14 weeks!

I'm 14 weeks along! Glad to be here... but it does seem like time is crawling right now. It's very difficult for me to not do stuff! I hate not being able to just do chores around the house or cook dinner without thinking about how long I've been standing/walking around. From that perspective, these months of light activity won't be my favorite time, but I will try to enjoy the relaxation as much as possible because once the baby comes, I won't get this time again!

I do remind myself that we're over halfway through July already, and I know that ultimately, six months will go by quickly. (And you'll probably "hear" myself remember that a lot!)

My recovery from the surgery has gone well. The past weekend I was able to get outside and spend time with some friends and neighbors - I sat pretty much the whole time (exciting, huh?!). It was super nice to get out. Now I'm back on the couch resting and working, letting baby grow inside without any pressure on my body.

This morning I sat outside and prayed while enjoying the sunshine. It was wonderful.

Other than that, I don't have much else to say. Hope you have a wonderful week! :-)

officially off bedrest!

I'm officially done laying around today... and boy, it sounded like I had a good week to be "stuck" indoors with air conditioning! :-)

Everything has gone really well in recovery and now I'm set for these next six months of letting baby grow inside me. I'm on "light activity" mode. I can't lift and I can't walk a lot. The biggest thing is to listen to my body and if it isn't doing well, take it easy. So at this point, I don't know what my body will be able to handle over the next few months, but I'll gradually find out as Erik and I get into a routine that works with this new stage in life.

I will be able to drive, but I can't walk around a lot once I'm there, so Erik and I will probably be home a lot more often. We'll definitely have a chance to enjoy our time together before life changes once again. 

Thanks to all my neighbors, friends, and family - and especially my mom! - who have helped immensely over this past week! Erik and I are grateful for your help! 

Esther... married a non-Jew

The morning I headed into surgery last week, I decided I would start reading the book of Esther. Then it hit me that God called Esther to marry outside of His expected laws for her. She married the king, a non-Christian, non-Jew, non-everything! If she hadn't done that, the nation of Israel wouldn't have been saved in the way that it was. Crazy!

It reminds me of  a post I made last Christmas about how the Christmas story was nothing like we expected it to be. In fact, I bet we could find something in every Bible story that shows us that God's ways are definitely not our ways!

The book of Isaiah chapter 55 puts it this way:

⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   neither are your ways my ways,”
            declares the Lord.
⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
   so are my ways higher than your ways
   and my thoughts than your thoughts.

I don't think we'll ever get this as humans. No matter how hard we try to figure him out, He operates on a different level than us.

God does go on to reassure us using terms we are familiar with...

¹⁰ As the rain and the snow
   come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
   without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
   so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
   It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
   and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

The rain and snow always accomplish what they are supposed to do. In fact, all of nature just does it thing naturally. In that same way, we can expect that God's Word will achieve its purpose here on earth.

Now I know we're humans and we are great at figuring out ways to mess up things, but God also knows that and knows how to work around that. :-)

The rest of Isaiah chapter 55 reads:

¹² You will go out in joy
   and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
   will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
   will clap their hands.
¹³ Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
   and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
   for an everlasting sign,
   that will endure forever.”

I like that. We'll go out with joy and be  led forth with peace--definitely two elements I want personified in my life.

Have a good day!

Brody's getting a sibling!

Yep, the rumors are true. Brody is getting a little brother or sister! The baby is due 1-23-12.

It's very odd because for the first time ever, I'm actually desperately looking forward to winter!

Just yesterday, I went in for a minor, same-day surgery that will help prevent what happened with Brody so my body can keep baby around until January. Everything went really well, and I'm on bedrest for a week recovering. I'll be on light activity after that... so if you see me even think about trying to lift something heavy, stop me! :-)

I have basic instructions from the doc, but all the details of what I can and can't do from now until January will be taken on a day-by-day and week-by-week basis, depending on my body feels. The most important thing is to take it easy and make sure baby #2 can stay inside as long as possible!!!

Thanks for all your prayers and support during this time! Now that I went through the surgery and we have a plan in place for protecting the baby, we're a lot less nervous about this time around! Thank you, Lord, for technology and a good doctor!

today's top 5 (7/6)

Here are today's top 5 things I'm thankful for...

1. Sleeping boys. Erik, Tucker, and I had a wonderful weekend away with family for the 4th of July. We came back midday yesterday. Erik and Tucker both slept for 5 hours while I worked. I loved the feeling of tip-toeing around the house because I had my two sleeping boys I didn't want to disturb. So glad they got their sleep!

2. Tucker. I watch him and realize how perfect it was to have him come into our life right when He did. Erik and I married in March 2009 and I had told Erik we could get a puppy for Christmas 2009. Within a month of being married, we heard about a litter of puppies a friend of the family was giving away (aka FREE!). It kinda intimidated me to get one so soon into marriage since it was my first pet, but since Erik grew up with English springers and he wanted a lab, I figured a free lab/springer mix was a perfect combination! More than anything, I had a peace from God about it. Tuck was born early April 2009 and we picked him up at 7 weeks or so on Memorial Day weekend. 

The reason the timing has been so perfect is that he's been our joy through all the difficulty we have faced since that day (plus we could train him as a puppy during the spring, not the winter!). I can't imagine going through any of the difficulties we've been through without our floppy eared dog by our side, always coming to comfort us or having a goofy look on his face right when we needed it.

God is good. :-) 

3. God's leading. Right when I need it the most, God shows up and reminds me that He's by my side, I'm on the right track, and as I keep following Him, He will take care of me. I'm so grateful. I can confidently follow Psalm 55:22, "Cast your burden on the Lord [releasing the weight of it] and He will sustain you; He will never allow the [consistently] righteous to be moved (made to slip, fall, or fail)." It's not always easy, but I know I can do it and God reassures me right when I need Him that He is trustworthy. 

4. Nature. We live in a beautiful world that screams the goodness of God. Such a blessing to take time to be surrounded by lakes, trees, mountains, flies (okay, not flies! They are annoying!).... Always a reminder to me that there is peace in this world and we find it in God, our Creator. 

5. Good food. I waited for a week before making this recipe last night from my Food Network magazine. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/grilled-lasagna-recipe/index.html. Super good! I love the fresh take on lasagna. If you like Italian, you'll love this. It makes four individual lasagna servings. 

All for now! Hope you had a great 4th of July!

the seeming contradiction of Christianity

You know I think one of the biggest contradictions I face now is the contradiction of the fact I know God wants me to be blessed and prosperous on this earth... and the fact that I've lost two loved ones at way too early of an age. Plus I see lots of family members and friends struggling with health or finances... yet I know God wants to bless each and every one of His children.

I think it's a contradiction that our mental capacities will never be able to comprehend.

God can bring help and hope and some answers to comfort, but as Paul said, we see in a glass dimly on this earth. We can't see the real picture, and we won't until heaven. We have no idea how many "wheels are turning" or pieces are in play right now in addition to our lives. Plus, we're not God. We don't know what's best. The only thing we can imagine is that trials can't be best because they hurt.

But what if we are wrong and we will face some type of trials here on earth because we live in a fallen world and something like this song is true...



What if we learn best in difficulty what God has been trying to show us all along?  Perhaps it's God's best that we don't learn it through difficulty, but we're too stubborn or distracted during the good times to listen.

I don't know, but it's something I'm pondering today. I know God doesn't bring adversity and during adversity, we do everything we know to do. Sometimes, though, things happen that we don't understand and/or are out of our control, and that's what I'm talking about here. I know I've done other blog posts along this line... it's 'cuz I'm processing. :-)

P.S. I still fully believe that God wants us to live blessed lives here on earth. That thought will not change.

our cake adventure

Happy last weekend in June... CRAZY! As people have been saying for years, "Time flies!"

This weekend was super nice. We spent it in Erik's hometown celebrating Erik's grandma's 80th birthday. The party was on Sunday and it was a huge success!

I'm not 100% sure where the idea for this began, but Erik and I decided a while ago that our birthday present to Grandma would be to make her a birthday cake--not just any birthday cake, but a big, tiered cake.

We did a test cake to try a few of the recipes a week or so prior to this weekend and then we bought all the ingredients, brought them home to his parents with us, and spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning making a three-tiered, completely homemade topsy-turvy birthday cake! It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun!

Here are a few pics...

Some of the cakes... each layer was four tiers so that we could make it topsy/turvy looking. The cake recipes were really good!!!

Here's the chocolate cake... you can see the white buttercream on each layer, but that was just to hold in a homemade raspberry filling that I would love to eat by the spoonful!

Here's the white cake with buttercream frosting. Erik's cutting out the top so we can make a spot to put the next layer in it.

Here's the final product! That's marshmallow fondant on there. There's a buttercream "crumb coat" underneath the fondant. The bottom layer is chocolate. The top two are white. Kudos to Erik for really driving the design. He did awesome!

We've watched enough cake shows and challenges on Food Network and other stations... it was time for us to try it ourselves! We had a ton of fun and everyone liked how it tasted and looked. Who knows when we'll just decide to make our next one... actually, ideas are already in the works. :-)

All that to say... if you ever want to do something fun, just do it! Don't let impossibilities or the whole "that's crazy" factor stop you. Take dance lessons, make a huge cake, or paint a masterpiece, all because you can. :-)