21 weeks

Corallie

 

20 weeks

Corallie

 

Ultrasound results

Here is the news for my blog readers. 

Meet Esther, our little daughter. At this stage, we're having a girl! Although ultrasounds aren't 100% accurate all the time, the sonographer was pretty sure it was a girl.

Profile shot

Feet

Hands

Face...looking at me!

 She is beautiful, and due sometime in the first week of July. Her official date is the 7th, but the sonographer said it could be any time during that first week.

Corallie

 

MORNING DEVOTIONS: Something you never knew about John Wesley

Wesley’s Three Nurses

February 10

The great evangelist John Wesley was small but well-built and handsome. He could charm women at will, and often did — but not always with desired results.

At age 33 he met Sophy Hopkey, and she began making daily visits to his cottage for prayer and French lessons. When he became sick, Sophy nursed him, and he fell in love with her. “Her words,” he wrote, “her eyes, her air, her every motion and gesture, were full of such a softness! I know not what might have been the consequence had I then but touched her hand. And how I avoided it, I know not.” But he hesitated too long, and when Miss Sophy suddenly married another, Wesley was shattered.

Some years later during another illness, he fell in love with nurse Grace Murray. He more or less proposed to her, saying, “If I ever marry, I think you will be the person.” She more or less accepted. But when John’s brother Charles heard of it, he stormed into Grace’s house and burst out, “Grace Murray! You have broken my heart,” and fainted. When he recovered, he pelted her with objections, saying she would destroy his brother’s ministry. She broke the engagement, leaving John to painfully scribble, “We were torn asunder by a whirlwind.”

On February 10, 1751 Wesley, now in his late forties, suffered a fall in the middle of ice-coated London Bridge and was carried to the home of nurse Mary Vazeille. This time, he didn’t hesitate. They were married within a week.

It was a disaster. Wesley’s friend, John Hampson, described this account: “Once I went into a room and found Mrs. Wesley foaming with fury. Her husband was on the floor, where she had been trailing him by the hair of his head; and she was still holding in her hand venerable locks which she had plucked by the roots. I felt as though I could have knocked the soul out of her.”

The two spent little time together, and in 1771 we find this curious entry in Wesley’s journal: “I came to London, and was informed that my wife died on Monday. This evening she was buried, though I was not informed of it. … ”

A nagging wife goes on and on Like the drip, drip, drip of the rain. You may inherit all you own from your parents, But a sensible wife is a gift from the Lord. Proverbs 19:13b,14

Morgan, R. J. (2000, c1997). On this day : 265 amazing and inspiring stories about saints, martyrs & heroes (electronic ed.) (February 10). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Corallie

 

Amazing and incredibly visible baby movements leaves mummy lost for words!!

My darling little treasure has yet to be born, and is already amazing mummy to the point of speechlessness!

I was just lying here watching a movie and the most amazing thing happened! I suddenly felt a hive of activity in my belly. I looked down to see what resembled a large speedbump sticking out from and covering the entire width of my belly from hip to hip. I put my hand on it and it was rock solid. I watched the raised skin in amazement, and felt with my hand as the baby completely turned over, right before my very eyes. The entire movement was visible from the outside. As the baby got comfortable again, the bump slowly dissipated, leaving my tummy looking as it did before. It was incredible!

Any of you have stories like this? I am only just 19 weeks pregnant, as of tomorrow. People told me I wouldn't feel any movement until at least 18 weeks, but I have been feeling strong movements since the beginning of 16 weeks. I am quite a small build though, so that may have something to do with it.

Corallie

 

Lip service and selfishness

How often do we say that we 'fear God', but in actual fact we are still serving our own selfish needs? I was reminded this morning when I read about the children of Israel who lived in the region of Samaria. There was a particular time in Israel's history where God was so fed up with His people that He decided to remove them from their land, allowing them to be captured and deported by the Assyrians (2 Kings 17). The Assyrian king then decided to repopulate the deposed land with people from another region. These new people experienced God's judgment in the form of lions killing their people. They put it down to the fact that they did not know the rituals of 'the God of the land' (as they called it). So the king of Assyria sent an Israelite priest to teach them the ways of this 'God of the land'. The people then feared 'this God', but still served their own pagan gods by carrying out their own traditions and rituals. They employed priests to sacrifice to God for them, but would not serve him themselves, nor get rid of their pagan practices.

They knew about God and feared Him, but still chose to serve their own gods.

This made me think: how many times do we do the same thing? We know who God is and what He does, yet we still choose to serve ourselves. We are in fact our own gods. We have reverential fear of God (meaning we realise the fullness of His power, and know that what He says, He also has the power to do), yet we still go our own way.

There is a great danger in this, and unfortunately most of us don't even realise we are doing it. Stop serving yourself and your own wants and needs and start serving God!

Corallie

 

Baby bump progress: 18 weeks

I not only became an aunty today (Liam Alexander James Buchanan, 6lb6oz, 2 weeks early at 9.20am this morning), but hit the 18 week mark which is almost at the halfway point. From here on in, my belly expands VERY rapidly. I found myself shopping yesterday and thinking, now..this top may just fit me now, but will it stretch far enough? I opted for cheap stretchy tops, knowing that if they are stretched out of proportion and unusable after pregnancy it wouldn't matter. The blessings of cheap sales!


Well, without further ado, here are my 18 week baby bump pictures, to be followed in a couple of weeks with our ultrasound photos.

ENJOY!

Corallie