::Blessings::: 2010

So it’s official - I’m just as bad of a blogger as I thought I would be...but in my defense we have had a crazy month and a half! I promise I will try to be better!!

So I thought I’d share a little of what we’ve been up to (hunker down 'cause this is going to be a long one)! Last year my big brother suggested that my whole family journey back to the old homestead in Connecticut where we grew up. He suggested we do it around Columbus Day weekend since both his and my Dad’s birthdays are around that time and it’d be a perfect time to enjoy New England in the fall. So we all got geared up and excited only to find out that the Marines needed him in Afghanistan during that time. Praise God that Brother is back safe and sound now, but that was a LOOONG six months! Well when October came around this year we were all so excited to make it happen...and happen it did! Oh my word, it was only 3 short days but it was such sweet family time - going back to all of our favorite places and hanging out together, laughing...there are few other places in this world that I’d rather be (if any) than laughing with my whole family! Here are some snap shots of our time in CT:

First stop - Flamig Farm! Blimp, AJ, and JM (far right) all came prepared with their "backwards EGGS" shirts but the rest of us had to buy ours so we could fit in. I left mine at home so we bought one for the little one!

(p.s. don't be alarmed that I call my skinny-minny sister "Blimp(y)" it's a long story!)

What a little pun'kin!!

Next stop: The Master's School (my old school), where we spent a half an hour acting like we were in fourth grade..it was so much fun:)

Two of my favorite people

Cutie Pies!!

Can you tell we're sisters?! OH I love her so much!!!

Then onto Tulmeadow for ice cream

K thought he'd give pregnancy a try;)

The Hubs and I decided it would be fun to make a long vacation out of it and stay in New England a bit longer, so our next stop was Nantucket. Growing up in NE, I had been to Cape Cod a number of times and even Martha’s Vineyard but I had never been to Nantucket and since K was hoping to go somewhere neither of us had been, we bought our ferry tickets and hopped on board! If you’ve never been to Nantucket we highly recommend it, especially during Oct when the touristy season is coming to an end and the weather is crisp and sunny! We loved (almost) every part of our time there and to be fair the one part that we didn’t love wasn’t even technically in Nantucket...it was somewhere in the bay between Nantucket and Cape Cod - do you see where I’m going with this? Oh. My. Word! So I’ve always been prone to motion sickness but never in my life have I actually gotten “sick” (aka vommed). This has always served as consolation to me when I’m in a moving vehicle, breaking out in a sweat and feeling like I’m about to lose my last meal - I won’t...I just know that I won’t, because I never have and I never will, right? Well here’s the part where those of you with weak stomachs might want to go ahead and scroll down to the pretty pictures below (if you’re not already grossed out). There had been a Nor-eastern the night before we were leaving with really high winds and rain so let’s just say the waves were a tad unruly. We had planned on having a leisurely morning and taking the 12pm ferry but K thought it’d be a good idea to run down the street quickly and just check at the ticket counter to make sure they weren’t canceling any ferries due to the weather. I was getting ready for the day and enjoying my scones from our B&B when K came barging through the door, out of breath, and telling me how the next ferry is leaving in 7 minutes and they don’t think it’s coming back, as he frantically started throwing things in our suitcases. So I joined him and we were out the door in 5 minutes...giving us 2 minutes to run down Nantucket’s sweet cobblestone streets to catch the last ferry. I had my purse and rolling suitcase bumbling behind me and K was carrying a backpack, our camera bag, and an almost hockey-sized bag. I really wish we had pictures of this part of the experience! Given the five minutes that we had to throw our bags together and run down three stories out the door of our B&B, I didn’t really have time to stretch out the old shins and as I rounded a corner I turned back to K to tell him my shins were killing me and I’d have to stop running. But when I turned around and saw the sweat dripping (dare I say pouring) off his face and that body bag slung over his shoulders, running at full speed, I knew there was no way that I could stop now. Luckily we just barely made it onto the ferry and luckily for all of the other passengers we were able to find seats off by themselves (we were both a mess). So the boat took off and the front of the ferry would come up out of the water and then come crashing back down like it was a small fishing boat or something. I was literally holding on to the table in front of my seat and trying to keep it together but about 40 minutes into the trip I had to make a run for the bathroom. I’ll spare you the details but I will tell you that once we got off that beast and back to our car and my wise husband had given me enough time to see straight again, he said, “Have you seen your face?” I quickly pulled down the car mirror only to see that I had popped all the blood vessels on both sides of my face and down my neck!! “What? When did this happen?!” I asked him. He went on to tell me that it was like that when I came back from the bathroom but that he didn’t have the heart to tell me until I was feeling a little better (good call!). Anywho, we really did have a wonderful time in Nantucket but next time I might see if they have a small plane we can take!

17 weeks!

We took a 16-17mile bike ride around the island - probably one of our fav memories

A last look at Nantucket - Deceivingly calm-looking waters on our way back to Cape Cod

The final leg of our journey was to Boston to see my best friend of 15 years (oh my word I had no idea it’d been that long!) and her hubby. Kiki is preggo too and due just 7 weeks before me - I mean is that two BFF’s dream come true or what?! We used to have matching rainbow glasses and speak in a code that no one understood but us and while life has changed a lot since then we still seem to get each other in a way that very few do. Kiki has been a prayer warrior and constant cheerleader for me my whole life, I honestly just wish that every person could experience a friendship so deep and a feeling of being so known - I am forever grateful to the Lord! They are having a boy and while we still don’t know what we’re having yet I know that they’ll either be best friends or get married so really it’s a win-win!!

Love, love, love!

Picking apples at an orchard

Eating apples at an orchard

Miss them already!!

So, I’ve always thought that when I become a mom I’d love to start a blog. I love how blogs can keep family and friends who live much too far away [*sad face] in the loop on the big extraordinary things going on and the little every day happenings as well. So, I’m really glad you’re here...and it’d be a bit of an understatement to say I’m REALLY glad we’re here!!! God is so very good.

So, here’s how we got here...

We began this journey of “trying” in late fall of 2009. We were so excited to hopefully become a family of three someday and went into it assuming it would take just a few months, as it seemed to be the case with most of the friends around us. We had planned it out perfectly, went on our big “Babymoon” to Europe and thought it was just a matter of time. Well, time came and went and month after month it seemed that our dream was not becoming a reality.

Fast forward to January 12 2010, when Haiti was hit with the terrible earthquake. My sweet husband’s heart broke as we heard the news of the devastation and he began looking for airplane tickets that day to fly down there to help the people in any way that he could. But as you might remember, all of the airlines cancelled their flights and he knew it would be a while before he could get down there. In the next few months he began planning and partnering with an organization called Jesus in Haiti and forming a team of sweet people who were also itching to get down there and help. So plans were made and a date was set to go down for a week in July...

...are you wondering what this has to do with our baby story yet? Stick with me, I promise it’s relevant:)

I was so excited (not to mention proud!) of Kevin and his heart in taking the initiative to plan this trip but from the beginning we assumed it was safe to say I wouldn’t be going with him since SURELY I’d be pregnant by then. So the months continued to come and go and God taught us so much about joy in the midst of sadness and drew us close to Himself on the days when we didn’t understand why this wasn’t happening.

A couple of months before the trip we thought, “Well, maybe we need to start thinking about me going too since I’m not pregnant yet and just trust God as we live our lives instead of just waiting.” I distinctly remember coming to a place early this summer where I just said, “Lord, if you want us to get pregnant we will - no matter what we do...and if you don’t want us to get pregnant than we won’t - no matter what we do. This is completely in your hands.” What an enormous weight that lifted off of my shoulders! I mean it’s so true - He is in control and has a much better plan for our lives than what we could ask for or imagine!!

So in July we went with a team of 8 others to Haiti and it was amazing. I cannot tell you how thankful I am that I was able to be a part of this trip. Kevin and I learned so much and absolutely fell in love with the people of Haiti. Kevin is already beginning to plan his next trip down there - what a blessing it was to get to experience that together. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Kevin playing with kids at Jesus in Haiti's school for homeless children

Me playing with kids in a village

The garbage dump where people live and survive off of the garbage - JiH provides a meal for them every day and tells them about hope in Jesus

Our sweet sweet team

Sweet family in front of their new home

So we got back from our trip as changed people who had learned so much (too much to try and write in this post so please ask us about it sometime!) and with hearts for the people that we said good-bye to in Haiti, praying for them daily.

The next few days we spent trying to process our time there and readjust to America again. And after five days of being home, we found out I was pregnant. Could God have actually done this? Could He have blessed us in a way so beyond anything we could have asked for or imagined? In His infinite wisdom, God timed it so perfectly that I could go to Haiti (knowing how much it would change Kevin) and then get pregnant at the soonest possible time after that!

I’m fighting back tears as I write this and am reminded of what a sweet, personal God I serve. I have never in my life felt so humbled. We are so undeserving of this blessing but we are thankful...so very very thankful. And as this journey started only by the hands of God, we pray that we would keep this little one only in the hands of God.

I am 13 weeks along and due March 31st. Here are some fun pictures we’ve taken since we found out...