Extreme Home Makeover - blessed beyond belief

Well, my sister-in-law called me this morning and told me to listen to all she had to say before I even thought about interrupting her and saying, "no!" Apparently, their church (I use to go there too) has decided to make our house their latest ministry project. They plan to come and paint, re-furbish cabinets, install molding, finish the bathroom, clean-up the yard, etc. so that we are ready for Jenna when she gets here. The first thing I said was, "We can't accept that...we didn't do anything to deserve that...we haven't served others enough to have that done for us." My sister-in-law pointed out to me that what I was feeling was pride. I quickly responded and said it wasn't pride, but a feeling of guilt...well, she said that's pride too. I guess I never really thought of it that way, but she's right. I'm really blessed by the fact that she has even brought our needs before the church. It's a huge honor and we will be eternally grateful for the church's hard-work and selfless act. Many of the supplies are being donated. I'm still in shock. It's our own Extreme Home Makeover...in turn, it's going to give me an attitude makeover towards accepting the blessings of others.

funny...the pregnant brain

Well, I went to the Zoo today with several friends. It was too perfect of a day to not go. Half of the moms in attendance were pregnant and we had to take MANY bathroom breaks *haha* Well, at the end, I had to go to the restroom and the girls all waited so we could walk to our cars together. Walking back to the group, I was thinking about the fun we had and so I said right away, "Well, that was fun, until the end (since we had to trudge up a huge hill)!" My pregnant friend, Danielle, looked at me confused and asked, "Going to the bathroom was fun? What was so bad about the ending?" I just burst out laughing and several of the other moms snickered because they knew I was referring to our day. Danielle turned so red in the face when I told her what I was meaning. I had to encourage her because I too say and think some awfully funny things while pregnant :-) Someone once told me that your brain actually shrinks when you're pregnant...I don't know how true that is...I've never researched it. My sister studies Psychology and said that a smaller brain is actually more intelligent than a larger brain...interesting.

Due date change

Well, looks like I have an extra 2 weeks of pregnancy. Argh! I went to my OB/GYN appointment on Thursday and I told him what the Perinatologist said about my due date being June 1st instead of May 15th, so Dr. Melendez double checked. Sure enough, someone had recorded my due date incorrectly. Oh well, if I didn't love my doctor and nurse so much, I might throw a little fit, but it's truly not worth it in this instance. This just means more time to prepare for Jenna's arrival and do we ever need it! We still have yet to get started on Joshua's "bigger boy" room and changes need to be made on the nursery as well to prepare for Jenna. Jenna's room will be an easy changeover compared to Joshua's...his room still has pink and yellow paint from the previous owners *gag* His room will be so cute when we're finished with it :-) Grizzly bears, pine trees, mountains...Nick had a great idea to include a Jeep Wrangler in the mural...I think we'll put a couple on the mountains :-)

This is Joshua and his good friend, Jorryn. They're just 5 months apart in age and get together frequently to play.









This is Joshua carrying around my purse. I had to reassure Nick that it is common for toddlers to imitate others and that he's just as likely to pick-up some tools and try to fix something just like his daddy :-)

"Give it to God, pray that it's blessed, and He'll take care of the rest!"

The title of this blog is something that my mom always reminds me to do; I can't tell you how many times it has applied to my life...countless times.

We found out on Monday that Jenna does have a cleft palate in addition to a cleft lip. This news didn't come as a surprise since we've pretty much been preparing ourselves for this news. She's in God's hands and I know the future will be difficult at times, but just knowing that God is by our side and holding Jenna in His hands is comfort enough. Honestly, I think the future is going to be harder on us than on Jenna. Kids are so amazing about letting things roll off their backs and just moving along despite their circumstances. It will be amazing to see her overcome these obstacles.

This news is only going to increase the effective power of Jenna's testimony. She will be able to share her struggles with others and bring hope into their lives. That is my prayer for her and I know God will bless it.

sick, sick, sick!!!

We are so ready for healthier times! Joshua and I have been passing "the crud" back and forth to each other for the past couple of months and we've both had it. I think I'm actually going to try and get into the doctor tomorrow (if they'll answer their phone) to get an antibiotic. I hate taking meds when I'm pregnant, but this is by far the worst sinus infection I've EVER had. I'm running a 104.0 temp (as of this morning) and I'm having to keep kleenex shoved-up my nose because it's dripping like a leaky faucet. BLEH!!!

Emotional

Well, I've let my pregnancy hormones get the best of me lately. Cure? Scripture and Worship! It's amazing how quickly you can turn from being blown away by a faith experience to being so down in the dumps you just want to cry. Ahhh...the joys of pregnancy ;-) Although, I think it's mostly the enemy trying to knock me off of my track with the Lord. Well, I have news for him...IT DIDN'T WORK!!!

I recently started reading I Corinthians again. Paul can be so confusing to me! I'm anxious to go to church on Sunday and ask our pastor what Paul's deal is *hehe* Especially in chapters 4 and 5. Does anyone else find it confusing that he seems to contradict his instruction on judging? I don' know, maybe I'm missing something. If you know what I'm talking about and have the answers, please DO enlighten me! Also, chapter 7 regarding marriage where it talks about if the spouse decides to leave, let them. Does that then release you from "living in sin" by going on with your life (i.e. dating other people, etc.)? Don't worry, I'm not asking for myself...I have a friend dealing with some issues in their family and I've just been doing some research.

some fun recent pictures

"I came, I saw, I partied, I crashed!"

"I'm so full of pizza, there's no way I could possibly eat another bite..."

"Whatever! I'm a bottomless pit!!"

"Okay...I'm definitely full now."

Jenna's amazing surgeon

Let me just tell you! We met with Jenna's surgeon today and I was completely blown away...well, not "blown away" because I'm much too fat and pregnant, but you know what I mean ;-) We met with Dr. Kevin Smith up at OU Med. Ctr. today. He spent an hour and half with us just talking and answering questions. He had a power point presentation and told us his background, about his family, his experience, etc., etc. He was so detailed and organized and so passionate about his work! He performs an average of 3 cleft surgeries a week...wow!! I won't go into detail about what we talked about or his background, but holy cow is he the best we could ever hope for...even in the entire nation...I wouldn't go with anyone else.

So I was worried because our insurance isn't one of their providers...well...that's NOT going to be a problem. There is a fund in place to pay for EVERYTHING and nobody has ever been denied coverage. There is so much money in place for this that they're practically stuffing it in people's pockets! All thanks to a man who left his fortune for this cause...Dexter Johnson. So...God is just awesome. Talk about a faith building experience! Oh...and Dr. Smith gave us the check back at the end of the appointment...he didn't want us to pay for our consultation.

Hard to understand...

I had another friend lose a baby recently. Summer was 3 months pregnant. She and John were so excited about having a third little one, but she knew it was a risky pregnancy. They decided to name him Lucas...they found out the baby was a boy when she lost him on the way to the hospital. I'm proud of Summer...she's hanging in there and grieving all the while being a great mom to her other two boys. I can't imagine experiencing a loss like hers and I pray I never have to. However, God is in control and should I ever lose a little one, I know that the Lord was wanting to hold them in His arms. How could I ever deny my baby the safest place...the best place...the Lords arms. I know whoever reads this most likely doesn't know John and Summer, but they could really use some prayer.

Casting Crowns

So I went to the Casting Crowns concert last night and it was just awesome :-) I hadn't been to a concert since Carmen came to the State Fair Arena (I think it was the early 90's)...go ahead, laugh *haha* I was really impressed with the fact that they center their touring dates around their church schedule back home in Atlanta. They're just a worship band who loves to praise the Lord and they just happen to be one of the top groups in Christian music. One thing that I really enjoyed was their blurp about World Vision. I've heard many discussions on World Vision; it's truly an awesome organization and I would really LOVE to sponsor a child. Mark Hall had such a cool idea when he decided to sponsor a child with his son. Mark picked a boy who had the same birthdate as his son so that they could grow-up together. How cool is that? I would love to do that with Joshua and Jenna :-)