In case you still don't get it... Kelsi is PREGNANT! I know right... Just in case some of you are freaking out right now, thinking that Kelsi will be having a baby in a ditch somewhere, you should know that having a baby in Phnom Penh, Cambodia is not as dangerous or terrifying as you might think. We have a midwife as a doctor, and all of the same technology as in the states. Kelsi is already on the pregnancy vitamins and we have gone in for her first check up. She is about seven and half weeks along, and we have been told that we can hear the baby's heart beat some time this week :) Abby and Lily love the idea of having a baby sister or brother. Abby everyday asks about the baby in mommy's tummy. Kelsi is also dealing a lot with morning sickness, and afternoon sickness, and night time sickness... Abby asked why mommy didn't feel good, and I told her it was because she had a baby in her tummy, and now Abby won't drop that. Also, Lily has gotten old enough that she has started protesting that she is the baby. Abby asked her today if she was the baby, and she said "no." and shook her head like Lily does... I'll have to get a video of it some time. Abby then said, "Lily not the baby. The baby in mommy's tummy." Yes, yes it is... Please pray for Kelsi during this time. We are so excited to be making this addition to our little family :)On another note, the night before Kelsi's first appointment, I could not sleep... I was burning with a fever, and every muscle in my body was aching. That morning, I touched Kelsi's back, and she said that it burnt. I stayed home from school, but I really wanted to go to the appointment, so we left together at eleven. We got to the doctor and went through all the routine questions about the due date and such, and Kelsi left to go pee in a cup. While she was out, I told Gloria how I didn't sleep last night and everything else, and she said she wanted to do a blood test, but she was pretty sure she knew what was wrong. We got the blood test, and found that I had dengue and typhoid. Dengue attacks your immune system and makes your muscles ache, and typhoid makes you have diarrhea, head aches, fevers that come and go, and it also makes you have an extremely low blood count (I'm not sure though... "I'm a teacher, not a doctor, Jim!") . Some of these symptoms may actually be the dengue, I am not sure... Google it, if you are curious. In either case, I was down for a week and a half, and I am now back up and teaching again. I would like for there to be more to the story, but I really just slept for a week and a half and took pills twice a day. My experience with it was being really dizzy whenever I stood up, and my chest hurting whenever I would breath. I was also really hot for some of the time. Mostly, it was just really annoying, because when I was laying down, I felt mostly fine, and I could hear Kelsi taking care of the girls and the whole house, and I could do absolutely nothing to help her, knowing that she was not feeling at all well, either. My wife is amazing.
If you were wondering why we had not posted on the blog in a while, now you know ;)We also have some amazing teams here helping us with special projects, and they really stepped up when I was down. Another reason I love having teams here--they fill needs that would otherwise be difficult to fill.
I had some really good time with God during my week and a half of laying in bed. I learned a very important lesson on humility, as well. I was completely gone, without notice for over a week, and you know what... School kept on going, BYKOTA House did not come to a crashing halt. My girls did not starve to death. Things kept on going on, even though I was not there. Some might say that just means I am not a very important person, or my job isn't very important, but I wonder if all of us need to have this humility check. None of our jobs are so important that if we were gone for a week (or forever) we could not be replaced. We sometimes get the mindset that if we don't do something, it won't get done. I understand that there are special jobs that are done by special people, but lets all take an honest look at the only person in the universe who's job must continually be done. And if He were to be gone for a week, everything would come to a crashing halt. Things did not keep on going as if nothing changed, while I was gone, but things did keep on going in some way. This humility check is what allows me to take a Sabbath rest every Sunday, and every night as I sleep. And this humility check reminds me that I am not as necessary as I make myself out to be. As Solomon in all his wisdom wrote, "18 I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, 19 and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity." -Ecclesiastes 2:18-19 And at the end of Ecclesiastes: "13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil." Ecclesiastes 12:13-14. I know that one day I will die, and nothing I have done on earth will really matter to those still on earth, but I also know for whom I do things. I toil not for others, but for God. And as Jesus says in Matthew 6, I am not storing up my treasures on earth (doing things for others to see), but I am storing up my treasures in heaven (doing everything for the Lord to see). Ultimately, what I do is only important, because I do it for the Lord, and one of these days, I will be gone for more than a week, and on that day, someone will replace my work. I am not so proud to say that I am too important to not be around. For now, the dengue and typhoid didn't kill me, so I am feeling pretty invincible. I love the joys of life, and the gift that God has given us to be here. I love my wife, and my daughters, and my soon to be son... :D just kidding-we don't know whether it is a boy or a girl, and I would love to have three daughters just as much as I would love to have two daughters and a son. I love serving the Lord, and living every day for Him, knowing that one day, I will be with Him face to face.
To sum up this blog post:
Kelsi is PREGNANT! WOOT WOOT!
I don't have Dengue and Typhoid anymore! WOOT WOOT!
And it might be time to have a humility check.... I won't woot for that one ;)
Thank you to everyone who faithfully prays for us and supports us. We could not be here without you. If you were to be gone, we would notice ;)
BecauseHeLives,
The Bergens.
