Babi

Today as I was walking around the hotel Babi, one of the Brazilian women, caught me.  She put her hands on my belly and began to rub the baby (a very Brazilian thing to do) and said there is a song she loves to sing to the babies in the womb.  And then she began and blessed me and my unborn child with the most beautiful lullaby-

 

She sang to me, in Portuguese, the words of Psalms 139:

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

 In Brazil they call giving birth, para dar a luz (to give light).  What a beautiful thought.

 

My Time In Brazil

By this time tomorrow our time with the women here at CCC 12 will be half over.  I'm so blessed to be here with them, to learn more about their lives on the mission field, to share my heart with them as well. 

I'm also greatly blessed by the wonderful cards and encouragement my Prayer Warriors have sent to me while I'm here.  You have no idea how wonderful your words are- true gifts of the spirit to my soul.

Safe Travels and Small Ankles

I'll admit, the last few weeks have not only seemed like race to the finish with trying to get ready to come to Brazil for the Great Cities Missions Continent Care Connection but it's also been a week of emotional ups and downs as I've questioned if coming on this long flight, this far along in my pregnancy is a good idea.

I'm thankful that over these two weeks LK has been supportive, and loving, and encouraging.  He never once made me feel like I had to go, but he always helped me feel like this is something I can do if I want to.  I'm thankful for such a wonderful partner on this road of life.

I'm also thankful I came.  It's just the team here right now, in a lovely hotel near Sao Sebastian Brazil in the state of Sao Paulo, and already I can see great ways God is blessing us.  I cannot wait to see the missionary women when they come on Monday.  I've come to bless them and offer them renewal but I know I will not be leaving without being filled by God's Spirit shared with me through these women.

So we have arrived safely at the hotel and not once on the flight did my feet swell (a big deal when you're almost 7 months pregnant) and not once did I feel uncomfortable or worried that something might be wrong with me.  The baby kept on moving and I even got some sleep! 

I'm thankful for my time here, and looking forward to getting to work!!!

Sleep

I'm about to head to bed when I've realized it's been two weeks of silence on my end.  So tonight I'll break that and say sleep.  I'm thankful for sleep.  As my belly gets bigger and sleep comes in more of three hours spurts (I call it pre-season training before the baby arrives) I know how blessed good deep sleep really is.

I'm also thankful that as I'm typing this the little guy is getting his soccer kicks on inside my belly.  It really is an amazing thing to watch and realize that, before we know it, we'll be meeting this little man, this new HartMan, face to face soon.

LK and His Support of All My Little Projects

It's a good man who allows his wife to be who she is and LK does that so well with me. He gets me (and gets that he simultaneously never will even "begin to believe he knows me") and that's something I can say for very few people. And I love him for that and am thankful for him because of that.

As I've posted before, I'm also thankful that when I look at him with that wild look in my eyes that says "let's re-arrange the whole house" he doesn't complain as I have him disassembling and hauling beds and more from one side of the house to the other.

But today I'm thankful for the man who stayed up well past 1AM to help me reconcile PTO shirt orders.  Who turned page after page of forms trying to get it all to line up.  Who when it wasn't reconciling looked at me and said "I'll start the kettle.  You get the forms."  Who did it all even though he was the one who still had to go to work this morning while the boys and I had a day off.

It reminded me of the time in the summer of 2000 when I had summer school finals to cram for and he drove 2 hours in the middle of the night to help me stay awake and study.  And that was back in the day when what we have now wasn't even something I thought I could do.

I am extremely blessed to have him.

AT&T's Personal Hotspot

Today's the last day our neighborhood pool is open. Many days of summer are spent with me juggling the kids wanting to be out and about and me knowing I have work to do. School year days are easier as I have time to work but holidays, as today is, is a mix of wanting to take the kids where they want to be and knowing that tonight would be a mess with work to catch up on. Enter AT&T Personal Hotspot stage right. Today I get to spend time with the boys at the pool, knowing I can be connected as needed. And that is by far a blessing.

Monarch butterflies and stinky boys

I saw my second monarch fluttering past today. That means September and cooler weather is around the corner.

I'm also thankful for the stinky boys clothes I put in the washer today (and thankful for the washer). I'm thankful because the clothes are stinky as a result of running and playing and being healthy boys. As two people I know have young children starting chemo this week, the fact that mine are currently healthy and able to run and stink and be boys is very much present in my mind.