Countdown to our Shooting Star

Very soon a little angel, a shooting star from heaven, will enter our lives...and our hearts.  Our precious baby girl is due on December 5, 2011, and I can't even wait.  I have entered into the impatient stage of wondering when she will come and if I'm prepared and mourning every day that passes without her.

Praying to know what to do, I had the glimmer of an idea...a baby countdown.  I listed the days out in my composition book and then began filling in activities centered on my sweet pea.  Perhaps by completing this list I will be able to more patiently wait her arrival and prepare more thoroughly so I enjoy the day of her birth as much as utterly possible.  And here is the run-down on the countdown:

11/13  Make a list of hymns and scriptures to read during labor.
11/14  Prepare the hospital bag and diaper bag
11/15  Print Wish Lists.
11/16  Make a list of photos to capture on her birth day and hospital to-do's.
11/17  Write a letter to my Shooting Star with all of my excitement spilling from the words.
11/18  Write out her personality profile.
11/19  Write about the meaning of her name.
11/20  Write out a plan for your relationship with her as a baby and throughout her life.
11/21  Write about your first few days and weeks together (projecting them in the future).
11/22  Review and write about her first "schedule."  Make a plan.
11/23  Go to a mountain to ponder where you are, where you have been, and where you're going.
11/24  List reasons you've loved being pregnant with your sweet pea.
11/25  Read through all posts to and about her.
11/26  Pray for her on the hour--every hours.
11/27  Pamper yourself.  Paint your nails...etc.
11/28  Write out your "motherhood commitment."
11/29  Ponder about your Shooting Star for 30 minutes and imagine her with love and joy.

I would go on...but I'm hoping she either arrives a little early or I can convince our good doctor to induce me (for size reasons).  I  am still wondering when she will grace our home.  I wish I knew the exact day and time of her arrival.  It would give me a day to push towards and look forward to.  But for now, this countdown will have to do and I know I will so enjoy every minute of every activity...

And maybe just one more goal to add to the countdown.  A daily one...

*Think of her and imagine the day of her delivery at least five minutes every day...

Unexpected.

It's Five Minute Friday.

Linked up to The Gypsy Mama, we write for 5 small minutes on whatever thoughts come spilling through our fingertips.

It's unedited, unplanned, and unscripted.

Today's topic is Unexpected.

I begin.

When my inner moments grow calm and I settle those rushed feelings of everyday hecticness that accompany life with little ones, I write and write and ponder and write some more.  About life.  About grace.  About all the expected and unexpected.

Life is so different than what I thought it would be.  Planning as a young woman all that I would be and how the title "super mom" would just naturally fall upon my shoulders with little effort.  Children are sometimes unexpected.  So are personalities.  And money (or lack thereof).  So are jobs and careers.  And the loss of the tightly controlled world I once had.  It's all unexpected.
Maybe that's why it's so adventurous.
And I know I wouldn't have it any other way.

I wouldn't change in the least one aspect of the sweet little ones I've been given.  I am their steward and the task is so much harder and more real and more rewarding than I ever imagined it would be.

I wouldn't change even one thing about my husband.  He is my all and though I dreamed of the Knight and Shining Armor who would grace my doorstep one day, I never could have imagined him to be so perfect....even with all of my lofty ideals.  It's all so unexpected...

...and utterly oh so lovely.

Relevant...the View from There.

Today is 5 minute Friday.  I am linking up with the Gypsy Mama, and in her own words this is what she describes to be 5 minutes Friday:

"On Fridays around these parts we stop, drop, and write.

"For fun, for love of the sound of words, for play, for delight, for joy and celebration at the art of communication.

"For only five short, bold, beautiful minutes. Unscripted and unedited. We just write without worrying if it’s just right or not."







And so I begin...

Relevant

If my life were an hourglass and all the sands of time just kept trickling down, how would I feel the quality of my sand to be?

Everything always appears to be relevant, but when looked at from a higher plane, all is not.  Where can I go to have this higher viewpoint?

In Portugal I climbed to the top of Cruz Alta and when I got to the top, I saw the tall cross and thought of Him.  How He had trekked to the top of the hill carrying His cross and then died for us all.  But then how He was resurrected again and became a new creature, a celestial being.  And I thought how my journey in Portugal had so closely resembled His.  There was the carrying and the burdens and the weight.  Then there was the lifting and the crucifying of my natural man and the rebirth of a new creature, a new Jamie Greene.

And I looked out over the beautiful panarama from atop the mountain and could see the higher way.  I could see where I had been and I could see where I was going.  I had a game plan.  I was ready to conquer my next mountain of coming home.

Mountains are always placed in front of us to climb.  And when we get to the top, perhaps we need to look at the bigger picture, see where we've been and where we're going next...where our next mission is leading us.

This I will do.  I need to climb a mountain and see how far I've come and where I'm going now.  I need another Cruz Alta.  I need to see the view from up there...

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