A Weekend of Love!!

Ok, so I have officially been referring to this weekend with Travis as "our weekend of love!"  It was supposed to begin this morning, but it started early when Trav walked in late last night, after a meeting at Church, with a GORGEOUS bouquet of flowers for me.  Ohh how I love him.  I will not be blogging until we get home, but when I do I will show you pictures of my flowers and some from our adventures this weekend.  Yes, you caught that...secret number one, we are spending the day and night "out," away from home!!  Ryley has his favorite babysitter coming tonight to stay with him, so we're all happy over here!    

I did want to quickly update you about the young Pastor and his wife that I asked you to pray for earlier this week.  I got an email from my friends, who know them, last night with a great update about Anna's progress.  I'm going to copy a few lines from that email below:

...Anna is experiencing what is being called a dramatic turnaround!!  The clot in her lung is decreased rapidly and her breathing difficulties and chest pain are decreasing rapidly as well. The clot in her arm is about the same, but has not moved. Further tests for more clots were done and have all come back negative.

As a result of this turnaround, she has been moved out of the ICU and into an OB wing of the hospital. They are going to try and wean her off of the IV Heparin in favor of injectable Heparin. If she does well on the injectable version, she will be released to home in a week or so with obvious restrictions.

Apparently, this young woman in Indiana has been surrounded in prayer from near and far. We know of the prayers from Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota..but just heard of others. Her mother's church had some people visiting from Nigeria and heard of Anna’s difficulties. They took the prayers back to their people in Nigeria…and the circle increases.

Anna is due at the end of May. The plans until today were to take the baby April 1, about 2 months early, at the NICU. Due to the recent dramatic turn around, those plans are now on hold and she will be evaluated on a continuing basis.

As you can imagine, she is not out of the woods yet, but she is doing much better.  The original prognosis was very, very grave but clearly the Lord has been moved by the prayers of his people and He has granted them grace and some healing.  Thank you for praying with me...I shared before that I personally don't know this couple, but I know if it were Travis and I going through this, I would covet every prayer from everyone and everywhere.  This story makes me so grateful that we are healthy and able to be out celebrating our marriage this weekend.    

Have a wonderful Valentines Day!!!  We will be!! 

Date Night at The Target Center

So we went to the Timberwolves game last night and got to watch it from a great suite with this view :) 

And these are the people we watched the game with.  A bunch of area youth pastors and their spouses.  Can't you just tell??  Everyone seemed to have the youth pastor "look"!  Someone tell me how the preggo girl got stuck standing on a seat in the back??  I was sure I might fall at any second.  I think I was squeezing Trav's leg with all my might!! 

And just because I love him, here's the cute guy whose job brings us lots of fun "perks."

If it seems like I am "glowing" it's because I am.  Not because of pregnancy bliss but because I felt like it was 100 degrees in that suite!  I knew we had a problem when we arrived and I began sweating within minutes.  I mean s-w-e-a-t-i-n-g, as in dripping.  That seems to be my latest problem these days.  I have abandoned all my coats and find myself dressing layers so I can shed them as the day goes.  Travis says I'm like an oven, radiating heat for all three of us!  He's right.  I am always hot and last night was no exception.  That turtleneck was only a tissue weight tee, but it was NOT a good idea!!

And what would a professional sporting event be, without a bunch of girls wearing almost nothing and dancing to crowds of cheering men with beers??  Not the dream I have for my daughter.  

And that is just one of the reasons why I love college sports more than professional sports.  The game was fun, the Timberwolves were ahead the whole time and gave it away in the last 7 minutes.  Classic.  We enjoyed ourselves but I think I paid a big price from all the walking we had to do from the arena to the parking garage.  I was in terrible pain last night and hardly slept.  Today I've spend most of the day at home, resting and cat napping.  We are sort of spoiled now.  I don't think I'd ever want to see a game unless I was in a suite again :)  It's awfully nice to have servers, private (clean) bathrooms, and comfortable seats with a great view!  How can I ever mingle with the "commoners" again??  Just kidding!  We did realize that Ava has now officially been to 2 professional sporting events.  We went to a pre-season Vikings game when I was barely preggo and now the Timberwolves.  We just need to hit the Twins and we'll be three for three in Minneapolis!   

On a totally unrelated note, I have been working on some valentines day stuff today and I'm totally excited about it!!  I really love surprises and they just kill my husband!  He begs me for more details everyday but so far I've been able to keep my mouth shut :) What about you??  What are you doing for valentines day?  And have you ever pulled off a great surprise for someone??  Do tell....  

Drizzly Day

Well it's a rainy, cloudy day here today and I am passing the time the best way that I know how.  I'm sitting in Caribou with a white hot chocolate and a piece of cinnamon coffee cake :)  I am consuming more calories than I should be, but it just sounded nice on this drizzly day.  It's kind of amazing that we're getting rain actually.  Usually it's way too cold for rain, so this is really a treat!  While we were in bed last night, the rain was pelting the windows and both Travis and I agreed that we would love to hear a great thunderstorm.  Rain seems like such a spring thing, so everyone here is kind of giddy that we're being covered in it!  

Anyway, I brought my laptop with me, so I thought I'd share the pictures today that I couldn't yesterday... but before you comment on the following things, I need to know if you are able to view the new background I put on my blog this morning??  It comes up every time on my laptop, but when I looked at it on Trav's computer, there was no background.  It was just white.  Will let me know if you can see it??  It's lime green and pink.  I'm hoping there isn't some kind of technical glitch that I'm not smart enough to fix...  

Travis and I have such a fun date night tonight!  He won tickets from a guy who has a ministry in the twin cities that connects local area youth pastors.  Every now and then he sends out an email offering tickets to some event for youth pastors and their spouses.  It's always a lottery to see who gets them and this week it was us!  We won tickets to watch the Timberwolves game in a suite that they have reserved.  So, although we could not care less about the Timberwolves, we are totally stoked for a free night, in a free suite, with some free food!!  The T-wolves are historically terrible, but they've actually had a winning streak lately and have turned things around under their latest coaching move.  We did laugh last night however, when we saw on the news that the T-wolves best player just got hurt and is out indefinitely.  There go our hopes for a good game!  Oh well.  We are looking forward to it anyway :) 

Here is my 31 week picture...in all its' glory.  Do you think I'm carrying her low?  That's all I heard this weekend, how low she is.  It would explain all my pelvic pain and now the increasing pressure on my tailbone.  I'm still so shocked at my ever-growing profile, it's hard to get past the size of my stomach to notice anything else!!   

What do you think about this lamp I found??  Isn't it the cutest thing?  I found it at my favorite place, Homegoods, and I thought it would be perfect in Ava's room.  I put a lightbulb in it last night and turned it on...Kind of made me want to read a book in the glider!  

Here is miss Ava's first winter vest!  On our way to the retreat, we stopped for a little shopping (of course) and we stumbled upon a big sale at REI.  Every little minnesota baby needs a vest and a cute gloves/hat combo :)  This will be perfect for her next winter.  

I also picked up this great fleece body suit for the same reason.  It will be a good warm/lightweight option for the car seat and it was marked down to a great price!  I love the little tassel on the hood :) 

This is where I went for my big scrapbook weekend, a cabin up north called "Raspberry Ridge."

Here was my work station for the weekend, after I cleaned it up!  It never looked like this :) 

I was there with 14 other women and we each had a table in the workroom downstairs.

I sat next to my cousin Jenny :)  We shared snacks and laughed at each other all weekend!  

And this was our view, our friends Sally and Melanie :)  It was such a fun weekend.  I got a lot done, although I didn't get quite as much done as I'd hoped.  I'm still half-way through 2008, but I think I can wrap it up in the next month and start 2009 before Ava gets here...on second thought, I'm not holding my breath...

Misc. Monday!

***Updated*** Can you pray with me for an urgent request involving a young Pastor and his wife?  I just learned of them through a friend, Matt and Anna, are their names.  They are expecting their 2nd child and just found out that Anna has life-threatening blood clots in her lung and arm.  She is in critical condition and only 5 months along.  It's a very serious situation for both her and the baby, and it may result in some very difficult decisions.  Will you join me and pray for them?  They have one other child as well.  I don't know all the details, but I do know enough to know that they are facing a medical crisis and are in desperate need of prayers on their behalf.  Will you pray for them before you read this post??  Thank you!

I'm home from a great weekend!!  Scrapbooking was lots of fun and just what I needed.  I am having problems getting my pictures up on blogger today, so I'm proceeding without them for now.  I'll try again later.  I did not get sick and I even slept really well while I was there!!!  It was great to get away for a couple of days and just do something that I love, without the distractions of laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc. :)   Who doesn't love a little escape from reality every now and then??

Anyway, on to my list of random Monday thoughts...

1.  It's warm here!!  When I say warm, I mean above freezing.  At this very minute, it is 37 outside!  That's like paradise in February.  It makes me long for Spring, but I have to remember that we aren't out of the woods yet.  Last year it snowed in May.  And I'm not kidding. 

2.  While I was gone this weekend, Travis did something that I absolutely love.  He shopped and purchased an outfit for Ava to wear home from the hospital.  By himself!  Don't you know I wished I could have been a fly on the wall in Baby Gap??  And what he chose is so sweet.  I love it.  I was dying all weekend to know what he was going to get, but he wouldn't tell me over the phone :)  I can't show you now, but I will be thrilled to show you when she's wearing it!  I will also be thrilled to tell her someday that her daddy picked that out just for her.  And she will forever think that is special.  How do I know that?  Because that's exactly what my Dad did for me and now that I'm watching my husband do it for our daughter, it makes me want to cry and it makes me love my Dad more.  It's almost more than this emotional preggo girl can take...

3.  Speaking of being preggo, I am now 31 weeks.  I have officially had a few rounds of braxton hicks contractions, which is totally surreal.  So far they are nothing more than a few moments long and very random, so nothing to worry about, but they do kind of freak me out a little bit.  Not because they hurt but because I still can't believe I'm pregnant some days!  I don't know why I think that.  I'm doing all kinds of stupid things, I dissolve into tears very easily, and I am bursting out of my clothes.  This third trimester is all kinds of fun so far.  

4.  I am totally not in the mood to cook dinner tonight.  I have a pound of hamburger that I thawed this morning, but no inspiration to do anything with it.  I think in all my "domesticity" lately, I may have burned myself out on cooking.  That and I absolutely ate WAY TOO MUCH FOOD this weekend.  Seriously, it was pure indulgence.  And not in a satifsfying/deserving kind of way.  I'm feeling the need to fast just to recover.  

5.  I need to vacuum in a big way right now.  I'm sitting in my living room and I can see tufts of Ryley's hair all over the place.  The only problem is that I don't want to.  I have managed to get two loads of laundry done and the dishwasher loaded, but I need to up my productivity and get my act together this afternoon.  

6.  I spent some much needed time just reading the word and reflecting this morning.  I really needed that.  Did I mention I am a bit of an emotional wreck these days?  I had a total meltdown with Travis last night and this morning, over nothing, but involving everything.  I have some big things brewing in my head that I just needed to see in light of truth.  We are walking through the book of James in church right now, verse by verse and sometimes word by word.  It's been so good for me.  I listened to the sermon I missed yesterday and just like the Lord, He answered me so clearly through it and through His word.  I feel a little bit like I'm in a battlefield of the mind these days.  So much anxiety and worry can well up in me so quickly.  I have to force myself to quiet my mind and seek the Lord in every part of my day.  He is so faithful to bring truth to my mind and calm me...but somedays it takes me so long to remember that.  I feel refreshed from being reminded that He is not absent, but very active in my life right now... Just asking Him to help me make these times with Him a priority everyday.  

7.  We had a package delivered this weekend from Babies 'R Us.  It was full of some great things for the baby and from our registry.  Thanks Cherie for blessing us!  What a great surprise!  

8.  I loved the office last week!  I am totally hoping that they draw Holly back in the story line somehow.  She and Michael were the source of many laughs and I have missed her on the show.

9.  I'm excited about Valentine's Day this week.  Travis and I are celebrating on Friday, with a day that I've planned and that he knows nothing about.  It's killing him to not know, but I love to surprise him and I think he's going to love all that we're doing.  We haven't always made a big deal out of this day, but I think we need to this year.  It's already happening, our lives are beginning to revolve around this baby and she's not even here yet!  Obviously she's going to change so much of what we're used to, but I want to be so careful that "we" don't get lost in the shuffle.  I have been tender to that in the last few days....feeling like he needs my attention and a day for us not to be all about Ava :)  So this year we're going big for Valentines Day!  

10.  It's almost 2:00pm and I haven't showered yet.  Time to be done with misc. Monday....

Have a great day!!!

In a Cabin Up North.....

Happy Friday to me!!!  I am off tomorrow morning for the whole weekend, to spend some time with the girls, scrappin' it up!  I have been waiting to tell you about my big scrapbook retreat until it was closer, and now I'm running around my house like a crazy woman trying to get packed :)  I am SOOOO excited to get away and to spend 3 days catching up in my scrapbooks.  I have been so behind this year, but I've spent lots of my downtime in the last few weeks, trying to catch up and printing pictures like crazy.  I am now only 1 year behind :)  But, after this weekend, I hope to be caught up or at least closer!  

I used to scrapbook so regularly, but this last year I've really "fallen off the wagon."  It all started one year ago, when I went to another scrapbook retreat and got sick (like throwing up every 30 minutes) within the first 6 hours of being there!  Travis had to drive there to pick me up and bring me home because I was so sick...and the retreat was in Wisconsin!!  Here's hoping I do not repeat that scenario again.  It sort of soured me on scrapbooking for awhile :)  Anyway, I'm certain this will be a fun weekend and a great time to hang with some friends and relax.  I will most likely not be blogging this weekend, although I may surprise you!  

Travis and Ryley will be having a boys weekend while I'm gone...pray for them!  Although, they aren't being deserted, I've gone to great lengths to fill up our fridge and cupboards with lots of food and meals for them to survive on.  And, as I type this, the timer is beeping on some cookies I made for them.  So, I better run so I can get to bed soon.  

Hope you have a great weekend too!!  I'll share some pictures with you when I get back :) 

A Lazy Post

Tonight I am taking the easy way out and copying my list of "25  Random Things About Me."  This little game has been making the rounds like crazy on Facebook and I finally gave it and decided to do it!  

We are home tonight, watching Idol and LOVING the drama by the way!  But, I am soooo tired.  Today I took Barrett to Toddler Tuesday at Mall of America and we participated in "Breakfast with the Backyardigans."  It was totally cute, but there were hundreds of moms/toddlers there (in addition to the Backyardigans) and I was too stressed and tired to whip my camera out!  It was kind of a mad house.  Anyway, going to Mall of America at this point in my pregnancy is probably not a great idea...we walked and walked and walked until I wanted to cry!  I'll take the exercise but I hate the snail's pace at which I now move.  Couple that with a trip to Wal-Mart and Target this afternoon and now you can picture me with my feet up and no plan to move off the couch!  

But I digress....Ok, 25 Things....Enjoy!

1. I am a firstborn and have all typical qualities of a firstborn. (No comments necessary from my sisters)

2. I have lived in 5 states in my 28 (almost 29) years! Iowa, California, Florida, North Carolina and Minnesota. Lots of adventures and memories in each place, but I will always be an Iowa girl at heart!

3. ESPN the Magazine is my favorite magazine. I know, what a lucky husband I have!! I LOVE it because I think it's very well written; I love sports; I especially love reading about the stories behind the athletes. I read it cover to cover when it comes in the mail!

4. I LOVE to scrapbook, but I don't do it as often as I used to. It's good for me to get my creative juices flowing and expressed in that way. And my husband loves that we have so many memories preserved from our almost 6 years of marriage!

5. My senior year of college was one of the most transformational years of my life. God got a hold of my heart in a big way through a series of deaths and some painful relationships. Although it was the hardest year of my life, it was totally worth it. I was so broken and at the end of myself...the Lord did a mighty thing in my heart and pulled me out of that pit.

6. Shortly after, I met the greatest gift God has ever given me. Travis was and is my favorite blessing and my best friend. I could not imagine life without him. He is everything I'm not. Patient, sweet, funny, loving and very, very kind. Nothing makes me love him more though, than to see how much he loves Jesus and has been changed by Him. He is the man I prayed for, and then some.

7. I have a total obsession with Ultra Fine Line Sharpies. I write almost exclusively with sharpies and I ask for the multi-pack every year in my stocking!! They bring me so much joy, it's scary.

8. I am extremely wordy and long-winded in my writing. So much so that I feel the need to elaborate on that sentence...but I will move on :)

9. I loved sports and played many "back in the day." Volleyball was my favorite, Basketball brought me the most success, and golf was my sentimental favorite (my Dad was our coach). Although I played softball too, I never really liked it. Oh how I long to be in the same shape now that I was then!

10. Although I love sports still, I hate to exercise. HATE IT. I especially HATE to run and I am married to a man who LOVES it!! Put a ball in my hands and I'll play all day, but to run for the sake of running??? NO WAY!!

11. I have a love in my heart for Target. It calms me to walk in the doors and stroll the aisles with my red cart. And a starbucks.

12. I haven't had any real coffee since I've been pregnant and I'm DYING without it!! Decaf just doesn't cut it. Unfortunately, with breast feeding in my future, it will be awhile before I can indulge once again...

13. I cannot handle a book or movie that involves torture of any kind or anything to do with the slave trade. It disturbs me to my core and I CANNOT HANDLE watching or reading it. Ask Travis. Mercy is one of my spiritual gifts and this merciful heart can't take it.

14. My bachelor's degree is in Interior Design, but my favorite thing in the world is Floral Design.

15. I have been a florist, either in a shop or freelancing, for 12 years now.

16. Nothing has made me feel older lately than choosing a pediatrician for MY child. What in the world?? How am I old enough to be doing that???

17. I love my family. And I am fiercely loyal to all of them.

18. I have a love affair with Naples, Florida. I met Travis there, we fell in love there, and we got married there. No other city makes my heart beat like that one! We LOVE to go back to Naples and in our dreams, we'd own a place there someday...

19. I love to be at home. In my jammies. Cleaning and organizing. It simply brings me joy to "stay in" all day. I'm sure all of that will be out the window when little Miss Ava enters my world!

20. As the classic line goes, I am becoming my Mother. Right down to the last detail. I literally am a carbon copy of her I think! And I'm happy about that :)

21. I love being a Pastor's wife. Full-time ministry is a ride for sure, but the blessings far outweigh the struggles.

22. Right now I am sitting at our table with a pile of bills surrounding me and mail to sort through. I dread the beginning of the month for that reason. Travis calls me the CFO of our family, but I would happily relinquish that title if he wanted it. Unfortunately he doesn't.

23. I have become such a "blogger" these last two years! I love it, I love the friends I've made and I love being able to keep up with friends and family all over the country. 

24. I have loved being pregnant...but I can't wait to be holding my little girl in a couple of months. Sometimes I still can't believe this is happening. Especially when I catch a glimpse of my ever-changing profile in the mirror!!

25. My life is far from perfect, but it's full of blessings. God has LAVISHED his grace on me and I am incredibly grateful....not sure how "random" this list is, but it is what it is!

Misc. Monday, 10 Week Countdown Begins!

I am happy to say that I am finally feeling rested on this Monday morning, after a good night's sleep....something that has evaded me for the last week.  I have been so tired lately because I am now finding it so difficult to sleep.  But, last night I managed to get a great stretch of really good sleep and it's amazing how much better I feel.  So, on to to a list of misc. things on my mind this Monday...

#1- Well it's official, I'm now 30 weeks along and Ava is about the size of this squash below or a head of cabbage.  She's over 15 inches long and between 2.5-3.5 lbs.  30 weeks means that actually I only have 6-7 weeks left until I'm considered full term!!  However, because she's my first, I'm expecting her to stay in there until at least 40 weeks, if not more, so I'm counting down the next 10 weeks until she makes her long anticipated debut :)  Isn't this crazy how quickly this is happening??

#2- I mentioned earlier how hard sleep is coming these days...that is mostly due to the unbelievable pain I'm experiencing while my body keeps "stretching" to prepare for labor and delivery.  Awesome.  I've never felt such a deep ache in my bones before, but I'm here to tell you that I have a whole new respect for every woman who has lived through the horror of rolling over while feeling as if your pelvis might just break at any moment!  Let me just say that I told Travis a few nights ago, that I would give ANYTHING to deal with back pain (which is apparently gone now) over this pain.  I basically get in bed at night and then begin my 8 hours of moaning until the sun comes up.  I LONG for the day when I can sleep in any position that I want and when I can toss and turn with the best of them!!!  Someone tell me that's possible again??  Pillows, wedges, and mattress toppers are doing nothing for me right now.  I've just had to realize that I've got 2 months to stick this out and with the help of a magic pill called Unisom, I just might make it!  

The good news is, because of my discomfort (along with raging heartburn and indigestion) I've turned a corner in my mind.  No longer am I trying to slow this train down out of fear of delivery, now I'm looking forward to it!  Well, that might be overstating it a bit, but I'm so ready for some relief that I'm anxious for the end to be in sight!!  

Meanwhile, that baby bump keeps getting bigger and my clothes keep stretching too!  Please don't get me wrong, I am truly grateful for every thing I feel, good and bad, because I know it's all a sign of this gift God has given us in sweet little Ava.  But, as much as I'm enjoying the privilege of carrying her on the inside, I'm ready to be carrying my baby on the outside soon!  

#3- We've made some big strides this week in our two baby registries...which I apparently need to devote part-time hours to, just to "manage"!  I seriously don't know what I would do if I'd not had these last 5 years of nannying to draw from.  The sheer size of Babies R Us and the LIMITLESS choice of products for every thing you can imagine, is EXHAUSTING!  And I even know what I want and what I like!  I think I would cry if I'd never been in that store before and I had to choose between thousands of products I'd never seen.  This was our second trip (and hopefully final trip) to Babies R Us and we spent and hour and a half "editing" and selecting.  I knew it was time to go when I found myself standing in the "pack and play" aisle for over 20 minutes, physically sweating over which one to choose!!  Time to get out and breathe again!  

Travis was so great about it, happily using the "gun" to scan things while I marched through the aisles like a drill sergant, barking out orders that sounded something like: "gerber spoons- 3 packs" and "disposable nursing pads- 10 packs."  The poor thing, his whole world is being transformed and he's doing his best not to react in pure shock at everything I say and every graphic topic that now comes up regularly!!   He also happily accompanied me to Target this week to set up another registry there.  That one was a little less painful, until we got to the diaper aisle and the prices started sinking in :)  Then I knew he was starting to sweat!!  We made it quickly out of there before either one of us had a meltdown!  For all of our family members, I put the links on the side bar of the blog so you can find them easier :)  I seriously think it was easier to register for our wedding than for the birth of our first child!!  

#4- Although I dug these pictures up from our first trip in October, I'm happy to report that the weather this weekend was much like the conditions pictured here!  We actually hit 44 degrees on Saturday and we both thought we'd died and gone to Heaven!!  We were out all day with no coats (what a treat) and I was suddenly digging for my flip flops!  It was downright tropical here :) God is good to occasionally throw these days of reprieve our way, otherwise I think we might all sink into deep depression!  Saturday was the first day we were above freezing since November!!!  You should have seen the lines at every car wash in the twin cities....
#4- Finally, in an effort to wrap this up, I'm going to only say that my heart was racing and broken over the Cardinals loss last night.  I wanted to cry/swear at the way the game turned out in the final seconds.  I'm just going to say it...I hated the Steelers for a few minutes afterwards.  I don't hate them today, but I do wish the Cardinals could have held them off!!  It was a great game though and a fun one to watch until the bitter end.  At least it wasn't a blowout.  And there were some great commercials this year, don't you think?   

Well, Happy Monday friends!  I'm signing off to pay some bills and get my house in shape....Thrilling isn't it??