Dedicated to the Lord for His service

I have thought of Hannah many times in the past year during my pregnancy and the birth of my beautiful twin girls. The specific references is "For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him." 1 Samuel 1:27 In our case it should say "For these children we prayed!" :) Anyways I believe my girls are truly a gift of God. We had struggled through tears and disappointments for 2 years, and had given up on the thought that we would ever have children of our own. In fact last spring I had called about starting the foster care classes and we were thinking we would adopt (which let me stop here and say there is nothing at all wrong with, there are lots of children out there who need good homes with a good mom and dad who will teach them right from wrong and love them unconditionally, I don't want that to come off as a bad thing at all.) However, I guess God had other plans, it didn't work out for us to do the classes right then and we waited. In July of last year, I was with my mother helping her after she had injured her back pretty badly and kept getting the signal that I was possibly pregnant, so on July 4th I got a test from Dollar Tree (I was in PA at my grandparents, away from my hubby at the time) and I took it fully expecting a negative like all the times before, BUT.... this time it was positive and I began to shake and was nervous and palms were sweaty! At the time we didn't have good phone service at our house and really no way to contact each other unless we were out in town where we had cell service. But I tried anyhow and got a hold of my sis-in-law who was staying here while I was away and finally got ahold of Bud to tell him he WAS GOING TO BE A DADDY!!!!
   My pregnancy started out kind of rough, I had a lot of pain on one side and thought that maybe I was having a tubal and when I got back home, we went to the hospital to get checked as that is a very serious situation. Well they did an ultrasound and found one TWO sacs!!!! The ultrasound tech said that sometimes one disappears over time and so we knew that was a possibility. Well that was at about 5 1/2-6 weeks along. at 8-10 weeks I was still having some problems so I was able to get hurried into an OB doctor who did the ultrasound and definitely found TWO babies and TWO heartbeats and what looked like a 3rd baby who gained angel wings before we got to meet her (I say her because she would have been an identical twin to my daughter Elayna). So we have at least one baby awaiting our arrival in Heaven.
During the early days of my pregnancy I felt like God gave me the promise that He was going to take care of everything. I am a worrier and worried and prayed and one day I felt like He just said "I've got this!" (not in those exact words, but something similar)
Then came Valentine's day, I was 36 1/2 weeks along and planned on having another 2 weeks till the girls were born, but the doc called and said it was time, they HAD to come out that day, as I had some severe problems with Pre-eclampsia. So off we went to have the babies. I don't think I'll ever forget that day!
Since then I have looked into their crib at them and tears have welled up in my eyes, just thinking of the incredible gifts we were given and the incredibly, huge job it is of raising a child, especially in this day and time. But I've also been praying that God will save my girls early on. And that brings me to Mother's Day 2014.
On Mother's Day of this year we decided we were going to dedicate our girls. So we planned it all out, mom made their beautiful white dresses trimmed with lavender and teal and we had Pastor Grabill dedicate them. So why is dedication so important? I believe it's important because it is our commitment to teaching our children right from wrong and committing to pray for them and raising them in the fear and admonition of the Lord.  It's like Hannah said in the very next verse: "Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord..." 1 Samuel 1:28 God blessed us with these beautiful daughters and I feel it is my duty as a mother and a Christian to let God know that I am giving them back to Him and that it is my full intention and duty to raise them to serve Him. Dedication isn't simply something nice to do, it's the taking of a vow before God that you are going to do everything you can humanly speaking to make sure that your children are brought up to serve God!

 Standing up front during the girls dedication with my mom.

 Bro. Grabill leading th dedication.

 Dedicating Elayna.

 Dedicating Elyssa.

 Our little family after service! :)

Mama and her girlies.

What are your feelings on dedications? I'd love to hear them!

The Paths that we take

This evening as I was scrolling through my facebook newsfeed I came across a friends post that really got me to thinking. There was a picture posted with this saying on it that came from www.faith.com

"Sometimes the bad things that happen in our lives put us

 directly on the path to the best things that will ever happen to us."

After thinking a bit on that and writing this post:

How true this is. I've heard my husband Bud Kuhn say several times that if some of the awful things that have happened in his life (like losing his parents at a young age) hadn't happened, there's no telling where he would be today. In fact our paths may have never crossed and we may not have ever been able to share the love we have for each other and the love we share for our daughters. I know in my own life that if things hadn't happened the way they did especially with my gun accident, I doubt I would be where I am today. At that point in my life I was not a Christian, but I believe that God used that accident to shake me awake and make me realize just how fragile life is and how quickly things can change from one minute/second to the next. I'm also not saying that I've stayed on the right path since that time in my life. I don't believe I really got things settled that I was going to go with God until I was at least 19 and I struggled even after that. But I am determined, 10 years later, that I am still going through and that my path will be the one that God determines and He will be the one that guides me and holds my hand through the foggy times and the dark times and those thick forests that sometimes line the pathway of life.
Those are the things that are important to think about in your life. I would challenge each of my friends to look at the things that they've come through in their lives and mental make a path to see where it has put them today. I believe that God uses both circumstances and humans to alter the paths that we take and it's important to put/keep the right people in our lives that will put each of us on a path that would draw us closer to Him. I also do not believe that just because we've made bad choices or taken the wrong path that God just lets us go, there are constant turn offs or turn arounds that He uses to try to get us back on the right road and one that will offer us so much more happiness.

I just have to say that the paths that we choose in life do have an impact on not only us but those around us. If I had never become a Christian I would probably have never met my husband and definitely wouldn't be in ministry today and if his parents wouldn't have passed away and him go through what he did, he wouldn't have ever turned to God from the path that he was on. So today there might not be the Kuhn family that there is, yes there may have been a Kuhn family somewhere, but that family probably wouldn't not be in the ministry and trying their best to serve God. It's really amazing to me what God has to use to reach through to our dense heads sometimes. It took me losing a part of my finger, when I could quite possibly have even lost my life, in order to get me to think about where I would have ended up if I had died from that gun accident. Some might think something like that is very insignificant compared to what could have happened to me, but to a 15 year old girl, it was a very eye opening, scary experience.

Welcome Elyssa Kay and Elayna Fay to the Kuhn Family

The Kuhn family welcomed 2 sweet baby girls on Valentine's Day! On Monday of that week at my doctor's appointment I tested positive for several of the signs of pre-eclampsia and on Friday my doctor called with the rest of the results and said we need to get the babies out TODAY!!! That scared me to death and I shook like a leaf! But they were born safely via emergency c-section.

 This was me just before we walked out the door to the hospital. When the Doc called I didn't even have anything packed for me and didn't have everything in the girls diaper bag and nothing was ready at home. LOL We were expecting another 2 weeks yet to prepare. 

 The girls in their cribs

 Mommy feeding Elayna, just still supplementing along with breastfeeding. 

 Elyssa Kay all snug as a bug in a rug. 

 They love being in the same crib and usually get more fussy if they're not. 

 Elayna Fay (above)

Elyssa Kay (below)

 Proud new Daddy and Momma with their girlies. 

 All snuggled up. Elayna on the left and Elyssa on the right. 

 This was Tuesday night after 5 days in the hospital we were finally discharged.  I had some complication set in on Monday that kept us there another day. My hemoglobin dropped down to 7 and usually if it's below 12 they do blood transfusions and my doc was considering it, but was able to get it to come up to 7.7 with Iron supplements by the next morning. I was and still am pretty weak, I get tired out quite quickly. Plus the girls were a bit jaundiced so they were being watched, they didn't have to go under the billi lights or anything but they did have to get their blood checked. 

 Proud Grandma! She stayed with us in the hospital all 5 days as well and helped so much!! She's still here helping at home, with cleaning and feeding and changing and even taking us to doctor's appointments and such. Daddy had to go back to class this week so he's not been able to take us places we needed to go, plus we're having a problem with the car seats fitting in our car. I hope that problem can be resolved quickly as I don't know what we will do if not. 

 All ready to go home, we swim in our big car seats and sleepers! LOL 

 Our new family ready to leave the hospital. 

 Elyssa Kay on the left and Elayna Fay on the right. 

Elyssa was born at 2:12 pm on 2/14/14 and weighed 5.9 lbs and was 17 3/4" long. 

Elayna was born at 2:13pm on 2/14/14 and weighed 4.9 lbs and was 17 1/2" long. 

Sharing secrets and plots already! LOL :) 

We are totally in love with our girls and couldn't be prouder to be their mommy and daddy! Yes it's lots and lots of work but it's all worth it! 

A day in the life of a Gestational Diabetic

Well I haven't been in the blogging world much over the past several months, I guess I've just become so busy with doctor's appointments and then school assignments and getting ready for these twins to come. But I realized that I haven't updated the blog to tell what the twins will be.... they are going to be sweet little girls! (Well we think they'll be sweet, they are quite the very active pair beating up on mommy's insides and making her very uncomfortable.)

The week of Christmas I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes and it was really a suprise as when they did the initial testing my fasting number that morning was 67 and the ending number was 126 so I thought I passed with flying colors, however, my two middle numbers, for it was the 3 hour glucose test were too high so that labeled me as a gestational diabetic. I really struggled with that diagnoses and was quite grumpy as I had just made a batch of sugar cookies that weekend and it was the week of Christmas and I planned to make sweet potato pie for our Christmas meal. But once I got through those first couple weeks, I've been doing some better. I met with my doctor today, and he was extremely happy with my sugar readings, to me they've all been really low, but evidently just watching my diet is working for now. However due to this diagnoses, I am now required to be at the hospital twice a week for NSTs on the babies which are Non-Stress Tests where they hook me up to monitors that monitor their heartbeats and check to make sure that when they get active their heartbeats go up and they are not under any stress and it also monitors me for contractions. So far I've had two of these tests and both times the babies have done very well, so that is very encouraging, plus it's soothing to me to go in twice a week and be able to hear their movements and know that they're okay. I plan to somewhat stick with my diet even after our girls are born to try and help me lose some weight and maybe possibly keep the likelihood of me developing Type 2 diabetes down. For those of who are wondering what a gestational diabetic mom goes through here's a peek at my day and week:
Monday, January 20, 2014
    7:30 AM Woke up starving of course!

    8:00 AM Time for my morning finger prick to check my fasting blood sugar level- O GOOD it was 87 perfect it was under the 95 that the doctor wants it to be!

    8:15-8:30 AM prepare breakfast of 2 scrambled eggs, 1 Turkey Sausage Patty, and Cream of Wheat with Cocoa Powder, 3 packets of Stevia (sweetner), and a little vanilla extract and tiny bit of milk, and decaf hot tea (as my blood pressure has been up and down so I'm trying to keep that low)

   8:30 AM- Finally get to eat breakfast after waking an hour ago starving! :)

 10:30 AM- Uh Oh time for another finger prick to check my sugar level. O Lovely it's 87 it didn't change with my breakfast and it's under the 125 that the doctor wants it at! :) But I'm hungry again so I grab some peanuts and sometimes a cheesestick and try to hold out till lunch time.

 11:30 AM- Time to fix my lunch: Today I had 6 meatballs with 2 slices of pepper jack cheese, a heap of broccoli with ranch dressing to dip it in and a pretty good size orange along with a cup of hot orange and spice tea.

  12:30PM-- It's off to the doctor's office for my weekly visit.

  1:45 PM--- It's time for my after lunch finger prick and my sugar level is 71!! WHOA I don't think I had enough carbs for my lunch.

  2:30PM-- It's off to the hospital for my Non-Stress Test and the only thing they allow me while doing this test is ice chips, but I'm grateful for those because I'm very thirsty!

 5:30PM-- Hubby fixed skyline chili for supper and I had snacked shortly before on one slice of Whole Wheat bread with a tiny bit of peanut butter on it and a cup of hot chocolate made with Stevia and a tiny bit of vanilla extract and a dash of milk.

7:30PM --- Blood Sugar check, great it's 85! Today I've managed to keep all my numbers under what the doctor wanted them to be. Later hubby gives me a bite of his cream filled donut (which is my favorite of course!)

9:30PM (usually 8:30PM but running a little later tonight)-- It's time for my bed time snack of Plain Greek Yogurt with 2 packets of Stevia in it. That has to hold me till I get up in the morning and fix my breakfast!

My diet is controlled by the amount of Carbs and Protein I eat not necessarily the sugar although I have cut out regular sugar and have been sweetening everything with Stevia.

  For breakfast I'm allowed 30grams of Carbohydrates (no fruit); and 21 grams of Protein
  For snacks I'm allowed 15-20grams of Carbohydrates and 14grams of Protein
  For Lunch and Dinner I'm allowed 45-50 grams of Carbohydrates and 21 Grams of Protein

I'm not allowed fruits in the morning because that's when insulin resistance is at it's highest. But I love having fresh fruit with my lunch and even sometimes an afternoon snack.

I may start sharing some recipes and meals on here that are good for Gestational Diabetes as I know for some it's a real struggle. For me it has been a struggle with my diet and cravings because with carrying twins I can hardly move around anymore so the exercise part is extremely difficult for me to do.

Anyways I only have another 5 or so weeks to go before our girlies are born via c section. We're very excited but very nervous at the same time!

Serene Sundays #3

I realize that I've been out of the blogging world all summer long and it's time to get back at it. So here is another Serene Sunday Post.

With the Thanksgiving Season upon us, I would like to start a weekly praise session on Serene Sundays here on the blog. I have been reading through the Psalms in my devotions and they are a great inspiration for praise, so I'll be using those quite frequently!

This weeks praise session comes from

"Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life." 

Psalm 42:8

I know that this does not directly say to praise the Lord, but I can't find a reason from this verse NOT to praise the Lord. He has been my song in the night many times. It seems that darkness brings with it scary images and sometimes scary thoughts, but I've found that singing songs in the night dispells that darkness. I've lain awake for a long time in the night singing, of course in my head so that I don't wake my husband, songs about Jesus and about the precious blood that covers me. It is such a comfort to me to know that in those dark times God is always right there listening. 

And this verse also talks about the daytime and how that God gives his lovingkindness during the daytime as well. Since finding out that we are expecting and expecting twins at that, there have been lots of anxious doctor appointments and times during the daytime when I've been uptight about the outcome of something that I have little control over, but God has always been right there. He's been both loving and kind to me during this time in my life as well as my husband's life. We both are looking forward to raising our twin girls to serve him and know him in a personal way. 

These are just a few of the praises to God this Sunday, one is for his lovingkindness during the day (and in the nightime too) and another is for the songs in the night that he gives. 

I know several friends who have been going through some very dark times in their lives and feeling like things are almost hopeless, but I'm so glad that even in the midst of the storms of life we have an anchor and a song and that we need not dispair and lose hope, because the One we believe in controls the waves and the wind and HE walks on water!

I'm linking to:
Welcome Back on Spiritual Sundays: http://bloggerspirit.blogspot.com/2013/10/welcome-back.html

Playing Summer Catch Up

Well I know it's been quite awhile since I have updated my blog, it's been a super busy, crazy summer here! Over the summer we got to visit with family and enjoy fun times together! In June we had the youth camp in Nelsonville that we attend every year, and it was good as always! June started off kind of crazy for us though as I ended up in the ER where they found I had a blood clot in my right leg, it wasn't in my deep vein system so it's not really anything to worry about currently unless it moves. But I was down with that for a little while, because of the fear that it could move, but then I got moving again. 
    In July my mom had an incident with her back that I ended up going to take care of her for 12 days and during that time, I found out that we were expecting! :) After returning home and getting a confirmation and ultrasound at the hospital and finding that I had high blood pressure I was back on bed rest for several weeks, till my blood pressure got under control. Then on August 7 we found out we were not having one but TWO babies! Yes, you read right it's TWINS!!! 

They are not identical so that's why I say not in the same pod. They are due on March 8, 2014. We get an ultrasound at every appointment because of the fact that it's twins and they want to make sure they're checking on both babies, so that makes things fun as we get to see them quite often. I have been on and off bed rest for the whole time and am currently 15 weeks along. We don't know what the little ones will be yet, but we're hoping for a boy and a girl! :) We hope to possibly find out this week at my appointment! :) Twins run pretty heavily in my husband's side of the family and they're sprinkled throughout my family as well. However the doctor thinks that it was actually triplets and one baby didn't develop all the way, and you can see the outline of that 3rd baby in one of the ultrasound pictures, but it's gone now. So we'll get to meet it when we get to heaven. We are quite excited about our growing family and a little nervous as well. (well I am, hubby isn't so much, he's taking it all in stride aside from a little stress with the complications I've had so far.) 

Anyhow I thought I would catch everyone up on our Summer. We started back to school the last week of August, I'm still taking a full load and hopefully won't have problems finishing this semester as I'm hoping to change my major to specialized studies and finish my bachelor's and then I can substitute teach at least. 

Serene Sundays #2

Today I would like to share something from my morning devotions on Saturday of this week. Something from the Bible study Book "Captivated by God" (you can click that title to see where you can purchase a copy of the book for yourself.)

I enjoy doing Bible Study Books for my devotions because it helps me to really focus on my studying of God's word and directs my thinking more than just sitting down to read a chapter of the Bible (which I have done in the past, nothing wrong with that, each person is different), I find that if I just read my mind likes to wander off to my to do list so I'm reading but not comprehending what I'm reading. I started through this book for the second time the other day and so far I'm gleaning things that I didn't remember were there the last time. It's neat how when you read your Bible once and then go back and reread it again at another time, how you gain something different from it each time.

Today's Study was on trials and things we go through and how they prove Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose." (KJV) One of the questions in the book was this: "Can you see through present or past trials and recognize that all things are working together for your good? Share a particular time of testing that you can say God has worked together for good in your life. Explain how." (Captivated by God 2010, pg. 15 Gospel Light, Ventura, California, USA) I thought about that question and then began to write in my journal about a dark time that happened in my life about 2 years ago, I really didn't know how I was going to make it or if I would. I went through a terrible depression, that I just couldn't seem to get through, I went to a couple counseling  sessions but that only seemed to make it worse so I quit going. I had some awful things go through my head during that time and felt so tormented that at times I wondered where God was in all of it. However today looking back I realize that God was using those experiences to draw me closer to him. If any of you have ever dealt with depression you know how hopeless, alone, and desolate you feel. One night sitting at the dinner table, I had made a new recipe and all I could do was sit at the table and cry, I don't even know why I was I crying I just couldn't help it, I felt terribly sad. After dinner that night I went and got out my Bible and my study materials and I studied and studied my Bible for at this time that's the only things that was getting me through my days was time with God. During that dark time, I learned the power of the blood and the power of prayer and how I should never underestimate those things. Jesus was with me though at times I felt alone, Jesus was with me.

      During this time I was desperate for any kind of solace that I could find, I pulled out a CD that a friend had given me for Christmas a couple years before this and I played it. It was a CD of a family that I knew and had grown up knowing them. One of the songs on the CD was called "I'm not Alone" I sat and wept when the words of that song hit me, then I began praying and praising God. It seemed for that period of time that I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
      However the depression continued on for awhile longer. But I began to see that the scripture in Ephesians 6:12 that says "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." really had meaning (not that I hadn't thought this before.). I was wrestling with something bigger than myself but not bigger than God. I began to turn my darkness, my depression, my battle over to God and began to watch Him do the fighting. I realized that up until that point I had been trying things on my own to get relief, but it seemed once I started going to God sometimes several times a day reminding Him (not that He needed reminding) that this was HIS battle now not mine, the darkness seemed to start to brighten.
       There are days still when it seems dark and like I'm fighting for all I'm worth, but I've learned that Jesus is my peace and that when I truly abandon myself to Him and turn my struggles, my battles, my darkness over to Him, He'll turn weeping into joy. For weeping may endure for the night but Joy is coming in the morning.
      I think in answer to that question for today was that yes, I believe that God was working all things for my good, because during that time I learned what pleading the blood, and fighting on my knees was about, I realized that God is bigger than any mountain that I'll ever face! I learned that I'm never alone Jesus is always with me, and though I might be weak and I see only one set of footprints, Jesus is carrying me through!

The author to this is unknown but the poem was taken from here. 

     So maybe that wasn't the story you were looking for today, but I felt like I should share it with you.  If you're going through a depression or a bad spot or darkness in your life maybe it'll help you to remember that the battle is not yours it's God's!

Do you have a devotional post you write for Sundays? Feel free to link up below!