Precious Little Girl!!!

We will be 20 weeks on Monday and we found out we are having a daughter! We are SO thrilled! Just before the sonogram appointment Ryan and I were tallying the votes of boy/girl predictions. And though the majority vote was boy, Ryan said: "Your mom and sister are the only one's who think it's a girl." I responded with: "Yes but my mom was wrong about both Sofia and Makafui." To which he said "Right, which means she's gonna be right about us. You can only be wrong on a 50/50 guess so many times." LOL My husband cracks me up and we both still went into the appointment leaning more towards the guess of boy and were both very surprised! But NOT disappointed! Ryan does hope to be the first out of he and his sister to have a boy but that is still a possibility and he is already so smitten with his little girl!

My confession is that when we first found out we were finally pregnant, I tried so hard not to desire one gender more than the other. I am SO sensitive to the feelings and emotions of children, even unborn, and I never want any of my children ever to feel like they weren't wanted at any time in their lives.
I struggled with this during the early weeks because most of our foster children were boys and I began longing for the frills and curls of a little girl. I wanted to look at tiny dresses and accessories for a baby girl the moment we found out we were pregnant. I was so concerned about being disappointed if it was a boy. I prayed and gave my anxieties to my most gracious God and he assured me with a precious dream that I will love my baby be it boy or girl more than anything in the world. (save my God and my Husband) So in my mind, I was about to be thrilled to work on trees and birds in our nursery but instead I was thrilled and surprised to find that it will be red poppies with all the girly frills!

Knowing that I have a little daughter on the way changes the way I feel about my pregnancy drastically. I don't know if it just hadn't really set in because of the long waiting or the crazy change of atmosphere shortly after finding out or being terrified of losing what we had just gained.... but whatever the reason, SHE is so much more real to me now than ever before and I am so excited!

I went to right down the precious memory of Thursday in my journal and happened across so many pages of despair and heart cries to God for understanding and patience in the waiting part of our journey. Re-reading some of those agonizing entries, recalling the tears, anger, and sadness. The unmet longing in my heart to be a good mommy, like I believed God had called me to be... All of those intense and painful emotions and entries MAGNIFIED my joy and gratefulness of the memory I was about to record. I was overwhelmed with a gratitude that hadn't clicked yet, and with the realization of just how glorious and victorious this baby girl is to us. When Ryan got home from school I was thrilled to tell him about it and he smiled and spoke sweetly to our sweet girl.

To this day I still don't understand why God had us wait, and I still currently live in situations that I know are God's plan for our family but are difficult and make me sad. The difference is: NOW I have the patience and the experience to truly rely on God, and know that He really does love us, and His master plan really is better than anything we could come up with on our own.

19 weeks!

Today we are 19 weeks into pregnancy! I'm so excited because on Thursday we get a little more insight into who our Baby is! Boy or Girl! I am so thrilled because this just makes everything so much more real and exciting! And it means that gender specific shopping and planning can begin! Yay!

Along with that exciting news, we have MORE good news from our Realtor. Down the street from the house we almost got in Fairfield, (the neighborhood we LOVE) is a house owned by an investor that is currently being rented out. The tenant will be out October 2nd and that week we are scheduled to view the house. The investor is planning on replacing all the carpet and painting all the walls before selling, and our realtor thinks we can get granite and back splash in the kitchen as well and buy the home before it ever hits the market! AND keep it in our budget! What's even better is that all the common areas are already tile or wood, and all the bedrooms will have fresh carpet for us! With the painting the investor will do, we will be move in ready, and he says he can get it all done in time for the closing date we wanted! (November 2nd!)
PLUS this house is 500 square feet BIGGER than the one we made an offer on, and has a bigger back yard, and needs much less work!
SO hoping this one pans out! Wouldn't that be just like God to be like "Yeah this neighborhood is great, but there's a better house just down the street for you."

Happy Week!

Life

So we no longer have a house. The offer that was VERBALLY accepted came back with added negotiations, one of which being, the fridge stays for an extra $1000 from us... it's a 2 year old fridge, not worth that much. They also added $1000 to the list price of the house.
Not only was our realtor furious but so was the seller's listing agent. What the seller did was just rude and ridiculous and even the listing agent said our offer was more than acceptable. So We turned down their counter offer and they may come back and accept our original offer but until then, we are back in limbo, waiting. And I'm hoping we can still hang onto our close/move in date even as the days pass. I really want to be settled by Christmas.

That's life I guess. We are hopeful that we will still find a home in this gorgeous family friendly neighborhood and our realtor is confident that we will. But yet again, I find myself waiting... only this time, I find I am more patient. God will provide, just like He always has.

If Jesus, the son of God was born in a manger, which was sufficient for Him, THE SON OF GOD! I know my precious baby will be provided a place. And I know God knows my Mommy's Heart desires, and he cares about them. We are well looked after. Even when the going is a bit rough.

This weekend in Galveston will be so refreshing, and even the timing of this marriage conference is another reminder that God really does have wonderful timing for everything in our lives.

Celebrate!

I am 18 weeks pregnant today! And I have felt my baby move a few times! I have had dreams about the baby being a boy and dreams about the baby being a girl! I started out thinking my Precious is a girl! Then I thought it would be a boy! Now I have 10 days to wait and see and I have absolutely NO idea what gender our baby might be. What a surprise! I just can't wait to know if we are having a son or a daughter and start choosing names and talk to the baby more specifically about more specific things. I'm SO excited.

We got a house! A contract was accepted that we are happy with! We are going to need to find a refrigerator and soon and oven, but we are thrifty! The house is small and simple but has a lot of potential and is set in a neighborhood that to me, is like walking through a fairytale forest! It's SO beautiful! 
Just look at the pine trees in our front yard!

This weekend Ryan and I are going to Galveston for a Marriage conference, and I'm very excited. We are even staying in a hotel! I think it will be so good for us, and we will enjoy it even more now, knowing our home search is over. We really did our research and feel confident we found the right place. We viewed 37 houses! And we traveled tons of neighborhoods and have put so much time into this search. It feels good to take a deep breath and know that I'm going to live in the most peaceful, gorgeous, family friendly neighborhood in Cypress.

Next weekend, we will find out the sex of our baby and do our nursery furniture shopping with Melissa, my sister in law, who has insight on the best places to shop for baby furniture in the area. That will be exciting!

The first weekend in October Ryan and I are going to Austin for a visit! I'm so excited to get to spend some time with my parents and siblings. And to see our little niece and nephew who have grown so much! And to show my Mom and Sister some of my decorating ideas and pictures of the house and neighborhood.

We have a great several weekends ahead! :)

Random Thoughts...

- I think we found our new home! The house is going to need a few little projects to be really what I want but it's not far from it! - The neighborhood of the home we are making an offer on today is like from a fairy tale! It's gorgeous and wooded and has all sorts of trails and parks. We are really buying into the neighborhood than a specific house. - I love this weather! But I hate that our downstairs neighbors can't go 15 mins without smoking up a storm! Don't they have a job or places to be or something? Every time I open the balcony to enjoy the breeze and let the dogs rest out there, I'm closing it again and having to get rid of cigarette smoke in my apartment! But soon, we shouldn't have that problem. - I felt my baby kick last night! I don't know if it was really a kick so much as just baby movement but it's the first time I've ever felt anything like it and I'm so thrilled! - Next weekend Ryan and I will be on the beach in Galveston enjoying a marriage conference get-a-way! - In 13 days Ryan and I get to see our baby again! It's been several weeks since we've had a sonogram and the pictures weren't my favorite. Plus this is the big one! We get to find out if we are having a son or daughter! :) - a few days after the big sonogram, my sister in law is taking me to go look at nursery furniture! Hopefully we will have an accepted contract and a move in date so we can actually get some planning done. - the following weekend my sweetie and I get to visit Austin and family! We are so excited to see our niece and nephew as they grow so much at this time! And I'm excited to work on our baby registry with my mom and sister! - At the end of October we will go back to Austin for another visit to see my Nonnie! - Hopefully November 2nd will be our closing date and we can move in to our new home the next day and get settled before the holidays. - If we do get that closing/move date it really works out that this year Thanksgiving is in Houston so I can keep getting settled and by the time we head to Austin for Christmas I should be done with all the organization.

House Hunting

Well, Ryan and I have basically been looking for a permanent place to live ever since we moved to Houston. With the help of research, discussions, and realtors we decided the best thing for our family on a number of levels is a house. We have been looking for a house for several weeks now and it is exhausting, especially with a baby due shortly after the Holidays. I want to be in a home with everything in its organized place and the baby's room ready and waiting for baby well before the baby is due. We are definately more informed and detailed about our search as we made several fist timer mistakes with our first home in Pflugerville. But that does make the search more difficult. Today we are viewing at least six homes and I am hopeful. Ryan and I don't sleep well in the apartment with all the little noises and details to get used to and the dogs really need the backyard. Plus we would really like to enjoy some of this fall weather in a home, on a porch, or with the windows open. I want to get the packing and unpacking over with and let the home making and baby preparing begin! I can't wait to have a room designated for Baby so we can start thinking about furniture and design and all the fun exciting things about preparing for our first little one! Here's hoping today is the day!