The first turn...bedrest

I am quite unexpectedly sitting in a local Panera... after having dropped Caden off at zoo preschool, with a grocery list in my hands. It started this morning with a regular OB visit to check on the pregnancy. Our doctor triple confirmed we are having a girl (yay)... then noticed that Christine's cervix is on the thin-side (huh).

She nearly sent us to the hospital for more monitoring.... at 24 weeks... and definitely put Christine on strict bed rest.... indefinitely for the next 3 months. So what is up with that? Sunday was my last day at Northwest. I cleaned out my office yesterday (it was supposed to be today... but got moved to yesterday). And now I am indefinitely "not busy" for the next couple of months (besides the finding a job thing).

My only response is to thank God for coming behind us! You know I've been praying that God would go before us... but I've never asked him to come behind us.

I came across the idea when reading in Exodus 13 & 14 this morning. The Israelites are promised that God will lead them with a cloud by day & fire by night. A visible sign that the Lord was going before them. But in these two chapters... where the Egyptians are hot on their tails... the cloud of God moves behind them to protect them by confusing the Egyptians.

For the past few weeks all I have thought about is saying good-bye to the people that I have served with for the past 3 years. I knew it would be a challenge. I could see it coming. But I could only see as far as Sunday... my BIG GOOD-BYE. And all the time I was asking God to go before me and make the path straight.

So this morning I awoke thinking that a big part of this transition was behind me. And we go to the doctor... and get this unexpected news... that will change the way we live for the next 3 months. And I can look back and see that God had provided for us to take on this new challenge with a fresh focus. He knew that something (Christine's pregnancy) was sneaking up on us from behind and he freed me up to more a more hands on... more supportive... more stay-at-homeish... more focused Dad... for our upcoming hi-risk pregnancy.

God went behind us. Thank you God.