Inspiration

To Inspire:
verb
1. to fill with an animating, quickening, or exalting influence: His courage inspired his followers.
2. to produce or arouse (a feeling, thought, etc): to inspire confidence in others.
3. to fill or affect with a specified feeling, thought, etc
4. to influence or impel
5. to animate, as an influence, feeling, thought, or the like

So many of you have written us about inspiring people that are on a journey that is a similar to ours - people that you know or have met or have seen speak. Thank you for sharing those stories with us! We have been reading and researching this month and have been greatly inspired by so much. What an amazing God we serve! We wanted to share one story with you, in case you don't know Nick. 

Nick Vujicic is in his late twenties, a speaker who travels all over the world sharing the love of Christ with everyone he meets. Nick doesn't have arms or legs. He swims, he surfs, he speaks, he walks around places like India sharing Jesus, and he is truly a joyous inspiration. Nick's main website is www.lifewithoutlimbs.org, and we encourage you to check it out! He has written a book called Life Without Limits where he shares a bit about his story, and how no one should live according to what they lack. Nick reaches out to many through his ministry, and encourages us greatly. One of our favorite things on his website, is a media section where he posts videos to children. He tells kids to write in and ask him questions, and then he picks some to answer on video. Its a great resource for kids! 

Here's a short video of Nick Vujicic:

Another thing we've been trying to do lately is search the library like crazy looking for books on children in wheelchairs or without limbs, just to try make it more "normal" for our kids. It's difficult when there aren't a ton available! If you have recommendations, please feel free to send them on! We have found a few good ones suitable for preschoolers, and the most recent one we checked out is called Best Friend on Wheels by Debra Shirley. Its a book about Sarah, the new girl in school, who is in a wheelchair. Its from the perspective of a girl in Sarah's class that is afraid to talk to her at first, but then realizes that they are much more alike than different, and they end up becoming best friends. Joni Eareckson Tada's ministry has sent us some resources recently that we have yet to go through, but I'm sure they will be an encouragement as well. 


Other book resources: go to onelittlefin.blogspot.com - she has some great book lists! 

As an update, we had a doctors visit today, and there isn't much new to report, except for the fact that he thinks we're having a BOY! Yahoo! Baby boy is measuring a little small, but its hard to gauge. They have to do measurements by the humerus bone instead of the femur, which is normally used for calculating weight and growth. We continue to pray that growth remains steady.

We also shared the news about baby with our own kiddos today. It's absolutely amazing, how children understand far beyond what most would let themselves believe they can. We should never underestimate the capacity of a child to embrace something we think they just might not get. They'll aways surprise us. Our kids are so excited to meet their little baby brother. They can't wait to teach and help him with whatever he needs. They can't wait to love him. 

So, we're just keeping an eye on baby for now, feeling blessed and waiting anxiously to meet this beautiful child of our great Creator God.

Thank you once again for inspiring us and sharing stories that have helped us walk forward with hope and peace. May you, too, be inspired this week! Thank you all immensely as well for your prayers. We have felt them greatly.