And baby makes three...

Hello 22 Weeks!

2009-11-13T20:41:03Z

*Your Pregnancy: 22 Weeks

**
*Real estate within your belly is getting tight, with growing baby leaving
little room for your lungs to...well...breathe. Expect the huffing and
puffing to start soon. There's not much room for your belly button, either
-- it'll pop out any day now.If people are telling you that you look smaller
or bigger than you should at this point, remember that each woman grows —
and shows — at her own rate. What's important is that you see your
practitioner for regular visits so she can make sure your baby's growth is
on track.

*Baby's now the size of a papaya!*

Baby's settling into sleep cycles, snoozing about 12 to 14 hours a day. It
shouldn't be hard to figure out when -- just pay attention to those kicks as
they start and st

At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, your
baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. His lips, eyelids, and
eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he's even developing tiny tooth
buds beneath his gums. His eyes have formed, but his irises (the colored
part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside your womb,
you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his body and the
deep wrinkles on his skin, which he'll sport until he adds a padding of fat
to fill them in. Inside his belly, his pancreas — essential for the
production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.

*From me:*

Baby is being pretty good most of the times, but there are still those
mornings (like this morning) where I can barely leave the bathroom. And now
more than ever I'm having to eat every 2-3 hours otherwise I'll get sick.
The worst time is during the night as I have to force myself to eat a little
something right before going to bed because Baby will make me eat first
thing in the morning.. and I'd better hope that I don't wake up during the
night.If I do wake up and try to go back to sleep Baby thinks that it's
"wakey time" and starts wanting to eat... something that isn't very
plausible at 4:30 in the morning when all I needed was to go to the
bathroom! But on a good note, Baby has finally gotten over his or her
shyness around Daddy! Micah felt Baby move those two weeks ago and then
NOTHING since then.. Tuesday night I called Micah into our room cause Baby
was moving and sure enough, Baby kicked! Not once, not twice, but three
times! Once even kicking him in the cheek as Micah gave Baby a hug! And
since then Micah has felt Baby move every day... I thank God for little
things like that.

A Winter Wonderland

2009-11-09T19:51:06Z

I just came back from looking out the window and everything is so pretty!
The ground is frosted white as far as you can see and the sun is glittering
brightly off the fallen flakes. It's been steadily getting colder and colder
here the last few weeks, but without any sign of the coming snow. Saturday
morning Micah and I had gone to a few yard sales and saw frost in the higher
elevations of town, so we knew that it was on its way. We woke up Sunday
morning expecting to see snow on the ground. No such luck.

It was actually as we were walking into the library that afternoon that we
saw a few flakes falling here and there. And the air smelled of snow. Crisp.
Fresh. Impending snow really does have its own specific smell. Just like the
woods after a rain or the ocean waves crashing on the beach. Even the wind
across the fields and tundra has its own unique perfume.

We went to sleep that afternoon and when we woke up--- snow! We were
downright silly driving to church that evening. We stopped by and picked up
Jacob and Nathan and then blared Christmas music full blast. The first snow
of the season calls for Christmas music. Once we got to church the boys
threw a few snowballs around as I literally jigged my way into the church.

But the brushing of snow that covered the ground when we went into service
didn't even care to what was there when we came out! Whew! Snow!

Phooey. I should have taken pictures.

Micah went to warm up the car while I got the ice brush and went happy. I
brushed off Joey's car and the Nowling's car and our car before Micah took
the brush away from me. :P Now why did he do a thing like that? I was being
helpful! So what if I was having fun at the same time and getting more snow
on me then on the ground. Hey, at least the cars were cleared!

Once we got home last night both of us were jazzed up from the snow and not
too sleepy due to our afternoon nap so Micah did a video chat with Brandon
and played on the computer while I cleaned the kitchen and bathroom while I
actually had both energy AND motivation. I tell you what, it's hard to get
both at the same time when you're pregnant!

At one point Micah showed Brandon the backyard via webcam, with all its
newly fallen snow. Brandon was envious--- but mentally chilled to the bone.
Wimp. :P

This morning I got up extra 20 minutes early cause I was leaving 15 minutes
early. I drove in the snow all of 1 time last year and Micah was in the car
with me the whole time. Until this morning, I had never driven in snow by
myself before. Oh boy. But Micah has been preparing me for the last two
months, telling me the differences between snow and ice driving, what to do
and what not to do, precautions to take, what to do "If"... all the things
that would keep me alive and, well, not dead.

Then, since the beginning of October, I have been putting in practice a few
of the tips that he instilled in me, such as pumping the brakes instead of
slamming on the brakes, adding 2 extra car lengths to my following distance,
going to the light to turn instead of trying to cross 2 lanes of traffic,
etc. As I was already getting into the habit of winter driving, today did
not come as quite as big a shock as it could have. I left early, turned at
the light, drove 5 miles under the speed limit, had min. three car lengths
between me and the car in front of me, watched brake lights, pumped instead
of slammed my brakes, took my foot off the gas when approaching lights, even
if they were green, until I saw if they were going to stay green.

What's really a blessing is that I work on a military base. A military base
does everything humanly possible and then some to insure that there aren't
any accidents or traffic violations. The speed limit never goes above 35
miles an hour, which right there makes a HUGE difference in winter driving
safety. The slower you go, the less chance of something happening. In fact,
There is only 1 mile from the base gate to our house, so I only have to
drive 2 miles a day at speeds higher than 35 mph. Just another blessing that
God has given.

There is a bit more news but I actually do have pictures to accompany those
stories, so you'll have to wait for tonight!

m.

Hello 21 Weeks!!!

2009-11-06T19:14:12Z

you're 21 weeks pregnant!

Gasp...is that a stretch mark?!! Take deep breaths and remember -- they'll fade after delivery. Your skin may also feel dry and itchy, especially over your emerging bump. Take a cue from your fetus, now coated by vernix (a milky, protective cream), and slather on the lotion. You're probably feeling pretty comfortable these days. You're not too big yet, and the usual aches and pains associated with early pregnancy are, for the most part, gone. Relax and enjoy it while you can — the third trimester may bring with it a new crop of complaints.

Baby is now the size of a Banana!

Baby's digestive system is busy creating meconium (a tarry black substance made of swallowed amniotic fluid, digestive secretion, and dead cells), which will fill the first diaper after birth. Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long. You may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to her activity as you get to know her better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now

On my end:

I'm feeling pretty good these days. The only time I get sick is if I go too long without eating, which has only happened two mornings this week. I have a lot of energy and am trying to stay active, though I still do get sleep around 1 pm. Naptime! Baby is staying really active, too, though thankfully only during the day. Actually, the little one's schedule is pretty regular. Moves during the day, with the peak being 10 am to 2 pm, and then starts quieting down as the afternoon goes and the evening comes. By 8 or 9, baby is virtually silent and by the time I hit the hay at 10 or so, Baby is sleeping the night away. Hopefully Baby will decide to keep the schedule once he/she pops out-- I like active during the day and sleeping at night!

Our Silicone Christmas Muffin Tins

2009-11-06T05:03:40Z

These are the muffin pans that we got at Target. I just looked up the regular price online and the cheapest I found them was "on sale" for $12.99. Ha! I got all three for $7.50. Come Christmastime be prepared to get baskets of Snowmen, Snowflake, and Christmas Tree shaped cookies, cupcakes, and muffins!

m.

Shopping Deals!

2009-11-03T18:23:01Z

So yesterday us girls, Jenna, Joleesa, Sarah, and I, went out to eat and
then shopping at 5th Ave afterward. I have a bunch of pictures from last
night that were taken with my handy dandy POINT AND SHOOT! Woohoo.. I forgot
how much fun it is to take pictures just for the sake of taking pictures.
Not being worried about lighting and angles and ISO and the million of other
little things that can get in the way of just taking a picture of a girl
being goofy in a bucket hat!

But those pictures are at home on the camera and I won't be uploading them
until tonight, so you'll have to wait until then for the shopping post.
However, I did want to share my awesome deals that I got at Payless.

Now, I'm a girl. Which means I like shoes. However, most of my shoes are
kind of boring. Black heels. Brown heels. Black boots. Brown boots. Black
tennis shoes. Brown tennis shoes. I have tons of colorful flip flops, but
that's not really something you can wear in the winter, you know?

And now with being pregnant my feet hurt all the time so I need to wear
something with more cushion, yet not entirely flat because I need to make
sure my arches remain.. well... arched. Otherwise that can add to lower back
pain.

I have a really good pair of brown tennis shoes that I've been wearing with
my brown clothing items, but if I wear black, like I do 70% of the time I
either have to wear my ballet flats that make my feet sweat or my clunky
gray vans that don't look very pro.

So my mission was to get a comfy pair of black tennies and maybe some fun
shoes for later when my feet are swollen or even for next summer's
sundresses.

I found three!

These are the black tennies I got for work. I'll be able to wear socks so my
feet don't get too hot, they're cute (always a plus), they have an inch lift
in the back so I get the added support I need, and they're slip-on, which,
normally I don't like how it feels, but if my feet every need a break (which
they do quite a bit), slip-on shoes are way easier than trying to untie,
take off, and put back on when you have to go up front two minutes later.

These are my "fun shoes" for when I want to be youthful and casual.

These aren't quite like the ones I bought but close enough that you get an
idea. Skimmers for summer.

The most awesome part? The price! The black tennies were originally $30, I
got them for $19. The skimmers were $19, I got them for $7, and the "fun
shoes" were $25, I got them for $4! Woohoo! Got to love sales and smart
shopping!

Alright.. ta ta for now!

And btw... the tennies are super comfy.

m.

Such a precious little gift...

2009-11-03T07:06:03Z

Baby, I'm so thankful that God has give you to us and I count the days until I can hold you in my arms. Each night I pray for you, that you'll stay safe and grow strong. I dream of what the future holds for you and what you will go, and do, and be. Little one, you are loved. ~Mommy~

Baby's Got Kick!

2009-11-02T23:35:11Z

Friday night Micah and I were enjoying a quiet moment with just the two of
us when Baby started moving. "The baby's moving!" I said to Micah and he
quickly placed his hand on my tummy. Now, this routine has played itself out
a number of times before where I've felt Baby and as soon as Micah tried to
feel, Baby decided to take a nap at that very second. It's been a little
frustrating, the little stinker.

Well, we thought Friday night was going to be just like all the other times,
but as soon Micah put his hand on my belly, there was a brief pause and then
we bought felt *THUMP*, Micah on the outside, me on the inside. Micah yelled
excitedly "I felt it! I felt the baby!" And as if to add an exclamation
point to the matter, Baby decided to give one more mighty kick before
settling down into stubborn silence.

Micah's face... I don't think that I'll ever forget his face. His eyes lit
up and he got the biggest smile that I've ever seen on his face, I think it
even rivaled the one when we got married.

Ya'll might not understand the significance, but for Micah he wanted the
first time he ever felt a baby kicking to be with HIS baby. So he's never
felt any of his nieces or nephews kick while Bek was pregnant, no any of his
many friends or other family members. He wanted to feel his baby first...
and he did. Friday, October 30th.. Ironically, Isaiah's Birthday as well.

Also ironically, Baby must have decided that once was enough for Daddy
because he/she has refused to move for him since that night, even though I
feel Baby almost constantly. But eventually Baby will stop being shy and
Micah can play with his little son or daughter until I'm worn out and ready
to swat both of them. Stop playing so I can get some sleep!

hehe.. I can't wait.

m.

Baby Bump Pictures @ 20 weeks!

2009-11-02T20:06:13Z

Here are the baby bump pictures taken on Saturday at 20 weeks, 1 day!

We got some more that we really like that are more artistic, but they don't
show the bump as well as these do. So, we'll save those for the scrapblog!
Which, btw, I need to finish and get up there. I have basically the whole
thing done so I just need to insert the pictures, but I'm still playing
around with the layout and if I want to go chronologically..or if I just
want to go.

So, there's a baby in there!

m.

When Baby's Tired, Baby's Tired.. when Baby's Awake.. well...

2009-11-01T16:56:51Z

Here I am at 7 am on a Sunday morning.. CRAZY! No, what's really crazy is that I got up at 6 am. HA! Me, 6 am on a SUNDAY morning.. my last chance to sleep in before the next work week starts. Why am I up like this on a day like this? Because of Daylight Savings Time, of course. Last night/this morning marked the transition to "Fall Back" where we set all our clocks back an hour. A great way to gain an extra hour's sleep if you need it. Also a great way to wake up extra early when you don't need to...

I went to bed at my normal bedtime of 10 pm. Like clockwork, Baby starts getting sleepy at 9:30 and by 10:00 I'm zonked out on my feet. Normally I don't fall completely asleep until 10:30, wake up once during the night when Micah comes to bed from studying or watching a movie or whatever he does (anyone who knows Micah knows that he is a night owl.. no 10 pm bedtime for him! that's for sissies!.. or pregnant women, hehe), and then I'll get up at 7am during the work week. On weekends, I TRY to sleep in, but it doesn't work.. Baby lets me sleep until 7:30, SOMETIMES 8:00 and then is like, okay, you're done, get up. If I try to sleep to 8:30 or, heaven forbid, 9:00, I start getting sick, even if I've eaten something, because Baby is ready to MOVE!

Well, this morning I was up at 6 am, my normal 7 am, due to the time change. Oh lovely. Don't mind me, I just don't have to get ready for church for another.. THREE HOURS!!!! So, what to do.. what to do.. get breakfast? Check, leftover pancakes. Blog? Check, that's what I'm doing right now. Work on pictures? Check, multi-task, baby! Take pictures of baby things and post them? Ooooo.. now there's a thought...

So, I grabbed out our big camera and started taking pictures when I remember that DUH! We just got back our little point-and-shoot from the fix-it shop and since these don't need to be all pro, really, easy way out, anyone? So I switched out and used the little point-and-shoot for the rest of the pictures. SO MUCH EASIER!!!! I've missed that little thing.

I'm still uploading the pictures so you'll have to wait for another post before seeing the baby things, but that's okay cause at the energy level that I am currently at, you'll have another 2-3 posts before it's time to leave for church. I hope ya'll can manage that!

In other news... Micah and I enjoyed a relaxing day yesterday. Actually, we did quite a bit, but it was still nice to just kick back, you know?

He slept in, I got up because Baby kept making me throw up (thanks a lot in there!), but then we had some breakfast: pancakes, eggs, and sausage for Micah, eggs, sausage and toast for me. Then got ready and headed out to run some errands to Lowes and Target. However, on the way there I convinced Micah to stop in at a yard sale I had seen advertised on Craigs List for having a lot of baby stuff... (the rest of the story will be in the post with the pictures). After the yard sale we headed on to Lowes were we picked up a few must-needs items (such as a hammer... long story, needless to say, my high-heeled shoes were glad to be out of a job) and bought the parts to assemble our own coffee table! It's kind of hard to explain so I'll probably just have to take a picture of it later when I get it all cleared off, but needless to say: $30 and 5 minutes, I say that's a deal any day!

We splurged a little at Target. Does anyone ever look at the mini-store they have set up right in front of the carts with all the dollar items and odds and ends? If you never look through there, you might take a peek some time. It's Target's own little "Dollar Store" and they have some pretty cool stuff. I was jazzed because they had started bringing out the Christmas items, which is the best deal of the year!

Let's see.. what did we get?

3 silicone 6-muffin pans (Micah and I are on a silicone craze right now, picking up odds and ends here and there. We've managed to find a cake pan and a 12-muffin pan at Value Village for a fraction of their original price. This was no different. $2.50 each! And the best part? They're CHRISTMAS! One is green and the cups are in the shape of Christmas Trees, one is blue and the shape of Snowflakes, and the last is red and the shape of Snowmen!

2 Silver Pails with Snowflakes on them ($1 each!)

1 Wooden "Welcome Sign" that has Penguin holding a candy cane and wearing a hat and scarf (So cute! $2.50!)

2 Christmas Stockings (Both of these are super well-made, $2.50 each, and adorable. The first one is mainly red and white and has a snowman on it. It reminds me of Momma. The second is blue and has snowflakes on it, very dainty, and will be stuffed for a very special little girl)

I also got a oval red metal bucket with handles (looks like a mini washtub) to use year-round, since my main color in the Kitchen, Living Room, and Dining room is.. RED! $2.50, baby!

Then.. Micah let me splurge.... I bought our first Christmas Ornaments of the season!!!

Now, for us, Christmas is our favorite time of year. But for me especially, I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE (you get the idea) to decorate for Christmas! That actually was one of the reasons for my choosing to go with red as a main color in the house, because it will be SO easy to decorate come Christmastime.

When we first got married, Our living room was blue because all we had was blue stuff left over from my bedroom before we got married. But after we had the house for a bit and I got to work out my style, I fell more and more in love with red and by the time we moved up here, blue was long gone.

The thing was... 90% of the Christmas decorations we bought that year were... guess.. blue! We decorated our tree in blue, white, and silver. Pretty, classy.. wasn't really into it after the fact. And now, there is no way that I'm putting a blue and white tree into this red house. Not to mention, the majority of our Christmas stuff is still down south, waiting to be shipped up here. Or rather, brought up here, cause there is no way I'm trusting my glass ornaments to the postal system, insured or not.

That being said, ever since I was a young teenager and saw a tree and house in an article in Better Homes and Garden (my favorite magazine of all-time), I have had this dream that was just waiting for me to get my own house and my own tree and, well, my own way.. hehe. I shared my dream with Micah yesterday and what do you know? He loved it! In fact, he more than loved it, he had the same tree in his dreams! Go figure?

Our Christmas Tree?

The Old Fashioned Christmas Tree!

We'll be buying a real tree, putting it in the stand, and wrapping a Christmasy plaid quilt around the base. We'll hand the lights, wrap plaid ribbon as garland, hang some cranberries and popcorn strings (though we might just go with the red beads due to no wanting Milo to attack our tree in search of food), then we'll be doing classic ornaments, like the ones we bought yesterday: wooden snowmen, bits of felt for the scarves, aged metal snowflakes... We're going to get jingle bells from Michaels and spray paint them to hang in lieu of regular balls. Neither Micah nor I like the cutesy look of some of the ornaments, and we're not really the cabin-decor type of people. Instead, we just like the Classic Christmas. Remembering the good old days when Christmas was more about family and friends than Christmas lists.

You know what I'm really excited about? On the way home from Christmas, stopping at Cracker Barrel and stocking up on their After Christmas sales. If you ever want to do an Old Fashioned Tree, Cracker Barrel is the place to go!

Which, all this talk of Christmas reminds me that I need to check with Mom to see if there are any non-breakable Christmas items that she can send up here with the next box of baby stuff.. yes.. she went shopping again on Friday... got to love baby stuff at yard sales!

Okay, so to finish out our Saturday.

We finished up at Target and headed home where we put together our coffee table, cleaned up a bit, and then got the candy ready to hand out to all the kids... then we laid down for naps. :) Once 6 pm rolled around, we ordered a pizza (1st time in.. 6 months? If not longer?), turned on our porch light, and popped in Lion King 1 1/2 (I had never seen it). Every so often our doorbell would ring and we'd pause the movie to go hand out candy to the hoards of kids that came. Actually, most of them weren't kids. Most of them were teenagers, 13 and 14 years old, admitting this one time a year that they are STILL KIDS and not adults quite yet. Funny how teens will go on and on about how grown up they are, but hang the offer of candy above their heads and they're dressing up and going around with a pillow case with the rest of the Princesses and Firemen. Micah and I don't do Halloween by any means, but we'll be good neighbors and hand out candy. Keeps you from being egg'd :P Especially with all these teenagers going around.

So the night ended with Micah eating as much candy as we handed out and me retiring at 10:00 like I said at the beginning of this now insanely long post.

So, all's well that ends well.

Ta ta!

Hello 20 Weeks!

2009-10-30T23:03:26Z

*you're 20 weeks pregnant!*

You're at the halfway mark — congratulations! Your baby weighs about 10 1/2
ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about
10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (The way your baby is
measured changes now.) He's swallowing more these days, which is good
practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black,
sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his
bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (although some babies
pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).

*Baby's now the size of a cantaloupe!

* Baby gulps down several ounces of amniotic fluid every day, both for
nutrition and to practice swallowing and digesting. And, these days, those
taste buds actually work! Studies show that after birth, babies respond best
to tastes they've already had via amniotic fluid. Meaning, think about what
you'd like your future child to eat as you prepare your own lunch.

This Morning's Devotion: Time- Friend or Foe?

2009-10-29T17:44:41Z

(The below piece was my devotion for the morning, on how to "redeem the time" with godly discipline. It really slapped me across the face when I read all the points that I know in my head, but rarely, if other, actually put into practice. My problem is that I'm a mission girl. I run head first into the project, whatever it may be, and then lose interest half way through and leave it undone. That, and I tend to practice the old saying, "Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow." Unfortunately, by doing that everything piles up more and more until I have a huge mess by the weekend and don't get to actually enjoy my two days off of work because I'm, well, working! I want that to change. I want to put into practice all the knowledge I have and actually stick to it! That will be my mission from now, one I hopefully won't abandon before it barely gets started. The thing is, I don't have to jump in all gung-ho, instead, I just need to start at one corner. Accomplish one thing. Succeed in one area. Conquer that, and then move on. And be prepared to realize that there are some areas that I won't ever master. It's beyond my "all"... When the time comes for me to act within those areas, then bow my head, pray for strength, and do as much as I can, and make myself be satisfied with that.)

October 29, 2009
Time - Friend or Foe
by Mary Southerland

Today's Truth
Ephesians 5:15-16a "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time" (KJV).

Friend To Friend
Time management is a dreaded and often ignored spiritual discipline. We choose where to invest our time, carefully planning our daily agenda but fail to schedule the most important activity of all, spending time with God. Discipline carves out time to sit at His feet. I am, by no means, an expert in the area of discipline, but I do want to share some simple ideas that work for me.

Prepare

Just as we budget our money, we must budget your time. Every day, we are presented with twenty-four hours, and every day we must choose to either spend those hours or to invest them. Every Sunday afternoon, I do two things - write a weekly column and plan the week ahead. I assign tasks to each day and prioritize those tasks in order of importance. That's the easy part. The hard part is sticking to the plan, but getting a head start offers a greater chance for success. Schedule one day a week to plan. The preparation will pay off.

Eliminate

Once a month, have a family "spring cleaning". Go out to dinner, and together, eliminate anything that is hurting your family. Make a purposeful plan for adding only those activities that will strengthen each member of your family.

Prioritize

Learn to leave the "lesser" things undone. This lesson is especially hard for me because I actually believe I can do it all! The key to godly discipline and right priorities is learning what my "all" is, and doing all of that! My trusty "Superwoman" cape is never far away. Admittedly, it is a constant battle for me to ignore the presence of that cape, choosing to embrace and employ God's priorities - not mine. But it is definitely a battle worth fighting. Families, marriage, and souls are on the line. A right perspective is the direct result of godly discipline. In order to have right priorities, we must have right perspectives. Godly discipline brings a holy scrutiny to priorities and perspectives. Does it really matter? Is it eternal? Will it impact lives for God?

Delegate

When it comes to family, include every family member in the work and include every family member in the play. The concept of "team" is essential to every successful family. A chore is not just a random assignment. It says, "You are an important part of this team and this family. We need you."

Simplify

love the Amish saying, "The further we get from simple things, the further we get from God." Jesus was born in sparse simplicity, a manger instead of a mansion. His teachings were simple enough for a child to understand. A simple but stunning truth is His message. We often overlook profound simplicity in search of hollow complexity, foolishly thinking that bigger is always better. When it comes to investing time, we need to employ simple godly discipline.

Yield

When our children were small, I did not travel and speak as often as I did when they were older. I really tried to make my greatest mission field my home, my marriage and my children - easy words to write, but hard words to live. It does not matter how much I do or how successful I am in ministry. If home and family are left with only the scraps of my time, energy, and emotions, I am walking in sin and disobedience.

Balance

One of the greatest challenges in my life is to achieve and maintain a disciplined balance. I am not certain why balance is so hard to achieve, but one reason stands out from the rest - self. If "self" were a coin, one side of that coin would be pride. Earning the favor of God, proving my worth and longing for success feed that pride. The opposite side of the coin is insecurity. Believing the lies of the enemy, measuring my worth by what I do instead of whose I am, longing for man's applause and earth's acclaim can be counted on to fuel the sadistic fires of insecurity.

Conclusion

Both pride and insecurity are sin. Both are a preoccupation with self. Godly discipline draws attention to God and away from self, to His work and away from human effort, leaving the glory where it belongs - at His feet alone.

The most effective life is a disciplined life. Discipline builds upon discipline, each success encouraging another. Make the commitment to cultivate the disciplines of godliness, then pick a corner of your life and begin. Discipline does not come naturally or easily. We will surely fail but we can always begin again. Join me today in a new commitment to choosing to seek, apply and relish godly discipline.

"A man may be consecrated, dedicated and devoted but of little value if undisciplined."
(Hudson Taylor)

RSJ Concert, Purity, and the Pro-Life Movement

2009-10-26T19:33:07Z

Let me start off by saying that the Rebecca St. James concert was one of THE
best that I've ever gone to, and I've gone to quite a number of concerts.
I've been listening to RSJ for about 10 years now, since the late 90s. I've
always loved the diversity in her music, but most especially, her passion.
She's very outspoken for teen/young adult abstinence and for the pro-life
movement. I remember her song "Wait for Me" (which she sang, btw) from when
it was first released and it truly is powerful. She's written several books
on the subject as well as a new(er) devotional series "Pure", that's a
30-month series on how to dedicate yourself to God, mind, body, and soul.
Really, these are things that every young girl needs to read & hear, so that
they can make a commitment to themselves and to God now, rather than after
mistakes have been made. But then as the song says, "there is forgiveness
and a second chance..." God offers redemption and a new life, for the old
has gone and the new has come.

RSJ even sang a brand new song that hasn't even been released yet! "Shoulda,
Coulda, Wish I Woulda" or something along those lines. A really fun song.

One of my favorite things about the concert was that it was very worshipful
as well as fun... she sang a number of worship songs where she had everyone
stay in their seats and just go to the place where it's just them and God.
One of the songs was "Breathe" wish has been a worship song that has.. I
don't know.. it speaks to my heart. "This is the air I breathe".. and I have
to ask, "God, am I breathing You? Am I allowing you to be the very substance
of my being, my life force, my air?" That is a question I try to ask every
day, because I don't ever want there to be a day that God isn't in the
forefront of my mind and the center of my life.

Towards the end of the concert she called for a time of prayer and had the
altar open as she prayed, sang, and gave one of the best in-concert altar
calls I've heard in a long time. You can see that hers is a real faith, not
something for show, but something she lives and breathes and is a part of
who she is.

Another thing I loved was that she has her brother, Joel, sing with her on
most of the songs. In fact, Joel and one of her younger brothers, Luke, have
recently formed a group and are recording their first cd right now with
Warner Music or something like that. They sang two songs during the concert
and Matt ended up buying their EP. Pretty good stuff. They're both as
commitment and outspoken about the purity movement as their sister. Which,
talking about family, turns out that RSJ is the oldest of SEVEN kids. I LOVE
IT! She has FIVE brothers and one sister... hehe.. Micah and I looked at
each other and were like.. we like that family... Kind of reminded me of
Shulers once her brothers came out. Especially since Luke looks like he
could be Phillip or Jacob's older brother. But it was awesome to see her
interact with her brothers. They weren't just siblings, they were friends.

The last part of the concert dealt with RSJ sharing her thoughts and
feelings regarding the Pro-Life movement. She shared a song, a lullaby
really, called "Little One" that's from her new movie, "Sarah's Choice." The
song made me cry and then some. I just sat there, with my hand on my belly,
letting the words wash over me. The song isn't out on CD or anything so I
recorded it from her myspace and will be sharing it hopefully tonight, along
with the words.

The movie "Sarah's Choice" is just being released this month and is RSJ's
first starring role in a film. The movie is pretty well made for a
small-time film but it's message is really powerful. RSJ plays "Sarah" a
women who is one the fast-track for a big promotion, only to find out that
she is pregnant. The clinic she goes to calls it a "fetus" and compared it
to a pencil eraser.. but Sarah knows that it's a baby, no matter what size
it is. She struggles over her friends telling her to "just get rid of it",
only to find that the girl had an abortion when she was 16 and is still
living with the pain. Her boyfriend doesn't want to take responsibility and
her mom and sister are trying to support her, yet remind her of God's love..
and how she can't destroy a life. Sarah is given three dreams by God,
showing her what her future could be... the joy she could have with her
daughter, or the pain and loss that she would have to live with for the rest
of her life. In the end, she has a choice to make.

They showed the film after the concert and I don't know if there was a dry
eye in the entire building, guys included. As the ending showed and the
song, "Little One" played, I sat there with my hand on my tummy, feeling the
little one growing with me.. and I couldn't imagine going through with
something like that. No matter if this baby didn't exactly fit in with my
"plan"... little he or she is a gift from God and deserves to be loved as
the precious miracle it is. I was so thankful that I didn't have to face a
choice like that.. but at the same time sending up a praying for those very
ones facing this choice, this decision...

Afterwards we were able to get our cd signed by RSJ and have a picture taken
with her. I even got to talk with her for a few minutes and explain how much
the movie and her songs and words had touched me. I told her a story of my
family and she asked questions, then thanked God when she heard of His
grace, redemption, and joy that He had given.

In the end, I felt like inviting her out to Village Inn or someplace, just
to hang out. I wouldn't mind having her for a sis-in-law (eh, Matt?) or even
just a friend...

All in all, a wonderfully awesome night... it was fun, thought-provoking,
emotive, and worshipful. In other words, highly recommended.

m.

Finally! Some "me" time!

2009-10-25T07:24:52Z

Whew-- this whole week there has either been someone here or I've been with people and today I needed some "me" time. So, I put off my errands and grocery shopping until tomorrow afternoon and stayed in my PJs all day, never leaving the house except to go to the mailbox.

But!!!!! I was productive! The kitchen had been piling up with dirty dishes for some time now where we haven't had the time nor the energy to actual do anything about it. Not anymore! I got up at 9 this morning (and promptly threw up because I hadn't eaten anything since 8 pm the night before- bad megan- and bad baby.. i can't sleep longer than 8 hours cause i get so sick from not having anything in my stomach) and headed straight to the kitchen. I've worked in the kitchen off and on all day long but now I've gotten all the dishes cleaned except for some things that are going to soak overnight. AND! I made tomato gravy and biscuits for breakfast, even though they didn't turn out nearly as good as Momma's or Granny's because Mom forget to email me the recipe like I asked. :P Oh well.. there's always next time. But yeah.. tomato gravy, I love that stuff! Sadly, I only get it once a year when I go down at Christmastime and beg Granny to make it for me. But now I have the recipe so I can make it throughout the year, though it still wont' be anywhere near as good as her's.

After the dishes were done, I wiped down all the counters and cleaned the stove, even taking out the drip pans and cleaning them! There are still a few dishes for tomorrow, plus wiping out the microwave and cleaning the toaster and bread area. But all in good time. Once the kitchen was finished and swept, I moved on to the dining room that had become the catch-all zone and put everything away and wiped off the placemats and freshened the flowers. Soon, the dining room was done and I could move onto the entry way where I picked up shoes and odds and ends and straightened the coat rack before moving onto the living room. Put away books and movies, fluff the pillows, fold the blanket, put away computer cords and Xbox controllers. All of that's done. Our couch even got a bath at one point cause I tipped over a glass of water. Oops! hehe...

During the whole time I was doing laundry, and I have the 4th and final load in the wash right now. It's our bed sheets that I decided to do at the last minute so it'll be another hour before I can go to bed. Though this might seem inconvenient, there actually is an ulterior motive behind the timing because I dumped all the clean clothes on the bed so now I'll have to put AWAY all the clean clothes in order to put the sheets on the bed. Mwahaha.. I love it when I trick myself like that.

Oh, I did take the mac into the bathroom and watched a movie while taking a bubble bath. That was my "special time" of the day, my one break, other than this blogging, that I allowed myself. I'm going to try and curl my hair for church in the morning using the new method for layers that the girl at Trendsetters showed me, so my hair needed to be fresh and clean. Mmmm.. and it smells like pomegranates too!

Well, I think that's about all the news I have for today. I'll be most likely blogging tomorrow about the Rebecca St. James concert. Not only was it one the best concerts ever.. both fun and worshipful... but it was powerful too. But enough of that, I'd better leave something for tomorrow!

Btw.. baby says hello! Little he/she is doing a lot of moving around and I'm feeling little kicks every so often. I tell Micah and he reaches over and puts his hand on my belly, but he can't feel anything yet, it's still that something special just between baby and me.

Love to all. I'm off to attack this pile of clothes before I fall asleep on top of it!

m.

The days fly by...

2009-10-23T00:32:27Z

It's amazing how it seems as though I just blogged yesterday, but upon
investigation, I realized that no, it wasn't yesterday.. it was FRIDAY...
What?!?!? Really??

It doesn't seem as though it's been that long but looking back over the
events that have transpired, yeah, I can see how it's been that long.

Friday- This marked the beginning of Week 18 for me and baby. Baby's getting
bigger and bigger every time I see him/her and causing more and more
trouble. Lately it seems as though Baby is jumping up and down on Mommy's
bladder... and from what I hear it's only going to get worse! Friday also
marked the beginning of Minister's Convention. I had my BTI boost to do that
evening, which I have a confession to make.... I had ideas running around in
my head all week long and was going to take Thursday night to write
everything down... well, I forgot. Instead I remember Friday... at 3 in the
afternoon. And we have to leave for service at 6:30... uh... not good... And
of course I actually had to WORK too, so, not a lot accomplished.
Thankfully, I have a vivid imagination, a strong prayer life, and as Dad
puts it, a knack for pulling things out a hat. Out of the three of those
things, I do believe the prayer played the most important role. Thankfully,
God took what little I had and made it grow so hopefully someone was able to
get something out my BTI boost. (Note to self-- prego brain = MUST USE
CALENDER/DAY PLANNER!)

Saturday- Micah had to be up relatively early (for a Saturday) in order to
go to Costco so we could get our tires put on the Xterra. Did I ever tell
about that whole fiasco? No? Well, as you all know, Micah and I only have
the one vehicle, so it makes running errands during any other time other
than the weekends a nightmare, due to his evening classes. Jenna was nice
enough to offer to let me borrow her car one Friday so Micah could take the
Xterra in to get tires from Costco. So I rode downtown with Jenna, she went
to work, I took the car onto base for my job. Meanwhile Micah went to Costco
to get the tires. He wasn't sure what size tires we had so I looked them up
while at work and texted him the numbers. He gets the tires and meets me at
the Captain Cook after work so I could hop in the car with him and give
Jenna back her zoom-zoom mobile. The next day Micah makes an appointment for
that evening to get the tires changed out. He calls me about 5:15 and asked
where I found the numbers for the tire size. I told him. Well, they're the
wrong size. WHAT?? Apparently there are TWO different sizes for Xterra
tires... we have the bigger ones, not the smaller ones. Sigh... So he
returned those tires and went to buy the right size. Sorry, they're sold
out. Why? Because the bigger size is unusual and they don't carry them in
stock. SIGH! So he just went ahead and came home. We decided that it would
just be cheaper to order the tires and have them shipped to Costco cause if
nothing else, the mounting price would save us $200. One day during the next
week I didn't have to cover housing so Micah could take the car to Costco.
He did and.. guess what? Someone had ordered the EXACT tires that he wanted
in the EXACT size and ended up not wanting them.. did we? Uh.. YEAH! See,
they didn't have the X Ice tires that he wanted in the first size (that we
THOUGHT was the right size) so he settled for another one that was okay, but
not really what he was wanting. But those tires ended up being the wrong
ones, period. And on the EXACT day that he goes back in to buy tires they
had these.. really? Come on.. is that a blessing in disguise or what? So,
that's what he was doing Saturday morning, getting tires put on. Meanwhile
I went to the State Leadership Meeting and afterwards Jenna and I went to
Costco so she could shop. She showed me these awesome tank tops that are
super comfy, super stretchy, and perfect for my 2nd trimester belly. I think
I've worn one every day this week! And of course, we had service that
evening.

Sunday- Started off with another great service for Minister's Convention.
Micah and I went home to grab a bite to eat, catch a few ZZZzzz, before
heading over to the Nowlings for a website meeting. The meeting went really
good and we had a lot of good ideas going around. Levi will be webmaster
with him managing the website while Micah takes care of the media and helps
with the coding, and Jenna and I will be doing a lot of the designing and
making it look good. After the meeting the house was invaded by youth and we
spent the rest of the afternoon playing games and just goofing off. We
didn't have service that evening so Micah and I enjoyed a rare night along
and went to bed early. I think I got a good 9 hours sleep.. it was
absolutely heavenly.

Monday- Monday was Monday, nothing too interesting, nothing too out of the
ordinary, at least, not until I was on my way home from work. I passed
through an intersection and looked over and saw Jeremy. I started to wave
but he was turned around and I could see Lillian in the backseat. I kept on
going and finally stopped at a light. While waiting for the light the change
I had this sudden feeling like I should check my phone, which was still on
silent from work. I pulled out my phone and what do you suppose it said but
"Jeremy Calling"... Since I was still stopped at the light (you can be on a
handheld phone on-base) I quickly answered. Jeremy asked where I was and
when I said I had just passed him he said, "Yeah, I'm two cars behind you.
Hey, can ya'll watch Lillian tonight? Heather is in the hospital." Uh...
yeah.. of course... We pulled off at the park a little ways ahead and he
told me about Heather as we switched over Lillian's carseat. Her face we so
funny when Jeremy opened the door, she saw me and just started laughing. You
could tell that she knew she was going on a field trip, from the black
Xterra to the yellow Xterra. Jeremy went back to the hospital to be with
Heather (babies can't go in ICU) and I took Lillian home. Micah was all
excited when I walked in and he saw Lillian, not so excited when he heard
the reason why she was there, but still happy to see her, you know? If there
ever was a guy who loved babies and kids more, I've yet to meet him.. Btw,
Milo is terrified of kids. I think having the 6 kids here back during June
kind of scarred him for life. Now whenever anyone walks in the door, whether
it be adult or a baby, Milo takes one look and then goes hides in the
closet. Silly Kitty.

Tuesday- I was about to say "uneventful" until I remembered that Tuesday was
our Seal Group! There were two of the ladies there from last time, and two
new girls. And I do say girls and ladies.. the ladies, one in her 30s and
one in her 40s, are so different than the two girls, one about my age and
the other looks to be just 16.. I'm still the smallest and the earliest as
far as pregnancy goes. We're all within the same 6 weeks though, which is
nice cause it allows us to all care about the same topics. This month's
topic was aches and pains and apparently we all got them. Though, I'm
thinking I might have some sympathy pains cause I didn't have some of these
aches until AFTER Tuesday, when they just "magically" appeared.. well.. I
wish that they would "magically" go away! But we heard Baby's heartbeat..
147, so that's good. I gained 2 lbs in the last month, so I'm doing good,
not gaining/losing any more than I should, just trying to eat consistently
and healthily and remain active. Micah learned how to operate the ultrasound
machine this time and so Marilyn spread the goo and Micah pushed the sensor
around on my belly and right away he found Baby! In past visits Baby has
been hiding and we had a really hard time finding the heartbeat. This time
it's strong and right there! It shouldn't be long until we can hear it with
a stethoscope and then we'll be able to lay in bed and listen to baby any
time we want to! The one icky part of the meeting was that I had to have the
glucose text done for gestational diabetes since my Granny has diabetes and
my Momma had gestational diabetes when she was pregnant with my brothers.
The test consisted of me glugging down this pint of "Glucola" which should
have been named "Nastiness." They tried to make it taste like orange soda..
well.. sorry.. I happen to HATE any drink that is orange-flavored other than
natural orange juice, the way God made it. But orange soda.. barf bag
please! It took me 10 minutes to drink that bottle and OF COURSE the time
didn't start until the last drop when down my throat. And OF COURSE after I
drank that stuff I couldn't eat anything and I was hungry! Grr... but the
entire meeting I sat there with my bladder full, my stomach bloated (but
empty and void of food-- sniff.. and they had pineapples...), and just an
overall uncomfortableness. Finally, an hour later, they took me to the back
of the room where they proceeded to attempt to draw my blood. They couldn't.
Of course. My veins are virtually non-existent. Whenever I've had blood
drawn they've always had a horrible time finding veins because I really only
have one in each arm and they are really, REALLY thin. Yet, when they
finally do stick me, I bleed super face. They always told me that I'm going
to be in trouble if I'm ever in a car accident cause I'll probably die from
loss of blood before the ambulance arrives. Great. Thanks. I must say
though, it kind of has me worried about the delivery, cause I know you bleed
a lot... I'll just have to make sure the midwife is aware of the situation
and is duly prepared. Tuesday finished up with NCIS and Grilled Cheese
Sandwiches with Chicken Corn Chowder at the Nowlings.

Wednesday- Yesterday daytime was.. boring... yesterday evening was
interesting.. Jeremy was waiting for me when I got out of work and he handed
off Lillian so he could spend the evening with Heather. Once home, we fed
Lillian and then headed off for church. As soon as we drove up, Lillian saw
where we were and started laughing and smiling-- she was happy to go to
church! After church we went to Taco Bell with everyone else (tons cheaper
than Village Inn, but we don't stay nearly as long on Wed. night, work the
next morning and all). Afterwards we headed to the hospital to see Heather.
Once there I called them and next thing we knew, Heather comes rolling out
in a wheel chair, her face bursting into a smile when she sees Lillian. She
hadn't seen her little girl since Monday morning, nearly 60 hours! We sat
and talked with them for a while before taking Lillian home with us so
Jeremy could get some sleep before Heather's exam this morning. I must say..
it was interesting to go from pregnant to stand-in-mommy in less than 24
hours.. Lillian thankfully only woke up once during the night and otherwise
slept peacefully. Meanwhile I tossed and turned and heard every little sound
she made. I'm going to have to learn to be ignore the little noise once Baby
comes, otherwise I'll NEVER any sleep.. what precious little sleep Baby does
allow me. Needless to say, I'm tired today.

And that brings us up to today, folks! Wow-- this has been a Becki
Horne-style post, nothing for a couple days then BOOM!

Now I know why I usually try and write every day.. This once a week deal is
just too exhausting!

m.

Hello 18 Weeks!

2009-10-16T21:29:29Z

Your Pregnancy: Week 18

As your growing uterus starts shifting your center of gravity (belly forward, bottom out), hormones are causing your ligaments to relax and joints to loosen. The result? Back pain and soreness. On the bright side, if you want to know baby's gender, this might be your first week for a sneak peek.

Baby's now the size of a sweet potato!

Baby's become amazingly mobile (compared to you, at least), passing the hours yawning, hiccupping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking, and swallowing. And baby is finally big enough that you'll soon be able to feel her movements.

[ tip ] Now that baby can hear what's going on outside the womb, it's time to get out the tunes. Her faves? Classical, lullabies, new age...and anything else that resembles your own thumping heart (about 60 beats per minute).

It's the most wonderful time of the year

2009-10-16T18:27:10Z

That's right, I'm really starting to get in the Christmas mood, and it's not
even the end of October yet! I have all our Autumn decorations out right
now, leaves and flowers and whatnot. The house smells like apple spice from
a candle, though, last night, the smell came from the applesauce muffins I
made to take to work today.

About the muffins. I got in a productive mood last night, which normally
just entails cleaning, only this time I wanted to bake as well. I didn't
dare make cookies or something like that because neither Micah nor I needed
to consume that much sugar. So instead of placing myself in temptation, I
instead baked up a batch of applesauce muffins that I could bring into work
and get rid of, hehe. Normally I make applesauce bread but Micah and I got a
mini-muffin pan and I wanted to use it for the first time. With my goal
clearly in mind I mixed up the batter and proceeded to fill the tiny cups,
pop the whole thing in the oven, and set the timer. I went back to watching
my show and washing the dishes when all of a sudden I realized that I had
set the timer for the time it takes for a LOAF to cook! Tiny muffins take a
tiny bit of time.. like a 1/4 of the time!

Rushing to the oven, I pulled out the nicely "toasted" muffins.. a little on
the overly toasted side, but some butter on top and a piece of bread in the
bag overnight and those things would be delish! Of course, even with the
Plan B, I made sure to set the second batch for a LOT less time... After 13
minutes they were a perfect golden brown, the picture of what an applesauce
muffin should look like.

BTW, if anyone doesn't know what an applesauce muffin is, then I'll explain.
Simply put, it's a muffin... made with applesauce. Kind of like banana
bread, except with.. tada! applesauce!

The muffins are a big hit, but anyway, back to the Holiday spirit!

I've started playing Christmas music more regularly, watching Christmas
movies, looking at potential Christmas gifts for certain people (I think
I've found Micah's), thinking about how I want the tree and house
decorated.. all that...

We know that we'll get a live tree again, if at all possible. Micah and I
had a live tree for our First Christmas back in 2007, but last year there
wasn't enough space in the apartment and we would be gone 1/2 of December
and were broke to boot, so we had a sad little charlie brown fake tree.

I plan to make up for that this year. Our first year we did blue, silver,
and white for our tree. I think this year I want to go classic green and
reds, but with old fashioned twist. You know, a quilt for the tree skirt,
plaid ribbon, wood ornaments.. that sort of thing. I can't wait!

Oh well.. back to work... and only 2 months as of Sunday until we leave for
TN/FL for CHRISTMAS!!!!

m.

Each day is a wonder..

2009-10-15T16:59:20Z

It's so much fun here at work as there are just two cleaning ladies, me, and
a bunch of guys! Em, at least here at FMO, the men really do outnumber the
women 10:1!

But it's so sweet to see how they treat me and baby. They ask to see the
ultrasound pictures, tease me about morning sickness and cravings, won't let
me stand if there is a seat available, and make sure I take plenty of
bathroom breaks. And the cleaning ladies have joined forces with the guys to
make sure that I'm eating enough. They're always trying to get me to eat
more, reminding me that I'm "eating for two.." Just this morning I was given
corn-bread and an apple fritter. Interesting combination. So interesting in
fact, that I think I'll eat them separately, hehe.

Micah and I started putting together the baby registry, too! It's so much
fun to go "shopping", picking out cute clothes, blankets, decorations for
the room. It's going to be interesting to see how we can spice up the room
since it's white and a rental, thus, no major transformations. But with some
creativity and imagination, I think we can work something out.

Emily's informed us that we'll be having our baby shower when we go down to
TN at Christmas! Perfect! But something tells me that we'll be shipping
quite a bit of stuff back up.. oh boy... Hey, does someone want the shipping
costs to be their present??

One thing we know is that we want to have the baby dedication hopefully the
week after baby is born, while Mom, Dad, Brandon, Tyler, Grandma, and the
whole Peter Clan are still here in town. Especially since I want Daddy to do
the actual dedication. We'll do the local baby shower then, most likely.
Kind of like how Heather and Jeremy did Lillian's dedication and shower.

So, that's it for now.. just wanted to give you a quick update.

This has to be Micah's child...

2009-10-13T23:41:34Z

cause it's as stubborn as all get-out!

We had an ultrasound today, which both of us were all excited for. Since I'm
17 1/2 weeks along, we would see a lot more than the mere 12 weeks (???)
ultrasound that we had when baby was tiny and looked like an alien. Well,
now I'm supposed to be far enough along to see the more defined limbs, and,
if we wanted to, the gender of the baby.

Well... nada. Sorry.. that ain't happening..

That baby was sooooo stubborn! Baby curled up into a ball, laid on his/her
side and refused to move. The tech had me rolling from one side to the
other, getting up and bending down to touch my toes (which I can still do!),
going and emptying my bladder, and anything else he could think of in order
to get that baby to turn around and face the camera. Nope. Wasn't going to
happen.. In fact, during the hour and a half ultrasound that stubborn baby
only looked at the camera one time and the tech was measuring something else
so he wasn't even able to get a shot of the face before baby turned back
around. But it was long enough for Micah and I both to go "oh my!"

That baby looked like a Halloween mask! Since he/she is still a young 'un
and as such hasn't "fleshed out" yet, baby is basically only skin and bones
and shows up as mostly the bones on the ultrasound. It was slightly creepy.
Okay, it was really creepy.. we went from having an alien baby to having a
skeleton baby.. oh my...

So, as you can imagine, we didn't see anything "down there" on baby. Micah's
wanting it to be a surprise but at this rate, we won't find out even if we
did want to know!

Anyway.. what ya'll are really wanting are pictures:

See? It actually looks like a baby now! And the print-out they gave us is
actually life-size, just over 5 inches long!

Look at the tiny hand.. the tech said that the fingers look long... could we
have a future pianist in our midst?

But baby is doing very good. The due date is right on schedule, though
personally, I hope baby comes later rather than sooner, cause of the way my
maternity leave will fall. Yeah, that's the thing. Christine, the other
woman in my office, was due on a Tuesday the day after Labor Day, go figure,
and worked right up until that Friday before. Now if I am able to work up
until two days before my due date, then my 12 weeks of maternity leave will
end the day AFTER camp ends, which means that both Micah and I would be able
to go to camp! So, I'm praying in faith believing...

Love to all, from me and baby..

m.

Just a trim please...

2009-10-13T18:08:47Z

I'm one of those horrible people who only get a hair cut every six months or
so. Between the time it takes, the hassle of actually going down there, and
the $$, it's just not something I get around to doing very often. But I'm
also one of those people who need to get a hair cut every two months. Yes,
I'm a walking contradiction. My hair stays really dry, especially up here,
and I get split ends like crazy. In fact, by the time I go in for the
bi-annual haircut, my split ends have split ends.. and sometimes those split
end's split ends have split ends. The beautician usually ends up having to
cut off anywhere from an inch to 2 and a 1/2 inches in order to get rid of
all the split ends. And that stinks. Especially since my hair grows slow
enough as it is, I don't have the extra growth to go around losing 4 or more
inches a year. I want those inches. I like those inches.

So, my mid-year resolution is to attempt to get my hair cut every 2 months,
or at least every 3 months.

One of the main issues I have always struggled with is the outrageous price
of hair cuts. I'm not about to pay upwards of $40 for a simple cut, and
extra for a wash and style. It bugged me so badly last year that I waited to
go home for the Assembly and Christmas and just got my hair cut there, but
it was still $12 ($9 with a coupon) for a simple cut, again, extra for a
wash and style.

Well, thank you to Mom Peter.

Earlier this spring she told me about a place called Trendsetters. They have
three regular beauty shops in town, but they also have a beauty school where
they cut hair. Now, growing up back in GA, Mom would always take us kids to
the beauty schools or dentistry schools in order to get our hair cut or
teeth cleaned. It's simply cheaper, and the usually do just as good a job as
anywhere else.

Here, trendsetters is no different. I had gone for the first time back in
April, when Mom Peter had come into town for a visit, and I loved what they
did. But, I've been putting off going back. Bad Megan.

Yesterday was Columbus Day, and as such as I had the day off (paid holiday!
woohoo!). I took Micah to school, went back home and ate breakfast and read
for a bit, then ran some errands to fill up the time until when I would pick
him up from school. With paid time off, a sunny day, errands completed, and
an hour to spare, there were no longer any excuses standing in the way. It
was time to get my hair cut.

I walked in, told the girl my name, and sat down. Four minutes later (not
five, four...), "Sophie" came and got me, took my coat and hung it up, then
led me back to her chair. She had me place my purse under the counter,
wrapped the plastic sheet around my neck, and then took me back to the wash
station. There, I was treated, once again, to a nice shampoo where she
massaged my scalp as she worked the shampoo into a lather. It was soooo
relaxing... she then used special conditioner to give my hair some added
moisture. Once I was all rinsed, she took me back, asked me what I wanted,
then proceeded to cut and trim my poor, poor hair. Sure enough, I had to
lose an inch and a half because of all the split ends. *Sniff*... I almost
cried.. my hair was just getting long again and then it had to go away...

It was then and there that I decided to try my best to get a hair cut every
two months. This is mid October so I'll get my hair cut once more in
December, right before we leave for TN/FL.

After the cut, she blow dried my hair, styled it for me, and put on some
anti-frizz serum to smooth my perpetual flyaways.

The grand total for this royal treatment? Ten dolla! That's right... $10 for
a wash, cut, and style.. Nice... I can live with that and then some!

I picked Micah up from school around 11:15 and then went to lunch at TGI
Fridays. I had gotten a coupon for a free Jack Daniel Burger, so we went,
got that and a bowl of Broccoli Cheese Soup and a Wildberry Slush. That
slush is just about the closest you can get to Sonic up here, next to Red
Robin's Freckled Lemonade. The Broccoli Cheese Soup was delish, and just
perfect considering I wasn't that hungry. Meanwhile, Micah demolished the
burger and fries. That dipping sauce is the best thing since sliced bread..
I'll put it on sandwiches, fries, potatoes, steak... goodness.. I'll just
about eat it straight!

Another trip to a library, a run to Freddy's, and Micah and I enjoyed a late
afternoon nap before he headed to school and I cleaned and organized in our
bedroom. Slow progress, but we're making it. I got our bookshelf organized,
dug Micah's books out of storage and arranged them, put knickknacks up on my
bookshelves, and hung up the picture Codi drew for us last Christmas. Slow
progress, but still.. progress!

Okay.. our BIG ultrasound is in one hour.. woohoo! I'll blog about it this
afternoon. Maybe even pictures?

Until then...

m.

Back-to-School/Family Portrait Session

2009-10-10T17:44:41Z

In my last blog post I mentioned that we finally got the editing done on the rescued pictures. Since I had talked so much about the pictures over the last two weeks, I decided to go ahead and share a few since they turned out so well!

The mom, Amanda, and I have been emailed and calling back and forth over the last several months, as she first contacted me back in June. Wow. That's four months ago. Whew. Then there were some major family situations that took place, which resulted in a lot of prayer on their behalf. Needless to say, the intended July family session never took place, and didn't look like it would happen until next year. But Amanda wanted SOMETHING, so instead of shelling out major $$$ to the school for fall portraits, she called us instead for a back-to-school/family portrait session. Perfect!

It had rained all week long and was forecasting rain far into the next week, but God answered even more prayers and the sun broke out around 2 pm, so that it was mostly dried off with a warm Autumn sun shining down by the time we did the photo shoot at 4. After that... everything went great!

So, picture time!

Those are just a few of the back-to-school photos of the boys. Now for the younger sister.. she was sooooooo adorable! Terribly shy, she spent most of the time huddled down in her little pink plaid vest. Micah and I switched the camera out to the telephoto lens and stood a ways away and she finally felt safe enough to flash us some cute smiles.. so long as we didn't come any closer...

This is her being "turtle" as mom would call her.

This is my favorite picture of the whole day, it's pure childhood:

And for the whole family:

Little sister was ready to go home by then... but still a sweet family

Alright, so whatcha think? These are the pictures Micah and I love taking.. our passion, if you will.. children.. families.. showing the togetherness... innocence...

Well, ta-ta.. we have another shoot to get ready for this afternoon.

m.

I love things that are simple

2009-10-10T06:10:05Z

Micah and I had a photo shoot last Sunday whose pictures, if you remember my panic attack and subsequent testimony, were mysteriously deleted off of the SD card, which we prayed over, and Micah was able to recover all but 10 of them. Again, Praise the Lord! Well, I was able to get step 1 done of the process last week where I sorted through the pictures and deleted and whittled down until we had the ones we wanted for sure, about 110 of them.

Then our poor mac's evil fan decided to die on us so it was off to the Mac Store for a fix.. only, it wasn't a quick fix. Oh no, they had to order the part and of course it took longer than the estimated time (it always does). Micah had dropped off the computer on Monday and just got the call this afternoon to pick it up. And none too soon...

After we got home I kissed mac and welcomed him back home and then settled in to work on pictures. Normally, it will take several hours to edit the pictures.. not so with these. Those earlier prayers from last week must still be sticking around cause It took me all of an hour and half to do all the pictures and end up with 80 final prints that I'll be uploading to their gallery tomorrow.

Wow. We didn't even make it through the second episode of NCIS before I was finished.. the pictures were just that good. All they needed was some cropping here and there and some boost to the contrast, and volia! It was just a perfect day, the perfect subjects, and lots of blessings..

Speaking of blessings...

Micah and I had gone down to the Diamond Center to pick up the computer from the Mac Store. Baby was hungry so decided to be spontaneous and splurge a little so we went to a Mexican restaurant for supper... Mmmm.. good stuff.. We haven't eaten out other than village inn for months, much less gone on a "date" that wasn't during lunch time, so this was a nice little self-prescribed surprise. But the blessing happened while we were driving to the Mac Store. We had to cross the two lanes of oncoming traffic and of course rush hour on a friday night had the turn lane backed up nearly to the other light. We couldn't see around the other cars until someone pulled forward enough for us to watch the other lane. We watched for a gap and finally saw one. Stepping on the gas and edging forward, we doubled checked the lane, saw that it was clear, and stepped on the gas to hurry across. No sooner had we entered the other lane than this blue station wagon came barreling down on us, blaring his horn. Micah gunned it and we shot into the parking lot just as the station wagon blew by us...

whew... talk about accelerated heart beat... We looked and saw that the guy had turned out of a parking lot a little ways back and there was simply no way of us seeing him, or him seeing us... but we were really close to seeing each other.. up close and personal... It gave me scary flashbacks to my other accident, except that time it was the slamming on the brakes that saved our lives.

Either way... God is continuing to protect us. As soon as Micah and I pulled into the parking lot we grabbed each other's hands and started praying thanksgiving to God... for what could have been, but wasn't..

So, ending the day with praise on my lips.. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for watching of Micah, Baby, and I... we love you, too...

m.

Hello 17 Weeks!

2009-10-09T22:46:29Z

Your Pregnancy: Week 17 Though increased blood flow is good for baby, it
might be making you a little...damp. Body secretions (think sweat, mucus,
nosebleeds) are in full force. This week might also mark the first time you
feel baby move inside you, but don't worry if it's another two months before
you notice anything. (Or realize that this time, it's actually not gas.)

*Baby's now the size of an onion!*
Baby's skeleton is hardening, changing from rubbery cartilage to bone, and
fat is finally accumulating around it. His umbilical cord is getting thicker
and stronger, and those little fingers and toes now feature one-of-a-kind
prints.

Micah and I tried to hear the baby last night with the stethoscope, but baby
must either be asleep or still too small to hear without the sonogram
machine. I took an onion and last and held it up to my belly... I still feel
and look so small, so it's hard to imagine something as big as an onion
being inside my tummy. But I definitely have a baby belly. I can't even suck
it in. While in front of the mirror I tried pulling my stomach in and I
couldn't. The middle of my chest went in, all the way to the ribs, but I
still had this bump just below my belly button.. just the right size to hold
our little.. onion, at least for the next week.. then baby will be a.. ha!
can't tell you! It's a surprise!

I wrote some more in my baby journal last night. I have a journal where I
try to write every couple of days, or at least once a week. My entries are
written to this little one, and I call myself Mommy, and Micah, Daddy. I
tell baby how excited we are, and the things he/she is putting me through:
constipation, morning sickness, sensitive nose, tiredness, etc... But also
about the good things: about my growing bump, and the things that the
grandparents and great-grandparents are buying for baby, and how Micah has
never felt a baby kick in his mommy's tummy because he wanted the first baby
he felt move to be his own baby. (which both baby and I think is the sweet,
most wonderfully romantic thing I've heard.. ever)

Sometimes I talk about my fears.. of miscarriage.. of baby being healthy and
strong.. of being able to provide financially, physically, and
spiritually... of knowing how to take care of a newborn baby (had a panic
attack about that one yesterday)... but then I turn around and take those
fears and turn them into prayers.. I close with telling baby that I love
him/her.. and I sign it "Mommy"...

I'd like to be able to do this for each of our children, though #6 might
just get a single letter written on notebook paper.. hehe... But something
special, just between the two of us..

I do have a scrapblog that I've been working on, but until recently, have
not had much in the way of pictures or images to go with it. Then our
computer went down, so any work on the computer has pretty much ground to a
halt. Hopefully it will come back soon... soon!

I'm trying to decide if Micah and I should take pictures this weekend.. 17
weeks pictures, or if we should space it out a bit more. Any thoughts?

m.

Look at the pretty circles...

2009-10-08T19:23:23Z

In my mind that is... my mind is going around is circles these past few
days. I got some of the circles taken care of by writing my Dad a 5-page
letter. No, it wasn't me complaining or anything, instead it was made up of
a bunch of questions I had run across during my Bible reading. And since I
still think my Daddy is one of the smartest men ever, second only to Solomon
and Da Vinci.. :) who better to ask?

Last night I had all of 30 minutes to make supper before we had to leave for
church. Solution? Sliders! I cut open and toasted some yeast rolls, mixed up
some yummy hamburger patties and sauteed mushrooms and onions. Then I piled
the mushrooms and onions on top of the patties and laid the cheese over
that, so it would keep everything in place. Oh yeah, and the hamburger
patties had been mixed up with my own combo of spices and then put BBQ sauce
straight into the mix. Mmmm. Juicy from the inside out. Micah raved over
them, so I'll call them a success! Oh... and we had bread and butter pickles
to go on top!

We went to the library Sunday afternoon, and I have a confession to make...
it was the first time I've been to the Library since March. *hangs head in
shame*.. yes.. I know.. I'm horrible. But in my defense, I have been reading
this whole time. I had gotten that big bunch of books from CBD back in the
spring and then Jenna gives me her castoffs so that has kept me well
supplied all summer and most of this fall, but now I'm getting kind of low
so back to the Library I go! Ha! I made a rhyme!

Just so you know, pregnancy makes you have weird dreams. I had THE weirdest
dream ever last night. Now, normally, I don't dream.. in fact, I only
remember dreaming once during my childhood and that was when I was 10 or so,
cause I dream that I was wearing a red poodle skirt in the DeLand church and
it fell off as I walked up the aisle. Then, I dreamed again when I was 15
and I dreamed a bomb was set off at the Assembly. Then I really haven't
dreamed since then... until the past few months.. and I think I know why.

Well, last night/this morning I had the weirdest dream yet... so weird in
fact that...
... I can't share it. Needless to say.. it involved me kicking Micah out of
the house.. and that's as far as I'm going to go in telling THAT story.

But other than that.. life is good.. it's almost weekend.. woohoo!

m.

Not a watermelon yet...

2009-10-06T16:42:31Z

I'm really loving this second trimester, don't ya know. I have so much more
energy than I ever had in the earlier months and except for the occasional
flare-ups of morning sickness when I don't eat on schedule, I feel good too.
People have told me that I'm entering into the "glow" stage where my hair
gets shiny and long, my skin clears up, and as long as I keep active and
eating healthy, I get to be "tiny preggo".. the cute stage before the
watermelon takes over my body.

Yes, I have been thinner in my life, I've worn the size 5 and all that
jazz.. but for me, in my own humble opinion, I think this is the best I've
ever looked. Maybe it's just because there is a reason behind it all.. a new
life that I'm nurturing and caring for, a new life to bring into this world,
such as it is.

One thing I'm wondering about is at what point we should start putting
together the nursery. We know what colors we're going to do: green and
yellow. I've known since I was 13 years old that I wanted to name my first
daughter Samantha Marlene, I wanted my first son to have the middle name
Joshua (we've decided on Caleb Joshua), and I wanted to decorate the nursery
in greens and yellows with frogs and ducks. Or froggies and duckies, as I
call them, hehe.

The way I figure it, decorating in these colors will allow us to purchase
less clothing, decorations, etc, because they'll work for either a boy or a
girl. This will be really nice once we get our own place, cause then we can
set up the dedicated nursery and use it for all six kids. Mom said at first
that it was hard buying clothes in yellows and greens, and especially hard
buying without knowing the gender. Well, since that time she's relented a
bit since finding that Carter's has several lines that not only promote the
desired yellows and greens, but also has ducks and frogs!

You know, I shared some pictures on Facebook last week, but never posted
them on here. I'll do that now!

This is what Mom does if she sees something she likes that's
gender-specific---- she buys two!

Isn't the bath towel cute?

And here is a shot of everything so far

But yeah.. baby stuff aside... our Macbook, poor baby, had a bad cough and
had to go the Doc to get a new set of lungs. Translated: Our computer's fan
started going out and was making horrible noises so we took it to the Apple
Store and they're replacing the fan for us (warranty, baby!). That means
that I was without a computer all night last night.. waaahhh! It worked out
though cause I was actually able to get some housework done.. wow, big
surprise!

I put in Mark Lowery's DVD "The Last Word" and laughed my head off at all
the early 90s (it was recorded in 1992) hairdos (love the mullet, Mark),
clothes (leggings and a baggy sweater, anyone?), and music.. (the beginning
of gansta) ...... I'm glad that I was born at the END of the 80s and was
spared much of the early 90s embarrassment. Of course, that's makes me a
little worried about what our kids will say in 10-15 years about the early
2000s fashion embarrassments.. oh dear...

But even with the blushing laughs, I did manage to get a lot clean, mostly
in the living room, dining room, and bedroom. Tonight we have business
conference at church, but I'm hoping to get some work done in the spare room
after I get home. Really, it's crazy in there. There is plenty of space to
store everything, but it's... messy, to say the least. We moved right when I
was starting with the morning sickness and so I was too weak and sick to do
anything, much less clean, organize, and unpack. Everything got tossed in
the two bedrooms and the doors pulled shut. Now I feel good again which
means I have to brave the unknown and potentially deadly.. "junk room"....
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Okay.. time to work. Bye!

m.

Two for the Price of One

2009-10-03T18:49:50Z

Every so often Micah and I like to go to sleep as soon as we get home from work/school, around 6 or 7 at night. We sleep for a couple of hours and then get up around midnight, 1 in the morning, and stay up until 5 or 6, before catching a few more hours before embarking on our regularly scheduled Saturday.

We haven't done this in a coon's age because I was getting sleepy earlier and earlier and honestly didn't have the stamina to "party" all night. Well, hello Second Trimester. Really, I do notice that I have way more energy that I did before just a few weeks ago. And now that I only get sick when I don't eat on time (bad Megan!), I'm actually able to get my life back!!!

So last night/this morning I woke up around 1 am and came out to work on the pictures from last Sunday's shoot--- PTL! No noticeable quality difference!!! One bad thing though is that we lost more than the one that I originally thought.. more like 10, thankfully all but 3 were our own pictures that I was planning on deleting anyway. I'm going to attempt to rescue the remaining ones, but I'm sooooooo thankful for the, yes, miracle, worked already.

I got the number of photos down from 487 to 156, but I have another 20 or so I'm going to delete. So when all is said and down, and the diptics put together, then we should have a steady 100 or so for the 1 hour and 3 kids + mom, right on schedule.

Ya'll pray for our poor Xterra. It hasn't given us hardly any trouble in the 4, nearly 5, years that I've owned it. It's a 2001, which makes it going on 9 years old, so if anything were to happen, it would be about now.. well.. it's starting... turns out that we are having a coolant leak, but not from the cheap hose that's easy to replace, but from the back area, over there somewhere (ask Micah), and according to Matt we have an issue with our head gasket, which means $$$. Um.. we don't have $$$. We have to buy winter tires... we have bills to pay... we have a baby on the way. And not to mention for what it would cost to fix it we could have the thing nearly all paid off.. SIGH! ARGH! So... another miracle to pray for?...

Lord, grant us strength in this situation, either heal our car, provide the funds, or make a way that we haven't seen yet... but it everything, give us strength and remind us to be thankful for what You've already given. Amen.

We have Bible Study here this evening. It'll be the first time we've entertained more than two people at a time. That means as soon as I am done on the post I'll be cleaning like the Energizer Bunny. Micah is cleaning the kitchen though...

Oh yeah.. most of ya'll don't know about that...

So yesterday Micah and Bro. Nowling went hunting and they got a rabbit. Well, Bro. Nowling gave it to Micah and so, I knew about the rabbit, cool, yummy... he said he was cleaning it so I was expecting it to all be finished and done when I got home.

It was.. kind of. I've never been one to get grossed out from cleaning, butchering, killing, etc, wild game. I was raised in the country.. I've seen my share of dead animals. But to come home and go in the kitchen, planning on eating a bowl of cereal and starting supper... I saw something that made me lose my appetite. Not from any level of grossness or being disgusting, but from the mental images that came rushing into my mind when I stepped onto the vinyl.

I would post a picture, but I don't want to give anyone a heart attack or gross out my fellow prego ladies out there.

It looked like a skinned chihuahua.

Little arms, little legs, no head...

Just sinew and muscles... Oh boy....

All I could think was.. Buster? (my grandmother's chihuahua) I just hope I can get that out of my mind by the time we have biscuits and rabbit gravy.

But THEN I went to the bathroom.. I sat down and started my business and looked over and what did I see.... what looked like a dead cat... in a bowl of water...

Milo? Milo? Where are you Milo?

No, it wasn't Milo.. it was the rabbit fur... okay... cool... whoa... WARN ME NEXT TIME! It was a good thing I was already in the bathroom cause I think I might have peed my pants otherwise.... !

So, interesting times...

I'm going to crank up the music, get Micah out of bed, and clean the living room and dining room. Like I said, Micah's cleaning the kitchen and bathroom.. fair, don't you think?

hehehe

byes!

m.