T minus 10 weeks and counting

30 WEEKS!!!!! I have always been a stickler for even or symmetrical things. It's just one of the many weird, quirky things about me. If I can move an object so that it will look more symmetrical, I do. I just can't help it....I guess there is more OCD in me than I'm usually willing to admit. Since 30 weeks is such an even number I started doing the math in my head and really realized...we only have 10 weeks until we meet our baby girl! It hit me like a ton of bricks! She's almost here! I've had people tell me that the last couple months are the longest, but I just can't imagine that being the case for me. I have SO MUCH TO DO! I feel like if I blink the next 10 weeks will be gone. We went to a sweet friend's going-away party this weekend and I got to hold another friend's brand new little girl. She is nine weeks old and a little over nine pounds. As I was holding her I realized that there is a very real possibility that my little girl will be right at that size....maybe a tad bit smaller, but probably not by much. OH MY! She was so cute and cuddly. It just made me more excited to meet my own little girl!
This weekend David and I tried to get productive! David started cleaning out the garage while I started working on the inside of the house. David got a lot more done than I did, but I'm growing a baby while I do everything else...that counts for something, right!?!?

Enemies

Matthew 5:43-48 "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."



I can't elaborate on the recent happenings and events, but I can remind myself that I am supposed to not only pray for my enemies, but as a friend of mine mentioned today...I am supposed to LOVE THEM TOO. It seems like almost too much to ask! God gives me His mercies new everyday....I should mimic Him in all I do. I pray this today, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen." This prayer says to me first and foremost...God's kingdom and it's furtherance is the most important thing that should happen today. I should seek God's will above my own today. I should trust God for our sustenance because He is the Great Provider. I should forgive others because He forgives me. In the end....it's really all about giving God the Glory!

29 week appointment

I had my 29 week appointment on Monday. My doc is out of the office, so I had one of his partners. I felt comfortable with him, thankfully. I know I can't really pick who delivers the baby so I feel very grateful that all the doctors in this practice have a good reputation. Ashlyn's heartbeat was 134. She is still measuring a little big, but maybe her growth will slow down a bit if I keep my sugar levels under control. Please pray she does! The doctor said I was doing "better than good" on my sugar levels, so two weeks down only eleven more to go. David informed me he would bring me a big bowl of ice cream after I have the baby. :) I've since been adding more food to the list he started...there is so much yummy stuff I just can't have right now.

After the appointment, we rode out to our new insurance guys office to pick up our prize...that's right...we actually won something! When we swapped over the insurance, they were running a promotion to win a TV and WE WON! It's not the lottery, but I have to say that is probably the biggest thing we have won together. :) I have no idea where we are going to put it. I told our insurance guy that if we installed it in the nursery David would probably volunteer to rock the baby to sleep every night. Ha Ha!

Water Babies

This Saturday David and I drove down to Warrior, AL to go visit Rickwood Caverns State Park with Bonnie and the kids. We had SO MUCH FUN! There was a bit of a rough start since we arrived at Bonnie's house in the middle of something that could only be described as a Monsoon! We looked like we had been swimming already while we were sitting at Bonnie's house waiting for the rain to let up. We chatted for about an hour and the weather was clearing up so we headed up to the park. When we got there we found out that every time they hear thunder they close the pool for 30 minutes from the last sound of thunder. They weren't too far from opening the pool back up, so we took the opportunity to have snack time before we went in. We all sat in the back of David's truck and ate watermelon, pickles, sandwiches, chips, cheese-its, blueberries, turkey peperoni's and cheese sticks ( I think there may have been even more yummy tidbits!). When we were done eating they were just opening the pool. As we were walking to the window, you guessed it, more thunder. Aaaggghhh! Thankfully they have a great little playground, so we walked over and the kids (and us a little) played for 30 minutes and then the pool finally opened up. No More Thunder for the rest of the day!

David showing off...it looks like it is going to be a belly flop, but believe it or not, he kicked those legs back pretty quick and went straight in.

Modeling in the baby pool.

David kept asking Hayden, "What's in that hole over there?"...just to see what he would do...here's what he did....he went and found out.

We were all this tuckered out!!!!!

Many thanks to Bonnie who was the lone photographer for our trip since I was too lazy to pull out the camera!

Bellybutton

My bellybutton is losing the battle....it is slowly disappearing. Just about every day we have a bellybutton check...how funny is that. :) Here is an updated baby bump picture. This was me on Tuesday...28 weeks...only 12 to go.

She takes after her Daddy already!

So I finally put two and two together this afternoon. Ashlyn is already taking after her Daddy! After the sixth person had asked me, "Aren't you miserable out here in this heat?"...like that is going to make me feel any better if I were miserable....and my sixth reply of, "Actually, no, I'm ok.", I started to question my own sanity. Yes I'm hot, it's a hundred freakin' degrees outside, but I'm not miserable....that is so not me! Anyone who knows me knows that I DESPISE the heat. HATE is not a strong enough word...I don't think DESPISE is really a strong enough word to describe my intense dislike of being hot. However, I love the cold! I dream of snow and cooler climates. It dawned on me how much I complained this winter. It really started in Tennessee, when I was pregnant, but didn't know yet. The cold HURT! I just wanted to stay warm! All winter long I kept saying the cold hurt! Ashlyn's little hiney has my temperature gauge swapped...that is the only logical explanation. My dear husband is a freak in my opinion...he hates the cold and loves the heat! His dream is to live somewhere that the temperature never reaches below 75 degrees....ever! I know you can just imagine the thermostat wars at my house and they would probably be pretty close to reality. I think my argument should always win though...."You can put more clothes on, but you can't take your skin off!".

One HOT Momma...

I drove up to Shelton to get my lunch from Poppy's today. It is hard to find food that is good for you at fast food places. We haven't really had any leftovers lately, and trying to follow this Gestational Diabetes diet isn't hard, just inconvenient. Just before I stepped out of the car, the outside temp gauge turned to 100 degrees! It's only June for heaven sake! I'm just refusing to think about August. I am pretending that August doesn't exist for right now...I can't even imagine what the temperatures are going to be this year.
Baby Update:
I don't really have a baby update, but my blood sugar readings have all been within range since I started testing, so that is VERY good news! I had to call the monitor people this morning because I was having trouble with the control solution/test strips. I don't plan on calling them again unless it is absolutely necessary....I had to spell everything five times and repeat myself eight times. My blood pressure was so high by the end of the phone call, I swear if I have to call them any more I will end up with Preeclampsia too....aggghhh! Ashlyn is moving around a lot! She has laid off my bladder for the time being. Thank goodness! You can see a little bump poke out when she kicks sometimes. I love feeling her and knowing she is ok, but it really is still quite weird to me. I am officially in the 3rd Trimester! Almost done. I know, I know....you are supposed to enjoy your pregnancy.....well, most of the time, I'm just ready to be done being pregnant. I know that feeling is just going to get worse. I praise God that everything points to Ashlyn being healthy and I want her to cook for as long as she is supposed to and I'm trying very hard to keep her safe while she is in my tummy, but I'm much more excited about what life holds for us when I'm done being pregnant! Some women are cracked up for pregnancy and they love it, some women are not....I'm in the not category. I just have to get through this so that I can meet the baby girl that God picked out for me and David. It's just like everything else in life though...if you come by it easy, you don't appreciate it as much. It definitely hasn't been easy and I definitely appreciate the chance to have this baby!

All you ever wanted to know about Carbs...

That is what I learned this morning. I was nervous about the class that they send you to to learn about how to manage diabetes. I didn't know how comfortable I would be learning about this personal health matter with several other people in the room. It actually worked out well. I learned a lot and had all my questions answered. They gave us a meter and I called the doctor for my Rx for the test strips and lancets. When we tested in the class, my after breakfast blood sugar was good, so keep praying for me. If I can control my glucose with diet, then I won't have to take insulin and little Ashlyn will be just as nice and comfy in her little home as if I didn't have Gestational Diabetes at all. I will start exercising (walking) to help control the sugar levels too. Did you know that walking just 10 minutes can lower your blood sugar by 50 POINTS! Let me just tell y'all from someone who just learned a whole bunch about glucose levels....that is ALOT! My Granddaddy walks religiously and has for as long as I've known him. He has the right idea! I will be following in his footsteps. I have learned so much from my grandparents and they are so special to me. I am SO VERY blessed to have gotten to know them so well over the years! They have passed down knowledge and wisdom that I could never have gotten anywhere else and I am so grateful that they cared enough to spend time teaching me. And don't get me started on where in the world I would/could possibly be without their prayers. I've said often that I think my Granny has a direct line to God's ear. She is a prayer warrior like none other! Thanks Granny and Granddad for always being there! You Rock!

So far behind...

I'm so far behind or at least that is the way it feels!!! So why I am spending my time blogging???....because I needed a break. I don't have Facebook anymore so I am getting much more done, but there is just so much to do! I know Mom..."One thing at a time". I can hear her voice in my head. I seriously wish I could mail her all my papers and let her organize and file them and then send them back. She is so dadgum organized! In the meantime, I'm going to keep updating my list. It seems like every time I check one box off, I add two more. Aaaggghhh! How am I going to do all this and take care of a child???? My house is going to be even more of a wreck, isn't it?!?! :( It will be worth it to hear the little pitter patter of feet running across the room. :)

Support People

I just want to say a big "THANK YOU" to all my support people. I know not all of them read this blog, but it's the thought that counts, right?!?! The last year has been a crazy roller coaster ride of emotions and anxiety for me. My faithful friends and family have been there every step of the way to listen to me whine and scream and cry mountains of tears. I can't imagine my life without you guys in it. You talk me down when I'm crazy! I thank God every day for you all and pray that He pours amazing things out on your lives!

Joseph

Yet another devotion today where the point was great...but not the only thing I got out of it.
I finished my 3-hour Glucose Test this morning and I failed it. This means I have Gestational Diabetes and will have to monitor my sugar levels for the rest of the pregnancy. Hopefully I can manage the levels with diet and won't have to worry with having to take insulin. At first I wasn't upset at all, but as the day has progressed, my anxiety has gotten worse and worse. Then I finally had a minute to read my daily devotion. Today's lesson was on Joseph...and forgiveness. It really cracks me up that as I read a very good devotion, God is speaking other, completely unrelated truths to my heart. The truth today....look at what an amazing life Joseph ended up having. His brothers sold him into slavery and he suffered much, but God raised him up and made him a very powerful man. God gave him a land and a family to love and enjoy. Whatever happens in the next twelve weeks, I know God loves me and He loves Ashlyn and He will be watching over whatever happens. I am not in control, but He is. He will never lose that control. Sometimes bad things happen, but God will use them somehow...whether it is to guide you to a specific place or that that experience is necessary to teach you something important for later on.

Nursery Progress and 1-hour test

We've made a lot of progress on the nursery this week. I am waiting on Mary to help me do the stripes on the border and hang Ashlyn's name and bible verse up. If you can't read the writing for the wall, the top part is her name. The bottom portion says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above...James 1:17". I pray that as soon as she can understand, that she will understand how precious a gift she is to us and that we thank God every day for her.

On another note, I'm writing this blog as I wait for the first hour of my 3-hour test. That's right, I didn't pass the one hour. I had a 154 or something and you are supposed to have under 135. My first test this morning was pretty close, so we will see how it goes over the next couple hours. If I do have Gestational Diabetes, a lot of things will probably change and I don't just mean my diet. I become a little more high risk, but maybe I won't have to worry about that. I still have two more hours until I find out. I'm ready for lunch! :) They ask you to fast after midnight of the night before. 12 hours with no food is really asking a lot of a pregnant girl!

Facebook-less

I'm now Facebook-less! For a while anyway. I spent way too much time on that dumb website and I have way too much to do, so for a while, I've taken the temptation to procrastinate away. I'm still going to update on my blog. My blog is sort of a scrapbook for me. I write what I want to remember. I already find myself looking back on prior posts and reminiscing.
On another updating/writing note...David and I went to Books-a-Million on Friday and I got a baby memory book. My Mom was so good about filling mine and my sisters out and we have really appreciated it, so I got one for Ashlyn. There was also another special thing my Mom did for me and my sister. She kept a handwritten journal for each of us. I don't know if she knows, but after I read the journal, I decided to keep it updated. I only end up writing in it every year or so, but it is a very special book to me. David and I picked out Ashlyn's journal together. I think I am going to suggest he write Daddy notes to her every once in a while. We'll see what he thinks.
We got lots of painting done on the nursery this weekend. I started priming a little bookshelf that I forgot we had until I opened the closet on the patio outside and yelled "Bingo". It is perfect for a little bare spot we had in the nursery and will give us somewhere to put some toys for Ashlyn. Tom decided to help dry the paint on the bookshelf and now has a white streak all the way from his shoulder to the tip of his tail. It was pretty funny! He looks like a lop-sided Pepe-le-pew.
We attended our "CPR and Safety for Infants" class Sunday. I was very glad for the refresher. It's hard to believe it has been so long since I helped my Mom while she was teaching those kind of classes. I hope I never have to use any of what I know.
This afternoon I have a doctor's appointment. They are doing the first sugar test, so please pray that I pass with flying colors. I really don't want to have to deal with Gestational Diabetes. Well, I guess that is all for now.

Love

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:16-17a

Wow...is all the commentary I have on this one.

Oil

NWF Daily News reports that there is an oil sheen 7 miles from Pensacola, FL shores. They have tar balls washing up on Dauphin Island, AL shores and I don't even have to mention Louisianna shores..that news is all over the place. I'm very sad for our coast. I'm sad for the creatures that live in and around the ocean. I'm sad for the people who live on the coast because the ocean and it's life is their bread and butter, whether it be by fishing or tourism, etc. Between the massive hurricanes the last few years, the already suffering US economy and now this...I'm just sad. The Gulf Coast beaches are so special and unique. I have memories that span from my childhood all the way to last summer of our coast and I know that those beaches may never be the same for David and I to share with our daughter. Do I think we will recover??...Heck Yeah! We're Americans! We're strong and resiliant! Do I think it will be easy or quick??? No...that is the sad part. I pray for the entire southeast because this will have a lasting effect on us all.

Practicing

Black is slimming...what can I say. I was 26 weeks in this baby bump picture. Still have my "lazy hair" going. That is what I call the curly hair because I spread some goop in it and leave the house with wet hair. That gives me at least an extra 20 minutes of sleep. I will eventually, one day, hopefully soon get back to the hairdryer. I don't actually like the curly hair.

This is where the blog title came from. Last night as I was sitting in the office doing some paperwork, David came in to check on me. We are keeping the car seat/stroller in the office so the dust from working in the nursery doesn't get all over it. David spotted Bones sitting there minding his own beeswax and decided to try out the new car seat. After we finally got him strapped in (without any scratches, I might add), he decided it wasn't such a bad way to live. =)

Power in His Name

This was my devotion the other day from Encouragement for Today (http://www.proverbs31.org/)

"Parking My Mind on Truth

Lysa TerKeurst

"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
John 8:32 (NIV)
Devotion:Whatever we are facing in this moment we can choose to grab on to the truth. Let everything else go. Let go of the anxiety, fear, uncertainty, and frustration. Park our mind with what is true. "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32). What truth can do for us is really amazing. A few weekends ago I was wrapping up at a conference where I'd been speaking. My friend Beth and I were talking about where the team would be meeting for dinner that night. Suddenly, a very frantic arena staff member came over and told us there was an emergency and we were needed right away. A lady attending the conference had just been told her two grandchildren had been killed in a fire that day. We rushed over to find a lady surrounded by her friends. She was sobbing to the point she could hardly breathe. She'd just been with her grandbabies ages 8 and 4. They'd spent spring break with her last week. She'd held them, rocked them, stroked their hair, and kissed them all over their faces. How could they be gone? It was too much for her brain to process. The EMT stepped aside so we could hold her hands and pray over her. At first I stumbled my way through requests for Jesus to pour His most tender mercies into this situation. I prayed for comfort and the reassurance that these children were being held by Jesus in this moment. It was so hard. My mommy heart ached so deeply for this woman. My eyes welled up with tears refusing to stay contained. As Beth took her turn to pray I noticed something miraculous. Every time we said, "Jesus" her body calmed, her crying slowed, her breathing stopped sounding so panicked. So, when it was my turn to pray again I just said His name over and over and over. This sweet grandmother joined me, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus." As we said "Jesus" over and over, truth flooded my mind. I remembered what I'd written in last week's devotion about fearing death... Death is only a temporary separation. We will be reunited again. I remembered this truth from 2 Samuel 12... When David's infant child died, David confidently said, "I will go to him, but he will not return to me" (v. 23b). David knew he would see his child again- not just a nameless, faceless soul without an identity, but his very child. He would know him, hold him, kiss him, and the separation death caused would be over. The only thing that seemed to calm my devastated sister was the name of Jesus and His truth. What a powerful reminder to us all. Hold on to His Word, sweet sister. Speak His truth and the name of Jesus out loud in the midst of whatever you are facing today. Our souls were formed to recognize and respond to the calm assurance of Jesus and truth. Never has this been clearer to me. Please pray for my friend and her family. And remember in the midst of whatever you face today... We can choose to grab on to the truth. Let everything else go. Park our mind with what is true. "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free," (John 8:32). "

I love it when I get the point of the devotion, but it wasn't the only thing I got out of it! It is just funny to me. It reminds me that when we work for the Lord, sometimes what we think we are accomplishing isn't really what He's even having us work toward. He is using our work for His purpose, not our own. The resounding message I got from this devotion was that there is Power in His Name. Philippians 2:9-10 says this, "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ". There is real and true power in the Name of Jesus.
Satan is the Master of Lies. He can invade your mind and cause you to believe lies as the truth, but I know that speaking out loud the name of my Jesus will cast him out and bring to light the real truths. The truth is that nothing is too big for my God. He loves me. I am precious to Him. He wishes good and not harm for me. He wants to cradle me in His arms and give me peace. I am amazed by the power of His name.