For those of you keeping up…

Still no baby! I have had lots of back pain today, but no sign of the baby yet. We’ll keep you posted!

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Still quiet here

The new hospital is officially open! I now know where to go when our baby is ready. But nothing yet… It seems very quiet here. We are all waiting in anticipation. Thanks for your prayers.

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Two Doctor’s Visits

Two doctor’s visits today. In the morning Micah was off to the pediatrician’s office. He is doing much better! Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. His eye is no longer swollen, just puffy and red. He seems to be on the mend. The pediatrician was confident to send him home.

In the afternoon, I left for the OBGYN’s office. My doctor told me that I am progressing, but thinks I might have a couple more days, which is good because our hospital is moving! On February 25 at 5am, the hospital moves to new facilities. That means if I go into labor at 3am on the 25th, I am at the old hospital, if it is 6am, I go to the new place. Should make for an interesting story. Stay tuned! And thanks again for your thoughts and prayers!

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The last 36 hours

The last 36 hours have been very blessed but also tough. I would like to share a little bit with you. Sunday we had a very important meeting at our home church to discuss potential funding for our ministry. With overwhelming support, our church voted to grant us 20% of our yearly fundraising needs. Praise God and what a wonderful blessing! We are constantly being blessed through the generosity of our friends and family. Thank you!

The tough part of our last 36 hours came when Micah woke up from his Sunday afternoon nap. We noticed his eye swelling in the exact same way it had one year ago when he was hospitalized for three days with orbital cellulitis. We rushed him to urgent care and they did not seemed as concerned about his eye as with his hands. They thought he might have a staph infection on his hands and wanted to treat that immediately.

We went to bed still concerned about his eye, but convinced that he would be fine until we could get to our pediatrician’s office in the morning. This morning his poor little eye was swollen shut, but we were able to get him to the doctor’s. She recommended a different medication and believes that unless it get’s worse over the next 24 hours, we can treat him from home and will not have to have him hospitalized. That is great news to a mother about to give birth!

We will keep you posted about Micah’s health and as to when the new baby arrives. March 1 is the due date and it seems like he is willing to wait!

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A Dumpling Party

Happy (Belated) Chinese New Year!

This past weekend we hosted our annual Dumpling Party. Unlike most of our seasonal events where we introduce American culture to our Asian students, the Dumpling Party is a chance for our students to share their culture with us and our volunteers. A group of about 10 people met early afternoon on Chinese New Year’s Eve to prepare approximately 500 dumplings for our party of 50 students, families, and volunteers. Pictured above left: Students are making dumpling wrappers from scratch. Pictured above right: Dewen turns an ordinary dumpling into a hot, crispy potsticker. Our favorite!

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No news is… no news

Well, my doctor’s appointment yesterday was bit disappointing! The doctor told me he thought I had another week in me. I guess I have had a difficult time getting mentally and emotionally prepared for this labor and delivery. Quite honestly, I am scared.

Many of my friends ask how that could be, since I have already been through the process 3 times before. I don’t know. I am just really scared. But I do want to share with you a little blessing from the Holy Spirit that has given me courage this evening.

Tonight I was reading to the children out of The Jesus Storybook Bible. We were reading the story of the feeding of the 5,000. I would like to quote a part of that story that has given me courage as I face the difficulty of birth and postpartum.

“Jesus’ friends laughed when they saw his [the little boy’s] lunch. ‘That’s not nearly enough!’ they said. But they were wrong. Jesus knew it didn’t matter how much the little boy had. God would make it enough” (p.246).

I believe that God is going to take what little courage and what little confidence I have and make it enough.

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Preparing for baby

We have not posted anything in two weeks and apologize. It has been very busy around here as you can see. With 3 small children and a busy winter schedule, I decided to “delegate” my nesting! Pictured above: Josiah is helping to organize baby clothes. Toby spent the wee hours of the night steam cleaning, Karis is busy “having a baby” (with her baby dolls) everyday, we have stocked the freezer and pantry full of quick easy meals, the house is cleaned, the laundry is caught up, and we are ready for this baby!

Last week I went to the doctor and he reported me as 2 1/2 cm dilated, 50% effaced, and the baby is at zero station (which basically means in place and ready to go). I have another appointment this morning and will find out if I have progressed any.

As for now, have a blessed Wednesday and we will keep you updated!

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Great article on church growth in China.

The Chinese government may be an unintentional instigator of church growth

From Mission Network News.

Posted: 26 January, 2010

China (MNN) ― The Church in urban China is growing like wildfire, and it may have the government to thank for it.

For the full article go to http://mnnonline.org/article/13795

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Bread-Making Class

“Give us this day our daily bread” could easily be translated to “Give us this day our daily rice” in Asian culture. For Americans, bread is the staple food, the sustenance of life.

Last month we hosted a bread-making class for our International Moms’ Playgroup. We seem to do this about twice a year for the moms and/or for our students because bread-making is a coveted art.  Pictured above is Emily, one of our playgroup leaders, who is teaching us how to make a basic bread dough. The second picture is of Huei-wei and her son, who are enjoying the class.

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Mission Minded

I’m posting this link to a great article that I found interesting and you may find it helpful, if not at least interesting.

http://www.lcms.org/pages/wPage.asp?ContentID=691&IssueID=40

If you are concerned about the waning of Christianity or the influence of our churches in our communities, then you should read this article. It’s great food for thought.

The author incidentally, is probably one of the LCMS’s foremost theologians on missions today. My father-in-law heard him speak at a conference once and stated something to the effect, “Finally someone who get’s it, the LCMS needs more of this.”

When Rev. Dr. Newton spoke, he referenced a great book, The Mission of God, by Christopher Wright. Here are some of the questions (pp.533-534) that the author believes we typically ask, and what he believes we should be asking:

• We ask, “Where does God fit into the story of my life?” when the real question is where does my little life fit into this great story of God’s mission.

• We want to be driven by a purpose that has been tailored just right for our own individual lives (which is of course infinitely preferable to living aimlessly), when we should be seeing the purpose of all life, including our own, wrapped up in the great mission of God for the whole of creation.

• We talk about the problems of “applying the Bible to our lives,” which often means modifying the Bible somewhat adjectivally to fit into the assumed “reality” of the life we live “in the real world.” What would it mean to apply our lives to the Bible instead, assuming the Bible to be the reality-the real story-to which we are called to conform ourselves?

• We wrestle with the question of how we can “make the gospel relevant to the world” (again, at least that is clearly preferable to treating it as irrelevant). But in this Story, God is about the business of transforming the world to fit the shape of the gospel.

• We argue about what can legitimately be included in the mission God expects from the church, when we should ask what kind of church God expects for his mission in all its comprehensive fullness.

• I may wonder what kind of mission God has for me, when I should ask what kind of me God wants for his mission.

After reading the Witness article and a few other book reviews, I think I really need to pick up the copy my father-in-law gave me.

God-willing, I’ll have some time in February/March (in the midst of child-rearing, teaching, ministry, school/portfolio, fundraising,  & oh yeah, and the arrival of the newest Schmidt kid).

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