Brought to the Cross

"Abide hard by the cross and search the mystery of His wounds." Charles Spurgeon

I have thoroughly enjoyed my vacation at the beach, and it saddens me that I have to leave tomorrow. Oh boy, do I have a lot to do when I get back to Oxford (decorating for Christmas)! One thing I have loved while being here is that I have had the opportunity to do lots of reading. This is good because I just realized there will be many books from my 2009 list that will have to carry over to my 2010 list. Today, I finished Living the Cross Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney. Simply put this book is phenomenal!!! No book has ever drawn me closer to the Cross or radically transformed my mind like this one. Every chapter brought me to a deeper level of gratitude and understanding of the Cross. Mahaney takes you from why the cross is important in our lives, to the garden of Gethsemane, to the Savior's torment, to breaking through legalism, and ends with practical ways to focus on the Cross daily. I could write a book on everything the Lord taught me in each chapter. I was brought to the depths of seeing the weight of my sin, and at the same time seeing how immensely greater is His grace. Indeed this is the mystery of the gospel! Mahaney said, "He's forsaken so that we might be forgiven. Please don't ever grow overfamiliar with forgiveness. What a miracle it is!" I also realized that no matter how great my sufferings in life may be, they will never compare to His suffering. "Our suffering does not truly compare to His. You and I will never be given this cup to drink. Moreover, you and I have never been, and will never be abandoned by God." This definitely brought things into perspective for me. Mahaney challenged his readers to never move on - "put this book on the shelf but not its message!" This is certainly what I will do. Mahaney said, "Let there never be a lengthy period of time where you aren't receiving inspiration and instruction related directly to the cross, since that's where we find a fresh, sustaining conviction of His personal love." I challenge you to read this book to bring you directly to the cross. If you read one book in 2010 let it be this one. As Albert Mohler said, "this book is a manifesto for turning your world upside down." This book has moved me to the depths of emotion and instilled in me a desire to have a life that is centered in the cross. I will "abide hard by the cross and search the mystery of His wounds."

Other outstanding books that have been written about the Cross:

• The Gospel for Real Life by Jerry Bridges
• The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges
• The Cross of Christ by John Stott
• Saved from What? by R.C. Sproul
• The Passion of Jesus Christ by John Piper
• The Message of Salvation by Philip Ryken

"Never be content with your current grasp of the gospel. The gospel is life-permeating, world-altering, universe-changing truth. It has more facets than any diamond. We will never exhaust its depths."

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever."

Psalm 136:1

Happy Thanksgiving to all! As I have been watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade (one of my favorite things to do on Thanksgiving), I have reflected upon all I have to be thankful for today: my family, friends, Emmy, our home, an amazing job, and so much more! Even still, it seems that every day Kyle and I continue to face one trial after another (will blog more about this later). As Habakkuk said, "yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord is my strength." Even amidst these trials I will rejoice still, because the Lord is good! The Lord has blessed us beyond measure and with far more than we deserve, especially with the sacrifice of His own Son. C.J. Mahaney said, "We can rejoice in our salvation even amid great affliction when we recognize how much worse we deserve because of our sins." I have so much to be thankful for today, but mostly I am grateful for Jesus Christ. Because of Him, I have been granted eternal life. As we gather with family and friends to celebrate, may our hearts be filled with thanksgiving for the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ! We are indeed blessed!

Wild Rebel On'em

This is another video I just LOVE, and know some of you will enjoy too! The two rappers are Stephen Taylor and Anthony Forrest who happen to be good friends of ours. Make sure you read the words closely. There is definitely a message behind this rap! Aren't these guys creative? Feel free to leave a comment...I will pass it on to them! I think we put the Wild Rebel On'em this weekend!

Dexter McCluster's Testimony

I know some of my readers are Ole Miss fans, and I thought you would love to see this video! I hope it brings you much encouragement. Congrats to Dexter for being named Player of the Week!!!

Happy Birthday Mrs. Cyndi!!!

Happy Birthday to you! Since I cannot be out celebrating your birthday with you, I thought we could celebrate blog style! Just wanted you to know how special you are to me, and how thankful I am to have you as my mother-in-love. You have blessed my life in so many ways! I am especially thankful for the way you raised your children, because I have greatly benefited from this. I am most grateful for your faith in God, and your confidence in Him. It has encouraged me so often recently. I am also thankful for your love for shopping! I know that I will always have a partner in crime! :) I hope you have had a delightful day, and please know that you are the most AMAZING mother-in-love! Love you so much!

Road to Recovery

I have now been in the bed for 27 hours, and I decided it was about time to give an update on the surgery. The surgery went really well, and Kyle and I are both pleased with the outcome. The surgery itself lasted an hour and a half, and then I was in recovery for another hour. In fact, I did not wake from the anesthesia for an hour. That stuff always seems to knock me out. After drinking two Sprites, and a cup of hot green tea, I finally went to the bathroom, and then they released me! I know...TMI! So, on to what the doctor found. Everything on the inside looks GREAT...uterus, tubes, and even my kidneys and liver. The only thing that is not right is my ovaries, which we already knew. Therefore, the doctor went ahead, and did some ovarian drilling. He ended up burning about 30 cysts off of each ovary! Yikes! He even sent us home with some pictures. Maybe I will show those to my child (or children) when they are older, and  say "look what Mommy went through for you!" As I said before, this does not cure PCOS, but it does give us a 6 to 10 month period where we can try to conceive. We have a follow-up appointment with the doctor next Friday where we will discuss options with him. He will probably be pretty aggressive given the window of opportunity. As for the recovery, I am doing pretty well. I have definitely experienced some pain, but I have some meds that knock me out. Other than the pain, I am swollen, but that should go away soon! I should be back to myself by Monday. Thanks so much to those of you who have prayed, sent flowers, and stopped by to visit. It has brought much joy to my day, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the company. Please pray that this treatment will work, and that the Lord will choose to give us a baby soon. We are certain that this is what He has willed in our lives for moment, and we are trusting in His sovereignty and goodness.

What Is Going On...

As I have said before, if you are around me for more than five minutes you will know that I am an open book. That being said, I wanted to share about our visit with the Reproductive Endocrinologist. Overall, it went as well as it possibly could, and we were very pleased when we left. So, if you do not care to know about the details, you can stop reading here. If you are more like me, and love details, then please keep reading! :) Kyle and I were at the doctor for almost 3 and half hours, and all but thirty minutes of that he was with us. He did about an hour interview with me, and asked tons of questions even going back to my birth. After this interview, he decided to do an ultrasound given all the information I had told. The ultrasound confirmed that I have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, also know as PCOS. There are 3 criteria for PCOS which are:

1. Irregular cycles or no cycles

2. Physical evidence of male hormones or lab value of high testosterone

3. Multiple small follicles confirmed by ultrasound

You only need 2 of the 3 for to be diagnosed with PCOS, and I happen to have 2 of the 3. In fact, I have about 3o follicles on each ovary. The doctor is concerned that if he gets everything functioning properly that I will have multiples just because I have so many follicles. You should have seen the look on Kyle's face when the doctor told us this news! It was priceless! Kyle said, "like Jon and Kate plus 8"? The doctor said probably not that many! We all laughed! The doctor wants to do several other test, but the options for treating PCOS in order to try to conceive are:

1. Weight loss: weight gain only enhances PCOS, and some patients will begin to ovulate regularly once they lose weight. Isn't it great when your doctor tell you to lose weight?!?! 

2. Clomid, Metformin, or a combination of both

3. Other medications

4. FSH injections

5. Laparoscopy/Ovarian Drilling

Given my medical history, the doctor would like to do laparoscopy surgery first. Birth defects of the uterus are associated with birth defects of the kidneys 30% of the time. Since I was born with a kidney defect, the doctor wants to rule out any possible causes before I spend lots of money on medication each month that might not work. Also, while in surgery they will check my tubes, and if necessary they will do ovarian drilling. Yes, I agree, could they not have come up with a better word for that? Basically, they will burn off all the small cysts on the ovaries. This does not cure PCOS, but it may give you a window of 6 to 10 months where Clomid may work, and one could conceive. All that to say, I am having surgery tomorrow morning. Kyle and I are very pleased with this doctor, and he is a Christian too! We are thankful that he is being proactive, and he did tell us we have a good chance of having a biological child. That was the best news we could have received! I know this was a lot of details, but so many of you have asked how the doctor's appointment went. I definitely could not have shared all this with you if it weren't for my sweet mother-in-love. She was so kind to go to the doctor with us, and even took three pages of notes for us. Yes, you can be jealous. She really is that great!  Please pray for me in the morning. Pray for safety during the surgery, and that the doctor would have wisdom in the operation, and that he can clearly define the problem if one does exist. Thanks for sharing in this journey with us! We are grateful for you and your prayers! 

Tacos, Tigers, and Talladega

Well hello there! Life has been so crazy for us lately, and I have mostly been out of town for the past week and a half. Therefore, I have not had a chance to update the blogging world! Hopefully, I can remember everything that has happened...if not, you will never know! :)
Kyle and I had an exciting Halloween weekend.

We kicked off the weekend with a Halloween party at The Jenkin's. Kyle had decided that he wanted to be a Mexican, so I jokingly said, "it would be fun if I could be a taco"--thinking he would never find a taco costume. Well what do you know? My dear husband found a taco costume on the second aisle of the party shop. Hope these pictures provide you with a good laugh!

Craig, Missy, Me, Kyle

The Mexican and His Taco

Me, Meg, Missy, Christie, Tamara, and Chelsea

John, Kyle, Nick, Craig, Charlie, and Brooks

Nick, Kyle, and Joe

After the Halloween party, Kyle and I woke up really early to head to Memphis for our first appointment with Dr. Kutteh, a reproductive endocrinologist. I will post later about our 3 hour visit with him. It all went really well. From there, we drove back to Oxford, packed, and picked up Christie, Chelsea, Scott, and Ryan, and headed to Auburn. We finally arrived to Auburn at 9:30, and I was simply exhausted! After a great night of rest, I was excited to go see the Rebels take on the Tigers, but that was a big disappointment. Good thing the game was not the only reason we went to Auburn. It was also Greek Summit reunion. After the game, we had dinner with all the students, and then visited with them for the rest of the evening. It was so fun to see all of them, and get to catch up on everything in their lives! We hope to recruit some of these students to spend this summer with us! Even though the Rebels loss, we still had a weekend filled with lots of fun and great fellowship! I even got to top off the weekend with a trip to my favorite store, Anthropologie, while Kyle spent his afternoon at Talladega. If football fails, there will always be shopping, or other sporting events!

The Rebels taking the field

Kelsey, Ella, and Tiffany

Tiffany, Ella, Me, Kelsey, Christie, and Chelsea

The Greek Summit Group

Christie, Chelsea, Carmen Rae, Me

Kelsey, Carmen Rae, Chelsea, Christie, Me, and Nicole

Ryan and Kyle

Scott, Ryan, and Kyle

Who knows?!?

The Brave Ones: Ryan, Nick, Kyle, John, Scott, and Hannah

Talladega: Nick and Kyle