Throwing Down the Gauntlet!

Ever had a song's lyrics hit you so hard that you are just floored by the truths found in them? The following song lyrics is one of the few that just make me cry out to God in thanksgiving and anticipation for heaven. ENJOY it, SAVOR it, fall down one again and praise God for His love and His work in your life, and that He saved you and has allowed for you to be in HIS heaven!!

So Shall We Live

Light of the world with hope fills the sky, for gone is the power of the darkness.
The tomb that held the Son of God breaks with a cry from heaven, "He who was dead is RISEN!
Up from the grave ascended! The reign of death is ENDED!"

So shall we live, for His cross has gone before.
Christ has spoken all our freedom, He's broken all our bondage
And opened God's heavens to man

0, saints rejoice and lift up your voice for we bear the wounds of our Saviour.
For just as Christ was crucified, now we who are buried with Him, are raised in newness with Him.
We share His resurrection, our blessed liberation!!

So shall we live, for His cross has gone before.
Christ has spoken all our freedom. He's broken all our bondage, and opened God's heavens

So shall we live, and so shall we reign
In glory and power, now and forever
So shall we live
Blessed, the name of the Lord!
So shall we live
Blessed, the name of the Lord!
AMEN!!

Look who's here!

Well, we made it! Isaac made his entrance on September 2, 2010 at 11:57pm with 3 minutes to spare before the new day. He was a healthy 9lbs 3oz and 20 3/4 inches long. He looked great. I had prepared myself to cry one last time when I saw his shortened arm but it seems such of a small thing to cry over. As I held him in my arms I kept on thinking to myself, who cares about his hand, he is healthy and in my arms...I couldn't ask for anything more!
I am so glad to be home! I was admitted to the hospital 10 days before I was induced because of high blood pressure. Being in the hospital was a huge challenge for me. I have been a stay at home mom for over 6 years and I love my job! I hated going from being with my kids all day long to seeing them for one hour a day. Talk about a difficult transition. I am thankful because now I appreciate where God has me with my home, my husband, and my kids even more.
The labor and delivery were pretty uneventful on my part, however Curtis made a great impression on the hospital staff. As I was getting my epidural Curtis was standing behind me watching. I was breathing through the needle pokes and all of the sudden we here heavy moaning and breathing. Curtis had been watching a football game and my first thought that he was responding to a bad play in process but as a glanced back he was sitting down in a chair with his hands grasped around the arms of the chair staring off in space and shaking mildly. He was in the midst of a seizure, yes, you read that right a seizure! Curtis has had a few seizures before but never in front me. Immediately they left me to tend to Curtis. Yeah, don't worry about the pregnant lady everyone look at Curtis! They paged the doctors and nurses, in a few minutes I had my room full of doctors and nurses. Once they realized that it wasn't me who had the seizure and realized it was Curt, they all had a good laugh about it. Curtis is obviously fine. Isaac is great! I love him so very much. I know, random ending sorry, I am tired! Here are some pictures

Phoebe as.....

Anakin Skywalker

Updates on Isaac

Sorry that it has been so long since my last update! I am in the homestretch of my pregnancy, and boy what a pregnancy it has been! Nothing has changed in regards to Isaac's hand and health. He is still missing his left hand and is still healthy everywhere else, which is a blessing! And from the looks of it on the ultrasound, he is going to be a big boy! I had an ultrasound a few days ago when I was about to be 33 weeks, and found out that Isaac is already weighing in at 6.1 lbs! WHOA! Now a typical baby at this point would be around 4 lbs. That is a big difference at this stage of the game! If I carry him to term that means he could be an 11 lbs baby!! ELEVEN POUNDS!!! Oh, and plus he is in a breech position! Craziness! Other than that things are well here, we are all getting excited about his arrival!
In other news, Curtis and I celebrated our 7th anniversary today, which I think is pretty cool! Seven years, that is pretty long in our society. We are looking forward to another 50 years to spend together! Hannah's birthday is just around the corner as well. We aren't doing anything super special, just family. I don't think that I will have the energy being this large and this pregnant! She understands.
Sorry, this post seems to be pretty dull, but hey, it is a post!

The Son of the Promise

Isaac, in the Bible, was the son of the promise that God made to Abraham. The Abrahamic Covenant was fulfilled in Isaac. It is no coincidence that years ago Curtis and I had decided to name our second son Isaac William Wentling. Now every time I hear Isaac's name I am reminded the promises that God has made to me. So, before I dive into exactly what is going on with our sweet son I wanted to type a few of the promises down. God will NEVER leave me or forsake me! He will NEVER put me through anything that isn't for my good and most importantly for HIS glory. God does not make mistakes! God forms our inward parts and knits us in our mother's womb. We are, you are, every baby is fearfully and wonderfully made!!

With that said...we found out last Tuesday during my mid-pregnancy ultrasound that Isaac was missing a part of his left forearm and his left hand. The radiologist stated that he saw his right hand clearly and the left upper arm, his left elbow and then it was a clear stopping point. This obviously came as a shock to Curtis and I. The radiologist also said that everything else seemed healthy and normal size. I initially handled it with grace and even a little humor stating that it was obvious he wouldn't be left handed. As we headed toward the elevator, the speechless shocking part was over and the tears started flowing. I was feeling guilty like it was my fault, I was feeling pity towards myself, pity towards Isaac, and questions of "how" such as, how will he be able to crawl? How will he be able to button his clothes, zip a zipper? How hard will it be when he is frustrated with the things he won't be able to do? How will we handle when he gets stared at and made fun of in school? I cried for the majority of the rest of the day.

The next day was my regular monthly appointment. My doctor said that he personally had never seen this before and instantly referred us to the Maternal Fetal Medicine department of the hospital. By Wednesday night I was feeling pretty much normal again. I knew that being worried over it was not going to help me or Isaac, however it was still heavy on my heart because I could feel the stress actually in my legs of all places. Wednesday night I also started meditating on Psalms 139, specifically verses 13-16
13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

I then decided how foolish of me to feel guilty or worried. This missing hand is NOT a malformation, it is a GOD formation! This is the way that God has formed him! God does not and can not make mistakes! HE is the ONE who has formed Isaac, HE is the ONE who knitted him together in my womb. Isaac is FEARFULLY and WONDERFULLY made! And THAT is stinking awesome and incredible! PRAISE GOD!

That brings us up to today. We saw the MFM doctors and had a really long ultrasound to confirm the other technician and sure enough, his wrist and hand are gone. I thought that I would cry when I saw it, but God's grace carried me through. After talking to a Genetic counselor and seeing the doctor, they are strongly leaning that this is a isolated incident, everything else on Isaac is right on! We will have another ultrasound in about 4 weeks to get measurements that he is still too small for. We may never know scientifically what happened to his wrist and hand. We are leaning that a amniotic band(that is formed early) wrapped around his limb and as he grew the band became tighter, cutting off the circulation, and finally severing the limb completely off and then the limb being so small was reabsorbed into the amniotic fluid.

I am not worried about the labor or delivery but I would appreciate and covet your prayers for raising Isaac in the fear of the Lord. I am already praying that I would not coddle him or show pity towards him. It is going to be difficult for me to remember that I need to train and discipline him the same way I did/do with my other three kids. I need to hold him to the same standard. I don't want him growing up expecting pity from the world. That is going to be hard. Again, thank you for your prayers, continue to pray for us, as we continue to pray for you!

Please Pray for Sam

Please pray for Sam Vanderpool! He was in my class at Grace Academy. He is now at UW Medical Center for acute live failure. The doctors (in their infinite wisdom) told him that it would take a miracle for him to live long enough to receive a new liver. Well, thankfully and sovereignly I know a SOMEONE who is big enough and controls ALL THINGS, including liver transplants!!


This is from Sam's older brother David Vanderpool

"As many of you know, my brother has been hospitalized with a blood infection and acute liver failure. A week ago the doctor said it would take a miracle for him to overcome the blood infection and it would take yet another miracle for him to live long enough to get a liver transplant. It seems we've been blessed with ...miracle #1 . . . and while we get ready for miracle #2, Sam would to have a little fun.

He has asked me to start an NCAA men's basketball tournament pool. Winner gets something awesome . . . like an autographed bed pan ;).

Please fax your bracket (along with a personal note to Sam, if you like) to 1-866-599-8174 or email it to me at DavidRockVanderpool@gmail.com, by game time Thursday. I will print them all up and hand them over to Sam and Mom.

Also, Sam asked that you include any prayer requests. No request is to small!

Typical Sammy Boy.

Thanks for all your prayer and support, we love you too!!!"

I know that his family would appreciate your prayers!

Thank You Lord!

Yesterday Hannah and Curtis got home from work late. All Hannah had time to do before bed was eat a super quick dinner and take a bath. While she was eating dinner though, she told me that during her last recess, she asked God to come into her heart and clean it of her sin! How awesome is that!! God has chosen to call and save my oldest! I rejoiced with her and gave her many hugs and kisses, and all she could reply is that she loved my and now she has a clean heart. Now here comes the hard part. Encouraging a five year old in her new faith, teaching her how to love Jesus more, how to listen to that still small voice inside of her that is the Holy Spirit, and how to keep short accounts between her and Christ in confession of sin. Please be praying for Hannah, Curtis and I as we go through this together. Praise God! Only time will tell if she is truly saved, but still I will rejoice! I definitely think that she knows what it mean to be saved, as any five year old would know. She knows that she has sin in her heart, she knows what her specific sins look like, she knows that only God through Jesus can make her heart clean, and she knows that after her heart is clean it can get little dirt on it again that has to be washed off by saying your sorry when you sin to God. I love it! I love this stage!! Praise God!

Take Three.....

Take three.....This is my third attempt on today's blog. I don't have anything really to write(type) about. This week has been pretty calm since Tuesday. A nice change to say the least! Oh wait! Here is something semi-exciting. Hannah has her first loose tooth! It is really loose. In fact, I think that if she would let me that we could just pull it out, but her fears are in her way. Her adult tooth is already starting to push through as well, so in theory, it should push the baby tooth right out with very little pain.

It does kind of remind me of stuff that God might want to pull out of my life for future growth, but like Hannah, my fears could get in my way. It could be something foolish and temporal like the internet or it could be something big like a lose of one of my family members or my whole family. Painful in the moment or as I approach it, but I know that ultimately the old MUST go in order to bring newness. This is even true in salvation. The old man must be put to death in order for the new man to have life. What a great reminder!

He Did, He Did!!

In my last post I described how my last week was, filled with mini trials. Today however, I want to share how God has already answered our prayers and my fears. We don't know how this happened but God gave us an incredible tax refund this year, which is slightly odd considering we didn't have any tax with-holdings. But none the less God can choose to bless His children whenever and however He chooses! We had just received our return before we spent the $600+ on tires so that purchase was already covered. The medical bills I am pretty sure that I will have to pay but God did provide another form of free insurance that will act as a secondary and they will cover 100%!!! That means we won't have to pay anything out of pocket for the pregnancy and delivery. That is HUGE!! Praise God!! He is always so faithful to take care of His children! Hannah in Sunday school class has been learning how God keeps His covenants and promises. She is always quick to remind me of that )
Also, interesting how God uses my five year old. After I had received my speeding ticket I was driving home crying and Hannah asked me why I was so sad. I told her it was because I had disobeyed and got in trouble for it. She told me that I needed to ask Jesus in my heart to make it clean. I told her that Jesus was already in my heart and that even when He is in my heart that I still disobey sometimes and sin. She replied that I needed to then ask forgiveness from God and He will take away my sin of disobeying. I told her that I did ask for forgiveness. She thought for a bit and then said "You shouldn't be sad anymore because Jesus has forgiven you, that should make you joyful, you are forgiven!" Talk about stabbing my heart! She was absolutely right! I was lingering over my sin feeling sorry for myself. Not only did she see that but she called me on it! Once again, God is oh so faithful!

Wow, What a Week!

Sorry, this week was crazy! Between our van not starting and me needing to call Curtis for help, having a nail in the tread of my tire that Les Schwab wouldn't fix, then to needing to buy FOUR new tires, weaning Phoebe from three feedings a day to one, receiving a $1,000 dollar bill just from lab work to verify that I was pregnant, and finally getting pulled over for going 10 mph over the speed limit in a construction zone with a mean sheriff handing me the ticket throwing me into becoming a weeping mother! I am glad that it is over!! I am praying that this week will be much better!
That is why I didn't blog last week I was just a tad overly emotional!! But now I am back on track and will be blogging again tomorrow!

opps...I forgot

HA! I forgot to post the pictures!! Silly Bekah! Here they are!

30+2weeks+3days

Wowsers!! Where in the world have I been?? Oh, that's right!! I was on vacation in Lake Chelan!! Some friends of ours at church gave us their condo/timeshare for a whole week!! It was awesome! We went as a family and took my parents along as well. None of us had ever been to Chelan before except for my dad who went fishing there once as a child. We spent the week working on puzzles, taking the kids outside, eating, playing racquetball, Curtis used the gym a few times, and enjoying a nice relaxing break from our normal lives. I got some great pictures that are below. We left for back home on Friday morning almost two hours ahead of schedule, but then lost all of that time by spending over 4 hours in Leavenworth!
Things are still going well here. God is SO GOOD to us. We recently received news that all of our hospital bills that were acquired through having Phoebe were written off by the hospital! They covered 100% of the bills! How awesome is that!! We have a lot to be thankful here in the Wentling household!

So, hopefully I will be back to blogging daily!! I will try my best!

30+1 Week

So, yes, I am 9 weeks pregnant due around the middle of September! We are pretty excited about this since we have been praying to conceive since August. Hannah specifically has been praying for a baby brother. Do you remember on Thursday when I stated that the day had not gone as planned at all. Well, now I can let you know why. We were given via a phone call a due date in late August which would have put me at 12 weeks! That would have been great because I have been feeling great. For all of you moms out there, it is a great feeling to go your first trimester without even feeling like you are pregnant!

So, Thursday morning we went in for an ultrasound and the they couldn't see or find anything, which is a little scary. She said that it could really be one of three things. 1. I wasn't pregnant, 2. I was only 5 1/2 weeks not 12, or 3. that I could be having a tubal pregnancy. They scheduled another ultrasound that night with a more powerful scanner. The rest of the day my mind wandered through the potential possibilities, worse case scenarios and how my response should be. I was pretty upset about the potential of a tubal pregnancy because doctors usually tell you to terminate your pregnancy because it is too much of a danger to moms. I was at a cross roads of my faith and my fear. On the way to the appointment I had a chance to talk to my heavenly Father specifically about my fears and of the faith that I should have and the lack of faith that I did have. As it turned out, my fears were all in vain(as usually fears are), I wasn't at 12 weeks but 9 weeks and the reason why the first ultrasound failed was because of a full bladder on my part. That is my story thus far. We are still up in the air if we will find out the sex of the baby or not. We will have to face that decision in about 9 weeks. As I said earlier, I am feeling great, and I am grateful to God for blessing us with another child! What a great God we serve! And even if I was expecting, or if I had a tubal pregnancy, we still serve a great God!!

30+6- Happy Birthday Baby!!

My baby is now 1 years old! I still refer to her as baby a lot more than I did with the other two and I think that it is because I didn't know what I was having, so my first bonding moment with Phoebe was while she was still an inside baby and I just called her baby! It still comes out, my baby! Phoebe has been such of a joy to my heart! Her smile is so big and I LOVE her fake laugh! She is still my easiest even though she is more mobile than the other two were. She is just a busy little baby!! Wow, I really can't believe that she is a year now. I say this with every kid, but WHERE DOES THE TIME GO!?!! Tomorrow we will celebrate her birthday with the rest of my family which will be hilarious! I will be sure to post some pictures but for now let's look back at some pictures from 1 year ago today!





Oh, did I mention that Phoebe is going to be a big sister?? More on that tomorrow!!

30+5

I am about to take off for a small group slumber party/mini-retreat weekend so I will make this short. I love my co-leader Alicia! She has such a passion for truth and expresses it well. I don't think that our junior high girls appreciate how much time that she spends in pursuit of their souls. More than likely maybe one or two girls will spend the weekend with her, junior high girls don't understand the importance of life on life. So, yeah, I guess I have a burr in my saddle! I will let you know how everything goes!

30+4

Wow, what a day, what a day that I had today! I don't want to share any details quite yet, but I will in Sunday's post. I started my day going from complete excitement to complete fear and being filled with anxiety. It is amazing just how quickly circumstances have the potential to steal your joy! I hate that! By the end of the day as I was driving to my last appointment I got to spend some time in prayer telling God specifically what my fears were and how I would praise and trust Him in any outcome that may. I am glad that praying helps me to align my will to God's, and that brings peace! Praise God!!!

30years+3days-Heavenbound

Apparently someone was confused on how old I am because of the 30+1, 30+2. Hopefully, the title speaks for itself, HA!

Do you get excited about heaven?? I never used to be, music plays a big part in my excitement with heaven. We have all heard the descriptions throughout our childhood, the streets of gold, the glassy sea, the mansion filled with rooms for the redeemed, the great white throne, etc, but it is hard to physically imagine. This is where music helps/hinders at least in my case.

The first song that I remember hearing about heaven in is the song "Thank You" by Ray Boltz. I loved that song, that is until I reached high school and realized just how stupid it is to think that while we are in heaven that we would be praising PEOPLE!!! Yeah, like that is going to happen!! It wasn't until I realized that heaven is NOT for us but for GOD. Why would God create the heavens and the earth, create man, send His Son to redeem man, which is all for HIS GLORY, bring us into heaven to worship Him for all eternity, and just randomly let us focus one one believer to glorify? It makes no sense!! Now that I am 30 :) I get what the song could have been saying, that our reward is in heaven. But what a bad way to have it come across.

The next song I remember is D.C. Talk's "Heavenbound" Any of you remember that one?? I sure do, in fact I think that I could rap out the chorus for you......don't worry, I won't. That song actually has nothing to do with Heaven! It makes references to salvation and heaven, but it keeps repeating itself to reach for higher ground. It makes no sense at all, well, it does once you realize that "ground" rhythms with "bound".

Fast forward to 2001 when Mercy Me song "I can Only Imagine" was released. Boy did that song explode! As good as that song was, it didn't get me excited at all. It was too much what I was going to be feeling in heaven. I am not going to be thinking in heaven about what I am feeling like. Now granted, I have a feeling that I will be in awe, after all we will be surrounded by God's glory.

Do you see what I mean? How can you get excited about heaven when you hear this kind of music trying to describe it? It doesn't make you long for heaven as we ought, it brings heaven down to us. So sad.........BUT there is hope and THIS is what gets me excited for heaven!!

In the summer of 2008 a band called "Enfield" released an album called "O, for that Day" for the Resolved Conference. This album gets me ecstatic for heaven, in particular two songs. "Arrived" and "Finally Home" I am not going to tell you about these songs. Listen for yourselves and see if they get your heart thumping and bring a smile to your face! It leaves you wanting to shout. "Hallelujah, we are finally home!" And "No more distractions, no sin left fight. First glimpse of Jesus, and faith becomes sight!" Even those two short lines get me excited! Be excited!! Heaven is going to be awesome! I am heaven-bound!!

30+2

Hmmmm, what to post, what to post. 30 seems to be boring so far...ha ha ha. So, I will post about something else.
I have been reading Romans for the past couple of months with my small group. We are reading it for the second time now. We are supposed to be reading 6 verses a day but, I am still in chapter one. I was reading about Paul's longing to visit the church at Rome because of their great faith that was heard through out the world. It got me wondering, what would that church look like today? Would it be like Grace Community or Mars Hill, or Lakewood Church, or maybe Bethlehem Baptist? Granted our world today is much larger then Paul's world. If there was such a church that was known through out the world, would I be skeptical of their faith, their doctrine? Would you?
Another thing I have been wondering about is what great faith looks like, but that will have to wait until I am older then 30+2 :)

30+1

I made it through my 30th birthday without anything falling apart! It was actually a great day! My favorite part was that I was actually able to go to church BOTH services!! That was awesome!! It feels great being among the church body again. After church Curtis and I headed down to Seattle for lunch at The Crab Pot and had a fun time using our mallets to whack open some crab legs. Yummy! Stopped off for coffee on the way home, pick up the kids and came home. Nice and relaxing!

Even though I am 30 now, I really am enjoying life. My kids are in a great stage right now and they make my days go by fast! Phoebe will be turning 1 in a few days. It is crazy. She doesn't seem anywhere close to being one, I blame it on the bald head.

Sorry that today I am a little random. It must be because I am 30 now :)

30+0

Well, today I am thirty. I am not too happy about it either. Well, I am not mad about it but I think I am not happy about it because this officially means that my youth has come and gone. I am no longer a young adult.....I am just an adult! How uneventful.....sigh....I feel settled, now I am just coasting up a hill that I can neither stop or slow the process down. I have always related more towards the younger crowd. Even when I watch movies, I relate more with High School Musical then I do Erin Brockovich. Now, that time is past. I have to remember that getting older is just another process and I am call to enjoy that process! So, that is what I'll do. I am going to blog about being thirty for a full year partly to see if the body(my body) really does fall apart at thirty, and then to see if age brings wisdom. We shall see, but as for now, it is my birthday and I am THIRTY!