8 Weeks Left!

I can't believe it--I will have a precious little one in about 2 months!  Wow.... this pregnancy has gone by SO fast.  I am getting more and more excited each day--I'm sure by the time delivery gets here, I'm going to be about to jump out of my skin. :)

And for those of you that are dying to ask (I've gotten this question many times already), no, I'm not ready for her to come out and have this pregnancy over with yet.  She still needs to develop for a few more weeks, and THEN I'll be ready for her grand entrance.  But, the reality is that I haven't been uncomfortable hardly at all.  Sure, my belly gets in the way of things sometimes (such as painting my toenails), but it's not over-bearing or all-consuming by any stretch of the means.  Sleeping isn't uncomfortable yet--I just wish we had a bigger bed so that my pillows wouldn't get in Daniel's space when I'm on my left side.... and then maybe my cat wouldn't take up half of my side of the bed.  The only perpetual issues I have are being tired all the time and heartburn about 2 hours after I eat.  But!  I'm finding that a Tums a day keeps the heartburn away.

I have one more shower on Saturday, August 30th.  There are only a few more things that I really need (including LOTS of diapers), and some winter clothes.  If I get a whole lot of stuff, I have no idea where I'm going to put it!!  So, if you're reading this and are wondering what we need, know that we need diapers!!  Oh, and there's this sling at Target that I want to make sure I get, but I think it's going to have to be ordered online because they never have the right pattern in the store.

I'm going to have Daniel take a belly picture this weekend, so that  you can see Hannah's outward progress. Daniel got to feel her kicking up a storm yesterday, which was neat because it's so rare that she moves that much.  She's an otherwise very calm, tranquil baby.  She squirms  enough to let you know she's alive and well, but isn't a rambunctious soccer player or anything like that.

Okay, well, have a great evening!

Hannah's Room and Missions Trip

So.... the missions trip was great! Everyone from our youth group was SO sad to leave South Carolina, and got really close with AYM, so they were upset to be leaving all those guys as well. They're ready to go on another one and bring our entire youth group with them! So, I'd say it was a success :)

Hannah's room is so close to being finished! I know, it's a little early to have it all finished, but what can I say? I like to have things done. So, below are some pictures of what's in her room... and a little surprise we found when we came home the other day.

The crib:

Changing table (with no pad yet):

You can see the dresser right next to the changing table.... it's full of clothes from birth to 6 months.... already.

Bookshelf:

The manual breast pump on the top shelf of the bookcase has become Daniel's new favorite toy. Imagine that. :)

And.... check out the little surprise we found the other day!


I think Gypsy knows something's up, since we spend so much time in that room. Daniel got a few cute pictures of her in the crib... so we have a furry baby for now :)

Missions Trip Update

Just wanted to give you an update on how the trip is going....

Things are going very well--our cfa students are very happy to be here, and I've definitely noticed that they've all bonded as a group since we've been here. That makes me happy. :) They are also very appreciative of the other group that we're with, and have felt very welcome and part of the whole deal. For many of our students, it's their first missions trip, and it's been a great experience for them so far. It seems like they're already wanting to go on another one soon! Hopefully this will spur them on to be thinking about ways they can serve others in their lives... not just on special trips like this, but recognizing the needs of those around them in everyday life.

Just to give you an idea of our schedule, we leave the hotel at 7am every morning (?!!!), drive out to Norway, eat breakfast, have a little devotional time, and then head to the warehouse where VBS takes place. The kids normally start arriving around 9 and we get to play with them until we start around 9:30. VBS lasts until about 11:30, and then we break for lunch. The kids that we get to work with are so precious. They range from ages 4 through high school, and we've had around 50 or 60 kids the last 2 days. After lunch, we go to work on a lady's house who lives here in town. We are re-roofing her house, along with replacing a few pieces of rotted roof. We're also cleaning up the trash and brush in her backyard. Don't worry, we'll have plenty of video and pictures to show you. :) We'll even have some funny stories about snakes, septic tanks, and the like! In the evenings, we have a worship session back at the warehouse. Some of the teens from the community come and hang out with us.

After lunch today, before we started work on the house that we're re-roofing and cleaning up, I took our group and a few girls from the other group out to see where the kids are coming from that go to the VBS program. In Norway, it's about a 90% poverty rate (pretty hard to fathom, isn't it?), so it was pretty eye-opening for a lot of the kids to go out and see the condition that many of these little ones live in. Most of the families are fatherless here, and drugs, alcoholism, and teenage pregnancy are the biggest problems. But I'll tell you what--when you love on them, they just eat it up. They'll steal your heart very quickly.

VBS is going very well, and Daniel makes an excellent drill sergeant. The kids are hilarious when he walks in the room in costume... they straighten right up, and are always looking for him once the skit is over. :) I think those skits have been one of the biggest hits this week. Janelle is Private Annie Waire, and the kids think she is hilarious too (she's loud, obnoxious, and over-zealous). Private Hugh Meeh, played by Jeremy, is the "surfer-dude" kid, who always gets in trouble, and you should hear the kids anticipating the drill sergeant's wrath when Meeh says something stupid. ;-)

Anyway, just wanted to let you guys know how things were going! We're having a great time, and it's been really neat to see God slowly working in the hearts of our kids. It's funny how we always think that we go on missions trip to "minister" to other people.... but God always shows up in bigger ways than we ever imagine--and it always provokes change in our own hearts and lives.

Beautiful Belly

I love being pregnant :) Isn't pregnancy beautiful?

Major Update

Man.... I am not very good at updating this thing.  Okay, so Daniel and I have been SUPER busy!!  Man.... we're finally just getting a little breathing room this week, and then we're off and on the road yet again.

Okay, so we went to Cancun with my parents and my brother and sister-in-law.  We had a great time!  I don't get to see my bro and sis very often, so I always cherish those times that I get to spend with them.  I know I promised pictures, but all the good ones are on my mom's computer at home.  Hopefully we can get some posted soon.

Thennnn we came home and then Daniel got a KIDNEY STONE!!!!!!!  I thought only people in their 40's and 50's got those things!  Evidently not... Daniel learned through the whole process that dehydration is the main culprit for kidney stones, so you can bet that he's drinking a ton of water these days :)  He passed the kidney stone a few days after it dropped into his bladder, so everything's back to normal.  It was quite an experience though, I must say.  From what I hear, it's comparable to childbirth (as far as the pain goes), but I prefer not to think of  childbirth as pain. :)  

Then we headed to Va Beach for a baby shower.  Daniel's mom, sister, and friend put on an AWESOME shower for me--they really did a fantastic job.  It was perfect!  Not to mention I got all kinds of cool stuff!  (so much that we couldn't fit it all in my car on the trip home...)  So things are really starting to come together in our nursery!  It's amazing how much stuff you need (and how expensive it all is).  So, Donna, Abby, Megan, and Millie (and anyone else I'm not naming), thank you!

We've officially hired our new youth pastor at cfa--woohoo!  I really think he's going to be great, and his wife is awesome too.  Daniel and I really like both of them, and the kids seem to like them a whole lot as well.  I am very happy about this new addition to our staff. :)  

Yesterday, Mary and Megan put on a shower for me with some of my Cville/U.Va. friends.  It was nice and intimate, which I definitely appreciated.  And again, got lots of cute (and very useful) stuff!  The games were especially fun :)  So Mary and Megan--thank you, too!!  Can't wait for this baby to be born so you all can see the fruit of all this hard work of preparation.  She is going to be SO loved and SO blessed.

Umm........ Well, I don't feel like typing anymore, so I'm going to stop now.  Hope you guys are doing well!!