This Month!

Who's excited about meeting Miss Susannah Jane Acker THIS MONTH?!  

My goodness, I can't get over the fact that we have officially made it to November...where have the last 8 months gone?  We have three weeks and some change until the due date, so I'm taking advantage of these last few days of justifying the following (all of which were purchased and partially consumed yesterday):

CARBS

CARBS AND SUGAR

CARBS AND MORE SUGAR

SUGAR AND MORE SUGAR!

I also made a lovely broccoli, cabbage, and kale salad, of which I took 3 bites.  So there's that.  Other items we're checking off the list for Baby's arrival are as follows:

Baby swing assembled...check

Thanks, Aunt Sarah!  Now all it needs is one sweet little Susie!

DVDs selected for delivery room contraction distraction...check

The 3 movies I can recite by memory, of course

Deer antlers mounted on mantle...check and check!

Baby Girl's gotta know what's priority around here, man.

I've never had so much fun waiting on and preparing for something in my whole life.  Susannah's big debut will be here before we know it!  Godspeed, little girl!

Changes on the Homefront

The due date countdown: 43 days!  Baby Susannah will be here before we know it, which means the following things are going on in the Acker house:

• Extreme deep cleaning
• Waddling, lots of waddling
• Installation of safety outlets - 43, to be exact... apparently the previous owners never wanted to use extension cords.  We would have gladly just bought those el cheapo outlet plugs, but ALL outlet and light switch covers had been painted over, so poor Pete has been replacing ALL of them.
• Baby furniture painting and assembly, along with multiple rearrangements
• Pete having to help heave me up from sitting, lying, squatting, kneeling, etc.  
• Crying at the drop of a hat (me, not Pete... that I know of anyway)

...Among other things.  It becomes more of a reality everyday that we will have a third body to care for very soon - a month and a half, give or take a few days, Lord willing.  I have been holding Matthew 6:34 close to my heart as we draw near to the big day with great anticipation: "Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself."  The enemy would love for me to dwell on all the things that could potentially go wrong over the next few days, months, and years.  I could very easily give into all those anxious concerns about what life will hold for us as parents or, more importantly, what life will hold for our sweet baby girl.  Nobody wants that, but all - yes, all - pregnancy books address these concerns because it is SUCH a common thing for expectant mothers.

Thankfully, the Lord has reminded me over and over again that He has every detail of our future already worked out, so there's no need for my worrying.  One recent reminder came last Sunday at church.  We sang the well-known hymn "Because He Lives" just before the sermon, and I could hardly sing because of the emotion that was overtaking me.  I know verse 1 and the chorus like the back of my hand because this was a benediction favorite of my parents' church, where I grew up going.  But verse 2...oh my.  I don't believe I ever remember singing it before:

How sweet to hold

A newborn baby,

And feel the pride

And joy he gives.

But greater still

The calm assurance:

This child can face

Uncertain days

Because He lives!

Granted, any song, story, or sentence that has the word "baby" or "Jesus" (or "it," or "the"...) in it makes me cry these days, but what truth!  Praise the Lord: I can rest assured that Susannah is under the protection of Jesus - a protection much stronger and more reliable than what Pete or I could ever give her - as she faces each and every new day.  We will still change our electrical outlets, buy a crib and carseat that meets safety regulations, not leave knives laying around on the floor... and all that other stuff that's probably in her best interest; our prayer, though, is that we can cling to the truth of God's sovereignty, knowing that we are just vessels of His protection for her and that she is ours on loan from the Father.  Praise Him for entrusting us with that responsibility, and we can ALL face uncertain days because He lives!

Welcome to the 3rd Trimester!

Baby Girl and I have officially entered the 3rd trimester!  We're apparently in the homestretch now, which is awesome and completely nerve-racking at the same time.  In less than three months, she'll be here.  And her nursery currently has ladders, boxes, and miscellaneous items strewn about the floor, along with white walls and curtain-less windows.  HOWEVER, though she lacks a cozy, girly nursery at the moment, she is NOT lacking a name anymore!  We finally came to a conclusion on a name, and I am really excited about it: Susannah Jane Acker.  Doesn't it have a nice ring to it?  It has been quite the process in coming up with a name because Pete and I wanted to name her something that had meaning behind it.  We knew that if we just picked a name that we liked, half of her kindergarten class would probably share the same name.  So here's the reasoning behind the name:

Susannah is the "mother name" for Suzanne, which is my wonderful, loving mother's first name.  Susannah also happens to means "lily," which has a beautiful biblical meaning itself that I am thrilled to pin to my daughter for life.  In Hosea 14, the prophet Hosea enjoins Israel to return to God, and describes Israel as flourishing like a lily when watered by the dew of God's grace (verse 5).  What a beautiful picture for a little girl to hopefully grow to understand!  Jane comes from Mary Jane Acker, who is an ancestor of Pete's from the late 1800s.  In the Acker Family History, as recorded in The History of Virginia, Mary Jane was described as follows: "Mrs. Acker is particularly active in [her church], of which her father was a minister for many years.  For a long period, she has been president of the Woman's Missionary Union of the church, and she is untiring in her efforts in its behalf."  Gosh!  The rest of the women listed in the lineage were generally described with the list of children they had.  This woman was noteworthy!  

Pete and I are getting more and more excited to meet little Susannah (Suzie?  Jane?  We don't know what we'll actually end up calling her just yet...) and can't wait to have her here!