Little bits of information

If you don't have time to read the whole post, I quickly ask for prayers for our VBS that starts tomorrow. We went for setup today, and it appears Satan is trying to make his way in. Please pray for all the volunteers, to be able to handle what comes our way, and for all the kids, that their hears will be open to hear what God needs and wants them to hear. I am leading 1st grade with several other volunteers, which is a relatively easy task, helping to take the first graders to all their classes.

Lots of little bits of other info to post about today. I made homemade strawberry jam for the first time yesterday. OH.MY.WORD. DELICIOUS!!!! Why haven't I ever done this before? I just may start to can things!! I love the idea of knowing what's in it. I just wish that I could grow the stuff I want to can.

In other news, we're not moving in to the previously mentioned house. Things just weren't working out like we'd hoped, and we have decided to at least wait until the new year and reevaluate it then. This will put us in a much better spot financially. (We're THISCLOSE to having our car paid off, leaving just my student loan, which should take less than a year, meaning thisclose to being debt free ;-))

Aside from that, Jon is really working to apply for Officer Training School. This is something we have gone back and forth on throughout our marriage, but until now, the stars haven't aligned completely correctly. However, before he can apply, he has to lose some major weight. He has already lost almost 10 lbs, so he's on the right road.

I'm also trying to lose weight. I REALLY struggle with emotional eating, and between hating it when we first moved here, feeling the winter blues, and the miscarriage, I've gained 15 lbs since moving here. However, unlike Jon, I've dropped 0 lbs so far. Why is it men can drop weight so quickly?? We have started to play tennis every so often though together, which is really fun and gets us working out, together, in a fun way.

We're also working on potty-training Miss Abigayle. She's doing great at holding it, but I can tell she doesn't know how to release it. It became incredibly evident when she just wouldn't go, wouldn't go, wouldn't go. Then she threw a tantrum over something between her and daddy, that she forgot to hold it and wet herself while screaming. We'll take a break during VBS this week and try again next week.

Jon's been very busy with intramural softball. The season is now over, and I'm honestly very glad! He was gone 2-3 nights a week with it, and it will be nice to have my husband home in the evenings again. He also changed jobs some what. He's in the same office, doing the same thing for the most part, but just his position changed. It's complicated to explain, and I probably shouldn't online ;-) But in short, we think it's a good change and will be great for his career.

We're also making major plans for traveling. H and I are going to Europa Park soon. It's to meet some of my friends and Jon wasn't that interested in going, so I said I'd go alone, and decided to take her with me to spend some time together. Then we'll be going to Austria for about a week, where Jon's brother, Father Nathan will be. We're excited to see him again, and see some places in Salzburg and Vienna. In October, my parents are coming. I'm very excited to see them, and we're making plans for Paris, including the Eiffel Tower and Disneyland. It's nice to finally be making some travel plans, now that Jon can get off work a bit.

Wednesday will be two months since the miscarriage. It's hard to believe it's already been two months. I've been dealing with some anger issues regarding it, but I think the Lord has been helping me through this. I haven't turned to Him as much as I should, but I can tell He's still been there and is still helping me. I'm sure the prayers of others have played a huge part as well.

Some have asked if we'll try again soon. We're leaving that up to God, knowing He is in control of my heart, but hoping to avoid a pregnancy for now. I need some time still, but not sure how much time I will need all together. Thankfully we are able to pray about it every month, and see where we are and reevaluate our desires and go from there. Life has gotten so busy, and the baby fever I had like crazy is not there right now. I enjoy holding my friends' babies and putting them to sleep in my arms, but it's not like i have the "Oh, I want one!" feeling like I did 4 months ago. Amazing how our hearts can change, and it's completely okay.  I get times where I think "Oh, I want another one." but as I think more, I know that right now is not the right time. Besides, I'd really like to drop the weight I've put on since getting here before getting pregnant again. I've struggled losing weight a lot, so we'll see how that goes....

As everyone knows, the Olympics are on. Unfortunately, we get US channels (normally whatever you're watching on Monday night, we get to watch on Tuesday night, after it's aired.) I think we're getting it the same time the US is, but that means that what you get in the evening, we get while we're asleep. So I'm missing all the great ones, like swimming and gymnastics! And my mom suggested NBC.com, but unfortunately, since we have a German IP address, we're considered international and cannot watch the shows on NBC's website. So, it seems I'm missing a lot of the Olympics this year :( I'm bummed as I really like the summer Olympics. I think Jon's happy though, as he couldn't care less. We grew up watching them and he did not. I want H to see the gymnastics though. I watched them at 9pm and thought "I can see H watching this, then mimicking it and dancing around like them" heehee.

With all of this going on, I need to head to bed. I must actually get up at 7am and get the kids up then as well, so we can leave by 8am all week. We're not use to that in the least (the earliest we ever have to be anywhere is 9:30 ;-)) Again, please keep VBS in your prayers if you will. Thank you, good night, and God bless!

News and travel

Ok, really, I don't like the new blogger format... But I guess they forgot to ask my opinion huh?

So, life has been busy. The first bit of news is we're expecting baby #4!! We're due around Christmas and couldn't be any more excited. We were really wanting another baby and God's timing is just always perfect.

Next, we've actually been traveling! Last week, some good friends of ours watched our 3 kids for the day while we went to Trier. Trier is about an hour away driving, but we went on a tour with the USO, taking the train and learning how to use the German train system. It was a lot of fun and we learned a lot about the train and Trier. The biggest part of going to Trier was thousands of people are pilgriming there over the course of the last month to see the robe of Jesus. It was brought over by St. Helena and is believed to be the robe that Jesus wore. There are many rumors about it, such as that Mary made it for him when He was a boy, and it grew with him. This could have been the same robe that the woman touched the hem of his garment. It was amazing to see them hem of it. That was seriously the part that amazed me the most. It was a really neat, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

 This is Jon and I in front of the Porta Nigra, the only remaining part of the city gate.

Then this past Saturday we finally went to Heidleberg. It's an hour away, and has a large, beautiful castle. What more could a family want on a beautiful day out. We did lots of walking and I swore the kids would pass out on the way home, but they didn't. Here's a picture of the beautiful castle.

 The really neat bridge.

 Sibling love! :)

There's a lot more going on, but I'll save it for another post, as I have 30 minutes to shower and get ready to be out of here. ;-) Always on the go, which is why this is always behind! ;-)

Sarah's Golden Book themed baby shower

I decided that before I moved away, I wanted to throw a baby shower for my sister-in-law and niece she is expecting. I thought and thought about a good theme. Then, the Thursday before the shower, it hit me. The girl loves to collect golden books. So I did a quick google search and found this blog post at Aesthetic Nest and set to work doing something similar, throwing it together in just 3 days. However, I did not want to do blue and yellow, so did pink and yellow.

First, there were the presents. I wrapped most of them in pink paper, and the cute ribbon, some white and yellow stripes, some white with yellow polkadots. Then I placed one of the dad-to-be's favorite books behind the presents.
Above the presents, I placed a few more books.
For the table, we decided to go incredibly fancy and use my great-grandmother's China. These dishes never get used, so I decided this was the perfect occasion to pull them out. The best part? They had gold.
The center of the table consisted of some pink flowers in a pink box, with a yellow ribbonn tied around the box. Two glass containers that held golden reeses cups and peanut M&Ms, also with yellow ribbon tied around them, and one of the golden book cutouts in the middle. Two small books stood on each side, with a small bowl of pecans, and a yellow container with pink mints in it.
I had found this adorable idea and decided to create one myself for my niece, Emmaliegh. Then I decided to use it for a wall decoration behind the dining room table. I love how they turned out. Also I loved that they were hanging on a light green wall, which is a color they plan on painting the nursery.
For dessert, I made pink (strawberry) and yellow (lemon) cupcakes with the book tags in a few of them.
For the food table, I used this adorable pink and yellow fabric I had as a table cloth. It was very appropriate as they are doing the nursery in pink zoo animals, such as giraffes. I also had this pretty pink and yellow flower arrangement in a pink vase with yellow ribbon, plus more golden books, as the centerpiece on the food table.
We offered fresh fruit, with chocolate dip, cheese platter, spinach dip with crackers, then there was also Publix's cubanito sandwiches, min pigs-in-a-blanket and meatballs, but I forgot to get a picture of them.

And a platter of golden oreos. For no other reason than they were 'golden'.
I have never thrown a shower quite like this, but I loved how it turned out, and so did every one else.

slow updating here

I'm slow updating around here. Life has been VERY busy and hectic. First of all, we're having a girl! Her name will be Abigayle Claire, gayle after my mom and sister's middle name. After picking Her name, we found out Jon's grandfather is RIchard Clare and my grandfather was Richard Gail, so it honers both of our grandfathers as well, instead of using Richard. :)

They are concerned about her having pyloric stenosis, and will do another ultrasound on May 12 to determine it. If she does,it will mean a surgery after shes born, but should be relatively easy and simple. I'm very worried and nervous and usually cry when i think about it, but everyone who's had experience with this tells me there's nothing to worry about really. It's actually a great thing that it can be diagnosed now, rather than dealing with months of awful puking.

Our life is moving so fast right now. We are moving in about a month, which is much earlier than planned. It all works out much better this way, but it creates a lot of stress. I feel like I've been super woman lately, totally not by choice, but because I absolutely have to. We're having a garage sale next weekend, and we are literally selling about 1/2 of our stuff. Decluttering has never felt so wonderful and freeing!

My kids have been hilarious lately. For example, Hannah got in bed this morning with me. I asked her if I could have a hug and kiss and she said "No, Abby", pulled up my shirt, and gave my belly a hug and kiss. Some of Zach's new ones are I was changing his diaper in the back of the Suburban 2 days ago, and he said "Mommy, penis outside." yes son, it is lol!...He also made me lay down on his lap recently and told me night night, while he combed and "cut" my hair... Another "What's your name?".."Zachary A...M..." What's mommy's name?"..."Mommy A...M..." Lol..ok, that works, I have the same middle and last name as my son. ... The final one is one night, we were sitting down for dinner, when Jon realized he forgot to kiss me when he walekd in. So he got up and gave me a kiss. Zach asked what he was doing and I said "Daddy's kissing me because he loves me." Zach looks at me, gives me a huge smile and says "I love you babe!"

saw the baby

We hired a sitter last Monday, for the first time ever, so Jon and I could go to the doc appointment alone. Thankfully, there was one, good, happy looking baby. I was so thankful Jon went with me, because as we left, we discovered we were driving on the rim thanks to a nice nail. I never would have been able to change the tire on my own, so I'm very thankful he was there. I also learned that my progesterone levels were even better and I got to go down to one shot twice a week, and my reaction to them seems to be much better lately, so that's good.

Aside from this, if you are open to praying for me, I could use prayers lately. I'm going through a very difficult time spiritually. Things I dont feel comfortable discussing, but things that I really need to work out, stuff that's going to take time. I need lots of healing and obviously, can't do it on my own.

The kids are doing great. H has discovered jewelry and some new red heart Valentines sunglasses. She's become somewhat of a little diva. It's really cute lol! She is also insisting a lot on wearing her squeaky shoes, and then loves to dance and make noises with them.

Z is growing up fast. He's quickly learning that he's not suppose to get out a new bucket of toys until his other toys are put away, and he's started telling H what to do. ie today, we were telling her to get off the picnic table. He said "H, get down, now." LOL! He's also really big in to praying. When we eat, we say the basic meal prayer, and at the end, we taught him to say "Thank you Jesus for this food, Amen." and he's totally started saying it on his own without us prompting him. Also, H has started putting both of her hands on her head when we do the sign of the cross. I love the innocence and learning of little children.

Anyway, that's it for tonight.

Updates

well, last week, the doc took me off the oral progesterone, so i'm now just taking 2 shots 2x a week. I think I am much better regarding the moodiness and depression. However, I think I'm allergic to the shots or something. I have welt-like knots all over my bottom that itch constantly. This happened about a week and a half ago and the doc said that was totally normal, but it's getting worse, so I need to call and see what else we can do.

I finally heard back from my OB. The physician apparently wants to see me every week until I'm at least 12 weeks. However, thankfully because their schedule is already so full, and I am only available on Mondays and Fridays, I have one next Monday (almost 10w), one the following Monday (almost 11w), and then my first trimester ultrasound at 13 weeks. They will do an ultrasound next Monday to check for viability. I'm anxious and nervous about this. I'm so afraid that since we had a miscarriage in Nov., that this one won't make it. But, I am still having nausea, which is my normal pregnancy sign, so I know I probably shouldn't worry. I'm also freaked for some reason that there might be twins, even though I totally doubt it.

In other news... hmm, there's not really much else. I guess this is it for now :)

babies and "cwap cwap"

Last week was super busy, several doc appointments, two moms Nights Out, and Mops, and Bible study. I was so exhausted. Saturday we spent almost all day at our friends house. Jon helped change their brakes and messed up his finger pretty bad. I hung out with the kids and Bobbie all day, and we baked and had lots of fun.

I'm having a really hard time. I'm not sure if it's the progesterone I'm on (I'm taking 2,200mg in a week!), or that mixed with pregnancy and everything else going on, but I'm feeling really depressed. I've never felt depressed before, except for like 2 days with PMS. This is so bad, that even Jon thinks so. If I ever get in to see the OB, I plan on talking to them about it. Today is the first day I've been able to really get anything done in my house, without feeling mopey and not wanting to do anything. But yeah, Jon says that I'm complaining about everything and so pessimistic, which is NOT like me.

The kids are good. Hannah is saying so much, talking more than most kids her age. She loves her babies and if she's doing something she's not suppose to, it's easy to distract her by saying "Where's your baby?" She also loves to pull her shirt up and say "tickle tickle tickle" or come up to me or zach and do the same. She also says daddy all.day.long. It's her favorite word haha.

Zach is all about reading lately. He brings me books and says "close it" and tries to close my laptop lol. I decided to try to do http://letteroftheweek.com/ with Zach, but I didn't get very far. But, we've been learning about cows. A cute cow book if you're interested is Click Clack Moo by Doreen Cronin. He knows what noise cows make. And ducks say "cwap, cwap" lol. he also knows sheep say "baaa, baa" and he shakes his head while he says it lol. We've also been working on horses, birds, and a few other ones.

More than one can handle

I know God promises He will never give you more than you can handle... So, what if you feel like you're at your breaking point and you just can't take one more thing, but really, compared to others, you have it so easy and are so blessed?

That's how I'm currently feeling and am struggling with this. I feel like I'm barely hanging on, and am only because of God and his strength He gives me. Yet, I know I'm so blessed in comparison to others. I'm blessed with fertility (which, believe it or not, can be a cross too), I'm blessed that we have 2 healthy children and are expecting another, I'm blessed that my husband has a job and that because of it, we will be completely debt free in two years. I'm very blessed to be celebrating my 3rd anniversary next week and be so much more in love with my husband than I was 3 yrs ago.

Yet, I dont want to look at that. I want to look at the fact that within the next 6 months, I have things going on 3-4 mornings a week, plus doc appointments for me, plus packing and moving and all the other little stuff in between, like getting our wills done, renting a storage unit, finalizing stuff, all while pregnant and trying to control my diabetes, then moving to FL at 30 weeks pregnant and trying to find a new OB/docs, have my husband leave, having another freakin' c-section, without my husband there, recovering from a csection with a new baby, a 1yr and a 2 yo, and my husband not meeting our new one until Christmas, then him leaving again and not being with him again until summer 2011, and the complete overwhelming feeling I have non-stop now, the feeling of I'm sinking. None of this was a big deal when we started to try to conceive before Jon got orders. I keep telling myself God must have REALLY wanted us to have this child, and that God has really big plans for him or her.

And then I think of those around me. Those who are begging God to get pregnant, those who have children with issues they're trying to figure out, those who's parents are suffering from cancer, those who are having struggles in their marriage,those who's husbands are deployed right now and to places much worse than where mine is going, and I think, "Why am I complaining??"

Well, quite frankly, because God has allowed me to have the most I can handle right now, and I feel like I'm just barely surviving, yet, I feel like I can't discuss it with many, because they are having a much more difficult time than we are. So, alas, I am just telling the www instead. When you feel weak, it's those times that God makes you stronger huh? I'm just praying He doesn't allow any more tough things to come our way, because I'm just barely hanging on. And i'm praying for a good, healthy sounding heartbeat on Friday when I go to my first doc appointment, because after having a miscarriage a few months ago and learning another friend just had a 9 week miscarriage, I'm terrified.

God and His ways

So, for those of you that havent heard, about a week or so after Jon got orders, we got a positive home pregnancy test, so we are expecting again! We're super excited, but nervous, worried, etc as well. Jon has asked for a 2 month delay on his orders, because he's suppose to leave in July, and the baby is due in August.

One of my doctors has put me on progesterone, due to my recent miscarriage. I'm getting two shots twice a week, and orally every night. Unfortunately, these are really tough on my emotional state. I feel like I've become a total ... bad gal... for lack of a better, Christian-like word. I mean, seriously, I am so grumpy and jumpy and easy to chew someone out. I'm usually all talk, but not now, I'm all about doing it as well. (chewing people out)

So, this post is short, but if you're open for praying for us, we can use prayers for the following:
- that Jon's orders to get delayed, and super soon as it's really stressing me out
- for my mood/temper, that I may get use to the progesterone
- for the health and safety of the baby and myself
- for me as I'm feeling overwhelmed with everything going on in our lives

Thanks everyone. Hopefully I'll post more sooner than later :)