Reagan turned twooooooo!

This is a little late, but! Reagan turned the lovely age of two on February 24th! My parents were able to come down for the weekend and we had seriously, one of the most cherished birthday parties ever. I've come to realize that I'm just not a themed, birthday blow out type of mum. I used to really beat myself up over my lack of birthday cake making abilities, the total lack of streamers and matched gift bags etc...but I'm just not that girl. I love a sort of rustic cake, I love earthy, organic little decor, but mostly...mostly, I love just having everyone who I love all coming together and eating good food and having sweet fellowship. And thats what we did, I made a big pot of the best ever pork carnitas (seriously, I just do it in the crock pot and they have never failed me) Add another crock pot of homemade beans, and some flour tortillas and we were golden. Oh! did I mention our very own Lupe made Spanish rice and the most amazing pico de gallo I have ever had, like ever?! yeah, she did.
We ate and it was loud and busy and so warm and just...I don't know, perfect. Then we finished with a homemade tres leches (once again, this recipe is a bit time consuming but absolutely to die for)
I will post pics of the amazing birthday present John made for her as soon as it gets a bit sunnier here. It will knock your socks off...I was pretty darn impressed.
I threw in a few more tribute videos for the little Reaganizer as I so fondly call her. The first is a video we sent John while he was at work, she was being so sweet...I love when she sings "As the deer"....she says "you alone are me hearts..." my little worshipping pirate.
the next one was taken this morning at breakfast. Reagan is obsessed with Annie. As in the musical. She saw it at church in nursery and now sings the Sandy song (dumb dog! why are you so alone dog!) etc, but the best part? when she mimicks a scene where the evil Mrs. Hannigan is putting the moves on a police officer and a little orphan girl mocks her with " kissy kissy kissy" inciting Mrs. Hannigan to scream shut up!
Reagan does it verbatim. And although its not ideal to have a two year old yell shut up...its pretty stinking hilarious.
Here you have it!

Called for a time such as this

Somtimes, the fight to build a church is an incredibly weighty, confused one. But then, then we are given moments like this that give us clarity and a deep deep joy to be so wholly used by God...I will tell the story of Jack soon..but for now..a picture and video of his very public baptism...and a poem I wrote last week when everything seemed so hard and I realized...who ever said it was easy? Is not the toiling and work, part of what makes the reward so sweet? anyways...more to follow...

YOU LABOR NOT IN VAIN

Sometimes this life is painful,
it torments and affords no grace
But in the midst of painful toil,
I sense the smile on my Savior face.
A silent nod, a grateful sigh
His servant toils as His Son draws nigh.

The field is plenteous, but the fruit is spoiled
resisting the labor as good plans are foiled;
The harvest bows down, away from the hands
that gently work, and work o'er the Land

The rain and the snow make the worker's grow small,
but stand up! Oh stand up!
Arise to the wall!
Blow your trumpets, and shout His name
watch brick and mortar crumble
as demons fall lame.

Stand, be victorious,
you don't toil in vain
you're fighting, you're winning for the Lamb that was slain.
So fight and go onward,
the Word can be trusted.
The Father has smiled upon us,
His Beloved.

Mailey prayed tonight...

"Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives there is desire; to our sons, ambition; but to our daughters there is something which there are no words to express."
- Joseph Addison

The stuff of life and dreams...

SO! no baby...yet. sigh, this little bun in the oven is a freakin' loaf of bread by now hahaha, sorry..can you tell I wish I was done?!?!?! I just want to hold her and see her and smell her, and um...sleep on my tummy again. ha. So, as of yet, still technically the foley four...ah well.
This pic makes my heart ache everytime, Its truly the sort of thing that makes me carry on and see the point of the vision I've devoted our lives to. The song "Pioneer" by nancy honeytree (old Jesus people movement singer) makes me cry everytime I hear it, it so truly captures the heart and life of a pioneer...here's the lyrics and a video to her singing it....her voice is good but its the spirit behind the song, you can FEEL her sincerity and the annointing of God all over it...

Pioneer
By Nancy Honeytree ©1993 OakTable Publishing, Inc./ASCAP

Pioneer, pioneer
Keep pressing onward, beyond your fear
Only the Father goes before you
To your own frontier
You're a pioneer

Uncharted wilderness stretches before you
And you thrive on going where no one has gone
Still it gets lonely when darkness deepens
So sing by the fire until the dawn

You travel light, you travel alone
And when your arrive, nobody knows
But the Father in heaven, He's glad you can go
For those who come after you will need the road

What you have done others will do
Bigger and better, and faster than you
But you can't look back, you gotta keep pressing through
There's a wilderness pathway, calling you

Calling you, calling you clear
Keep pressing onward, you can't stay here
Only the Father goes before you
To your own frontier
You're a pioneer

We have a website!!

So, this week has been nuts, the devil sure knows how to throw his punches, but we're rolling with the punches, and hello! this war is ours sucker so you'll have to try harder than that. Yes, I'm playing chicken with the devil, don't worry, we'll win.
After a couple hours in the urgent care, lots of IV fluids later, I think I can keep down juice. whew. like I said, devils a punk. But we got a super awesome website up and running for the church, check it out here!! Pottershousechico.com

Jesus loves me this I know...

Most of you know that we're expecting a little girl in exactly 40 days :) (February 24th if you don't feel like counting)and this pregnancy has been a breeze, definitely more tiring since we moved to a different state when I was 17 weeks pregnant, but unlike my other two babies, this one has had such peace to it...and whats weird, is that I didn't start seeing a doctor until I was 33 weeks pregnant. I know thats crazy, but insurance became an issue when we moved and then other insurance's wouldn't take me because I was "pre-existing"...finally I got qualified as an emergency through the state medical program, which I definitely don't like being on, but they were the only company that would take a pregnant woman past 20 weeks. SO! this entire pregnancy has really been sweet, I appreciate doctors, but they have to give you the worst case scenario and that seriously gets old, I understand that they are (in the words of Sam Rice) "Covering their butts", but they forget that I am the woman carrying this child inside of her body, and my humanity gets lost on them. With both my girls some very scary things were predicted and none of them happened, yet I spent too much time trying not to obsess about the "possibilities". With Mailey I tore my placenta and they said I would probably get very sick, with Em, She was breech at 37 1/2 weeks, and when I went in to try and have them turn her they found my fluid had completely dried up and they rushed me to the hospital for an emergency C-Section and said she could die at any time because of that. This little one however, has been so special, while I agree that one should be seen regularly during pregnancy, I dunno...I've really enjoyed just trusting the Great Physician...and now that I have seen a doctor, lo and behold, all these issues have begun to present themselves. The biggest one is that I cannot find a doctor who will give me care if I don't consent to a C-Section...and um..I adamantly do not. Mailey was born completely natural and everything was fine, Em was C-Sec. because she was breech, not because my body failed to labor correctly, So I had no intention of scheduling a c-section just for fun. Both the hospitals in my area said they would not do a VBAC (vaginal birth after csection) and that really really put a downer on everything. Can they really FORCE someone to have a surgery if there isn't a medical emergency? They all said yes they can, so I went online and read some literature (Ican-online.org is a GREAT WEBSITE)and found out that a hospital absolutely cannot force a C-Section, they can strongly recommend one, they can even make you feel like a bad mom for "risking" your unborn child, but they cannot strap you down and wheel you away kicking and screaming. So I went to our hospitals comliance officer and basically said "what the heck?". She then set up a meeting today with the head of the birthing unit, the legal representative and herself (by the way she was a hardcore lesbian, like I thought she might've been a man I was so confused) to have me basically plead my case. I seriously felt like David and Goliath and I was david (obviously haha). So...every support group I found basically said, you'll be shut down. But they don't know God or my wonderful church who prays for me. Today I sent out a text to everyone asking them to pray twenty mintues before I left. When I walked in I loved the head of the birthing unit, her name is tracy and she looks like Kris Altringer, obviously beautiful :) and she has four children all born natural. Immediately she launched into the legal and medical risks, then I reminded her that the risk of my uterus rupturing (the biggest concern) is less than 1%, but the risk of the doctor accidently cutting the baby during the c-section is 4-6%, I'll go with the first one thank you very much. She laughed and said good point, at that time the legal dude scribbling away and looking homosexual had to leave for a meeting, and as soon as he was gone, Tracy got real. She said, "Listen, you're right, we can't force you. You can sign a waiver saying you know the risks and have this baby naturally." then she gave me her personal number and said when I go into labor call her and she'll make sure she's on my case so she can sign off on everything. I was blown away! Can you believe it? So, like I said, Jesus loves me this I know...and I also know my wonderful wonderful friends back home who prayed for me, love me too. There are a few miracles in these cases, and I got one of them...thank you thank you thank you.