Jolly Beggars

I came across this quote while I was organizing the office today. I have a bad habit of writing things down and then misplacing them! Or having a little help misplacing them! Ha!
It is from the book "What's So Amazing About Grace" by Philip Yancey. In it he quotes CS Lewis. Anyways, I thought I would share.

As a child, I put on my best behavior on Sunday mornings, dressing up for God and for the Christians around me. It never occured to me that church was a place to be honest. Now, though, as I seek to look at the world through the lens of grace, I realize that imperfection is the prerequisite for grace. Light only gets in through the cracks.
My pride still tempts me to put on the best front, to clean up appearances. "It is easy to acknowledge," said CS Lewis, "but almost impossible to realize for long, that we are mirrors whose brightness, if we are bright, is wholly derived from the sun that shines upon us. Surely we must have a little-however little-native luminosity? Surely we can't be quite creatures."
He goes on, "Grace substitutes a full, childlike and delighted acceptance of our Need; a joy in total dependence. We become jolly beggars."
We creatures, we jolly beggars, give glory to God by our dependence. Our wounds and defects are the very fissures through which grace might pass.
It is our human destiny on earth to be imperfect, incomplete, weak, and mortal, and only by accepting that destiny can we escape the force of gravity and receive grace. Only then can we grow close to God.

I'm Still Here

It's been quite a while since I've blogged. I'm still here. Tired...but here!

A lot has been going on since I last blogged. Dad, Mom and Amanda were here for a weekend. We enjoyed ourselves. After they left I caught Richard's cold and we were both sick for a while. So basically nothing got done around the house!

We are both better and back to somewhat normal.

Last week some of the ladies from our church had craft night. We made fabric leaf bowls. I made two of them. Naturally had help with the sewing! Me and sewing machines don't mix. Ha. I'm looking forward to our next craft night. We're making some kind of gingerbread pots.

I had another appointment this past Friday with my midwife. The baby is nice and healthy! She's got a good heartbeat and very active. I had my glucose test and my blood sugar is well. No gestational diabetes for me! They also tested my hemoglobin, which was too low. This explains a lot. I've been extremely tired. I blamed it on being sick and then the weather. It just seemed like I had no energy and I slept all the time! So now I am taking Floradix. Hopefully I will start feeling better soon!

Today I am at 24 weeks. It's so hard to believe that I'm this far along already. Time has just flown by so quickly. I've got a big prego belly. Richard enjoys poking fun at me! He's fascinated with all of this. She likes moving around and poking me non stop. She's quite the night owl as well. We're waiting for her to start kicking hard enough to see from the outside. He's already informed me that it's quite strange!

I've been in the nesting mood for the past couple of weeks. The house has been torn apart! I've been cleaning and organizing everything. It's funny being pregnant.

Anyways, that's it for now. I need to go clean. =)