Monday, January 10, 2011

New baby

Somebody out there just had a heart attack thinking I was making some sort of announcement!


There are not to be any new babies from this woman...just to be clear!


This past weekend was my sister-in-laws due date. We all know the actual date means nothing, but somehow, the days after that due date seem to drag on forever! At this point you are about ready to punch the next person that says, "You haven't had that baby yet?"


I am mourning the fact that we are thousands of miles away from them and I will not have the opportunity to love on my sweet sister (I'd rather call her my sister than sister-in-law...she really is a sister anyway!), make her lunch, bring her tea, change babies diapers, do laundry...it just makes my heart ache!


The distance from family members (and the never ending cold and snow) makes me feel very isolated. One thing I have tried is skype. We successfully chatted with some family at Christmas, but otherwise we seem to miss people when they are on. I'm sure the time difference has something to do with that too.


One of my goals for this year was to pick a family member every week and pray for them. I made little cards for each member and put them in a basket. For the past two weeks (this being the beginning of week two) I have randomly selected one. I put a picture of them as my desktop wallpaper and pray for them every time I sit at my computer (which is about 20 times a day!!!!). In just that short of a time it has really touched my heart. However, it has also caused a bit of the pity party. the family members that I have been praying for so far like far away, and the possibility of them visiting us or us visiting them is pretty slim.


So the blessing of having a nation and a time that allows us to travel and move and see amazing places comes with the curse of being far away and not able to just "pop over" for dessert or to hold a fussy baby for a new mommy.


How do you makes the miles seem smaller and connect with family????

3 comments:

Deanne said...

I was gonna say....you are NOT announcing a pregnancy! :)

How do I connect with family miles away?? well, email helps. I've never done Skype or any other video chat thing. :( I will say that texting helps feel somewhat connected. My mother in law and I have had quite the 'conversation' via texting. We share pics through texts too. Although, texting and email is never as good as a real life, face to face, interaction. I'm waiting for the transporter to be invented (think Star Trek). ;)

nicole said...

I've been thinking lots about you and the family as well. We are really going to miss you "popping" over to visit and help out. Thank you for your kindness and love, though. We will definitely skype when the little guy arrives (it is usually best to plan a time with us, since we don't have the computer set to automatically sign on to skype).

Much love from afar!
nicole

Anonymous said...

For us, 8 hours away is usually almost far enough - but there are times when I can relate to how you're feeling. We have an amazing church family whom we love and love to spend time with and that helps. As far as keeping in touch with actual family, we have a great long-distance phone plan and I find that through Facebook I have more 'contact' with some of my cousins than I ever did when we lived just an hour away.

I am praying for you and sending you some love from the great white north.

Melanie