Plans

Two days before Christmas, the kids were going crazy off in another room somewhere. We were kinda in a hurry to get out the door to go have lunch with my family. I was half dressed, make-up on but hair still wet.

Meanwhile my mind was completely somewhere else....I was "late."

Which is unusual.

So I did what's absolutely normal for a woman who is in a hurry, half-dressed, with screaming kids in the other room. I took a pregnancy test. You know, just to confirm what I already knew....that I wasn't pregnant.

I learned 2 very important things in about 30 seconds.

1. Pregnant!!



2. I should never EVER take a pregnancy test without Brandon being home, ever EVER again.
He is my sanity in moments such as these!!


So here we are, 11 weeks pregnant, expecting Chancler baby #3 around August 18th!!  We're elated, ecstatic. Thrilled. Overwhelmed, yes.
But in awe at what God is doing.

I'm getting ahead of myself though.

Backtrack to two days before Christmas again, and here's the conversation I was having in my head.

"Pregnant?! Wait...let me read the instructions again....."

"PREGNANT?!"

"Um, God, you know that you're moving our family to China, right? This isn't really what we discussed.  I'm not real sure you understand here.  This isn't in our current timeline. It's gonna throw things off. Let's re-think this..."

All to which I feel like God was responding with, "SURPRISE!!!!!!"   Accompanied by a big smile.

Surprise?!?! um, yeah. To say the very least.

Bewildered? Confused?  That hits the nail on the head.

But because it's not unlike me to completely question God's timing, it took me awhile to wrap my brain around having another baby.

God was merciful and gracious with the way He began to reveal His perfect plan in the timing of this baby.  Really, He should have slapped me in the face with a fish. It's what I deserved.

I've always heard that children help bring about our own sanctification. With Eden and Salem, they've chipped away big chunks.

And now God is using the unborn. This tiny baby growing inside me that I can't even feel move yet, is being used by it's creator to sanctify me. To chip away the rough edges. The areas of my life that screamed for me to be in control, to rely on my own timing, my own plans, and the future of our family.

My fears about March and my desire for different timing with our departure, are now being seen in a completely different light.
I'll be 19 weeks pregnant by the end of March. Perfect timing to find out the gender of this baby (so we'll know to pack pink or blue stuff) before loading on a plane and saying farewell.
Traveling 36 hours overseas at 20 weeks pregnant is far more tolerable than traveling in the first trimester, or the opposite, when I'm as big as a barn (as I would be in summery June).

We'll now be departing in early April, allowing us 3.5 months in our new home to get acquainted with our new city, new culture, new teammates, buy furniture, and get our new home set up to be ready to come home to when we return there from having a baby. We'll probably be leaving the country again at 36 weeks, just like we did with Eden, having a baby in a country South of China, and hopefully return home mid-September, with plenty of time to adjust to life with a newborn before Christmas season...a season that holds millions of opportunities of sharing about our Creator, the Perfecter of our imperfect plans.

Remember God's big smile that I mentioned earlier?
Maybe it was because literally just hours after writing about Eden's plans to buy a baby sister at Target, I took that pregnancy test.

Or maybe it's because He just might know what He's up to.