February Newsletter Article

            Valentine’s Day is both loved and hated. Some say it is a Hallmark holiday. I’ve always loved it for the childhood innocence of homemade valentines, pink and red everywhere, and of course chocolate!

            But perhaps people have a valid point that Valentine’s Day may be overrated. Perhaps this holiday tends to cheapen love. Love becomes about the gifts you receive or the attention given you. If you have no significant other, you may start to focus on what you don’t have rather than what you do have.

            But what is true love? 1 John 4:16 says God is love. The surrounding verses teach us that God’s love is so great because He gave us the gift of His Son, not because we deserve it, but because we don’t deserve it! The passage also reminds us that when we know we are loved by God, we will also love others.

            “This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: in this world we are like Jesus” (1 John 4:17). Yes, we are to love others in this world with a sacrificial love, just like Jesus did. But even more so, we are like Jesus because we have been baptized into Him! We are like Jesus because He has clothed us in His very own righteousness. That is how we know we can have confidence on judgment day: we have been made like Jesus. Now we are free to act like Jesus to all those around us, showing love whether it is Valentine’s Day or not.

January Deaconess Den

Every month I write a  newsletter article entitled "Deaconess Den." I thought I'd share what I wrote for the month of January:

            The 4^th Commandment teaches us that we are to honor our father and mother. In the Small Catechism Luther expands this meaning to say “honor, serve, obey, love and respect them.” Wouldn’t it be nice if our kids kept this commandment perfectly?

            In the Large Catechism, Luther writes concerning this commandment, “God has given this walk of life, fatherhood and motherhood, a special position of honor, higher than that of any other walk of life under it.” It not only is a big responsibility, but a wonderful one. Parenthood is a gift from God. Thus Luther goes on to speak to the nature of this gift. He says that parents, who have honor due them, are also to honor Him.

            Honoring God includes faithfully carrying out the responsibility of parenthood. God does not want parents to be “scoundrels or tyrants” or to be parents simply in order to receive an honor due them. The point of being a parent is to provide for all the material support of your children, but most importantly all the spiritual needs. Parents are not to take up the office lightly, but to take it quite seriously, for God holds you accountable.

            This means that parents have the roll of directing children to the important things in life such as vegetables, homework and the faithful attendance of church – and God’s Word – rather than avoiding these blessings. When children say, “No!,” God expects us to say “yes” and encourage a positive attitude toward His Word.

            God’s Word, after all, has the power to change things. It calls us to repentance – a change of heart. When we hear it, the Law bids us to repent of all the little things we’ve been doing (or not doing) lately. Then the Gospel comes in and not only sweeps us clean but washes us white as snow.

            God’s Word works faith in us. In the Large Catechism, Luther writes, “In God’s sight it is actually faith that makes a person holy; it alone serves God, while our works serve people.” God does not look at our works to determine our salvation. Rather, He gives us the gift of His Word – preached in church – to work faith in us. Therein lies the importance of church attendance!

            When God looks at us, He sees Jesus Christ, Who stands in for us, and gives us His purity. We can also see Jesus each time we come to church to hear God’s Word and receive Holy Communion. I look forward to seeing you there, in His blessed presence.

Baby Registry

Hello all!
I promised to let you know where we are registered for baby stuff, so here it is.

www.target.com
www.kohls.com
www.babiesrus.com
www.diapers.com

Search for Sarah (or Adam) Barkley in the baby registry for any of those, and you should find me!

Now, I'm not saying that you have to go buy me something, I'm just saying it's fun to look at all that stuff. ;)

We have made it through half the pregnancy - Thanksgiving marked 20 weeks. Some people say I look tiny still, others say I'm huge -- just fyi, I prefer to hear that my bump is nice and big. :D It makes me feel like a good mommy.

I've started eating more - I get hungry and almost want to raid the fridge, and I've decided that I can eat whatever the heck I want to eat and NOT feel guilty. After all, I'm pregnant, and who's to question a hungry pregnant lady?

Black Friday.

I should be crawling into bed, not starting a post!

But I'm so excited. I just did my Black Friday shopping. And it's not even Black Friday yet.
First we bought our dishwasher, which we've been saving up for - saved $370 right there.
Then we did some kohls.com shopping and saved $399!! We got a memory foam mattress topper because our inherited-with-the-house-Queen-mattress is too hard, especially with my now expanding hips. And found some luggage (Adam let me buy PURPLE!) and got a few other cheap things. Within 2 days they are supposed to email me my Kohl's Cash...and then next week I can return to save some more money. hehe.

That and all the good food and fun company today is probably making it hard for me to wind down!

But I love my hubby more than anyone else in the whole world, and now that he's up from watching TV in the basement, I'll go cuddle with him. :)

Coming soon: links to all the places we are registered. I know you're excited.

We had another ultrasound today. We got some great pictures!! Well she took a lot more, but only gave us four - three of which are 3D. Baby is quite active, but measuring a few days smaller than last ultrasound. She didn't tell us if it's a boy or girl (still waiting!), but I sure think this first 3D pic looks like a boy. ;)

Here's 2 more 3D pictures - Baby was wiggling more so they are a little blurry, but he's still cute.

 

















This is the one regular picture we got - how he's grown since last time! This is at 19 weeks, and he's about 8 oz and 6 inches. Cute as a button.

and THEN. They tricked me. Or something. I had to get a flu shot. Dr. told me in Sept. I had to get one but I was not about to do so unless they forced the issue. Without making a big deal of it, they "forced" the issue today - basically just told me they were going to do it right then. And Adam did not stick up for me and tell them I don't believe in them...of course, it's because he's wanted me to get one all along, but didn't want to force the issue. And actually, I only let him get his way for the sake of the baby...it's his baby too!

So I've been shot. Now I'm "immune" to the flu, which neither my mom nor I can remember the last time I had it. *rolls eyes*  *smile* But I took 2 pieces of candy from the basket, instead of just the one I would normally have taken. That helped. I still plan to not let Adam live it down though...

Overall, I feel better being pregnant than I ever felt (for the last few years anyway). And I get the bonus of feeling those kicks and turns. I enjoy this!! I think I just may do it again one day. *wink*

6 months

It's been a little over 6 months since I posted. :) yup, I"m awesome at blogging.
But that also means that it's less than 6 months until I get to meet my baby! I am pretty stoked. I'm sure you all know from Facebook that I'm pregnant, but even so, here's a picture of my baby, from back at 12 weeks:

 

We have another ultrasound next Thursday - the one where we could find out if Baby is a boy or a girl. But we are going to tell them not to tell us, because I love surprises! I'm really just hoping Baby is very discreet and won't let them see.

Baby has been moving a lot. I could feel him pretty early -- but over the last few days, it has gotten stronger! I feel so happy every time I feel movement. I can't wait till Baby's Daddy can feel it too.

I love my lil baby. And I think I am that much more appreciative...because my dear friend Shannon lost her little Samantha after just a few weeks. We were preggo buddies, and it was so much fun...I'm so sad for her! But it sure does put things in perspective.

In other news, the holiday season is approaching. How did THAT happen??

-Sarah Joy

Well, since Emily tagged me, I guess I need to do this. However...will I find 10 pictures??? We'll see...

10 Things I Love

1.  My Hubby

2. My New House

3. Josie the Cat

4. Babies and 5. Knitting (I knit the blanket she is laying on)

6. More Kittens

7. My Mommy!

8. Moo (Adam calls him "Mr. Moo")

9. Bonnie and 10. Jennabel, My Parakeets

Well, what do you know? I had pictures! Probably because I love them so much. :)

That's all for today.

I am a fan of Wheatables crackers.

Now, I could become a fan of them on Facebook, I am sure, but I just don't do that. Now, I know, Emily, you may do this all the time, but I just don't. (and, Emily, you are the only one I know of so far that could be reading my blog at all...:) )

But I thought I'd post it here, because I am eating them, and they are tasty. I do not like wheat thins or triscuits or anything like that. But these are fabulous. And after about 3 years, I finally have found them again! (I'd had them while baby-sitting and could never remember what they were called.)

Other than that, we bought a house, and I am itching to be able to get into it, paint, and arrange all our stuff. Woo-hoo!

Adam is watching Julie and Julia and I feel like I have jumped on the Blog Bandwagon...

oh well!

Here is my own mini cooking blog:

Today my task was to finish taxes...I took the day off to recover from Easter, and the one thing I absolutely had to do was taxes! That didn't sound too terribly fun by the time I woke up. But I got to it (after only a ...bit... of FarmVille), and taxed away until I got too hungry. Then I was going to make Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake, but realized I had no milk. So I gave up and just ate some chocolate chips. At lunch time, Adam came home and then encouraged me to actually make my food (he bought me milk). Unfortunately, there was only one egg, and I needed two! So I made a half batch. MMM it was good...especially after having starved myself until about 1:30.

After lunch I was able to actually finish those taxes, and found out I'm actually getting a refund from the Feds and from both states we lived in last year! I promised Adam I would make dinner, so I pulled myself away from the computer in order to do so. :)

I made "Rice Hotdish." It was one of Grandma Joi's recipes. I'm still not sure if it's the one I've been searching for, but it was tasty! However, three quarters of the way into baking it, I realized I'd forgotten the 2 cans of water! OH NO! So I added it and lowered the temp a tiny bit and cooked it longer...it was decent, although the rice was still a teeny bit crunchy.

And I was supposed to finish Easter today by coloring Easter eggs. Didn't though. :-p

Woo-hoo. Good times.

This picture is a little dark, but I like it because of all the symbolism right there! Baptism, communion, Easter....ahhh.

My hubby and I on Easter! Yay, I finally found a new Easter dress. That is our Easter Tree. It's actually kind of cute!

God's blessings!

Who owns our genes?

You may or may not totally agree with my point here, but but at least let me say my piece!

I was waiting at the grocery store yesterday and saw the headline in a newspaper, "Who owns our genes?" It made me laugh...nobody! While I definitely like the idea that I own my genes, I don't believe that is the case. In fact, this idea is nothing new. Psalm 12:4 says, "We own our lips -- who is our master?" Every single person, at least some point in their life (including me), has wanted to take ownership of their own person and body. But thank God (literally) this is not the case!

Paul says it twice in 1 Corinthians "you were bought at a price" (6:20 and 7:23). In 6:19, he says, "you are not your own." Yet, this is not a bad thing! God "bought" us so that He may again be the number one in our life....so that we can know we can rely on Him for everything.

When we insist on owning ourselves, we are breaking the first commandment (You shall have no other gods). We are putting ourselves above God and trusting in ourselves above all things. I don't know about you, but this seems like a bad idea. If I really did have to figure it all out on my own...I'd be sunk.

But that's the best part. I don't have to figure it all out on my own! And in Luther's Small Catechism, we learn and confess that Christ "has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person...that I may be His own." Christ wants you. He loves you. And furthermore, we are confessing in the Apostle's Creed that we believe "God has...given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members...and still takes care of them." He loves us so much that He gives us this body, these genes, these lips, as blessings. Better yet, He still takes care of us! Hoorah!

I guess that news article was about cancer researchers who would like to patent our genes. I'm not going down without a fight on that one...I know who has claim over me...and it's certainly not a bunch of doctors...who may know as much as they can know on this earth, but can never know as much as my Lord and Savior. And they can never love me as much as Him, either!

a fresh start.

First I blogged with deadjournal. Then I finally got an account with livejournal. After time, Facebook took over...not enough people were interested in my posts to keep me writing. Yet I longingly have looked at the blogs of Amanda B., Sarah O., and now Emilyann P. Perhaps I shall start afresh!

Yet...how shall I write in this blog? I suppose it would be good to write like in my newsletters. Yet that is different than how I used to blog. Well, time shall only tell!

For now, I will leave you with what I posted on FB after church today.

Be still, my soul; the hour is hast'ning on When we shall be forever with the Lord, When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone, Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored. Be still, my soul; when change and tears are past All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

There were quite a few sniffles during service today, and my two tears dropped at the very end of this hymn.

Oh, how sweet it will be to reunite in heaven with all those we love, including our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!