More pictures

At the hospital

Aunt Ysa with Hannah

Hannah Joy the day she was born

Me and Aunt Ysa

Hannah with her grandma (Oma)

Hannah with her other grandma (BB)

Hannah with her great-grandma Zepeda and her  grandpa (papi)

Hannah Joy Kruis

Our little Hannah Joy was born Friday October 26, 2012 at 7:37am. My labor began on Thursday but really didn't kick into gear until 4am Friday morning. It was at this point I knew I was in labor but still only having uncomfortable contractions that were 8 minutes apart. I kept thinking I couldn't possibly be in active labor because I wasn't in pain. I started having the contractions that take your breath away at 5am so at that point J and I got ready to head to the hospital. My mom was already at our home and was ready to watch the girls. We got to the hospital and were checking in at 6:30am when my contractions were getting a little more intense but I was still having 5-8 minute breaks between them when I felt fine. Once I was in the triage room the nurse checked me and I was 7 cm already. I couldn't believe I was that far along. By the time they got me to the delivery room I was 8 cm. My dad had just finished his shift at 7am at Baylor and walked into the room as the nurse was announcing I was at 9cm. At this point I was still holding out hope for an epidural because I have never delivered naturally before and wasn't interested in trying to. I guess you could say that was one of my worst fears, pushing out a baby without any pain medication. Well, I guess God wanted me to face my worst fear because when the nurse happily announced I was complete and ready to push, I started to cry knowing there was no hope of an epidural.

Jason saw the look of fear on my face when they told me it was time to push and immediately he started to pray for me. He reminded me that Christ perfects us through our sufferings and that our sufferings only last for a while and not for eternity. The bible tells us we are not to fear the things of this world including our sufferings. Instead we are to put our hope and trust in Christ and know that he will give us the grace and mercy we need to endure all of the sufferings we encounter in this life. By being fearful I am not trusting in Christ and resting in the peace he offers. With some good biblical truth spoken in my ear I was able to calm down and know that God was going to bring me through the suffering and pain of child birth. So began the pushing and yes, the pain but I was no longer fearful. Feeling Hannah come out was unlike anything I had ever experienced but the moment she was pulled out all I could feel was joy and excitement. Once she was out I yelled, 'I did it naturally' just in case the nursing staff didn't know I had done this without an epidural. It wasn't until later I realized I had pushed out a 9 lb baby!!! It took 1 hour from the time we arrived at the hospital until the moment Hannah was born and what an hour that was :)

My dad was so excited to be there for Hannah's birth. He delivered Claire and was heart broken to be in California while Grace was being delivered in Texas. He was a very calming and excited coach to have next to my side. What a blessing to have such calming men by my side as I faced my fear.

Thinking back on my labor and delivery a friend was reminding me that the pain of childbirth is a direct result of sin. The bible tells us that after Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden that Eve's punishment (and women forever after) was to have painful childbirth. There is so much imagery of birth pains, labor pains, and childbirth in the bible. Jason was reading to me from 1 Thessalonians 5:3 and it mentions the labor pains of a woman and how there is no escape from them. When the nurse told me I was 9 cm my flesh response to Jason was 'I don't want to do this' but of course I knew there was no escape. I had to go through labor and be in bondage without an escape route for as long as it would take. This imagery of sin was very powerful for me to think through after the birth of Hannah. We are in bondage to our sin without an escape and it is not until we have Christ that we can truly be freed from our bondage. The moment Hannah was pulled out I felt freedom and joy. In the same way I can say that as a believer I have freedom and joy knowing Christ has taken me from the bondage of sin.

Overall, I had many wonderful lessons to learn and to meditate on after this birth experience. We are overjoyed to have our little Hannah and know she is our reward, our heritage, and our blessing because the bible tells us that is what all children are (Psalm 127:3-5).

Hannah at 4 days old

With a full head of black hair, compliments of mommy

Her daddy thinks she looks just like big sister Claire did at this age

Big sister Claire

New big sister Grace

More Fall Fun

The girls went to yet another pumpkin patch and loved playing with the pumpkins, going on a hayride, feeding cows and donkeys, and spending time with friends. They were invited to a costume party so I dressed them up in their Christmas gift from Uncle Brandon and Aunt Amy. They were nice and warm in their Michigan Cheerleading outfits.

sisters having fun with the pumpkins

Getting ready for the hayride

Gracie and Daddy

Our family with a not so happy Claire

Posing with BB

They ate tons of Pirate Booty from the party

Encouragement

During my quiet time this morning I read a verse in Exodus 4:11 where God is talking to Moses and says, " Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? These type of verses always strike me because they remind me that God is in control of all things, not just the happy positive moments but in control of all of the moments of suffering. For me, there is comfort in knowing that God is sovereign over all of his creation and over all the suffering we go through in this life. Every time I am tempted to question why God has allowed something to happen in my life I remind myself that he is sovereign and good, and I have no right to question his decisions for my life. In line with this thinking I read this morning in Isaiah verses that talk about God's choices in our lives and how we have no right to criticize him.

Isaiah 45:5-7
I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.

Isaiah 45:9
"Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' or 'Your work has no handles'?

Isaiah 45:11-12
Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him: "Ask me of things to come; will you command me concerning my children and the work of my hands? I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.

What a mighty God we serve! I know God is good and I want to love and serve him joyfully when my life is going great and when my life seems to be falling apart at the seams. "The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Job 1:21

Auntie Katie

We were so blessed to have Aunt Katie come and visit us. Claire had been anticipating this visit for weeks and could barely contain herself on the way to the airport. Claire couldn't get enough of her aunt and wanted to do everything Katie did. Aunt Katie does her hair with a bump and as soon as Claire saw it she wanted Katie to do her hair the same way. Gracie warmed up to Katie right away and both girls had so much fun soaking in all the attention. It was a wonderful time of love and sweet fellowship with my sister :) Here are some pictures of our week together.

Loving their aunt

Claire with her hair bump

Two hair bumps

Only Aunt Katie can get huge smiles from Claire

Having fun at the park 

More laughs

Posing pretty for her aunt

Gracie trying to smile for the picture

Me and all 3 of my girls at the park

Pumpkin Patch

We had a nice treat last week when BB stopped by to take us to the local pumpkin patch. The girls loved it and Claire picked out a Winnie-the-Pooh pumpkin and Gracie picked out 2 mini pumpkins. Gracie had a death grip on her pumpkins for the remainder of the day. After picking out their pumpkins the girls ate fresh strawberries with their BB.

I have been blessed to read a number of great books this year and thought I should share what has been encouraging me. A good friend of mine started loaning me books from her collection and I have been so blessed by filling my mind with these books.

The first book that made an impact on my life this year was: Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham Jr.

I had never heard of this author before but was convicted and challenged by him in the area of family worship. I had never stopped to think about the importance of setting aside time to teach my girls about the bible and the God we worship. The bible tells us to instruct our children in the word and teach them about Christ throughout our everyday lives (Deuteronomy 6:1-9). It helped me stop and think about what I was instructing my girls in the most during the day and at that point the embarrassing truth was Claire knew more about Mary Poppins and Barney than she did about Jesus Christ. Jason and I sat down and decided to write down a family worship schedule that we would follow for the next year. This is what we came up with:

1. Early Morning (6:30am)- Prayer time for Jason and I before he leaves for work everyday
2. Breakfast with the girls (8:30am)- Prayer time with both girls and read them one section from the 'Big Picture Story Bible' followed by a worship song
3. Dinner time with our family (5:30pm)- After dinner we read one chapter from the bible, we started off reading one Psalm a night and after we made it through Psalms we decided to work through Hebrews (this part is more for me at this point :). After reading the bible we sing a hymn or song that we are singing in our church to help familiarize the girls with the songs we sing each week.
4. Before Bedtime (7:30pm)- We sing a fun kid's bible song with the girls ('This little light of mine' seems to a be the popular one most nights) and then we read one chapter from the 'Jesus Storybook Bible', followed by prayer time.

It was challenging getting this routine started with a 2 year old and a now 1 year old but it was well worth it. The girls enjoy the routine now and we have seen Claire come so far in her knowledge of basic bible stories as well as the memorization of hymns. Her favorite hymn is 'Joyful, Joyful we adore thee' and she pretty much knows the entire thing.

Another book that really encouraged me was: Passionate Housewives Desperate for God by Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald.

This book challenged me to embrace my role as wife, mother, and keeper of my home (Titus 2:4-5, Proverbs 31). It is so easy for me to want to be served and pampered in return for all my hard work taking care of my family and home. This book challenged me to stop living for my self and instead start dying to self by joyfully serving my family without wanting to be served in return.

I have needed so much encouragement on what it means to parent according to the bible and one book that really helped was: Don't Make Me Count to Three by Ginger Plowman.

This book challenged me to use scripture to address every area of disobedience in my girls' life. Instead of trying to just fix outward behavior it helped me instead try to address the heart or root of the behavior. Finding the sin that is already in the heart of my unbelieving children has given me plenty of opportunities to point my girls towards Christ and their need for Him in their lives.

Other parenting books that have challenged and encouraged me this year are: Give them Grace by Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson,

Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp, and I am in the process of reading my first Lou Priolo book as well as Instructing a Child's Heart by Paul David Tripp.

Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss has also been a huge encouragement to me as I strive to model my life after Christ.

There were many lies that I was believing such as: My sin isn't really that bad, I don't have time to do everything I'm suppose to do, I can make it without consistent time in the word and prayer, I can't control my emotions, God should fix my problems, and I can't help the way I am. The author does a wonderful job of pointing out why these are lies and what the truth is according to the bible.

Finally, I just finished reading the book Radical by David Platt.

This book gave me a convicting mental beating as I read it. This book made me realize how comfortable and luxurious my life is living in Fort Worth, Texas. The book helped me see that everything I am clinging to on this earth such as a safe home, children, my husband, my material possessions, job security, etc. are but a passing mist (James 4:14-15). I need to be clinging to Christ and doing everything in my power to obey his word and follow his commandments, even the ones that tell me to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). After reading this book I can genuinely say that I will go wherever God calls me to go no matter how difficult or uncomfortable it will be. I just want to spend my life serving God and doing his will.