A Lifetime

Posted by baobrien in Adoption, Christian Thought, Just for Fun!, Worshipping with Kids

Last night I spent some time praying / journalling before falling asleep. As usual I opened my heart up to the Lord… I voiced my exhaustion over this wait for our child, my trust that his planning and his timing was perfect and ultimately began to pray for our child and their birthmom.

I have spent so much time praying for our child now. You see I believe that even now, even if our child has not been born, that God can speak to them. They are a soul who can begin to learn the voice of God (ask me sometime to tell you about the secular studies that back this up). And I have pray fervently for them right now. I pray for wisdom and peace for their birthmom. I pray that the bond between us would be strong. And suddenly it hit me. I pray very little for our future. Last night it hit me that I am going to have this precious life for a life time. There is so much to be prayed over.

And I began to pray over school, and friends and teachers. I prayed for their after school activities and for our wisdom in both making decisions and allow this precious one to make decisions. I prayed for their spouse.

And I rejoiced that I get to be their mom. That Brandon gets to be their dad.

When you spend four years working to have a child, I think it becomes easy to forget that there is so much after that initial birth or adoption. There is a lifetime of memories to be had.

And I am so thankful.

Exhaling the Unnecessary

Posted by baobrien in Abundant Simplicity by Jan Johnson, Christian Thought, Simple Living

Weggis, Switzerland

Recently my parents took a trip to Weggis, Switzerland. Now many of you know that to say my parents travel a lot is most definitely an understatement. With their various ministry responsibilities, they are on the road often. But this trip was different. This trip was a time to get away, to rest and to pray. The picture above was taken on their trip and I just thought it was gorgeous. Simply beautiful.

Which brings me to our topic of the evening… Simplifying. Getting away is necessary. But what are we to do in our regular every day life? Isn’t it hard to get rid of those things that are truly unnecessary in our life? Or is it just me?

In her Abundant Simplicity, Jan Johnson challenges her readers in the first chapter to identify what is unnecessary in their lives, so that they may inhale more of the Savior. Jan writes,

Because we’re trying to breathe in the oxygen of real life with God without breathing out the daily chaos that chokes out such interaction.

So I’m learning how to resist the unnecessary as I prepare to dig deeper in this discipline of simplicity.

How? Some simple steps: watching less T.V. and spending less time getting ready in the morning. These may sound overly simplified, but I’ve found that they uselessly crowd my day. So, instead of turning the T.V. on right when I get home, I’m waiting till there is actually something I want to watch. And instead of changing my clothes 5 times (for no reason whatsoever), I’m sticking with what I put on first, or even picking it out the night before.

These are simple steps, but I’m hoping that open up just a little bit more time in my day that will allow me to spend more time growing closer to the Savior. Already, I have been blessed by increased time with the Savior in the morning and more time to devote to a few writing projects I have going on. It hasn’t been a perfect week, but I’m growing.

We’ll see.

Good night, friends.

Fridays are for Favorites (even if written on Sunday)

Posted by baobrien in Just for Fun!, Young and Married

I began a blog post on Thursday because I knew that Friday would be a very busy day. But I didn’t get to it. So now here I am at 10:30 on a Sunday and what’s on my mind?

Well I’m thanking God for the man I married. Yes, in an incredibly cheesy move, Brandon O’Brien is my favorite for today (and arguably every day!).

Brandon’s the type of man who loves me no matter what my hair looks like, patiently waits for me to take pictures of food (even if that means he must wait to eat), hugs me even when I’m in a bad mood, will drop whatever he’s doing to listen to my thoughts….

He loves his friends and family deeply, he is as loyal a friend as you can fine, he’s an honest and sincere spiritual leader in our home…

He is patient, kind, wise, silly, creative, fiercely intelligent, compassionate…

and he’s all mine. 😉

Living in the Ordinary

Posted by baobrien in Christian Thought, Just for Fun!, Simple Living

Yesterday I got to work from home.... which means I got good coffee in my favorite mug...one of my favorite "ordinary" things.

My routine has resumed.

What do I mean? I shared before that I was feeling knocked out, incapable of doing life. Well, lately, I have begun to find my footing. I have begun to find life much more doable.

And ordinary tasks have helped. Now I have had to be patient with myself. Anytime one struggles through a time of depression or hardship, often energy is the first thing to suffer. And I have had to train myself to feel better about doing less.

And maybe I should do less to begin with. I’m trying to sort out what is necessary in my life and what is unnecessary. But that’s a discussion for another time!

So today I’m running errands. I had breakfast with some women that I am so blessed by. Then I got to do some fun birthday shopping for my darling husband. Now I’m back home working on freelance assignments (and blogging along the way)…

And I find myself encouraged.

And I find myself feeling at peace with the state of our lives. I wouldn’t say I’ve bounced back (because I think that’s not a helpful metaphor)… but I’m living. I’m accomplishing things by the power of the Holy Spirit that three weeks ago I did not feel I had the energy to do.

And it’s not by own strength, but by Christ who strengthens me.

And I think that’s all I have to say.

And I hope you’re okay with that. 🙂

Thanks for reading, friends.

Love, love, love these precious girls!

P.S. Just for grins I thought I’d post a picture with some of my favorite girls who I used to nanny for. I miss getting to spend time with them every week.

Simplicity in Abundance anyone?

Posted by baobrien in Christian Thought, Just for Fun!, Simple Living

Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider

As Brandon and I struggle to maintain 6 jobs between the two of us, prepare for our child and try to keep the romance alive… simplicity is something that we crave. In fact, lately I have found myself picking up every book I can that talks about this topic. Now, I realize the irony of adding a new thing to do in order to simplify more… but I’m just craving insight in cutting out the unnecessary and living life more intentionally.

One of my favorite books is Organized Simplicity. If you have time, or even if your time is significantly limited, you should definitely pick it up. It’s an easy read and gives practical advice for simplifying everything in your life. I read it in 10 minute spurts while nannying and LOVED it!

But that’s not why I’m writing today. One of the benefits of having a husband in publishing is that he often gets free books. By often I mean 3-5 a week at times! He reviews those he thinks the magazine would like and then passes on the rest to friends in ministry… or me!

So, as I try to blog more often I’m realizing that I need some prompts. So I thought Mondays would be a great day to blog about books that I’m reading. A cyber book Club of sorts.

Abundant Simplicity: Discovering the Unhurried Rhythms of Grace

 

And what’s my choice for this first series? Abundant Simplicity: Discovering the Unhurried Rhythms of Grace by Jan Johnson.

Simplicity. I’m longing for simplicity and I can’t wait to see what Jan has to say! Join me!

Fridays are for Favorites: Chicken Edition

Posted by baobrien in Just for Fun!

I love chicken. I mean, I absolutely love chicken. And I come by it honestly. You see in the Packer family when chicken is served nobody opts first for the white meat… No, we’re dark meat all the way. We. love. meat. Especially wings.

And fortunately for me, guess what’s on the agenda tonight…Chicken wings and baseball. It’s true that Brandon and I are on opposite sides of the fence in this particular game (He’s Cards all the way)… but we both agree on chicken wings. And what’s our wing of choice? Rosatis… they’re awesome. Try them.

And so concludes this second edition of “Fridays are for Favorites.” If you ever want to make this girl happy, just buy her some hot wings. Seriously. She’ll be your best friend.

Happy Weekend.

When words fail me….

Posted by baobrien in Uncategorized

…. there’s always His. Be encouraged by this today, friends.

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that[h] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[i] have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Romans 8:18-30

What are your thoughts?

A is for Adoption and Y is for You

Posted by baobrien in Adoption

It’s been more than a year since we began our adoption journey…. 17 mo to be exact. This is us when we began this journey, in fact this picture was taken just before our second homestudy interview. Can you see the joy in our faces? We were (and are) so excited. (Oh, and my hair was different… over the past 17 months it has gotten longer and then much, much shorter!)

We are often asked why we are adopting. It is true that becoming pregnant may not be a possibility for us. However, that’s not exactly why we are adopting… because adoption has been tugging on our hearts long before we knew we would face infertility. We like to say that it’s not Plan B… it’s just Plan A in a different order. 🙂

Okay, so what do adoption and you have in common?

When we started this process summer of 2010, we asked our friends and family at that time to join around us in prayer, with finances and by spreading the word!

Well today I’d like to come to you again to ask for your assistance. We have been so amazed at the prayer of those around us… so, so blessed. But we’d like to remind you of the “spreading the word” part. A lot of our friends and family have connections that we know about… and we have tried to talk to those people explicitly… but many of you may have connections that we don’t know anything about… so we’d like to ask you to keep us in mind.

And for your reference, here is our online profile http://www.pregsupport.org/Profiles/bran-amy.htm.

Finally, here we are today as we wait for our sweet BabyO… wherever he or she may be! 🙂

Fridays are for favorites…

Posted by baobrien in Favorites, Just for Fun!

… at least that’s what I’m planning on.

I’m not a very “gimmicky” person, but I thought it would be fun to begin posting about some of my favorite / favourite things on Fridays. Why Fridays? Well because Favorite and Friday both start with F, silly!

So what’s it today? Well lately I’ve discovered a few beauty tricks that I love, love, love and recipes that I might love even more (it’s probably a toss-up)…

Favorite # 1.  A few months ago a friend pointed me to a blog talking about oil cleansing. “Oil?” you may ask. Yes, oil. And for your face, no less. So I took a look here. And then I went out and bought some castor oil (at Whole Foods or any health food store… or online…very, very, very affordable).  And I watched with amazement that night at how the oil took off my make-up, gave me a healthy glow and was just. plan. awesome. The next day I just splashed my face with cold water and was good to go. Now, I was admittedly nervous about putting make-up on the next day, but it went SO WELL under my make-up, just like a high quality moisturizer. And I like the way my face looks so much, I’ve started wearing no make-up more often, and less make-up all the rest of the time! Try, try, try.

Favorite # 2.  I love to bake. And one of my favorite times of the year happens when cranberries appear back on the shelves. And when I buy said cranberries I have to make a Nantucket Cranberry Pie. Check it out here. It’s easy, it’s awesome, it works really well gluten-free… and you need to have it! Seriously, go buy cranberries and make it tonight! Seriously…

That’s all for me today. But before I sign off I would like for everyone to stop and cheer. Why? After a fairly long sabbatical, I have now posted 3 times (that’s right 3 times) in one week!

Yay, Me!!

Beautiful Things

Posted by baobrien in Adoption, Christian Thought, Spiritual Formation

On Monday I posted some very personal things (you can see post here!). I felt compelled to write what I did but I honestly didn’t expect the response I received. Sure I expected a few comments here and there (namely from our moms… and a few close friends), but the magnitude of messages I received both privately and publicly on facebook and through my blog was overwhelming. Thank you, dear friends, for your care for us.

Over the past 4 years Brandon and I have heard a variety of responses to our struggle first with infertility and then during our wait for an adoption. Some have bordered on awkward as individuals gave all too detailed advice to aid us in our quest. 😉 Some unintentionally disregarded our reality with comments like, “Don’t worry, God’s plan is better in the end,” or “Aren’t you glad you haven’t miscarried,” or even “You’re young, don’t worry about it.”

But most of you, the vast majority of you, have come around us to cry and to grieve and to call us forward. In the midst of our most painful moments, I, we, have been blessed with friends who have met us in our suffering and then pointed us forward. Not by denying our grief or our pain, but by exalting God.

During one of our recent dissappointments I let some individuals close to us know that it had not worked out. The responses I got were amazing. These individuals started by acknowledging how hard this was… what a great dissappointment it truly was. They shared their own dissappointment, shed their own tears….

And then they simply said, “But remember, God is good.” They didn’t make claims to know God’s plan, nor did they trivilize this dissappointment by asserting that God’s plan would be better in the end and we just needed to remember that.

No, they simply pointed me, pointed us, to our Savior.

And this gave me hope. This gave Brandon hope. This gave us an ability to move forward.

And we are so thankful.

One of the realities we have as Christians is that God is most evident in times of grief or pain. His joy is present even with our smile has disappeared. We have reason to rejoice, even when circumstances havn’t gone our way. And this is where my hope is found. You see I don’t often take hope is God’s future plan… I take hope in my present reality… with Christ all things, I mean all things, are possible. He is my hope even when life is hard. He is my joy in the midst of my tears.

By his power, and only by his power, I can see beauty in the midst of my grief. Friends, I haven’t lost my joy. I have just found it in new ways.

And you are a huge part of that.

I wanted to close today with a song that has been increasingly meaningful to me in the last week and that (spoiler alert) Brandon and I will be singing next month!