Shaking Things Up

Today, we went in for our 16-week appointment. Our doctor told us that she would look at 16 weeks to see if she could tell what we were having and sure enough...its a BOY! There was no mistaking this identification. We have some very conclusive pictures. Jared & I both hardly know what to think. We've come to identify ourselves as girl parents but that's soon to change. We'll be learning a whole new world as we become a little boy's parents too.
With Kati Ann, we had a name by the time we found out what we were having but we don't yet have a name for our little guy. We'll have to start narrowing it down and hopefully will have a name to start calling our little guy soon.

On a side note: I've had requests for Belly Pics. As it would work out, I've lost SO much weight from being sick (which I continue to be) that I am actually wearing clothes loosely that were tight before getting pregnant. I'm not showing at all so my belly pics would be to show you a belly that was flatter than before I got pregnant. I actually am starting to have some pretty "cut" abs from my "exercises" over the toilet. So, at some point others may know that I'm pregnant from looking at me but as of now...I don't have much to show.

Abby Cadabby in Texas just not in Alabama

The week prior to Halloween, Jared and I had a conference in Dallas and so Kati Ann spent the week with her MiMi & Poppa in Carthage. While there she attended the Fall Festival at their church. The pictures you see are courtesy of MiMi & Poppa. Her grandparents were sweet enough to make an extra effort to bring her back to Huntsville in time for the Fall Festival at our church on Saturday afternoon. After traveling most of the day, they arrived at our house so that Kati Ann could change into her Abby Costume and we could go to the Fall Festival. However, apparently Abby was reserved for Texas alone because she insisted that she would wear her Halloween shirt and not her costume. There are definitely issues that I'm willing to push but wearing a Halloween costume is not one of them. So, it was a battle we chose not to fight and Kati Ann went to the Fall Festival in Huntsville as Kati Ann. We still had a great time. Without the Fall Festival in Carthage we wouldn't have these adorable Abby Cadabby pictures.

A Funny

Kati Ann & I visited my grandmother's small little church on Sunday morning. Typically, Kati Ann is not in church with us but my grandmother's church is small and doesn't have childcare. So, it came to the time for the "Children's Sermon" and Kati Ann wanted to go down with the other kids but wanted me to go with her which was fine. So, she and I headed down to front and sat on the floor. She immediately started talking to the gentleman that was trying to do the Children's Sermon. She pointed to the big stained glass window behind the alter (very similar to the one in the picture above) and begin talking about it. The gentleman asked her who was in the picture. I whispered to her that it was a Jesus and she told him it was Jesus and then she went on to tell the gentleman that "Jesus was mowing." The poor, unsuspecting gentleman looked at me and I at him. He asked me if I understood what she said. Being the upstanding Christian, I played dumb and told him I had no idea! How was I to tell him that Jesus was MOWING in the beautiful stained glass picture! From the mouths of babes!

Going to the Beauty (as my MiMi calls it)

This week we did something that has needed to be done but something that I've been a little nervous to do...we got Kati Ann a REAL haircut. I'm not one of those mothers that doesn't want to cut her hair and in fact I've done my own "magic" (if that's what you want to call it) on her a few times. However, I'm no beautician and I knew she needed a good quality haircut. I was pretty nervous about it because though my child is usually well-behaved in public she often throws a fit when we touch her hair. Washing, combing and fixing her hair is a daily battle. So, you can imagine my trepidation at taking her into a poor beautician that was supposed to give a "good" haircut to a screaming child. So, we talked up how much fun she was going to have going to the "beauty shop" and what a big girl she was. We walk into the salon and I'm feeling the anxiety mounting inside me. I introduce her to "Ms. Cindy", the beautician. As children will often do, Kati Ann completely proved my nervousness vein as she practically jumped into the chair and sat still and quiet as she got her hair cut. Go figure! I fight daily to even run a comb through her hair but she walks into a strange place, sits down with a strange person with scissors and does beautifully! I was actually quite proud, surprised but proud!

A God Story

There has been lots happening in our lives in the last month or should I say the last several months. In April, we started the process of building a house. The contract was contingent on the sell of our house and if you've read past blogs you know that has been somewhat of a roller coaster. We did sell our house and have been preparing to move to our new house for the last month. We were scheduled to close on both houses on September 21, 2009. The closings were 2 hours apart and so we would spend our first night in our new house following the 2nd closing. Jared & I packed the truck and vehicles to the hilt. In fact, there were things that ended up staying at the old house simply because there was no place to pack them. This was no easy task as I have experienced tremendous sickness from being pregnant and was not the usual help that I normally would be. However, we cleaned our house, showered and headed to the first closing. We had our animals in the van as we signed the papers to sell our house. As we sat in our first closing, Jared received a phone call that our second closing was being cancelled. I made it out of the closing and into the van before having a complete meltdown. We were packed to the hilt with no where to go.
But our God was not having a meltdown, instead He had a plan. We have some gracious friends in our church that have an empty basement apartment that offered to let us stay (with our animals) until we got in our new house. They also have a quiver full of children that Billie & Kati Ann thoroughly enjoyed playing with. So, for about 24 hours we waited. While we waited, I was able to rest and actually feel the best I had felt in weeks.
So, at 1p.m. on September 22, 2009, we closed on the house we were buying. I never look forward to the next part, unpacking. However, the God that knew my state of mind and body sent an army of people to my house that evening to unpack, make beds, put contact paper in the cabinets and make my house a home in a matter of hours. It was the most incredible experience to stand back and watch what would have taken Jared & I weeks to get done get done in a matter of hours. I was able to park my van in the garage the very first night! (If you've ever moved you know that's a 3 month milestone!)
So, to God be the glory great things He has done!

Several of you have requested pictures. Here is some pics of the outside of our house. I will continue to post more pictures as we finish rooms but there are still lots of things to hang on the walls and find the right place for so as we do that I'll post more pictures.

The Outside of our House

 

A New House going up down the street

 

The view of the mountains out our front door

 

The 18 acre lake across from our house

 

Sesame Street Live

 

 

 

Better late than never!! So, on September 8, 2009, we took Kati Ann on a very special outing to the Von Braun Center in Huntsville. As Kati Ann said, we went to "Elmo's house." We thought it was precious to find out that Elmo lived at the Von Braun Center. We actually attended Sesame Street Live. We had to really prepare for this event because it didn't actually start until 7p.m. Well, for a two year old we're quickly approaching bedtime at 7p.m. So, Kati Ann took a late nap that day and did great! We had so much fun watching Elmo & his friends dance.

Why Go to Church?

A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday.

"I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor.

It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

"I've been married for 30 years now.. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today.
Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!" When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!"