Kid Time

On Tuesday afternoon, Chris and I journeyed to Fort Knox to pick up our three oldest nephews (Brent, Seth, and Jack) for a two-week stay. They’re mostly staying with my parents, and then on the weekends they will be with us. I’m so thrilled that they’re here, and I know that Chris is, too. He gets to have video game buddies. This afternoon they are supposed to be at my place when I get home so that we can all go swimming for a while before Chris and I go dinner at Chris’s parent’s house.

I’m hoping that we’ll be able to do lots with the boys while they are here. I love having them around. I know Mom has a whole list of things she has planned. As for Chris and me, we want to swim a lot, and we’re going to go to the park to build a fire in one of the pavilions in order to make s’mores and roast hot dogs, an activity that Jack seems the most excited about, only he keeps saying that we’re going there to burn the hot dogs.

The first night he was here, we had the following conversation in Mom’s kitchen:

Jack began, "I can tell that you’re pregnant."

"Really? And how can you tell?" I inquired.

Eyeing my blossoming belly, he replied matter of factly, "Because you’re so big."

His older brother Brent shook his head and said, "Nice, Jack, real nice."

"Oh, it’s OK," I said, rubbing my tummy. "I am big, Jack. Did you know I have a whole person in
there?"

His eyes widened, and, as he headed for the stairs, he declared, "I’m outta here!"

Last night we met my parents and the boys at Dairy Queen for some ice cream. I’ve decided not to keep ice cream in the house anymore, so going out for it is a nice treat, which was made more special by the extra company. Chris sat at a table with Brent and Seth, the three of them lost in conversation about movies and video games, while Mom, Dad, Jack, and I sat at another table talking about Jack’s ideas about God. He wanted to know what God looks like. In his head, God looks like Morgan Freeman, thanks to Bruce Almighty!

At eight months pregnant, I’m not sure how good of an idea it was for me to take that long car ride on Tuesday. I tried to put my seat back and rest my feet on the dashboard to help the swelling in my feet to go down, but it didn’t help much. Lately, my hands and feet stay in some state of swollenness. I’ve gotten to the point to where I can’t wear my rings anymore, and I don’t want people to think that I’m some poor knocked up single girl, but there’s just not much I can do about it. And yes, I am drinking tons of water and elevating my feet as much as possible.
Swimming is, I think, my happiest time. I feel light, cool, and refreshed, and I can get plenty of exercise. I thought that I would walk a lot with this pregnancy, but in addition to swollen feet, my tummy starts to hurt and feel terribly heavy. I can walk back and forth in the pool and do all sorts of stretches and other exercises. It’s not just float time for me; although, that is quite nice as well.

I know that getting into shape after birth is going to be a long process, but I do have the treadmill that can help me. I miss being able to do my Firm, Pilates, and Tae Bo workouts. But have you seen the new Hip Hop Abs workout? I REALLY want it. I keep talking Chris and Mom about it. It looks like so much fun. Every time I see the infomercial for it, I feel a tremendous urge to call. I’m trying to wait until right after I have the baby to order it. I can’t do all that bouncing right away anyway, but, oh, I can’t wait to try it out.

In Process....

I was reading over some of my previous posts and entries from my personal journal from the last year or so. There have certainly been a lot of changes, and there have been those things I so desperately wanted to change that did not. Somewhere in that time I lost some of my zeal. It has certainly been a difficult year, and, instead of using those challenging experiences to strengthen my resolve and enthusiasm, I folded. I’m not really sure if it happened all at once or if it was gradual; I suspect the latter.

Galatians 6:9 (English Standard Version)

9And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

Part of my problem, I think, is that I did not follow the verse above. I grew weary. I put myself on autopilot and decided to “just make it through.” That didn’t work out so well. Without passion, I might as well be a silk tree. It looks nice and basically does the job, but there’s no life there. In many ways, I did give up, and so, even though I did the work, I did not receive the desired results.

If anyone reminds me the value of being positive and not getting weary, it’s my dad. Just today, he stopped by work to chat with me for a little while. It’s all about faith and trusting what God can and wants to do in your life. Trust. Sometimes I don’t trust God the way that I should. In my heart, I know that He loves me and is taking care of me, but I start looking at the waves and listening to the roar of the wind. My head starts to take over, and I… just forget. But Dad reminded me that you keep reminding yourself about God’s promises. You keep your head up and focus on Jesus. It’s hard to not be cheerful when focusing on Jesus.

I think one of the areas where I get most frustrated with myself is how forgetful I can be when it comes to the lessons God has taught me. I learn them anew and vow not to forget again. I plan to “write them on the tablet of my heart.” (I’ve even wanted to paint them on the walls at my house and would if I weren’t renting just now.) However, as time passes so does the impact of the lessons. When I return to notes I’ve made or journal entries I’ve written, I feel the shame of having let my faith waiver, and so I resolve once again to live all that I know in my heart to be true. Two steps forward, one step back. It’s progressive but not completely so.

So, what is my resolution now? That’s what I’m working on now.

Taking a Hiatus

Yes, I know that I haven’t written in quite a while. I do, however, have really good excuses for not writing. First of all, I was really sick for a while. I couldn’t do much of anything. It was the couch, the kitchen, and the bathroom. That’s about it. Then we’ve been winding down the school year, and that’s been extremely busy, especially because I fell behind after missing so much work with being ill. Other than that, we had our little babymoon weekend, and I just haven’t been getting on the computer hardly at all lately.

The school year finally came to an end, but I am still at the school answering phones all summer. I plan to work up until I have the baby which makes Mom and Chris a bit nervous. I don’t think anyone wants to think about be driving to work at 9 months pregnant, but I am sure that I will be just fine.

We finally scanned our ultrasound pictures into the computer. So, I wanted to share a couple with you. I know it’s a little late as our 8 month check-up is tomorrow. Oh, well.

Here’s our sweet little girl:

January 2007





March 2007

I can't believe that I get to meet her soon. Hopefully we'll be getting new carpet in our apartment next week and then we can start on the nursery. There's so much to do before she arrives. My due date is August 7, but I really think that she's going to be here a bit earlier than that. I guess time will tell.