Life Lately

Wow! These past few months have been crazy busy for our family! I sure have missed blogging! Since I last blogged, we have bought a house, moved into our new house, painted our daughter's nursery, worked on finishing her nursery, and have been unpacking and decorating to make our new house into our home. I am still teaching. I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I am almost 37 weeks pregnant. This pregnancy has flown by! I am so ready to meet our Mary Katherine, but I also still have so much to do before her arrival! God has blessed us so much, and I am forever grateful! My husband took a picture of me at 35 weeks, and we also had a few maternity photos taken last week. I am really trying to enjoy these last few weeks of being pregnant. Some days it's hard because my feet are swollen, my back aches, and I am pretty much just plain uncomfortable. I know it'll all be worth it when I am finally holding her in my arms. We already love her so much! God's plan truly is way better than mine! I am so excited to meet our daughter next month! We give God all the glory and are just so thankful that he chose us to be Mary Katherine's parents. I am so excited to be her Mommy! This is just a quick update post. I will be posting again soon and going into further detail about everything that has been going on. Until then here are a few photos of this special time in our lives.

Her Name

Growing up I was definitely the girl who daydreamed and doodled names of my

future children. Being that I am quite the planner and have had several names picked

out for quite a while I figured we would have a name chosen for our little girl

rather quickly. I. Was. Wrong. Naming a human all-of-sudden seemed like such a big

responsibility. My husband and I did not want to take the matter lightly and choose too hastily.

We discussed several names and prayed about what her name should be. I was comforted

by the thought that the Lord knew her before we even had a clue that we were pregnant.

He already new her name and has an amazing plan for her life.

We also wanted her name to come from family. Family is so important to both of us.

We gathered information from our mothers and grandmothers. We had quite an interesting

list of female family names. At 25 weeks pregnant, we finally decided on her name.

I am so happy to be able to talk to her and call her by name. Her name will be:

 

Mary Katherine

 

Her first name comes from my mom's name. While my mother is called Jeannie, her name

is actually Mary Jean. Then it was time to decide on her middle name. From Michael's side

we had Stephanie Ann, Petty Wynette, and Gloria Jean. We had considered Mary Ann, but it just wasn't quite right. Then we found out that Michael's grandmother's grandmother had the middle name Katherine. It was perfect. We loved the name Mary Katherine. It just seemed right. We also love the meaning of her name.

Mary means wished-for child

Katherine means pure

 

We prayed and prayed and prayed for this child, so she is certainly wished-for. We also want her to remain pure in God's eyes as she grows up. Certainly one of our prayers for her is to be pure.

 

We are so very excited to meet our Mary Katherine who is due in less than 15 weeks!

We thank God for this precious gift. She is already so loved.

 

 

We are so excited to meet you Mary Katherine!

 

 

 

 



WYWW



I am posting this a little early because in two days summer is over, and I go back to work.

Before I begin doing some packing for our upcoming move (more on that later), I will share what else is new around here. Besides being almost 24 weeks pregnant and loving it, I have a new haircut!

I am loving my new hair cut! Baby girl is moving all the time, and it is the most awesome feeling! God is so good!

WYWW

I thought I had this right the first time, but something didn't work so here I go again!

We are so happy and excited that we are having a little girl in November!

God is so good and faithful! We already love her so much!

We had a wonderful gender reveal party at Ormond Beach with my family. It was such a special day! We are so excited to meet our little girl in just a few months. This time last year Michael and I were in New York for a wedding and were able to visit Niagara Falls; it is crazy how much life can change in just one year. We are so thankful for all of God's blessings and look forward to what He has in store for us in the future. Now it's time to bring on all things girly!

We are having a GIRL!

Wow! It has been over a month since I last blogged! The first reason is that our computer crashed, and it took a while to get it fixed. The other reason is that we have been travelling all over the place this summer, but more on that later!

We are so excited to announce

We were able to have our gender reveal party down at the beach surrounded by friends and family. It was a wonderful day!! We have already been so blessed! We can't wait to meet our precious little girl!





My Dad

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just wrote a post about my Mom, and now I want to share

a post about my wonderful Dad.

 

Tomorrow is Father's Day.

I am somewhat beginning to see my Dad through new eyes now

that my sweet husband will become a Daddy at the end of this year.

I am so thankful for my Dad.

 

He truly lives his life to be an example for his children.

He does not simply tell us with his words how we need to act.

He lives it out.

He is an extremely hard worker.

He is a planner.

He is organized.

He takes our Mom on dates and little getaway trips.

He took us on adventures like bike rides, four wheeler rides, jeep rides,

snorkeling excursions, and snow skiing trips.

He did morning devotionals with us before school.

He prayed with each of us individually before bed every night.

He is a giver to others.

He went to ball games and ballet recitals.

He gave piggyback rides.

He swam with us in the ocean so we wouldn't be afraid.

He stood with me on our back patio during hurricane Opal holding my hand and told me

there was nothing to be afraid of because God would always protect us. He said there is never any storm too big for God.

On my wedding day during our Father-Daughter dance, he told me

his children are his greatest treasure.

 

I am so proud to call him my Dad.

I am so thankful for his example and influence in my life.

There is nothing better than a Daddy who prays for his children, supports them

no matter what, and loves them unconditionally.

 

Happy Father's Day 2014!

 

 

 

Moms' Night Out

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK so this movie was SO good. I can NOT remember the last time

I laughed and cried so much during a movie. It was hilarious!

I believe it was a mixture of pregnancy hormones, thinking about becoming

a mom, and being so grateful for my mom.

I would totally see this movie again.

 

My Mom is a stay-at-home-mom.

I am the oldest of 6 children.

For over 27 years of my mother's life she has been a Mom.

BUT she has not been just any mom. She has been OUR Mom.

Watching this movie made me realize how she probably felt quite often.

She was the one who was:

stuck with us all day

cleaning up after us

playing with us

keeping us safe

cooking for us

disciplining us

dressing us

driving us

dealing with sibling rivalry

dealing with tantrums

 

BUT

 

She never made it seem like that above list is what she was doing.

This is what I remember:

encouraging us

supporting us

reading to us

singing to us

dreaming with us

drawing with us

talking with us

listening to us

believing in us

loving us

 

She never made it seem like work.

She never made it seem like she gave up anything.

Her life was all about us.

While she was doing all of the above in both lists, she was not napping or going out with friends.

She was not shopping or spending time pampering herself.

She was doing loads and loads of laundry.

She was keeping the house clean.

She was cooking for a family of 5 then a family of 8.

She was praying with Daddy everyone morning before he left for work.

She was painting my nails and braiding my hair.

She did all of this with a smile.

I am sure she felt lonely and overwhelmed at times just like the moms in the movie, but

she never showed it to us.

She sacrificed so much for us.

As I sit here at 16 weeks pregnant imagining becoming a Mommy,

I hope and pray that I can be as good and strong and gracious and warm and encouraging and smart and loving as my Mom is.

 

I am so excited to welcome our little one

into this world, and I am so ready for my Mom to meet our little one.

 

I am so blessed to have the Mom that God gave me.

 

If you haven't seen this movie, you really should go see!