It's a...

This morning was the "big" ultrasound appointment, where they do the anatomy scan, making sure everything's measuring correctly for the gestational age, and they can usually determine the gender.

For nearly the past four years, Sam has always wanted a boy first. He likes the idea of an older brother to watch out for the younger ones as they come along. He put in his order to heaven for a boy when we were about ready to start the baby stage in our lives.

I have been feeling like this is a girl; while I was in Texas this summer at camp, during worship I felt like I suddenly had a name for a baby girl. It was after I came back that we decided we might start planning to have a baby. So when I came up pregnant this fall, I have had a feeling I've got a girl.

Well... the results are in: it's a girl!

Home Again, II

Sam is in the back yard with my dad, who is having fun playing with his chainsaw, cutting down crooked trees into firewood. And they just downed a pretty substantial pine tree; that was impressive. The yard has been so full of trees that the grass back there has had no real no chance to grow, so this will hopefully allow us to have more of a back yard and less of a wooded dirty area. We have plans of trying to make up a landscaping plan for back there, but we haven't really made any progress in that regard yet. Last year we focused on the inside of the house; this year maybe we'll get somewhere on the outside. Of course with a baby coming.... We'll see.

So, while we were gone....

My dog stayed with my parents for the 13 days (wow!) that we were out of town; a family from the church, who also live in our neighborhood, came by and played with the cats and made sure they had what they needed. All the animals were thrilled beyond their capacity when we came home. The cats barely allowed us to sleep the first night we were home; they spent hours purring and kneading and kissing us while we tried to get to sleep.

We took off the day after Christmas and went to Hattiesburg, MS, - a 7-hour drive - where we stayed the night with a family we knew from Texas. We don't get to see them very often, so any time with them is always fun. Their girls are skilled in basketball, and they hope - quite reasonably - to be given scholarships for college. Maybe we'll see them make names for themselves in a few years.

After that, it was on to Houston - 7 more hours - to visit Sam's parents and brother. We had a good time, and stayed there from Saturday night through Thursday morning, which is about the limit that either of us can graciously visit with his family. They love us, and they care deeply for us, and they are some of the kindest people I know. But they do tend to kill us with that kindness.

We ate very well while we were with them (more kindness), yet while we ate, Sam was constantly reminded not to eat too much, because he is "too fat!" and has a "moon-face". Sigh... he can't win. But they do keep us laughing.

Sam kept busy for a day painting some of the trim at their house and fixing odds and ends that they don't know how to take care of themselves. We were also commissioned to take as much of Sam's stuff out of his old room as possible, since Sam's brother needs more room. He's engaged, and his fiance' is due to come over from Taiwan this summer and they'll be married once all her paperwork goes through; odds are they will start out living with Sam's parents. Hopefully they won't stay there long and will be able to get a place of their own quickly.

We made it to San Antonio (a 3 hour drive), the home of the Alamo, the Riverwalk (there we are on the Riverwalk, the night before they drained the river for its annual cleaning to remove the chairs, debris, and lost tourists), and the best Mexican food in the world. Even better than the food in Mexico.

The best part of being in San Antonio was being involved with the Next conference, which was so much fun, and so rich in fellowship, depth of relationships (both relationships we have with others, and the relationships that you know are there between other people involved there), and the Word. We believe we needed to be there because it is important to stay connected with so many of the people who also attend, who have been involved in our lives, and who are a tangible part of the Body of Christ from all over the country - some from all parts of the world.

Sunday afternoon we spent a few hours visiting with Beth and Thomas, who live in San Antonio, catching up and soaking in the encouragement that they are to us. Then we headed back out to Houston for one last night with Sam's parents, packed as much stuff from his old room into the car as we could cram in (believe me, it was an engineering feat), then headed to Mobile, AL, (about 8 hours in the car) after a noon breakfast at Denny's.

In Mobile, we stayed with probably the most brilliant couple that we know, both lawyers, with teenage kids who are just as bright as their parents, just younger. They used to be youth leaders for about a year when I was in youth group, and are strong and bold believers. Again, it was an encouragement to be able to spend time with them, too.

That is the outline of the trip; we put a little over 2000 miles on Sam's car, dropped off the office furniture and files for Boy With a Ball in San Antonio, brought back nearly as much as we took to Texas, ate very well, got food poisoning and got over it, and reconnected with some really wonderful friends. There are more things that can be said, but for now this is plenty long; and I need to find some lunch.

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig!

We've just gotten back from Texas - and all the states in between - and for the last 2 days have spent our time playing Super Mario 1 and Wii Fit (thanks to Sam's brother!).

And doing laundry. And fighting through what was either food poisoning from a McD's in southern AL, or a stomach bug.

But we're back, the animals are happy, and I will post more later. :)

I Should Be...

... finishing the Christmas card project;
... out of my PJs;
... cleaning up the kitchen;
... having a quiet time;
... on the way to the Post Office;
... going up to my mom's house;
... calling a few last people to get their information correct on the church directory;
... applying for another job so I can continue to collect unemployment;
... eating something more substantial for lunch.

But instead I am...

... still in my PJs;
... eating a piece of candy;
... taking video of the cats beat up on each other;
... browsing the What To Expect pregnancy forum;
... posting a blog about nothing;
... avoiding doing anything that looks like work.

I guess it's time to get a move on, huh?

The Quest for the Perfect Photo

This was just too fun to let it languish in the photo folder on my desktop....

Behind the scenes...

I'm feeling like we will likely not even pull the decorations down out of the attic this year. It's not that I don't want to decorate, but we will be leaving town the day after Christmas, and who wants to come home 10 days after Christmas to have to clean it all up? Not I, said the little pregnant girl.

The most decorating I have done so far is to put the growing card collection on top of the piano. The main wall in our living-dining room is painted red, though, so it looks almost like a holiday. I have some holiday-ish candles that I could light, and we could light a fire in the fireplace if we wanted to make the room feel more cozy.Lately my time has been consumed by gathering addresses, both for our church's directory and for our personal address database. Then I've been addressing cards and signing them, and trying to print out a little photo of us and the ultrasound shot to send to relatives and the folks that should get one.

The only Christmasy thing I've done this year has been to have Kristi, Lauren, Christina (also prego), Carol, and Lesley over to bake cookies together. It was a riot, and probably the most fun I'd had in weeks. I should have taken a picture of the table when all the cookies were spread out on it for us to collect to take home! I also should have taken a picture of all of us as a group. Anyways, it was such a great time. And so delicious!


Now Sam is painting the second closet in our master bedroom. The first was done many moons ago, (as referenced in one of the very first blog posts) but since we have been able to live with the way it was, we haven't gotten around to painting and setting up Sam's closet. Once that is completed, we will be able to move Sam's clothes out of my closet, then weed out my clothes, and move the seasonally appropriate clothing into the closets. At that point, we should get rid of the clothes that have been in the other two bedroom closets that we have not touched in about a year. When the extra bedroom closets are emptied, we can use the space to start organizing and preparing for having a little one move in.

And they were sore afraid...

I love that line; it's so archaic.

I was reading this morning and was moved nearly to tears by the passage about the shepherds in the field in Luke 2.

When the angel appears to the shepherds, where did you think that he stood? I've always thought of him hanging out in the air, just above their heads, totally creeping them out, right? But it says he "stood among them". Boo! "Ah! an angel!" I'm sure they thought they were gonna die.

I read that this morning and was struck by several things:
The way that the angel wasn't just sent to a field in general, and the shepherds happened to be there--it was like God appearing to Abraham and Gideon and all the others that He sent angels to.
The angel didn't just come; the glory of the Lord surrounded them. They were not just visited by an angel, but the glory of the Lord--the way the glory of the Lord appeared to Moses--surrounded them. This is what amazed me today. It was no ordinary appearance of angels; the Lord came and made His presence known.
Then the host of heaven suddenly appeared and praised God, as though they'd been there the whole time, but it sounds like the shepherds were only suddenly able to see them all at once, like Elijah's (or Elisha's?) servant. I still don't think they were hanging out in the sky, either - I imagine that they were fitted for battle and surrounding them like an army on the ground. I say that because later, "they returned to heaven" as though they were really on the ground with the shepherds.

I'm not sure exactly what was going off in my heart this morning when I read all of this, but I believe it has something to do with awe at the way God comes to where we are. He draws near to the humble. He is seen by the pure in heart. He is not far off. He is glorious. His favor rests upon these little vessels.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests!