Greg Ireland

We had a wonderful visit with my sister, Tricia, these past two weeks.  She arrived on the 30th of December, the day we came home from the hospital and left on January 11th.  It was such a great blessing to have her here!  She took care of all the household chores for us.  She cleaned, laundry, cooked, reorganized rooms, played with Esther and Jadon, and other random things around the house.  Of course she got some well deserved bonding with Rahab as well.  We all had a great time with her and can’t wait for another visit!  Although, she may need to catch up on some sleep

It was really great for me to be able to really take it easy after this delivery.  Especially with the complications of the placenta, she really kept me away from doing to0 much around our house to0 quickly.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!  Truly a blessing to our family!

Here are some pictures of her week!

Thanks again Tricia for all your hard work!!!  LOVE YOU BIG!!

LOVE,

Greg, Chris, Esther, Jadon & Rahab

Chris & I pray that each of our children will cling to, own, and grow into the faith of their namesake… We felt the Lord lay it on our hearts that Esther was born “For such a time as this” (Est. 4:14), Jadon was and continues to be an answer to our cry for the Lord to hear our prayers, in fact, his name reflects the Hebrew transliteration of Ja-don or “Jehovah hears…”, and Rahab is no exception. A long time ago the nation of Israel wandered out of the wilderness at a place called “Shittim” on the east side of the Jordan river, not too far north of the salt sea. As they gazed across the Jordan they caught their first glances of the land the Lord had promised to give them nearly 400 years earlier. The only obstacle between Israel and the promised land was a fortified city called Jericho…

In order to discover its strength’s and weaknesses the newly commissioned leader of Israel sent two spies into Jericho. The only problem was that they were discovered. In order to avoid the King of Jericho the spies entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab. When the King demanded she turn them over, she lied to the king about the men having left, and subsequently hid the men on her roof before lowering them in a basket out of a window in the city wall so they could escape. Before she helped them escape she explained a couple of things to them. First she explained how she and her family had already heard about the great things the Lord had done for Israel in bringing them out of Egypt, through the parting of the Red Sea, and so on and so forth… And because of those things her heart had “melted” (NRSV) enough to recognize that “The Lord your God is indeed God in heaven above and on the earth below” (Josh. 2:11).

After the spies returned to Joshua to make their report the nation of Israel marched through a parted Jordan river and then proceeded to march around Jericho each day for seven days. On the seventh day as the trumpet sounded and the men shouted the walls of Jericho tumbled outwards by God’s hand allowing Israel to sack the city and gain entrance to the promised land. Only the section of wall that contained Rahab’s house and family was spared. Joshua commanded her and her family to be spared because of her newfound fear of the Lord that had inspired her to dangerous and courageous action on Israel’s behalf. What’s really interesting is that as far as we can tell she went on to marry Salmon (a prince of Judah), together they had a son named Boaz (who married a foreign girl named Ruth…), together they had a son named Obed, who had a son named Jesse, who had a bunch of sons the youngest of which was a shepherd boy who could play the harp named David. Of course David eventually becomes King David from whom a savior will come for Israel and all the nations.

Yet without the courageous and dangerous action of a gentile prostitute whose eyes had been opened to the mighty things God was doing in her time… That’s our prayer for this little girl and our blessing as we named her: That her eyes would be open to the things God is doing in her own time, in order that she would be an example of sin turned to salvation, even to the point of being courageous at the peril of her own life…

We’ve also given the children a middle name reflecting a family member who has attributes of faith that we can encourage our kids to live into. Just as Paul encouraged Timothy to cling to the faith of his grandmother Lois we will encourage Rahab to cling to the faith of her great grandma Elaine…

So she has both a biblical model and modern example to be encouraged by…

And that as Paul Harvey would say… Is the rest of the story!

Waiting for Baby #3 has been a hard thing to do these past few weeks.  I have been having contractions everyday, that last for a short period of time daily.  In fact last week, I rushed Greg home from his trip thinking this was it.  By the time he got home everything had stopped .  It has been nice having Greg home this past week, we got everything on my list accomplished!  Every time I walk past the Baby’s room, it makes me more anxious for this baby to come.   Greg is getting ready to head to work tomorrow.  Here we sit with a dilemma:  Go or stay.  This is the part of being a pilot’s wife I don’t like.  It would basically take him around 12 hours to get home.  In that amount of time he could miss everything.  I know have I a great support system around me and everything would be fine.  But I want my husband there!  He just gets me!

Please pray that God would direct our decision.  I have been constantly reminded of Proverbs 3:5-6  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”  This has been my prayer for the last week.  It has been a difficult to live out.  It has given me a different perspective of anticipation this Christmas season.  I’m constantly looking for signs of when this baby is coming.  I go from excitement to disappointment.  We can’t wait to bring our little one home this year!  Even Jadon is saying ‘baby coming.’

Baby #3 - 39 weeks

To compare…

39 weeks! - Jadon...

On December 4th we went to hunt for our Christmas tree in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. It has become quite the tradition for our family. We have done this 6 out of the last 7 years, 3 of which I have been 8 or 9 months pregnant!  I wouldn’t mind if we lost that part of the tradition!

Our Tree!

Merry Christmas

Love Ireland Family

38 weeks - Jadon

Thought it would be fun to compare!  I think I’m much lower with baby #3.  Thoughts???

38 weeks (Baby #3)

Any guesses out there when this baby will arrive…?  Any gender guesses….?  Let the fun begin friends and family!

Facts:  Due Date Dec 29th, 1cm dilated and 50% effaced as of 12/9/11,  Esther born a week early, Jadon born on his due date…Good Luck!

My original GUESS from the beginning of pregnancy.  Baby Girl born on the December 27th (although I hope I’m wrong on the date…)

-Chris