The Hero

He is the Hero who saves us;
The Hero who made us.
We are not forgotten.
In our desperate situation,
The Hero has come.
The Hero has won.
We are free!

Many choose not to see
That their chains have been broken.
They've rejected the Hero;
Didn't like how He looked,
Didn't want to hear what He said:
His words of freedom
Were distasteful to them.
Though they bemoan their slavish existence,
They won't be set free,
For they have called the Hero their enemy.

There is a Hero who loves us.
He has come and will come again.
The Hero always rescues.
The Hero always wins.
No Villain can defeat Him,
Or take what belongs to Him.
But the Hero never forces the one He rescues to be free.
They come willingly;
All but those who have fallen in love with their captivity
Instead of their Hero.

We need a Hero to save us.
We need a Hero to change us.
The Hero shows us ordinary becoming extraordinary
And vice versa.
We too become something more than we have been:

Loved,
Valued,
Worth Saving.
We have purpose.
We mean something to Someone--
The Hero who made us
And the Hero who saves us.

The Hero never abandons what belongs to Him.
Nothing will stop Him from reaching the one He loves.
He will go through fire and water,
Through pain and death,
Through the depths of hell itself,
To reach us--
To reach you.

You are the one He's coming for.
Look for your Hero!
He is mighty to save.
Look for your Hero!
He is here; He has come

FOR YOU

TV Show Addict

With each child we've had, I seem to end up spending a lot of time on the couch, whether because I am feeling sick, or tired during the pregnancy, or because I am taking the time to feed the baby after he is born.  As a result of all the couch time, with every baby I have also become obsessed with a different TV show.  Usually it's one I have never watched before and has been on TV for a while already. 

When I had Malachi, it seemed like I was always on the couch either feeding him, pumping milk, or holding him while he fell asleep.  It's hard to read a book while doing any of those things, so I watched movies.  A friend of mine had the first three seasons of Alias on DVD.  I had never watched it before, and skeptically watched the first episode.  That was all it took--from that point on, I was hooked.

I had a miserable pregancy with Israel, so I especially looked forward to the time of day when Malachi would take his afternoon nap and I could rest.  During that time, I decided to to try out the show 24.  Everyone seemed to think it was great, so I ordered it from Blockbuster Online.  It didn't take long before I was completely addicted.  Every day at nap time I would try to squeeze in as many episodes as I could.  I just had to see what happened next in Jack Bauer's day!

When Simeon was born, my parents came to visit.  My mom and I were watching TV and the show House was on.  The funny thing was, even though I didn't normally watch the show, I had seen that particular episode before.  However, I had never seen how it ended.  I programmed our DVR to record it, and since that particular channel was showing all the reruns, I soon had a plethora of episodes to choose from.  I would watch every chance I got.  If the boys went outside to play, I would try to sneak and watch part of an episode while they were out and I was feeding Simeon. 

Now I have only even known we were going to have a baby for about two weeks, but I can already tell you what my new TV addiction is going to be.  A friend of mine has been telling me for  long time about the show Friday Night Lights.  It's about football, which I am not a fan of watching, so I couldn't imagine how a show about it could be so great.  I do like movies about football, like Remember the Titans, but I didn't think I'd want to watch hour after hour of it. 

Recently, ABC Family picked up the show and starting airing it from the very beginning, so I decided to give it a try.  As the first episode began, I was doubtful, but by the end I found I had been pleasantly surprised.  I am now officially hooked on it.  Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, my watching is being regulated by the fact that I only get one show a day--unless I don't watch for a while and let the episodes build up, but who wants to do that?  And yes, I know I could probably watch them online, but since I can't watch it on my laptop, I'd have to sit in our somewhat uncomfortable computer chair for long periods of time.  If I was feeling normal, I might do it, but lately I have not been feeling great.  And we no longer have Blockbuster or Netflix coming to our door, so that's out.  Still, I look forward to enjoying my new TV show obsession, even if I do it slowly:)

Worth It

Lately I have spent a lot of time navigating the waters, so to speak, of being pregnant again.  For me, the first trimester usually includes "morning sickness" which doesn't actually only come in the morning.  It's more like "all day" sickness. 

So far I haven't actually been throwing up at all, just feeling nauseated all the time.  Today was hard, not because I felt so terrible, but because I knew I might be feeling a lot worse in the future.  I've been fighting a lot of anxiety about that. 

I try to remind myself that at the end of it all, I get a baby.  I'm looking forward to that!  Also, I've been trying to remind myself that I went through all of this with the three boys I already have, and that I definitely feel it was worth it.  I just have to look forward to the end result, which is a beautiful, brand new, baby.  Maybe even a girl this time!  But it is hard, knowing that nine long months are stretching out ahead of me and I will only be getting more and more uncomfortable. 

For now, though, I just get to experience the paradox of looking at food and thinking how good it is, while at the same time being somewhat repulsed by it.  Ah, the joys of expectant motherhood!