Happy New Year

As I sit here today thinking about all that happened in 2011, I cannot help but post a top 10 list.  These are the highlights of what is running through my mind right now.  There were also some low points, but since I consider myself an optimist, I am so thankful for these high points that I am praising God for.  I cannot thank God enough for being the BIG God that He is and for having such an amazing plan for our lives.  I am also reminded of some of the lyrics to the song "Beautiful Things" by Gungor, he has taken old and made them new!
All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

You make me new, You are making me new
You make me new, You are making me new
You are making me new


So here it goes,
Top 10 Moments/Events I'm Thankful for in 2011:

10.  Another year of good health for me and my family!

9.  Going through the Discovery program to get some heart healing that I truly needed!  (www.discovery-austin.org)

8.  Getting to see my husband cross something off his "bucket list," going to a World Series game that his Texas Rangers were playing in!  Not only did we get to see them win that game, but he caught a batting practice ball from Adrian Beltre!

7.  Seeing the changes that have happened in the past 8 months in my Dad's life: coming into relationship with the Lord, meeting and marrying his new wife, putting the past in the past and looking forward to a new outlook on life and family!  (Discovery is amazing!!)

6.  Seeing the changes that have happened in my brother's life in the past 6 months: coming into a relationship with the Lord, stepping out of his rock band, and taking part in the praise and worship team at his church!  (Discovery is amazing!!)

5.  Getting to see my dear sister 4 times this year, January, June, and 2 times for Dad's wedding!  I love her and miss her!

4.  Getting to go to Spokane, Washington to see my dear Lisa Ulrich! (http://lisaulrich.blogspot.com/)

3.  Being married to my best friend!  We have so much fun together and love living life together!  I can't even imagine what my life was like before him!

2.  Going to Tennessee and Chicago on vacation with my hubby!  In Tennessee it was amazing to be surrounded by lots and lots of mountains in almost the middle of nowhere!

After watching the Blue Man Group in Chicago.

From the Foothills Parkway outside of Walland, TN in the Great Smoky Mountains.

1.  Finding out that Josh and I were pregnant (see previous post), finding out that we were having a baby girl. Which will be here sometime in the next 6 weeks!  And, it has been tons of fun getting things ready and set up for her arrival!


Now, I'm looking forward to and dreaming of the many moments that I'll be thankful for in the next year!  Things like: holding our daughter for the first time, seeing Josh hold his daughter for the first time, seeing Josh be a daddy, learning how to be a mommy, seeing my sister again in February, continuing to learn about the big things that God has in store for my family, spending another year being married to my best friend!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL and I hope that you are challenged to look for the moment's you're thankful for in the past year!

Baby on the Way

We are officially 33 weeks pregnant with our little girl!  It's becoming more and more of a reality that around Valentine's day, we'll have the newest member of our family joining us.  We couldn't be more excited though, and are so ready to meet this blessing that God is giving us.  I would lying if I said that I wasn't nervous...nervous about the delivery process, nervous about bringing this precious person home with us, and a little nervous about the whole parenting process.  The thing that calms these nerves of mine is the fact that Josh and I make such a great team!  I am so ready to see him be a daddy, and I know that he's going to be great at it!


So, here's the story of the past 6 or so months.
In June, Josh and I went on vacation to visit family in Tennessee, and then went to Chicago for a few days.  Tennessee was fabulous, we loved the mountains and had a blast enjoying God's creation!  I had started to feel a bit tired, and was expecting my "visitor" soon.  We then headed to Chicago, which was a dramatic change in scenery.  We went from being surrounded by mountains to being surrounded by buildings and lots of people.  We walked and walked and saw lots of museums.  One day Josh convinced me to get a pregnancy test.  So, the next morning, I did the test, and it came back positive!!!  I waited until Josh woke up, and showed him the picture of the test, he wasn't sure what it meant, but when I told him he just smiled!


I made a doctor appointment as soon as we got home, and they confirmed that I was about 5 weeks pregnant, and due on Valentine's day!  We had fun getting to call our family and tell them that we were pregnant!

It wasn't very long before I started feeling sort of crummy, but was so thankful that I was on summer break so I could just veg out at the house.  It was about a month later, at our next doctor appointment that we got to see our little peanut!  It truly was amazing!  Then again in August, we got to see her again!

As I learned about all the changes that were happening to my body and all the changes that were happening to our little peanut, it made it so easy to be thankful for God being in control and for having such a wonderful plan!

Then, in September, we had another ultrasound and found out that we were having a little girl!  What an amazing experience, getting to see all of our little one's body parts and see how big she was getting.  I know that Josh was also amazed and loved getting to hear the sound of our little one's heart beat.

This whole pregnancy hasn't been too bad.  I really haven't had morning sickness, just been tired.  I know that I am getting really ready to meet this little one and hold her in my arms.

This is me at 24 weeks pregnant.

Taking a stab at this...

So, I'm going to try my hand at this blogging thing.  We'll see how it goes.