So, I’ve noticed a trend of strangeness in myself as of late, and I assume it is due to the fact that I am expecting. For one, foods I normally love often seem completely disgusting to me. A couple of times, I have gone hungry rather than eating what we have because what we have seems completely unappealing. Yesterday is one example of this strange phenomenon. It was lunchtime, so I heated up some food for my dear husband and then spent the next three hours, among other things, trying to decide what I could stomach. I settled on a fried egg & refried beans at about 4:30. Strange? Yes.

This morning, I came up to the kitchen to brew Ben some coffee. I headed to the sink to wash his thermos and immediately began gagging when I saw the bowl that had the refried beans in it. I have not actually thrown up yet during this pregnancy, but after gagging about 5 times over the bowl of beans that was left to soak, I thought it was a serious possibility. Thankfully, my husband is quite sweet and took care of the bowl for me while I gathered my composure.

Another food item I have been quite averse to is salad. Normally, I really enjoy salad and eat it quite frequently. Not this week. I bought a bag of salad when I went grocery shopping on Tuesday. Wednesday, I went to open it and serve myself some at dinner, and the smell (who would have known lettuce has such a strong smell?!) made me decide I definitely was not going to eat salad. So, the bag sits in our fridge unused. It’s a shame…about $3.00 worth of salad. Ah, well…

So, last night we had dinner with Mom & Dad and my mom served steaks, potatoes, and salad. I served myself a big pile of salad, and then decided there was no way I could stomach that much, so I a lot of it to Ben, who had yet to serve himself any. It’s a good thing I did, because I barely choked down the four bites I had. On the other hand, the steak was amazing. Don’t get me wrong; I usually enjoy a steak, but I don’t usually just ooooh and aaaah over your typical $3.99/lb sirloins from Publix, but I sure did last night. I even had seconds (yours truly, who has hardly been eating this week had a steak & a half…in my defense, they weren’t very big). And the potato…whoosh. It was amazing too. Due to food sensitivities, I didn’t eat a whole one; I just had a few bites of my mom’s, but it was simply amazing. And it was just a potato.

So, being pregnant makes me weird. But, that’s fine. It’s definitely worth it. I am already completely in love with this little baby, and utterly in awe of the amazing work God is doing right inside my own body. I’m sure strange side effects are nothing compared to the joy of holding this little one in my arms in just 7 months.

Today, my husband & I are going out of town for a funeral; it will be interesting to see how I react to the foods I’m served while we’re gone. Favorably, I hope. Otherwise, we might have to make a secret trip to the grocery store to buy whatever I feel like I can stomach at the given time. :)

And then there are the strange pregnancy hormones (just ask Ben), but I guess we’ll save that for another post…

I know things have been quiet around here for a long time, but a lot has been going on in my life during the past months. Ben and I are already approaching 2 months of marriage, and still haven’t gotten into a normal routine yet, although we’re shooting to start tomorrow. More recently (Tuesday, June 17), we found out some amazing news.

Our Heavenly Father has seen fit to bless us with a little one due in late February. I am still very early in pregnancy–only 6 weeks (from the first day of my last period) tomorrow. We are aware that our sweet baby’s life is still quite fragile at this point, but are so thankful to serve a Sovereign King and rejoice in this precious gift from Him. It really does strike awe and wonder in this happy mama’s heart to know that there is a tiny person inside of me who will, Lord willing, be in my arms in just 7 and a half months. We pray that God will keep our baby strong and growing in my womb and give us wisdom as we seek to raise this child in the nurture and admonition of the Lord over the next years. May he or she be the first of many arrows in our Murch family quiver!

-Mary Jo, for Ben & Baby Murch

A Baby at 6 Weeks Gestation

The smell of supper fills our kitchen as I take a break after a few hours of cooking and cleaning. For my efforts, dinner is essentially ready. Cheesy scalloped potatoes wait in the refrigerator to be baked, and the chicken continues to cook in the crock pot, where it will remain for at least another 6 hours. A salad will complete the meal.

Our kitchen overlooks the lovely 2 acre back yard of the home we are living in for now. The horse, Whiskey, is grazing as usual. The cat is not is sight, but I’m sure he’s near by. I can see the barn that Ben’s shop is in. It’s at the far end of the yard. It was built in a church barn raising some years back. Other than its lack of air conditioning, which is pretty brutal in the heat of the Florida summer, it is a perfect place for him to work. It’s so nice to have him around all the time… :)

We arrived home late last Tuesday night (May 27). We have since been busying ourselves with settling in and getting into a routine together. Ben has been living here since January, so I guess I’m the only one adjusting to being here…but I’m sure he’s got his own adjustments to make not being a bachelor any more. After a number of trips to my parents’ house over the past few weeks, most of my belongings and our wedding gifts are here, though they’re not all put away. Our friends and family were so generous to us, and it has really made for a quite comfortable beginning of our lives together. We have far more than we need and are ever thankful for God’s provision for us.

We are living in the home of some good friends of ours. Dave’s work has taken the family away for the majority of the next year, so we are using the entire house right now. We rearranged the basement, and will be staying down there when they are in town for relatively short spurts. We have a nice living area, a table to eat at, and our bedroom down there. Even though it’s a relatively small space, I’m confident we’ll be quite comfortable.

Being Ben’s wife is an immeasurable blessing. I’ll be sure to post about The Day before long, but for now I need to get going. I have a number of things I need to get done today, so I’m going to hop to it.

Blessings,

Mrs. Murch <3

Hello to all from the happy wife of Ben Murch! I’m sure you’ll all forgive my lack of posts as of late. :) My beloved husband and I are at his family’s home for a short stay before heading back to our home in Florida on Tuesday. Today, we have been married for two weeks, but in some ways, it feels as though we’ve been married forever. However, I still have moments when I look at him and am in awe at the fact that he truly is my own husband. I’ve learned over the past two weeks that there are innumerable blessings in having a godly husband, and we’ve only just begun! Our honeymoon is over, and it’s back to real life shortly. We’ve had a splendid time, but I am somewhat looking forward to getting home, and starting to build our life together. Next week, my full time job as a keeper at home begins, and I am thrilled. I have learned, though, that being a godly wife requires constant leaning on Christ; being Ben’s wife is wonderful…I just still have my sinful nature to contend with. Once we’re home, I’ll have time for a more thorough update, but for now, I’ll just leave you with a picture from The Day.

Blessings,

Mrs. Murch <3

The medical license of “Dr.” James Scott Pendergraft has been reinstated, despite the fact that he has murdered many children in the third trimester of pregnancy in direct violation of Florids statutes. It seems that Saturday was his first day back at Orlando Women’s Center slaughter house…he killed about 20 people.

So, I’m laying here on the cozy sofa in my family’s den, about to go to sleep (it’s way past my bedtime). My two little buddies (one three, one five) are sleeping comfortably on a pallet on the floor. We met their Mom late last summer at the abortion clinic; her little boy is now nearing one month old. We went by to see them today, as we hadn’t seen them since she came home from the hospital after delivering her sweet son and her older two came over for a sleep over. They are an active couple of young men, but I love them dearly. :) The older one is snoring ever so slightly…

In our guest room, my beloved fiance’ is sound asleep. He came over this evening for supper, and helped me watch my little friends. Mom is scurrying around in the kitchen; Dad is reading in their room. What wonderful parents I have. I love Ben with all my heart, but I know I will miss not having my parents around all the time! I must admit…I am quite thankful we will be staying around this area for a while and not heading to another state right away. I a m so content here. Wonderful parents, wonderful church, wonderful fiance’, lovely home to live in with him free of rent once we are married…

This season of my life is quickly coming to an end. Three weeks from tomorrow, I will walk down the aisle on my dad’s arm and he will give me to Ben. I will go from being just a daughter to being a wife, and Lord willing, a mother eventually. What responsibility…what joy! While I very much look forward to May 10, I must try to savor each and every moment; this path I am walking on now I will never walk on again. May 10 a 1 o’clock, my life will become permanently intertwined with the life of another in such a real way that we will become one. I, like every girl, have looked forward to that day for my entire life. The fact that it is so soon approaching is quite surreal.

May God give me the grace to honor Him during this time. May He bless as I prepare for this unique calling of being a helper to my beloved Ben. May He be glorified in the remainder of our engagement, at our wedding, and throughout our marriage.

The five year old has stopped snoring now. All the lights are off; I think everyone is sleeping now besides me, so I reckon I will join them.

Until next time…

A little over three years ago, Ben Murch drove his brother and sister to meet me. We exchanged hellos, but there was not even a hand shake. Three years ago, Ben Murch came to Florida with his sister and they stayed at my house. I thought he was a nice guy, but did not even begin to foresee what God would have in store. We quickly became friends, and 27 months ago, he got my daddy’s permission to court me.

Friday night (March 21), he asked me to marry him. I, of course, said yes. And, Lord willing, on May 10, 2008 and 1 o’clock in the afternoon, Ben Murch and I will be united as husband and wife.

One of my biggest struggles is managing my time. It is so easy for me to get caught up in something and waste most of my day, letting important tasks fall to the side. Several areas of my life have been lacking as of late. I need to clean things out of my life and use my time as wisely as possible, for the sake of bringing glory to God. After all, time is one thing that cannot be recycled. Once a moment is gone, I can never, ever have it back, and I’ll give an account for each moment.

As of late, I’ve been wasting a lot of time. Many goals I set for myself have fallen to the wayside, and I need to get back on track. My devotions haven’t been happening every day, I haven’t been memorizing Scripture, my room is a mess, I’ve been going to bed too late and sleeping in, flute and piano are largely neglected…etc.

I’ve decided that tomorrow I’m going to set aside a good chunk of time to get myself organized. Perhaps I’ll sneak away for an hour or two with my Starbucks gift card and my laptop and get some things done, free from distraction. I want to make a workable schedule for myself and put it into practice ASAP.

So, my next few posts will likely be able my attempt to get myself back on track, by God’s grace, in the area of time management.

I found out this evening that my aunt’s ex-husband died of a massive heart attack yesterday afternoon. Even though they were divorced, he kept in touch with my mom. He left behind three children: one adult son, one teenage son, and a young daughter. They are all taking it very hard, as you can imagine. Please remember them in your prayers during this season.

This was our third Valentine’s Day as a couple, but the first one we’ve actually been together for! For various reasons I didn’t think we were going to do anything, but Ben surprised me Thursday morning (of last week), and invited me to have a picnic with him to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Of course, I accepted his invitation. I began busying myself with getting ready, packing lunch (with some special things like sparkling grape juice and chocolate covered strawberries), and then he arrived. I answered the door, and he presented me with a beautiful bouquet of all different types of pink flowers. It’s lovely; they’re still alive a well! Shortly after he arrived at the house we headed out.

We spent the day at Bok Sanctuary. I read that it was the most romantic place to have a picnic in Central Florida, so that’s where we went. It is an absolutely beautiful place, with over 50 acres of beautifully planned gardens and trails. When we arrived, we enjoyed our picnic in a lovely wooded picnic area.

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the breathtaking gardens, and then had dinner with my parents. It was a lovely day. I am so thankful for Ben. What a blessing it is for my heart to be held by a man who loves the Lord!