Matt W Cook

Hello friends!
This is Ruth. Just wanted to update you all a little. :) Ok, here is what has been happening lately. As many of you know, the team and Matthew have arrived safely in Pakistan. Joe and I, on the other hand are still here in Cananda!! What happend, you may wonder. Well, we were all ready and on our way, showing our tickets and what not, the agent tells me that I cannot go! I asked why and he said that since I am not Canadian, I need a travelling pass or visa to travel through the European countries. That for sure was a shock to us. Something that we never expected to happen. To make the story short, we tried very hard right and then to get me another flight but no such luck. In doing all that, Matthew ended up missing his flight but thankfully got another one in a few hours without any extra charge. Both Joe and I ended up staying here. I was VERY upset, angry and frustrated. Then of course the people at the air-port aren’t the most friendly and helpful. Anyways, Thursday and Friday were very tiring. Lots of running around at the terminals inorder to find some help re my next flight.
As of now, I have talked to Matthew a few times. Everybody is doing good. Is safe and having a good time. Joe and I fly on this Wed around 11:40pm. First flight is from TO to Hong Kong (19 hours). 10 hours waiting at the air-port there and then final flight (9hours) to Karachi). Yes, a VERY long one but that seems to work for now. So please pray for us. I am a little nervous to travel with my little son. I have never done this before. So pray for the strength. God is good and has been teaching us to trust in HIM and know that He is faithful. Today I can say that whatever has been, it’s good becasue I know that we are in HIS Hands. He has a reason for all this. Praise God! Thank you all so much for your prayers, love and support.
God is good
Standing on His promises
Ruth

Yodh and Mem

6 minutes left at the terminal in Heathrow. We’re well on our way. Some neat things have happened in the last 24 hours or so. Thank God He’s in control of it all.

Pray for the rest of the trip, especially for Ruth.

More when we make it to Karachi.

Blessings,
Matthew

Not because of who I am…

I want to do something great. I want my life to count for something. I want to do good.

But there’s a problem with that. I’m not good. I’m not skilled. I’m not a very nice, smart, strong or disciplined person. My greatest affections are weak and my warmest thoughts are cold. I say big things but my heart squeaks small things. My faith and my desires change as the days go by. On top of all this, I’m only going to be around for another 50 years or so, I’m running out of time.

But something stills dwells inside of me. Something that still wants to do something great. Something that hates the thought of God not being seen as great. Something that hates the thought of man going through life and death without ultimate meaning and hope. Something’s there, but I didn’t put it there.

I think I will do something great. I think that wonderful things will happen in my life in these next few years, though none may ever hear about it. I believe that god wants me to do what I’m planning on doing. I think it was His idea in the beginning. And that’s why I think it will all work out. On my own I’m pretty much screwed.

Here’s the thing. I’m trying to do something big. I mean really, really big. Something cosmic and eternal. Something that will last longer than the earth itself. Not only is it big, but it’s rather impossible. There is no real way that I could ever succeed, I’m just not skilled or strong or disciplined or godly enough. But God is. God can do it. God can do anything. God can do anything in this real world that we’re really living in. He’ll do it. He’ll do it all.

I’m off, I’ll try to post again before I leave. I just want to all to know, as you think or pray about us please remember that this is a fool’s errand. This is silly, reckless and a little crazy. But it’ll work. Not because of who I am, but because of what HE’s done. Not because of what I’ll do, but because of who HE is. I think that’s what it means to walk by faith, realize that the crazy, reckless things are only crazy and reckless for people who don’t have God working for them. God’ll do it all.

On we go then.

It’s been a while, but are you surprised?
So much to post about, so little time…I’m not too sure what to say, but stay tuned for a bigger, better post in the near future.

Things have been going great for us here, so much has been done since my last post. We’ve adjusted to this new version of ‘normal’ that dear Joseph has given us, we’ve taken care of his passport and visa so he’s quite ready for Pakistan. We were able to see Levi and Theresa in Toronto while we were running around finishing things at the Pakistani consulate General (wow that was a long day!). So much has gone on and we’ve seen God direct us in beautiful ways. I preached my final sermon at Ridgeville and gave a farewell address (made a few folks cry).

Ruth and I are trying to kick up our discipline level a notch. It turns out that become parents doesn’t automatically give you that, you still have to get it the old-fashioned way.

That’s all I’ve got for tonight, me and Joe are heading down to join mom in bed, good night all!

Matthew

On the road again…

Quick update for you all! We’re planning on heading up to Peterborough this weekend. We’ll try to visit you when we get there. We’ll likeyl be at Edmison Heights Bible Chapel on Sunday.

See ya there.

PS – AndyMack, your presence is requested, by order of the Emperor.

ahhh…all is good

Children are wonderful things.

We’re home and rested now. Ruth’s pain has pretty much gone away and we’re getting used to this new version of ‘normal’ that we’ve been given. I realize that my life will never go back to the normal I used to have, rather I have been given a brand new normal that seems a little abnormal for now.

I always get asked what I’m thinking / feeling. I have a really hard time answering that question. I suppose I should be able to wax eloquent about the rivers of joy and gladness flowing from my heart from the first moment that I saw him, but I don’t think that’s an accurate description of what happened. I don’t really know what happened. I don’t really know how I feel. I feel happy. Very happy.

There is a type of satisfaction that’s come over me. It’s almost like I’m done. Like my little family is complete now. I intend to have more kids eventually, but for now…I feel done.

I love Joseph. I love his mom. I think I’d do anything for them. What a new situation I find myself in. In a lot of ways it feels surreal. In a lot of ways it seems very normal. In a lot of ways I just don’t know. All I really know is now I have a wife and a kid, and I’m very happy about that.

Extra, extra, read all about it!
It’s time for a full update. Here’s the story from start to finish (with pictures!)

For quite some time we’ve been anticipating the arrival of our baby. The due date was May 20, but Ruth and I are very impatient people. On Monday our dear friend, Mel Bee, came down to stay for a week or so. She was to be my co-coach for Ruthie. Over the past week Ruth and I tried a whole bunch of things to get this baby to come a little early. Spicy food, herbal tea, cake, etc., nothing seemed to do anything. On the evening of the 17th, Mel Ruth and I went for a walk / light jog to the mall and back. That night Ruth couldn’t sleep. She has cramps and in the morning she found out she was leaking a little. I called the hospital and they told us to come in.

We arrived at the hospital at 7:20 and kicked it up to the maternity wing where we hung out in an assessment room for a while.
Ruth got examined and we found out that she was in labor and already 2-3 centimeters dilated! Rock on, says Matt, this seems pretty easy so far.

We moved to a delivery room and Ruth got her water broke by our dear Dr. Shetty at 8:20. We were having a pretty good time by now. I called my parents to let them know what’s going down and to get them to bring coffee and muffins (8:30). Ten minutes later I called Ruth’s insurance company (because a delivery is far too expensive a thing to pay for on our own!).

At around 9:00 we went for a little walk around the floor. Not much going on, still feeling pretty good.

At 10:30 there was no change so Dr. Shetty hooked Ruthie up to Oxytocin, a neat-o drug that’s supposed to increase contractions and speed up the ‘dilation’ process. I then retrieved popsicles for the girls at 11:00 (Ruth had orange and Mel had chocolate). We then applied a butterfly tattoo to Ruth’s belly.

‘Twas pretty.

At 12:15 Dr. Shetty checked Ruth again and found that no progress had been made. She was still only 2-3 cm. He upped the Oxytocin drippy-do. On a scale of 1 to 10 Ruth rated her pain at 4.

12:20 – Ruth is very tired. The contractions hurt quick a bit now. Not much fun, though still in good spirits

1:30 – Getting worse. She’s breathing well but expresses a desire for this all to be over (duh). She is getting a lot of joy out of a lullaby CD that Mel got her. Ruth rates the pain as a 7-8 now. She rocks my face off. I called Dave to give him the head’s up again. He’ll be here soon with lunch!

2:30 – believe it or not, there is no change. She is still only at 2-4 cm. Baby has moved down a bit, but not enough. Nurse gives an e.t.a. at 6-12 hours, with an emphasis on the 12. Looks like we’re in this for the long haul.

3:30 – Incredible amount of pain. She makes the choice to go for the epidural (she’s such a trooper, I love her).

4:00 – Dr. comes in to do the epidural. He struck me as a little clumsy *shudder*. It actually took him two tries to do it right…and he talked too much. But I’m not annoyed… Anyway, once she gets the epidural she immediately goes to 6 cm. Ruth still has pain, but it’s not from the contractions anymore, it’s from the pressure of the baby coming down now.

4:30 – Fully dilated!

4:45 – I can see the baby’s head!

PUSH

5:05 – Joseph William Cook arrives on the scene (I cut the cord)!

Apparently I was grinning like a fool. I watched intently as they washed him up and checked him out. I counted fingers and toes, just to make sure. Rock on!

epilogue.
Joe loves to breastfeed, there was no learning curve for him, he latched on right away and sucked his brain out. Hungry dude.

One thing that I beg you to pray for. When Ruth had the epidural the Doc poked a little too far and ‘tapped’ her. She’s having ‘spinal headaches’ right now. It’s painful to stand up. Please pray. That being said, neither of us regret any choices we made during the labor process, we consider it all a grinning success.

Feel free to drop by for a visit. I pray that Ruth will be out of the hospital tomorrow. Pray with us!

I’m a daddy.

Click here for a video.

If I told you I would call you and I didn’t…I’m sorry
DONE!

In the birthing corner, weighing in at 7lbs, 2 ounces, may I present Joseph William Cook!

He was born at 5:05 in the afternoon on May 18th. Pray for Ruth. She’s quite sore right now. I’ll post a full story tomorrow, for now, I gotta go celebrate!

Matt & Ruth win!

Picking up stuff for Ruth at the Office.

She’s having a great time, we’re going to watch Chicago soon. No real pain, soon and very soon.

Water = Broken

Ruth is in labour!!
Went to the hospital this morning at 7:45am
She is doing good..
Check back soon for more news.