2014 Family Update

December is racing toward its conclusion and as 2014 draws to a close, I want to take a moment and provide a summary update of what has been happening with the Morgan family during the last 12 months.

Over the past year a lot of things have changed in our family. We’ve had two different job changes and our family has grown twice! When we started the year, Jess and I were both working in the same jobs that we’ve had for the past few years. I was working in public accounting and Jess was teaching 6th grade at Bear Grass Charter School. We weren’t expecting life to change as much as it has this year, but we are so thankful for the ways that things are different.

In January, Jess talked me into adopting a cat. So Silas became part of our family in the middle of January, and he’s been destroying things ever since. We had to child-proof our kitchen cabinets because he would open them and try to eat the trash. This was just preparation for what was coming next though.

In February (Valentine’s Day to be specific), I returned from a week of working out of town on an audit and Jess had a surprise for me. She greeted me with the news that we were going to become parents!

Fast forward a couple months and Jess found out that she wouldn’t be able to return to school in the Fall because she was planning to stay home with Judah after he was born. She loved her time at Bear Grass and they gave her a great send-off at the end of the school year. The next big change occurred toward the end of the summer when I found a job outside public accounting. In August, I took a job with Carolina Donor Services as their staff accountant. This job allows me to be a part a team of people that are making organ donation happen in our state and it gives me a more predictable schedule (especially during the first four months of the year) so that I can spend more time focused on leading our family.

In October, finally the time arrived for Judah to be born. Jess gave birth in Chapel Hill at the Women’s Birth and Wellness Center, so we had a two hour drive with Jess in labor (exciting). After only a few hours at the birth center, Judah was born on October 21 at 1:03 a.m. weighing 7 lbs 2 oz. He’s awesome.

Since Judah has joined our family, we’ve slept less, laughed more, and consumed a lot more coffee. We’re learning about being parents and that is helping us relate to God and each other in all new ways.

We’re incredibly thankful for the ways that our family and friends have supported us in all of this and helped us to get through some of the most exhausting days of our life to date.

We’re excited for what God has in store for us next as we continue to grow in enjoying Jesus, making disciples, and changing lives (our family’s goal in life).

Judah’s 2 Month Pictures

Judah’s 1 Month Pictures

Judah’s Birth Story (Part 2)

Sorry it’s taken so long to finish this story but I don’t know if you guys know this…babies are a lot of work! Thankfully we’ve settled into a better rhythm with eating and sleeping so (for now) I’ve got a chance to update! So we left off with my midwife wanting to transfer me to the hospital. This meant that my picture of Josh and I holding Judah in the full sized bed, all cuddly and together, introducing him to other family members was not going to happen. We had planned to call our parents and have them come to the birth center after we were settled – turns out that no one listens to us! But it was a good thing because within minutes of Judah being delivered, our families showed up in the waiting room and within the hour, Josh Judah and I were in an ambulance headed to the hospital. This way they all got to at least meet him before we were whisked away. It was harder than I thought to have to be separated from Judah so soon – he was in the ambulance with me but in his car seat and out of sight. When we got to the hospital we met up with another midwife from the birth center – Emily – and had the doctor come and check me out. This doctor then felt that she’d rather have the chief resident check me and do the repair (all the while I was asking not to know the details which I think would’ve only made it worse) I got to hold Judah for just a little bit before I was being taken back to an OR where they gave me a spinal and spent the next hour and a half sewing me up. I felt like I was on display because there were no less than 10 people in the room during this procedure. Thankfully Emily was there and able to tell me a little about what was going on and I was able to make some jokes and also tried to close my eyes because I was exhausted! I finally got back to the room around 5am where Josh was laying with Judah doing skin to skin (Emily had got him all set up on the sofa with some warm blankets) and his parents. We’d been back in the room for maybe 30 minutes before being told we were being moved to a different room because when we checked in they had us in a L&D room. This was rough because at this point Josh and I had both been up for 24 hours with no rest. So once more (with feeling now!) our new little family and all our belongings were on the move up one floor to the room we’d be in for the next couple of days. Of course, once there, it felt like we had to answer all the same questions and go through all the same tests/checks we had just done a few hours ago downstairs. At this point I believe Josh’s mom and dad had to head home and my parents came and brought us breakfast from Chick-fil-a. The next couple of days are kind of a blur, we did get some visits from Tyler (Josh’s brother) and Tom (a friend from church who was taking class at UNC) and our awesome midwife Emily checked in on us a few more times. She was really great! As Josh said, “I feel like we’ve been through war with this woman.” She may not have been the one to deliver Judah but I feel closer to her than the midwife who did  – probably because she was so calm and easy to talk to and kept us informed of every decision we’d have to make now that we were in the hospital and stuff like that.

So now the big question – would I go to the birth center for any other babies? Honestly, for the first few weeks after Judah was born, I couldn’t imagine why anyone would have more than one baby! Because after the huge ordeal of giving birth you have to, oh yeah, take care of a newborn. But it really must all fade, like they promise, because I would say I would definitely have future babies at the birth center! Things didn’t go like I’d hoped or expected but I’m (pretty sure) I wouldn’t trade it 🙂

Advent

This year the Advent season has been very important to me. It could be the fact that I know how it feels to wait anxiously for a baby to arrive, or it could be the places in my heart that are longing for Jesus’ return to bring His Kingdom to fulfillment and reconcile all of the broken things that I see in the world around me. I have friends and family who are in despair because of the fallen world we live in, and I know that Jesus will make it right at His return if not sooner, but the season of waiting is a difficult season.

Jess and I have been reading an Advent book by John Piper this year called “The Dawning of Indestructible Joy” and one of the meditations that has really been sticking with me is the idea that Jesus came not to be served, but to serve (Mark 10:45). The God of the universe became a baby so that he could be enjoyed, not so that he could be served. We’re like the poor shepherds, we don’t have anything to offer Him. He came to give us Himself. When we realized this and live in this reality, Christmas takes on a new depth.

O come, O come Emmanuel.

Our Advent candles

Mary Did You Know?

So for years I have really hated this particular Christmas song (not as much as Christmas Shoes but that’s another story). I’m not really sure why, I think some part of me was always like, “Of course she knew! She was visited by an angel and had a baby even though she was a virgin!” This year, though, Christmas has taken on a whole new depth now that I have a newborn son of my own. Even this song I think I get now – I wasn’t visited by an angel to announce the soon coming birth of my son (snowmageddon 2014, yes, but no angels) and I have a hard time imagining what he’ll be like as a toddler, let alone a grown man. How much harder would it be to imagine that the little baby Mary held after caring him for 9 months, delivering him with feasibly only the help of her husband (which I think Josh would agree isn’t ideal for anyone), and then picturing him as Israel’s Messiah? Maybe that’s why so many Christmas songs are making me cry this year – I can’t fathom Jesus as a baby and God. No wonder later in his ministry Mary thought he was crazy. After all, she had spent sleepless nights getting up to nurse him, changed his ancient times diapers, wiped snot, dried tears, kissed boo-boos. I know I’m hardly the first person to think about Christmas this way but understanding just a little bit more of what it cost for Jesus to save us all makes me extra grateful this year.