A New Introduction...

Hello, everyone! Let me introduce myself--my name is Jubilee Rose Grubbs and I was born on Tuesday just before noon. You all know my mom, and my dad is Mr. Time Management. He's the one that's always talking about "Redeeming the Time" and doing things the fastest way possible.

I don't know what all the commotion was about, but I decided to take his advice and be born the fastest way possible just like he's always telling people to do. It seems he wasn't too crazy about my idea after all because he had to go get a nurse real fast and the doctor didn't even make it. I don't understand that part either because he's always talking about saving money and finding ways to do it. I would think that if the doctor didn't make it, that would be a considerable savings. He usually says that he's not going to hire people to do things that he can do himself, and I think he and that nurse he got did a pretty good job just between the two of them. After all, why even pay all that money to go to medical school if my dad and a random nurse can do the same thing? If he had done the doctor thing for my other ten brothers and sisters, that would have been a really big savings, but I don't think he likes the idea!

Maybe I'll understand all these details some day, but for now, I'm spending my time following more of my dad's advice. Early rising is one of my specialties. This morning at 4:30a.m., when my mom woke up my dad to do his early rising thing, he didn't seem as enthusiastic as normal. I guess that acting like the doctor thing might have worn him out. After all, this is his year of Jubilee...

The Bible says that every fiftieth year is supposed to be a year of Jubilee, and this is the year that my dad turns 50. He's a smart dad to marry a wife that can still give him a baby in his year of Jubilee and he sure showed up those twenty something first time dads at the hospital by stepping up and doing a great job helping to get me here. Better go. Dad's on duty tonight. By the way, if you see my dad, don't call him, "Dr. Grubbs." He doesn't like that. He says he can't even cure a ham.

Now to remind him of one of his major points in that "Redeeming the Time" message--Learn How to wake up and get up." I think he may drop that point for a while. Until then, I'll give him plenty of practice!

People want to know...have I changed my mind?

Recently, my obstretrician asked me a question that sent me home with a lot of deep thinking for several days. As we were discussing the plans for the upcoming birth of our baby, he asked me a question that has made me consider where I am in life, and how it relates to how God has chosen to work on and in me.

Over the years and pregnancies, things have changed from the days of rushing to the hospital-barely making it in time to deliver, to opting for a scheduled, less painful delivery. Going back to the days of my first deliveries would have a lot of benefits because I know that medical interventions often cause further necesary interventions. However, about the time of my eighth delivery, I decided that the pain levels I experienced, (combined with my increasing age!) had made me decide that I couldn't do it the old way anymore, and that I needed to make some changes.

As I discussed these options with my doctor recently, he said, "Now that you've decided to change the way you deliver your babies, have you changed your idea about how many children you want to have?" That question caught me off guard, but it ended up sending me into a lot of deep thinking over the next few days.

As I thought about the question and tried to discern in my mind if I had indeed changed my mind about how many children I wanted to have, I came to the conclusion that I had not changed my mind about how many children that I want to have. However, I have made a big change in one way that I am thinking.

The one thing that has not changed is my commitment over twenty years ago that I would take all the children that God would choose to bless me with. This decision was made fully understanding the ignorance that most people would attach to it--after all, people that make that "commitment" always ended up with twenty bratty children, right?

The one big thing that has changed is how long, and how deeply I consider my decision to potentially get pregnant again. While it used to be made flippantly with a excitement for the months ahead, now it is made with a sense for what the next nine months could potentially cost me. I've endured enough months of severe nausea, aches and pains, and misunderstanding of people on all sides to know that making the decision to bring another child into the world means work. It means my life isn't necessarily going to be too pleasant at times, and it means that I am opening myself up to a lot of potential pain and problems that most sensible people would avoid.

However, as I thought about all this, it became clearer to me that, no, I haven't changed my commitment to give this area of my life to God--it has just become a deeper, and a more mature commitment. It has become a commitment that costs me more than it used to. It is a commitment that only God knows the value of because only He knows the cost that it means to me.

As I realized this, I realized that this is exactly why people do not understand me and the way I think. They don't know the cost, but neither do they know the JOY! I have come to understand that God never looks lightly on our costly gifts to Him. He never under rates the sacrifices that we offer to Him on a daily basis, and He returns the same to us in JOY. If we offer cheap gifts to Him--gifts which cost us nothing, He knows that. If we offer the commitment of all our lives to Him and what we offer is costly to us, He knows that. As I offer to God my daily living sacrifice, He returns to me joy that is far deeper than the difficulties that I face.

This doesn't mean that I expect a life free of difficulties. It doesn't mean I
shouldn't expect to welcome unwanted diseases, a special needs child, a painful miscarriage, or an untimely death. What it does mean is that in the middle of it all, God is giving joy. Life brings difficulties whether we are experiencing God's joy or not. To sum up the question that I was asked then, I would say, "No, I haven't changed my mind. The only difference is that now I'm experiencing joy" and I wouldn't trade it for any other option in the world!

I'm Unemployed

I recently had to take one of my children to a medical facility where the typical patient information was taken. When my child was discharged, I was given his paperwork and sent home. A couple of days later, I picked up the paperwork, and discovered to my (shall we say it lightly), "irritation" that I was listed as "unemployed."

Now of all the absurd things that people say about me, I must say that I am rarely categorized as "unemployed." One reason for that is that most people have enough sense to know that any mother is employed and has never been unemployed since the first day she found out she was expecting her first child. I decided that the problem was not that I am "unemployed" but that the person who designated me as unemployed is more likely "unenlightened."

Just in case someone else mistakenly wants to classify me as unemployed, I thought I would clear the record a little. Currently I am teaching a full load of classes such as Algebra II, Geometry, Chemistry, Algebra 1/2, multiple grammar classes, and various history and civic courses such as Economics. I am also teaching Biology, Human Anatomy and Physiology and various science, spelling, reading, and Bible courses. I didn't mention that I'm making more meals a day than most people make in a week, potty training a 2 year old, potty training a 2 year old, and potty training a 2 year old. I'm also supervising three college level students in subjects ranging from missions and powerpoint presentations to criminal justice. Considering these three students are my own children, I'm also helping to manage homesickness, computer problems over the phone and the ins and outs of premarital boy/girl relationships. I am the unemployed business assistant for my husband, and the wife of a minister who travels to places most people haven't even heard about. Some how he gets in the car or the plane while I'm sitting by unemployed. Once in a while I accompany him with a whole bunch of children and travel across the country for weeks, but I'm unemployed while I'm doing it. I'm also unemployed while doing such mundane tasks as are usually reserved for those with the title of "janitor." Too bad I can't qualify for a job as taxi driver, dental hygienist, or an office receptionist.

Yes, folks, I'm unemployed. It doesn't count that I'm currently 99% through making a baby that will last forever, or reading bedtime Bible stories to children that will outlive those classifying me as "unemployed." It doesn't seem to matter that while almost no one will remember who it was that filled out that hospital registration form even one week later, I might affect the history of the world somehow--just through the lives of children.

Yes, I'm employed, but I'm getting ready to get unemployment compensation. Tonight I'm going to put a baby in bed and he's going to call out, "I wuv you" as I walk down the hall. I'm going to get a phone call from a teenage daughter who still likes to say she loves me even though it's not too cool for her age. I'm going to pat some little boys' heads at bedtime, and one of them is probably going to come out and ask if he can sit with me on the sofa for a few minutes when the house is nice and quiet. I'm going to go to bed and feel a soon-coming baby kicking and know that it's a life that will live forever. I'll get my unemployment compensation tonight, and it won't even matter that I'm unemployed anymore because I know the truth. I'm not unemployed, someone is just unenlightened. I feel pretty sure that if we were to trade places for a day (being generous here), I would be listed as "employed" next time around. For all the unemployed moms out there, don't worry--your not unemployed, you're underrated--and your unemployment compensation is coming soon!

P.S. I've included this photo to demonstrate that I'm unemployed, sitting on a sofa, being lazy (notice the pillow).