some fun stuff...

Well I am officially in maternity pants now. I can still wear lots of my tops but my waistbands have gone elastic and to be quite honest I am loving them :) So here's my first maternity purchase. My sweet boss at Hollywood Baby gave me a gift certificate to Pickles & Ice Cream so I got these jeans and top. Thank you Stacy!


Harold and I went after Christmas shopping and found some some great stuff. It was so fun to think about the baby being here next Christmas and dreaming of all the ways we could decorate to make it fun for them (and us). We found some of the cutest stockings at Pottery Barn Kids and decided that we better get 4...Yes we only have 1 on the way, but hopefully another will follow soon after :)

And lastly...the M&M;'s. Harold has got a slight addiction to Peanut M&M;'s. Last year his mom gave him a 5lb bag for Christmas and they were gone by New Year's. Not kidding. So this year, he decided it would be a good idea for me to divide them up into individual servings and hide them. He gets one bag a day. No more. And yes, he is 35!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Christmas day has come and gone. It's always bittersweet to start packing up all the memories and start preparing for the New Year but this year I feel different. It seems to me that there is no better time for a new year than after the celebration of our Savior's birth. This is what Christmas is about:

'For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.' (Luke 2:11)

But you can't fully appreciate the birth without the Cross and all that it brought:

'He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.' (Isaiah 53:5)

As we prepare for a new year, I am so thankful for the new heart I have through Christ. My dreams, my life, my hopes, my desires have all been made new and I celebrate that and the Cross, just as much as the sweetness of the babe born in a manager. Of all the gifts that this season brings, there is one that always proves worthy.

Salvation.

It will not break. It cannot crack. It does not fail. It takes no batteries. It NEVER wears out.
I cannot think of any better gift. Better yet, there is no better Giver! I hope the miracle of this season and the promise of the New Year brings you all just as much comfort. Merry Christmas!

14 Weeks

The time has arrived to start keeping track of the belly progress. Until this week we really hadn't seen much change in my body but I am definitely starting to get a bump. I never thought I'd enjoy the feeling of a tight waistband but somehow it's come to be a sweet reminder of the little one growing inside me.
Only a few more weeks in my regular pants and then on to elastic :)

The Silver Lining...

I've been sick for the past 10 days. First it was strep throat. Then on to some chest cold. Not completely better, but on the up and up. I went to the doctor last week, but it was not our OB. So after not getting better, I went in yesterday to see her so that they could give me some different medicine. Well, I did get another prescription but we also got the best form of medicine I could have asked for....

We heard the heartbeat.

Within a minute, the nurse found it and it was 157 beats strong. Harold and I looked at each other is complete amazement. I mean, yes, we know we are pregnant. I've got an expanding waistline and 8lbs to tell me something is going on, but somehow at that moment I realized that there is a living child inside of me that I already am responsible for. At that moment, I heard the heartbeat of our marriage. And it was strong. That sound was more about us than the baby. Each beat was evidence of love and goodness and patience and kindness.
Harold and I will be celebrating our 4th anniversary on the 20th of this month and through those years we have created life in more ways than this. We have given life to each other with the unconditional love that Christ commands us. Not that we always get it perfect, but we know the Perfect source for strengh when we can't find it on our own.

So here's to the silver lining of this sickness. I would be sick for 100 more days for this lesson of love and life.