Harms Family News

I recently was offered the opportunity to attend a webinar about prenatal care for one of the companies I work for. Since we are considering hopefully expanding our family at some point in the future, and I have many friends of childbearing age, I thought this was fitting for me to learn about. Any woman who has been pregnant will attest to the fact that doctors and nurses and midwives all tote the power of folic acid. We are told to take a vitamin containing folic acid before conception and all through our pregnancy. Low levels of folic acid can lead to Neural Tube Defects and premature births, among other complications. This is not new information. What the webinar brought to light is that folic acid is not a naturally occurring substance, and some people cannot break it down and absorb it properly. This means that they cannot convert it to active folate, the important nutrient for growing babies. This information is somewhat technical, but basically, some people are not able to conv...

How do you say goodbye to someone who has changed your life? I have done this before, I am sure, but it’s never easy. Not the emotional aspect of it, because in this high tech world we are never more than a text or email away, but the words. . . How do you tell someone exactly what they have meant to you in a few short, tear-stained sentences? I am a writer, not a speaker, although I do like to talk. Yet sometimes my words only flow on virtual paper, not from my mouth. Sometimes, the things I want to say simply do not make it from my mind to my mouth, but they can make it to my fingers. Today, we bid farewell to our pastor and his wife, launching them into the tumultuous world of deputation as they at the ripe old age of “just became grandparents” head to the mission field. I do not envy them the next few years, yet I am excited for them in the many adventures and tales of God’s provision they are sure to have. As I hugged Myra this afternoon, words failed me. So here I sit, needing to...

Ok , before I start this post, let me say that I know. It is unwise to compare yourself to others, God gives you only what you can handle, she is not the mother of my children, etc. In fact, my friend Michelle blogged a bout a similar idea recently. It's a good read if you are interested. I just need to put this out there to get it out of my head. Yesterday, I met the perfect mom. Or, perhaps I should say, the mom I want to be. She was slender, but not too slender, her children were dressed in their jammies for sleepytime at the library (I forgot about the jammies ) and their hair was perfect, with little golden ringlets. (in contrast my kids looked like they had just woken up and hadn't had a bath in a day or two, both of which were true). But appearances weren't what made her "perfect." While Miss N was engaged by story time, I was wrestling with Miss M, who doesn't usually sit, and this night was particularity wiggly. I am trying to teach her to sit but s...

I debated long and hard about blogging about this one, but then I decided, the main purpose of this blog is to record our little life, and to have a memory to look back on. This is definitely a memory that will be looked back on, even if things don’t pan out the way a five-year-old girl intends. This past week was busy beyond belief and my kids were so tired. We did two Bible schools, one in the morning and one at night. Parenting mistake, I think, but they did have fun and Miss N seems to have learned quite a bit from both. Miss N has a little boy that she goes to school with who also happens to go to our church. In addition to all of that, they both wear glasses, which to her is a big deal. Long ago she deemed “B” as her “boyfriend.” I recall one night when their junior church teacher heard, “If you don’t stop being mean I am NOT going to marry you!” and another time when she didn’t sit by him and he went home crushed and quite upset. She regularly will parrot anything I say about Ti...

The other day Miss N came to me and said, "Mommy, sometimes I have scary thoughts at night and I try to pray but it doesn't work. All I can think about is monsters." I reminded her of the verse, "What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee." and we talked about replacing the bad thoughts. "I think about God and Bri (her friend) and I still think about monsters. I think I have room for three thoughts." "Ok, so what is another thought you could think about?" "Horses! God, Bri, and horses!" She has since quoted that verse several times. I think this lesson is starting to stick. :)

Today, my baby is on my mind . Maybe it's because we haven't moved on in the way of successfully having another on the way. Maybe it's because so many of my friends are preparing to welcome their June or July babies. Perhaps it's the slew of ultrasounds on Facebook lately. It could be from the large number of pregnant women I saw at the waterpark. It could also be the newborns I had the chance to hold a couple of weeks ago. I'm not sure the reason. I just know that I was due around the beginning of July. And that date is fast approaching. And deep down inside, I am still sad. Does the sad ever go away? I am praying that my arms, or at least my belly, are filled with a new babe before the November anniversary rolls around. . . Is that wrong? And what if God says no?

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