Update on Maranda

After another fun adventure in Labor and Delivery (L&D) again last night, we go for another ultrasound today! This ultrasound was already scheduled and had nothing to do with the visit to the hospital.

Everything is going well though. Maranda hasn’t dilated any more than she was, and our favorite nurse, Gail, told us that she still seemed a long way from going into pre-term labor. That’s always good to hear.

Maranda is now 31 weeks and 3 days into her pregnancy, and we’re pulling for at least 2 and a half more weeks before the big day. I am pulling more for 3 or 4 weeks. 37 weeks would be ideal for me, but Maranda might not agree at this point.

She’s still very uncomfortable, as one can imagine. Just keep praying for her. She really has been a trooper during this whole experience. I know I couldn’t have handled it as well. It just makes me wonder how merciful she will be for pregnant women of singletons after this.

I imagine she will be wearing the shirt above in the very near future. ~A

Double Rainbows, Double Portions

Some of you have may have heard others allude to the rainbow story, but it is far more than just a story. And many of you who do not live in Nashville probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but we feel it is important to share what the Lord is doing. I will warn you, though. This will be a LONG posting.

First off, Maranda and I, along with our church family at Spirit of Life, believe that God still speaks today and speaks to every individual who will take the time to listen. And we believe God spoke a special message to us in the early stages of Maranda’s pregnancy. This message has been spoken to others as well since then, only confirming God’s word to us.

A little after Maranda found out that she was pregnant, Pastor Fran Schaub at our church felt impressed by the Lord that the next pregnancy at the church would be a sign and message from the Lord. God kept telling her that she would receive a phone call about a baby. We already knew that Maranda was pregnant, so we never thought that it would be us.

Around this same time, we were driving home from work. I sometimes make Maranda a little nervous, so she was driving this particular day (which proved to also be of the Lord’s design). It had been raining that day, but the skies had parted. The sun was beginning to shine through. That’s when I noticed a tiny sliver of a rainbow in the clouds.

Something inside me became very, very excited—much like a child would be. “Look, Maranda… a rainbow!” I shouted. She saw it, but she didn’t get as excited as I did. Then, the rainbow began to grow, both in size and intensity. I became ecstatic! “Wow! Look!” I cried as I kept repositioning myself to see it better. Soon, a full rainbow was spanning the sky. It was so bright that it looked electric, as if God had plugged it directly into a light socket.

I was unglued at this point. But then, above the rainbow, another fainter rainbow began to appear. It also filled in across the sky until we driving right into a full double rainbow! (Much like the one in the picture above that I found from www.gdargaud.net. ) Being such a mighty man of God, I saw no spiritual significance at the time.

It was days later when Maranda told me that God had spoken to her. She said that the Lord was trying to tell me something about the rainbows. Maranda NEVER does this, so when she tells me that God told her something, I pay attention! So I began to think about provision and God’s covenant with us and what else He might have to speak to me.

And there was more. We went for our first doctor’s visit, and we discovered that we were having twins! Things began to make sense. We called Pastor Fran, and she began to laugh and laugh and laugh. And then, I began to laugh and laugh and laugh. She told me, “This is it! This is it, Alan! This is what God has been telling me about… God is speaking to us about a double portion.”

God began to speak mightily about these girls, giving us Isaiah 61:7, which says, “Instead of your shame, you will have a double portion. Instead of your humiliation, you will shout for joy over your portion. Therefore, they will possess a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.”

This all happened sometime in early, early summer. Then in October, a Christian prophet by the name of Kim Clement gave an astounding Word of the Lord as confirmation to us. He said:

"Twins born rapidly through the Nation and through the world shall be a sign of the double portion and the multiplication. The statistics shall be known and factual, and they shall speak about the fact that there are more twins born in these few years, than have ever been born in the history of mankind. This shall be a sign that multiplication has begun," says the Lord. "There will be double rainbows. There will be double births." God says, "It is a time for My people to rejoice for certainly the season of multiplication has begun," says the Lord!

Yes, you are reading that correctly. Double rainbows. Double births. God is doing something, and He is doing something BIG. We are very excited and honored that God has already begun speaking through our children to us. We can only wait and watch what the Lord will do next! ~A

Trading Spaces: From Womb to Room

I cannot tell you how pleased we are with the girls' room! The nursery is complete, and the only things we are lacking in there are babies! Obviously they won't be sleeping in there for a while. They will be in the cradle and bassinet we have in our room.

But still, we wanted to show you the craftiness of Maranda's mother--Kim. She did the painting (free-hand, mind you), and she even made the bedding, window dressings, and seat cushions for the room. Even though I thought that they nursery would look like a hippie haven, it really did turn out nicely.

God truly has provided. I don't know if we have even bought a fraction of what is in this room. We have been so blessed by people just giving us things, and it means so much to Maranda and me. Thank you to everyone who has given us ANYTHING for the girls. We deeply appreciate it. ~A

By Popular Demand...

Many of you could not imagine Maranda having much of a waist, and you have demanded pictures to see her and her doubly pregnant self. So Maranda agreed to a little photo shoot here at Coulter Studios to show off her midriff one more time before becoming a mother.

This picture was actually taken a week or two ago, so she actually is a little larger now. She is 30 weeks tomorrow, and the babies weigh right around 3 to 3.5 lbs each. They are actually measuring a little ahead of schedule, which is more than okay with us. We're on track to deliver right around Christmas, according to the last nurse we saw at the hospital. Our prayer right now is to avoid the NICU, and we know that God has complete control over everything. He has ordained these little ones prophetically--which I will explain later in an upcoming posting on this blog.

Just as an aside, Maranda and I are attending child birth classes this weekend at Summit Medical Center where she will be delivering. Maranda isn't learning a whole lot, but I have found some of it helpful. I have learned some things that really aren't publishable here, but you mothers can only imagine the education I am getting firsthand.

And just to brag on Maranda a little bit, she is doing really well. She is taking her Turb regularly to ensure that she doesn't continue in pre-term labor, even though the medicine does not make her feel like herself. It makes her a bit jittery, and I know she would rather not take it. Already, she is sacrificing her own wants for those of our children.

And I might add that she looks beautiful. I am not just saying that because she is my wife. Many people have commented at how pretty she is, and they are shocked because she is so pregnant. That is not to say that Maranda always feels beautiful, but she is gorgeous nonetheless. I would even go so far as to say that she glows--as cliche as that sounds. ~ A

Sooner than You Think

Maranda and I had another fun visit to the hospital the other night. She had done too much housework that week, and sure enough, the contractions fired up again. After four hours of them, we headed back to the hospital in order to get another shot of Turb. Thank the Lord that she didn't get as sick as the first time.

The next day she had an appointment with the doctor. The due date has still not shifted back from January 21, but everyone seems to know that the girls won't be waiting that long.

The nurse practitioner surprised us a bit by saying that if the twins would wait until 6-8 more weeks, they would be thrilled. ... For those of you who don't have a calendar in front of you:

Six weeks = December 10

Eight weeks = December 24

We might as well stick bows on their heads, as the odds are getting better and better that we will have Christmas babies. ~A