Merry Christmas and more....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
It has been such a good holiday. A friend mentioned to me how neat it was that I am pregnant around this time because I have a glimpse into the what it must have been like for Mary and Joseph way back when Jesus was born. I know it wasn't during the month of Decemeber but since we celebrate during this time, it was a neat thing to think about. I love in the bible where it says "Mary pondered these things in her heart" when she was told she was going to have a baby. I love that because I do a lot of pondering in my own heart. It is amazing how God designed our bodies and I feel privileged to be the one to carry this child. I feel him move more and more each day because he has no room to move any more! So no longer is it the sporatic kicks (which I still get sometimes) but I feel every roll and turn over and movement. I LOVE IT! I get to ponder the greatness of our creator during this time. Praise God!
This holiday has been a good one and it is still going to get better. We have visited with all of my husbands side of the family, and now my turn is coming up tomorrow. We are off to the mountains of NC to an awesome cabin my parents rented. We were hoping for snow during this time, but it doesn't look like it will happen. But we are excited to get away and enjoy this time. I have gotten some fun gifts this year, like the movies Ice Age and Chronicles of Narnia. I have also gotten gift cards to my 2 favorite places, Brueggers and Starbucks! My inlaws got us a really nice photo and regular printer so we can start printing pictures and things. And my favorite gift of all was a necklace that my husband got me. It is beautiful! It has a heart on it with 3 genuine tanzanite gems. I love it because he picked it out for me on his own and I totally wasn't expecting it. I am spoiled! I love giving gifts so much so it was nice to receive an unexpected bonus from the school system so we were able to buy gifts for everyone. I just love this time of the year.
Anyhow, someone posted a comment asking what my husband and I do for fun.... despite the obvious answer that comes with marriage ;) ha ha ha, we have so much fun doing the dumbest things. For example, we stayed up together last night until midnight playing online games against each other. We love games.atari.com where we can play battleship, yahtzee, and sorry against each other. We are so goofy and have so much fun together. We used to run all around our apartment playing tag and tackling each other on the bed or literally throwing each other off the bed. He told me the other day, he cannot wait for the baby to be born, not because he is excited about our son (although I am sure that is a reason too) but because he cannot wait to be able to throw me off the bed! ha ha. I guess he has missed that these past 8 months! It is just the little ways that we have so much fun together. We don't need to go out and spend money on entertainment, we come up with things and are silly together and it is awesome. I hope that part of our marriage never dies. Our not so fun funnest game lately is dead legging or flicking each other in the car. We are both so stubborn that we have to be the one to touch the other person last. So you know that game never stops. So anyhow, he is my best friend and I love him so much more than I think he'll ever comprehend.
Well thats it for now, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Think back and praise God for the greatest gift of all he gave us over 2,000 years ago!

I have it

Well the tests are over and the results are in. I have gestational diabetes. Yay. I meet with a specialist soon to discuss that and my diet. Basically most of it can be taken care of by strict diet. However, if severe enough I would have to do insulin shots. This also causes your baby to grow bigger which would explain the fact that our son has consistently been about 2 weeks ahead of where he should be. So he will probably come early. God is good though and with modern medicine, a lot can be taken care of. I just have to eat fruits and veggies from now on... no more of the stuff I love like pastas and breads!
Well lets just say I am happy that Winter Break is starting soon. My kiddos at school are definitely on break in their mind. I have to be honest and say i'm on break too. So I cannot wait for the time off and the much needed rest and relaxation.
Well that's it for now.
p.s I have so much fun with my husband!!!!!!!!

glucose test

So... I had my 1 hour glucose test recently and it came back high... which means I have to go have the fun 3 hour test now...where I go to the Dr. and they take my blood, then I drink this glucose drink and they take my blood once every hour for the next 3 hours. All this to check and see if I have gestational diabetes... yay. Diabetes does run in my family, but i've always had problems with hypoglycemia, not high blood sugar. Who knows though, pregnancy causes weird things to happen to your body. I'm not too happy about all of this because my veins are so hard to find! I'm telling you, they NEVER get blood on the first poke and they usually end up getting it out of the top of my hand... joy! ha ha.... I guess there are worse things, so I shouldn't complain.
Fun news, someone gave us a glider and matching ottoman. It is white with blue cushions and looks as good as new! We have been blessed beyond measure... we now have 1 stroller, a lady is going to give us another stroller and a jogger, we've been given a total of 3 infant car seats, 4 infant tubs, and more! God is so amazing and it is very evident that he takes care of those who trust in Him! I am just blown away by His goodness and his promise of provision for everyone!
What else... I feel like there is so much to talk about. We start our preparing for childbirth classes right after Christmas. We just put our tree up a few days ago (we're a little late). My husband is thrilled to be done with his seminary classes tomorrow... he has been swamped with so much lately that a little break will be nice! While i'm thinking of things to write right now, I just thought of something so I am going to get up on my soap box for a minute.....
So as a teacher I am faced with having to be politically correct. I have a child in my room that is a Jehovah's Witness and I really am trying to respect her during all these holidays coming up. However, I just think it is a little crazy that we are told to not celebrate Christian holidays because it might offend someone yet that is what our country is based on. (or was started on... we're not really all living that way now) However, all the other religions want to be recognized and taught about. So why do we have to put aside Christmas and be careful about stepping on toes, but we are told that we should respect other religions and celebrate Kwanza, channukah, or other holidays. It's just a little messed up sometimes. JESUS is the reason for he season!

One of the joys of teaching....

LICE! YAY! A child in my class was sent home with lice. Pray that I don't get it!

I love garlic bread

I just finished eating dinner, I made lasagna and garlic bread. I must say, I love garlic bread.

I went home early from work today because I have a bad sore throat. I stopped by an urgent care place to get it checked. I was expecting a long wait in the waiting room because I didn't make an appointment. But I wasn't expecting to be taken to a room and sit there for 45 minutes! It was rough. Me and my emotional self almost broke in tears because I wasn't feeling well. Then I thought, how spoiled are we that we have good health care and I was getting upset for "waiting" for it. Made me count my blessings.
Anyhow, they said I did not have strep, so I guess that is a good thing although my throat still hurts pretty bad. I ended up getting a flu shot which I really needed. So we'll see... I hope I start feeling better.

On a funny note, one of my students said something funny yesterday. Let me preface the story. I was teaching Math and was toward the end of my lesson when the baby starting kicking so hard that some of my students saw my shirt move. This sparked a 10 minute conversation about the baby. I love how the students are so interested in me and the baby. So anyhow, toward the end of this conversation one of my darling students said, "Mrs. W, I know why you have to pee so much!" I said, "Oh really?" He said, "Yeah, because the baby is sitting on your blubber." I laughed and said, "You mean, bladder?" He said, "yeah, bladder." It was funny!!!!! One of those things that you probably had to be there for to grasp the hilarity.
Today when I was leaving because I didn't feel so good a girl came up to me practically in tears and said, "If you have strep, will the baby live?" It just broke my heart. The kids are so concerned about me and the baby. I had to explain that I would be fine. I just love my kids and it will be hard to leave them.

Well thats it for now. I can hardly believe that our bundle of joy will be here so soon!
p.s. I watched a live labor video... that did not make me excited about that part ;) hee hee.
p.s.s. I LOVE MY HUSBAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have so much fun and he is the love of my life. I am SO blessed to have him!!

Surprising fun times

So, i'm sorry that when I do write it is about our baby... but that is one of the biggest things going on in my life right now, so I love writing about that joy! Well, mom and I decided a few weeks ago to clean out the room that will become the nursery. Well today was the day. She arrived at 8:30 this morning and we worked for 2 hours straight organizing and cleaning. (Basically that was the junk room... we just threw stuff in that room and walked away) We had recruited my in-laws to come help carry some stuff like a desk and a table and chairs out. Well little did I know they all had a surprise up their sleeves. We finished getting the room cleaned out and I was getting ready to go to lunch and they come walking in with our crib and our dresser/changing table!!!!! I had no idea they were planning on buying it and bringing it today to set up! It was SO exciting!!! So then we had to put together the crib and whatnot, so the room is set up! I knew we were cleaning out the room, but I didn't know they had planned to set up the nursery as well. So needless to say it was a pleasant surprise. After we went to lunch and they all left, I went in our little boy's room and starting putting clothes and things away. It was exciting. I still need some stuff, but it is AMAZING to see the Lord provide through people. Basically we've been offered practically brand new things like: a stroller, another stroller, 3 car seats, like 4 infant bathtubs, a jogger, and TONS of clothes. It has been amazing. I basically have my pick of the things I want. ha ha. God has really blessed me and shown me that HE will provide our every need if we would just trust him. This is a good lesson, especially when my husband thinks now is the time to move to Morrisville. He is actively now pursuing the move. Job hunting, house hunting and all of that. I am just letting him take the lead because I know he is in tune with what he feels the Lord is telling him to do. So that is a great trusting lesson. OH, and I can't forget to mention that God completely blessed my conversation with my principal about not returning this school year. Through that conversation I found out she was a Christian and she was SO supportive of me and said she would love to have me back next year if I felt it was right to return and even if I wanted a part time position she would be willing to work with me. So anyhow, I pretty much cried at the end of our talk because it went so incredibly well and also crying is all I do these days. Ha ha. I am definitely a cryer. No bad moods or anything like that, just a cry and then a laugh. My husband laughs because he knows that sometimes I just need to bawl and then he will say something to make me laugh and my emotional moment is over. How funny. Well that is all I want to say for now... looking forward to Thanksgiving break and time with family and friends.

Little blessings

I don't write as much any more because life is crazy. Our little boy is kicking so much and I absolutely love it. There is no greater feeling than to feel our son moving around inside. I am just constantly amazed at the way God chose to design our bodies and make LIFE! Our boy is a big boy! He is a week ahead of "schedule". Which is a huge blessing because we would rather him be too big than too small. With my blood clotting disorder, if he was measuring small then that would mean I might have a blood clot in the placenta or umbilical cord and that would not be good.
So I had my first shower this past weekend. It was SOOOOO much fun! I got some great stuff and it made me excited all over again. I came home and washed all the clothes, wash rags, towels, spit up blankets, etc. I loved taking each thing out of the drier and imagine my son wearing or using them. How fun! I know I won't be saying how fun in a few months when he is here and screaming his head off ;) ha ha.
On a fun note, I love my class and I will miss them when I leave. I was teaching my kids metaphors which is comparing two things using like or as. I had written some examples on the board like, "Night is as dark as a black cat" etc,. Then it was the kids turn to take a few minutes and think of their own in their notebooks. I then had sharing time. So I called on one student who read, "Cars are as fast as lightening." I said, good good. Then I called on another student who read, "Dogs are as soft as cotton." Then I came to one of my jewls, who held up his notebook with pride and read, "Mrs. W is as big as a cow." HAAAAAAAAAAAA, I just laughed and laughed. Then I told him he had to be careful that pregnant ladies cry a lot and he just might make me sad. I love it!
God is so amazing and i'm in awe of how much he loves us!

He's kicking!

Well our little boy has been going crazy in my stomach. He has definitely started kicking and I feel his every move. It is AMAZING! This morning I was sleeping in and awake but still lying there. Well, he must have been doing aerobics or something because he was going nuts. I put my hand on my stomach and actually felt him moving on the outside. So I grabbed my husbands hand (while he was still sleeping) and put it on my stomach. He woke up and said, "what are you doing?!" I told him to just wait, and lo and behold our son kicked a good one just for his daddy. My husband felt it and it was just amazing. He has been waiting to be able to feel him move. It made us excited all over again to have a baby. Everything is going wonderfully so far. I can't believe I am going to be a mom soon. We think we have a name picked out, but we're not definite. Ethan Michael. Of course, Ethan Thomas is an option too, but I prefer Michael because it includes people from both sides of our family. So we'll see. Exciting things going on in the life of the W's! Oh, and FYI, being pregnant makes you REALLY tired, especially if you're a teacher. I have been crashing on the couch around 8:00 lately and crawling into bed at 9:00. I'm just exhausted. Other fun news, my husband and I have been seriously praying about what to do after the baby comes, and we've decided to step out in faith and I am going to stay home. I just can't imagine sticking my 6 week old in daycare. Everytime I think about it, it brings tears to my eyes. I believe God has called me to be home. I can always tutor or do something on the side part time, but I will not be going back to teaching. (Although I love teaching, I really can't see myself doing it forever anyway). So please pray for us that we would have faith that the Lord will provide. Peace out!

More registering fun and a lot going on

Well i'm officially done registering for our son! It was exciting and tiring at the same time. So I am registered at Target and Babies R Us. Who knew there was so much stuff that babies "need" these days. It was a lot of fun.
We have so much going on that it isn't even funny. This weekend we were home a total of 12 hours and that was just when we were asleep. It was my husbands birthday, the fair, a family reunion, and registering. This coming weekend we are heading to Charlotte to visit some old college friends. All of us and our significant others are spending the weekend as a little reunion. It will be a lot of fun, but yet again we will be on the go. I actually had to make an executive decision about not leading bible study tonight and staying home to rest because I am getting so worn down. Not only from my crazy schedule but the fact that I am pregnant and tired in that crazy schedule. But life is good. We are so blessed and God is working all around us. I am excited because my sister in law is planning my first shower! This pregnancy is flying by and he will be here before we know it! I feel like there is so much to do. One thing before I go, my husband is going to be the best dad in the world. I love to watch him with our nephew. I love you sweetie!

Registering

Ok, so my husband and I registered at Target yesterday. It was so fun! We didn't do a whole lot. I am doing most of it at Babies R Us this Friday. It is so much fun and exciting to start getting stuff for our son! A little girl in my class brought me 6 baby outfits she got at a garage sale... but they looked like they were brand new and one was a Ralph Lauren outfit and the other was Tommy Hilfiger.... can't complain! Plus the fact that they were adorable! I had bought my husband the first baby outfit since we found out was a boy... it is a cute little onesie that says, Daddy's Team, and has sports balls on it! This poor boy is going to have sports all around him... we have cute stuff picked out for the nursery! I just can't wait to meet him!

Friday night fun

So last night my husband and I decided to go rent a movie. We rented the Green Mile which I have never seen and we rented a movie called Sentinel. We watched Sentinel last night and it was good and pretty clean. We were shocked that Hollywood can make a half way decent movie. But those are few and far between. Anyhow, on the car on the way home I wanted icecream, I don't think i've had icecream since I became pregnant. So we stopped by Dairy Queen and I got an Oreo Blizzard. My husband just got a Sprite (you go to an ice cream store to get a sprite? he doesn't know how it works I guess, ha). ANYHOW, on the way home he had a pretty loud burp. I laughed and said, "Wow, that was abrasive!" He said, "It was sticky?.... oh wait, that's adhesive!" I haven't laughed that hard in my life. For some reason it struck me in a funny way and I giggled the whole way home. It is one of those things that you replay in your head over and over again and is still funny as the first. My husband didn't believe that abrasive was the correct word to use, so of course he looked it up in the dictionary when we got home, and low and behold I was right. It means rough, loud, commanding and actually annoying. ha ha. So that was our fun for the night. We went to bed before 10:00 and I just woke up a little before 10:00. I was so tired. This week has been a crazy week. There were 3 nights in a row that I didn't get home until after 8:00! Crazyness.
Well the name hunt is beginning, so if you have any suggestions please let us know. Here is what we are thinking so far...
Ethan Michael or Ethan Thomas
Austin Michael
Isaac Thomas
Joshua
Jonathan
See Thomas is on his side of the family. Michael is on both sides. My dads name is LeRoy, so we won't be naming our child after him ;) ha ha. Don't worry, he already told us not to. So I prefer Michael in there over Thomas, because it is on both sides. But anyhow, let us know!!!

It's a boy!

It's a boy!!!! We found out that we were having a baby boy. We are very excited but already had a girls name picked out and no boy names. Ha. Now the name hunt begins! And the shopping! I am definitely getting bigger. I seemed to have gone through a growth spurt! Thats the excitement for now... have a good weekend!

Saturday Mornings

Well I just got back from watching my husband play flag football. The Seminary has a league and he plays on it. Last year he was on two teams and helped out on another. I've never seen someone with so much energy and athleticism. Well while the boys play, all the wives sit and talk and watch. Last weeks' game we all got scolded (not really) for not watching well enough. So this week every now and then I would say, "Ok ladies, we are near the end zone, let's watch in case one of our husbands does something good." Well every single time I said that, my husband happened to be the one that ended up with the ball! It was funny! I do have to say that my husband is good and speed is one of the main reasons why. We also bought him cleats last night for an early birthday present. This morning after he put them on before the game, he said, "Oh yeah.... I already feel faster!" Boys are so cute! I love watching my hubby play. We really do watch the games, just sometimes we get caught up in talking that we don't really absorb what is going on.
This Wednesday we find out the gender of the baby. This is the one time it is OK for our baby to be revealing because we want to know! ha ha. I also found out that I have a blood clotting disorder. The same one my dad has. So we will have to have an ultrasound every month to check on the baby. So you guys can definitely pray about me and the baby!
Well now it is Saturday morning cleaning time! Football is on, so I will be cleaning while my husband catches up on the games. I enjoy cleaning because I love when everything is neat and back in its place. But I do not enjoy scrubbing the bath tubs and it is about time to do that. So off I go...
p.s. We got a digital camera for my birthday so we will be posting pictures of me becoming a whale and of the little one when he/she gets here! YAY!

A little bit of everything

Random: Sometimes it is hard to think of a good title for an entry.
It was a good birthday. I had fun eating and celebrating. My husband got me one of those Willow Tree figurines.. it was a pregnant woman. I love it! We also got a digital camera! I have had fun playing with it, it has so many features. My parents spoil me.
My kids are halarious at school. I have a great class! Last week I felt like I was going to throw up in the middle of my read aloud. I had to leave the class. When I got back my kids were so worried, they were like, "Are you ok? Are you still pregnant?!" I love them!
We have a class fish tank... well one girl used her own money to buy 3 fish. They all died. Then my husband bought 6 new ones, I walked in this morning and 1 was dead. I really hope they don't all die again! If they do, they better die in the next 13 days because I can get a refund! HA!
So I definitely ate a bowl of instant mashed potatoes for dinner. Not exactly all that healthy, but I don't care. It was so good!
Dad has part of his finger removed and we will find out next week if he will lose more. I still can't believe he got bit by a rattle snake.
Well i'm off... maybe one day I won't be exhausted and will write a blog with more of a purpose. For now, this will have to do.

Slacker

I know i'm a slacker on writing my blogs lately. With the busyness of life, I find it is hard to sit down and write my thoughts. I would rather just think them and then move onto something more productive. I've been at school until 6:00 every night and when I get home I just crash.
I am sitting here waiting to leave for my birthday dinner with my parents. We are eating at the Olive Garden.. one of my favorite places to eat. My hubby is taking a nap and I was trying to clean and do laundry because when i'm done with my dinner then we have to grocery shop and I have to get things together for school next week. (p.s. Never grocery shop when you are hungry because you end up buying more than you normally would!)
Lots of things have been going on lately. I got my license renewed on Friday. I was nervous about failing for some reason, but it was a piece of cake. Other than my hour wait at the DMV, I was out in a flash. The lady that helped me was really funny... I was teasing her about having junk in the trunk and she was making fun of my picture. It was great! I love when people are pleasant instead of rude!
My husband and I are doing a pedometer challenge. We are trying to walk more so I don't turn into a whale and have a hard time losing prego weight. (I am definitely starting to show now!) We went walking last week which was good. We keep track of how many steps we take a week and then the next week we try to add 1,000 more steps and the next week we add 2,000 and so on. I told him I was going to beat him on the steps because I am a teacher and all we do are walk the halls or the classroom! He did get injured playing flag football so he also has another disadvantage. He got a knee hard in the quad... a dead leg times 100! He had 2 games on Saturday and was supposed to have one today with the YMCA league, but he cannot play. He can barely walk! It is just a deep bruised muscle.
Anyhow, i'm trying to think of what else to write about. Nothing too major, just little things that have happened in the past couple of weeks. Let's just say i'm ready for Fall! I cannot wait to feel the crisp air and smell the smell of Fall. I think Fall and Spring are my favorite seasons.
Well I guess I need to go wake my husband up so we can go stuff ourselves! We should find out if we are having a boy or a girl soon. I'll keep you posted.
p.s. I have the best husband in the world!

Praise the Lord

So I decided that I want to switch up colors every now and then.

PRAISE THE LORD! My sister-in-law wrote an e-mail to my dad and we are sure that my dad has accepted Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. I need to follow up on it, but WOW what an answer to prayer! A prayer that has been prayed for years by me and my mom for almost 30.

Also, I want to brag on my husband. He is the world's greatest husband. Sorry ladies, I got him! Last week he did the dishes, the laundry, and went grocery shopping for me all in one day. This meant the world to me. It is amazing how somethings can hit your heart and make you fall in love with your hubby all over again. Of course being pregnant, I cried. I am just in love with who he is and how much he means to me.
Well i'm' off.... i'm on cloud nine now because God is good and is working!!!!!!

My dad, Meet the teacher, and an increased appetite!

Just a quick update on my dad. The fun never ends.... we found out he has a HUGE blood clot in his leg from sitting while recovering from the snake bite. Huge as in it is about 8 inches long! This could be fatal. So please continue to pray for him. Good news, it doesn't look like he will lose his finger. They are going to cut off part that is dead and do skin graphs to replace it. It won't be a lot of fun for him, but at least he will keep his finger. The finger looks great except the very end where the fangs went in.
Anyhow, today was Meet the Teacher. I had about 17 out of my 22 students show up. It looks like I have a fun class. I know there are at least 2 or 3 behavior problems, but I don't think it will be anything like last year. I can say the excitement of the year has been growing in me which is nice. I absolutely LOVE our new principal. She is AWESOME! The whole school has a new electricity about it and it is great to feel all the positive energy. About half of our staff are new and they are mostly young so it is just going really well. Now the decision still comes, do I leave when the baby is born, or take maternity and come back for 2 months. Gotta keep praying about that.
Lastly, in the past week I have noticed an increase in my appetite. I haven't been eating all that much during pregnancy but I think that is about to change. For example, we need to go to the grocery store badly. So my husband and I decided to order from a great restaurant around here. Well I got a stromboli... this sucker was HUGE. It definitely couldn't fit on a normal dinner plate. Well guess what, I pretty much ate the whole thing! And i'm really not all that stuffed. It was YUMMY. I had sausage, black olives, and onions. Not stuff I would normally order, but in my pregnancy I am venturing out. My husband didn't do a bad job of packing down his chicken fetuchinni alfredo and garlic bread. Of course he is the bottomless pit and fit as a whistle. It is sad to think that in a few months I will weigh more than him. That's just not right. Ha! Oh well! Goodnight!

P.S.

I got to bottle feed a kitten... I was in love with it! It was SO precious!

ER again!

Ok, so my plan to stay out of the ER has been obliterated. The other night my heart decided it wanted to do flips. I called my OB doctor and she suggested I get it checked out. So my husband and I went out at 10:00p.m. to an urgent care place. However, this urgent care place closed at 5:00. SO we ended up at the hospital. I was there for 5 hours with an IV and an EKG. All of that to say I was fine, that some people have this condition that don't even realize it. My top 2 chambers of my heart were beating faster than the bottom two which was causing an irregular heartbeat. Fun times! I hate IV's and I hate my veins. They love to hide. They had to stick me 4 times to find a vein!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wanted to stick the nurse and ask her how it feels. ha ha. I have even tried to give blood before and it took them about 4 times to get a vein and then after about 30 seconds the vein closed up. I later got a card in the mail that said I helped save three lives. I was like, that must be a record when I only gave an ounce of blood. ha ha. Obviously they have a standard card they give out when you give blood.
Anyhow, exciting times. I wouldn't have worried except I am carrying a precious life and I wanted to make sure everything was fine. Well i'm exhausted from my workdays, so i'm off.

Being molded

First, let me start by saying from now on I am going to write in green. It is fun to have the different colors, but there are only so many that are fun and i'm honestly tired of picking a new color each time I write. I know, poor me. Ha.

Anyhow, I feel like today God showed me a lot about myself that I need to change. Or should I say, that He is preparing to change in me. It is painful to have your sin thrown in your face, but the JOY that you feel when you acknowledge that you are inadequate, ask for forgiveness, and then feel God restoring and making you new. Again, I highly recommend the study i've been doing called, Women Making A Difference in Marriage. Every single time I have done a daily study, I walk away having learned something huge. Not that what I learned is something i've never heard before, but that it totally impacted my life and I want to change. Today talked about finding Joy. Not happiness which is a temporary feeling, but finding true JOY that only comes from the Lord. All of this study is in respect to the way you look at your husband. I never really fully understood how much I look to my husband and how much I put on him that he can never fulfill. I am looking to him for joy and when he fails I am torn apart. Thats the issue.... he will fail and I will never find true joy in him. Only God can give you joy and most joy comes from finding His peace which surpasses all understanding. See God did not promise that life would be easy. I think a lot of people think that about the Christian life when in fact the bible tells us that we will face trials of many kinds. But what God did promise us is that he will grant us his peace and that we should rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.
When I finally grasp this and live it out, I think it will take a lot of pressure off of me and off of my husband. I have put him high up on a pedastool. I have created standards that are unrealistic and unbiblical. Although I think he is the greatest thing that has every happened to me, I know that he is human. Only God can fill that void that people try to fill with everything else but Him.... relationships, sex, drugs, alcohol, jobs, money, etc.
So all that to say that although being molded can be painful, it is far worth it and you will only grow and mature in your faith when you are challenged. I praise God for my husband. I feel so undeserving of his love.... I need to fight and pray for his love. Ladies, pray for your husbands. This world is a hard place to live in when you are trying to live a holy life.

School

Well school starts up again soon. Our first workday is fast approaching and I have to say I am not as excited about this school year. I am not sure why I feel this way other than I know I am leaving because of the baby. My motivation just isn't here. I am sure though once I start getting back into the swing of things that my excitement will return. I am hoping that my students this year are good because last year was insane. You know you have a bad class when 2 of your students are going to professional anger management classes outside of school. I had veteran teachers tell me, "At least it can only go up from here."
So anyhow, update on my dad... he is doing better but still has a long way to go. We are not sure at this point how much of his finger he may lose because it is all dead tissue. I just can't imagine going through what he did. They say pygmy rattlesnake bites are one of the most painful. I believe that.
Well we got some of the furniture cleaned out of our spare room which will become the nursery. It was a disaster. We had a couch and two chairs in there, a table and a desk. It was the "junk" room. So I have a lot of work to do to go through it all and clean it out more. It is hard to believe that in less than a year there will be a baby in that room. Our son or daughter at that!
A lady in our small group is a vet. and someone dropped off a 3 week old kitten at her clinic that they had found at a gas station. So she had it at home and was bottle feeding it. When we went over there for our small group I fell in love with it! I was cuddling with it and holding it. It was the most precious thing you've ever seen! I don't think there is an animal out there that isn't cute as a baby. Well maybe snakes, ha ha ;)

Pictures

Here are the nasty pictures! They just don't do it justice though. The black spots you see are where the fangs went in. The blood blister was up his whole finger by the end. His arm was swollen all the way up to his arm pit. Poor daddy, at least he is healing now! Enjoy!

Updates

Well my dad got to go home today! He was released from the hospital at 6:00p.m. I am so glad he is out of there. I sat with him all day today and will be over at the house taking care of him all day tomorrow. Sadly my mom is behind at work and needs me to help. Since i'm not doing anything, I gladly accepted the mission.
He still has a lot of pain, but is doing well enough to survive outside the hospital walls. He has lost some feeling in his finger and his has a lot of dead tissue. He has to meet with the Dr. again in a week. We are hoping that the dead skin will fall off and new skin will grow but that is up in the air. Hopefully he won't have to have surgery and won't have to lose part or all of his finger. Who knew that rattle snake bites could be so awful. I am just happy that he's alive!
Not much else is going on, this has pretty much consumed my life for now. My husband is presently at work and i'm debating on going grocery shopping. I really don't want to go, but we really need food. It has been nearly 3 weeks since we last went. Oh well, my wifely duties call... off I go.

Baby shower and a snake bite

Well this weekend was a fun/interesting weekend. I went to South Carolina for the baby shower and had a great time. However, the whole time I was with great friends I was distracted by the fact that my dad was in the hospital with a snake bite. Oh yes, my dad was bit by a rattle snake. I know what you're thinking right, this only happens in movies. Well i'm living proof that it can be a reality. Last Thursday when I first got to Charlotte I received a call that my dad had been bit by moving fire wood from a wood pile. The ironic thing was that he was almost finished and he was grabbing his last 2 pieces. Let's say he thoroughly ticked the snake off. Anyhow, my first instinct was to come home immediately. However, I was told to continue with my plans that as soon as he got to the hospital that he would be out of the danger zone and he would feel better after he was given anti-venom. So I continued with my plans because I was told he would be out by midnight. Well it is Sunday and he is still in. It was SO hard to be away from a loved one who is suffering and going through so much pain.
I cut my vacation short and got home late last night. Because what started out as a midnight release, got worse and now they aren't sure when he'll get out. Because this hardly happens in our state, the doctors have no clue what they are doing. They are communicating with poison control and trying to do what they think is best. Basically he is so doped up on pain medicine it is like talking to a manican that stares you straight in the face. His left arm was real swollen about double in size. The swelling is going down. But, the finger that got bit is basically a giant blood blister all over it. It looks like his finger could burst any minute. His skin is black where the fangs went in. It is really scary and surreal to think about. Rattlesnake bites are really really painful. So he is on oxygen and his arm is hanging from a sling that is hanging from the ceiling so that he has constant elevation. It is just a matter of time. Tomorrow he could be a lot better or it could take a week. His spirits have been pretty low because he thought he would be out by now. Praise God it wasn't fatal. I know we can't complain, but it is frustrating when one doctor says they're opperating and one says they aren't. Then another says no physical activity and the other says he needs to be walking around. They seem to not know what to do. They didn't give him anti-venom at first because they didn't think he would need it. They discovered that he did need it, so they gave it to him, then today they told us that he didn't get enough, but they aren't going to give him more. Let's just say my brother really wanted to sue them today. So if you could, please pray for my dad. I know there are worse things in life, but this seems bad to him at the moment. I know one day we'll look back and laugh, but that day seems so far away. And of course since I am pregnant I am an emotional wreck. I love my daddy and it is scary to think that we could have lost him. Cherish every minute with your loved ones, because you never know when it will be your last. Especially pray for those that don't know the Lord.

Appointments

So yesterday was my eye exam. It went well. My eyesight hasn't changed that much in 3 years. My Dr. didn't scold me too bad about my contacts, which is good. I am styling a new pair of contacts that are "better" for your eyes. I really wonder if they are better, or if they are just trying to get you to buy the latest brand for more money. Anyhow, the brand she wants me to have is Acuvue Oasis. But they are $34.99 a box as opposed to my $22.99 a box I was previously wearing. Well I learned a tip. So here it is for all of you contact wearers. SAMS CLUB sells them for REAL cheap. The $34.99 a box brand is only $25.99 at SAMS. So that is where i'll be buying my contacts!
Today we had our Dr. visit for the baby. I've only gained a pound since my last visit nearly 6 weeks ago, so that is good. Even though I feel like i'm a heiffer already, the scales don't show it. The baby is doing great. We didn't have an ultrasound today, but we listened to the heart on a headset. I was poked and prodded but everything looks great! So that is wonderful news. And I believe I am starting to show a bit! So now I have a reason for wearing maternity clothes.
Tomorrow I leave for Charlotte to visit my brother and his wife and baby. Then I will get to see some college friends I haven't seen in like 9 months. Then my old roomate, Erin, and I will drive to South Carolina to another friend's house because she is having a baby shower. She is due in September. So, even though I am sad to leave my husband, I am excited to see some friends that I haven't seen in a while and that I know will be harder to see once the baby gets here.
Leaving my husband is really hard to do. I hate being away from him. He is my other half and I love him so much. I really get sad and these days with my hormones raging, I get emotional real quick. I know I will bawl when I have to leave tomorrow. You would think it gets easier, but it doesn't. It's not so bad when i'm visiting people, but if he leaves me and I have to stay all by myself, now thats just horrible. ha ha.
Anyhow, thats enough for now. I probably won't write for a few days, so don't miss me ;)

Olive Garden... and a new bible study.

Well yesterday was our official anniversary. We had a fun lazy day and decided to eat out for dinner. We didn't want to spend a lot of money but I really wanted to go to the Melting Pot. After looking up prices online for the place (It would have been over $100 to eat there) we decided to down-grade. I love the Olive Garden so we decided to go there. We got semi-dressed up and went out to eat. We were seated in less than a minute. We had a wonderful waitress. Our meal was SO good. I had a portion of salad, 1.5 breadsticks, fetuchinni alfreado, and we split a desert. I was SO incredibly full. It almost ruined the dinner because I was so full. I haven't eaten a lot since i've gotten pregnant. I eat more frequently but I actually eat smaller meals. After dinner I felt like I was having twins! Ha ha! My husband ventured away from his normal meal and decided to branch out. (For him, this a huge event) He got steak and chicken shi-ca-bobs (however you spell that). He said it was wonderful! So needless to say, it was a great dinner but we were both VERY full. I was still full when I went to bed several hours later.
On the way home we stopped by Lifeway and I got a new bible study book. It already seems like it is going to be awesome! It is called, Women Making A Difference in Marriage. No, it is not one of those feminatzi books. It is teaching about building love, joy, and committment. The first lesson really hit home, talked about how God never intended our spouse to carry the burden of being our source of self-esteem. We were all beautifully created by God. We are to look to Him for acceptance. I found that to be so true because I often look to my husband to bring me joy and to find my identity in Him. And that is a load for him to carry. He feels like he has to walk on egg shells and be careful what he says for fear that I think he finds me unattractive or that he has to magically build my self esteem that us women like to tear down.
So all that to say, I am very excited because I feel that even after 2 years of being married, that I would definitely benefit from it!

I'm off to the eye doctor today after not being in almost 3 years! Let's just say I have been wearing 2 week contacts for like 6 months! HA! I know I am going to get chewed out by my optomitrists! Have a happy day!

(p.s. I know there are a lot of spelling errors in here, but the last 2 times I tried to spell check, I lost my entire posts.... it is not worth it!)

YAY for a fun anniversary trip!

We had a blast! My husband and I went up to VA to "camp" in my parents camper that is complete with kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, ceiling fans, couch, chairs, TV, CD player and much more. I wouldn't call it camping but it was a nice getaway... a FREE nice getaway. We had so much fun together! Our activities consisted of Bocce Ball (He killed me), throwing frisbee (He pretty much ran all over to catch my horrible throws), walking, feeding ducks, playing pool in the gameroom (I won a game because he scratched on the 8 ball and he won one because I scratched on the break). We grilled hotdogs, hamburgers and steak. My husband LOVED grilling because it was manly. He was so cute being all proud of making us dinner. I LOVED it. We also played indoor games, of course we played Monopoly and Yahtzee. We also napped, "napped" ;), and relaxed. One of my favorite parts of the trip was on the way home. We stopped by the Mnt. Pilot State Park. It was awesome. It was hot, but very fun. We hiked some trails and saw this amazing GOD made mountain. If you have a chance, you HAVE to see it. My husband and I were just in awe and it was a very special time together. It is always neat to discover or do something new for the both of us! So now we are home and back to the crazy life of reality. I hope we always have fun together and will always be in love like we are! He was so cute when I was hiking today.. so cautious and wanting me to be careful not to hurt the baby. He is going to be a WONDERFUL dad! Well that was the cliffnotes version of the trip.
This week consists of: eye exam for me, Dr. appointment with me and the baby, going to Charlotte to visit my brother and his family, then having a girls weekend down in SC with some of my best college friends! Yeeee Haw!
I'm off for now!

Hodge Podge

I slept horribly last night. I tossed and turned and woke up frequently. When I was sleeping I was having vivid dreams. One dream was the first day of school this coming year and I have the class from you know where. I had a mom bring in a guinea pig but no cage and I missed our lunch time because I forgot to write down when our class has lunch and it was just awful. Since I have become pregnant I have not been sleeping well. I will wake up sore and it just hasn't been fun. Hopefully that will change.
I'm not looking forward to leaving my class in the middle of a year. I replaced a teacher that just up and left. That was really hard on the kids. Although my kids will know from the beginning and see my grow, I just hope it's easy on them. Transition is hard on kids if they aren't prepared for it. I am going to prepare them the best I can.
We leave for our anniversary trip tomorrow. I have packing to do, and laundry and I need to run by the store. It is inevitable... my husband and I ALWAYS over pack when we go somewhere. I think when he spoke at the camp we met at that we literally packed our whole house. This is my rationale... if i'm gone for 3 days, I should take 6 pairs of underwear and 7 pairs of socks because you just never know what will happen. What if I get wet, or dirty?
HA! And since i'm the one that packs for my husband I have the same thinking except boys get dirtier, so I pack more for him. My goal this trip is to NOT do that! Especially since we'll only be gone 3 days.
So far my vow to keep the kitchen clean is working! I hope it continues!
I mowed my parents lawn for them yesterday, I love mowing. Mom and Dad cooked us dinner... I really loved this squash and zuchinni casserole that my Dad made. It was SO good.
I watched A Baby Story yesterday on TLC, and it made me real excited! I know it will be exhausting, but I cannot wait to see our little boy or girl. Children are a gift from God!
Well thats enough for now.
My husband and I are thinking of names for our baby. Feel free to vote on the following names or suggest one of your own.

Girls: Emma, Kate, Hannah
Boys: Caleb, Austin, Cole, Isaac

Update

My husband's visit with the Cardiologist went very well. They officially said he is healthy and fine. He has a syndrome called Neuro Cardiological Syncope which basically means his nervous system can shut down at any moment and cause him to faint. He needs to make sure he always stays well hydrated and when he feels faint to immediately lie down. The DR said he is the rare person that they tell to eat a lot of salt. Salt helps you retain water, so it is great if you have a tendancy to faint.
The DR. appointment in itself was fun. The DR was real nice and we basically did a sonogram of my husbands heart which is called an Echocardiogram. It is weird that last week we saw a baby when we did this, and this week it was a heart! The nurse said his pictures were so great that he could be a heart model. Of course that went straight to my husbands head, ha ha. If someone tells you that you can be a model of something, it can't help but make you feel good.
So we were proud to get that report. However in the waiting room I turn to my husband and say, "What if they say, Go to the hospital we have to go into surgery on your heart." He laughed and said, "yeah, or what if they say I have 2 months to live?" When he said that I got mad at him and real sad and told him not to joke about that. He was like, Look at what you just said to me!?!
We can be so funny sometimes!

Dirty dishes and fruit flies....oh and Lord of the Rings

Well I am going to step into the realm of vulnerability and confess an awful sin I have. Here it is: Although I have a dishwasher that works perfectly well... I....I .... LET THE DISHES PILE UP UNTIL YOU CAN'T SEE THE COUNTER ANYMORE! There it is.... I am not a perfect wife. It is ridiculous. Today it took me about 45 minutes to clean the kitchen. Most of that time was spent fighting through the fruit flies to get to my crusty, nasty, mold infested dishes. There were dishes from making cupcakes, the last 5 mornings of cereal bowls... some with milk still in it that had now become congealed. And dishes from dinners such as Hamburger Helper, pizza, and other now unrecognizable meals. I am so embarassed. If someone came into our apartment I would...well, first of all I wouldn't let them come into the apartment. I don't know why my husband and I (i'm not completely the guilty one) can't and won't take the time to put our dishes in the dishwasher. This cycle is not a once in a while cycle either, this happens like every other week. But today I reached my limit. Today I felt like I lived in a garbage bin. SO, from this day forth I am going to TRY and NEVER let it happen again. I know it will be difficult, especially when i'll be up every 2 hours feeding the baby in 6 months. But I want to do it, especially since as I am writing this entry and there is a fruit fly crawling on my laptop screen. HA, it is kind of comical, but not really.
Anyhow, off of that subject. My apartment is now sparkling clean and i'm moving on.

Lord of the Rings. My husband and I decided that we wanted to watch the Lord of the Rings series. Well a couple of weeks ago we rented the first one from Blockbuster. We enjoyed it and couldn't wait to see the second and third one. Well, some new neighbors that moved in across the way LITERALLY have over 500 DVD movies. They also own over 1,000 CD's and if you average $10.00 a CD, that is over $10,000 in music. But that subject is for another blog. So we "rented" the last two from them. Well little did we know they were the extended version movies. We spent 9 hours out of the last 2 days watching these movies. They were good, but I was ready for the battles to be over. I was sick of trying to decipher the voice of Golom or Smeagle or whatever the little creature's name was. But all in all we decided that they were good movies, but we'll probably never watch them again. My poor husband got a migraine in the middle of the last movie and was a trooper getting through until the end.
Anyhow, that is enough for today. My hubby is out throwing baseball with the neighbor and we might be playing a Bocce ball game soon.
Exciting news that may be in a coming blog:
We are going on our anniversary trip soon, we are going camping in VA. How fun!
New fetish of my husband and I: online Monopoly. Just don't even try to play or you will be addicted like us.
Trip to the Cardiologist is tomorrow to follow up on my husbands fainting spell.
Treasure Hunters is my new favorite show.
Until next time...

Fainting and ER

Well... it was an exciting start to the day. I received a call at 6:15 a.m. from a guy that says, "Um, your husband wanted me to call you... he passed out... can you come to the Y?" I was shocked and many thoughts ran through my mind. I didn't even think to ask, "Did he smash his face when he landed?" I just said a quick prayer for him and then stood for 50 seconds thinking about where my shorts were. I was so out of it and I was frantically trying to get ready so I could fly out the door.
I was about 2 minutes away from the Y when my husband called. He asked where I was because the paramedics wanted to take him to the hospital. Isn't it bad that the first thing out of my mouth was, "Um.... no, don't you dare get into that ambulance. It is expensive! I will take you."
So I quickly arrived to the Y and asked the paramedics if they thought it was ok for me to take him, and they gave him the release.
It was just odd that my husband had breakfast and a mountain dew (not the healthiest morning drink) and he fainted.
So anyway, 5 hours in the E.R. and some uncomfortable exams later, he was released. It is an "illness" called syncope. Basically, for whatever reason your nervous system can have an auntomatic response and cause you to faint. It can be triggered by anything. The thing is, he knew he was going to faint when he was in a locked bathroom. I told him, that whenever you are going to faint you need to sit down. Well he didn't want to faint in the bathroom and not be found for 4 days, so he decided to just walk out and sit down. Well in his disallusionment he ended up walking 30 feet that he doesn't remember doing and falling against a filing cabinet. He had a few bumps and bruises but nothing major.
So the next step is going to the Cardiologist on Tuesday just to make sure everything with his heart is working correctly.
God is so good and we are never without want... but I am a little sick of the hospital bills. Since we've gotten married I had an ER visit that costed about $6,000 where I was throwing up and had diahrea and they told me to "chalk it up to a mystery". Well i'm sorry, but when i'm that sick and my white blood cell count is through the roof, I don't want to "chalk it up" to nothing! Then a short time later I went through my pre-cancer stage where I had several procedures done that cost a couple of extra G's and my husband decided to break his nose and get stitches in February playing basketball and now this. Can we please stay out of the ER?????
Ha ha, at least praise God it hasn't been anything life threatening.
So that was my adventure today on this Friday. Our next hospital visit will hopefully be a more joyous one when our little one is born. Halleluiah!!!!!!!!!!!

Our 2 year anniversary is July 31st.... yay!

Our Peanut

Here is our little baby! How amazing it was to hear the heartbeat racing. When we were looking at him/her, the baby starting moving... did this little jig for us! It was so wonderful to see! Everything is healthy and we are happy. Please continue to pray for the growth of our little one.
The picture is a straight on face view of our baby.

Revived love for blogging...turned to obssession

Ok, after my disappointing blog experience early today.... I have this immense longing to type now. Reading what people write and being inspired has lit a flame under my blogger butt. I guess I can partly thank Sheila... so Sheila... if I turn into a psycho it is your fault. ;)
I just want to write some random thoughts....

• My husband and I's favorite games to play lately: Monopoly, Yahtzee, Canasta, Spades, Pass the Pigs, Horse shoes, and Bocce Ball.
• I could potentially become an E or F cup when I breastfeed......Yowsers.
• My first choice of food lately has been Taco Bell.... specifically a 7 layer burrito and nachos.
• If you tell someone they are 1 in a million that is like saying there are 1,800 of them in China!
• My husband and I cannot wait for the next season of 24 to start...as well as survivor.
• The human body is almost completely formed just by the end of your first trimester... how amazing, people have to be blind to not see that we were awesomely designed by our Creator.
• 2 of my coworkers from school are joining my small group with our church plant... how awesome!
• It is really hard to be motivated to teach this coming year when I know i'll be leaving in February.
• We have discovered the new Stride chewing gum... the flavor lasts way long.
• Ginger helps with morning sickness.

Well thats enough for now... I feel like I had so much more when I first started writing, but i'm blanking now. Maybe this will be my last post for today... but who knows. It's easy to be obssessed when i've had nothing to do lately. Tomorrow's big events include our ultrasound and a Mudcats baseball game!

GRRRRRRRRRRRR

Ok, sometimes I hate technology. I just spent about 10 minutes typing the longest post ever in the history of posts and I tried to spell check and somehow LOST it! How aggravating (although there are definitely worse things in life). I just talked about catching up with old friends, Target graciously allowing us to return and get a new Bocce ball set and the joys of being able to have our first ultrasound tomorrow. I have never typed with such fluency in words before and it's GONE.... all down the pooper. ha ha ha ha. Quite comical/ annoying.
Oh well, you guys would have loved it. It might have won an award for best post ever. I guess we'll never know. God is good.... technology stinks. I'll write more later when my joy for blogging returns!

Sad Times

I have a story for you. Kinda sad. My husband and I decided to buy a Bocce ball set. It is a fun lawn game where you throw weighted balls and you try to hit this main ball to get points. We have been talking about getting one for weeks. Well, we decided yesterday after all this time that we were going to get a set. I have a coupon for Dicks sporting goods, so we ran up there yesterday. Well they had some sets but were real expensive or weren't the right size balls that we have played with before. So we decided to try Super Target. Well Super Target had a nice set and we decided to buy it. It cost around $50. So we decided it was our anniversary gifts to each other. Well when we got home last night my hubby wanted to play so he went out to play with our neighbor, Gary. When they were out playing another guy came up that just moved into the apartments. So they decided to let him play. Well about the third toss, this guy throws it and hits a rock and it breaks. We were SO mad and disappointed. My husband was SO upset last night. We are going to try and return it to Target with the receipt and let them know we just bought it yesterday. The guy offered to pay for it, but my husband didn't have the heart to tell him that we had just bought it and that it cost $49.99. So he is really bummed. I sure hope we can get it worked out because that was a big purchase and we are really upset.

Fun Times

Well I haven't written in a while so I thought I would. We just found out yesterday that Matt's best friend from college and his wife are pregnant! It is funny that a month ago all 4 of us were at a wedding and talking about when we want to have kids. We both said that we would love children but we didn't know if we were ready yet. Ready or not, a month later we are both pregnant! How exciting!
Our first ultrasound is next week so I am very excited. I think that will make it more real when we see the baby and hear the heartbeat. I just pray that it is developing healthy! We have so much to do to prepare for the little one. Our spare room is a disaster. We have a couch, 2 chairs, and many bags of clothing that need to be taken to Goodwill. My parents are taking our desk and I have a lot of cleaning out to do. My goal is to get it finished before school starts back up in August.
I am chopping my hair off today. I have been up and down and all around with my hair. I was growing it out and it was getting pretty long. I decided to get a perm and chickened out. Praise the Lord though because I was pregnant at the time and didn't realize it. The chemicals could have harmed the baby. So I decided to get layers put in it. It looked cute about the first week and now i'm tired of it already and it looks like I have a mullet, ha ha ha. So I am getting it cut short again like I had in high school. I think I will like it. When my hair is long I want to chop it off and as soon as I chop it off, I wish it was long again. How fickle are us girls! ha ha.
Anyhow, not much else. I mowed the lawn for my parents yesterday in the 90 degree heat. My husband and dad were SO cute, they were so worried that I would hurt the baby. I ensured them that I would be fine that I just needed to drink a lot of water. How harmless is pushing something back and forth on grass. If anything it was good exercise.
Well i'm off... enough rambling!
God bless!

DR appointment

Ok, so my first doctors appointment was a bit uneventful. I guess you can say peeing in a cup and giving 5 tube fulls of blood might be eventful, but we were expecting to hear a heartbeat or see an ultrasound. There was no such luck. However, we did schedule an ultrasound in about 2 weeks! So I guess we have something to look forward to. We did get a free gift bag from my Dr. that had a diaper, pacifier, and bottle in it. Everything that I see that has to do with babies makes me automatically go "Awwwwww". I was enthralled with the bottle. ha ha. It is very exciting yet nervewrecking to think about having a baby. We had our first reality check in the finance world today. My husband and I will never be rolling in the dough with our lifestyles that we have chosen. We are completely ok with that, however, bills are a very real thing and paying back student loans doesn't help either. I am a living testimony that God is faithful and we have never been without anything... so I don't know why I doubt.
Fun news, I signed up to be on a Maternity special of "what not to wear" on TLC. I hope I get it! That would be LOADS of fun, except I will come back with a ton of maternity clothes and no "normal" clothes. Either way, my sense of style is non existant and I could use the advice.
Have a happy, fun, and safe 4th of July!

Hunting for Crocs

Who knew that shopping for Crocs could be so tiresome?! I had a great time at the mall with Shannon. We went bathing suit shopping and Croc shopping. Crocs are those fun new shoes that everyone hates, but everyone has. They are the lattest trend and I would like to own my own pair. However, we are currently saving for a bundle of joy that will be arriving. So I cannot spend money on those delightful shoes. On our hunt we saw green crocs, blue crocs, pink crocs, black crocs, red crocs and many other colors. Who knew that crocs came in so many colors? So after the debate on whether to get them. Shannon had the billion dollar question, "What color do I get"? So after many trips to different stores, and back to the same stores and over to other stores... she decided on Carolina Blue crocs. I have to commend her decisions, because I am secretly coveting the green pair. Who knows, maybe if I convince my dad good enough that my feet need them because they will be sore and swelling in a few months, he will spoil me with a pair. I wish you guys happy croc hunting!!!

Father's Day

Father's Day was an exciting day. We found out that we are expecting our first baby!! My husband was speaking at the camp we met at last week. I wasn't feeling well and was tired a lot but didn't really think anything of it. We got home Saturday and I was a day late for my period. Well I always jump the gun and have probably taken 10 pregnancy tests since we got married. Well my hubby agreed that if I didn't start by Sunday morning then he would let me take a test. Well I got up at 3:30a.m. Sunday morning and really had to pee. I thought it was a good time to take the test. Well by the night light of our bathroom I saw that it was reading pregnant. My heart was pouding and I was filled with excitement and disbelief. I woke my husband up and told him and we were both very excited but sleepy and still in disbelief. We decided to go to Wal-mart at 4:00a.m. to buy another test. While we were there we bought fun gifts to tell our parents. Because it was Father's Day, we found some really fun ways to tell our parents with small gifts and bibs that said "I love my Grandpa". So we bought another test to be sure, drove home and I took it and it said I was positively pregnant.
What a blessing! We are very excited and a little nervous because it wasn't exactly a planned pregnancy by us. We are completely trusting the Lord and we glady accept this blessing. I didn't realize how big of a miracle it is until my Aunt pointed out something. This past year I have battled with pre-cancer in my uterus. I have had procedures that Doctors have told me could affect the abibility to get pregnant. What a MIRACLE it is that I am carrying this baby!!!!!!!
Therefore, we are very happy and cannot wait to meet the little one. I am about 5 weeks along and we know the dangers of miscarriages, so if you're reading this, please pray for us!
My husband is already talking to my stomach and is so excited. We are looking at baby names and he is being SO protective.
I went to the beach on Tuesday with my mom, cousin, and a friend. The waves were huge and one knocked me down. I told my husband about it, and his first response was, "Are you OK? Did you land on your stomach?!" He is going to be a wonderful dad.
Praise the Lord for His gift of children. I cannot wait to be a mom!!!!!!!!!!!!

Camp

I am sitting here at camp where I met my husband. We just arrived today and he will be the speaker for the week during middle school week. Flag lowering is about to begin and my husband is preparing in the bedroom for his talk tonight. It is neat to be back at the place where we met. Serving and minstering to kids. Yet, it is a whole different feel because I have NOTHING to do. Usually when i'm here I am cleaning or teaching canoeing or helping out in some way. This week I am merely "the speaker's wife". Although, I do have to leave for tomorrow and Tuesday for teacher workdays. I am not too happy about that, but I have to do it. I cannot believe my first year as a teacher is over. It was very challenging but great. And let's just say I was counting down to the end of the year since my first day in January. I replaced a teacher who really fell short of his job description. So I had many many struggles. But in the end it was all worth it. I have a year of experience under my belt and I hope next year is good as well. Well thats all I am going to say for tonight. I imagine i'll be writing again, but who knows. Thank you Jesus for your mercy and grace!

Randomness

Today was a good day. Slept in, cleaned the house, hung out with a friend, walked with my husband outside in the gorgeous weather and now I am sitting listening to my husbands faint voice in the bedroom practicing his sermon for tomorrow morning. He is trying to drown himself out by playing Chris Tomlin, but I can hear his voice faintly. What a joy it is to hear my love talking about the things of the Lord. His passion and zeal are contagious. I reflect over my day and it wasn't much of one and yet I am happy. My goal though is to be thinking more eternally. What would it look like if I were taking every opportunity available to spread the gospel. Let's see, the woman at starbucks, the woman at sonic, the 3 ladies at the Clinique counter, all the people we passed in the mall or the 3 men who waited on us at PTA pizza, and all the neighbors houses we passed on our walk. In one day, I have missed at least 20 people that I could have shared the good news of Christ with. I am not thinking of others. I am living my life, perfectly content, wanting more but not willing to step out in faith. I am too worried about things like my weight, my stress at school and other "me" things. The goal of our church is to remain "outwardly focused" and yet I cannot seem to conquer that concept myself. How do I expect to instill that in others? Anyway, in my bible study I have been learning about pride. I have discovered that I have a twisted form of pride. Mine is putting myself down or thinking I am fat and ugly. You may not see that as pride. But anything that takes the focus off of our Lord and putting it on ourself is prideful. Whether you are conceided or self conscious. So I challenge myself and others to put the focus back on the Lord. Then maybe, just maybe we will stop going throughout our day being so self centered and start thinking eternally. It is all inter-twined.
p.s. My husband and I are in a trend of picking out horrible movies lately. I do NOT recommend River King, Elizabethtown or The Island...and The Legend of Zorro wasn't all that either. Good night :)

Lounging

I'm currently relaxed on our big new furniture listening to the dryer run and my husbands breathing as he sleeps on the couch. A wonderful friend who I haven't talked to in a while is Im'ing with me. I just finished reading the Word. At this point life couldn't get better! We are so blessed! The Lord has been doing some amazing things in our life! Starting a church and seeing people come to Christ is a wonderful thing. Co-leading a bible study for wives of seminary students has been an adventure. Supporting my husband as he speaks in front of churches and youth is very exciting. We cannot wait until we go to the camp we met at this summer for him to speak. A week of hearing the Word, relaxing out in HIS beautiful creation and enjoying the spot where God brought us together is going to be awesome! I need to remember these things as hard times come my way. Like both of our cars breaking down within 2 weeks of each other and having to pay for that when we just bought new furniture and are saving for a house. ha ha. Quite comical. But I let these minor stumbling blocks become bigger than the blessings we have. So my challenge to you, the zero people that have read my blog, is to remember the undeserving blessings we have and don't let the Joy be taken from you when challenges come your way.

Joining the Fun

Ok, so everyone is doing the "blog" thing, so I thought I would join in on the fun. So all you do is post your thoughts... it can't be too hard. But as I sit here and try to think about something fun and exciting to write and that would interest anybody who reads it, I realized that this is harder than it looks. People come up with their own funny sayings or lists or just write what is going on in their life. I think for me... realistically I won't keep up with this and I am not sure anyone will read it. But here it goes anyway... one of the biggest things I am struggling with in my life right now is being happy with my looks. Never as a teenager did I care about what people thought of me. But now that I am almost 25 and married, I choose now to care. That is odd to me. Now that I have the man of my dreams that the Lord has chosen for me, I am self conscious. I guess it could be because I am naked in front of him. But even that, I feel like I have to be this perfect girl. I am competing with the world's view of BEAUTIFUL. But I am clinging to the fact that the Lord says, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made... and that my body is a temple of the holy spirit and I should honor him with it." Knowing this and believing it is two different things sometimes. It is sad that so many girls deal with this and I am living proof, that you're never too old to deal with the lies the world is telling us. So I give it up daily... finding confidence in the fact that God looks at our inmost being and that the only person that I should care about finding me beautiful, does. So there it is... I basically need to cry myself a river and then build a bridge to get over it. The most important goal is that I stay healthy.
Well now that wheel of fortune is over and i've written enough, I feel that I am done with my first blog entry. Enjoy.