Creation

Last night in the youth group class they wrapped up a month of classes focused on worship. Dennis, Josh's youth deacon and right hand man was teaching this week. He wanted to do the class about creation. We started off watching a 6 minute video that I think had a lot of the same scenes as Disney's Earth movie (which I saw and loved). While the scenes were showing there was a song playing (no idea who it is is by or what it is called) that was talking about how can we not believe there is a God when we see the world.

There wasn't really a formal discussion afterwards - just singing songs and people sharing thoughts, scriptures etc. Towards the end of class Dennis read this verse from Psalm 119:
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be."

He talked about how Addison is being knit together right now. That was cool for me to hear. I honestly haven't taken the time very often to sit and think about how Addison growing and being healthy is not just a miracle but a testimony to God's majesty. I have thought how it is a blessing and an answer to prayer but I haven't given the actual creation itself much pause. I have definitely been guarding my heart against something going wrong. I have tried not to get very emotionally attached to the wiggly images I see on the ultrasound screen. But, it is a powerful and miraculous thing! At the same time my stomach is growing, she is forming organs, eye balls, hair, bones, a brain and facial features. How can this be explained with out God? I'm not doing anything special to really help her grow. I mean, I try to eat healthy and still exercise. I'm not drinking alcohol or inhaling toxic fumes. But, I don't have to concentrate on my body growing a baby. God has designed it to happen all on its own.

Another thing that we mentioned in class last night was the God does not make mistakes. We often assume that he does when things go wrong. But God is never wrong. If Addison comes out without the typical number of fingers and toes, or has a birth mark covering her, or if some of her organs don't work quite right we will still love her. God is involved of all aspects of creation and His ways are so much higher than ours. That is powerful. We serve a truly awesome God.

I just wanted to share those thoughts. Have a great day!

Sissy Time

Several weeks ago my sister Aletheia (Goober) came and spent the weekend with me. She is 18, almost 19 and lives in Las Cruces, NM. We don't get to spend nearly enough time together.

On Saturday we spent the day together and went to a farmer's market that I like, got massages, then walked around a cool shopping district. I love doing girly things like getting massages or facials when we get to hang out together. It's also usually an early birthday present for Goober.

Anyway, we had a great time and I can't wait to see her again. Hopefully it will be before Addison is born but if not I know Aletheia will come up when she is born.

Help Needed and Announcement

The announcement part comes first. We decided to name our sweet baby Addison Hope.

This weekend Josh and I looked at fabrics for Addison's room. We started off having major differences of oppinion so we are compromising. But, there are still several options and I am needing feedback. Below are several sets of fabrics. Please look at them and leave a comment with your favorite, suggestions, ideas etc.

Thank you!!

I am so glad it's Friday

After what has been a long, long week I am ready for the weekend. Josh is feeling better but I have an unsettling feeling that I am going to get sick. If I can stay healthy, the plan for the weekend if to finally hang things on the walls of our house since we haven't done that at all yet. I also want to go buy fabric for our little girl's room. My mom is making the bedding and I want to get the fabric and patterns to her soon. Since they are also on their way to Alaska for the summer I want to get it to where they are in Montana before they leave the country. So, I will be dragging Josh to the fabric store on Saturday.

Hopefully I will also find some maternity capri pants and t-shirts somewhere too.

I am behind on fun updates like last weekend when my sister was here. I will try to get the pictures loaded on the computer so I can put them up soon.

Baby News

After a very eventful day we can finally get to a computer to announce that....

IT'S A GIRL!!

All the measurements and everything looked great and our little girl is healthy.

After we left the doctor's office and called our families we went home then turned around to take Josh to the after-hours clinic. He hasn't been feeling good for several days but today he felt like his fever was out of control so since he was also achy and had a sore throat we went to the doctor. When we got there his temp was 103.8 and they got a positive strep test. After two bags of IV fluids and some drugs he was feeling well enough to go home.

So, all in all it was an eventful afternoon. We are so excited about our baby girl. It's been a long long journey and I think now we can finally let ourselves relax and enjoy it. God has really blessed us. We do know her name but aren't telling quite yet. But, I will tell you that her middle name will be Hope in honor of the journey it took to get here and all the things that God continues to teach us.

Thanks for your support and prayers. More updates later.

19 weeks and a basketball game

This past week was eventful. Me, Josh, Kevin and Connie Monsees and Melanie Larson went to the Nuggets/Mavericks Play-Off game. The Mavs did pretty good until the 4th Quarter when they forgot how to play basketball. Mavs ended up losing by more than 10 but it was still a fun night. The crowd was out of control really pumped up. I would have appreciated it more if they were cheering for the team that I wanted to win. The game on Saturday was just as bad. even though the NBA apologized on behalf of the officials it doesn't change the fact that now the Mavs are down 3-0.

This past Thursday was 19 weeks pregnant. We found out on Tuesday if it's a boy or a girl!

Josh Turns 30

Last Friday Josh turned 30! At first I wanted to do a big surprise party but he is really hard to surprise and the logistics just were not working out. Instead, I told him that we were going to dinner and that a few other people might join us. Really it was about 15 other people who came and he was not expecting that at all. We went to ESPN Zone which Josh loves. Originally we thought the Mavs/Spurs playoff game might be on but the Mavs won the series the game before. That was probably a good thing since I don't think Josh would have been able to pay very much attention to the game.

I had 3 other surprises and presents for Josh. The first was a t-shirt quilt that my mom started working on in October. I picked out the shirts, bought all the fabrics and planned most of the layout and my mom hand quilted it together. Josh knew that I was going to get him a t-shirt quilt someday and in the process of us moving kept saying things like "this shirt should definitely go in a quilt". Several times I wanted to yell at him that it was already being made.
I also put together a book of birthday letters people had written to Josh. The original plan was 30 letters for a 30th birthday. I think I ended up with about 28. There are a few that still may come in so I can add them. I bought a stack of 8x8 cardstock that was in coordinating patterns and colors, put all the letters on pages and then had it bound at Kinkos. I have to say, I was pretty proud of how it turned out. So many of the letters and memories people wrote made me laugh - one in particular was from Josh's Grandmother and was about the time he hid in her car and called him mom a mean step-mother.
The last surprise was really his big present. For several years Josh has been saying that he wanted a new flat screen tv. The one we had was old and occasionally the colors were really off. He kept saving birthday and Christmas money to put towards it but didn't have enough and ended up getting other things instead. So, my plan was instead of just collecting money from family members and give him that, I would actually go out and buy a tv to give him. I talked to his mom and she thought it was a great idea since it is always more fun to actually give a present rather than a gift card or money. I found an amazing deal at Ultimate Electronics and had the tv stored at a friend's house. I wrapped up the receipt and the warranty information for him to unwrap. He was surprised and couldn't wait until the next morning when we got to go pick it up.

All in all it was a good birthday. There are some pictures below!

Oh, I forgot that Josh also got to get a new car the night before his birthday. You may remember that his was totaled by a drunk driver while parked on the street. So after a long long insurance ordeal he got a 2004 Nissan Xterra and it is awesome.