A Bad Morning with an Upshot

First I'll start with the upshot... We had a sonogram this morning, and it's a BOY!!! We were so excited to get to see our little son and are so excited to be his parents! It was such a special, surreal moment to look at that screen and see his little face and to know that he's inside me! It is truly a miracle.

And now for the bad part of the morning... The reason we had to have the sonogram, which was earlier than expected, is that I have have been having pain up near my ribs for the past several days now. When it turned into a hard lump under my skin, I called the doctor, who had me come in right away. He ordered this sonogram, thinking that it was something related to my colon, kidney, pancreas, etc., all of which sounds so scary. I was, of course, thinking the worst.

The good news is that the sonogram showed nothing wrong with any of my internal organs, but there is a "hematoma" right under the skin, which they explain as a bad internal bruise. Either it's just a bruise, or I have some kind of tear in my abdominal muscle wall causing the pain and swelling. Though the pain isn't fun, I am SO relieved that it is not anything more serious. We are still waiting to hear the official diagnosis and treatment from the doctor, but I feel much less worried than yesterday. If you think of it, though, please pray that I'll be able to heal quickly!

Pictures from Daingerfield

Sooooooo Relaxing

Our time in Daingerfield last weekend couldn't have been better. The weather was gray and cold all day Saturday, but that just made for plenty of time to hang out inside talking, laughing, playing games, and eating awesome meals. We did take a walk around the lake, which was great. On Sunday things cleared up right as Nick and Sarah left, but Eric and I walked around the lake and then threw a frisbee for a long time and just enjoyed being outside and together and away from the busyness of normal life.

We are so thankful for such wonderful friends to share life with, for time to get away, for the beauty all around us, and for the Lord who is so kind to us every day. I'll put a few pictures in the next post...

To Daingerfield We Go

This weekend we are going camping with our friends Nick and Sarah and their sweet little son Titus. As the weather right now is sleety and is supposed to get worse, we are thankful that we rented a cabin! :) We're excited to spend the weekend with each other and with such great friends and to be in such a pretty place. Daingerfield is in East Texas, and we love it. It's one of those places that hasn't changed with time. It is so refreshing to be away from normal life and all it's distractions!

Hopefully we'll remember to take some pictures so we can post them here next week.

Weekend Update

Pine Cove was GREAT! The kids all had a blast, and we were all really challenged by the speaker, Wayne Walker. Two guys became believers, which makes it all worth it, for sure. I think that, though we say this every year, this might have been the best retreat ever.

On a less exciting note, one of the guys hurt his knee pretty badly late on Saturday night, so Eric and I left and drove him home at midnight. He was in a lot of pain- we are still waiting to hear what the doctor has to say. It's always a bummer when someone gets hurt on a retreat, but thankfully we were able to get him home and comfortable.

So, despite the injury, it was an AWESOME weekend! The Lord really blessed our time- I'm so thankful.

off to East Texas...

This weekend is the annual youth group Pine Cove winter retreat. It is the kids' favorite event of the year, and rightfully so. We play tons of crazy games, stay up way too late, eat great food, play more games, worship together, and have an awesome speaker. We're going to help out, and, though we're both really tired at the end of this week, it is exciting for us to be a part of this weekend.

If you think of it, pray for our time there!

Maternity Update

This is for those that are interested in the pregnancy progress... stop reading here if you don't want to be bored by details! :) Otherwise, here goes...

For the first time in the 17 weeks that I have been pregnant, maternity pants were an option for clothes to wear this morning. It is half-way discouraging and half-way exciting, because, on the one hand, what girl in the world wants to grow out of her jeans? But, on the other hand, pregnancy seems more of a reality when I can no longer suck in my stomach and have it be (albeit relatively) flat- and that's excitingly real. I decided on my regular jeans that still fit, but unfortunately I'm at that awkward stage where people think, "Is she pregnant, or is she just gaining weight?" I'm sure those elastic-waist jeans will soon be a part of my wardrobe! (For anyone who hasn't seen maternity pants, they're hilarious to look at.)

In other news, I'm still waiting to feel the baby move. They say it can be anywhere between 16 and 22 weeks. I'm 17 today and am fighting worry that I haven't felt him/her yet. Worrying about your children sets in early, apparently! :) I can't wait to feel him/her move!

And the baby sex predictions continue... Some are SURE it's a boy, others are POSTIVE it's a girl. I can't wait to find out. Eric and I go back and forth about what we think it is. In 3-ish weeks we'll know!

We decided to go very neutral with the nursery- pale greyish blue walls, white furniture and linens and curtains and carpeting. The only baby things we have are the crib and changing table. In talking to friends who are parents last night, we realized how much stuff we need... stroller, car seat, bedding, decorations for the walls, etc. Not to mention the basics like clothes and wipes and diapers! I definitely feel that "nesting" thing coming on- it wasn't just a rumor about the second trimester. :)

And that rounds out the maternity update.

We've Arrived

If the measure of internet coolness is having e-mail, facebook, and a blog, then we have indeed arrived. If you have to have myspace too, then we are internetly uncool. And we don't know how to use YouTube. So I guess we're doomed. Perhaps there are more important things in life...

Anyway, we wanted a way to keep everyone updated, especially as our little family grows. So, to the two or three people who will look at this (hi mom), here we are!