And the votes are in

Today we got up super early, got dressed up, and headed down to Randleman for an exciting day of church. It started out with us teaching a Sunday school lesson on humility from 2 Chronicles 1:6-12 and while we were told to only expect 1 or 2 youth, 7 showed up and they were mostly interactive and excited (it was 9:45 on a summer, weekday morning; awake and listening was awesome for teenagers!). From there we went to the service where Linds and I got up to briefly give our testimonies after a Deacon ordination service and before the Lord's Table service and an incredible sermon from Acts (about Paul's call to Macedonia and everyone's call to service in the world). Three new families joined the church and while the congregation formed a line to welcome them, we were also greeted as they walked by our seats, and everyone was again very friendly to us.

Then came the Q & A with the church which about 3/4 of the church attended. We told them to ask whatever they liked and they took full advantage. While the questions were all polite, some were difficult, but all were fair game including the following by a 10 year old girl who had just started visiting: "Would you still praise God if your baby died?" That one will make it all very real, very quickly. Lindsey handled all of the questions and the whole day amazingly well. I know her Mom must have been giving her pointers from Heaven, because Nancy always knew how to charm a church crowd (even the tough ones) with a brilliant smile, encouraging words, and a wise answer to tricky questions. She's still teaching us all lessons even now or maybe we're just remembering them. Fortunately, Forest Park is full of loving people, and I never felt alone on stage because my best friend was standing right beside me. Lindsey always makes me feel at ease when I get nervous and start to ramble (which is often!). She is such an elegant, godly, beauty, full of poise and class. I wish you all could have seen and heard her! I love my amazing wife!

We left after an hour of questions and the church voted. We got a call 5 minutes later that the church had voted unanimously to hire us. We will start officially August 1st and we can't wait! We went to lunch with a handful of members and the Pastor John, Julie (his wife), and their two children after the vote. We went back to their house afterwards and played their Wii, which I am quite fond of, and then went to evening services. I got to see my new office and move the majority of my books in and it was such a cool feeling to have my own church office. I'll post pictures as soon as I have them, but it's such an amazing blessing from God to have all of this happen so swiftly! We just keep thanking God and doing silly, happy dances every chance we get. The church is excited, we're passionately seeking to serve alongside them, and we believe God has blessed this "union," for lack of a better word after a days worth of activities and talking. Thank you for all of your prayers, love, encouragement, and support!

Le Belly

Ok, yes, I know this is probably the worst photo quality you've ever seen. And if I had the ability to be patient for just a few more hours until Matt got home to take it for me, I'd probably have a decent one. But... since I'm finally starting to look a little more pregnant and a little less 'lay off the cheese fries' here is a belly pic of the start of week 18, aka July is month #5! I can't believe it's all going by this fast.
These mirror-self-photos are aggravating and nearly impossible to take... even if you're not pregnant you should try it just to see. Don't you love all the moving boxes behind me? Those are for all the books on the bookshelf that will be taking up a new residence in Randleman (well, as will all of our stuff really).

If you get a minute while thinking babies, you should also check out what I keep referring to as "the fruit slideshow." It shows the growth of a baby in utero from a seed (poppyseed, I think?) to a small watermelon. Right now at week 18 we've grown from a large turnip to a large tomato! It's fun to scroll through, though admittedly a little scary when you start talking pumpkins and watermelons. There's also one done by a medical illustrator that is pretty interesting, if you're into seeing everything in that much detail. Enjoy!

Praying for Patience (and Sanity?)

Whew. It has been a WEEK. (Is it only Wednesday?). I was just writing my sister what ended up being a really long email about our crazy week/lives at the moment, and it ended up a little too funny not to share. While I do believe in spiritual warfare, usually when things in my life start getting really frustrating or crazy I pretty much just write them off as normal, petty day-to-day frustrations. But I will admit that this has been an especially trying week, almost in a comical way.

First of all, it's been crazy to begin with because of trying to find a new house down in Randleman. We found a great one that we really loved, handpicked from our realestate.com list and confirmed when we saw it in person on our one-day blitzkrieg of a house hunting trip. It has everything we wanted, and it's cheap. It's cheap because the previous owners obviously smoked like chimneys, and you can literally taste it in the house. Luckily, my real estate advisors (that's supposed to be funny... Matt's entire family is in real estate) assure me that some painting, carpet treatment, and lots of cleaning, airing out, and glade plug-ins will fix it. So the stress is coming from planning all that, the how, the when, the how much, and the details. Our house here in Wake Forest closes on July 18th, and unless we get a new house figured out by then, we pretty much don't have a place to live... God is obviously having a chuckle over my control-freak tendencies and my never-ending to-do lists!

Monday, Matt called me about 10 minutes after he left for work because his car (my car actually, that he's been driving because it's been breaking down so much) was broken down in a McDonald's parking lot, and could I come pick him up and take him to work? The car has broken down twice before because the radiator has a leak that makes the fluid drain out and it overheats. This leak has been patched and re-patched twice, and currently the car only runs because it's literally glued together. I think that's funny, but probably only because it's not me stranded on the side of the road at McDonald's... and luckily, I have an amazing husband who would rather it be him than his pregnant wife.

This morning, Pontouf woke up around 4 or 5 am throwing up all over our bed, and poor little thing, she's basically done nothing but sleep and throw up for the rest of the day. I, being a total worst-case-scenario hypochondriac myself, googled her symptoms and am worried she has parvovirus, which I called the vet and she has not been vaccinated for... how in the world did that one slip? I thought they vaccinated for everything whether you wanted it or not. So basically we're watching her really closely to see if she improves by tomorrow, otherwise I'll be taking her into the vet to probably get blood tests run, I guess? I'm not sure how they check a dog for viruses. I admit my first thought was maybe it was the bread I had been giving her (Matt and I both don't like the very ends of the bread, so we give her the all-crust pieces) or the 3 sour patch kids she snuck from under the coffee table while we were watching a movie last night. Probably not so great for dogs. Anyway, we're praying there isn't anything more serious going on with our black bean.

(side note here... after more googling, I found this article about the supposed 4 types of dog vomit. I laughed hysterically when reading it, so hard that tears ran down my cheeks. Don't get me wrong, the potential for my dog to be deathly ill is about the least funny thing I can think of. But say yellow urka-gurka out loud, and I promise you'll laugh too.)

After we finished stripping the comforters, sheets, and pillowcases off the bed, we got an hour or so more of patchy sleep on our lovely beach blanket towel over the mattress. Matt headed off to work, and I got up to get ready. About 6 and a half minutes into my shower, right after I got my hair all nice and shampoo-y, the water turns off. No water at all, but they did leave a nice little note on the door letting us know that they turned it off because of a miscommunication over a bill that we did in fact pay. So I went to work with a soap ponytail and had to rinse it out in the bathroom in my office. Thank the Lord for a tiny little quiet office where I'm the only one there 99% of the time!

I've also eaten more toast than should be humanly possible and been drinking huge glasses of milk with every meal, which is odd since I've been lactose intolerant for at least the past 15 years of my life. Pregnancy is so weird!

So yes, a little craziness and a little stress. We're trying to focus on how excited we are about moving and starting this new job and new chapter as pastor and parents! Keep praying for us that we won't lose our minds before we can get there!

Healthy Baby B!

We just got back from our 16 week check up at the "baby doctor" and all is well! Baby B is healthy and happy with a strong little heartbeat! Nothing beats hearing that little swoosh swoosh swoosh, it totally makes my week! The doctor said I am healthy and right on track too, and that my blood pressure, stats, and weight (amazingly enough!) all look great! Praise the Lord for a healthy wee one!

The really exciting news is that at our next appointment on July 17th, "we get the big ultrasound" and can find out what's cooking in there... boy or girl! Yay! I can't even tell you how excited I am and we both can't wait for that one. When we move to Randleman/Asheboro, we'll be finding a new doctor's office, and will probably be planning to give birth at a hospital in Greensboro. Exciting stuff!

ps- Don't forget to check out the countdown... he/she is looking more and more like a baby every day... check out the curled up little legs! I love it!

free pizza!

... and all it will take is you coming to help us move! Just joking! (sorta). Our house is officially under contract! We're taking the fact that it sold in under a week as a major confirmation that the Lord is definitely putting us on the move to the next place! We've got a list of several houses to go look at in the Randleman/Asheboro area this weekend, which is super exciting but overwhelming too. I had no idea it would all happen that fast! So, praise the Lord and pass the moving boxes!

All that to say, we don't know when exactly we will be moving. Our house will be sold (and we'll have to be out of it) by the second or third week of July, and depending on how quickly we can find and close on a new house will be when we actually move down to Randleman. In case it seems quick to you, yes, this is a much faster timetable than we had planned on! But, we definitely see it as a positive move and God providing in ways we couldn't have expected.

Don't worry, Touf, you're coming with us!

Everything video

Lindsey and I saw this video on a friend of Jason and Alisa's blog and were melted by it. I'm normally not a huge fan of drama, but the fact of the matter is it often takes a visual representation of something so metaphysical to make it tangible to us. We know what God does for us on a daily basis because we see it in our lives and have read of it in His Word. We know that He sees us killing our souls as we fumble through the struggles of life apart from him, so I love the video's representation of Christ's response to our sin when we reach out for him that much more. Our Father always reaches us!

One Hundred and Eleven

Today, I decided it was worthy of a little celebration to have reached our 111th day of pregnancy! We had two showings on the house this morning (yay!) so we grabbed Pontouf and took her with us out to the flea market for a little while. It was pretty hot, so we all needed a little bit of rest after we grabbed some lunch and finally got back home. We all stretched out on our nicely made up and ready to be shown bed, and I got to work on some crocheting, which is so deliciously expectant when you're pregnant. It's one of my favorite crafts for several reasons:

1. It's really easy to take with you somewhere, ie: in the car on long trips.
2. It's really easy to do while watching a movie, once you get in a flow enough to not really look at it while you're working.
3. It's really easy to pick up and put down, and you can go months without having to finish whatever project you're working on (and I usually do).

***Disclaimer: We do not know the sex of the baby yet. This pink or blue specific crafting is all hypothetical and in preparation for the possibility of either boy or girl!!! Trust me, we will be shouting from mountaintops when we do know!***

So today I was excited to finish one little project and get halfway done with another! Halfway finished project one: a blue granny square baby blanket. I think it will need to be at least twice as big of a square to be the finished size.
Finished project number one: a flower baby hat that turned out even cuter than I expected! I think I'll have to make matching booties too... just in case, of course.
And now I feel like I'm being fair to our baby boy-or-girl-to-be by making one project of each! Happy 111th day, Baby B! Only errm.... 169 days to go!

(PS- If you're a big craft nerd like me and this stuff actually interests you, I write a lot more about it on my other blog!)

It's starting to feel real...

Our house will officially be on the market at the end of this week (Friday)... and it's all starting to feel real! We've put a LOT of work into the house the past several days to make it as lovely and appealing as possible. We've not only done the usual top to bottom super-clean like you wouldn't believe, but also all the little touch-ups and fix-its and projects that always end up on the "meaning to do that" list. As a result, our house is about the prettiest I've ever seen it! It's hard not to want to just sit around and enjoy how nice it looks, because I'm constantly worrying about dropping crumbs or smudging the nice clean countertops.

the kitchen
(aka: painting central- we painted all the walls twice and painted and stained all the cabinets)

the living room
(aka: movie central- check out that wall 'o dvds!)

the backyard
(aka: pontouf central- we built the fence ourselves so that she could run free, and we built and painted that picnic table together from a pre-made kit)

Just to reminisce on you for a minute... I remember bringing all the gifts we got from our wedding shower over so that they'd be here when I moved in (Matt was already living here at the time) and then after we got married we sat on the couch and opened all the cards people sent us together. And Matt has even more memories here than we do together... he lived here for several years with a couple of roommates while he was in college! That's been almost nine years ago, believe it or not. Some other fun memories:

-the "L shaped" couch
-the ugly $10 yard sale couch
-our first Christmas tree together and the huge green stain it left! (that took about a metric ton of carpet cleaner to remove)
-taking the cabinets apart and spreading them all throughout the house to paint them
-putting the computer study and the craft studio to make the "study-o"
-painting all. the. woodwork. in. the. WHOLE. house.
-when pontouf was potty training and jumped in the bathtub to poop
-having a pizza picnic for dinner on the living room floor when the house was empty when we were moving in

Thank you Lord for the blessing of our first house together! We will miss you Wake Forest house!

cardboard testimonies

I borrowed this from the Creechs, but it was just too interesting and moving not to share! I consider one of the biggest lies Satan wants to tell us to be that we don't need Christ, we don't need a savior... that we have all the freedom, money, power, influence, and self-sufficience that we need, and if we think we need someone to save us, then we must be weak. But spend a moment thinking about all the things Christ has saved you from, either because you came out the other side through His grace or because you never fell into it to begin with. The folks on this video wrote them on cardboard, and stood behind them for everyone to see. God can make a million changes in a life that feels like a mess, all He asks is that we give it to Him and let it be His mess.

Matt and I would love to tell you who Christ is and all that he offers you if you don't know Him!

Reporting from Randleman!

Many of you are waiting on pins and needles (we had multiple messages/missed calls on our cellphones all weekend to prove it!) to hear how our visit with Forest Park Baptist Church in Randleman, NC went this weekend. We're happy to say it was a huge success!
We reached Randleman after a very easy hour and a half drive from Raleigh. We got there early enough to drive by the church to see it! We spent most of Saturday getting to know Jon and Julie, the head pastor and his wife, and their family. Later in the afternoon, Matt met with Jon and the search committee for the final interview while Julie and I ordered pizza and got stuff for salads and sundaes ready in the fellowship hall.
The church building is a bit bigger than we expected and beautiful! I especially love the huge cross on the front, which is actually made of white bricks laid into the brick building's wall. We both got a full tour of all the classrooms and offices, nursery, and sanctuary. Saturday evening we enjoyed the pizza with a group of the youth and their parents... Matt got the chance to preach (it's my fault we don't have a picture, we meant to take one!) and then the group got the chance to ask us some questions. On Sunday we enjoyed a full day of services. Matt started at the men's prayer breakfast at 8:30, then a church prayer time, then Sunday school, and the worship service. Looks like I'll have to learn to go to bed on time on Saturday nights! We met more of the church members after the service, and then went to lunch with Jon and Julie, the kids, and Julie's brother. Julie and I jumped on the chance to talk the guys into eating at Cracker Barrel... she claimed she was indulging my pregnant cravings, I claimed I was trying to be easy to get along with to the hostess of the trip. I will admit Cracker Barrel's food is about 100 times better when you've been craving it this long!
We'll be driving back down on June 29th for the church members to have another chance to get to know us, and for their final vote. We are so excited that God has provided FPBC to us, meeting all the "stipulations" we put on Him! It is still near enough that we will get to see our families in Raleigh, we got along very well with the rest of the staff, and we feel like it is a place we can grow and serve these precious families and their youth who are in need of their own leadership. I can't think of a single way the members of this church could have been more welcoming or hospitable. While it's normal to be nervous about a move and a big change right before the already big change of baby B arriving, we are trusting God that he sees the big picture of where we are and where he wants us to be. Thank you all for your prayers, and big thank you to FPBC for such a great weekend!

P.S.

I now have a stomach I officially can't "suck in" anymore... a baby belly! (Apparently no amount of windex will make these mirror pictures look good... sorry!) I wasn't sure if I'd be showing at 14 weeks or not, but I think the verdict is in when I can't breathe with my pants buttoned anymore. After I eat a meal I'm also starting to feel like the food doesn't have as much room to fit anymore. I guess this means I have "popped!"

Also, in unrelated news, a little koala has mysteriously taken up residence among us:
I think we shall name her Pontouf and keep her.

Surviving the First Trimester!

As my 14th week of pregnancy begins this week, I'm happy to report that we have survived the first trimester! As many of you experienced moms know, the end of the first trimester marks several happy things... usually a decrease in morning sickness (if you're having any that is, keep reading), a decrease in the likelihood of miscarriage, a balancing out of some of the raging hormones, as well as (most importantly, of course) 'permission' to finally color your hair again (although self-tanner and teeth-whiteners are still forbidden, bummer). I'm only mostly kidding. And I did finally color my hair again.

So, in the spirit of celebration of the little things in pregnancy, here comes my own list of things people didn't tell me/things I basically learned as I went about the discovering of and being thrilled over getting pregnant! Gentlemen be forewarned, this one is for the pregnant ladies... those who are, those who have been, and those who would like to someday or are currently hoping to be!

1. If you are suddenly peeing literally every 10 minutes (including 5 times a night) you might as well do it on a stick. You are probably pregnant. I am a notoriously frequent pee-er and even I had this one as my first majorly noticeable 'symptom.'
2. If you've never experienced sheer exhaustion from simply lifting a pen, prepare yourself. And raising your arms to reach something over your head for more than a minute? Don't even... unless you have time for a solid half-hour nap, which you could honestly take on the floor at work on the nasty carpet and not even think twice.
   
3. If you happen to be the (apparently) 1 lady in a billion who does not get morning sickness, you will be told by pregnancy books and magazines everywhere how insanely lucky and slightly freakish you are, as though you found the magic cure of prevention. This doesn't mean I don't have extreme sympathy for the ladies who unfortunately have been tossing their cookies 24/7 daily for the last 3 months!
4. Don't think for a minute that acid reflux, constipation, and swollen ankles can't be yours, friend- all before you are pregnant enough to actually look pregnant, not just like you have been feasting from a never-ending buffet table.
5. When you're hungry (and you will never not be hungry) everything will sound good to eat. Except Mexican food. Or spaghetti sauce. And no Chinese food. But everything else will sound great! Until you eat it... then you'll feel nauseous, and then 15 minutes later you'll feel so hungry again you'll think you forgot to eat at all (which is also quite possible and likely, as forgetfulness will also become your new best friend along with the acid reflux).
6. From the moment the nurse practitioner explains the terrifying effects of listeriosis, you will crave nothing but turkey sandwiches full of (forbidden) deli meat, a big fat (evil) all-beef hot dog, salads laced with (dangerous) feta cheese, and even tuna (which normally disgusts you). And you can't have any of them!
   
7. Hug your husband when you remember that things that normally would roll of your easy-going, laid-back back now crawl under your skin and make you crazy. He has meanwhile been left wondering where on earth his once laid-back, easy-going wife has gone.

So there you have it. They say the second trimester is the "easy" trimester, where you have the happy glow and people noticing your baby-filled belly and you get to actually start wearing your cute maternity clothes rather than searching for the loosest, most stretched-out pair of jeans you've ever owned in the meantime because you didn't feel "pregnant enough" for the maternity ones yet. Hello, belly... goodbye, feet!

I also read somewhere that if you and your husband can survive assembling your baby's crib, and still want to be married and have a baby together when it's done, then you can survive parenthood! I'm happy to say that Matt and I made it through not only assembling the crib (and a new pack 'n' play without the instructions) but also painting the crib! This was not a small feat, and lasted all day on our Memorial Day off, and the next few nights after work. We were given a great crib for free, but decided we'd rather it be white.

Crib before:

on our back porch, waiting to be liquid sandpaper-ed, primer-ed, and painted.

Crib after:
up against the green walls of the baby-room-to-be!

I love how the white furniture looks against the green walls. Even if we end up moving to a new town because of Matt's job search, we'll definitely be re-painting whichever room will be the baby room to this exact shade of green. I love it! I just wrote that re-painting sentence while also thinking to myself, I don't want to paint anything else at all until after the baby comes. I guess that's one more thing we'll have to wait and see on!