The Lord was with Joseph

And he's here! This is by Emmie and Misty, who are having a ball going through 200 pics, and he's not even 24 hours old! Here goes! Sarah will be posting soon, believe me! God is good.

Appointment Update

Well, today was my last appt for this baby. How exciting, eh? :) And it went well, I thought. My blood pressure is rising a bit, and I've been measuring the same for a few weeks now. The dr was a little concerned so he did a quick ultrasound to see if my fluid levels were low. Thankfully, they are not. He checked me and told me that things are progressing well and softening, etc. Yay! He's not much of a numbers guy, and that's okay with me. If I've not had the baby by the 5th of February, they'll induce that morning @ 5:30. I get excited just thinking about it! :) So, there's the news for the day. AND, we heard the baby's beautiful heartbeat- something that never gets old.

Misty's coming tomorrow with her girls and boy. I get to meet my nephew Luke! I'm thrilled for the privilege of seeing them and getting to spend time with them. She'll be staying with my parents, who live only 10 minutes away! :) I think it will help make time fly. I know, time is precious and not to be wasted. However, it does seems like time slows down when you're pregnant.

Ok, enough for tonight. Thanks for checking in! I'm very thankful for a good report for today. The Lord is good to me!

If I could post pictures...

then here's what I'd show you today:

~the baby blanket I (with my mother's help, of course!) made!!!!!! :) I'm really quite stoked about it. I'm quite sure there are better looking blankets out there with MUCH prettier stitching, but there's not one quite like this one. It's certainly made with love- I even got poked many times!- and it's a light blue camo; cute, cute, cute, if I do say so myself. And my hubby's impressed:) which makes me all the prouder! (in a good way, of course:)

~Mikayla's new shirt that her Aunt Laura got for her, which came in the mail today:) VERY cute with an owl on it and the perfect size, too! Not to mention TWO books, which she loves and loved tearing the wrapping paper off. Thanks, Aunt Laura! You know how to make a little girl's day!

~Jody's newest gift from his mother-in-law. A neti pot. Great invention, if you ask me. right, Grace?? Thanks, ma!

~My ever growing belly. It's big. Need I say more?

THANKFULLY, I'm feeling much better. Although the coughing is still there, it's somehow different and Mikayla is also doing better. Yay! :) I looked back at her in our vehicle yesterday and she was just looking out the window and SMILING. Something she's not done too much of. It was good for this mommy's heart:) Maybe it's b/c she knew we were off to Emmie's house...

ONE WEEK 'til my due date. Unbelievable! Jody told me that if I've not had the baby by the 1st, then he'll take me to see Casting Crowns that evening. He thinks I'm VERY CRAZY for wanting to go, but I say, why not?! After I (lovingly) called him a dream squelcher, he said we could go. :) What a great guy!

Last but certainly not least, Misty (my sis-in-law) and family are coming for a visit! The plan is for her to be here when the baby's born. Whoo hoo! Hopefully we'll get to spend some good/quality time together while she's here. And I get to see my nieces and meet my NEW NEPHEW LUKE! :) I'm excited.

Monday is my appt and I will let you know how it goes. I know you're all on the edge of your seats, just like we are!

ps. I think we're all going to be able to be in church tomorrow!! It's been almost a month and we've missed it so much.

Where does my help come from?

Today I started on my getting Thank You notes written (a much needed thing for me to do). I am pretty miserable, and I hope I can say that without complaining. Complaining displeases the Lord, and it brings others down with you. NOT what I want. However, being so close to having this baby and coughing, (and coughing and coughing, etc.)and having my daughter doing the same, I feel pretty overwhelmed, sad, and sometimes very helpless. Not to mention the pain of the cough (pulling on my tummy:(. ANYway, I came across these verses today, and knew it was no accident.

"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber."

~Psalm 121:1-3

The whole chapter is wonderful, but I just typed out the first 3 verses. What a blessing they were to me today. I know the Lord DOES hear me when I cry out to Him. And I'm SO thankful for that. What else can I do but wait on Him, knowing full well that He knows my situation so completely and me, too. I want to use this time to draw nearer to Him, for He truly is my HELP.

10 days til my due date. It's hard for me to comprehend that. Sometimes it seems like things will never be different than they are right now. Ever feel that way?? I'm hoping Mikayla and I feel good enough to see Grannybear tomorrow. It's been so long! I've been staying away b/c I do NOT want to get her sick. AND, we may go to Emmie's house to sew up a little blanket for our little boy, depending on how we/she feel/s.

Hope you all have a good evening. Thank you for your kind words:)

Am I the only emotional one here?

For some reason I've been quite the picture of emotions lately. Perhaps it's because I'm pregnant. That's just a guess. And the fact that I'm fixing to not be anymore and the fact that my life is, once again, going to change dramatically. And the fact that I'm semi-sick and so is my daughter. Okay, I guess it all makes sense now:) Plus, I'm kinda getting cabin fever and with my mom not feeling well either, I just don't get out much. And of course that's fine b/c when I'm home, I get so much more accomplished.

Today was my 38.4 week appt! I had some high blood pressure due to OTC Tylenol I've been taking. It was 160/100. They were a little concerned, so part of the way into my appt, the dr himself took my blood pressure. It was actually quite comical. It took SO long and he squeezed my arm SO tight. I don't think he even got a reading. I think he'd better stick to giving hysterectomies and delivering babies;) (He doesn't read this, does he??! jj)

He told me that next time he'll check me (Monday!)and we'll set a date from there. Yikes! I'd rather not be induced, but I'm not extremely particular. I imagine as the time grows nearer, I'll be more and more for it.

Well, that's the bit of news from Early, where I've spent lots of one on one time with my precious girl. Whatever happened to the days of Prima Pasta and lunch specials?? sigh. I took a nice, warm bath tonight and listened to some good praise music. It was perfect. My God is so faithful to me!

ps. Mom, if you read this, be sure to NOT make that strawberry jello/pretzel/cream cheese treat and share with me. It sounds almost unsavory. hee hee! Love you!

My sick princess

Our little girl has been feeling less than ideal for about 2.5 weeks now:( Tonight (while talking to Misty!) she fell asleep on me and was SO HOT. So, I took her temp and for the next hour or so, it read between 104 and 105.2. It kinda scared me b/c Jody was at church with our vehicle and I felt pretty helpless. She was so limp and weak. Thankfully, she's doing better now. We gave her some tylenol/motrin and Lord willing, she'll soon be able to shake whatever has this grip on her. Her sickness is a big part of my lack of blogging lately.

I plan to post tomorrow sometime after my dr's appt. Less than 2 weeks now til my due date. I'm pretty stoked. As I was telling my dear husband, this is NOT how I'd envisioned our last few weeks before the baby, but here we are and we all still love each other (actually more than ever!). It's been hard, but good. I had one particularly rough day (Thursday) and my mom and husband so kindly tended to me. I am certainly loved and I know it! :)

Hope you all are doing well! More tomorrow!

Showered with love

Today was my baby shower! I had such a wonderful time and was thoroughly showered with love:) My mom and Christy even attended, which was a sweet treat. I was SO thirsty when I got there, and drank too much punch. ugh. It was so good, but now I've got the punch blues. I should've quenched the thirst with water, and THEN filled up on punch. But, no. Not me. I'm just regretting it a little.

My mom organized a scrapbook-making fest for me. All the ladies made a page where all I have to do is insert a picture of our son. How neat, eh?! And, my mom so kindly took pictures and will be posting them for me. (Thanks, MOM!)

Only 3 weeks left 'til my due date!! Kinda hard to imagine another one in this house. We are getting very excited, for sure.

Well, hope you enjoy the pics! :)

Where has all the heartburn gone?

Is that not the greatest mystery every??! I went from having heartburn quite often to wondering where in the world it jetted off to. Yipppeee!!!! Doesn't hurt my feelings one bit:) Now what can I complain about? just teasing.

My poor Miggy was NOT feeling well today so I called the dr and got her an 11am appt. She got prescribed some antibiotics (probably one of the most controversial things in mommy world, well other than vaccines and epidurals), some decongestant, and some cough medicine. While I was sitting on the table holding her, the dr touched my face and said, is that getting any better? (referring to my unsightly rash/es). So, I explained the sitution, and she prescribed some cream for me. Isn't that great?! And she did it in a very nice way. and I didn't have to make my OWN appt and pay my OWN 69.11. What a deal, eh? the best part??? It may be working already!!!!!! I'm totally stoked, although keeping in mind that "favor is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised." AND it was very inexpensive thanks to our wonderful insurance (am I the first one EVER to put those two words together?). My mom came with us, which was a real treat. Always is when she's around;)

In other news, GRACE POSTED! I know that I share that with y'all about four times a year, and it IS news that is quite important to share, I promise. It's totally worth reading. Plus, you'll see a certain pic of a certain young lady all decked out in her workout gear. It's hilarious. Just click here.

Enough for now. I'm really hoping to get some rest tonight. My sweet daughter has kept me up quite faithfully the past 2 days, so Lord willing, I can catch up on some much needed rest!

A thought and more thoughts

You know, I pray (and others do as well) that in all that I say and do that I would glorify God. That truly is my heart's desire. I think, though, that I have the wrong idea of what glorifying God means. I've always thought the word "glorify" to mean to please or not bring shame to. I guess in a way it does mean that. But I'm seeing that it means so much more. I looked up the word and here are some definitions I found:

glorify-
1. to cause to be or treat as being more splendid, excellent, etc., than would normally be considered.
2. to honor with praise, admiration, or worship; extol.
3. to make glorious; invest with glory.
4. to praise the glory of (God), esp. as an act of worship.

Not only do I want to please the Lord, I want to uplift/worship/praise His name. I (as always) feel like I want to express thoughts, and they just don't seem to come out they way I want. That's ok, though:) I'll just keep trying.

Today was my 36 1/2 week appt. I'm now seeing my doc once a week. This is really getting exciting for us! Today Mikayla came with us and got to hear the baby's heartbeat. So special! He said that while I was lying on the table that I had a little contraction. Hey, you've gotta start somewhere, eh? :) Something new I'm experiencing is pretty intense lower back pain. OUCH. Thankfully it's not all the time. I don't think I could make it if it was (whatever that means!). And for some reason I'm not having as much heartburn. yay!

I'm having a baby shower this Saturday. I'm really looking forward to that. Grace, although I didn't have an invitation sent to you, YOU ARE INVITED! :) And anyone else that would want to come.

Well, I'll let y'all go for now. I do hope my nephew Luke is feeling somewhat better. Poor little guy has been SO sick:( Good night, dear ladies. Thank you for your sweet comments:)

Emmie's Favorite

Per Misty's request

I'M DUE IN ONE MONTH!

Doesn't that sound so neat??! I've been looking forward to this day for a while now, and it's here! I guess time DOES march on- phew! I had my (almost) 36 week appt today and all looks good. The only thing that has changed is my weight. ahem. Christy so kindly watched our Mikayla for us. She even dusted my piano! :) I do appreciate that girl. When we got home we had some taco soup, which I think turned out pretty good.

And later on this evening, we had our weekly bible study with our dear neighbors. Every week has been such a blessing. Today the topics were the fear of God and persevering. These studies are a tremendous encouragement in my life. Mikayla makes it very interesting (loud, hard to concentrate, etc.), but what I CAN concentrate on always is beneficial.

Today Jody said that it's starting to hit him that we're having a baby. It's about time! :) I'm terribly thankful for that dear man!!!

Hopefully I'll be getting to bed early this evening. Rest does not come as easily as it used to. My stomach is LARGE, back aches and frequent trips to the bano all contribute to this problem. Lord willing, it will be over soon, and I'll be holding our precious baby. Wheee! Good night, sweet friends.