New Addition to the James Home...

Today was a glorious day, where we welcomed our newest addition to our family!

Isaac Benjamin James was born around 7:45 AM this morning at 9lbs, 10oz, and 19in long. He is perfectly healthy little man! He is very quite, for an infant, very peaceful and we are already enjoying him!

Carla...

Carla had a lengthy surgery as there were complications related to her ongoing issues. The doctor did as much as he could do to fix her up and by the time it was over, he had done about three or four surgeries in one! It was quite amazing! Needless to say, Today our family is complete!

She is doing better and recovering well. She is at St Tammany Hospital in room 344 and will be there until Tuesday.

Thank you so much for your prayers!!! Please keep them up, we still have a tough number of months ahead of us! But, we are believing for increased strength and supernatural provision!

God's Grace is sufficient! (2Cor 12:9)

While the doctor was trying to deliver Isaac, he discovered that she was at a "significantly" higher risk of uterine rupture! He was caught off guard by this as were we. In a lot of cases, if a woman's uterus ruptures during advanced stages in pregnancy she may have as little as 4 minutes to save both the mother and the baby's life. IF that had happened, I could not have loaded her up in the car, and driven her to the hospital in time, given my current state. We also would not have had time to call someone to pick her up, either friend or ambulance. We could have lost both Carla and baby! BUT GOD...

I think it is amazing how God so often protects us from danger that we are not even aware of! God saved us from something so tragic today, and yet we were not even aware that it was near (neither were the experts).

It also makes me very aware of how often our current state or circumstance is all consuming and when it is a very difficult circumstance we often ask things like "Could things ever get worse...?". If you know our situation (if not you can read older posts in this blog and get a good idea of what we are going through), you could look at it as "That is such an extreme place... How could you possibly go through that". But no matter what the circumstance, Hard is hard! Whatever the circumstance. I think it can be easy for us all, when we are going through stuff, to look at our circumstances and say that. But I wonder, what if we are asking the wrong question?

What if we asked "What is it that God is keeping me from today?" or "What is it that God is working on my behalf on today?"

Be Thankful in all things... (1Th 5:18)

When James said "Count it all joy when you fall into various trials..." in James chapter 1, could it be that he was speaking from the perspective "What is God protecting you from"? If you go back and read all of Chapter 1 of James with the idea that James may have been speaking from that experience and perspective, it puts a whole new light to WHY he may have said things like "be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath..." (James 1:19), or "Count it all joy when you fall into various trials..." (1:2).

Why be thankful IN the middle of all things? I believe one reason is because of things like what we experienced today. You never know what God is working on, on your behalf! You don't know what He is protecting you from! Read Ps 5:11. Apparently all those who put their trust in him... He defends! WOW!

Its hard to trust what you don't see if you are bitter and have a bad attitude about what is in front of you. Its hard to trust when the biggest concern of your mind is "Why me?" or "Why won't you...?"

Today...

Today, there is nothing to complain about. I could give you a list of things that were not ideal today. BUT, what I learned about what God protected us from over the past months... trumped it all! My only response to that knowledge was to worship, thank the Lord (sincerely), and be humbled by His sufficiency!

I'm not sure I've walked out the past 6 months without complaining or with having the best attitude, but I know that during the next six months I will be more grateful and mindful, not of what God is doing on my behalf, but simply that He IS doing something on my behalf. That He is defending me, while I trust Him, even if I can't see what's going on around me!

Just because I was unable to see the baby being formed in Carla's tummy, doesn't mean that a wonderful life is being masterfully created right under my nose... I simply have to wait to hold it, to enjoy it, and to reap it when the time is right!

Thank you for helping us and growing with us!!!

We love you all!

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PO Box 2584

Mandeville, LA 70470

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