End of the month update

Hello, it is that time again! Putting my weight out there for the world to see. I know that I won't be available tomorrow for weigh-in(something about a cabin and youth leader retreat). So, I am a day early. I weigh 162 lbs today and my BMI is 24.79. Again, not another great amount of weight loss this month. I blame the homemade German chocolate cake that my husband made for me for my birthday and PF Changs. I need to step it up so I am vowing that for the month of March, I am going to run at least 1 time per week. That would total 4 1/2 times. Finding the hours in the day will be tough, but I can do it. How is everyone else doing? Have you given up yet? Don't! Swimsuit and shorts season is just around the bend. Aggggghhhhhh! Stay with me and let's inspire each other!

Steadfastness of God's Word

Yesterday was my birthday and I enjoyed myself so much. We had a great Sunday school in both the youth and the Couples in Christ(we finally finished Genesis after a year). I was taking the kids to the van while Michael ran back in to turn in the nursery beeper. I had all the kids and all the bags, my Bible and coffee cup. I had to put a bunch of stuff down to find the keys and unlock the van. I put the diaper bags on the ground while balancing AJay on 1 hip. I gave Isabela my coffee cup and set my Bible and notebook on the top of the van. I found the keys and unlocked the doors and put everything in the van including the children. Michael came running up and started buckling children into their seats. I asked him if he would get my stuff off the roof. He finished and closed the doors and we took off for BK and its coveted dollar menu. We got home and rushed in to feed hungry kids. They were sent to bed and I got a nap as part of my bday present. After consuming much food at PF Changs with my mother-in-law(her bday is the today), I came home and opened my presents. I had asked for a new Bible cover in leather or Vera Bradley. My mother-in-law came through and got me one. We ate cake and played with the children and then they all went to bed. I changed purses because I got a new one and went to put my Bible in its new cover. I couldn't find it in the house so I ran out to the van to get it and couldn't find it. I began to get a little upset. Michael gave it to me when we were engaged and I was moving to Savannah. It had sentimental value to me. Then, I realized that I had left it on the top of the van after church!!!! Michael went running out to see if it was still there. It was!!! The zipper pull had gotten stuck in our luggage rack and it held fast during the drive from downtown Hendo to our home which was almost 15 miles. It also survived the drive thru at BK. Michael laughed and said that it was a bday miracle! The notebook that was with it did not fare so well. It is missing. I guess it flew away. I think that man's wisdom and world logic falls in to the notebook category. When it is tested in high winds and tempests(and grease from BK), it will fly away and you will be left with nothing. God's Word, however, will get a stronghold and be steadfast and outlast any storm or wind. Isn't that cool how you can learn from something so silly? When the last dregs of this world are falling apart and are eventually gone, God's Word will be there and still be the only truth that you have ever needed. Immerse yourself in its truth and wisdom because despite its age(and I am sensitive to that), the Bible is still relevant to our lives and culture!

A Pleasant Aroma

As I have spent the last week cleaning up vomit and diarrhea from my children due to a stomach bug that raged through our home, I thought about the smell. I have used Lysol, Clorox and candles to try and rid the smell. Not until you clean all the surfaces, sheets, pillows, trash cans, clothes, etc do you finally get the smell out of your nostrils. You must also clean the person. Each time AJay, my infant, would throw up, I would have to put him in the bath tub to get clean. Babies can't control their vomit zones! I wouldn't have been wise to take off his dirty clothes and put clean clothes on his dirty little body. That all got me to thinking. God says He will put the stench of our camps in our nostrils (Amos 4:10). I don't think that I ever want to smell what the smell of a war camp must be like after several months of no showers, poor bathroom facilities, and blood, and rotting corpses nearby. Can you imagine? That rotting, sewer smell is what we smell like to God when we continually live in sin. I like to think of it in today's terms, like the smell of a dirty diaper or stale vomit. Make you gag? Think about what God must do. Until we shower in His blood and wash with the soap of righteousness offered through Jesus Christ, then we will continue to smell that way. Putting fresh clothes on our dirty, vomit stained bodies, does no good because eventually the stench comes through. I want to strive to be a sweet-smelling, pleasant aroma in the nostrils of our Lord. Ephesians 5:2 says that we should live a life of love, like Christ who offered Himself up as a fragrant offering to God. I want to be more like Christ. I have striven through Jesus to clean myself up, but sometimes the enemy comes before me holding that stinky old shirt and waving it before my nose to remind me. I tell him that God, my Abba Father, doesn't even remember that I wore that old thing and that the victory has already been won. Satan has been defeated!!! So, take that and burn it! Don't let the scent enter God's nostrils again! Sometimes, I think that believers live in defeat. They get used to the smell. Anytime you live your life in continual disobedience, you get used to the smell. I urge you, DON'T!!!! Ask God to clear your nostrils so that you can see where you need to clean up. He will! He wants you to be pleasing to Him. Are you? The next time you smell something that stinks, consider if that is how you smell to God. Likewise, with something pleasant to you, isn't that the way you want to smell?

American Idol

I confess. My name is Sarita and I am addicted to American Idol. I need to join a 12 step program. Anyway, as I have been watching this season's shows, I have noticed that AI seems to be a microcosm of our society. First off, thousands of people stand in line for days to sing 2 lines of a song. Most of them are no good and some of them are outstanding. My favorite part of the season is the beginning shows when they show the awful, horrible ones. They are like car wrecks, you just can't look away. But, they will sing off key and off beat and not know the words. The judges will say that's a no and the kids will plead and beg and cry and promise that they can do it. The judges will say no again and maybe something harsher and then the kids will sometimes start telling them how Paula, Randy, and Simon are not talented and washed up.
I attribute this behavior to the trophy kid syndrome. We have raised a generation of kids that got awards for just participating. There were no winners and losers but everyone wins something, maybe a trophy or a medal. They aren't used to being told no you are not good enough or you aren't cut out for this kind of work. That is why they beg and cry and get outraged when they get into the "real world" and are competing against others who may be better at this particular job. They feel defeated and useless. No one likes to feel that, but in the real world, not American Idol, if your boss tells you that someone can do something better than you, you don't cuss your boss out and tell him that he sucks and isn't talented. You would be fired. I have used these times of failure to see how I might better myself and find where I might be better than somebody else.
The reality of life is that failure will happen. How we accept failure is what shows the mark of who we are. Do we pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off and try to be better? Or do we continue to lie there where we fell and feel sorry for ourselves and wait for someone to bring us some food and money? Do we never get up and try again? I think that the times that have been the hardest or the lowest have been the times when I have learned the most. The most about myself, the world, my friends and my God. I cherish those times and wouldn't trade them for all the record contracts in the whole world.
So, take what the Simon Cowells of the world tell you and use it to make yourself stronger and wiser. He usually is spot on!

Happy Birthday to my baby!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ASA JEB EDGERTON!

I am so happy to be your mom! You are such a happy baby, laughing all the time, adoring your sisters, and idolizing your brother. God saved you for a purpose and I can't wait to see what He is going to accomplish through you!
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD. "plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
I stand on that promise! Thank you, Lord, for the sweet life you have given to our family. May we nurture him and raise him in the fear and admonition of the LORD.
Thank you all so much for your prayers for him AJay and us. We wouldn't have gotten through all of this without your kind words and sweet thoughts! Many blessings!
Sarita
Let's eat cake!

1 year later!

This is from 1 year ago today and later this week! I can't believe that we have been 1 year out! That is crazy!




posted by Sarita Edgerton, Saturday, 2/2/08, 5:45 PM
Well, with just mere days until our precious baby is born and my impending surgery, I wanted to tell you all how much you have meant to me. Your visits, cards, food, and prayer have been a boon to my heart. Please, continue to pray for my doctors, Cobb, Pestoff, and Blair Harkness. Pray to give each wisdom for what he/she is responsible. Ask for God to guide their hands as they work on my insides and that nothing is left behind that doesn't belong. Pray as well for the NICU doctors and how they treat AJay. We also ask that you pray that he doesn't have to stay any longer than I do. Please also, pray for Michael as he will have a baby in ICU and a wife in ICU. He may not be available to talk by phone but know that he appreciates the prayers.
On the day of the surgery, my friend, Cheryl, will send out an update via this site when AJay is born and then when I come out of surgery. As soon as she knows something she will put it over the computer. My surgery could take a while so don't panic if you haven't heard anything by supper. Information just takes time to get out. If all goes well, I hope to leave the hospital on or around 2/12 and be home for Valentine's and my birthday (2/22). It'll be romantic just to sleep beside my precious husband for the first time in 80 days. All about perspective, huh? I can't tell you how excited I am to know that I am so close to going home and hearing the noise of my children, sleeping in my own bed, taking a shower in my own shower, and eating food that doesn't come on a tray from a downstairs utilitarian kitchen.
I have realized here how blessed I am. I am getting to be a part of what God is doing and truly experiencing a miracle. A girl was checked in this week in a room near me. She broke her waters at 23 weeks and 4 days (same as me). 2 days later her baby went home to be with the Lord. My heart was broken for her. I was praying for the miracle for her that God had given me. However, it was not to be. I am really appreciating every movement and every hiccup as this will my very last time to ever feel that in my life. After Thursday, I will never be able to feel what it is like to be pregnant again. I am not sad just grateful that God chose me to be the mom to these 4 beautiful, precious children. Now, that is what I call being "pro-choice". Thanks God allowing me experience the miracle that is child birth.



posted by Cheryl Barrington, Thursday, 2/7/08, 1:57 PM
Sarita has made it through surgery!!!! God is sooo good!! The doctor told Michael that the percreta had not been as invasive as they thought. She still had to have three units of blood during surgery and is getting one now in ICU. Her bladder however seems to be in tact!! Praise God! She will be in ICU through the night and hopefully get a room in the AM. However, she has just had major surgery...so please wait until Saturday to try calling. Also, please call Michael before making any visits, to see if she is able to handle that yet! When I get any more information I will post it again! Thanks for all your prayers!!!