Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Hurry Up and.....Wait.

When I was younger, I went on several mission trips with my church to Mexico.  I loved going on these trips, and I learned a lot about myself, the Lord, and the world from having my "eyes" opened to what life was like in a Third World country.  A people without many material possessions, but most importantly, a people without a knowledge of the Lord.  Those are some amazing memories. 

Anyway, the reason I even mention these Mexico mission trips, is because we would experience this thing called "Hurry up and....Wait."  We would find ourselves being told by the leaders of our trip that we suddenly needed to get our things together, get in the 15 passenger seat vans, and load up immediately.  We hardly knew the reason for the rush....perhaps we had an important place to be for a specific time, perhaps there were some local villagers who were not happy with our presence in the little remote villages we were visiting, perhaps there was a major rainstorm coming and we needed to get our big parade of vans off of the unpaved, treacherous, mountainous roads before we were stuck...for good.  We experienced lots of trials and dangerous situations out there in the remote lands of Mexico, so we never questioned when were told to "Hurry up!"

But, we laughed a lot at these frequent orders to hurry up....and we DID indeed hurry up......because so  many times we would hustle and climb in the vans, get ourselves into our assigned seats, and then.........

(crickets)

(tumbleweed)

We waited.

Now eventually, we would get on the move.  But, "Hurry Up and.... Wait" became a Mexico Mission Trip inside joke.  We never hesitated to hurry because we didn't always have to wait, and there was always a good reason our leaders were telling us to climb on board, but it did get humorous sometimes.  Waiting.  It's good for the soul.  It teaches you to trust and to be patient.

ANYway, if you haven't figured it out yet, we have been doing some "Hurry Up and..Wait" all over again here at the Bradshaw house.  My last post was over a week ago after I went to the doctor for my last check-up.  It was at that appointment that my OB told me I had really progressed and that, in her opinion, labor was imminent and soon.  So, I---in my limited OB knowledge and in my extremely limited vision of God's perfect timing---have assumed that we would be holding a baby girl by now.  Alas, we are not.  We are still waiting on Miss Stella's arrival, and we are anxious to hold her.

However, we have had a wonderful past week.  We've done lots to get ready for her, we've had a heightened awareness that our days of a family of four are passing us by.  I have really appreciated the good nights of sleep I've experienced in the last week, and I have seen the nights that weren't so good as preparation for her arrival.  We've had lots of contractions.  We've had a few nights were we thought "Hurry up...this could be it."  Only to "wait" again as my contractions slowed down, allowing me to drift back off to sleep. 

My mom came into town early Sunday morning (2 am), and we are so thankful that she is here!  I really wanted my mom to make it for Stella's arrival, so we have had a huge prayer answered in her being with us.  Not to mention, Nora and Liam are thrilled to have Nana with us.  We got to attend some dear friends' wedding on Friday evening, spend a wonderful Memorial Day weekend with our family and friends, and enjoy just a relaxing time together as a family.

I think all of the "Hurry up" that I felt after last week's appointment kinda stressed me out a bit because I just kept thinking that at any moment my water could break.  I felt like I needed to be ready at a moment's notice, but now I am keenly aware that my due date is still two weeks away.  She could be here in two more weeks, not just in any second.  So, we'll see what the Lord has in store for Stella's birthday.  He has numbered her days.  He knows the perfect moment for her to take her first breath.  He has the hairs on her tiny little head already numbered, and he knows the perfect moment for her momma and daddy to see her precious face.  Until then, we are waiting.  We are exciting and anticipating her arrival with much joy.  But, we are waiting and trusting a mighty, good, all-knowing God.

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