Another update

My oh my, how time is flying by. Things have been quite busy around the Wilburn household but then again, when are things not busy? We went yesterday to Creekside for our "interview/meeting" (we're still a little confused). The lady explained to us what the expectations were for the boys to start kindergarten there and I'm so thankful to say that they don't have much to work on! We got a tour of the school and the boys were ready to start right then and there. They're so excited and so are we to be able to have our boys in a Christian school. I am definitely NOT opposed to public schools but I'm just not very fond of the elementary school that our boys would go to. Joe has been trying to take things easy as he is preparing for foot surgery tomorrow. Joe was born with a rather large big toe and when he was 3 or 4 dropped a cO2 tank on it probably causing some damage. Well now he is dealing with the same injury as Atlanta Braves Chipper Jones. He basically has a bunion on his bone. They're going to have to go in, reconstruct the bone, put in some screws and who knows what else? He'll be on strict bed rest for 3 days and then will be allowed to add limited walking each day. The whole recovery time takes about 8 weeks. As for me? Well this past Friday we made the wonderful drive to DeKalb Medical Labor and Delivery. I had 9 contractions in an hour. Thankfully all is well and the contractions stopped on their own. Whew! We are not ready for Maggie right at this moment. My sweet friend Debbie just hosted a wonderful baby shower for me from the Dwarf House wives and other Chick-fil-A friends (family too.) Joe and I are so blessed to be apart of such an amazing group. We just love everything about CFA. Right now, I am taking things easy as well. I definitely do not want to trigger any more contractions. Thankfully I am 31 weeks and only have 9 more to go. As I think about my own pregnancy though, last week I found out that three of my friends had miscarriages. I've heard of literally 25 friends being pregnant and I know that a miscarriage is always possible but my heart aches for my friends. Three precious ladies, all with precious children already, excited about having another child. I just cannot imagine what they must be going through. Please pray for my friends. I would rather not name their names just for their privacy. The wonderful thing is they know that God has a reason for everything He does and they still give Him praise during this time. What wonderful examples they are to all of us. So I guess that's all that's new in the Wilburns way of life.

Slapped in the face

Tonight we had our annual Celebrate Freedom concert at our church. I always enjoy this program so much because we get to honor our country, sing praises to God, and remember those who have fought, are fighting or who have lost their lives for our country. It's just a wonderful event. I was really excited because the boys had made it home from Florida just in time to go with us. We made it to our pew with our flags and sat down. A few minutes passed and a woman with two children (probably 9 and 10 maybe???) came and sat behind us. The program had not yet started and I was already annoyed. I got hit in the back several times as the lady was bending over (?I dunno, don't ask?) and I could feel the girls kicking the pew. The next thing I heard is the girl taking her mini flag and scratching the hymnal book. At this point I'm just disgusted (great attitude, right?) and I'm thinking to myself that my boys are behaving much better than these girls. Then the orchestra pounds the drum so loud that one of the girls shouted "OH MY GOODNESS! (take out one of the O's and the ness!) and that was it for me. Joe could tell I was frustrated and told me to focus on why we were there. It was quite difficult for me as I could hear them talking rather loudly behind me, kicking the pew that I was sitting in, waving their flags and hitting me in the head. But what finally hit me the hardest was the big slap that God was preparing for me. As a Baptist church, we sang our songs and passed around the offering plate and I heard the girls ask their mom or whoever she was "What is that?" I realized that these were not normal church going children. These girls had no clue as to why people were putting money or envelopes in a plate. However, when their mother proceeded to tell them what it was, BOTH girls asked if they could give money. The mom opened her purse and made it happen. The funny thing is, this morning Joe gave our Sunday School lesson and it was about GRACE and giving grace. Now we talked particularly about grace within our marriage and children but grace doesn't stop there. I should have been more graceful in my actions and not allowed something like this to bother me so much. It's not the girls fault that they were behaving this way. Thankfully I serve a loving and forgiving God, that gives me grace everyday of my life. I needed that slap in the face to remind me that as a Christian, we are to love everyone and to show everyone how a Christian should act...in love. I'm so thankful that God gave me this reminder and even more thankful that He showed me in the moment of my disobedience to Him. With that being said, it was another wonderful performance by our amazing Choir and Orchestra. I was really looking forward to being apart of this years show, however, Maggie isn't making things easy....but all worth it.

What is in your belly?

This past week was VBS week at our church. I say it all the time but I love our church. VBS week (although tiring) is such a fun week. This year (and last) I helped my best friend Sarah with the K4 and Kindergarten music. We had approximately 150 children just in our classes (all classes combined!) Each class was different from the next but what wasn't different was the question that many asked me.."What do you have in your belly?" I guess I just assumed that it was obvious that I have a baby in my belly but to so many of these children they didn't know that. So I, being me, had to have a little fun. The first time I was asked the question I told the little boy that I had a basketball in my belly. Of course, other children laughed and said "No it's not! It's a baby!" and that was pretty much it. Well I got the exact same question over and over again throughout the week. I told one little girl that I swallowed too many watermelon seeds and had a watermelon growing and she just looked at me and said "that's nasty! That's just too nasty!" It absolutely amazes me how blunt children are. It's adorable (at times). I also had many children asking me if I was going to have the baby there at church. The children were just too funny. I cant believe another year of VBS has come and gone already. I believe we had around 650 kids to attend. I hope to find out on Sunday how many accepted Christ into their hearts. That's is the ultimate goal after all!

God is GOOD ALL THE TIME and all the time GOD IS GOOD!

I posted a blog earlier today about patience with the upcoming news of our boys getting accepted into Creekside Christian Academy and literally right after I hit the post button my phone rang and it was CCA. I paused for a brief second and just said "Lord, this is You. I will accept whatever your plan for our family is." and proceeded to answer the phone. The lady on the other end asked if this was the Wilburn family and I of course said yes. She informed me that our boys were taken off the waiting list today and would be accepted into their K5 program for the upcoming school year. I literally began crying. This has been such a blessing to our family and an answer to prayers. But most importantly it's what God wants for our children! I am so excited to have my boys enrolled in this school. For them to be able to start off their elementary years and hopefully graduate from there is so exciting for us as a family. Thank you all for your support and mostly your prayers. God is good all the time and all the time God is good!

Teaching us patience.

We have a number of things going on in our lives right now and it always amazes me how impatient we can become. God has a funny way of slowing us down, reminding us that it's His time that is right not ours. I am a procrastinator. My motto should be "If it wasn't for the last minute I would never get anything done." This is definitely one of my faults and all though I am able to recognize this fault I have very difficult time changing it. So with that being said, I usually have to run out of the house in a dash, usually forgetting something, trying to get the boys in the car as quickly as possible and hurry along my way. I'm usually slowed down by red lights or traffic, especially if headed to Henry County, or the phone will ring and I cannot let the answering machine pick it up, I have to know what is going on. Well currently Joe and I are both learning the true meaning of patience. Not just waiting things out, but honestly giving it to God to take care of and knowing that His will is so much better than our own. I mentioned in a previous blog that we have the boys on a waiting list at Creekside Christian Academy. They called last week and said that we should know something by the end of this week. Well today is Thursday and I have had the phone by my side at all times. Joe messaged me earlier on my Blackberry and asked if I had heard anything. We were reminded that yesterday while in the car we heard the song "While I'm Waiting" by John Waller. The song says "I'm waiting on you Lord and I'm hopeful.......but patiently I will wait." We heard this song 3 times in the span of maybe 2 hours. Sometimes we don't always hear what God is trying to tell us but sometimes we do. So while we are waiting....we will be patient, peaceful. We will move ahead bold and confident, taking every step in obedience. We will serve Him, we will worship, we will not fade. God is good all the time and all the time God is good!

Ethan lost a tooth!

My sweet Ethan lost his very first tooth the other day!!! I could not believe it! I wasn't expecting this to happen for at least another year but to my surprise it happened just a few days ago! He was coming up the stairs to tell me something and I heard him fall. He came into our bedroom sort of crying, more of a whining than anything and was holding his belly. I asked him what happened and he strained to get the words out. He was fine, just had the wind knocked out of him. But as he was "crying" I noticed that his front tooth was pushed back. I asked him if he had hit his mouth on one of the stairs and he said no. I asked if his tooth or mouth hurt and of course he said no. So, I, tell him to open wide and proceeded to see if his tooth was knocked out or actually loose. It was loose!!! I told him (in my very high, hyper voice) that he had a loose tooth. He grabbed his mouth, ran into their bathroom and slammed the door. I immediately followed to see if he was OK and I could tell that he was embarrassed and scared. I explained to him that he would get a new, bigger tooth that would hopefully never fall out and he eventually came around. I explained to him that he would get a visit from the tooth fairy that night and that, of course, made all things better. Well Bryce heard all the commotion and came up stairs and to my surprise once again, Bryce was upset that he didn't have a loose tooth. So, I explained to Bryce that he would but just not right now. So I asked Ethan if I could "dry" his tooth off with a rag but the tooth wouldn't budge. I of course didn't think it was ready to come out. Then I noticed that as he wiggled his loose tooth you could literally see the hole underneath. So this time I "dried" the tooth off with toilet tissue and it came right out! No blood and thankfully no screams. Ethan was so excited to show his friends and tell all of our family members. I think he is just the cutest thing with his missing tooth.