Hi Friends!
It has been a while! But, even though I have been away from my computer… you haven’t been far from my mind. How are you? How is your family? The world has certainly changed since my last post in December of 2019! What a year 2020 is turning out to be. Please let me know how I can be praying for you.
The Lord has been teaching me a few things that I hope to write in upcoming blog posts. Time to dust off my laptop and get writing again. 😉
To reacquaint myself with the keyboard, I am starting with a simple family update.
On March 6th, at 12:22 PM, our sixth miracle, Isaiah David James Dugger, entered the world! He weighed 9 pounds, 8 ounces, and measured 22 inches long! He’s been such a content baby and adding him into our family has been practically seamless! The older children have welcomed him well. They are always eager to help where needed, and are understanding of his newborn needs. Their love for him is fun to observe. Jason and I are very excited to see what God has planned for Isaiah.
We have already seen God using his young life in mighty ways. For example, whenever he is sleeping contently in our arms, I often picture God holding us similarly. Isaiah is blissfully unaware of the chaos going on in the world! He sleeps well knowing there is not a need of his that will go unmet. Friends, we have a God who meets all our needs and so we can, likewise, rest in Him. Baby Isaiah has been a visual reminder that God really does gather us in His arms and carries us close to His heart (Isaiah 40:11). Jason and I can’t believe God entrusted us with yet another arrow for our quiver!
What a good and mighty God we serve — He is certainly a miracle worker!
In all honestly, though, at times it has been hard to process that we have added another baby to our family. Only in the last few weeks have I began to deal with the reality of March and April. Very quickly, I shifted into a survival mode that I have never existed in before.
You see, six days after Isaiah was born, Jason found himself in the OR having surgery for a knee injury. The surgery wasn’t as successful as we had hoped and for many weeks it made his mobility worse. Some nights, I had to help him roll him over in bed. For six weeks following the surgery, he was either in bed icing his knee or he was slowly hobbling around on crutches which didn’t allow him to be very helpful with any of our children, more or less the newborn.
His physical state in many ways mirrored his emotional state as he dealt with anxiety over the future. He kept praying Isaiah 40:31 and clinging to the promise that those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
And as if a new baby and a surgery weren’t large enough curveballs, one week after Isaiah was born, Kentucky issued their “shelter at home” order. The world changed so drastically in such a short period of time. Overnight it seemed, I found myself in a unique postpartum state where I was caring for an immobile husband, nursing a seven-day-old baby, and determined that my other five children will have stability in their home despite the world shutting down all around us. I carried on, to the best of my abilities, with the cooking, cleaning, playing, and educating (which I am very thankful we were already a homeschooling family so that my children had one part of their lives that looked about the same). Reflecting on that time, it is clear that it was only by the Lord’s strength and grace was I able to do so.
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. ~Psalm 46:1-3
A comforting thought for me was knowing that the range of emotions I was experiencing on any given day were the same emotions everyone across the globe was feeling. While keeping our distance, we very much went through COVID-19 collectively. What a beautiful promise that God is still on His throne, that he is not surprised by any of the events in 2020, and that He is doing something in our day that we wouldn’t believe even if we were told (Habakkuk 1:5).
We can completely trust Him!
While now it feels normal, those first few months, it felt challenging to have a husband working on the front lines of this pandemic. Jason, limping on his crutches, went back to work in the ER when Isaiah was 11 days old. At that time I felt as though he was a soldier being sent off to war. It sounds dramatic, but not knowing what he is facing each day or when the time would come where we wouldn’t get to see him for an extended period weighed heavy on our hearts. I am incredibly proud of my amazing husband handled/is handling the stress, pressure, and uncertainly very well. He is doing an outstanding job leading our family to live in faith rather than fear. He is still tending to his patients with the same exceptional care, love, and consideration that is his trademark.
During the first two months of Isaiah’s life, we wrestled with the reality that Jason could become ill or be a silent carrier and pass it along to one of us. Our original plan was for him to self-isolate from us once he was exposed, but when he was exposed on his first day back to work, he could not justify moving into isolated quarters during the duration of this pandemic. And, praise the Lord, even though he has treated many people with the virus, so far we have all remained healthy. We are still prayerful and taking all the precautious we can to keep our home clean, but leaving the rest up the Lord.
My husband is my hero!
March and April were also months when I wrestled jealousy. Seeing families take walks together, couples watching movies or playing games while in quarantine, and people working on home projects with their free time stirred in me some discontentment. Daily I prayed the Lord would give me the strength to choose joy in the midst of our reality rather than a grumbly outlook. Comparison is the thief of joy and taking each thought captive and making it obedient to Christ is not just “sage advice” but truly Divine wisdom.
Demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ so that you will do everything without grumbling or arguing… ~ 2 Corinthians 10:5 & Philippians 2:14 (arrangement mine)
Now that school is out and our calendar is relatively empty, we are finally enjoying laid back family time. Now my pantry is organized and our closets cleaned out! Isaiah is almost four months old and still just as content as can be. Our other children are growing both physically and spiritually, and I’m enjoying every moment being a mom to a half-dozen children (it feels so fun to say that!). Jason’s work schedule is what it is, but he’s moving again! Whenever he is mowing our yard or swimming with the children, he is thanking the Lord for answering his prayers for mobility. He still has pain with movement and can’t run, but he’s content with walking slowly. In fact, family walks have become a favorite evening activity for us!
Thank you for letting me share a brief update.
I’d love to hear an update on your life! How are things going spiritually for you and how can I be praying for your family? I’m looking forward to a summer where I foresee God gifting me with time to write!
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