Wow, what an eventful past few weeks! I'd love to inform you that the next few will finally be nice and restful, but the odd of that are looking pretty grim. Well, lets start from the very beginning - a very good place to start (get the Sound of Music reference... just me? haha).
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| 16 weeks - the starters of my baby bump! |
Well, its long overdue to tell you guys that our bouncing baby is doing great! We have had the opportunity to hear that precious heartbeat twice now and (Lord willing) a third time next Monday. I cannot tell you what that first ultrasound was like. All the fear and anxiety that had attacked me in weeks prior melted away as Braden and I watched this child pop up on the screen in front of us. I couldn't even hold in the tears - I never thought about how that could be an emotional experience! Luckily they had a tissue box nearby, haha. I guess I am part of the norm. Braden and I stood breathless, watching the baby that we had made together kick, wiggle, and twist around in my belly - I guess I had too much sugar that morning! Then just this past week (18 weeks pregnant) I had my first experience with baby kicking! It was so wonderful to feel those beautiful precious pushes inside me. It makes it feel all the more real! I am currently 19 weeks pregnant and Braden and I have decided to find out the gender of our baby next week! Yay! We'll keep you posted on that! Glory be to God that he had carried this baby safely through the pregnancy so far. We plead for your continued prayers for this child and for us as this pregnancy continues.
Next on the agenda... the house. As some of you might know, we have been living with Jim and Shannon (Braden's mother and step dad) for the past 2 months. They have been so gracious to give us a place to live and food to eat while we get our feet under us again. As thankful as we are though, we are also anxious to be back in our own home, taking care of ourselves once again. The transition to living in Santa Claus has been particularly difficult for me as I haven't been able to attain any real kind of employment. I have been subbing, but it is extremely infrequent so I have had to try to occupy myself various seemly mundane tasks to pass the time. To make it all the harder, I don't even have my own home to care for, meals to cook, or other duties. The result has been many tearful night and conversations of Braden assuring me that I am not just sort of taking up space in this transition. That the Lord does have a purpose in our being here and that this time will pass, but that while here I should work my hardest to continue to cultivate a heart for the home and to begin preparing myself for the duties of motherhood. On top of that, since coming hear I almost immediately contracted the flu, followed shortly by a bladder infection, and managed to attain my first interaction with Hives as a result of being allergic to the medication. Yuck. I will mention the blinding back pain later, as that is actually a fairly funny story. But, I have had abundant time to spend with the Lord and to read books about raising a family, honoring God, creating a home filled with hospitality, etc. And now our prayers have been answered and, Lord willing, Braden and I will be closing on our first home on Friday! It is no masterpiece (green bedroom carpet and a blue bathtub, haha) but it is a lovely first home that we got a wonderful deal on. The Lord was so gracious to provide us with the finances for it and we could not be more excited to move in! We should be painting for about the next week, but in two weeks I do believe we will be moving into that home! Pictures soon to come!
Things are going wonderfully with Braden's job! He loves it and the park will be opening this week! Which also means that Braden will begin his 4 month adventure of working 6 days a week *sigh*. But with a new house I am sure I will have no problems keeping busy, but I will most definitely be missing him! Make sure you let us know if you plan to come to the park this summer! We have a good amount of free tickets to give to those who plan to come anyways!
This moves us almost to the present. I went to Wester Chester, PA last week so that I could spend some time with my lovely sisters before Melissa and Jeff's big day! What a delight it was to see them! I cannot tell you enough how wonderful these two woman are. Jace and Jenny (brother-in-law and sister) were SO gracious to let us use there home. Not many people would be willing to let there sister and brother in law blow up and air mattress and sleep in there own bedroom. But with 9 people in the house (with 1 bathroom might I add), it was wonderful for Braden and I to have a place to sleep that wasn't in a public living space (we were going to end up sleeping in the dining room or kitchen otherwise). They fed us (did I mention that Jenny is a great cook?) and got Braden and I more that excited to have our own child as we watched them love and nurtures their too cute 17 month son, Joshua. I loved getting some girl time with Jenny and Mel where we could just talk for hours like we did when we were kids. I miss them so much! I am crossing my fingers and pray that they get to church plant in Indiana next year. It gets harder for me to leave them every time! Love you guys! Oh, and remember that I told you about the blinding back pain? Well, turns out that I was simply sleeping on a bad mattress and it wasn't pregnancy related at all. Suddenly, after 2 nights of sleeping on Melissa's bed that almost incapaciting back pain was completely gone. lol. Guess I should cancel that doctors appointment with the chiropractor!!! =)
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| Lobby Outside the Sanctuary |
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| Bridesmaids before rehearsal |
The wedding was beautiful, Melissa was the perfect picture of a blushing bride, and Jeff is as amazing of a brother-in-law as I could ever hope to have! It is such a beautiful reminder of Christ's love for his Church. Ephesians 5 reminds us that marriage is about so much more than a legal commitment to one another. It is about how Christ loves his Church and sacrificed himself for her and how she (the Church) now loves and submits to him out of love and reverence for his leadership. How beautiful that he the Lord has been so gracious to our family. And we were so lucky as to get to spend time with Nick Kidwell and his beautiful ladyfriend Happy Tao. The last evening we were there we had a feast of leftovers from all the wedding food, watched the most ridiculous promotional video on back labor - don't ask - I have ever seen (especially with Happy and Nick's voice over commentary the whole time), and talked for hours afterwards. It was a wonderful send off to a great week!
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| Melissa and Jeff Exchanging Vows Before God and Man |
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| Jenny and I wearing tacky shoes around the church |
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| The Murphy Sisters (Actually Gogel, Schinella, and Hudson Sisters) with Husbands |
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