So many changes...

I recognize that it's been AGES since I posted anything BUT soooo many things have happened. All good, some frustratingly so. The biggest change has humbled me and made me feel completely honored while at the same time totally amazed. As you know, I have been working as a Client Advocate for our local pregnancy help center for the last 6 months or so. A month ago, give or take, I was asked to prayerfully consider accepting a position to become a member of the Board of Directors. I did take it into prayer and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that that was God's place for me. So, as of last Thursday, I am the newest board member! I have known since I walked through the doors at Foothill Pregnancy Center that God has BIG plans for me there, and I will gladly follow where He leads. 

You want to know the coolest part? I get to incorporate my childbirth education into most of my prenatal classes with my clients!  

A year ago April 5th, I wrote out my goals, and one of them was to partner with FPC... God has surely paved that road!

 

Sidetracks and Back-burners

I know it's been a while since I've posted, I wish it was due to something hugely and spectacularly exciting like a tropical holiday, but it's not. However, what I have been up to is still exciting to me, though I feel slightly overwhelmed by it all.
I have set my Childbirth Education requirements/planning on the back-burner for the time being and taken sidetrack that is on the same theme. As I mentioned in the last post, I have been in training to become a client advocate at our local crisis pregnancy center.  My work as a volunteer there will be hugely rewarding as I will be able to work one on one with Mama's who have chosen life for their babies and want to learn how to have a safe and healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby, and then how to be a healthy parent. This position will allow me to not only be a part of a FANTASTIC ministry, but also to use my knowledge and experience in helping even more women experience the joys of pregnancy, childbirth and beyond.
I should be finishing up my "shadowing" of other advocates in the next few weeks - a month, and then I will be shadowed for one appointment and then I will be off and running on my own with the clients the Lord will send into my life. I am excited, scared and feeling completely inadequate in this, but I know the Lord has placed me here for a reason.
I am really looking forward to moving on with my Childbirth Ed as soon as I find my feet at Foothill Pregnancy Center!

"Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand."
Proverbs 19:20-21 ESV

On the Flipside

Today has proven to be a rather difficult day for me. For the last two weeks I have been attending my training at our local pregnancy help center to learn how to best help and encourage the women in this community. We have covered many topics, all of which I have found fascinating, and very helpful. Today was no exception, though on the very opposite end of the spectrum from where I typically "reside." 

It can't be any surprise to you that I LOVE babies! Love, love, love them. Love the miracle that each one is, love the mama's and how they were built to bring forth life. It is my passion and part of how I was created. 

Knowing this, it also can't be any surprise to you that I am pro-life. I have always believed that abortion is, in it's essence, destroying a life.  Life begins at conception. Every piece of what makes us unique is present at the moment that the two cells meet. EVERY PIECE! 

Today we covered abortion, and it was covered from a strictly medical position and very informative. 

This post is not to start a debate, it is to share with you how my heart was broken today. Abortion has always been a known "thing" to me, something that I knew of in a cerebral context, but watching how one is performed (through computer graphics) the steps involved and the huge risks involved for the mama utterly broke me. When I asked The Lord to break my heart for what breaks His, this was not what I expected. 

 I am not sitting here in judgment, nor in condemnation. It is a woman's choice, but I'm sad that the choice is typically given without any actual facts or details to the procedure, the risks or the lasting effects on the mama...physically and emotionally. And for me, I'm sad for those lives that could've been. 

"Heal my heart and make it clean

Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your Kingdom's cause
As I walk from earth into eternity"

-Hosanna by Hillsong United

http://youtu.be/NoM0AT8fBvs

A Baby Is On It's Way!

I just recently realized that I haven't posted in far too long! Since mid-August life has just sort of swept me away, and now I feel like I'm getting a foothold. 

The weekend of August 16&17th we headed to Windsor, California and had a great weekend while I completed my Childbirth Educator workshop through ICEA. It was an incredible time of learning and fellowship with some wonderful women. I am grateful to have had the experience. It was a TON of info, but I've been able to process through most of it! 

My next step in this whole process is to put together my curriculum for a 6 week course and TEACH it! This will be a free course for those who attend, as I am being evaluated on it for my certification...but how cool will it be to know they are my first EVER class? :) 

I'm fairly certain it'll be well worth the price. (Wink, wink.) 

And so, I can make this announcement: My Baby Is On It's Way!! 

This is my class baby, placenta and pelvis included...though I tend to see her/him as "a face only a mother could love." I'm sure it'll grow on me. Ha ha! 

In all seriousness though, this journey is well on it's way and I can't wait! 

Feeling Blessed

I am so excited and a lot humbled! I was awarded the scholarship given by the Tuolumne County Women's Network and funded through the Sonora Area Foundation for the cost of the 16 hour workshop that I am required to take for my certification. This cost was the most substantial sum of the process and I am beyond grateful to have been chosen. God continues to blow me away with His grace and provision. Every single step of this journey has been paved by Him, orchestrated by Him and blessed by Him. How can I not be thankful and totally in awe of ALL He had done?!? 

So tomorrow I start my workshop, one more thing checked off my list of requirements, and push onward toward my goal. I cannot fail, I will not fail...because I have the Creator of the Universe holding me fast and urging me on. 

Let me introduce you to the language of my people....

See this?!? 

And this?!?

This is what greeted me when I got home from work today! It also happens to be the language of my people... Yes, it includes ALOT of medical terminology, interesting graphics (to say the least) and so much information it feels like my head will explode, but it's mine and with it I can  fulfill my dreams and accomplish the next step in ministry that God has ordained for me. 

 Needless to say, I AM EXCITED!!!!!!!!

"Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. 

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand."

-  Proverbs 19:20-21

Check, Check and Check!

The last few days have been pretty exciting for me and this journey that I have embarked on. I feel like for this last month or more I have been put into a holding pattern and my patience has been waning. Now I know that there is a lesson in there somewhere, but it was getting discouraging nonetheless.
There are a number of items on my "checklist" that I need to either do, read, order or accomplish and since Wednesday evening I have checked off three pretty good ones!

Check #1: To observe no fewer than two labors and/or deliveries
                       - One down!

Wednesday evening I got the call that my friend, who so graciously invited me to be a part of her labor support team, was in active labor. I cannot tell you how excited I was! I have been blessed to be  present for the births of many of my friends and relatives babies, but this was a first for me in that this would count toward my certification and that it was the first experience at a home birth.
My ROCKSTAR friend Lisa labored through that afternoon, evening and the following morning. Unfortunately I wasn't able to stay long enough to see her deliver, as I did need to work the following day, and she safely delivered an hour later. Though I missed the delivery, the labor process at her home was an amazing one. I was able to watch the midwife and the doula do their "thing" and it was nothing short of incredible. I cannot tell you enough how peaceful and calm the environment was, and to watch a mama labor is truly a beautiful thing. And here is the precious little girl whose mama worked so hard for:

Welcome to the world, Miss Cadence!

With her proud big brother, Lucas. :)

Check #2: Order Required Reading Bundle

This morning I was finally able to order my required reading, and though it is A LOT of info I am so ready to start!!

Check #3:  Register for a Professional Childbirth Educators Workshop

And, PRAISE THE LORD I get to register today too!!!!! 

  

Needless to say, it's been a very good day!!