Much Needed Update!

Hello Friends and Family! I figure most everyone is going to be returning to work tomorrow and you'll need something to give you a break so I'm updating!

I'm going to start by posting some pictures. Here is my belly at 28 weeks!
Still haven't gained a ton of weight but the last Dr.'s appointment she said I was measuring just fine and she said she wished more people were at my weight instead of gaining too much. Overall I've gained about 5 lbs total. As of yesterday, I am 30 weeks. Only a little bit more to go and we'll have a new addition to the family for 2009! I'm actually not scared at all (yet). I feel more excitement than anything. I made out my birth plan and I'm giving that to the Dr. this week when we go back. Just this past week I think the baby has shifted positions. I used to feel a lot of movement on the left and right side but now I feel more in my lower pelvis and right below/between my ribs. It's so different!

Also in December I was given the opportunity to travel to Bath County and stay at The Homestead for a conference for work. I had a room all to myself. Here are a few pictures from that trip. I was really intrigued with the Mini Bar in my room. The fridge was completely stocked with anything you could imagine! Needless to say, I didn't eat or drink a single thing out of it because it was SO expensive. One morning we ate breakfast in the main dining room and it cost me $30.50 just for ME to eat breakfast!!! In the end, I got to spend a great weekend with Corey playing handbells again and then she came home with me for a few days and we got to show her around Lee County! Yah!

This last picture is with Judson Laipply. He is the guy that did the Evolution of Dance and is coming out with another one this month. I think he's debuing it on The Today show January 12th. Here his website if you don't know about him: http://www.theevolutionofdance.com/

He was a great guest speaker at the conference. He talked about not being stressed out and just letting go of the things you can't control. Easier said than done of course, but it was a good speech. He also did his dance routine for us.

I had my glucose test done and it came back negative! So I do not have gestational diabetes. I do, however, have another cold. This one seems to be more severe than the last one I had just 3 weeks ago. I've been sleeping in the recliner for the past 3 nights and have been totally exhausted. I've done nothing but lay around the house, rest, and read. I go back to work tomorrow and have two presentations to do first thing in the morning.

Here are some pictures from Christmas this year. The first one is of the golf cart my Dad built for my brother-in-law. It only took about 25 hours. It was amazing! My Dad is so talented!

The middle one is of me getting my Genesis bow that I've been wanting. I love archery and I finally got a bow that I can use to practice with and eventually (maybe) take hunting! We have this running thing in my family with big gifts. We hide the gift somewhere and write a poem that you have to read out loud and then go find where the gift is! My mom wrote my poem for me. I'll explain some of the poem afterwards. Here is what it said:

Down in the basement

High up near the ceiling

You have one final gift

That we hope you'll find appealing.

It's something we were glad to purchase

But Tosh had to do the ordering

And then he caught a lot of grief

For a deposit that left you wondering.

So go down stairs

And look up high

Get your gift

But please don't cry

Just thank your husband

Coy, Mom and Dad.

Hope this is one of the best gifts

You've ever had!

So as you know, all of our "stuff" is in my parents' basement stacked to the ceiling. Turns out that the bow had been in it's box on top of all our other boxes and I never even noticed for weeks. Tosh had ordered it from Cabela's and Coy, Mom, Dad, and Tosh all chipped in to purchase it. When we did Christmas at Coy's house, I had unwrapped a gift box that just said "Sorry, your X-Mas gift is on back order." He wanted me to open the gift with my family. The other part about the deposit is kind of comical. I logged into our account and noticed that Tosh had deposisted into our savings a certain amount of money and I was totally confused about where he'd gotten it from. So I called him and asked because we had just talked the day before about how we like the fact we have a joint account and we have to talk about finances and such. And then this strange deposit shows up and I can't seem to account for where it came from.

The last one is of our strange animals. They have never slept together like this before and my Mom caught them last week. As you can see, Punkin was using Midnight as a pillow. It didn't last long but they are getting closer I think.

On a sadder note, one of my Mom's closest friends passed away yesterday. She had battled cancer for years and she was very sick. She was a good Christian woman whom I've known all my life and loved dearly. Her husband took care of her at home with Hospice. Tosh and I were also very sad to hear about Bill at LBC. I had no idea he was 77. I thought he was much younger and I loved him dearly too. When I did the Nursing Home Ministry it was such a joy to hear him play and sing his guitar on special occasions. He will be sorely missed. He was so wise about the Bible too.

Tosh and I are attending our first class together Tuesday night. It's a breastfeeding basics class. I'm excited about it because I think I can use all the help I can get in that category. This coming weekend Mom, Tosh and I will be traveling back to Lexington for the Baby Shower. I'm so excited and nervous! It's always so humbling when people "shower" you with love. I remember crying on the way to our Honeymoon because I couldn't believe what my family and friends had done for me on our wedding day and I knew they were back there cleaning up while we were off to Gatlinburg. I'm glad we'll get to be with family at LBC for the weekend though. I can't wait!

We finally attended a church last week that preached on a message other than salvation. Not that the salvation message is wrong, but the pastor actaully taught us something. He attended Cincinnati Bible College and his wife and he have only been there for about 7 months. They are a young couple with two boys. We really liked the atmosphere, the only thing that sort of threw us for a loop is that they do communion every single Sunday. That's a little strange we thought...

Okay, well next post might be from the Baby Shower! See you Lexington folks soon!