Emma's first dance class, The Facts of Life, and A Kingdom Assignment

Emma had her first dance class on Monday. We found a lady that does it in her basement and it's only $14 a month. She had a ball. They do a little of tap, jazz, and ballet. She's taking it with her little friend Anna "my little friend Anna" is what Emma calls her. We have a big Anna in the youth group. Anyway, she and Anna both had ballerina buns in their hair. It was fun to watch. They were hilarious. They followed the teacher more than I had expected and threw in their own little spins when it wasn't exciting enough. Emma has been practicing with her tap shoes on my kitchen floor ever since.

On Tuesday, after preschool, I got a call from Emma's teacher. So I answer the phone, and I hear, "Dana, this is Missy". Of course, my heart skipped a beat because I was thinking, "oh no, she's been in school for a week, and the teacher's already calling me to tell me we have a problem". This is what she said, "I just wanted to let you know that we pray every day and Emma is praying for a baby sister. She's not just praying it, she's praying it with all her heart. It almost made me cry". It's all Emma talks about. We will be going through a store and she'll see something in the baby section and she will say, "can we get that for my baby sister?" I'll say, "Emma you don't have a baby sister." She'll say, "not yet". I haven't figured out how to explain this to her yet but here's the situation:

In May 2002, I had surgery to remove a cyst the size of a softball from my ovary. When they were doing the surgery, the doctors discovered that I had endometreosis growing pretty much everywhere. The doctor then told me that the chances of me having children was very slim. He recommended me taking a drug called Lupron and said that if I didn't do that, the chances were next to nothing. I remember getting home and lying in bed praying (lying in bed only because I was too sore from surgery to hit my knees) "God, all I've ever wanted to do is be a mother. If it is in your will for me to adopt, I can do that. I know I can love any child but, I really long to know how it feels to carry and nurse my child. If you will only give me one, that's all I ask for". So, to make a very long story just a little bit shorter, After a lot of prayer and counsel from some Godly women, we decided not to do the Lupron. It had some harsh side effects, was very expensive, and I was very concerned about the long term effects of putting something that strong into my body. I started looking into natural ways to control the endometreosis and in October 2002 became pregnant with Emma.

So anyway, I tell her every day that I know God must love me a lot because he gave me her and her daddy. But, I don't think that she's quite old enough to understand the miracle that she really is. And, that I'm sticking to my deal. If God decides to bless us with another child, wonderful! But, I'm satisfied with my one. But, she's praying hard. And, the faith of a child.... I guess we'll see. But, I did attempt to explain a few things to her and this is how it went:

Me: Emma if God decides to give us another baby, He will also decide whether that baby is a boy or girl.
Emma: Then we can have twins and the boy can live with someone who wants a baby brother
Me: No, if we had twins, both of them would live with us.
Emma: Lots of crying with real tears.
Oh goodness, what will I do!

CHURCH:
This is going to be a really long post but I also need to share with you what's been going on at church.
On Sunday, Joe did a lesson about the parable of the talent. He was basically saying that we are responsible for the gifts, money, ect. that God gives us and it is up to us whether we use those things to further the Kingdom and to prosper more or we can hide them away and have them never become anything more. My translation of all of that: Make the most of every opportunity. If one passes you by, you may not get a second chance. Ok, so back to the sermon. Then Kevin gets up and says that he needs people who are ready to take on a "kingdom assignment". He didn't tell us what it was but he asked 100 people to come forward for an assignment. Tons of people came forward. So much that some of them had to sit back down because there were more than 100. Then, they gave each of us 1oo dollar bill. We have 90 days to do something with it and then report back to the church what became of our $100. Of course my business mind started working and I think I've come up with something really good. So check back. I'll be reporting back as this thing progresses.

Most importantly, It was awesome to see how many people were willing to step forward, not knowing the task ready to serve God. I think it's exactly what we need. Something to make us look outside of ourselves and into the world where God wants us to be. Please pray about this! Please pray that we will be focused on God's dream for the world. That we will be fishers of men and that we will show the love of Jesus to this community we're living in. How awesome would it be if the whole church could actually grasp that concept. Think about how lives will be effected!!

Love from above,

Dana