Last Year, This Year, Next Year...

This Christmas caused a lot of genuine gratefulness in my heart and reminded me of where I was last year. I am so glad God answers prayers and our wonderful church reminds us of that.

On the Sunday before Christmas we were reminded how powerful prayer is and how we tend to use it as a last resort, when there's nothing else to do but pray: And in reality prayer is our greatest power. We then learned how God provided the land for our new church building for exactly the amount of money our congregations has pledged, as well as answered a prayer of who our new family pastor will be, and it happens to be one of our favorite couples at church who has prayed and counseled with us in the past.
After service Ryan and I decided we would ask that person to pray with us on behalf of Nonnie, who had been sick with pneumonia and complications from it and was in the hospital, not doing well at all.
The next morning my dad announced that she was doing better and she could recover at home for Christmas! I know my whole family was calling out to God on her behalf and I know he heard us!

It makes me think of this whole year. Last Christmas was very difficult for me. I had a precious little boy whom my whole family had come to love as part of the family and I was given fair warning that he was to be reunited with his own family in the coming months after Christmas.
I remember feeling so lonely and worthless, dead inside as a woman, and crying out to God to let that be the last Christmas I felt that way. Let that be the last Christmas still pleading for a child of our own. I asked for the some thing several months later on Mother's Day. "Please let this be the last time this day is so painful to me. And a month later, just before Father's Day, God answered our prayers that we had been praying for nearly 2 years with the most exciting joyful news we could imagine. We are going to have a baby!

Several months later I found myself feeling lonely in a different way. Alone in an apartment, in a town I was unfamiliar with, no friends or family near by or "on-call" so to speak like what I have always known and my heart grew heavy. I prayed that if there was any way for us to get back home before the baby was born that God would make it happen.
And he did!
Not only that but the time we spent away in Houston was very valuable to our spiritual growth and in our general maturity. We have changed for the better and got to return with fresh new perspectives just in time for Christmas.

This year has not been easy but it has been a beneficial journey filled with answered prayers that reminds me to live life prayerfully and not to be afraid to ask for big things.

This Christmas was even more enjoyable than an ordinary Christmas in light of the sorrow I experienced last year and how different this year felt from that.

Ryan and I will have our Goals Meeting for 2013 sometime this weekend and I'm so blessed to go into that with such a fresh and grateful perspective, knowing how God really does answer our prayers.

So Much Joy...

Since we have been back in our home, I have enjoyed more sleep every night! Last night I think I slept for 10 hours!

I think Hannah Kate is going through a grown spurt, I'm suddenly getting tired spells again and she is stretching and kicking quite a lot! :)

I LOVE not having any clutter in my home! Thanks to all the premove donations and organizations, moving in and getting settled has been a breeze! And everything is so organized! I love it!

My sister helped me put together Hannah Kate's crib this week! And I put together her little book/toy hutch, and installed her carseat in the van!

I'm refraining from taking or posting any pictures of her room until it is complete! Her rocker should arrive by the end of next week, and her linens won't come into play until after our baby shower on the 10th of January, plus, I probably won't get her mattress until closer to my birthday. So the final reviewing of her room will probably be just a few weeks before she comes!

Speaking of... Ryan and I are getting so excited about our precious little girl! I had a great check up with our awesome nurse yesterday! Got the schedule for our birthing class next month and realized that we are only about 8 weeks away from meeting our little girl! 2 months!

There is a pack and play and a little bedside cradle in our master bedroom for her to be with us the first few months. She has her swing and bouncer all set up in her room, and we have another shower coming up!

We are so blessed!

My husband is working on his garage this weekend. He has really done a lot of cleaning and organizing. He is staining the floor this weekend and when it's done it will be so awesome! And we will have an amazing place to work out without leaving home!

I cannot believe Christmas is on Tuesday!

I'm really craving some cranberry juice right now.

I'm thinking my Dad and I need to go see The Hobbit next week.

My tummy is huge! Ryan thinks its funny. It is pretty funny when it's lopsided due to a little head poking out. :)

I am so very grateful for my life, full of so many blessings!

THANK YOU JESUS!!!

I am SO overwhelmed with peace and joy that I could just cry! (Maybe that's the pregnancy hormones, but I'm not even kidding!)

My bed has never been so soft and comfortable as it was last night after a nice bath and clean new sheets. My aching body was down for the count at 8:30pm!

My husband is SUCH a hard worker and just continues to make me swoon in the way he does every day things. I'm so in love with him and look forward to seeing him in his new role as "Daddy"

My family ... we are just rock stars! In about 4 hours we had everything moved in our home, my awesome sisters and mom cleaning, doing touch up paint on the walls, putting books on shelves, hanging things etc. We got so much done and had so much fun doing it too!

Thanks you Jesus for this home, for being able to live here again, with a fresh new perspective!

Thank you Jesus for my Husband and my family whom I love so very much!

Thank you Jesus for Hannah Kate (WE ARE 31 WEEKS TODAY!) and for her room and the blessings of being able to prepare for her arrival!

Thank you Jesus for an AWESOME Doctor (Who we see on Thursday) that makes me feel confidant and at peace about having our sweet girl in a safe and joyful environment.

Thank you Jesus for this Christmas Season. Life has been so crazy that I haven't been able to enjoy it as much as I normally do but now that I'm home and near my family, I'm loving the Christmas cheer!

I am so grateful for everything we have! I could keep going but I do need to get back to work on getting this wonderful house organized before Christmas! :)

HAPPY MONDAY!!!

Random Thoughts

- It's Wednesday! The day after tomorrow we make our fist "moving trip" to Austin to drop off Ryan's work van!

- Tomorrow is Ryan's last day of school until January!

- I am so thankful for my Mom's Netflix account and for being allowed to use is these past few weeks.

- Because it's been cold this week I have stretched normal sweaters and long sleeved shirts over my pregnant tummy and have been presently surprised at how they've worked out for me. I've never had a skin tight wardrobe. Good thing!

- I am SO freaking excited to be coming home this weekend I can hardly contain myself! I am SEARCHING for things to do to pass the time, particularly productive ones but until Friday I really can't do much.

- I am already SO thankful for things I took for granted when we lived in Pflugerville! I can't wait to take better care of my home, I will never complain about having to simply open the back door for my dogs to go out. I can't wait to have a room dedicated to my sweet girl and all her things and see the beautiful decor come together! I'm so thankful for our master bedroom and can't wait to prep that for Hannah Kate's arrival. I will be so grateful on Monday when I do the grocery shopping and don't need to waddle up the stairs with all the groceries. I am sorry I ever took anything about living there for granted and SO glad I get to go back and really appreciate it!

- I can't wait for our next Doctor's appointment! It's a week from tomorrow and it will be our first one back home! And my OB is pretty sonogram happy and I LOVE seeing my baby so I'm hoping for another peak at what she's doing in there.

- I can't wait to see family and friends and enjoy the holiday season back home!

- I'm so looking forward to and pretty much relying on my Mom and sister helping me figure out where to best put furniture and get the house set up, particularly in the master and baby room to prepare for life with a newborn.

- I'm so excited about the timing of our move. To get to have our baby in the hospital with the Dr we wanted, to have sisters close by who not only stay at home with their babies like I will but also have some of the smaller things in common, like cloth diapers! To have an immediate support group so close by and help if the diapers throw me the first week or so. SUCH a blessing!

- Our kids will be so close to their cousins! Makafui and Hannah Kate might end up in some of the same homeschooling groups later. And if not I'm sure we will plan some family field trips with brothers, sisters, cousins etc. How cool it will be to raise our families so close together with some of the same big parenting decisions! :)

- I'm so looking forward to getting back into our church.

- Justin's Christmas Eve party is gonna be so much fun!

- Christmas day is going to be the bomb!

- My husband is so sweet and hard working.

- I'm so glad his commute and his school nights will be much easier in Austin.

- As anxious and impatient as I am to get back to Austin, I am so grateful, so blessed, and so very happy. Thank You Jesus for bringing us back home!

30 Weeks!

Today marks 30 weeks of pregnancy! 10 weeks feels so long and yet so short all at the same time! It feels long when I think of how many days that is and how long we have to wait to meet our baby girl. But that same amount of time feels like nothing when I think of all that's to happen between now and then! Moving, Christmas, family time, setting up our home again, a baby shower, birthdays, and the BOOM! It's February!
We are very excited about Hannah Kate's arrival and are so looking forward to meeting her.

We are also T minus 5 days from our move! I have made a list of things to do to prepare and I'm hoping it'll last me all week.

You know those people who ask for help moving and you show up and they haven't even packed? Yeah I'm like the opposite of that. Ryan keeps looking for things around the apartment to find out that they are already packed up. I like to be prepared and I hate doing things last minute even if it is last minute items that need packed. Our kitchen has the bare essentials and hardly enough food for the rest of the week, our bathroom is being stripped of almost everything today and since we are down to our last week, I'm going to see what we can't live without for a few days! :)

This morning I am enjoying 40 degree weather in a warm outfit with the balcony door open and a cup of hot cider. NOW it feels like December! I hope this lasts for a while.

Yesterday Ryan and I went over to the Briar Forest house. That house is where Ryan grew up and it's been years since anyone has lived there. It has foundation problems that are down right scary. The doorways are crooked the floors lean to various sides and the cracks in the walls and ceilings are pretty monstrous.
But we have been blessed by this vacant house by being able to store things in the separate garage (that oddly enough has it's own slab without foundation issues) and by being able to glean from the house. Hannah Kate's dresser was a buffet table being stored in the garage, and yesterday we chose 3 very nice ceiling fans to remove from the house and bring home with us next weekend. One to go on our back porch! I'm very excited about that and so proud of my husband for being so resourceful!

Today I'm on a hunt for Trash bags, Duct Tape, and Butter.

And I'm considering going ahead and packing up the cable and internet equipment and shipping it off before Friday just to have it out of the way. I wonder how difficult life would be without TV and internet... maybe it's worth finding out how dependent I am on such entertainment. ;)
But not until I'v had our mail forwarded and chosen a new provider for internet back home.

That's all for now, Happy Monday!

Life To Music

Today I decided to do life with a soundtrack. I have been doing my everyday things, including grocery shopping with my ipod and a good playlist. I'm previewing the peaceful/encouraging playlist I created for labor. I've already decided to take a song or two off but I've noticed that for the most part it is very relaxing and has already calmed some of the everyday anxieties I've been feeling with everything going on.
Music is so powerful and I have always just loved it.
I play Christmas music while doing laundry, dishes, vacuuming and sewing projects, and having my soundtrack today has just reminded me of the peace that comes from knowing Christ. I just get so caught up in everyday life that I forget that my heavenly father has me taken care of.

These passed few days have been especially hard for me. I feel so isolated because not only has Ryan been working far away and late (which is a blessing for our finances) but also several of my family members are going through rough times and we lost our Uncle Jimmie.
My family always rallies together in hard times. Like when my Nonnie went to be with Jesus, there was so much precious family time and gathering around my mom.
It brings me to tears that I haven't been able to hug my Daddy in so long but especially in the midst of him losing his baby brother. I cannot imagine.
Knowing how my family proudly deals with hardship and not only not being a part of that but also being separated from my husband so much this week has just made it difficult to battle emotions.
But my God is big, and in charge. And I can't help but think that my family going through so much... job difficulties, layoff scares, insurance and financial problems, and now losing Uncle Jimmie... is in part spiritual warfare. Bad things happen as a result of sin in the world and are not always caused by Satan but I can't help but think that the love and strength and faith that pulses from my family as a whole, is a threat to the enemy. But he will be sorely disappointing when he remembers how strong we are and how our love and encouragement for each other is just magnified in difficult times.
I'm so proud of my family, and this week, being separated from them has been the hardest since moving here but I'm down to a single digit count down. 9 more days until we are back home for good.

And in the mean time, my soundtrack for life idea is keeping me going and reminding me of this verse that I'm taking as my shield and comfort this week:
"You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You."
- Isaiah 26:3

Over The Hump

It's Wednesday! That means we are halfway through the week and closer to the weekend! This is good for me since things will pick up a little more next week as we prepare for the big move.

Last night was a tough night. It had been cloudy and dark and rainy all day long and I received that sad news that my Uncle Jimmie had gone to be with Jesus. He was only 53. I have a lot of funny and fond memories of my Uncle from when I was a child and my heart went out to my Dad and Nonnie and I hated not being near family, especially since Ryan was gone at school and I was alone.

I ended up trying to take my thoughts and feelings captive and made Muddy Buddies and listened to some good music and went over the my mother in law's house to just get out and away from my lonely apartment.

Tomorrow I'm going grocery shopping for the last time here in Cypress and I'm trying to be strategic about it where the groceries stretch an extra two days but no further than that as we will be moving and I don't want to move or throw away food.

I am preparing another "pre-move load" for Ryan and I to take to our storage unit in Round rock this weekend. Without the dogs and with all the seats folded down we can fit nearly two truck bed sized loads in our mini van. That way we can be certain that the 26 foot truck we reserved for next weekend will fit all of Ryan's work out equipment as well as all of our furniture and other things.

I watched my first episode of Downton Abby last night. I will continue watching but I am, as of yet, undecided on whether or not I will jump on the band wagon. Maybe I was too distracted to really get into it last night?

I've been struggling a bit with anxiety lately. I think it's because so much is changing and is about to change and in the midst of all that i'm alone most of the time with little to do to occupy myself.
I think a lot of my anxieties are also coming from being pregnant, in third trimester and not having access to any birthing classes until next month, as well as not being in the same town as my OB or my family.
I think once we move and the excitement of Christmas is here and I get to see mt Dr for the first time since actually moving back to Austin, most of that anxiety will subside.

I've been keeping up with my blog so much better lately even if I don't really have anything exciting to say. This is probably out of boredom and a lack of activities to occupy myself with.

Goings On

So even though we only have 2 more weeks here in Cypress; Ryan was feeling festive and wanted to decorate our apartment balcony with Christmas lights! A great idea but a difficult one as we discovered there is no outlet on the balcony to plug the lights into.

We did however, take a string of lights from our Christmas box and strung up our little pine tree. It's not your ordinary Christmas tree but it came with ornaments on it and we intend to plant it when we get home. Having lights on it certainly does make it a little more joyful in the little space.
I also put my Martha Stewart wreath on the door.

In other news, we have been growing increasingly more excited to have our house back with the exclusivity of the neighborhood and the fact that there are still no adjacent houses right next to us yet. We are not anti-social but our apartment neighbors have really taught us the joy we've experienced in our independence from other people right next to us.
Here's my "sh-peel" and let me just say, this is not a bash on apartment living as a whole because I've stayed with people at apartments that are nothing like this one and don't have issues like we've had here.
Our downstairs neighbors are a young couple of chain smokers. They smoke all throughout the day and going to my car or out on the balcony has become an irritant as I'm super sensitive to cigarette smoke. They also have a dog who is taken in the front of the building to poop on or just next to the sidewalk. If it's not a stepping/slipping hazard it becomes an issue with flies because they don't pick up after their pet!
Our upstairs neighbor is a female sex addict. We have met her and she seems like a very nice lady but she doesn't do ANYTHING quietly. I always know when she is doing her laundry (Which is often in the middle of the night) rummaging around in the kitchen, slamming cabinet doors etc. or just walking around up there because she is so loud.
Her private life is no different, and she typically conducts her "business" between the hours of 11pm and 4am during the work week when we are trying to sleep.
However on the weekend we have noticed 11am 2pm 4:30pm random daytime "activities." But no one has ever seen anyone go up or come down from visiting her apartment.
Ryan things she hires jigalows (sp)

Either way, between the neighbors he happened to get sandwiched between, the water and electricity problems, as well as other poor management issues we've had with this specific apartment... we are SO ready to get home! And I'm ready for our big pups to have their yard back! I'm ready to stop having to take them up and down the stairs every 2 or 3 hours and pick up after them with little black bags. (Ryan will scoop the yard with a shovel once a week when we are back home.)

I'm also SOOO ready to redecorate our home! And to see Hannah Kate's room come together! I've gathered so much for her already in the way of shower gifts, furniture, decor.... I can't wait to see it all come together!

Speaking of our precious baby girl, we are 29 weeks along today! Just 11 more weeks to go! The other day I asked Ryan: "Can you believe it's already December?" And he thought for a minute and replied: "Yes, and I wish it were the end of February."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because I'm ready to meet my little girl!" My heart melted! I LOVE his anticipation and excitement and genuine impatience and love for her.
I have unfortunately developed a few stretch marks but when we are sitting on the couch together watching the Texans, he will go get my cream and put it on my tummy for me. He's such a sweet man.
And even though we have 11 weeks left (give or take) I can definitely tell we are coming to the end of pregnancy with Baxton Hicks contractions, an ever growing belly, and a general sense of feeling heavier and having to work harder around and with my body shape to do everyday things.

12 more days until the weekend of the big move! Lots of driving to happen over the next two weekends but once we are there, it will be so worth it!

DECEMBER!!!

Happy 1st of December! I'm so excited about the start of this month! So many happy exciting times ahead.

Today Ryan and I took our van, packed it full of boxes and smaller items and made a day trip to Round Rock where we got a storage room and unloaded it all. It's amazing what we can fit in our van with all the seats down in the floor! More than the bed of a truck for sure!
We plan on doing this again next Saturday so that 2 weeks from today we are only worrying about furniture and loose items like clothing etc. We have ordered a 26 foot truck and are having to plan very carefully how we do everything so that it all gets there at the right time.

I'm so excited to be moving things back to my home town. I can see Hannah Kate's room coming together in my mind and we have already received so much for her!
I'm hoping these next two weeks just fly by and we will be back home in no time. Then I have just a week to try to get the house unpacked and set up with window treatments, wall decor etc. before Christmas! And I definately want to be able to relax and enjoy Christmas so that is my goal and I will find a way to get it done!

15 more days! :)