it's a...

boy!! that's right! we are going to, in just a few months, be proud parents of a son...okay, the truth is, we are already proud parents and the baby is not even out yet. we went to the doc yesterday and were so excited to hear our suspicions confirmed. a dear friend (and mother to a little boy) told me that fuzzy tummy=baby boy! because i'm pretty sure there is a forest growing on my stomach, i was really hoping for a boy. i mean, what would all that hair have to say about a girl!? ;) anyway, another friend suggested that i drink a cup of orange juice before i went in for the ultrasound, just to assure that the baby wouldn't sleep through it, so i did. and it worked! oh my goodness-he wiggled around the whole time! the tech was actually getting a little  frustrated because she was having such a hard time getting all the pics she needed. she kept beating on my stomach (and overly full bladder!) trying to get him to move where she wanted him. funny, and a bit painful at times! :) afterwards, ryan was telling me that he felt like he pretty much knew what was going on the whole time-could tell what was what (as far as the major body parts-arms, hands, feet-oh the feet are SO cute!). i thought for a while that i was doing pretty good, but at one point, she was taking some close-ups of what turned out to be the stomach and gallbladder (how do they even know these things?!). both of these little organs were black, as opposed to the rest of him being kind of grayish. well, anyway, i was certain we were looking at our precious baby's little face. the black spots looked a lot like eyes to me...i was struggling to see the nose and mouth, but just about had it figured out. i was very close to actually saying something out loud about how cute his little face was. thankfully, i did not and soon after, i saw her type stomach and gallbladder onto the screen, pointing to my baby's "eyes." ryan and i had a good laugh about this later. anyway, we are SYKED about having a boy, and are now working diligently at figuring out the right name for him. so many choices! in fact, last night we went to borders and bought a new baby name book (we had gotten one a while back that was on the sale rack. i was excited about our great deal, but unfortunately the book turned out to be more like a dictionary than a naming book, suggesting names like "seven" and "multiple".. who would name their kid that?!?!). anyway, yesterday we actually finally sold the rest of our electronics collection-our tv, ryan's playstation 3, the games, and all our blu rays. we were thankful that God seems to be providing a little extra for us through our sale. anyway, in exchange, we bought a new book-ryan picked it out and he's sure it's the best (because it says on the front that it is)...so, we are reading through it. we really want a good strong meaningful name. we are open for suggestions, though... ;)

on this cold morning of thanksgiving, i am sitting here all by myself and feeling a little lonely. ryan's best bud, dustin, is in town and he called to see if ry wanted to play a little football with some peeps this morning. i know how much ry loves football and i think it's fun that his thanksgiving tradition is a little like mine used to be-always we used to go to the local high school with all the uncles and cousins and play a little football. so fun! unfortunately this year, i can not play...and i wouldn't anyway because they are all serious about the game (hello, college football players-no thanks!). so, i'm at the house baking away for our meal today. we are having some friends over to celebrate our thanksgiving with, which is fun. though, i do miss our sweet family today!! the menu, at least on my side of things (i'm not sure what else is coming) is:

turkey-fried by a sweet friend's husband

sweet potato casserole

broccoli casserole

a can of cranberry sauce (it's just so good!)

lime jello casserole (don't tell ry i called it that though, it offends him for some reason..lol)

homemade rolls-my mimi's recipe!

pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese icing

pecan pie

i have a feeling we are going to have wayyyyyy too much food! :) but i can't wait to dig in! 

happy thanksgiving to all!!

coming soon: 

     what i'm thankful for...

     pictures of our wee one, if i can figure out how to get them on here

it drives me crazy!

so, i went to a certain little shop yesterday, really just looking for a cup of ice. but, knowing that they probably wouldn't just give me a cup of ice, i decided i better order something...but just so i could actually get a cup of ice, mind you! so, i suffered through a small order of reese's cup ice cream and then asked the dreaded question, "is there any way i could get a cup of ice, too?" as i was asking the cashier this, directly behind her were all sorts of different cups, which gave me some hope. that hope rose quite a bit when the cashier smiled and turned around, as if she were going to fix me a cup of ice. but then, my hopes were quickly dashed when she turned right back around and had a cup the size of my pinky and said, "this is all we have. i could fill up a few of these for you?" right...two pieces of ice in each cup, i'd need like fifteen! and how in the world would i carry that out?!?! so, sadly, i turned her down and took an unwanted cup of ice cream. (okay, so maybe the ice cream was wanted just a wee bit....)

what is frustrating is that this experience happens everywhere...and it's not limited to when i'm just wanting ice, it's also when i order a cup of water. i mean, really, the cups probably cost them 2 cents each, IF that! i'd be more than willing to pay a nickel or even a quarter for a bigger cup....otherwise, i just have to stand there by the drink machine, filling up little cups of water, having a sip which empties the cup...and then fill it up again. how's a girl supposed to enjoy her drink, much less her meal?!?

a little of this, a little of that...

*only 3 more weeks of school! in some ways, the semester has flown by, but in other ways, it's been quite slow... as the semester winds down, we only have a few more things to do. thankfully, both ryan and i cranked out a few big papers last week. it is nice to have those done! now if we can just get the rest done.... :) 

*in exactly one month from today, we will be hitting the road destined for sweet home alabama!! we have no official place to live and no set jobs, but we will wait to see where the Lord leads. a lot of people seem to be, in very nice ways, looking down on our decision to move back to the 'ham. it has not be an easy choice to make, but has been obvious to us. we aren't heading back because we don't like colorado or because we miss being near our families (though of course we do miss them!), but we feel like this is what the Lord has for us for this coming season of our lives. we aren't sure exactly what it will look like or exactly why, which i guess makes the whole journey a little bit harder in ways. it would be a lot easier for us (especially when we get all the questions from friends and family) to know exactly what the Lord is leading us to do, but we don't know just yet. it's a journey of faith. we earnestly sought the Lord about moving to colorado and followed what we felt was his leading...and now, we shall do the same. and, we wait eagerly and patiently to see what's next (besides the obvious!). 

*every now and then, i start thinking very seriously about writing a book. after writing a paper this last week on a subject that i thoroughly enjoyed thinking about an dwelling on, i have found myself pondering trying to pull my thoughts together and write them all down. it's quite a stretch, but maybe one day... i do love writing so! :)

*pregnancy is doing some good and some strange things to my body. for one thing, my hair seems to be growing a little faster each day (i think that has something to do with the prenatals, more than the pregnancy itself though). this is nice because i've decided i want it long again! :) my belly is expanding little by little, as well. some people are surprised to hear that i am 19 weeks along and still so small, but i definitely don't feel small. i am getting more and more people staring at my belly when they talk to me, as if they are trying to decide. this is especially happening at work, as i administer breathalyzers, i notice people just staring with big eyes at my stomach, wanting to ask, but afraid to at the same time. i want to put them at ease, but i'm not sure how. i could say, "i notice you staring at my stomach, yes, there is a baby growing inside there!" but that'd be a little awkward. a shirt might do the trick, one that proclaimed my news to the world...but then i'd have to wear it every day to ensure everyone GOT it, so... 

*thanksgiving is fast approaching and we have been scatteredly planning our meal. we are having some friends over to celebrate and, if we actually have all the food we have talked about having, i think we will have enough to last us until christmas. i was pleasantly surprised at the grocery store yesterday when i saw that turkeys are not ridiculously expensive. safeway's brand was like $8 for the HUGE one.... not bad at all!!! now the only problem is figuring out how to cook a turkey since i've never done this before. i'm also looking for a great stuffing recipe-any one?? :)

*i did have one sad revelation this past week. i was at target getting a little of this and that grocery-wise when i happened upon all of the christmas things-from decorations to foods (btw-i did have to get a box of those white chocolate covered oreos-the ones that only seem to be out around christmas time...and i have selfishly said that i don't want to share them with anyone because there's so few in the box...they must be saved for special occasions. ;))...and then all of a sudden, it hit me. due to the fact that we are moving home just a few days before christmas, we will not get to decorate our place! ryan, i think, is a little grateful for this fact because not putting decorations up means not having to take anything down. but, i am a wee bit saddened by this fact. especially after seeing steph's pictures with everything looking so cute!! 

well, i guess that's all i have for now.. until next time... 

oh my!

one of the papers I am working on this week is about the book of Lamentations. what a hard read...

just me...

Growing a little more each day...

I think I might be feeling the baby move a little every now and then, but he/she is still so small-it's hard to tell if it's the baby or just gas...

yes, this is about the election

(disclaimer:my goal is not to offend, just to share a little of my thoughts)

i've been quite surprised to hear some of the reactions about our new president-some for him, some against him...but most all have strong options. i, of course, am no exception. today in my old testament class (about the kingdom of israel and its prophets), we had a little time of processing the results of the election and heard some different opinions on what people thing. my professor is a democrat and admitted that he voted for obama, with some reservations, though...so, it was especially interesting to hear his opinion about these things. in studying the kings and prophets in the old testament, there are patterns within that still hold true today. so, we discussed obama's win in light of these things. the bottom line is, obama is merely a man with some good and some bad...and i imagine that is just what we will be able to say about his presidency reign after 4 years. he will do some things right (i think especially about how he seems to be an advocate for the poor) and he will do some things wrong (heavy on my mind right now is the abortion issue-it is a HUGE deal and he has made some poor decisions already about these things, it seems)....but this fact makes him just the same as all the presidents (and all kinds of other leaders here and there) that have gone before him and all the ones who will follow. this change that he is ushering in will not be the ultimate change that we are hoping for... 

i've heard quite a few people refer to obama as a muslim and say negative things about this, but some clarification needs to happen (for all 5 of you who actually read my blog!): not only does he not claim to be a muslim, but he claims to be a follower of christ. and, as christians, we need to pray that this is true and that God would protect him (not just physically, but spiritually-from falling into the traps of sin and self) during his time as president (and after, too). the bottom line is, he is the president-elect, whether i voted for him or not...and the new testament says very specific things about the authority God has placed over us. 

on a lighter note, i am bummed that sarah is not our new vp. i was quite impressed by her and hope to see her run again in the future. regardless of what the media says, she sounded quite equipped and ready for such a huge thing. 

a wee bit stressed

life is quite busy these days. with only six weeks left in my first semester of graduate school, there is tons to do! i have quite a few major papers to do and not enough time to do them (it feels like!). i seem to have this quirky thing about me that is really frustrating when it comes to school work: i work really well when deadlines are hard pressed upon me. the deal is, it's not like i haven't known all semester about all the papers that i need to write. but when i sit down way ahead of time to write, i get no where....no where. i'll try and try and all i do is crappy, and i know it. so, i wait until the week it's due, when i'm really feeling stressed and pressed to get it done, and the results-magnificent! okay, maybe not quite magnificent, but pretty good (and much better than the early works). plus, i am able to get through it a whole lot quicker than if i try to work on it way early. i know, crazy, huh?!? all that to say, the next few weeks are going to be super busy as i try to get everything done! 

in other news, i am a little over 17 weeks pregnant and things are going wonderfully. i know ryan has to be tired of hearing me talk about my changing body. for a while, i've been convinced that i am way too big for being only 17 weeks. after being weighed at the doctor a few weeks ago, oh. my. goodness. but then, i get so upset when people ask how far along i am and i tell them, and they respond with "well, you certainly don't look it." yesterday, i was talking with a girl who is 20 weeks and her belly was protruding a little more than mine and she went on and on about how small i was. :( no! i'm pregnant and i want to look it!! silly emotions! i did have a funny encounter at church on sunday. during the "passing of the peace" (which, if you haven't experienced such a thing-it is beautiful! after our time of corporate confession of sin and the words of blessing and forgiveness, we go around and greet everyone-in the middle of the service!- and it's specifically a time where we share God's peace with one another...so you shake hands with those around you and instead of saying "Hi, how are you?" to start the convo, you say, "God's peace be with you." or something along those lines...very beautiful to experience!)...anyway, during this part of the service, an older man was on one side of me and he walked over and said, "God's peace" and I responded back and then he pointed to my stomach and gave a chuckle and then looked back at it again...an awkward moment, i must say, so after what felt like hours of this, i turned to ryan so he could introduce himself...and he did, and then the guy looked back and my stomach and then up again and paused, and then turned away. it cracked me up because i know he was about to ask something about the pregnancy or due date, but stopped himself because he didn't want to ask such a question if there be a chance that i just had a tummy! hilarious conversation that has me laughing still today! 

well, i guess my papers aren't going to write themselves...

oh one more thing! my sister-in-law had her baby last week!! there are pictures up on the proud grandparent's site: here! i can't wait to meet the little one in person...in just a few weeks now!!! :D