Good News!!!

I went to the doctor this morning and had a sonogram. As soon as she put the wand (I guess that's what you call it) on my belly, you could see a beautiful, healthy and very active baby!! YEAH!!!!! The baby's heartbeat was around 158 beats per minute, so take your guess.
It was too soon to tell the sex but we'll know soon enough. The doctor said everything looked great and I'm due April 19th.
Thanks for all your prayers and words of encouragement.
God is good!
Love you all!

A Roller Coaster Ride.....

Today has been on of the most emotional days of my life. I had my first doctor's appt. this morning.***Let me interject before you judge me for being 14 weeks pregnant and just going today for my 1st appointment. I called my doctor in early Sept. to get an appointment and this was the FIRST available time! I was a little shocked myself but I got a prescription for my vitamins and didn't worry about it. It's not like this is my first rodeo!***
Back to today. Steven and I are in the room, the doctor comes in and asks some questions. "Have you experienced any bleeding? Any morning sickness? and so on to which I answer, "no, no, everything's been going great." She then does a physical exam. After the exam, she sits down and immediately starts telling me that "things don't look good." As soon as she said those words, my mind began reeling, so I'm not sure what she said next. I remember her saying, "no embryo sac" and "possible miscarriage." Of course I began crying, and she was very comforting. She wanted to do some blood work today and then wanted me to come back Wed. to do some more. She then asked, "Do you have any questions?" I must have given her a strange look because she said, "I realize that it's hard to think of questions at a time like this." I don't think I could have even told her my name at that moment much less form a question.
On the drive home, I would cry and then talk to Steven. He kept saying, "we just have to trust God." I knew it in my mind but I was in such shock, it din't even seem real. About half way home (my dr. is an hour away) my mind finally began thinking of questions. "Could the Dr. really tell that there wasn't an embryo sac just from a physical exam?" "Why didn't she do an ultrasound?" I decided that I would ask her these things on Wednesday. While we were driving and listening to a praise cd, one of my favorite songs came on. It was a reminder that no matter what I face, God will be there and will be exactly what I need.

As the song played, I just closed my eyes and said to the Lord, you are my strength, because I'm so weak. You are my portion, because I'm empty. You are my very present help because I am in need of so much! I could feel the sun shining on my face and I knew that the Lord was with me and that I wouldn't go through this alone.

About 5 o'clock, the phone rang, Steven had just walked outside with Caleb and I almost didn't answer it but then I did. It was my doctor. She asked me how I was doing, to which I said, I'm doing ok. Her next words were, "I think I'm going to have to eat some crow." She asked me if I realized that it was a year to the date when I had the miscarriage last fall? I told her I knew that it was around this time but no, I didn't realize that it was the exact date. She went on to tell me that before she came into the examination room today, she looked at my ultrasound. It was from this that she drew the conclusion that I was in the process of having a miscarrage. When my bloodwork came back this afternoon and the levels showed that I was pregnant, she immediately went to the ultrasound tech to look over the ultrasound. It was then that the tech told her that she hadn't done an unltrasound on me today and when they looked at the report it was dated October 27, 2007! She greatly apologized for her mistake and told me that from all indications (bloodwork and the physical exam) that I have a healthy pregnancy. I'm still going back on Wednesday for more bloodwork and a current ultasound. She kept apologizing and I assured her that I realized that it was just an honest mistake. As soon as I hung up the phone, I began sobbing, I was able to call Steven to come inside and when he came in, I could hardly speak. I finally was able to tell him the whole story and almost immediately our tears turned to laughter.

"We were like men who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with the songs of joy. The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy."
Psalm 126:1b, 2a and 3

Friends.....

Thank you to Mindy for this sweet award. Even though Mindy and i have never met, I consider her a friend. She is a pastor's wife and I love to read her blog!
As part of this award, I have to answer the following questions:

Do you have the same friends as childhood?
I have 2 that I keep in contact with because our families are so close. But other than that, not really.
What do you value most about your friends?
honesty!!!! And being able to laugh and have a good time.
Are your friends your sounding boards?
To be honest, my husband is my first sounding board but I do have my sister, my mom and some other friends that I turn to for advice. I've even emailed a few pastor's wives that I 'met' through blogging to get their advice about ministry stuff.
What is your favorite activity to share with your friends?
I love attending women's conferences with friends because it's like a girls get away weekend and a get away weekend with God! You can never underestimate the bonding experience that traveling together will do for a friendship. :0)

I want to present this award to some friends:

Laura, my sister, even though she hasn't updated her blog in months!

Amy, a sorority sister and friend for life!

Natalie, a bloggy friend and fellow pastor's wife.

Shelley, a dear friend who has taught me so much about blended families!

Cranberries, Olives and Brunswick Stew....Oh My!

Ok, I don't have anything great. I do have a post floating around in my head that was inspired by the Focus on the Family broadcast from today but I don't have the time to write it right now. But I have been experiencing some weird things lately, obviously related to pregnancy and food.
Here's pregnancy cravings summaries with my first 3:

Emma- no weird cravings but if I heard someone mention a specific food, I'd have to have it within the next day or 2.
Dougie- lemonade, the tarter the better! I remember going by a Chick-fil-a one morning on my way to school and getting a lemonade, it was 6:30 in the morning!!!
Caleb- cranberries, lemon-lime powerade and anything tart!

This time around, I'm having a mixture of all three! A few weeks ago, I couldn't get enough cranberries! I ate dried cranberries, yogurt covered cranberries and even baked a cran-apple crisp, just because I wanted more cranberries! Last week, I was eating pickles and green olives like crazy. I'll admit, I even drank a litle pickle juice one day!!! Hey, I'm just being r.e.a.l.!!!
But this weekend, the brunswick stew hit! I guess it was the memories of Octobers in Roswell. We had a Youth Day parade on the 2nd Sat. in October and our church always had a float. Then after the parade, the Masonic Lodge sold bbq plates and brunswick stew. We always took our plates home cause there was some UGA football to be watched! I remember those days with such fond memories and I was sharing them with Steven this past Saturday morning while eating some yummy pumpkin pancakes at IHOP. By lunch time, I had to have me some brunswick stew! So after UGA took care of Vandy, we went and got me some brunswick stew. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you can google it but anything that calls for potatoes and butterbeans in the recipe is not REAL brunswick stew, at least IMO!
My mom has given my grandmother's recipe and maybe tomorrow I'll make some for us to have during this craving enjoy. Who knows what I'll crave next.
So what about you, any weird cravings when you were expecting?

Emma and Stickers

My little girl is growing up!
Emma has cheered for the last 3 years for her school's 3rd-5th football team. If she wants to cheer next year, she'll be cheering for the MIDDLE SCHOOL team! I can't believe I just typed that! Middle school, how is that possible??? I took some video of her cheering at her last game this past Tues. Their team went undefeated and had 2 ties! WOO HOO!

This morning, Steven was studying in his office and I was on the computer in the family room. Caleb was in the office, when I heard Steven say, "I knew you were being too quiet."

A moment later, they came out of the office and this is what I saw:

"Mommy, I got stickers!"

Have a great day!

October 15

Today, October 15 is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Day. I didn't know about it until I read Bring the Rain.
Since I wasn't a blogger this time last year, many of you don't know that last October about 10 weeks into my pregnancy, I suffered a miscarriage. When I went to the hospital that Sunday morning, I knew that for some reason, God was allowing us to go through this experience. While at the hospital, no one was willing to say that we were actually losing the baby. Nurses kept telling us stories of others who had experienced bleeding throughout pregnancy but went on to deliver healthy babies. But in my heart I knew we would not be one of those stories. There was one distinct moment that I will never forget because my Heavenly Father spoke directly to me. I was lying on the bed and I think Steven had stepped out of the room and God asked me (not in an audible voice but to my heart), "How are you going to respond?" I remember thinking, "Lord you've placed me in a position where people look to me as a Pastor's wife and Lord I just want to be real!" I want people to see that yes, there will be days that are hard and I don't understand but that no matter what, I choose to trust you.
We left the hospital that day with the doctor saying, let's just wait and see what happens. Within 2 days, I had lost the baby. I can't share the details other than to say I was at home, by myself and I will never, ever forget the emotions that I experienced that day.
Over the next few days and weeks, I had good days and bad days. Days full of hope and days that were dark. But I kept true to what I told the Lord that day in the hospital. When people asked me how I was doing, I was real. I didn't just give the pat answer, "Oh, I'm fine." My answers may have sounded more like, "well, it's been a struggle but I'm trusting God." or "Today, I'm doing pretty good. God is good." I'll never forget the day when I saw an older gentleman from our church at the drugstore. I was touched that he asked with sincerity how I was doing but I won't forget the look on his face when I said, "today has been a real struggle. I could sure use your prayers." I guess no matter how sincere in his asking, people don't always expect you to be real and honest in your answer.
During that season of my life (as always), God was so faithful to minister to my soul. All He wanted was for me to come to Him and let Him! I read through the book of Lamentations many days and it was like a warm blanket around my broken heart.
I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope. Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait on Him." The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him.
Lamentations 3:19-25

It would have been so easy during that time to allow my life to be consumed by the darkness of grief but PRAISE GOD His love is greater than anything! I think that because I let God do a healing work in me during that time, I have complete peace about this pregnancy. I haven't had one fear or anxious thought about the what if's because I know that MY God is faithful and He is good to those who seek Him!

If you've experienced the loss of a child, in any way, I would love the privilege of praying for you. You can leave a comment anonymously or you can share openly, whatever you're comfortable with.

I dearly love you all!

Pumpkin Bread!!!!

This recipe is one of my favorites! It comes directly from The Lady and Sons cookbook. Whenever Fall comes, I fall in love again with anything pumpkin and this Pumpkin Bread is the best I've ever had! I love to make mini-loaves and send some to my kids' teachers just as a way to bless them. When I taught a few years ago, I had a parent that would send me homemade goodies and it always made my day. Especially when some of the goodies were still warm!!! Now that will bless your heart and your tummy! This recipe will make 2 regular loaves, lots of mini-loaves or you can half the recipe.

Pumpkin Bread
3 C sugar
1 C vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 C canned pumpkin
2/3 C water
3 1/2 C all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 to 1/4 C chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour pan(s). Mix sugar and oil with mixer. Add eggs and blend. Add pumpkin and blend. Add water and blend. Combine remaining ingredients and add slowly. Fill pan(s) and bake for 1 hour or until golden brown. **Cook mini- loaves about 30-45 minutes.

I love to eat a slice or two for breakfast as well. Toast them in the toaster oven for a few minutes, spread a little or a lot of butter and enjoy with a cup of your favorite coffee. You'll be so glad you did!

Head over to Linda's for some more great Fall recipes!
Enjoy!

Major League Artists

This conversation took place this while we were getting ready to go to school. Emma was sitting at the breakfast bar, looking at some old baseball cards. Steven and I were sitting on the floor and I was changing Caleb.

Emma: "Momma, there's a team called the Expos."

Me: "Uh-huh"

Emma: "I can't believe their mascot is markers."

Me: "What?" I look at Steven confused.

Emma: "They're the Expos Markers!"

Me and Steven: ROFL, literally!!

Happy Friday!!!

When he's 3, he'll join the CIA....

Yesterday, we had a major tragedy in our home.......the remote went missing! It was the weirdest thing. I was lying on the couch praying napping while Caleb was watching Handy Manny. The last time I saw the remote it was on the end table next to the couch.
Whenever Steven comes home for lunch, our routine is to eat at the breakfast bar and watch Fox News. He always gets the remote, because, well I don't know why he gets it because we don't change the channel but he likes to have it near by. Anywoo, when he came home yesterday, he couldn't find it. We looked in the obvious places but couldn't find it. We manually changed the channel and proceeded with lunch. After Steven left, I looked EVERYWHERE for the remote. Knowing Caleb's history of putting things in the trash, I even dug through the almost full trash bag to no avail.
When Emma and Dougie came home from school, they looked for it. We even spent about 20 minutes after supper last night trying to find the stupid remote. It was gone.

Today, Steven came home for lunch. I walked into the kitchen and there on the breakfast bar was the remote! "Where did you find it?" I asked. He looked at me and said, "I thought you found it." "I didn't find it, how did it get here?" I asked. He said, "I just walked over to the end table next to the couch and saw it sitting there!"
Caleb was sitting on the couch watching Barney.

Fall weather means Fall foods...YUM!

Linda over at 2nd Cup of Coffee is hosting a neat carnival, where everyone can share their favorite fall recipes. I think this will be a weekly thing but I'm not sure.
When we returned home from Gatlinburg last week, the weather was a little bit cooler and I couldn't think of anything else other than my mom's vegetable soup! Call it a pregnancy craving or whatever but I just had to make it. I've made it in the past but it never tasted quite like hers. So I did what any daughter would do, I called her from the grocery store and had her tell me exactly what she uses and bought the exact ingredients she told me to!
So here's the ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
1 16oz. package frozen soup vegetables
1 28oz diced tomatoes (make sure it's just the tomatoes, nothng extra)
1 8oz tomato sauce (if you like it real "tomatoey" which I do!)
salt and pepper
water

In a large pot:
Brown your meat and drain off the grease. Then add the vegetables, diced tomatoes with all the juice and the sauce. I use the sauce can to add the water and I added about half a can. You can always add more water later. Add salt and pepper to taste, put the lid on your pot and let it cook. I let mine cook on medium to low for a couple of hours. But you could cook it at a higher temp.

options:
use can veggies
add extra potatoes, which I did, it makes it so much heartier!
I also added some extra okra, just because we have a ton of it in the freezer!

This is a very simple recipe but soooo delicious. I think in the past I've tried to 'season' it up too much but when we had it the other night Steven said it was the best I'd ever made! That's good enough me!

Enjoy!



On a different note, I just found out about a giveaway. Go here to read more about it.

I see what you're sayin'

Linda, at 2nd Cup of Coffee hosted a neat blog event this past Monday called "I See What You're Saying." I had all intentions of participating from Gatlinburg. But our hotel didn't have internet access so I had to wait until I got home.


**Warning: If it's been a while since you've heard my voice, be prepared. I've lived in south Georgia for going on 4 years now and it HAS affected my speech!**
So here it goes......