(Lov) // Happy to Meet You

I have wanted to write this blog post since Sunday night but was unfortunately unable until now due to an awful stomach... something (throwing up for 2 days) and the ever mounting pile of real world responsibilities that begins to manifest when your are out of commission for a while.  Alas, I am feeling much better.  And no, I'm not pregnant.

But this post does have to do with babies... one in particular.  On July 29th my dear friend Sam gave birth to her second child (a baby girl) almost exactly a month early; induced due to low amniotic fluid level. Jessie Mae Cecil came into the world weighing 5lbs. 10ozs. and measured 19 3/4" long.  Considered preterm, she spent her first month in the NICU trying to overcome her underdeveloped challenges. In an email to update her friends and family Sam wrote:

"Of course this is the very last thing I could have expected to happen and like a nightmare that I can't get out of.  But, she is beautiful and so cute and she is trying as hard as she can.  I know that God has a plan according to His will and purposes and it's not about what I want or when and how I want it.  I know that I have no control over this but being able to rest in the peace of knowing that God is in control is what is helping me through this.  I don't ask 'why' has this happened, I just trust that He knows what He's doing and that He won't give us anything we can't handle."

The most remarkable thing about Sam (besides the fact of her obvious beauty) is how deeply she loves and trust's God's will for her life.  Her faith is real... it's big... and it has always shown bright in the face of the many hardships she has dealt with since I have know her.  It is only because Sam completely trusts that Jesus Christ died for her sins and was buried and raised for her justification that she can walk with such confidence in spite of the most difficult of circumstances.  Her faith has nothing to do with her... and everything to do with Jesus Christ. She knows she is not worthy yet she is loved by God for Christ's sake.  She knows she has been saved by grace and she extends that grace to everything she encounters.  And though she didn't know it when Jessie was first born, more challenging news was on it's way.  Again, in Sam's own words:

"The other news I have is still a little hard for us to comprehend, but, we love her just the same and at this point, just want her home. Up until Monday of this week we have been awaiting the results of Jessie's chromosome test. She was showing some features and symptoms and we got the confirmation that our girl does in fact, have Downs Syndrome. We were shocked, still don't understand this but, we have accepted it and look forward to what she has to teach us. We will get some in depth details later on when we can speak with the geneticist and she can tell us more about this. Right now we have an excellent social worker helping us and getting us community out-reach programs info.

Without a doubt, I can see now how God was preparing my heart for this through the job I've had for the last year and a half as a T.A. in Special Ed. I had a student with Downs all last year that I worked closely with and learned so much from, as well as the kids I worked with before in my first job at  Travis High School.
 
We think that Jessie is and will remain the prettiest girl and she is already proving to be a high functioning Downs baby with her speedy ability to learn how to organize her feeding coordination. Breathing, sucking and swallowing are the challenge for any new baby learning to feed and she has caught on very quickly with the help of her speech therapist working with her on body and mouth positioning. The nurses are very impressed with her, she does try hard, she just gets tired very easily. The nurses love her because she never gives them any problems, she hardly ever cries. She is very sweet and calm, very cute, she smiles and is so cuddly."    

The prettiest girl indeed!  I had the pleasure of meeting Miss Jessie Mae for the first time this past Sunday when Sam and her husband Dennis had a party for friends and family to welcome home their baby girl. 

It was a wonderful time... a true celebration for a very loved and precious life. Jessie spent the afternoon in the arms of friends and family...sleeping, eating, and taking in all the excitement that was buzzing around her.  I watched as my Lydia tried to keep up with all the older kids that were in attendance and dreamed about the day when she and Jessie would play and become friends. It was while sitting with Sam and Jessie when I imagined our daughters holding hands as they whisper secrets to one another the way little girls are want to do.  And then I slowly placed her hand into mine... Oh the joy that filled my heart. 

I am in awe of how God works his wonders.  I am joyful for his unexpected gifts.  I am grateful to have faithful and loving friends.  And I am happy to meet you, Miss Jessie Mae Cecil!

(Lov)e, 

-k.

UPDATE:  After reading this blog, Sam sent me a lovely thank you note along with a link to another blog that had been recommended to her via a social worker.  Enjoying the Small Things is a Blog by Kelle Hampton... a mother to a little girl who also has Down Syndrome. Unbeknownst to Sam, I had actually began reading this blog while pregnant with Lydia. Her story is amazing and the work that she is doing is inspiring.  She started the ONEder Fund, an organization dedicated to spreading awareness and creating more opportunities for those with Downs.  Please take a moment and watch this video....

I donated this evening in honor of Jessie Mae.  If you find it in your heart to do so, I encourage you to give what you can.  Thank you!

(Ed) // God's Way.

Since beauty it is one of the main topics I will be blogging about, I wanted to establish what exactly I believe about beauty so that I can write about it with honesty and clarity. One of my favorite things to do are studies on words that I use all the time, but if pressed would find it difficult to give an accurate definition. When I speak, I want to choose words that express my intentions with exactness. Word studies help me better understand the language I use and help me to become more effective in communicating my ideas and intentions.

I usually look up a word on Google first.  This lets me know what people, at this exact moment in time, believe this word to mean.  The definition of Beauty as defined by wikipedia is:  a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction.

Now that I know what the world says of this word, I want to know what God says.

The next place i go is to my Blue Letter Bible App... 

THEN I get out my King James Bible and I ask...   

What does God think of this word? What does he find beautiful? What brings Him pleasure or satisfaction?  

These are the verses that seemed to speak to answering these questions... 

 
Ecclesiastes 3:11   He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

He hath made EVERY THING beautiful.  Did you catch that?  Hath is the third person singular present tense of have. To have something is to be in possession of it.  So, According to God's word, all things are beautiful in his time! God's time has no bound and what will be done has already been done in the infinite realm of God. We might not perceive it as beautiful now, but all things are made beautiful by God; the beauty of it be reveled in His time. So cool.
 
Romans 10:15   And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Amen! If you look at the context, what God is actually finding beautiful in this verse is the preaching of the gospel of peace! I can always KNOW I am in God's will, loving Him, and bringing honor to my position as ambassador when I am sharing with someone my peace, how the Gospel of God's grace in Jesus Christ saved me...and now I also know it to God, it is a thing of beauty.

Sharing the Gospel IS beautiful!  How that while the world was dead in sin, Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the price for that sin. He was buried, raised and it is through believing on Him that we can stand justified, reconciled, and redeemed before God in Christ!  To those that are His, these are the most beautiful words they will ever hear and have the honor to tell someone else.

Moving on...

In Ezekiel 28:12 Satan is described as:  "the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty."
 

Ezekiel 28:17  Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

Satan, who was perfect in beauty allowed the brightness of his beauty to corrupt his wisdom... and so he became a fool; exalting himself above the God who created Him. Beauty, when it does not shine forth from a thankful heart that reflects the light of it's source, can corrupt the wisdom of a man and darken his heart leaving him a fool with his vanity. 

Proverbs 31:30   Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.

Beauty IS vain when (like Satan's beauty) it is empty, darkened by corruption and focused on exalting self. When I am proud, rather than grateful or when I am puffed up with a high opinion of myself or my accomplishments, then I am conceited and my beauty is vain. It is only when my beauty is something for which I am thankful that it can be made FULL by being used to reflect light onto the truth of God. If, in pride, I begin to admire my own beauty, the brightness no longer reflects that light onto God, like Satan, it's brightness will blind me and corrupt my wisdom making it (in the big scheme of things) worthless, having no substance, value or importance. There is a beauty that is found in the corruptible but the beauty found in the incorruptible is the beauty of God himself!

Often with the word 'beauty' we use other words like - true, inner, or real. This suggests that beauty needs a qualifier to say..."HEY, there is something to me that is beyond your perceptions!" I think the reason we need and use these qualifiers is because we know that there is physical beauty and a beauty without form that is experienced rather than seen; a higher kind of beauty. Beauty that is found in truth.

When I told Brendan what I was blogging about last night he said that He always used to tell people and stills believes that it is our life's mission to perpetuate beauty.  "Just be honest so that you provoke others to honesty. When you see beauty that is around you and give it more strength by recognizing it as the truth. It then can move forward."  I loved how he immediately associated beauty and truth.  Satan is beautiful, but he has no true beauty because he is "the father of lies" and has "no truth in him" (John 8:44).  He looks good, but only on the outside.  What comes to mind is a scene for the movie I'm Gonna Get You Sucka where Jake Slade is about to have relations with a "beautiful" women. Take a look  at this scene that perfectly illustrates that what we perceive as beauty can be (under the surface) dark, empty, ugly and a lie. Very funny but adult in nature.

God's beauty is a beauty made whole through truth! The world's beauty is a empty beauty that is only able to appeal to the flesh.   The beauty of God is complete...inside and out; a more excellent beauty that can appeal to the soul!

I work with my hands and mold the physical or an image of the physical for a living. The "beauty" industry is, just like every other industry, a battlefield. But I do not wrestle or fight my battles in the physical (trying to force the world to not be worldly), but rather I fright within the realm of the spiritual... using the bible and prayer (see Ephesians 6:12-20).

All my work has the potential to be either in vain or in truth.  It is my intention a stylist (and a blogger) to bring God honor and glory with the work of my hands; letting His truth guide me in better revealing the beauty that he has placed in everyone. An ambassador for God's beauty...

All I can do is stay grounded in Christ, choose the more excellent way, and pray that the vain beauty of my work (and it's concentration on the physical) is made whole with Godly truth...for it is the only way to make it valuable.

God's way. Ain't it a beauty?

(Lov)e,

-k.