Of Birthdays, Thanksgivings, and the unexpected

Let me begin by posting a picture from Deck the Halls that Brinn took. I'm 24 weeks pregnant in this picture. She'll be sending another of me and my Mom soon.


We had a lovely time but I really thought it was much better last year than this year. Now for Thanksgiving. This year was a little more special since Tosh was able to come with us to my Dad's side of the family. Here are some pictures:



My mom got some better ones but I don't have them on this computer. I'll try to post them later. We do things sort of simple at my Grandad's house.

Now onto Birthdays! My birthday was Friday the 28th and it was a great one! I got up at 4:30am and went shopping for Christmas presents until around 2:00. Once I got back home, I helped Mom cook since we were doing our own "Thanksgiving/Birthday" dinner that night. Tosh's dad and brother Matt came down and we enjoyed eating and spending time together. And both my brothers showed up a bit later too! My sister bought me this beautiful square cabin/rustic plate and matching dipping bowl from Kohl's. She had the most beautiful card that went with it too. It made me want to cry. I"ll try to post pictures later from the birthday. Mom is the only one that took pictures so I don't have any on here of those either.

Tosh bought me the three book set of Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr. Too bad I didn't know it was going to have a fourth book or I'd have waited until it came out and bought the set then! Oh well. :-) He also made me a homemade card, which I loved! Coy and Matt (Tosh's dad and brother) gave me some birthday money to use how I want. My mom made me a homemade double dark chocolate fudge cake with homemade chocolate icing! YUM! It was super rich and went perfect with whole milk!

Now for the unexpected part. My mom and I decided to make a quick trip to do some shopping at Hallmark and Wal-mart last night to pick up a couple of things. The Hallmark was great! It had TONS of new stuff that I'd never seen before and I will definitely go back to it again. After we got out of Wal-Mart we ordered a pizza and went to pick it up. Then we got a phone call from my Dad telling us we needed to come home. . . my uncle had passed away sometime yesterday from a heart attack and his daughter had just found him. Needless to say it's been a whirlwind of emotions. Dad had got a call and couldn't understand what was being said because they were screaming. All he could make out was "He's dead - he's dead!" and then the phone cut off. My uncle lives right down the road from us and Dad went outside and could hear my cousin (his daughter) screaming and crying in the yard.

This was my Mom's brother. Her only brother. She has 5 sisters and this 1 brother. For some reason, I thought my Mom's siblings would never die. I mean, realistically I guess if I'd thought about it, I knew they would. But they've always been around and I just never thought about them passing on some day. He would've been 64 next week. He was a Christian and I wish I had known him better. He loved me very much I know and he would always give me a big hug when I came home and saw him at church.

So I've been thinking a lot about life in general and God and how small I am and how big He is. I've been reading all this stuff about how you should be so careful with your emotional state while pregnant and how it could affect the baby (low birth weight, premature, etc.)... and you know what I think? It's so ridiculous. Life has seemed like such a roller coaster the last 6 months. Up and down and up and down. Slovakia, pregnancy, moving, adjusting, new job, moving in with my parents, making ends meet, my body changing and hormones surging, birthdays, thanksgiving, and now a death -- a death that was very unexpected.

I was talking to Tosh last night and telling him how life suddenly seems so crazy and it never felt this way in Lexington. It felt like we at least were on solid footing in Lexington and nothing was too drastic one way or the other. We had an even keel going and things were "normal" and "steady". And Tosh said no. He said it was crazy in Lexington. It was -- and this is just Life and part of living here on earth. Things happened in Lexington and we handled it then. Sometimes it seems more intense but I think it's because of all these crazy hormones raging through my body. Things seem multiple times as emotional than they "normally" would.

And through all this, I felt like God gave me some great epiphany. How in the world do you keep all your emotions "in-check" when Life is this crazy going on around you? How do you keep yourself from getting over-emotional or stressing out with the things life throws at you? I keep wondering what I'm "doing" to this baby because of my emotional state. And I've determined that I can't worry about that anymore. How can I? This baby is in God's hands and He knows exactly what He's doing in our life right now. I have to trust Him that He has control of my body and this baby and He will take care of us through it all.

I'm not certain any of that made sense, but I am trying to explain how silly it is to think that I have control over what happens around me. That I am the "master" of my life and I can keep things in-check. I felt very small and stupid when I realized this. And yet I also realized that God was trying to show me, "Hello! I'm the One in Charge here! I have control over everything in the universe." And He loves me and cares about me and this baby.

Please pray for my Mom and her sisters. Thanks.

Thanksgiving

GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE!!!

Tosh and I have much to be thankful for this year. It is the first year since he started this Game Warden job that he'll be able to drop by and eat a meal with family! (THANKS goes to Danny and Sandy for providing him a place to eat for the past several years in Lexington!!)

He is pretty happy about it and I am too. Today we'll get to spend the "lunch" part with my Dad's family at my Granddad's house. Then tonight we are just relaxing at home and enjoying some light snacks.

Then Friday we are having a feast with Tosh's family and my brothers and sister and their families. I'm looking forward to that! It's also my birthday on Friday. I'm not sure I'll do a lot of shopping but maybe some. I did some yesterday online.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! We should be especially thankful for the gift of salvation that God sent his one and only Son to die for our sins so that we might go free.

Rain or Snow?

I thought I would take a moment and just post something. Lots of things have been going through my head lately. For those of you back in Lexington -- do not take lightly the Pastor that stands before you on Sundays. He is more valuable than you know. Since moving back, it's amazing how I took for granted the style and heart that Pastor Michael puts into each sermon. We have yet to find a Pastor here that preaches in that same manner. And yet - it's not exactly preaching, he teaches. He takes the time to bring in those little history lessons that you never knew about or things that were going on at that time that you'd never know about unless he told you. We haven't found that here yet. It's so discouraging when you want to learn about the scriptures and yet all you hear is a message on a particular passage with no depth. So I tell you again, appreciate his preaching style and teaching techniques. They are valuable beyond camparision and I am so thankful that he puts so much into it to give back to God.

I'm thinking we might be on a snow schedule tomorrow. It's supposed to be a nasty-rainysnow mix tonight and the kids get out for Thanksgiving on Wednesday. It'd be nice to be off, but of course that also means no paycheck for me. That's been a bit difficult to get used to as well. Not a salary but hourly paycheck.

Mom and I stayed at our old house in Lexington this past weekend while we were there for DTH, and it was so strange. It felt like home, but so empty and cold. I can't wait until we have another house to serve the Lord through and welcome new people into our home here in Lee County. This morning I was thinking of things I miss about Lexington. I thought I'd make a list and I'm certain there are probably more than this:

• Lunch and the variety of places to eat for lunch
• Meeting Corey and spending time chatting with a girlfriend
• Downtown - the shops and the feel of Lexington
• Cadets - strange, I thought I wouldn't miss them, but they have a place in my heart
• VMI Theatre - esp. Joellen
• WOL and the youth at LBC (Man I love those kids)
• The Dorsey girls
• Eating lunch with my husband (we don't get to do that here)
• House Mountain views

I'm sure there are more, but that's just a few. But at the same time, the other night I was able to pick up my sister, go to Wal-Mart and get dinner and then go back and help her make it and eat with her and her husband. Not something I could've done in Lexington. And when we had a snow day on Friday, I got to spend the day running around with my Mom and Dad doing errands and just enjoying each other. Family things that could not easily have been done in Lexington.
Tosh told me about getting an email and realizing the guy was someone he went to High School with. He got back in touch with him again. Plus, no offense, but the Wal-Mart here is TONS better than the Wal-Mart in Lexington for some odd reason. You wouldn't think that would be possible since it's SWVA but it sure is!

I think I've been back to Lexington more in the last two months than I ever made it home to Lee Co in the same period of time. And I'll be back up there in December to attend a conference at the Homestead for a week.

The baby is moving a lot now a days. I can't seem to feel it on the left side but more in the middle and the right side. Tosh has felt it move and so has my Mom now. Brinn took some pictures of me and my Mom the other night at DTH and my belly so when she sends them to me I'll post them. It's weird to think I'm 6 months. Everyone says I still look so small. I'm contemplating buying a body pillow of sorts. Sleep is not easy to come by and I toss and turn all night from one side to the other. Plus, my butt and hips have been killing me lately. Not sure if it's from all the driving and sitting, but I just about can't stand it. I know it must be from my body changing and doing what it's supposed to as far as preparation goes, but wow -- lots sure does happen to your body when you're pregnant!

Fun stuff

Here are some pictures that my great friend Brinn took for me. More to come soon! THANKS BRINN! You ROCK (as always) :-)

Cool Website

So I was enjoying a Snow Day today with my Mom and Dad and during their doctor visit I was perusing a magazine (Parenting Magazine) and read about this cool website!

It's called LookyBook. Check it out!

You can look through the entire book before buying it all for free!

Fall is here!

Gosh I don't see how an entire month has almost passed since I last updated! It only feels like a few days or something. We had a Doctor's appointment this past week and I met with the midwife again. I've gained a pound since last time and my BP is still fine. She said I'll start gaining more weight now that I'm 22 weeks and the baby will start picking up weight. She told us to get ready and get our sleep now because the baby is really active. I totally believe her because all this week he/she has been moving, kicking, punching! I can't seem to sit down for one moment and it starts going nuts in there! Tosh also felt the baby move for the first time this past week.

The next appointment I go back to in December is the one they want to do the glucose test for. Well, I think it's like the initial screening. Hopefully I'll pass that one and I won't have to do the second one! I hear that's not much fun!

The job is a bit stressful. Since I work alone most of the time, I dont' know if I'm doing things correctly or not. I feel like I just don't get it some days and a couple of my schools I've yet to do anything with any students. It's hard to figure out when you can go pull a student out of class and when you can't. I haven't got it just yet and I'm a bit stressed over it.

As usual, Tosh has been very busy with work. Today is opening day of rifle so he's busy today too. I hope he doesn't have to work a Hunting Incident. That would really stink! He's starting to learn some more of the county and the back country roads.

Mom and Dad put up the Christmas lights outside yesterday. They figured it'd be one of the only warmer days to do it before it turns really cold. We built a fire the other night and that was so cozy too! Punkin had never seen a fire before or a fire place so he wasn't sure what it was or what to do. He kept checking it out and sniffing things.

I think Angie's baby shower went well. It was a great time in Lexington with "family". I had the best room in all of Lexington -- right underneath a huge deer haha! Corey took good care of me. I even got to ride in Beauty when we went to see Madagascar 2. I drove a bit too fast on the way back and made three stops and still got here in 4 hours. (Walt, if you see this just let it glaze over.) I was so tired and ready to be home.

Here's a picture of our driveway this morning. I said it looked like the leaves had camo'd everything outside. We've blown the leaves out of the driveway three times already and now we'll have to do it again!

Here's a picture of Punkin the other night. He decided to try and fit into this paper bag.