You are good....

Easy words to say of the Lord when all is going well, but harder to swallow when things are not.  In the last few weeks, we learned some sad news from some dear friends.  Their sweet 4 1/2 year old daughter, Ansley Faith, was just diagnosed with lymphoma.  She has already undergone many procedures and has started her weekly chemo.

I also learned over Christmas break of my sister's friend, Kelly, who is carrying twin boys (Liam and Isaac), knowing that Isaac is very ill and will only live hours after birth.  Can you imagine?  So much joy and sadness intertwined...

Yet...the Lord is the same before and after these diagnoses...our Lord is the same.  He is unchanging, sovereign, and loving.  He is GOOD.  I don't understand it, yet I know it to be true, and I'm grateful it's true.  

My sister shared with me yesterday a story of an Alzheimer's patient she was working with in hospice.  As they were singing Christmas carols, the patient was trying to remember what a manger was.  My sister reminded her that it was the feeding trough that Jesus was placed in after his birth.  The sweet lady then, in a moment of clarity, remarked that she remembered....it was where God fed us Jesus!  

Thank You, Lord, for feeding us Jesus.  Thank You for hope.  Thank You that you are unchanging in the midst of joy, cancer, life, and death.  Please pray for these two sweet families as they grow to know the Lord deeper through their current situations.  Pray that they would feed on Jesus...

You are good, Lord...

Grateful

As the Christmas season has come and now passed, I am reminded that I have much to be grateful for.  Little Miss Madeline arrived on November 23rd, but not in the way we anticipated.  She surprised everyone (even my doctor!) by being breech.  That, unfortunately for me, led to a c-section with a much longer recovery, but as I am now a month out, it seems less dramatic than it did at the time.  Ed has been amazing, and the greatest husband and daddy that I could imagine.  He really stepped up and took charge with the kids, and his 3 weeks off was spent mostly on daddy duty as I was pretty much out of commission with the older girls.  I love you, babe, and appreciate you so much!  And as for Madeline, I am in love...

Clara and Ainsley took immediately to Madeline.  They of course have had their moments, but for the most part, they are crazy about her.  Clara has been amazed at how little Madeline can do and has declared that she must teach her how to do everything...smile, talk, crawl, eat, etc.  I have no doubt that her sisters will teach her many new tricks!  They are so sweet together, and I am incredibly in love with these 3 little miracles...

Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; sing to his name, for it is pleasant!  

Psalm 135:3

Fall and anticipation....

It has been quite a busy fall for us, and as I hurriedly post this tonight, we are expecting the arrival of baby girl #3 tomorrow!  WOW!  Time has really flown, and as the past few weeks have sped by, I thought I'd post a very quick update on the major events of the October/November.

The end of October brought Halloween and costume party time.  Clara was very specific as to her costume...."I want to be a baby chick"...and she was surprisingly consistent with her request, so I did oblige.  She also decided that Ainsley would be cute as a little pig, and it turns out, she was right!  They were pretty sweet and had a great time dressing up and playing at the costume party held by Ed's residency program.  Clara actually went trick-or-treating for the first time (Ed took her to a few houses in the neighborhood) and she really enjoyed walking the neighborhood and looking at the stars with her daddy.  Here are a few pics from the day...

 Our little piggy...

 Our baby chick...

Sweet sisters....

Out with daddy...

We also had the chance to celebrate Clara's 4th birthday a few weeks ago.  Her actual birthday is today, but since we didn't know how baby girl would cooperate, we decided to celebrate a little early.  We had a really low-key celebration with a few friends and family, and Clara had a blast.  It is hard to believe that she is already 4!  What a sweet girl....Mommy and Daddy love you so much!

The cake...

The sweet birthday girl...

There have been so many more fun moments to share, especially as the weather has cooled and we are outside so much.   I hope to post more soon, but we will see how that goes, as I don't know how the time will cooperate when baby girl (Friend Heart Love) arrives tomorrow.  We are so grateful to be adding to our family and really excited to see how the big sisters react to her.  It is an exciting time!

Broken...

This post comes as I have been reading and studying as part of a bible study I have joined this fall.  I have to admit that my heart was a little (read - a lot) hard as I began this study as I miss the sweetness of my old bible study in Columbia so dearly, even 1 1/2 years later.  But...the Lord has been faithful in teaching me through His word, even when I am stubborn...:)

A few weeks ago, we spent some time in Psalm 23.  It's a psalm that I have read/learned/memorized a thousand times, but this time a section of verse 4 really jumped out at me...

"your rod and your staff, they comfort me"  Psalm 23:4b

Sounds good, right?  I have read this so many times, but I don't think I ever took the time to really think about what that verse means in my life.  The psalmist in this passage is reminding us that the Lord is our shepherd and we are his sheep.  So...what does the shepherd use his rod and staff for?  Correction and discipline.  In fact, as I read more about shepherds, I found that they often broke the legs of the small lambs to keep them from straying....yikes!  However, they then carried them on their shoulders for safe-keeping until the lambs were able to keep up with the rest of the flock.  

So, as I still chew on this passage, a lot comes to mind.  Do I really find comfort in the correction and discipline of the Lord?  Do I desire to be "broken" so that He can carry me for safe-keeping?  When is the last time I have really been broken before the Lord?

I so desire this for my life and for the reflection of Christ that I want to be for my sweet girls and the world around me.  What a sweet picture of the Lord in Psalm 23 - desiring to break us so that he can carry us for safe-keeping.  Oh...that I would find comfort in that! 

Way to go, Ed!

So, I wanted to take a few minutes to brag on my sweet hubbie who raced in Ironman 70.3 Augusta last weekend.  Those of you who know me well know that I am no triathelete, but I happened to marry a pretty good one and am proud of his race last weekend!

The race was crazy long...by my standards anyway....1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run (can you even imagine?!?).  There were also over 3200 racers....crazy, but fun that it was basically in our own backyard.  Ed had trained pretty well for it (and could I add that he usually trained in the early mornings before work so as not to take up too much family time...thanks, babe!) and he did just great!

Race day was really rainy and overcast, and as the girls were both sick, I left them home with my niece, Logan, so that I could greet him at the finish line.  I had guessed that the race would take him about 5 1/2 hours to complete, so I timed my arrival at the finish line based on that.  Well...imagine my surprise when he greeted me at the finish....I had missed him!  It was okay, though...it meant he had finished the race almost 30 minutes sooner than we thought...5:04:40!  Hooray!

Here he is at the finish...

And here he is getting his post-race massage...

There is one more race this season, Hickory Knob, which is one of his favorites and also one that will bring some of our great friends into town.  We are looking forward to it, and as for the Ironman...way to go, babe!

 

Friend Heart Love

So...there is a lot to catch up on from the last few weeks, but I will start with a few funny musings by Clara about her new baby sister....

First of all, it has been hilarious hearing Clara's input regarding baby girl's name.  She has gone through quite a few suggestions, but the name she has settled on is Friend Heart Love Farnell.  She thinks it is a really pretty name, and we could nickname her "Friendly".  We have no idea where this "crunchy granola" name came from, but she certainly loves it, and every time we talk about other names, she reminds us of her opinion.  Needless to say, a 3 year old little girl should NOT be able to name her little sister...and obviously the baby's name will not be Friend Heart Love!

Clara loves to feel the baby kick and has asked if that is how the baby will come out to meet us.  She says that when baby girl is big enough, she will be able to kick her way out, and until then, she has to stay in Mommy's tummy and grow.  We agree with her that this is exactly how baby girl will be born....:)

Clara is also on track to get me back into pre-baby shape.  She asks me several times per week when I will have a normal tummy again and when I will be able to wear "normal" clothes and a "normal" bathing suit!  She will certainly keep me on my toes once baby girl is born...

Ainsley, bless her heart, has no idea what is going on with the new baby, but she does realize that it is not as easy to sit in Mommy's lap to read anymore.  She quickly slides from my belly to my side and gets settled in with her books.  In the meantime, we have been working with her on using "gentle hands" and "loving" her baby dolls to prep her.  Hope it works!

Conversations...

Clara is full of 3 year old "wisdom" and loves to humor me with her stories.  Her latest revelation came last night as were were picking up dinner at Panera.  As we were waiting in line, she discovered a penny on the ground.

Clara: "Mommy, who is this man on the penny?  Is it a picture of Jesus?"

Me: "No, honey, that is Abraham Lincoln.  He was one of our presidents."

Clara:  "Oh, I know all about him.  He was Jesus's friend."

Me:  "Well, that is a different Abraham, Clara.  Abraham is in the bible, but this is a different one."

Clara:  "No, mommy, I think you are thinking about Moses.  You know...the man who talked to the burning bush.  This is Abraham from the bible on this penny."

And after a brief pause...

Clara:  "Who decided to put Abraham on this penny?"

Me:  "Well, a long time ago, the government decided who would be on that penny."  (I was sure that she had no clue what that meant.)

Clara:  "If I had decided, I would have put Jesus on this penny and all the other money too.  I think that would be a good idea."

Me:  "Yes, that would be a good idea..."  :)

I love the thoughts of a 3 year old....

The beginning...

So...after months of contemplating, the Farnell family finally joined the blogging world!  I began thinking about starting a blog back in the Spring; I used to love journaling and writing, but over the last few years have found myself doing this less and less.  Then, when the girls were born, I was even worse at keeping up.  I had some great conversations with several blogging friends and they all encouraged me to try it...so here we are!

The name of the blog, The Swallow's Nest, comes from one of my favorite passages in Psalm 84.  When Ed was deployed a few years ago, one of my sister's friends sent me a card that she had drawn with Psalm 84:1-4 written on it (I still have it on my fridge!).  It was such an encouragement to me at the time, remembering the Lord's faithful provision and presence - if for the sparrows and swallows, then especially for me!

I can take no credit for the design of the blog.  One of my friends, Leslie, adopted a sweet baby boy from Ethiopia a little over a year ago.  Through their adoption community, she got to know Becky, who designs blogs as an adoption fundraiser for their family.  She took a few thoughts of mine along with the name of the blog and came up with a beautiful design!  Thanks, Becky!

This will hopefully be a fun place to share the happenings of our family....how we are learning, changing, and growing.  Thanks for joining us in the journey...