only 7 more weeks!

My sister-in-law and my parents both called me yesterday and threatened to put embarrassing photos on the web if I did not post something today. So here's a photo taken last week (32 weeks) in our back walkway by the garden...which was more like a jungle until Sheila (Ron's mom) came and cleaned it up for us. Now we can see the lovely tomatoes and melons that are growing!

I only have 3 more weeks of work left and only 7 more weeks until my due date - it's very surreal and difficult to wrap my mind around. And although I'm sad to leave High Point and 963 Missions because I love the people I work with, I am very excited for this new adventure!

For the many of you who've asked, no, I haven't even started on the nursery yet. We have some people staying with us indefinitely, so sometime after that, we'll paint and decorate. We've got the supplies ready to go, but it will be a bit longer before we begin. Surprisingly, I'm not freaking out about it :)

More to come later...

26 weeks...or 6 months for the layperson

Since my sister, Angie, and sister-in-law, Kristin, have been bugging me to update my blog for some time now, I thought I would do a quick post so you all can see how my belly is growing. Angie and Kristin will still not be happy though, since this picture was taken by them at my St. Louis baby shower last weekend. Oh well, it's the best I can do for now!

Quick update - today (27 weeks) we entered our 7th month and the 3rd trimester! And as the baby gifts arrive and our guest room is increasingly looking like a storage unit, the fact that we will soon have a baby girl is becoming more and more real. I'll catch Ron looking at my stomach with amazement and then he says, "whoa...we're going to have a baby!" Yes babe...hence the basketball under my clothes! He's been able to feel the baby move for a few weeks now, but the other night, he actually SAW my stomach moving around (maybe her head or foot rolling and poking) and THAT was truly amazing - what a miracle!

It's a....hmm...and other miracles

So it's been a busy couple of weeks for Little G...

Here is a picture of our 11 week sonogram! It might be hard to tell, but in the circle to the right, there's a head and body and arms and legs. Like his or her dad, the baby appears to be taking it easy and lounging in my stomach. Hopefully, this laid back attitude will carry right on through after he or she is born. We all know we don't need another high-strung person around this house...and I'm definitely not talking about Ron!

I think the thing sticking up near his or her stomach/legs is the umbilical cord or maybe a leg...but of course Ron's reaction when he saw the picture was, "Whoa! Is that his thingy?" Yeah, um...that would be a little ambitious even if we did know the sex :)

That day, I also got to hear the heartbeat for the first time! Ron was not able to be there because he had meetings, but my friend Kelly was visiting from Texas and she came to be my support. It was amazing and I'm so glad that a good friend got to share that experience with me!

Then last night, Ron and I went to "Meet the Midwives" at Brigham and Women's Hospital, the place where I will hopefully deliver. Not only was it informative, but we watched this video of women laboring through natural childbirth. It was a short video and I started tearing up within the first minute. By the time the babies were actually born - a mere 6 minutes later in the video - I was crying and so was Ron! It's official: we're both softies and we'll both cry when Little G finally makes an appearance. It was strange, I've seen several childbirths before in health class or sex education and never ever reacted that way. But when I realized that Ron and I would be doing that in just a few short months (God willing), it hit me that we would be participating in a miracle! Thank you Lord for how you let us be a part of the extraordinary!

Life Out of Death

At Faithgroup (our small group from our church) back in early February, we waited on the Lord and asked Him to speak to us about what He's going to do and how He wants to begin to change our hearts at World Mandate (annual missions conference) that coming weekend. Sometimes I hear a little from the Lord...small words of affirmation and comfort like, "I love you"...and sometimes I hear more. That night, I heard a lot and in light of our recent PREGNANCY, I thought this was pretty significant...especially since I was only about a week pregnant at that point and had no idea...here's what He said to me:

"I am birthing something NEW in you - new life, new depth. Life will come out of death and through it, I will bring you to a new level with Me. New levels of obedience, higher callings - this is what I'm inviting you to. You will depend on Me in the coming months for they will be very difficult - life out of death - but I will be with you and very near to you. Do not be afraid, but embrace this new time, this new season, this new level of abandonment. Jump, my child, and I will catch you. Abandonment. No fear. I am WITH YOU."

WHOA was about all I could say afterwards. Life out of DEATH - what the heck does that mean for me? I started getting scared! But then I remembered the numerous reminders of how God always brings life out of death - leaves falling off of trees during winter and new ones emerging in the spring; a caterpillar goes into a cocoon (extended darkness) to become a butterfly; a wife who lovingly serves her husband brings life to her marriage; a woman giving up her body to birth a child; a father working long hours to support his family; and the most important: Christ dying on the cross and being raised again so that we might have True Life. And notice that these are all willing deaths...these are not decisions made selfishly or fearfully, but decisions made because something better waits on the other side.

Life out of death - this is what the Lord is doing in me during this season. Pregnancy is not only happening to me physically, but it is a picture of what is happening to me spiritually...a willing death. As this baby grows in the night of my womb, so new life is forming in the dark places of my soul. As I give my body to this baby, reject my ideals of always being skinny and my fears of what I'll look like afterwards, so I am relinquishing my old ways of thinking, my old fears of abandonment that have too long stood firm.

Watch...and Wait...and See...New life is emerging...

P.S. Read my friend Christine's blog for more on this subject!