December 2015 - The Salt Stories

adventures of everyday, moving further up and further in

Archive for December 2015

Posted by Amy

· December 13, 2015

Birth Story: Trying to beat the odds and becoming a superhero Pt. 2

Oh the beauty and pain of birthdays. We are picking up with where we left off in the birth story with a quick recap of part 1.

Again this is a disclaimer. Today we are telling a story about birth, if it is not your style check back later this week for your regular scheduled programming.

I come from a line of strong women who in two generations have given birth to 21 beautiful babies, each via c-section. I was 2 weeks past my due date and my body had made absolutely no signs towards delivery. So we went in to the hospital to help my body along. After two rounds of a vaginal softener, cervadil, and 24 hours my body was 1cm dilated last we checked and I was having strong regular contractions.

At this point in the story, I had never felt this uncomfortable in my life. I am not sure if uncomfortable is even the right word, because it is not like I was expecting comfort, it was more the anguish that I was not expecting. Stuart thought I was progressing along, but I wouldn’t dare be that hopeful, out of fear I would be disappointed again. The last six times someone came in to check my status they would leave saying the same thing, “high and hard”. Read More →

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Categories : Family, Life, Mom Musings

Posted by Amy

· December 12, 2015

· 4 Comments

Birth Story: Trying to beat the odds and becoming a superhero Pt. 1

This week I celebrate my birthday. Over the last two years I have learned that birthdays really should be a celebration of your mama (and often papa too). So as I reflect on my wonderful mama and the celebration of birth, I’ll share with you Anna’s birth story. Its a little long, so it will be posted in two parts.

Why Share?

The last few month of my pregnancy I became curious and nervous about the actual birth part of having a baby. As a first time mom, I was consumed by all the changes that came with being pregnant, that I thought little about the next step. But knowing that pregnancy was not a forever state, it was time for some research.

In order to prepare, Stuart and I attended a great birth class. The instructor was wonderful, kind, realistic, and offered tons of practical advice. Despite it being the perfect class for new parents, for some reason I left with a ridiculous amount anxiety and felt totally overwhelmed. Looking back I was just so uncomfortable with every detail of giving birth – the noises, the pain, the fluids, all of it.

For a while I just stuffed up my ears and pretend the birth day was never going to come. But eventually a wise man, my husband, reminded me how awesome my body was and how he wanted to support me through it all. I figured I better get over my unfounded anxiety, because the day would inevitably come, and my attitude would either help make the birth a great experience or an awful one.

So, I began to read birth stories, after reading a few, I couldn’t get enough of them. They offered a dose of the reality, beauty, and variety in child-birth.

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Categories : Family, Life, Mom Musings

Posted by Amy

· December 9, 2015

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The value of ancient words

Is there value in repeating ancient words?

Often I feel more comfortable in the tradition of spontaneous prayers. Prayer where I piece the words together in the moment and express myself like I would to a friend over coffee. This free form stream of conscious type prayer is a sincere and powerful extension of my heart, but recently I have found a new peace and strength in the prayers passed down through Christian tradition.

A huge collection of ancient prayers dripping in history, theology, and truth are still repeated by millions of Christians from all over the world today. Words that were written down long ago and have journeyed through history in the mouths of searching people. Maybe you have prayed some of them before, some come from scripture like, The Our Father, The Magnificat, Simeon and Zachary’s Song, and The Doxology. There are also many prayers passed down through tradition of the church like the prayers of Ignatius of Antioch and Hippolytos of Rome, the Nicene creed, and the church’s liturgical prayers of baptism.

So this is my attempt to understand how the prayers of the historic church can be a peaceful and beneficial part of my regular prayer? Read More →

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Categories : Faith, Liturgy, Saints, Seeking Truth

Posted by Amy

· December 4, 2015

· 10 Comments

When a baby cries at church

There we are, in the middle of a beautiful service, and then we hear it, the sounds of our smallest church goers. A loud cry from the pew behind us, a kneeler going bang across the aisle, or a fit from the young one in our own pew. Our quiet peaceful moment is ruined.

When a child cries at church, it is easy to assume it takes away from the worship experience. And while yes, it does change the experience, we can find ways to allow these distractions to change it for the better. To have a greater experience of God because, not in spite, of the howling of the smallest saints at church.

Here are seven things to ponder when you hear crying at church. Read More →

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Categories : Faith, Family, Life, Liturgy, Mom Musings

Tags : baby, crying

Posted by Amy

· December 3, 2015

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Hope Breakdown

Hope, I do not think it means what you think it means.

Hope is one of those words that people, including myself, throw around without a clear understanding of what it means. And let me tell you, it is hard to have hope, if you don’t really know what it looks like.

So here begins my search for a working definition of hope. One that would help me use this virtue in the midst of trying and uncertain times.

Then I found it, Eureka! Paul’s words in the book of Timothy, “For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.” (4:10)

We have it, our working definition…