Grateful

I currently have about 6 lbs of chicken boiling on top of the stove. I plan to cook and shred and freeze the chicken in appropriate portions to be brought out for easy dinner prep after John is born. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts are 1.79/lb at Kroger today, so I am tempted to go back and buy more. I also bought some ground beef on sale with a coupon at Publix, and I am freezing that uncooked, again to be brought out after John is born. I want the freezer good and stocked with easy meal preps. It felt like too much work to actually make the meals ahead of time to freeze, but I think if the meat is there, it will help so very much.

I decided to cook all the chicken on a whim because I am preparing a meal for a family tonight. A family who lost many members of their family in the earthquake in Haiti. Can you believe how close to home this hits? I don't know this family personally. They are neighbors of friends from church, and our community group is providing meals this week. I found some relief in knowing there was something I could do to help out with the Haiti situation--I have felt so helpless, so when this opportunity came up, I jumped on it. Almost as if I could ease my discomfort at being so far removed from the horror of it. I am so comfortable here in my house with my weekly meals and such, and there seems to be some level of guilt in that. I know that God is sovereign, and I can't grasp why He chooses to do what he does, but He sure has given me a comfortable life compared to so many. I am reminded of that truth when I see a Haitian woman delivering a baby in the aftermath of the earthquake, as I prepare to deliver John at the luxurious Northside Hospital. But God is sovereign and He is good, and that is what I rest in.

So, yes, I am grateful for this comfortable life, but I also pray that it would not be a stumbling block--the comfort. That I would still feel my desperate need for him. That I would still feel that desperate longing for Heaven. I don't want to be so comfortable here that I forget that I was not created for this world.

Anyway...on another note, but still on the subject of grateful--we had our third John baby shower yesterday. We celebrated with pizza and cupcakes at Scott's office, and we were showered with even more gifts. We have been given so much. In fact, I don't think I have bought one thing in preparation for this pregnancy, other than paint. And does that even really count? We are overflowing with diapers and little boy clothes and blankets and everything we could need. I truly am overwhelmed at how the Lord has provided in abundance, yet again. I don't have any pictures from the shower, but I do have pictures of Ada enjoying a cupcake after her nap.

When she first woke up from her nap and asked for the cupcake, I felt the word no coming out of my mouth, but then I thought, "why not?" So, I told her she had to stay at the table, and I let her go for it.