32 Weeks

I am 32 weeks pregnant now and everything is going as well as it possibly can up to this point.  We still feel so blessed by the number of people that tell us they are still praying for us.  This journey has been so humbling.  We are at such peace most days.  As the big day gets closer, we have our moments of panic but we are so excited. 

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

 ¹ There is a time for everything,
   and a season for every activity under the heavens:  ² a time to be born and a time to die,
   a time to plant and a time to uproot,
 ³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
   a time to tear down and a time to build,
 ⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
   a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 ⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
   a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
 ⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
   a time to keep and a time to throw away,
 ⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
   a time to be silent and a time to speak,
 ⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
   a time for war and a time for peace.

Moving right along

I will be 26 weeks on Saturday.  Things are moving right along.  We went to the doctor yesterday and our little boy weighs about 2 pounds and he measures perfectly.  My fluid is also perfect.  Praise the Lord!  I started really feeling him moving around on December 17.  We could actually see his movement.  My due date is April 14.....we'll see if I make it that long. 

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us faithfully.  God is so good and has been so gracious!

Big News!

I have been a HORRIBLE blogger.....mostly because I had a secret and knew that if I blogged, I'd want to tell.  I will be 19 weeks pregnant on Saturday.  We went to the specialist in Dallas this past Friday and received wonderful news.  We have a healthy baby boy growing right on track.  This has been a fairly simple pregnancy.  I didn't have a lot of sickness other than some nausea when I didn't eat enough and some sciatic nerve pain.  It has been a wonderful example and reminder of how God can work.  There have been moments where I had feelings of being scared but I AM human.  98% of the time both Bryan and I have been completely at peace and have been able to rest in His hands.  We feel very blessed to be at this point in our lives. 

So, we now have "perspective".  It's a wonderful thing because things that used to make me so nervous and things that I tried to control no longer haunt me.  That being said, perspective can be tricky.  I find myself judging others when they get upset about things that really don't matter.  So, it's a constant battle. 

I'll try to be better at updating the blog more frequently now. 

Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” (John 8:12 NLT)

I don't really feel like I have anything clever to say today but it's been way too long since I've updated the blog.  Bryan and I had some life changing events occur over the past year, obviously.   It caused us to take a look at our lives and re-evaluate what was important.  We kept hearing, "SIMPLIFY".  We decided last October that we needed to sell our house.  We listed it For Sale By Owner and didn't get a ton of action.  There were at least 9 other homes on our street that were for sale.  That was scary, to say the least.  Some of those homes had been on the market for 2+ years at that point.  We knew the market wasn't good but we also knew that God was leading us down this path and if it was His plan, it was going to sell.  Nothing happened for several months until a realtor called us and asked us if she could talk to us about listing it.  We ended up hiring her and she sold it in 92 days.  That's a miracle in this market if you ask me.  The family that bought the home was looking for our exact home, everything about it was what they wanted. 
We are now living in a townhouse that we love.  We decided not to jump into buying another house, only having 2 weeks to pick one.  We want to take our time and really find the home we are supposed to be in.  Things are falling into place for us.  Bryan enjoys photography and has been offered the opportunity to take photos of houses for a local realtor.  It's been a huge blessing. 
More to come soon!!!!  

Happy Birthday baby boy!

Eden would be 1 year old today.  I can't believe it's been a year.  Bryan and I have learned so much and have become completely different people.  It's amazing how differently we see things.  All because of this special, precious baby.

Happy Birthday!  We love you so much!

Springtime and other stuff

I have never in my life been so excited about Spring!!!  This is the first time in my life that I feel like I've actually "stopped and smelled the roses".  It's almost a child-like excitement!!  The trees budding and the flowers popping seem to have some strong significance this year.  I guess it's probably natural to be affected by the weather and the different beautiful colors coming alive.   It's amazing how many different flowers and plants there are in this world.

I decided to leave my job as the Business Development Manager where I was working here in town.  There were so many wonderful people that I met while working there; employees and patients.  I know that God put me there so I could tell my story in the public eye.  I think I could have gotten into a very bad place if I weren't 'forced' to go somewhere every day.  It was a consistency I needed so that I didn't get consumed with my selfishness and self pity. For personal reasons, I decided to leave and have NO doubt that I made the right decision.

God blessed me with a job that I can do from home.  I couldn't ask for a better situation.  It's such a HUGE blessing and I will never take it for granted.  Bryan and I have been praying since last summer for God to lead us and let us know when and if we should start trying to have a family again.  Now that I am at a point that I can go to doctor's appointments when I need to and put my health first, we feel very confident that God is speaking to us.

In preparing to try to get pregnant again, I've begun consulting with a nutritionist with Nature's Sunshine.  I'll tell the story later on about how I came to find her.  It's an awesome story but I'm saving it for another time.  I've done some cleanses and started eating all organic fruits and veggies and hormone free meats.  It's been an overhaul of our refrigerator and pantry.  I have also completed P90X and am starting it over again, along with running and biking.  I have never been a fan of exercise, in fact I used to LOATHE it.  It has now become a part of my life and I look forward to it.  The more I exercise the more I want to eat things that are grown on trees or from the ground.  If you've never done research on Organic vs. Non-organic, you really should do yourself the favor and stop pumping yourself full of pesticides and hormones.  It's a lot like lead paint and second hand smoke.  If you think about it, when lead paint came out, they had no idea how bad it was until years later.  Second hand smoke was the same way, we find out 20 years later all the bad side effects.  Have you ever noticed little girls starting to develop way younger than they used to????  It's because there are hormones being pumped into chickens to make the chickens grow faster.  Then we eat them.....put two and two together.  I also believe that the pesticides that we ingest correlate with all the cancer that seems to be invading so many people.  I'm no doctor but it just makes sense.  It's been an exciting past few months of getting my body in tip top shape.  Now, being patient for God to do His thing is the next step.

I will keep you all posted!!!

Precious Friends

Sweet Ella Kate

One of my good friends, Tracy, that I met shortly after we moved to Tyler, was pregnant at the same time I was.  We had due dates very close to each other.  This is her sweet little girl, Ella Kate.  They visited The Children's Park in Tyler to take some pictures.  The caption that Tracy sent said, "We took Ella Kate's 6 month pictures a couple of weeks ago and she wanted me to share one with you.  She took a picture with her special friend who I just know would have been her very best friend!"


Tracy has no idea how special it is to me that she constantly tells me that Ella Kate will know all about her friend, Eden.  When you lose a child, your biggest fear is that no one will remember him or her.  Thank you, Tracy.  This made my year!!!