#1- I am now 25 weeks along, what a great feeling that is! It does scare me a little however, because I kept saying we would focus on baby stuff after the holidays...well, here we are! I'm giving myself the week off, for reasons I will explain later, but next Monday baby planning officially begins!! I am extremely grateful for the gift she is to us. With every week, I praise the Lord for creating her and keeping her safe within me. This is getting more and more real and we are getting more and more excited!
During this 6th month, Ava will be about the size of an eggplant :) She is continuing to move more and more and yesterday at Church I kept hearing the same thing, "wow, you're starting to really pop!" I was kind of disappointed for Travis over Christmas because it was not easy for him to feel her move, every time we tried...BUT, last night while we were laying in bed, he got to feel her several times KICKING me. I mean really strong, good kicks that made my stomach jump! That made him feel much better and we got a good laugh out of her apparent soccer skills-she gets those from her Dad by the way!! What a fun Christmas this was, dreaming and waiting for next year with our sweet little girl. Please keep praying for her and for her Mom and Dad. We cherish every heart that has interceded on our behalf.
#2- This is the biggest week in student ministries for my husband. Our giant outreach event for the year is an all-night blitz on New Year's Eve. Last year we had 400 kids and 100 volunteers, but this year, we have already exceeded our pre-registration numbers and we are expecting a huge turnout. As you can imagine, this event requires a tremendous amount of work and an army of people to pull this off. Our youth staff will be burning the candle at both ends until 7:00am on New Year's Day when we send the kids home. They do a fantastic job and it is a wonderful event. Last year we had 11 kids (that we know of) who accepted Christ, which is the entire point of why we do what we do. We throw the biggest party we can think of to provide a safe alternative on New Year's Eve, but the reason we do it is to get kids who don't know the Lord in the doors and to share Christ with them. The evening involves Dart Wars, Movies, an amazing carnival, bowling, air band competition, and a mid-night program to watch the ball drop and share the Gospel. Which brings me to my 2 HUGE prayer requests...
(a)- Last year Jason (HS Pastor) gave the Gospel, but this year Travis is doing it. So, of course he is being attacked and last night started feeling sick. This morning he woke up totally congested and sounding horrible. I am pumping him full of drugs and trying to get him to take every minute he can to rest. This is TERRIBLE timing because he has a million things to do, but I am praying that the Lord will lift this cold from Him or at least give him the strength to get through a 12 hour event, from 7pm-7am on Wednesday. We aren't surprised this is happening, but we would covet your prayers on his behalf.
(b)- To further complicate things, Jason's wife, my sweet friend Greta, is great with child and ready to give birth any minute. Literally. She is now several days over-due and unless she goes in to labor soon, is scheduled to be induced on Wednesday morning, yes, New Year's Eve. You can imagine the stress that scenario brings for them, but obviously we are trusting the Lord to work out every detail. Obviously everything that can be is being taken off of Jason's plate is being removed and his priority is Greta and his kids, but you can imagine how torn he feels over not being at this biggest event and giving Greta his undivided attention. Please pray for Greta and their sweet baby girl; for Jason to feel freedom to be where he needs to be; and for their other kids Ryan and Karis, who will be in tons of transition and other people's care this week regardless of what happens.
We are trusting the Lord for every detail and keeping our eyes on Him to get through this. I remember from last year how crucial our prayer support was. When we have the lives of 400+ students in our hands and are taking them around the cities in the middle of the night, there is potential for lots to go wrong, but we are relying on God's wisdom to lead every decision and His grace to protect the night. The link below is not active on here, but I'm hoping this visual will prompt you to PRAY. Thank you in advance!!
#3- We spent some of our Christmas money on the best thing yesterday...
...a memory foam topper for our mattress. I had heard about this idea from another Mom who was dealing with lots of back, hip, and pelvic pain in her pregnancy. She gave rave reviews from the difference this made and on her recommendation, we decided to try it. Can I just tell you that I had the best night of sleep last night, with almost no pain??? It was HEAVENLY. My back felt so good because the memory foam almost cradled me in a way and I was able to sleep without a million pillows propped up around me. It was the best. Travis slept great too and we're both dying to get back in bed again tonight! This is what we bought at Costco below. I knew it was a sign when I went to get it and found it on sale!! Gotta love that. My only problem is that now I need extra deep sheets to cover the thickness of the topper and our mattress, but I know I'll be able to find those. We'll see how long this works, but if every night is going to be like last night, I'm officially sold on memory foam!
#4- This picture accidentally got left off my Christmas posts, but I'm including it because it's cute of my Dad and his daughters. There's nothing like having your kids home for Christmas, right Dad??
#5- We get to spend the rest of the week, starting tomorrow, with this little guy! Travis and I are taking care of Barrett, while his brothers and parents go on a little ski trip. We won't be seeing much of Travis for a few days, but that's ok because he is so easy and we'll be able to fend for ourselves! Ryley is actually still on vacation in Iowa with my parents, which makes this week much easier for me, so it will just be Travis, Barrett, their dog Sid and I. I'm sure we will have tons of fun, but today I need to spend some time doing laundry and getting organized for a very hectic week!!
Happy Monday and welcome back to reality, right???
