The Good Life

I've been in a "mood" (as they say) the last couple days. Irritable, cranky, and just plain impatient. I'm ready for this baby to be here, but he or she obviously still has other ideas. Poor David has had to deal with many an irrational outburst of emotion on my part, and he's taking it all like a champ (great practice for the unpredictability of a newborn). Some of it can be blamed on my pregnancy hormones, but I've also been allowing myself to get my hopes up every night for the baby to get here, only to wake up in the middle of the night 20 times and then finally in the morning still with no baby.

Last night was an especially rough one. I had what seemed like could be early contractions from about 8 p.m. til midnight, which felt like mild period cramps or some other sort of clenching down there. I prayed and tried not to get too excited...but failed. I was SURE it was going to happen. Every time I woke up in the middle of the night, I tried to see if they were longer, stronger, or closer together. After my 4th bathroom trip by 4 a.m. (yikes), they had subsided.

Bummer.

By the time I got up this morning, I was pretty upset. I just want the little one to get here! I'm a generally impatient person, but this whole not-being-able-to-tell-when-it's-gonna-happen thing is driving me a little crazy.

Then I read this piece on Team Whitaker. And it made me think - really think. Life really is good right now, isn't it? As impatient as I may be for the baby to get here, nothing's going to be the same when it happens. I have a good - great - life, and I'm not thankful for it often enough. 

I'm going to try and take a step back in these last couple weeks of pregnancy and really appreciate our lives the way they are, right in these moments. I'll probably cave to impatience occasionally, but I really need to look at the bigger picture and how much He is blessing our lives, without me controlling one single bit of them.

Here are some things I am thankful for:

- Nebraska weather. Yesterday it was 60° when I woke up, got up to a new record high of 98° by late afternoon, and then this gorgeous rain and hail storm passed through and lowered the temps again to the 70° range by bedtime

- date nights with David. We got ice cream last night after the storm had subsided, and even though I spilled majorly on my shirt (the belly does get in the way sometimes) it was glorious. We sat on our porch and watched the lightning flash for a half hour, just the two of us, appreciating the beauty of it all

- piles of fresh laundry to fold, and a wonderfully fast and quiet laundry machine system in our own basement (also if you love laundry soap smell get this kind, you will not regret it)

- long walks, even when it's blazing hot

- a good job, filled with people who care about what they do

- apples & cereal bars

- the fun that is planning the future, and how much Pinterest can inspire and help you with that

- the ability to enjoy hilarious TV shows like Parks and Recreation

Sometimes I need a kick in the pants like this to make me step back and see my life for what it is. Thank you, Jesus, for a wonderfully good life.

HG