Shower of Blessings

I am blessed. I know that, but sometimes I get a reminder, as I did yesterday.

Some friends at work gave me a baby shower. I got lots of "material" gifts (shown below, including a number of gift cards as well), but I was even more blessed by the work people did to pull it together, and "shower" me with their love. Many of their gifts were handmade (clothes, blankets and quilts for my baby, etc.). These are gifts and memories I will always cherish.

Today I am 8 months pregnant. As far as I can tell, Baby and I are both healthy. I have another shower this weekend that my church friends are giving me. God is providing for our needs even as He is blessing us with this baby boy. Of course I have panic attacks from time to time about everything that could go wrong, but God is faithful, and I trust that whatever comes in the weeks and months and years ahead will be in His hands, as He is currently reminding me through the many ways He is blessing me.

Party On

Don and I partied all weekend. I guess we should; we had a lot to celebrate!

Friday night I fixed dinner for him for his birthday. Saturday night we went out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary, and last night my brother and sister-in-law hosted the family at their house for another birthday celebration, including grilling, cake, gifts and games.

Apples to Apples is a family favorite!

I think everyone had a good time, though it turned out to be just a bit too much for some of us. (I was feeling this way by the end of the night as well.)

Next year we'll have another family member to join our celebrations!

A Day to Celebrate

Five years ago today I was walking down the aisle at Hickory Grove Presbyterian Church to be married to a wonderful man. It was his birthday.

Now it's his birthday again, and we're celebrating 5 years of marriage. And we are very thankful. Thankful to have each other as companions in this crazy world. Thankful for our health, for a roof over our heads, food on the table, our families, our dogs and all the many ways God has blessed us in these 5 years.

This year we are especially thankful because God is blessing us again with a baby boy due in October. In some ways we are afraid of what lies ahead for us and our son, but we just have to trust that it's all in God's hands. And He is good. He has blessed us beyond our wildest dreams, and I pray that He will continue to do so as we journey through this life together.

Happy birthday AND happy anniversary to my husband Don. And many, many more.

We're Not Telling!

Whenever I run into someone who I haven't seen in a while, the first question they ask me, once we talk about me being pregnant, is, "Do you know if you're having a boy or a girl?" Well, I'll answer that one. Then comes the inevitable next question: "What's his name?" We've decided we're not going to tell anyone this, for two reasons: we reserve the right to change our minds (don't want any personalized gifts with the wrong name on them), plus we want to have something to announce when he's born. After all, "It's a boy!" will be old news by then.

Some people seem downright offended when I tell them this, and others badger me endlessly about it. So, I mostly just tell people now that we haven't decided yet, which is true. We thought we had a name we liked, and then I woke up in the middle of the night one night realizing all three names had 6 letters. After Ronald (Wilson) Reagan got accused of being the antichrist for the same reason (the 666 thing), I always thought I'd make a point not to do that. So, we're back to square one. At least for one of his names.

In other news, I just bought a new "wedding" ring. My hands are starting to swell, and my real one had gotten so tight that I was afraid if I waited much longer, I wouldn't be able to get it off. So, since I don't want to look like an unwed mother, I got a cheap one to wear until the baby is born. Unfortunately, cheap ones only come in full sizes, so this one is pretty huge. I may grow into it, though, if my hands swell any more.

I've passed the 6-month mark. Here's my latest photo: As you can see, my belly is getting quite large. I'm starting to feel handicapped: can't bend over to pick things up, have trouble getting up out of bed and other things that I have always taken for granted. And of course, it's going to get worse. But in 3 more months, I'll have my body back and a little baby as well, so I just keep reminding myself of that and try not to complain. Truly, I have much to be thankful for.

Church and Patriotism

I come from a very patriotic family. My dad is an Army veteran, and we grew up loving and taking pride in our country. The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays.

It seemed natural to me that, since the 4th fell on a Sunday this year, our church (a "frozen chosen" Presbyterian Church of America) would be celebrating. My brother, my dad, Don (at my prompting) and I all arrived decked out in our red, white and blue. I was shocked to see that we were part of a very small minority. There were no patriotic songs scheduled to be sung during the service. The 4th was hardly even mentioned by anyone.

Finally, my dad stood up during "testimony time" and asked if we could sing "God Bless America," a song which I consider to be very appropriate for a church service. There were whispers and some general discomfort evident throughout the room, but finally the leader did agree to sing 1 verse. It wasn't in our hymnal, and a rather pitiful rendition was sung. It seemed most people there didn't even know all the words.

Apparently this sparked a major discussion in the adult Sunday School class which lasted the whole hour (I wasn't there, as I teach children). Everyone seemed to have an opinion on the place of patriotism in church.

I found it all a bit unsettling. I don't understand what the problem is. Don says church is for worshipping and honoring God, not our country. I don't disagree, but I hardly think singing "God Bless America," which is basically a prayer asking God to bless our country, is dishonoring to God. If my dad had simply asked that a prayer be said along those lines, it probably wouldn't have generated such controversy.

My mom, meanwhile, attended the service at her Baptist church. She said they had a special, extra-long service in which they sang patriotic songs, honored the military and veterans and prayed for our country.

What do you think? Does patriotism belong in the church? Where do we cross the line of taking the focus off of God if we do choose to celebrate in such a way? I'm curious to know how other people feel about this.

Little Pumpkin

My garden isn't doing as well as last year. We have had a considerably hotter, drier summer, plus I don't have a lot of energy to brave the heat and get out and weed it too often. So, we get what we get. So far we've gotten some green beans, peppers, sugar snap peas and broccoli, plus strawberries and various herbs. The tomatoes, potatoes, black-eyed peas and cucumbers are looking pretty promising as well.

An interesting thing that has happened is that I have three healthy pumpkin plants that I didn't plant. Apparently the seeds came out of my compost pile (one of them is growing in my compost pile and climbing my neighbor's fence). This little pumpkin, which has worked its way out of the garden and into the grass, is almost ready to pick.

Meanwhile, my other "little pumpkin" continues to grow and is apparently healthy. He is moving around a lot and, other than combatting the heat, having trouble sleeping and difficulty breathing, I am feeling pretty good. I am making progress toward getting the nursery ready, and we are doing what we can to otherwise prepare for his arrival. I'm not someone who thinks we have to have everything the market has to offer for babies, but there are a lot of things they really do need, so we are thinking about all of that and trying to pull it all together. People have given us a few things, which helps a lot.

We are praying each day for this child: for his health and ours, as well as lots of wisdom so we can raise him well. We pray for his salvation, for the country and world he will grow up in, and even for the wife that he will hopefully one day have, that God will protect her from evil and prepare them for each other. We pray for our finances, that God will provide for our needs so that hopefully I won't need to work outside the home and and can focus on being a mom, especially while our son is young. We know that these things are out of our control for the most part, so it has been a lesson for us in surrendering to God and a time of growing in our faith.

I am 23-1/2 weeks along now. Some days it feels like it is flying by, and at other times, he can't get here soon enough. At any rate, the time will come when it comes, and hopefully we will be ready.

It's a . . .

Yes folks, I'm still alive and well. Life has just turned crazy on me!

We had the "big" ultrasound today. It's a boy! It appears he's healthy, except there was a small concern that one of his kidneys was bigger than the other. They didn't pinpoint it as a problem, just something to watch, so we're hoping and praying that it's NOT a problem.

He's a feisty little guy, moving around constantly, making it hard for them to get a good look at what they needed to see. I already knew this, though, as he has been kicking me regularly for the past couple of weeks!

Here's another sneak preview of what he looks like:We don't have a name picked out yet. At least the news today narrows our options. (I guess "Holly" is out -- oh well; Don didn't like it anyway.)

I can't wait to meet him personally! The due date is still officially October 17, but they said he looked a little bigger than 21 weeks, so maybe he'll be born on my birthday: 10/10/10. ( :