Obama, Baby, Houdini, and Pigs

So tomorrow we vote! I cannot wait! MW has really gotten into this election...especially for a four year old! It all started with that you tube clip I posted about Obama's stance on infanticide...MW saw the tail end of it where the nurses walk into the soiled utility room and set a baby on a table and walk out. Instinctively, she knew that something was desperately wrong. She still asks us what happened to that baby. All we've told her is that Obama is NOT a friend to unborn children. Which has been more than enough to upset her.

Sunday morning in Sunday School we were sharing prayer requests and I mentioned we might want to pray for the election...

A friend's husband spoke up and read a bit of scripture pertaining to politics and the election...

A wise man's heart directs him toward the right, but the foolish man's heart directs him toward the left. Ecclesiastes 10:2

Interesting...

And then I spoke up and mentioned that MW and I have been reading through Daniel and again and again we've come across verses communicating that God is the one who decrees who will take office. Certainly, we have elections and we have the responsibility to cast our vote and certainly things are decided in that manner, and most certainly God works in and through those very things to put in office the man He chooses.

Remember Nebuchadnezzar? He had trouble recognizing God for who He is. Because of that, Nebuchadnezzar was driven away and his heart was made like that of beasts...he became a mad man...

"...until he recognized that the Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind, and that He sets over it whomever He wishes." Daniel 5:21

Well...then another friend spoke up and said that while MW was a guest in her home, Obama came on the tv and MW was quick to tell my friend's little girl that he's a bad guy and she (MW) HATES Obama! Yikes! 

Now y'all...we have not said that we "hate" Obama. I'm not sure where she picked up on the word "hate." However, this afternoon I was talking with her and she was asking what would happen if Obama got in office. I told her he wants to take money from people who work really hard and he wants to give it to people who don't work as hard...so, to put it in more explainable terms, I told her that if Daddy earns $100, he already has to give $25 of it to the government. If Obama takes office, Daddy will have to give the government even more money, which means we will have less money. Obama will take that money and give it to people who aren't working...She totally saw how completely wrong that is and suggested we just don't pay the government the money. I told her that really isn't an option. Render unto Ceasar what is Ceasars...

Scripture is also pretty stinkin' clear: you don't work, you don't eat. 

UGHHHH!!! I CANNOT STAND THE WAY OUR GOVERNMENT HANDS OUT MY HARD EARNED MONEY TO PEOPLE WHO DON'T WORK!!!! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CHURCH??? AND WHAT HAPPENED TO NOT EATING IF YOU DON'T WORK??? WHAT IN THE WORLD???????????? WHY DID I HAVE TO WORK MY TAIL OFF TO PURCHASE A BREAST PUMP WHILE NEW MOTHERS ON MEDICAID ARE GIVEN A BREAST PUMP AT THE HOSPITAL!!! NO ONE GAVE ME A BREAST PUMP! I DID HOURS OF FREELANCE WORK TO BUY ONE! 25% OF EVERY DOLLAR I EARNED WENT DIRECTLY TO UNCLE SAM, JUST FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF DRAGGING MY REAR END OUT OF BED AT 5AM TO DO FREELANCE WORK! WHAT IN THE WORLD??? I PAY A COPAY EVERY TIME I TAKE MY KIDS TO THE DOCTOR...AND I'M PAYING A LOT OF OTHER PEOPLES' TOO! PEOPLE WHO AREN'T WORKING!!! And you know what? T and I did go to college. And you know what else? We worked really hard to be there and to stay there. Everyone in America should have the opportunity to go to college???...they do! T worked and studied his rear off so he could get a full ride. Do you know how many dates we didn't get to go on because he had more scholarship forms to fill out and essays to write? And once he was at college he worked, too! He logged hours and hours working at the library (as in, for a paycheck). Do you know how many professors I cleaned house for to pay my tuition? Good, hard, honest work. WORK being the key word! Any idea how many hours I logged working for the newspaper? Any idea how not fun that job was at times? Any idea about what it means to give someone your word that you will do a job and then, when it's not as fun as you thought it would be or you get an unfair cut, you stick it out??? Do you have any idea how not fun it is to live on (gas, food, EVERYTHING!) $40 per week for BOTH of us? We got so tired of telling our friends "no, can't go out to eat..." We were exhausted of ramen noodles and apples and peanut butter... You make choices. And choices have consequences. Deal with it. 

My heart rate is up. 

Ok, back to the blog...MW actually suggested that if Obama takes office, we should sell our house and move to another country! Don't you just love that!?!? I told her if we did that she wouldn't get to go to her school or church or see her friends. She said "well, we'll take lots of pictures."

Wow. Out of the mouths of babes.

She also spent a few minutes on the way to ballet praying about the elections and praying for Obama. She says if she ever gets to meet him, she wants to tell him about Jesus.

I am seriously taking refuge in and am soaking up the fact that God is ruler over the realm of mankind and He sets over it whomever He wishes.

Thank You, Lord!

Election stuff aside, Sunday was so encouraging and I made a big decision. Since finding out about baby, I've pretty much guarded my heart from the Lord. I've been so hurt in the past and quite frankly, I just didn't want to open my heart to Him for fear His will might not be for me to meet this little one face to face...and as I cried out to Him, pleading for my unborn baby's life, I realized how deep the pain from the past reaches. As I drove into the parking lot Sunday morning it began to dawn on me that I really just need to decide a few things:

• Do I really believe God is sovereign?

- Yes. Absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt.

• Do I really believe God is good and that He has my best interests at heart?

- Yes. Absolutely. No question.

• Then, if God's will is for me to give birth to a healthy baby, is God good?

- Oh yes.

• Then, if God's will is not for me to carry this baby, is God still good?

- Yes. It stings my heart, but yes. Oh yes. God is always good.

So, why am I holding back? 'Cause it hurts not to. 'Cause I feel like if something "bad" happens, it won't hurt as bad if I closely guard my heart and construct a fortress around it.

But it doesn't really accomplish what it seems like it would...So, I let go. I apologized for constructing walls of steel around the perimeter of my heart and I asked God to draw me close to Himself. And He did. And I read Psalm 27 - I've been reading it a lot lately. I love that David says,

"For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock...I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord." Psalm 27:5-6

And so as I read that, I realized that in the day of trouble David says, "I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord." Catch that? IN the day of trouble? Not when the battle is over. Not when things go the way David wants them to...No...IN the day of trouble.

All this to say, I decided that because I know that God is sovereign, because I know He is good, because I know that I am of great worth to Him...even in the day of trouble, whether it's regarding this pregnancy or other troubles that will no doubt come my way...I am going to rejoice.

How consistent is scripture? James 1...count it all joy brothers, when you face trials of various kinds...

God clothes the flowers of the field who are here today and gone tomorrow...not even a sparrow falls apart from His knowledge and will...I am of much greater worth. 

So...I am letting go. I am thanking God, for He is good and what He does is good. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

And on a lighter note...T3 is a regular Houdini...he is now able to wiggle out of the seat buckles in grocery carts. Great. Just great.

MW and I finished Charlotte's Web. I cried. I cried a lot. "She never moved again" brought the tears, but then to read that as the ferris wheel was being taken apart and packed up, she died. And she was all alone and no one even knew. She gave her life for Wilbur. Wow. MW wiped my tears and told me not to "think or dream about it."

We've started Little House in the Big Woods...and MW is LOVIN' it! Here we'd just finished a book about saving a pig's life and in one of the first chapters of this one, Pa slaughters their pig and we read about Laura covering her ears to block out the sound of the pig squealing and they smoke the meat and the girls play with the pig's bladder, which Pa blew up and tied off for them...MW has, on more than one occasion, expressed how very thankful she is that we don't live "back then."