Family of Five

God has blessed us with another precious soul to join our family. Decisions like having more children always seem to be more complicated since we’ve moved overseas, until I remember that we are just as dependent on the Lord here as we were when we lived in the U.S. Maybe we have more awareness of risks around us, but we are no more susceptible to them than we were before because we are still in the Lord’s hands.

I’m currently 5 months along. The first trimester included all the typical symptoms to be expected. Fatigue, nausea, vomiting. A good portion of that took place our last few weeks in the U.S. And since we’ve returned, I’ve only begun to feel better the last few weeks. But thankfully everywhere we have been we have been surrounded by people who are eager about helping and serving, and that incudes Dan and the girls.

The girls are very excited to have a baby, they frequently come up to my tummy to shout “I love you”, hoping the baby will hear them and recognize their voices.

There are ways in which I am more prepared this time than I was when Epaphra was born. Some of that simply had to do with the fact we were expecting this pregnancy, but I’m sure it also has to do with us being more settled into our home and life here, that I’m able to spend more time thinking about the pregnancy and preparing for birth. Even so, there are some challenges to life here with physical limitations. Dan took over the clothes washing for the first couple months back. A couple of the sisters have helped as well with various home tasks that were straining on my energy in the first trimester. I anticipate the same will be needed when I’m in my 8^th and 9^th month. But I thank God for the abundance of volunteers to serve and be a blessing to us.

Our plan at this point is to travel to Freetown for the birth in a hospital there. We both were very thankful for the safe delivery of Epaphra in our home 2 years ago, but have decided we would both feel better about pursuing an option with more medical resources, considering how limited the hospitals in Bo are if something were to go wrong.

Because I’ve only ever had home births, the idea of a hospital birth is honestly a little bit terrifying to me. I’m working to build my trust in the Lord so that I can have peace as the time of the birth approaches. So many challenges so far since our move have challenged my faith and trust in God, and He has delivered and provided and sustained us throughout. My prayer is those memories will be foundational for my trust through a new circumstance.