10 years ago

Ten years ago it was the Y2K "scare" and ringing in the new year was a little scary but whatever. I remember the night well; my parents had a party and I spent most of the evening with my bestest friend Jennie. It was also her 18th birthday (yes she is a tax baby). We were pretty good kids, never did anything bad or got in trouble, at least that anyone knew about. Once though we had a bit of rum in our cherry Coke before going to our college English class. I'd bought a little bottle on a cruise in Mexico where the drinking age was 18. Woohoo! Anyway on New Years Eve 1999 we decided to try one of my dad's cigars, since we were both of age to smoke. I was very uncool about it, and took a drag (or whatever it's called) and tried to blow the smoke out of my mouth whilst still holding the cigar in my lips. The cigar fell out and burned me on the hand. Very uncool!

That story isn't the point of this post...

My point is 10 years ago I was 18, a senior in high school, planning on attending the UW in the fall, and really had no responsibility whatsoever. The idea of not being 18 and instead being 28 with a husband and 3 kids (almost) seemed so far in the future it wouldn't even be worth considering. But that's my life now. A lot of responsibility, lots to do, lots to consider. And I love it. God is good and I'm learning more through my daily tasks than I even could imagine as an 18 year old.

I imagined 10 years ago if I did have any kids by now I'd also be working full or part time and would be busy busy outside the home, with kids in classes and camps, etc. But now I look at our calendar and it kind of looks like we don't do much...at least compared to the idea I had in my head of what busy is. We aren't always going places, but we are very busy inside our home.

I'm not really sure that was the point of this post either...I think I'm just rambling. So nevermind, but Happy New Year!

:)

We wish you a merry bleemp blomp

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! We are thankful for God's grace and humility that He would come as a tiny little baby to save us from our sin.

Luke 2

The Birth of Jesus

" ¹In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ²(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)³And everyone went to his own town to register.

⁴So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels

⁸And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.⁹An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ^{a]" style=" line-height: 0.5em; ">[a]} the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

¹³Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
¹⁴"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

¹⁵When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

¹⁶So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.¹⁷When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told."

We haven't joined the bandwagon with Christmas cards this year, but we did get a visit from Kermit and wanted to share the Christmas cheer.

Checking In

Hey Blah g people

It may look like we've fallen off the face of the planet; it's been too long since our last post. Rest assured we are alive and well! According to my pregnancy ticker, we have 50 days until Baby Boy, affectionately nicknamed "Stagcock," is set to arrive. I'm thinking it'll be more like 35-40 days, since I was two weeks early with Amelia. I can already tell my body is getting ready to expunge this one. We spent about 2 hours in the doctor's office yesterday running tests because I was having lots of contractions and back pain. Of course, they seemed to disappear when I was sitting in the comfy testing chair with the monitors around my belly. Haha Stagcock you silly! My OB also did a test to see if I would likely go into real labor in the next few days, and it was negative. I suspect the contractions were caused by stress and me freaking out over nothing. Whatever the reason, I'm glad he's not looking to emerge just yet.

Here are some photos of my 32-week belly! Enjoy!

Caley took this one.
Here's my view!
Yeah baby!

God has been working in our hearts and we have been busy listening to Him and how He is teaching us. We are mostly prepared for this new bundle, physically anyway. I'm having a harder time adjusting to the thought of having three kids, since I grew up imagining I'd only ever have two. Thankfully though, God is patient and loving and is teaching me things in His timing, not mine. I'm continually learning the meaning of Eve's curse in the garden, "To the woman he said, 'I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you,' " Genesis 3:16. Pain isn't always bad, it teaches us. I'm also learning that we are sanctified through childbearing and it keeps happening even after the baby is out and running around. These are all good things God is teaching me and I'm thankful to be in this situation where I can learn more about God and His love for me.

We can't wait to meet "Stagcock"!