go on vacation or something?"  "No, no vacation.. that's NEXT month," Leah replied, sheepishly.  "Okay. You were just eating a lot of ice cream because it's so hot outside, huh?" He said.  "Sure," Leah replied.  "Well, let's try to slow that down, okay?" said the doctor.  "DON'T YOU WORRY!" said Leah.

And we will ALL live happily ever after.

You'd think as vain as I am, I'd try to "reign in the cravings" (as Matt would say) just a little bit.  Well, this was a wake-up call.  To be honest, after I worked my bottom off during the previous 4 weeks and I had gained just the right amount of weight, I just sort of wondered if my body would naturally do the right thing, even if I didn't work out.  Turns out... NO.  OH WELLSERS!  At least I got some motivation.

And for the big reveal...

It
IS
DEFINITELY
A




BOY!

I'm super excited.  God is SOOOO good to us - so much better to us than we deserve!  Anyway, I am already picturing Henry and baby 2 being BFFAEAEAE. We have no leads in the name department... so that should be fun.  Perhaps I will put up some ultrasound pics soon.

Twenty Down, Twenty To Go

Here I am, yours truly! 20 weeks pregnant today.  I decided to also sport my new mom haircut and no makeup, so I get a couple of points in the "not being too vain" department. Huh?

People don't even think I'm pregnant, and you can probably see why.

In other news, a friend brought it to my attention that THIS might be the real reason my back aches at night.  And to think I'd blame it on Henry.  (Some of you may not have seen that post if you don't subscribe to my blog with a feed reader.  I took it down, and decided to re-post.)

Happy Friday!!  Here's to 20 more weeks of pregnancy.  (Oh and we find out the gender on Monday!)

Can I have the epidural now?

Like seriously, when I take my naps at about 1:30 pm (every day), I fall asleep NO PROBLEMO.  But by 10:30 pm, or whatever time I try to hit the sack for good, my upper back just pounds and aches, and there seems to be no comfortable position to take me off to dreamland.

BUTTTTT... I'm thankful for this aching back because it reminds me of that sweet toddler that I get to love on all day long!

Also, is it bad that when I toss and turn, trying to fall asleep in bed, that I begin to daydream about the bliss of the epidural?  Probably.  December, come quickly.  JK, JK.  No but seriously, I LOVE me some epidural!

Anyway, on a totally unrelated note, I decided that the ipad (and or iphone, whichever you prefer) is equivalent to 1,000,000 issues of sports illustrated.  Without getting too descriptive, let me just say that my man's bathroom time has definitely multiplied since the ipad came into his life.

This is classic men vs. women if you ask me.  I like to get my business done.  For Matt, the bathroom is like an oasis in the dessert (no, not the dessert, the desert- definitely dropped the ball on that one), a break from the chaos... so he shuts the door and takes his time.

Also, for those of you who found it extremely annoying how much I had been bragging about what a hoss I'd been at the gym, I'll inform you that that last two weeks have pretty much been a bust in that department.  Which is funny because I 1- have a big weigh in on Monday and 2- am going to the beach in less than a month.

"You see, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy. It's that I just don't care."- Thank you, Peter Gibbons.

You're welcome.  Goodnight.

"duck"

Henry has some trouble pronouncing a few words.  As a result, he uses the word "duck" for the following words:

-car
-cow
-dog
-duck
-dark
-truck

(On top of that, he thinks everything with wheels is a car or truck, so trains, tractors, airplanes are all also "ducks.")

The other day we were at Barnes N' Noble and there was a picture of Lightning McQueen on the cover of a book, and he was really excited about it.  So he pointed and exclaimed, "A DUCK!  A DUCK!" (Car.)  The ~8 year old next to us thought it was really funny, but it got funnier when two seconds later, Henry spotted a stuffed puppy and pointed and exclaimed, "A DUCK!"

I love this sweet shirt.  It is Paul Frank and it says, "Chicks Dig Scars," and it has a band-aid on the monkey's head.  It was a gift from a little boy who had the same surgery as Henry about a year before Henry did. :)

Henry is obsessed with his "Belly Butt."  He LOVES to show people his belly button.

 I love being that little man's official translator.