Let me take you into my little corner of the world today.  It is leap day, February 29...it only happens once every 4 years, and it got me thinking this morning...where will Brady and I be the next time our calendar tells us that February is a day longer than normal?  The bright yellow office I am sitting in right now might just be a nursery?  It might have a little crib in it instead of a large executive desk?  I might look out this same window and see a swimming pool in our back yard?  (please please please Brady I hope you are reading this...I love you).  Instead of sitting at my computer typing in information about my crop insurance customers I might be sitting in a rocking chair nursing our baby as Gus keeps a watchful eye?  Maybe I will be helping out on the farm getting ready for the busy upcoming planting season?  Or I might be wondering as I am this year..."What is Brady planning for my birthday in a few weeks?"  My parents who currently live in Illinois might even be retired by then and hopefully will live here on the farm in Indiana?  It is fun to dream on this day.

I sit here on February 29, 2012 and it feels like a day of complete freedom.  It just so happens that my "day off" of working out is every Wednesday, and our Bible in a year plan doesn't include reading for February 29...so I am off the hook for that also!  I am spending this day working from our home, hopefully I can squeeze in a walk with the pups.  Tonight I am having dinner with one of my best friends, and I am also waiting on a phone call from home telling me that my Aunt Candy and Uncle Mike had their baby boy.  Little interjection about that right now - My mom's little brother is Uncle Mike...him and Aunt Candy are 42 years old and have been married for 15 years...they are pregnant with their first baby and she is due today!  Being married 15 years, pregnant with your first baby, and being due on February 29...crazy right?!  Please remember them in your prayers! 

It is unusually warm for a February day...61 degrees.  The heat is off and I have the window in my office open.  I can hear birds chirping in the apple orchard in our back yard...telling us that spring is near.  A season of sunshine and new life is arriving.  This leap day has really made me count my blessings...I may not have the biggest or fanciest house,  my body isn't perfect, my marriage isn't perfect...but my God is perfect and He makes everything new.  Our farm house isn't the biggest or fanciest...but it is our little home that is always filled with love and laughter.  My body isn't perfect, but my husband thinks it is, and our marriage isn't perfect but we strive every day to make it the best we can...by honoring each other and honoring our Lord. 

I hope you can also count your blessings and dream big dreams on this leap day!

I was very annoyed on Wednesday (Ash Wednesday) by the number of Facebook statuses saying that people are...giving up junk food, or going to start working out twice a day, or giving up Big Macs, or pop, or whatever it is.  Lent is a time for us as Christians to ponder on the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus!  It is a wonderful time of the year but it seems that Satan has worked his way into it and made it completely worldly and selfish. 

We need to observe Lent God's way...as Paul says in Romans “The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord” (Romans 14:6).  Any recognition of Lent must be done in a way that honors God and makes Him smile.  Do you really think it makes God smile when you get hammered and stuff your face with junk food on Fat Tuesday, but then Wednesday you nurse a hangover and vow to give up junk food and booze...I don't think so.  The only way that we can really honor our Lord during this Lenten season is with our heart-level repentance and real faith, not just external obedience to church tradition.

During these 40 days leading up to Easter, I urge you to think about what they really mean.  Also press into the Lord and remember that your body is a temple all 365 days of the year (1 Corinthians 6:19), not just during the 40 days of Lent.

Episiotomies, VBACs, and doulas oh my!  That is what I am saying after reading this book.  It was written very much as a text book rather than a light read, but I learned a ton.  I am happy I read this after reading "Your Best Birth". 

The Bradley Method simply means husband coached childbirth.  This means that your husband is your main coach, and go to person, he is right there with you every step of the way during labor and he knows what is going on and knows how to rub your back, pray for you, and when to talk and when not to talk.  This isn't where the husband stands in the waiting room tapping his toe anxious to pass out cigars to all his friends and family with news that his baby has arrived.  In this situation the doctor/nurse/midwife is viewed more as a safety net if something goes wrong.  Birth is a beautiful part life...it is an emergence not an emergency.

With all that being said, I am going to look for a newer book on the Bradley Method of Childbirth, because this one was last revised in 1996 and in many ways it is really dated.  It had a ton of great information, but some of the stuff about a pregnant womans diet seemed a little off to me.  It was also kind of hard to get past the pictures of hippies giving birth.   

Brady and I are confident that when we do have babies we will use the Bradley Method.  There are others out there...most common is Lamaze, which uses planned breathing techniques are relaxation during childbirth.  There is Hyponobirthing, which uses self-hypnosis for pain management.  All I know is that Brady is the one person  who can calm me down during a freak out moment so the Bradley Method seems like the perfect fit. 

For more information on the Bradley Method you can click here to go to their website.  Also you can click on the picture of the book to buy it for yourself from Amazon. 

And little side note...I am doing horrible at my blogging twice a week New Years Resolution!  I will try to be better, and please help me stay accountable to this!

Living here in the middle of nowhere is a lot different than growing up in the surburbs of Chicago.  Life on the farm is so fun, and I often chuckle at things that happen here on a regular basis that I never used to think about. 

Like...

-Gotta go shoot the coyote that is down behind our barn, I think he is sick because he is super skinny and is loosing hair
-Gotta go drag the coyote we just shot into the woods so our dogs won't roll around in the dead carcass and get mange
-Gotta find a home for this dog that someone dropped off in the barn in the middle of the night
-Gotta find a home for these cats that someone dropped off in the barn in the middle of the night
-Gotta go get all the cats fixed so the cat herd of imbreeders can stop growing
-Gotta get to the post office between 8:00 and 11:30 or 1:00 to 3:30 because Linda likes to take an hour and a half lunch and she is the only one that works there
-Gotta get the mail...well I'll just run out in my underwear to grab it because its not like anyone is around here to see me
-Gotta paint the gutters on the house...well I'll just do it in my bra and shorty shorts so I can even out my tan lines
-Gotta call the county highway guy to come out and fix our road because Farmer Jeff just pulled a load of manure across it and it is 100 degrees out so he pulled all the tar and gravel right off our "chip and seal" road
-Gotta plow this snow off our driveway but we will have to wait until we get a few more inches becuase we don't want to tear all the gravel off our driveway with the scoop tractor
-Gotta hire a crew of kids for this summer to help us with derouging and detasseling corn fields
-Gotta pick up all the clay pigeons that we have been shooting over Jay's field
-Gotta watch where you are driving around the corner from our house because Tracy has a horse that likes to jump the fence and stand in the road
-Gotta wake up extra early on Sundays so we can feed the hogs before we go to church
-Gotta wave at everyone you pass when you drive on the country roads
-Gotta call KT's to deliver lunch out to the tractor when we are busy in the fields during planting and harvest
-Gotta keep the windows on the house closed during planting and harvest, otherwise all the dust flying off all the tractors will cover everything in the house

We live in rural Indiana on a road where our only neighbors are two tiny grave yards.  In fact, we are the only house on our road and we feel like we are quite blessed with out quiet county life...well it was quiet until I moved in! 

There goes the neighborhood!

This is what I have been doing on this lovely Friday evening...spending some quality time with Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha.  As always, cheering for Aiden and yelling at the television screen telling Carrie she is so dumb for always picking Big!

And this is what Brady has been up to tonight.  He went to sleep early because he has to haul manure starting at 1:00 this morning. 

There are various times during the year when Brady is in the field all hours of the night; planting and harvest for sure, and I also travel some for work.  This means that there are always a few nights a month that we don't get to sleep together...but that is the life of a farmer and his crop insurance agent wife and i wouldn't trade it for anything. 

No we aren't having a baby...but I do love freaking everyone out with titles like that!  Maybe some rumors will get started?  I am referring to my monthly research topics.  January was marriage and February is babies...Godly marriage and natural childbirth to be exact.  I have learned a lot about marriage and I am exited to learn about birth next! 

I learned a ton about marriage in January and I don't even know how to put it into words (this explains why I haven't wrote a blog about it yet).  But a couple things I learned are below.  I used books, blogs, podcasts, and my life experience as a wife as my resources =)

-The best kind of marriage is one where the husband and wife are best friends with eachother
-A husband's role in marriage is to love his wife as Christ loved the church and a wife's main role is to respect her husband Ephesians 5:33
-Our spouse is to be our second priority after Jesus and our relationship with him, then kids come third, and career and everything else comes after that
-The bedroom is a sanctuary for the married couple...this means no television, no work, and no stress
-Make time for eachother to go on dates, talk, make love, and jsut enjoy eachother's company away from the craziness of everyday life

I have so many things to say that I can't even organize my thoughts...all in all marriage is awesome, it is hard work, and it is the most rewarding and special relationship with another human being on this Earth. 

Well I am rambling...but get excited to hear a ton about babies this month!  I have already read one book so a review of that will be coming up real soon!

Until then,

A couple days ago I finished reading "Real Marriage : The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together" by Mark and Grace Driscoll.  I am a big Mark Driscoll "fan" so I might have been reading this book through rose colored glasses.  Mark Driscoll is pastor and founder of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Brady and I listen to his sermons via podcast regularly.  His sermons are a breath of fresh air because they push you and make you feel uncomfortable instead of just preaching "Jesus loves you" all the time.  Pastor Mark is theological and everything he says lines up with scripture.  I really enjoyed this book, and I feel like it could be life changing for many couples who would be willing to read it with an open mind.

The book is split into 3 parts...Marriage, Sex, and The Last Day

Part 1 : Marriage
    This section of the book mostly focused on being best friends with your spouse...an idea that I just love!  And it is so true...if you are going to spend the rest of your life with someone...might as well be your best friend right?  The other night as we were going to sleep Brady said, "You know the best thing about being married?  It's like having a slumber party every night with your best friend."  That just made me feel all fuzzy inside because it is so true =)

Part 2 : Sex
    This is pretty self-explanatory - it just talked about sex in the context of marriage.  Certain things in this part of the book have caused some controversy both in and out of the church.  I really don't see what the big deal is...everything goes back to scripture so there really isn't anything to be so prude about.  Topics such as anal sex, oral sex, and birth control are talked about and how these things fit or don't fit into a Godly marriage.  I am a super open person and nothing in this book shocked me but I guess some people have been offended.  Like oh my gosh wives actually give their husbands blow jobs?!  Those sluts!!...haha sarcasm.

Part 3 : The Last Day 
    This part of the book just looks at marriage from a totally unconventional perspective.  It looks at marriage from the last day instead of the first.  There is so much hype about the first day of marriage...the wedding day...but what about the last day?  Will your marriage end in a courtroom in an ugly divorce battle or will it end with you by your spouse/best friend's side holding their hand as they leave this world to spend eternity with the Lord?  The decision is ours and this part of the book gives practical ideas to lead your marriage towards the second scenario.

I really enjoyed this book and I can't wait to go through it a second time as more of a study than just a book.  Brady and I are starting a young married small group at our church and I was reading this from a leader perspective trying to figure out if it was something that could be studied in a small group context or not?  I think YES!

Brady and I have really enjoyed listening to the "Real Marriage" sermon series that Mars Hill is doing right now...to check it out just click here.

Next time I will write about everything I learned in January as we strive towards having a Christ-centered marriage and I struggle to become a Godly wife =)