You Say Banana, I Say BanAHna...

... and babycenter.com says that's what I've got in my belly right now!  That's right - junior is about the size of a banana these days - 6-6.5inches! 
I'm officially 20 weeks now, which means I'm about 1/2 way there!  Time is flying by and symptoms are still slowly but surely easing up!  I can eat a lot more these days, though chicken and I still don't mix well.  Pizza and other red sauced things give me heart burn so I try to avoid those... but other than things not sounding good/looking good, I've not been sick - which is OK with me!  The tiredness is not changing at all... but I suppose that comes with working full time corralling 20 seven year-olds.  There are times that I get bursts of energy, but I crash very easily too.  My lower back has been bothering me a bit, but nothing major, and seeing the chiropractor regularly has definitely helped with that.  My belly is stretching and growing for sure, and I can see a change... there are still days (depending on the shirt I wear) that I don't 'feel' or 'look' pregnant, but most people say it's obvious at this point.  What do you think?   :)

 This is 20 weeks... below is 14 weeks

So I'm seeing some growth :)
We've also been busy getting the baby room ready.  I had 5 days off (FIVE!) over Thanksgiving so I used that time to relax... er.. or not.  I had 2 photo sessions and we painted the baby's room and rearranged the whole upstairs.  The office had to turn into the baby's room, which meant the moving and selling of furniture on craigslist so we could have a 'living area' in the loft.  We kept the guest room the same, but we also did a hard core cleaning up stairs while we were at it.  Yes.  I was nesting.  I admit it.  :)

 Painting in progress...

 Painting Finished!  The room isn't going to stay furnished like this... but it's a start! :)

So that's what's new on the baby front... 6 more days till we find out the gender of our little banana!!

Christmas Plans

I'm so excited about this new video by The Father's House!  It's a great representation and explanation of what is happening over in Ghana, the place that stole my heart. 

With the holidays coming, please take some time to consider giving something ETERNAL for the season.  Talk with your family, your kids, friends, coworkers and neighbors and consider making a donation to save some childrens' lives!  What better gift could there be this holiday season? 

Take a few minutes (literally) and check out the video for more information.

Father's House - Ghana from Matt Garrett on Vimeo.

Light & Mello

Mello Yello that is.

So tonight hubby and I went to Cantina 1511 for the first time ever.  We had  a g/c from some friends and finally got around to using it.  It was great food, and loved the atmosphere, but I digress... this is not about the food.  It's about the drink. 

The Mello Yello that came  sailing across the table, out of hubby's glass and onto my seat... and lap.  The full glass the waitress had just placed in front of him was apparently unstable as he reached for it and got knocked over spilling ice and fizzy yellow stickiness all over. 

Why do I blog this?  Because my dear friends. about 9 years ago, when out to eat with my family (though at a separate booth because we were too 'cool' and teen-agey to sit with them), the same, EXACT thing happened.  The freshly filled Mello Yello came sailing across the little table and landed directly in my lap.  I was soaked.  Looked like I peed my pants.  And we had only just begun dating.

We laughed about it then, and many years after, but never did we think it would happen again.  But alas, it did and it made me think about all the fun, silly little things that have happened to us over the years and it makes me appreciate our relationship that much more.  Most teenage girls would have FREAKED out that night, but here I am, married to my high school sweetheart and loving every Mello Yello that comes with it. :)

The BOLD and the Beautiful!

No - no - and no - NOT the soap opera!  But I got you reading didn't I?  :) 

I'm talking about our colors for the baby's room - they are BOLD and I think they are absolutely beautiful!  We don't have it all painted yet, but we do have some splotches up on the wall and we are in LOVE with the colors.  They're gender-neutral, since we don't know the gender yet (though we will in 3 weeks!) but can be easily accented to accommodate a girl (with deep purples/magentas) or a boy (with bright, bold blues and greens).  We'll have 3 "Caribbean Holiday"(teal) walls, with one "Field Poppy"(orange) wall, opposite the crib. 
For now the plan is to accent with the bright green color, but that might change.  By accent I mean like, curtains, clock, wall art, etc.

It's feeling real-er and real-er by the minute, now that we've got our paint picked out and have started trying to figure out logistics of rearranging the upstairs furniture... it's all coming together! 

.......... 4

4 months ago I watched Ghana fade away in the distance out the window of an airplane.

4 months ago I was on the mountain top, feeling closer to God than I've ever felt before.

4 months ago I came home from Africa and Satan tried to rob me of my joy and damage my marriage.

4 months ago Satan ALMOST won.

4 months ago my amazing friends whom I love so much prayed with my husband and I to fight, FIGHT hard against the attacks that came our way.

4 months ago my husband and I grew closer than we've ever been before.

4 months ago we DEFEATED Satan's stupid attempts to overshadow the miracles God had created in Africa and in my own life when he thought it'd be fun to mess with our marriage.

4 months ago we CREATED life.  We created a living, breathing human being to raise up in the ways of our Father to go forth and reach the nations of the world with the Word that GOD is GOD and Satan LOSES.

4 months ago my life was changed in Africa.

4 months ago our marriage was strengthened exponentially.

4 months ago our family of two became a family of three.

and yesterday... as I lay there and we heard our baby's heart beating (at a rate divisible by 4), I couldn't help but think of all that happened to bring us to this point....

4 months ago.