Baby Party!

I have to preface this post by saying that I have the most amazing girlfriends/sisters in the world! I am still in amazement at the incredible shower they threw for me today! Early in my pregnancy, when my one of best friends from high school, Beth Anne, and my sister in law Alisa, said they wanted to throw me a shower, I sent them a big email of lots of ideas for them to pick and choose from. I think they used the whole list! We had a blast eating party food, playing "baby" games, opening presents, and giving the baby belly lots of loving rubs.

Spread of delicious party food- the girls carried the brown and pink polka dot theme throughout Beth Anne's entire house including not one, but two clotheslines of onesies! It was beautiful!

Alisa made an incredible diaper cake gift! I didn't realize until we had to disassemble it to get it in the car that each layer was full of other gifts, like bibs and bottles! Nana (my mom) would have been very proud of Alisa's craftiness for this party- she even made me ribbon burp cloths!

The one thing I asked if I could contribute was the party favors. I had a blast making these and filling them with pink and brown m&ms!

We played a game with plastic babies frozen into ice cubes... the first person's to dissolve got to shout "My water broke!" and win. Luckily, the strawberry-smoothie-like punch was so good, everybody pretty much forgot and the littler girls (my niece and friend that I claim as a niece) won the prizes.

We were incredibly blessed to receive a load of baby bounty- including a brand new winnie the pooh swing and a diaper genie! I'm so thankful that Alisa and Beth Anne love us enough to put in the time and effort that I know a party like this must have taken!

The belly overtaking my sweet sister in law Alisa (wearing the dress she wore as a bridesmaid in my wedding! Yay!)

My two amazing hostesses showing the belly some love in Beth Anne's gorgeous house!

Another highlight was getting to catch up with my two high school best friends at the same time- I'm so glad Mary was able to make it, it was so good to see her!

I can't wait until it's my turn to throw a baby shower for one of these lovely ladies that have made me feel so special and important (yes, Alisa, I believe in showering the second babies as well)... and hopefully I will do as amazing job as they did! I had to laugh when I found that Beth Anne, Mrs. C, and Alisa have already written about the party- I'm lagging behind in 'blogland' this week.

(PS- only 8 weeks, hopefully, to go until K makes her appearance!)

29 Weeks in 8 Bullet Points

29 weeks- How I look:

29 weeks- How I feel:

• I passed my glucola test! No gestational diabetes here. At our last visit, the baby's heartbeat was 143, and they estimated her weight at about 2 pounds.
  


• I haven't had an ultrasound in awhile so I don't know for sure, but I think she may have turned a little... I'm suddenly feeling pain in my right ribs that I think are probably from little kicks! I also can feel the difference now between a kick and a somersault.
  


• Matt finally felt her kick! I was laying on my back and could literally see her moving around in my stomach, so I called Matt over and he finally felt it! He talked to her a little, and she kicked some more.
  


• I think she could tell I was sick this week, since her movements on the day I felt the worst had been barely noticable, which is odd. Or maybe it was just because I completely had no energy and had slept 12 hours a day.
  


• Bending over, getting in and out of the car, and sitting/standing are becoming more difficult! It's still hard to believe that I will get even bigger than this. (This feels big enough). Also, I'm starting to get the serious back pain going on, especially if I lay flat on my back in bed.
  


• My ravenous hunger has been replaced with ravenous thirst. I haven't really had much of an appetite at all, surprisingly (but again that could be from being under the weather), but I've been drinking water, juice, and even milk like it's going out of style!
  


• The indigestion has still been really bad, but luckily the OB said I can take Zantac. So I stopped and got some on the way home from that appointment and I've been eating it like candy ever since.
  


• I've re-read (aka practically memorized) my What to Expect When You're Expecting book, and I usually feel equal parts totally prepared and really nervous that something crazy will happen during delivery. I think I've been having Braxton-Hicks contractions all day, but I'm not sure since I can't really feel them, and only suspect them since I read (in the same book) that a sign is your belly tightening up all over.
  

It's so hard to believe I'm already almost done with 29 weeks, which means we're almost on the 10 week countdown! Almost to single digits. I thought the first few weeks went fast, but now like a time speed warp or something... Just for fun, here's one of the view from up here these days (the toes are almost gone!):

Matt's Ordination

This past week was a really busy week for us, culminating in Matt's ordination service at FPBC. Matt had to prepare his usual Sunday school lesson and youth group lesson, plus prayerfully deciding on a topic to preach about on Sunday for his first time preaching before the church, so it was a busier week than usual for him. He felt led to preach about how believers should be setting a Godly example for each other as well as those who don't know Christ, and I thought he did a wonderful job! I love how passionate Matt is when he preaches... I got to hear two versions of it since I offered to let him rehearse in front of me.

Our Brogli, Dean, and Garris family members at church after the ordination service.

Meanwhile, I planned a lunch at our house for after the service for about 15 family members, friends, and their kiddos... we also cleaned the whole house the week of and added some finishing touches like hanging pictures. My Dad and Grannie stayed with us for the weekend, and the whole family really pitched in to help so that I wasn't the crazy pregnant woman trying to do it all. My Uncle and Aunt who live in South Carolina even made the drive to be with us, which was such a special addition! It was definitely all worth it to be able to have so many loved ones all together to celebrate a milestone in Matt's ministry.Relaxing at our house after the service... my brother, uncle, dad, and husband all apparently got the blue shirt memo!

Pastor Jon and Matt at the end of the service.
Matt with his two proud Dads (his and mine)!

Matt will get the chance to preach again in a few weeks since our pastor's family is going on vacation. It was so nice to get to introduce our church family to our family family, and get the chance to share our new home with them! Congratulations Matt, I am so proud of you!

Growing Families!

We went to Greensboro first thing yesterday morning for our 28 week check-up, aka the glucose test. After drinking a ridiculously sugary, nasty, flat orange soda tasting drink (a whole bottle in less than 5 minutes at 9 am) I had my blood drawn to test for gestational diabetes. It wouldn't have been that bad to drink if I didn't have to chug it down so quickly (by the last gulp I was worried I might see it again!). If I don't hear anything today, then all is probably well.. if not, I most likely will have to cut back on the fries and soda, which I should be doing anyways, so that's not the end of the world. I just pretty much refuse to take my own blood everyday and keep a chart. I think OBs are a little trigger-happy with how much they diagnose gestational diabetes these days.

After the appointment, we headed straight into Raleigh to Rex Hospital to see our new nephew!!! Beckley William Edwards was born on Sept. 10th at about 9pm, weighing exactly 8 pounds and 21 inches long!
We are so happy this little guy made it here safe and sound! Uncle Matt and Aunt Lindsey were on hand for lots of pictures, and Grandgraddy and Nanna brought Ansley over after school. The whole family is excited at how fast our family is growing! Baby K will have a cousin only about 11 weeks older than her, and Ansley is obviously thrilled to have a baby brother.
Sandy and Leanne say now their family is complete... they are done with the baby-having! I think they are thrilled to have one of each, especially after not finding out Beckley's gender throughout the whole pregnancy. What a great surprise!
Congratulations to the Edwards! We love you guys and are so excited for you!

Taking all these pictures of a sweet healthy boy reminds me a lot of when Evan was born, and makes me even more excited for when our baby is born! I must be a big fan of this type of picture (or maybe it is just 'my style') because there were two very familiar ones of Uncle Matt with Beckley and Evan!
Beckley:
Evan:
And I can't wait to take one of our baby just like this! Who can resist all these sweet babies?! It's so great to see both families growing!

Letting God Work

Lindsey has been doing such a great job writing in the blog, that I haven't posted in a while, but I thought of something I wanted to share and thought I would. Today I had the opportunity to go and visit one of our church members who is currently residing in our local jail while he awaits his trial. I was really looking forward to this visit, because he is a young man in his early 20's who was very active in the church throughout his youth. This is the generation that many are saying have "graduated God" when they graduate high school. I met him for the first time just 2 weeks ago at church and today I got to spend some time with him. I got to hear this young man talk about praising God he was in jail so that he could be taken away from the negative influences and given time to focus on God. He was placed in jail and the very first night he overheard a group of men having a Bible study. He asked to join in and now he starts every day with prayer and a Bible study. He is thankful to be in jail so that he could be able to worship, be encouraged, and learn more about God while in jail. Just days before he was arrested, this young man was crying at the altar for the first time that he had darkened the door of a church in over a year and a half. Fortunately, God heard his cries and had him arrested for things done prior to Sunday removed him from the bad situations in his life and put him where he could be ministered to.
When leaving the jail, I was excited about what God was doing in this young man's life and then my phone rang. I am not an entirely naive man. I believe that God has gifted me with certain abilities that help me to discern others intentions and their heart. So when I answered my phone, I heard the voice on the other end say, "We'll see how long his joy lasts once they let him out. Jailhouse religion is never lasting religion." I understand what this person was saying. Often though, I think we forget how mighty our God is, how much He loves His children, and just how much He loves His own holiness. Our God writes in Hebrews 12:6-11 that he disciplines those that he loves and even though we may not always want it, "afterwords it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness." If we give our lives to Him, he will let us stray and sin for a time, but his righteous discipline is coming. Our sin is an affront to His holiness. I sometimes think that we look at the frailty and fallenness of man and we only see what a believer was, not the one who stands in their place now. I think that we take the view that God can't work in their lives and we may even secretly hope that they fall again because we wonder what would happen if God really did do something miraculous in their lives. If God changed their hearts and we saw it happen, we might be confronted to change our hearts too. We might be forced to look in the mirror and that might be a faith a bit more personal than we really want. I thank God we do have a personal faith though. That Jesus experienced the awkward teenage years, the betrayal of a friend, the sadness of the death of a loved one, the joy of seing someone come to freedom from the death through sin, the joy of knowing God, the feeling of talking to an eternal being more powerful than you can ever comprehend and so much more. When I get to talk to this same man every time I lift my petitions and praises, I know He not only cares, but understands how I feel. While it is possible that this young man could stumble, revert back to old, sinful ways, possibly foolishly battle God more...I know my God loves him and will discipline him again. What's more? I can appreciate someone who talks about their brokeness over their sin, who weeps over their mistakes, and sees joy in God's discipline. I believe that man is doing what Paul speaks of in Philippians 2:12-15 when he reminds us to, "...work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. 14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing; 15 so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world." It is possible that he may fall, but I say let's encourage our brother and step back to watch God work.

What a difference a month makes...

22 weeks/end of 5 months pregnant:
27 weeks pregnant/starting 7 months pregnant:
So, I can tell from these pictures why I'm suddenly feeling so big! I knew it would be towards the end that just a week or two would make a big difference, but it's crazy to be growing so fast! Amazingly enough, nothing that I'm wearing in these two pictures are maternity clothes. I tried to replicate the outfits for comparison sake, but the black tshirt from the first picture doesn't fit anymore. Hurray for stretchy waistbands and I think that tank top is just a size up from what I normally would wear. Pants are usually the problem. If anything is the least bit tight in the waistband, it hurts and gives me awful indigestion. I live for the stretchy gauchos (and the chewable berry Tums)! I tell everybody I feel like a high school dance teacher all the time now, because I'm almost always wearing flowy pants and a flowy shirt. It's starting to seem crazy to think that I will get even bigger than this!

We had our first checkup (26 weeks) in Greensboro on Tuesday with our new doctor, who is amazing. She's young, incredibly friendly, and graduated from University of Kentucky, so you know she had an immediate fan in Matt. We thought she was completely awesome, and though the practice is smaller than what we were going to at Rex in Raleigh, but lots friendlier and there are more doctors that do deliveries, which is great! We'll deliver with whoever is on-call whenever the baby comes, but I'm hoping it will be our doctor, since we liked her so much (and she's only one of three women in the I think 9 doctor practice).

Starting week after next I'll be doing my glucose test and going to the dr. once every 2 weeks instead of once every month. So far we are still ridiculously healthy and right on track! We can't wait to meet this little one!

Taking Photos

As most of you already know, Matt and I really enjoy photography, not only as a hobby but a creative passion. There's something so cool to me about picturing the world in a certain way in your mind, and then trying to convey that to others through a photo. Sometimes you get exactly what you were going for, and sometimes the photo itself completely surprises you! Luckily, we were able to buy some decent camera equipment a year or two after we got married, and also were given some good lenses by a family friend that added to our collection. Also luckily, we have family and friends (especially a very photogenic niece and nephew) that are willing subjects as our "guinea pigs" as we learn more and practice and have fun taking photos! We've also shot some paid gigs- a family member's wedding, a friend's wedding, and Matt did a 50th anniversary party and some portraits awhile back. Here are some favorites from the last 3 or 4 years:

Our niece, Ansley, playing in a little pool in her backyard... she was telling us the water was cold! (by M)

Our nephew, Evan, playing on the swings at the park... we have such little pottery barn baby models in the family! (by M)

Newborn baby Evan (and his momma's hand)- we took some shots for his baby announcement. (by M)

The classic hands-and-rings shot from Steve and Cindy's wedding! (by M)

A bit of newlywed fun at the Coulson-Rook wedding! (by L)

Little flower girl Ansley at Steve and Cindy's wedding. (by L)

Ansley attacking a fudgesicle on the porch at the beach... we can't help it, this kid is always doing something fun to photo! (by M)

My absolute favorite of Pontouf! She's pretty photogenic too. (by L)

Ok, so I get a bit carried away when trying to pick favorites. We just always have a blast, and they all have fun and happy memories of different trips and events and occasions. Sometimes the exact shot you want is right there and it's just a matter of 'catching' it before it's gone, but for the most part Matt and I have worked out a great system. A lot of times he takes almost all of the pictures, while I'm running around fixing a dress just so, making sure a kiddo doesn't fall off the swing, etc, or feeding him ideas, saying "try it from over here!" "The light is perfect by this window!" "Oooh, try this angle over here!" We're pretty good about trading off control enough so that we both get the shots we see.

We went to a great park in Greensboro a week or two ago, to get some pictures of our pastor's daughter Hannah, and her brother and cousin jumped in for a few too. Her grandma wanted one of those classic beautiful little-girl-white-dress shots for her 7th birthday. We had a blast, took TONS of pictures, and here's some of the best shots of the day. These are some gorgeous kiddos!

Hannah and her baby cousin Nevaeh.
Hannah and Caleb show a little brotherly/sisterly love!

Little wildman Caleb takes a rest.

There's a link to more of our photos on the sidebar to the right!

Pontouf's Rough Week

We've been really impressed with how well Pontouf has adjusted to the new house and the move. Other than being completely afraid of our garage door opening and closing, she hasn't really had any issues. She still loves to curl up and snuggle with us, but usually if we are running around doing things around the house, she will follow us around everywhere we go. If we park it in one room she'll find some other little place to curl up. She still definitely loves snug, dark places like a little cavedweller.

For example, in the closet.

Or under the computer desk:

Also, recently she's been getting into a few places that she's not usually allowed, such as curling up on the couch,
and most days when I get out of the shower, I find her curled up on our pillows.

You can tell from that little face that she knows she's getting away with something. Such a spoiled girl! (ps- that brown thing is the other comforter. I just realized how strange it looks in this picture).

I guess I've been a little more lenient than usual to try and help her adjust. Matt and I felt really bad for her last week because it seemed like bad things kept happening to her, and I'm sure she didn't understand it. We used to take her to PetSmart to get her nails trimmed, but we don't have one close by anymore and they had already told us that we weren't getting it done often enough, so we bought our own clippers to start doing it ourselves. It turns out 8 bucks a trip is worth it once you've acidentally cut the cuticle on one of your dog's nails... it bleeds like crazy, she yelps because it hurts, and you feel like a horrible pet parent! It might be silly, but she spent the rest of the day with a bandaid on her toe (mostly for the sake of our carpet).

A day or two later, she and I were outside for a little while when she got stuck in a branch of a prickly bush that we didn't even know was there. The branch was stuck horizontally from one ear across the top of her head to the other cheek. She was shaking her head in pitiful little shakes trying to get it off, and it just got stuck even more. I grabbed it, thinking I could ease it off her, but the prickles on it were not straight but little hooks that were hooking her skin, and also into me where I was holding it, trying to get it off. When it stuck into her face, almost in her eye, I starting yelling for Matt to come help me and between the two of us, we got it off of her without too much damage other than a few little scabs in her ear from the hooks. They were painful enough stuck into my fingers, I felt so bad for her having them stick in her face and ears!

Needless to say she is a tough little cookie, and we have been giving her extra love to make up for a rough week!

Would you know my name, if I saw you in Heaven?

"The day you fear as the last is the birthday of eternity"

-Seneca, Roman philosopher

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." -John 16:33

Last night I went on a hospital visitation with Matt for a member of our church's sister. For some reason, I heard "on a ventilator and they're about to remove it" and didn't think at all about any comparisons to what we experienced with my Mom back in January. Oh, how wrong that was of me. I started feeling uneasy as we pulled into the parking deck which looked remarkably like the visitor deck when Mom was in the hospital in Orlando. As we went past the waiting room, it had that same smell, that same inexplicable heaviness of all hospital waiting rooms. We came into the ICU area, and it was just like the others I've been in... different, yet completely the same. Just before we walked into Julie's room, I had to stop and turn around as I burst into sobs. She looked just like Mom, but thinner, blonder, and I had the disadvantage of never having seen what she "really" looked like. I remembered us putting a picture of Mom and Dad on the wall in Mom's hospital room, ironically from a trip to Singapore from just a few months before she we knew anything was wrong at all, and the nurses saying how pretty she was. You'd never know what anyone looked like when you see them in this condition. A ventilator is truly a horrible thing.

I felt terrible when I walked into the actual room, that I had come to help comfort this family, some I have known for just a few weeks, and some I had never met at all, with tears streaming down my face. I felt selfish because I was crying for my own pain as well as theirs. I can only hope that they could tell how much I cared because I know that kind of pain, and because I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, much less a friend, no matter how short of a time I have known them.

So of course, when it comes to the hard and inescapable fact of death, it is our human nature to wonder about Heaven, to wonder what it's like, as we try to take comfort in the fact that our beloved Mom and Sharon's beloved sister Julie, have gone there without us, and we can't yet follow them. It is also our human nature that asks why the God we praise as our ever-loving and all-powerful Heavenly Father could allow us such pain? The conclusion I have come to from over 8 months after the end of Mom's earthly life is that yes, God does allow death in the sense that He has the power to change anything and everything about this life and this physical realm we experience the moment He should choose to. The fact that He doesn't, when he could, shows the expanse of His love for us.

If that doesn't make any sense to you at all, stay with me... God doesn't allow death in the way that we think. Death, sickness, pain, suffering, cancer, heartache, loneliness, bruises, cuts, even simple things like cavities and blisters, are all a result of sin. They are the inevitable result of this sinful world we live in and the sinful nature of our human selves. When a newborn baby dies, we don't understand. We don't understand why the seemingly most innocent of all could die without even the chance to live. The answer is not because he deserved it. The answer is: because we all deserve it. God sent His son to die for us, instead of us, so that we could have eternal life in Heaven with Him, even though our sinful human natures say we should die. The fact that He allows us to choose whether or not we want Him to die for us personally is because of His love for us. If he forced us to choose Him, we'd be nothing but robots blindly serving the will of a dictator. God loves us enough to give us the choice, even knowing that some of us will chose wrongly and miss out on His salvation.

I think we all wonder too how people in Heaven can know what's going on with us, because how can they see the pain on earth and still be in Heaven since the Bible says there's no pain in Heaven? I think it's because when you get there, you immediately have God's perspective on the world... on life and death and the beginning and end... the big picture, if you will. You see the suffering and know it's not fun, but you see the outcome, the eventual way God makes it all right, the way all things come together for good for those who love God. (Romans 8:28). Basically, all the things we could never understand here on earth suddenly and instantly all will make sense.

I know there are people I have failed by not telling them about this salvation when I had the chance, when I had the experience of Mom's death as an immediate open door to talk to them. I really hope that if you've already accepted God's seems-too-good-to-be-true offer, you'll tell someone. Anyone. Surely there's someone you want to have come to Heaven with you. Don't wait until they are laying in a hospital bed on a ventilator, so deeply sedated that you have no idea what they hear and what they don't when you speak to them. And if you don't know about this salvation and want to know more, please leave a comment here so I can email you. Heaven is waiting for you too... my Mom is there, and my friend Julie that I never got the chance to meet is too.

ps- I'm reading a fantastic book called Heaven by Randy Alcorn and it is phenomenal. If you want a real, down to earth, realistic, and scripture-based description of what Heaven will be like (especially if you have a hard time picturing it as a real place and not a place in the clouds or an idea) definitely check it out.

My Pastor, Jon

When Lindsey and I were searching for a church to serve at in response to God's call on our lives, we began to pray. We prayed for good people to serve with, a Godly church to serve at, for God to humble our hearts to be better used for Him, and so much more. I, quite selfishly, prayed for 2 things in a senior pastor that are sometimes mutually exclusive (unfortunately): a pastor who can teach and lead me in my role as a pastor and yet someone who can laugh and be a friend with me. When I first met with Jon when we came down for our interview at Forest Park in June, he told me he thought that we could sharpen each other (Proverbs 27:17). Having worked with Jon for nearly 3 weeks and known him for only 3 months, I can understand already what Humphrey Bogart meant when he told Captain Renault that it was "the beginning of a beautiful friendship." He's the kind of man who is passionate about God, his family, the lost, and our church. He and his family have welcomed us in with open arms and we feel so blessed to have them as friends. I can't wait to see what things we agree on and what things God allows us to sharpen each other over, but I feel confidant that God will allow us to love each other through serving side by side. Hopefully we can settle everything with words and prayer, but if not we can always rent the boxing ring again. Here's some snapshots of our "fight" at the VBS carnival.
I left out the rather embarrassing shot of Jon and I hunched over gasping for breath. When we were both exhausted, yet refusing to quit, we determined that the best way to end the fight was to go the old "Rocky 1" simultaneous knock out route. Thank God for my new friend Jon. I'm glad to serve under and alongside this very Godly (fun loving!!!!) man!

The fights and fun of a VBS carnival

Lindsey posted earlier in the week about some of the games and teaching and I wanted to share a few pictures from the carnival. All week long we had been going through 2 Timothy 2:1-5 and on Saturday we celebrated the youth and children doing such an awesome job all week with a fantastic carnival. There were hot dogs for us all too eat...

Fantastic moon bounces and obstacle courses that the kids loved:
A very cool velcro wall:
and my personal favorite....boxing: