King Family Update: New Joys & New Challenges

This post has been a long time coming, but I (Lauren) have finally taken a moment to catch my breath & reflect on the past 8 or 9 months since the last blog post. I've avoided posting because in some ways I feel like a failure. We announced our plans to post our prayers for Ember for 100 days before she was born, and then when life got busy we failed to keep that commitment. However, I truly believe that it is never too late to begin again.

Our precious daughter is now here with us & it is more important than ever that we continue to pray for her. I had to realize that our failure to finish the 100 days of prayer in no way negated the 40+ days that we did pray for her and in no way prevented us from continuing that commitment now (which was a difficult concept for me to wrap my perfectionist mind around at first). In fact, I now feel like I am better prepared to pray for my daughter because I am beginning to understand her needs better. I am beginning to develop in my role as a mother and understand what Ember needs from me physically, spiritually & emotionally. So, I will recommit myself to praying for her & finishing what was started before she was born!

Now, for the rest of this update, I want to share a little bit of our story these last several months. It has been both a time of new joy & new challenges. Some days are more joyful & some are just more challenging, but God is teaching me to praise Him & trust Him through it all.

Ember has been teaching me patience from the very beginning! Her due date was obviously not on God's time table. I watched April 17th pass me by with no sign that Ember was ready to make her entrance into this world. A week later, with the threat of medical induction looming over me, my midwife suggested trying castor oil to get things moving naturally. Well, it worked! After a slow & fairly easy early labor at home, I was finally admitted to the Birth Center at 11pm on Wednesday, April 24th. What followed was 7 hours of intense, unmedicated back labor.

At about a quarter till 6 on Thursday morning, the situation became a little desperate. I was in the final stages of pushing, and the nurse was having a hard time finding baby Ember's heartbeat. The midwife rallied me to give it everything I had in a few final pushes, and finally she came...my beautiful little girl entered this world quietly, no cry to be heard. I was slightly aware that something was not right, and in my mind I kept praying, "God don't let me suffer for nothing. Please let my baby girl be ok!" I heard my mother right beside me praying a similar prayer out loud. The nurses & midwife worked for what seemed like several minutes, and then finally a little faint cry and a few seconds later a louder cry! After a little help, baby Ember finally started breathing on her own! God was faithful! He had given us a Little Miracle.

I won't lie, the weeks & months since that day have been difficult. Besides the normal challenges of becoming new parents, Ember had several challenges we had to overcome. She had feeding trouble & lost over 12% of her birth weight. We had to take her to several consultants & therapists to work through those issues, and we spent long hours everyday trying to make sure that she received the nourishment that she needed to grow & develop. On top of that, she failed her newborn hearing screens & we had to take her to a couple of places for further testing, but praise God, today, she is a beautiful & healthy baby girl.

God saw us through all of those difficulties, and He has given us a little girl with such a beautiful personality! She smiles & laughs & keeps us on our toes, and she is the living personification of joy in the midst of our struggles. I am so thankful for that!

Lord, help me to realize everyday what a blessing Ember is! Help me to recognize Your faithfulness & trust You to see us through the next challenge!

Day 59: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

On day 80 of this countdown, we prayed that Ember would develop healthy and loving friendships, and today as we continue to pray for a strong community to surround our little girl as she grows and learns, we want to pray again for those friendships that she will develop. Our friendships can make or break us, so we pray that God would send Ember friends who would stick by her and encourage her through thick and thin.

In 1 Samuel 20, we see an awesome example of friendship in the lives of David and Jonathan. Jonathan recognized the annointing of God on David's life, and even though Jonathan was physically in line for the throne of Isreal, he knew that God had appointed that job to David. Jonathan was faithful to help David even though it made His own father angry enough to attempt to kill him.

How wonderful it would be for Ember to have friends who recognize God at work in her life and encourage her to follow Him and find His purpose for her.

Dear Heavenly Father, we want to thank you for the blessing of friendship! We want to thank you for building a community around us that will support us as we begin this journey of raising our precious little girl. Thank you for the friendships that you have enriched our lives with, and thank you for the new friendships that you have lined up for us as we begin this new chapter of our lives. We pray that you would send Ember special life-long friends that would point her to You. Friends that will hold her up and not drag her down...Friends that she can laugh with and cry with and share her heart with...and friends that will protect her heart! This we pray as we await the arrival of our precious little gift!

Day 60: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

As we continue our Ember Faith Prayer Countdown mini series on community today we want to pray for Ember's extended family, specifically uncles, aunts, and cousins. I (Shane), just as Lauren did, had many fond memories of my Grandparents. One of the things I most enjoyed about going to to my Grandparents house was knowing that my cousins were there. In fact one of my cousins just posted this on her page... I totally agree!!!
                               
Despite how fun playing with our cousins were when we were little they are just a fraction of our extended family. I have an uncle who took me to the movies regularly and another one who would pass on to me his "out dated" electronic devices... (what I mean by out dated is... THIS NEW PRODUCT A is Awesome!!! then the next week they add part B to it... so he buys product B with the new feature and give me the one that is "out dated" by a week.) I had a great uncle that taught me to fish... I COULD GO ON BUT YOU GET THE POINT. My extended family poured into my life and even today if I needed help I know my family would be there. In today's culture that is not always the case. I want Ember to have an extended family experience like both Lauren and I have enjoyed.

     As I was prepping for this post i searched out for a passage about extended family and this is the one that summed up what we want for Ember...

‘Now if a sojourner or stranger close to you becomes rich, and one of your brethren who dwells by him becomes poor, and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner close to you, or to a member of the stranger’s family, after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him; or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him; or anyone who is near of kin to him in his family may redeem him; or if he is able he may redeem himself. Leviticus 25:47-49 (NKJV)

   This passage depicts a situation where family can reach out and redeem or help a family member in need.It is my desire that Ember never finds herself in trouble... (I know unrealistic) so this is my prayer... that in those times of need one of her brothers or her uncle or her uncle’s son may redeem her; or anyone who is near of kin to her in her family may redeem her. 

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for the family you've gifted me with, the fun, the games, the support, they all have meant so much to me and now i just pray that you bless Ember with a supporting family as well. I pray that her family will be the example that they should and that as they seek you Ember can see you in them. Allow her to cherish the gift of family and give her family a desire to be invested in her life. In Jesus' name, I pray this prayer for a godly community that will support our daughter. Amen.

Day 61: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

As we continue to pray for the community that will surround Ember and be a support network for her throughout her life, I (Lauren) remember how important extended family was to me when I was growing up. Today, I am specifically talking about grandparents. My grandparents always made me feel loved. They may have spoiled me a little bit, but they always made me feel special. They would help my parents out by buying things that we needed. My dad's parents, always bought us much needed clothes and gave us money for school trips, and my mom's parents would often bring us dinner and a couple gallons of milk when they came to visit. I was very blessed to have both sets of grandparents involved in my life, and I want the same thing for my daughter. I think grandparents play a key role in supporting and encouraging children and providing the kind of community in which they can succeed. So, today, I want to pray for Ember's grandparents.

Father, we thank You for our parents, and we pray that they will be actively involved in the life of our daughter. Lord, we ask that You would help them to be good and wise examples for Ember and show Your agape love to her. May they realize the important role that they play in the lives of their grandchildren and always look to You for the wisdom to fill that role. This we pray as we await the arrival of our precious gift, Ember Faith.