Baby Blessings

These past few days I've just been thinking about how great our God is and how blessed we are to have this child. Over these past few days, I have prayed the following blessings upon (well, this week the baby shall be called) "Baby Blueberry":

* May the Lord soften your heart to His voice
* May He give you full health in all areas, not just physical health
* May God bless you with friends who bring about POSITIVE peer pressure and accountability
* May the Lord show you grace and mercy early on
* May His arms never leave you feeling alone
* May He provide all your needs and even some of your wants
* May God grant you patience and understanding without the hard lessons of life! :-)
* May the Lord use you in mighty ways for His people and His church
* May He shine through you in all you do and say and use you as a light to the world

I have also been praying that God use JR and I according to His plan and will, that we may reflect God to Baby Blueberry in all we say and do and that we may be encouragers and supporters along the way.

God's Blessings

Lord, we pray today that you bless this child and soften his heart toward You. We praise you, Father, for your almighty power and pray that Your will be done through our lives but especially the life of our child. Please give him an unquenchable desire to know You more and more each day. We also ask that you provide our child with the guidance and wisdom needed to be an impact for Your world and Your people. May our child reflect You in everything he says, thinks, and does; and may we reflect You in all of our parenting decisions and actions. Thank You, Lord, for this blessing!

Excitement All Around!

It was so exciting to hear my parents telling their friends and other family over the phone about the good news today. It really means a lot to me to hear them so happy for us and so ecstatic to become grandparents again! I had to pull in my mother though as she was already talking about everything she wants to buy this child. I reminded her I'm still just in the first trimester; she better wait!

Thankfully, the nausea is ending a little sooner each day. I think it finally faded around 3:00 p.m. today. Now I just have to learn to stay away from really spicy food! But it's OH SO GOOD...

Telling the Grandparents

Yesterday JR and I got to visit his parents in Amish Country at their RV. I was so excited because we were FINALLY going to get to tell his parents the good news! After going through many ideas of how we would break it to them, we had decided to make a t-shirt explaining it all. After we arrived I had a zip-down hoodie and said, "Man, it's getting hot out here!" I then unzipped the hoodie and exposed the message underneath. It took my father-in-law a little while to get it, but my mother-in-law got it pretty much right away. She jumped out of her chair in disbelief and gave me the biggest hug with tears in her eyes! It was so exciting to finally tell them!!

Then today my parents finally came to visit for "Memorial Day", or so they thought. I knew they were going to have guests over for dinner after church and that they would leave right after that for our house. However, knowing the news I had to tell them, I was getting extremely impatient and kept calling them wondering when they were going to leave! Finally they arrived around 5 p.m. I was so excited! I was finally going to get to tell them that they're going to be grandparents again! I wanted to give them clues through a game of Scrabble, so we played a round yet the letters never fell our way to do so. Thankfully, my sister had given me another idea of getting some pink and blue paint swatches, so I had picked those up on the way home from church as a backup plan. After the game, since they didn't get our clues through Scrabble, I grabbed the swatches and told them I needed help deciding between the two colors for the room upstairs. Mom was totally clueless until Daddy FINALLY got it and asked me, "Are you pregnant!?" I was so excited to say yes!

It's about time. Everyone finally knows the good news! We're all so excited and will be faithfully praying for this child from here on out.

Quality vs. Cost?

JR made me laugh on Sunday. I was telling this story to my friend Mrs. Fox today on a short road trip, and she said I definitely had to put it in my blog! If you know my hubby in any way at all, you are probably aware of his frugality. This Sunday the Cleveland Pregnancy Center had a table set up at our church, as we do a lot with them through ministry, and had a playpen set up filled with CHEAP baby bottles to collect change in for their center. The first thing I thought was "What a great idea to set aside change for the Center!" Then JR mentioned (something along these lines), "Hey, why don't we just take a few of those for the baby!? They're free!" I had to laugh. Thank the Lord for baby showers!!!

Food, Oh Food!!

And the hunger begins... Today I was so queasy when I woke up that all I had for breakfast is some Ritz crackers. However, the hunger set in rather quickly after I was already at school. I never would have thought about this before, but I actually turned to some leftover chicken and pasta from the NHS Banquet last night to fulfill this hunger at 9:30 a.m.!!!! Greasy but oh so good...

I'm not really craving anything much anymore, just food in general. JR's been really good though about reminding me to keep it healthy for the baby. I have greatly appreciated his interest in this and desire for me to keep safe! He's going to be such a great daddy.

First Card!

We received our first card today from two of my students - Ashley and Chelsea! Thank you, girls, for making this baby already so loved and accepted. Now I have to think about how I want to store everything we get throughout this pregnancy! Any ideas?

Is it a girl??

Last night in my grad class at Ashland U one of my classmates, who is pregnant with her third child, overheard me saying that I was (and still am) craving nothing other than a chicken quesadilla from Cozumel. She mentioned that her nurse has been 100% accurate with her patients in this theory - if the mom craves salt, she's having a boy; but if the mom craves spicy foods, she's having a girl. Could it be?? Could we be having a girl? Of course I'll take whatever God gives (kind of have to!) and will love them no differently, but that's what I have been hoping for deep down - a little girl. JR's not to happy with that news though, as he wants a boy.

However, this morning in class one of my students mentioned a theory that if you get morning sickness instead of in the evening that you will have a boy instead of a girl; and today I am definitely experiencing the queasies earlier than usual! Maybe we will have a boy! I guess we'll just have to be patient until September when we find out for sure...

Happy Birthday, Aunt Tiffany!

Today's my sister's birthday - her first birthday as Aunt Tiffy!!! I thank God frequently for the blessing she has been to me. She is a true friend and confidante! Thank you, Tiffany, for all you do. May you thoroughly enjoy this day! Happy Birthday from your sister and future niece or nephew!

It's Official!!!

I stopped at the hospital on the way home to have the blood test drawn. I called for the results at 5:45 p.m. and got the fabulous (but somewhat expected) news - IT'S OFFICIAL! We're having a baby!!!

And the symptoms begin...

This morning I experienced the beginnings of nausea and HUNGER!!! Thankfully, the nausea wasn't too bad, but the hunger is ridiculous. I had a NutriGrain bar for breakfast and yogurt during 1st period but was still starving after that. All I'm craving right now is a great chicken quesadilla.

I'm trying not to get too excited as we don't have the official thumbs up from the doctor. I called today and set up our first appointment. However, since the doctor doesn't care to see me until 8-12 weeks into the pregnancy (when we can hear a heartbeat!), I asked if I could get in this week to have a blood test done. I'll be going today after school for that and will get the results tomorrow! Please pray for us as we sit tight and hope for God's will to be done!!!

Holding my Tongue...

Today was my first day at church since taking the test, so I had an extremely difficult time not telling people about our expected bundle! I know the test is supposedly 99% accurate, but I'm still wanting to wait for people to know until after we get everything verified by the doctor. I'll be calling tomorrow to set up an appointment or at least just a test to see if we truly are parents!!!

Another difficult part of today was the fatigue. I'm not sure if my recent fatigue is due to getting less sleep because of just a busy life or because of my hormones keeping me up at night. I'm dreaming of a nap as I type this!

Well, please just keep praying for JR and I as we enter the journey together. Once we do get the official thumbs up from the doctor, we'll be much more settled in to this happening! However, if you do happen to know my parents and are reading this before Father's Day, PLEASE DO NOT TELL THEM WE'RE PREGNANT!!! I want it to be a surprise for them on Father's Day. Thanks!

It's Positive!!

So, it's actually happening! Last time I ovulated JR and I began our journey of trying to get pregnant and apparently it worked the first time around. Of course, we get the news after booking a vacation to an all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana for this summer! I love how life happens - so unpredictable! Well, I took the test this morning, and we got the plus sign! It's positive!! I'll call the doctor on Monday so we can set up an appointment for all the tests and to verify that we actually are pregnant. Now that I'm getting excited, I hope more and more that the test results really are true!!!