This post was written by my sister, Rebekah. It was originally published in August 2010. Since Sanctity of Human Life Sunday was this 2 days ago, I thought this was fitting to share! It’s a beautiful story of God’s forgiveness, grace and love. Not every woman is thrilled to learn it’s positive when they take a pregnancy test but each one of those babies are blessings!

Rebekah and 3-day-old Emerson

I was 19 when I found out I was pregnant.  I had just started my sophomore year in college and it was a nightmare.  Not only was I pregnant, but I was not in a relationship with the baby’s father; this was not exactly an ideal situation.  I was so scared about what my parents and friends would think and say.  I think I was even more nervous about going to church pregnant and unmarried.  I told my parents and they were pretty supportive, upset of course, but supportive.  My mother and I did get into a few arguments and she said some things that really hurt my feelings, but I know she was just as upset about everything as I was.

So many people that I talked to acted like it was no problem at all.  “You can take care of it” or “just get it fixed” were common remarks and an abortion seemed to be a simple “solution” to the problem.  Even though my parents already knew I was pregnant it would be so easy for me to just tell them I had a miscarriage.  But I couldn’t do it.  I had never even considered having an abortion if I got in this situation and now that I was in it an abortion was certainly not an option for me.  I knew things would be hard and some people would think badly of me, but I had made the decision to have sex and this baby was not something I could just get rid of like it never existed.

Each month was difficult for me.  Often I felt like no one cared and that I was a loser and a screw up.  I kept wishing that things would go back to normal, but I knew that realistically this was my life.  I was going to be a single mom and I needed to prepare for it whether I wanted to or not.  During my pregnancy my relationship with the Lord actually improved.  I had been a Christian for several years, although I had made poor decisions on many occasions, but I felt like I was closer to the Lord than ever.  Even though I was in a bad situation I knew that everything would be ok and towards the end of my pregnancy I was actually happier than I had been in a long time.

Emerson Alexandria was born on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 9:54 am.  I couldn’t believe that this little bundle was actually my daughter.  It took a few months for me to realize that I was a mommy and the “unconditional love” didn’t set in for a couple months either.  I felt like something was wrong with me and that I wasn’t going to be a good mom.  After a while, however, I continued to fall more and more in love with my little girl.

Today I don’t know what I would do without her.  I love holding her in my arms and my favorite thing to do now is take naps with her lying on my tummy.  She has made me become a better person and has made me realize that I need to enjoy life and what I have and not take things for granted.  Although my situation is certainly not ideal and what God intended, I know that this happened for a reason.  I am so glad I made the decision to keep my baby and not “fix the problem” like I was encouraged to do.  Babies are not choices, they are a life.  We should not have the decision to terminate a life that God has created.  All people are “fearfully and wonderfully made,” and seeing how every person starts off as a baby, this applies to them also.  Emerson is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I know that every other baby can bring just as much joy as she has.

Celebrating Emerson’s First Birthday!

“But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” -Joshua 24:15

Having scripture throughout our home is important. It’s powerful, encouraging, inspiring, influencing and a reminder of who we serve.

Recently, I’ve discovered and fallen in love with wall art from Urban Soul, sold at Day Spring. I love the modern look of it but most importantly I love the applicable scriptures.

My newest Urban Soul Wall Art is “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13

When I received this piece I knew I loved it but I wasn’t sure what room in my house to incorporate it into. As I began thinking about this powerful scripture, I realized the perfect spot was in Paxton’s room.

This beautiful and inspiring piece goes perfect in the nursery and I hope this is one of the first scriptures Paxton learns and takes to heart!

Just last month I purchased the Urban Soul Fruit of the Spirit Wall Art to incorporate into my gallery wall. Reading the fruits of the spirit when I enter our living room reminds me of the importance of each of those qualities in the life of a Christ follower.

Do you want your own Urban Soul art? During the month of May you can get 20% off of your order with coupon code MAY20!

Do you have scripture throughout your house? What are your favorite scriptures?

*Check out more reviews of awesome Day Spring products on their (in)spired deals page!

Last Friday, we sold our home! We received the check on Monday and are currently 100% debt free {since our only debt was the mortgage!}

Thank you for all of your prayers for our family during this lean time of having our house on the market and paying both rent and mortgage. We felt the prayers! We never went without anything we needed and even though money was tight, there was always enough!

It is sad knowing that the first home we owned is no longer ours, especially since it was Paxton’s first home. We’ll always have wonderful memories of living here.

For a little trip down memory lane, here are a few of the rooms in our first home:

• Nursery
• Living Room
• Kitchen
• Dining Room

Now, we’re looking forward to owning a new home in Georgia, especially having a yard, a garden and decorating a new home!

We have accepted an offer and have a contract on our house!

Our house has been on the market less than 5 months and we are so thankful that we have a contract. God is so good!

Balancing a mortgage and rent has been tough, but we’ve haven’t gone hungry or without our needs being met over these past few months – God always provides!

We’re looking forward to closing which will be on or before February 28th. We feel that selling the house is allowing us to completely close the chapter of our life in Middle Tennessee and now we will be able to move forward fully into our new chapter of life in Georgia.  {It will also be so wonderful to not have the burden of paying both rent and a mortgage!}

Thank you so much for your prayers that our house would sell!

Merry Christmas! We’re enjoying this Christmas season and celebrating with Paxton! We’ve been traveling to visit our families and enjoying every precious moment with the ones we love!

We’ve enjoyed Paxton’s first Christmas! 8 months is a great age, he’s actually enjoying the festivities, our family, our church Christmas program, opening gifts and new toys!

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be on his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”- Isaiah 9:6

Extreme frugality is being practiced by the Boreings these days. Owning a home and renting definitely has put us in a tight financial spot. We are still “in the black” each month but it’s with careful spending that we are achieving this.

One positive to this, we’re learning how to be even more frugal!

Our $160 grocery budget has been cut to $100 for the month of December. Somehow we’re halfway through the month and have only spent about $7 (actually we know how- God provides!) We have plenty meat in the freezer, about 20 pounds of wheat, plenty of potatoes (thanks to John David’s mom and my grandpa) and are making most everything from scratch and avoiding all convenience foods! We are not being picky about what we eat and we’ve been stretching our food as far as it will go (example: 2 split breasts have made us 2 servings of chicken and rice, 4 servings of chicken noodle soup and 2 bbq chicken quesadillas!)

Our $60 miscellaneous budget has been reduced to $20 and so far we’ve yet to purchase anything! Staying out of stores really helps. I’m so thankful that we’re cloth diapering, breastfeeding, and making our own baby food, we really couldn’t afford to purchase diapers, formula and baby food these days!

We’re not eating out and we’re trying to combine errands to save on gas as much as we can. I am borrowing books and videos from the library – several of the books have been on frugal living! I borrowed and read through The Complete Tightwad Gazette, that was very inspiring!

As for Christmas, thankfully we had saved a little money throughout the year. We’re working with a $175 budget. We’ve managed to purchase small gifts for our families, used Swagbucks to purchase Paxton’s gifts and aren’t buying each other anything.

We have faith our house will sell and until then, we know God will provide for our every need and we’ll learn how to practice extreme frugality better than we did before!