24 Weeks and Merry Christmas!

We're at 24 weeks this week! Only about 16 weeks until we meet our little guy! I can't believe it. Time has gone by so fast, and the next couple of months will fly by as well, I'm sure of it! Asher is really moving a lot, and I think I've felt him have the hiccups. Everytime he moves, I count my blessings. I know that's a lot of counting, but seriously, I do. I feel so blessed to be having another baby. I know that people do it every day, and that people take it for granted, but there's no way that I could ever feel that way...we waited so long. My sister asked when we would like to have our baby shower...woohoo...I can't wait! There are so many things that I still need to get, and because we don't use credit cards anymore, I've been putting it off. I need to get bedding for the crib, a carseat, and a breast pump (lol!) those are the priorities at this point! I have clothes, blankets, and enough diapers to last the first month at least. Sleep is getting a little bit uncomfortable, and I am feeling a little back pain here and there, but otherwise, I'm feeling good!

Merry Christmas! We had a great Christmas this year. After a small (ha!) crazy-pregnancy- induced-nervous breakdown (poor Kris-he's a trooper) on Saturday morning, we traveled to Neosho, MO and spent Saturday afternoon/evening with my family. It was so fun to see Reagan open her gifts, she was so smiley and was just amazed--she has to be one of the cutest babies! I got to hold baby Tre, and feed him his bottle--he is so precious, and reminds me so much of Bobby when he was a baby. Monday evening was spent with Kris's family. We went to church at Jill and Jay's church, and then came back to our house for finger foods and giving gifts to the kids. Christmas morning was a blast! Katie had so much fun, she was so excited about everything! She loved the her presents, and I was so proud of her for her thankfulness and gratefulness. We had a big brunch with my friend Melissa and her family, and everyone played the Wii all morning and part of the afternoon. It was a fun time. I will try and post some pictures here in a bit.

Katie and I have an exciting New Year's Eve party planned! Kris has to work, so Katie and I are going to party it up-just the two of us! Our plans so far (all planned by Katie!) include watching Snow Dogs, doing snappers and whatever other fireworks we can find from our canceled-by-the-flood Fourth of July and eating macaroni and cheese! We thought we might drive to Wal-Mart just before midnight and give Kris kisses to ring in the new year, but it might be safer to stay home. As crazy as it sounds, I am looking forward to just her and I staying up as late as we can in our jammies! Last time we tried this, just the two of us, we didn't make it til midnight! :)

23 weeks!

I visited Dr. on Wednesday, and everything seems to be going well. She was super pleased with my blood sugar levels. I gained 4 pounds this month-yikes! So 6 pounds all together. I am hoping to get through pregnancy having gained 15-20 pounds, so I can lose the baby weight and be healthier than I was before pregnancy. I really want to get a good stroller so that I can take walks and get healthy after Asher is born. On Christmas Day, we will be 24 weeks, and if you divide that into 4 week months, then we are 6 months along! I think that's a great day to celebrate making it to 6 months! :o)

Are you ready for Christmas? I am...I think. I still have 3 gifts to buy, and I still have to get a few groceries. As crazy as it seems, I will probably try and make a middle of the night trip to Wal-Mart to do my grocery shopping, either tonight or tomorrow night. It's just too busy there during the day. Katie and I went at 7:30 this morning to get cookies for her class party, and it was busy already!

Katie has just been so excited for Christmas this year. I think it's because we are having 6 days chock-full of Christmas-y activities. Last night was her party at karate, today is her party at school, tonight we're heading to the movies to watch National Treasure. Tomorrow is Christmas with my side of the family at Crystal and Michael's, Sunday is her program at church, and Monday is, of course, Christmas Eve with Kris's side of the family coming to our house. The big finale will come with Christmas morning, opening gifts, seeing what Santa brought, and having a big brunch. I'm excited about all of this too, really...her little craziness is starting to rub off on me!

Blessings and Prayers

I am blessed to have a husband who has given his heart to God.
I am blessed to have an amazing daughter, who has also given her heart to God.
I am blessed to have a squirmy boy growing inside me...who will hopefully, someday give his heart to God.
I am blessed to have so many good friends that I know I will see in Heaven someday.
I'm so thankful for those things, because really, that's what it all comes down to.

There are lots of prayers that I want to remember to pray in the coming hours and days. I thought it might help if I list them here, so I won't forget:
Anita W.'s sister, Lana, for the lump in her neck to be benign.
Brother Todd Hamilton, from Katie's school, collapsed during Chapel today, and was life-flighted to Wichita.
Dustin and his family, his sister passed away in a car accident this past week.
Evelyn, struggling with TTC.
Anita B., being without her mom and Don for the holidays.
Tim and Trina, for Tim to progress and Trina to have comfort and strength.
Melissa and her family, for them to have safe travel home for Christmas.
The lady that Kris works with who is struggling with depression and sadness.
For all of my children in foster care who will be away from their Mom's and Dad's for Christmas.
For everyone who is alone or struggling this Christmas-God be with them and give them strength and hope.

5 random things that bring me joy...

1. Kissing Katie's forehead.
2. Hot tea with splenda and milk.
3. Green depression glass.
4. Grapefruit.
5. The smell of fresh carnations.

Baby Jesus...

I just heard the song by Barbara Mandrell, "Born to Die"...and because I'm hormonal...and because of my softy, soft heart...I have big tears running down my cheeks! I was thinking about the words of the song...and really and truly...that is what Christmas is all about.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life" John 3:16. That, in a one verse nutshell, is what Christmas is all about. God knew, even on that beautiful night of Jesus's birth, that the plan for him was to endure a cruel death on the cross. Christmas is not about finding a pink game boy at the last minute, it's not about fixing the right food to impress your inlaws on Christmas Eve, it's not about stressing over the one string of lights on the tree that has quit...none of those problems or issues compare to the wonderous and amazing love of God when he gave his sweet tiny baby boy to us.

Catching up on some photo additions!

Katie received an orange tip addition to her yellow belt at Thursday night's Karate promotion! We are proud of her! She has really stuck with this, and she gets better all of the time!

Because we had an "ice day" Katie spent quite a bit of time "creating" (messes around the house) today.

22 weeks!

We're 22 weeks along this week. It's hard to believe that we only have 18 weeks to go! Kris thinks time will fly after Christmas, and I think he's right. Christmas week will be 24 weeks, and New's Year's Day will be 25 weeks, so time will be moving right along.

We have a day off school today, we've been having a little ice storm that has left everything very slick! Supposed to get one more round of freezing rain this afternoon, and rain and snow until Thursday this week! Yikes!

I'm trying to come up with my menu for Christmas Eve. Kris's family is coming over. So far, I have on my menu:

Salami roll-ups
BBQ Little Smokies
Hanky-Panky's
Pigs in a blanket
Sauerkraut Cheese Dip and Chips

I need to come up with some other ideas, for maybe some sweet stuff...mmm...making my list is making me hungry!

Winter-y weather!

It's sleeting here this morning, but I feel so much better today than I did yesterday. Yesterday I needed to call on my Lord, and I did, but it was a tiny, lame, quiet, unenthusiastic call to him...and He listened anyway, and brought a better day today. He brought a beautiful morning with my sweet girl. We woke up at 6 and talked and giggled and laughed until almost 7...He gave that to me...that precious time with her...was a direct gift from God! Goodness, I'm so grateful for that. It made my ENTIRE day so much better...I love her so much.

I ordered an outfit for Asher this morning. I still had some $ on my Gymboree gift card, so I got him a puppy outfit for church...maybe for his dedication day at Church. April and May are sometimes a little chilly, so I think they might be ok. So cute for our sweet boy!

The UPS man visited us today!

My super, wonderfully sweet friend Melissa sent this for Asher today! I just love, love, love it!

Junie B. Jones reading marathon!

Katie has been reading like crazy-cakes lately! We went to the library after school yesterday, and she chose 4 Junie B. Jones books and has read two of them already! I checked out Home to Harmony by Philip Gulley. I have only had time to read the first chapter, but I really like it so far. I hardly ever read...but I think I am going to try harder to make time to read both my Bible and other stories of families and faith.

Confession: I watched 3 (yes-three!) episodes of Grey's last night. Katie slept in her bed, and I hadn't watched any at all this season, so I decided I would just watch one on the laptop. I sort-of regret it, honestly, because I am so tired today...and because Grey's is obviously not about families and faith...yeah...not sure that was such a great idea to watch those. That's all I'm going to say about that for now.

Kris pulled in right as Katie and I were pulling out from our street today. He was so happy to see us, he loves that girl of ours so much! I miss him when he is gone to work all night.

I think that's all for today.

21 weeks-19 weeks until we meet our Asher!

19 weeks left to go! I can't believe this little pregnancy journey is more than half way over. I have been feeling little Asher move quite a bit. He has been a little wiggly worm! Kris found some things he really liked for Asher's room at Target. I just couldn't tell him no, it's his first, and possibly his only son. I really didn't want to go with a "theme" but we are going with the baby camping lodge/cabin feel. It's from Woolrich and it's really adorable, and it will be fine for his infant through toddler years. Kris just fell in love with it...and I just felt like he needed to be a part of creating Asher's room. We have definitely decided on his name being Asher. It just feels right, and we love the meaning behind it. Kris sent me this little exerpt about Pat William's book by that he got the name idea from, and I want to share it here:

Over Labor Day weekend 2004, Pat was in Peoria, Illinois as the guest of Northwoods Community Church. He watched the news as Hurricane Frances churned her way across Florida. Frances was the size of Texas and headed straight for Pat’s house in Orlando. After speaking at the church, the pastor accompanied Pat to the airport in case his flight was cancelled. The pastor asked Pat, “If you get marooned in Peoria, you can come with me to our 7:40 Club.” Pat asked, “What’s the7:40 Club?” The pastor explained that their club was a group of men who met on the first Saturday of each month at 7:40 a.m. Intrigued, Pat asked about the club. The pastor had stumbled onto 1 Chronicles 7:40. In the passage of Scripture, the Bible explains that a man named Asher had numerous descendants (26,000) and were “heads of families.” Pat pulled out his Bible and read the verse for himself. The “heads of families” were godly husbands and fathers, and also brave warriors and courageous men of strong convictions.
“If it hadn’t been for a hurricane in Florida, I probably never would have heard of Asher,” says Pat.
Ever since his life-changing experience in Peoria, Pat says he has been learning everything he can about Asher. Through his research, Pat discovered that Asher was the eighth son of Jacob whose mother was Zilpah. His name means happy and when Jacob blessed his sons in Genesis 49, he predicted that Asher’s food would be rich. Moses also blessed Asher and said that he would be favored by his brothers and that his feet would bathe in oil. (The lands once possessed by the tribe of Asher are still olive-growing regions to this day and provides an abundance of olive oil.) Pat says rabbinical literatures tells us Asher was honest and honerable. He was considered a virtuous man focused on bringing peace to his family and building relationships among his brothers. The 26,000 man tribe of Asher was not the most numerous but they were “choice” men, known for quality not quantity.
From what Pat discovered about Asher, it was clear Asher was a special man, complete in four dimensions of godly manhood: fatherhood, character, boldness and leadership. While God speaks quite pointedly about Asher, His description of him is compressed into a single verse. But God wants us to take note of Asher and learn some important lessons. “I believe God wants all of us, as men of God, to become spiritual descendants and imitators of Asher, complete in four dimensions of godly manhood,” says Pat.
Fatherhood: No amount of success can make up for failure in the home. Twenty-four million American children live in homes without a biological father. As the father of 19 children, Pat says the only man who is truly a failure as a father is the man who fails to love, discipline, affirm and teach his children God’s plan for their lives.
Character: In order to raise children of character, fathers must model it for them. A man of character has integrity (he is the same man at home, work and church). He displays honesty and owns up to his mistakes. He is diligent and hard working with an uncompromising commitment to excellence. He displays humility (confidence without arrogance) and patience.
Boldness: “A warrior is a man who lives to die,” says Pat. Everyone is afraid to die but the courage of a warrior gives him the strength to do the thing he fears.
Leadership: Kids want to lead. When given a chance to lead, they will astonish you with their ability to get things done.