Life Update...

Well, this post is (as most) overdue. I should have shared all this news as it was going on, but more keeps happening so maybe it's good I waited. I'll try to keep this short and to the point, but God has been so faithful with the little details, I'm not sure if I can. So, here goes...


The House-
I finally posted about our journey and battle with waiting on July 24th (specifically about our house), and we got an offer on our house 2 days later. CRAZY! We didn't even know someone looked at our house. Our realtor text Josh on Tuesday saying "the showing last night went really well, think you're gonna get an offer today." This was the first time they hadn't told us about a showing - somehow just slipped through the cracks, I guess. I'm not complaining though. Maybe not knowing was best. Apparently. Well, by Thursday we were under contract - for a great price that we were very happy with. Praise the Lord! Our closing date is set for August 26th and everything looks good to go through at this point. :) 


Where to Next?
So, once that was under way, we needed to find somewhere to live. Reminder that we are still currently staying with our friends in their guest house. They have been SO gracious and hospitable to us, but we can't stay once Baby Dough arrives. We decided we don't want to buy anything immediately (unless we found the perfect house for the perfect price.) Unfortunately, the market isn't looking to get any better any time soon so we don't want to rush. Especially since we would be closing on a house around the same time I would be having a baby. CRAZY! 


So our decision was to try and find something temporary and affordable to rent so we could transition through this crazy phase, save a little money, and be looking for a house in the meantime. Of course we preferred to rent a house or a town home, but it was looking like the only "affordable" option that would allow us to save money was going to be a small apartment. We didn't move forward with this, as we were still putting feelers out with people, and God, once again, came through BIG time!


Long (long) story short - a couple from our church has bought a house and is moving to Prairie Grove. They've been trying to sell their current house in Springdale for over a year and decided to take it off the market for a while. They said we could rent it (for SUPER affordable-basically what we would be paying for a 1-bedroom apartment) under no contract or commitment. We can stay for a month or 6 months - whatever we need! They are the SWEETEST couple. So anyways, we'll be able to save money and keep looking for a house. We're so excited!


Oh, the only catch - they don't close on their house until Sept. 19th. Yep, you guessed it. That means we can't move in there until 10 days before my due date. We'll pray Baby Dough is closer to the 29th so we don't have to move in with someone else for a few days until we can move into this house. Believe it or not, I'm actually not worried about it! The Lord has worked out every detail so far. He'll work out this one too. :)


So...............
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your prayers and support through this process. It still seems a little surreal that these prayers are finally answered after months and months of waiting. We feel incredibly blessed. 


"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine...to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!" Eph. 3:20-21


Oh, and we have a crazy vehicle update to give you too, but this post was getting too long. So, more on that tomorrow. :)

32 Weeks...

Well, technically over 32 weeks. Per request, here's the most updated belly pic, taken at about 32 1/2 weeks. Pretty big difference from the last time, huh? Or so I think. It's hard to believe I have less than 8 weeks left until Baby Dough is actually here. The time has flown. It's definitely becoming more real, and we get more excited everyday. 

For those who are interested, here are a few other updates about the pregnancy. I still feel really good. People are sweet to ask me all the time how I'm feeling, but they always ask in a tone that makes me think they expect to hear the worse. I mean, I really feel pretty normal. Obviously bigger, but not too bad. The only other major changes are swollen feet by 8pm every night (of course, it's 108 degrees outside), starting to lose sleep at night (I'm assuming that's one way the Lord is prepping me for lack of sleep for the first 2 months), and a belly button that sticks straight out. I HIGHLY considered photoshopping that out of the picture, but it wouldn't be true to what I really look like. I mean, the top of my belly button sticks out so far - at least in my eyes it does. Josh is sweet to tell me it's cute and expected, I just think it's a little gross. And definitely not cute in fitted shirts and dresses. Oh well, it will be worth it when I finally get to hold this little one. :) 


Other than that, I am in the healthy range for weight gain, I'm still exercising, and I really don't have any cravings. Not saying I don't believe women have cravings when they're pregnant, I just haven't. Certain foods will sound good at certain times, but that's no different than when I wasn't pregnant. Stuff sounds good, but I don't CRAVE it. However, I do use my extra 200/300 calories per day that I'm supposed to have as a great excuse to have another bowl of cereal. Cereal continues to prove itself as my favorite food. I get almost as excited about picking out my cereal on grocery runs as I do about going to Hallmark. Just a couple random facts about me. :)


So there's the update. I'll do my best to post one more pic, closer to the end. (Depending on how big I am.) ;) Thanks for all the prayers for Baby Dough. 


Oh and life update coming soon. Lots of changes since the last post. (GREAT ones, too!)

Waiting...

Reason for the 2 week absence: well, the length of this post. Been meaning to post about this for a while, but didn't really know how to put it into words. The result - a LONG post, sorry. Hope you'll stick with me through this one.

Okay, brief update for those of you who aren't caught up to speed with the latest in our life (I thought about doing a post solely about this since there have been so many changes lately - I'll keep that in mind.) Back in mid-May, we moved from Branson, Missouri to Northwest Arkansas (Fayetteville, in the meantime). We knew some sort of move was going to take place  - though really didn't know any specifics yet - back in February, so we put our house up for sale at that point. 

To be really honest, I was (apparently) overconfident about this process. Our house was not even 2 years old, it is in a great location, great neighborhood, has a huge unfinished walk-out basement and it's just a great house. (No, I'm not trying to sell it right now, I promise.) Our realtor was convinced we would have no problem selling it, and though usually I'm the "realist" (and sometimes pessimist) of the family, I was convinced too. 

I was wrong. Our house has officially been on the market for 5 months, and we are quickly approaching the arrival of Baby Dough - less than 10 weeks now. 

You are probably wondering what we have been doing since we moved. Well, we have some incredible friends that have a great guest house attached to their garage that they have been so graciously letting us live in for the past 2 months. But if I'm allowed to state the obvious here, bringing a baby into the mix changes everything and potentially, our current living situation. 

Please know I'm not posting this looking for pity. And it's not to sound bitter or negative. The Lord has just been prompting my heart to share about this journey that He currently has us on, in hopes that it offers some encouragement to someone.

Let's just say Josh and I have had a lot of "come to Jesus" moments, especially over the last month. It's one thing for us to say we trust the Lord and His timing, but it's a whole separate issue when you have to put your faith where your mouth is. Do I really believe that? I'll be honest and say my thought life lately hasn't exactly backed this up. There are days I feel the fear and anxiety of what's next almost choking me. I fail at suppressing it. Even worse, I fail at giving it to the Lord.

Yet as always, He's gracious to remind me of His promises. We feel like this whole year has been about trusting and waiting for the Lord. And I'll be really honest, it's been one of the hardest years I've ever experienced. But I'm thankful. And I really mean that. I'm thankful that He loves me enough not to leave me where He found me. Even when the process hurts. 

He's also faithful to give me perspective in the midst of waiting. He reminds me that we could be waiting (like several of our friends) for over 2 years to even get pregnant. He reminds me that we could be waiting (like other close friends of ours) to see our 2 1/2 year old walk for the first time because of a long list of medical problems. What's a house, right?

So even though Baby Dough doesn't have a cute and prepared nursery waiting for him/her, even though we don't know where we are going to be living or even financially what this is going to look like month to month, there's still peace. Peace in knowing the Lord does know. And that's why there's peace in the waiting. 

So, in the meantime Lord, continue to remind us of what we sang this morning...

"You are peace, you are peace, when my fear is crippling."

Happy Birthday Sarah Grace!

Today is one of my old small group girls' (from Searcy) birthday. She is wrapping up her first summer working at Kanakuk, and she came to Fayetteville to visit us for her last 2-4 and her birthday. We celebrated by taking her to Marketplace last night for a birthday dinner, then I got to cook a birthday breakfast for her and Lexie this morning before she headed back. It was so fun getting to celebrate with her since I don't get to see her as much as I used to. 


I have known Sarah Grace since she was finishing her 8th grade year - she is now going to be a sophomore at Auburn in the fall. Time serious flies. She was in my small group for 2 years when we worked for Fellowship in Searcy, and we have been able to remain really close. Actually, I've been able to stay in touch with all of the girls, and they bless me just as much now as they did then. I still call them "my girls" and probably will for a long time. It has been incredibly rewarding to watch them grow and mature so much. Can you tell I'm really proud of them? 


Sarah Grace - Happy Birthday sweet girl! I treasured our short time together today. And because Sarah makes me think of all you girls, to the rest of you...I miss you and think of you tons! 


In honor of Sarah's birthday, I thought I'd post a few pics (one from last night and then a few blasts from the past...she's gonna love me for these.) It's been a privilege to be a part of your life for the past 5 1/2 years. Enjoy!

Us with Sarah Grace, Lexie, and Levi after the birthday dinner last night at Marketplace (free peanut butter mess-yes, please!)

And for the oldies...

At Camp Barnabas on our first spring break service trip in '07

At SWO, summer camp '08 - they always appreciated how seriously I took our pictures

Our last small group trip together before I moved to Branson - sweet, sweet memories

Failed attempt at a pyramid on top of the tube - I blame Sarah, just look at her face

Trip to visit me in Branson this last Christmas 

*I have so many more pictures, but I thought I'd spare all of us the embarrassment. I miss you girls! 

28 Weeks...

So, I'm still doing a lousy job keeping up with this whole blogging thing. 2 posts in June, really? I think my problem is that I plan to say too much in my posts so I never sit down and do it. I should just keep them short and sweet. That will be my new goal. 


Anyways, I've once again had several requests for an updated belly shot, so here it is. I'm just over 28 weeks, so in my 7th month. That is crazy! It's going really fast. I've grown a LOT since my last picture (I think around 23 weeks). I put up 2 different angles b/c one is definitely more flattering (the first) and doesn't really show you how much I've grown. I wanted to just put up that one, but that would have been a little deceiving. :) (Oh and sorry for the terrible colors...didn't really plan to have my shirt practically match the wall - but you get the idea.) 

So, there it is people. Baby Dough is doing great. I've officially switched doctors to one here in Northwest Arkansas, and we had our first appointment this morning. All is well - strong heartbeat, healthy blood pressure, healthy weight gain, gender still a surprise! We are getting more and more excited and can't believe we'll be a family of 3 in less than 3 months. Now if we could only sell our house, so we could actually set up a nursery and feel a little more prepared. Would sure covet your prayers on that one. In the meantime, 11 1/2 weeks and counting...

For Dad...

So, I know it's probably what everyone is posting about today, but I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and take a second to honor my dad for Father's Day. This morning at church, the pastor gave a great sermon and of course, tied it into dads. In his opening illustration, he asked everyone to reflect and ask themselves a few questions. What has your father passed on to you? What legacy is he leaving behind to you? What are your fondest memories with your dad?

It was fun to sit and reflect for a couple minutes, especially because I think you come to appreciate your parents so much more the older you get. You start to realize just how much they sacrificed for you and the unconditional ways they loved you. It was also kind of humorous to think of what my dad has passed on to me, because I feel like the obvious answer is everything. I am a little "mini me" of my dad - physically, personality, etc. - but when I think a little deeper, I would say the biggest things my dad has shown us and taught us are hard work and perseverance. I pray Josh and I can model the same work ethic for our kids that my dad has modeled for me. And his perseverance, well - that calls for longer posts and a lot more history - but my dad has shown us what it means to overcome and to persevere, and I'm so proud of that. 

I couldn't possibly list all of my favorite memories with my dad, but the obvious would just be all the time he dedicated coming to (I swear) EVERY game and sporting event I had. We connect in a lot of ways, but sports has always been one of biggest. Let's just say I was a tomboy (and when I say tomboy, I mean TOMBOY) for way longer than I'm proud to admit. 

So Dad, in honor of you, I thought I'd post this video to lighten things up a little. You know both of us can't handle too much sappiness for too long. It makes me laugh every time. Although we clearly never "cheered" together, this makes me think of all the time you sacrificed and poured into me! I love you tons and I'm SO proud to call you Dad. Happy Father's Day! 

Baby Blues...

No, I'm not experiencing any pregnancy blues or depression- actually I feel great - I'm talking about the eyes on this little looker right here. This is my nephew Luke. He is almost 10 months old, and (yes, I'm biased) but he is a DOLL. Just see for yourself. 

My mom and I got to take a quick trip down to Texas last weekend to visit my sister and her family. It was the first "girls' weekend" we've been able to have in a while. While we had an amazing time - great food, great shopping, great conversations - the weekend had a little different feel than girls' weekends of the past. For some reason, we didn't mind spending more time around the house because too much time away meant too much time away from the little guy. And he's so much fun - full of smiles and personality. Can't wait for Luke to meet his new cousin this fall. It will be here before you know it. 


Sorry for the long absence, I've been doing a lot of "thinking and processing" lately and want to post my thoughts, but sometimes it's hard to put them into words. Deeper thoughts to come soon...