Our Cup Overfloweth...

Well, the Thanksgiving week is past, but our thanks has only increased!

The week started off with some exciting news that, not only are we to be parents (you/we already knew that) but we are to be parents of a baby boy *contented sigh*... Scott and I have desired a boy, not for any astounding reason other than that we really want a boy. The Lord does not need to give us a baby or a boy, but He chose to give us both. What a picture to me of Unmerited Favor!!!

Then the next day (Tuesday) my mom and brother arrived, both safely. I have not seen my mother in a year and scott in two years, it was very nice to have her to our house for Thanksgiving. It was also a blessing to have my brother for 5 whole days! :-) During the week we ventured out to buy some clothes for my college-broke brother, we made a large Thanksgiving meal, decorated for Christmas, went to NYC for the day, and celebrated the first Sunday of Advent together. Yes we did all that and baby and I slept very well, I must say...especially after our day in NYC...all....that...walking!

Thanksgiving was beautiful, we were able to have not only 3 parents but 2 siblings, a cousin and a dear friend, Jamie in for dinner. Ashley (cousin) decided to come to NJ to stay with "Uncle Ron and Aunt Linda" for the holiday, just because she wanted to see us all--it was really great to see her again, after 3 years! Many different things were raised in thanks to our Lord and Saviour...

The last, and most exciting thing about this week was that yesterday my mom and I were on our way to Bethlehem, PA for some shopping and excitement when we got into a car accident :-( I won't go into sordid details but my poor little Subaru is mashed in the front. No one was hurt and I went to my mid-wife last night to check on the baby. I'll just start giving praises right now about this little bend in the road because praise is all I have about yesterday...

1. No one was hurt
2. The other driver's car was not damaged
3. My mom was with me and helped me to think through the "what do I do now?"
4. The tow truck was only $48
5. Jamie, the guy mentioned above, is my mechanic, friend, brother in Christ and general go-to guy about many issues, ESPECIALLY broken cars. :-)
6. The body shop owner has been super good and honest.
7. We have no collision insurance....but we do have savings (praise the LORD!)
8. The whole day our baby was kicking me like crazy, as if he was saying "hey! don't worry mom, I'm okay!" (I actually watched him push my tummy out for the first time :-)
9. We have a beautiful church family that always cares for us in our time of need, and my mom noticed that too.
10. Nicole packed her 3 daughters into her car and came to pick us up.
11. My husband is one of the best in the whole world and just said, when I called him, "I'm so glad you all are okay, I love you so much.".
12. My Lord and Saviour always cares for me.


And just as a side note and a lighter ending to this crazy post...we are not naming him "Harold" :-)

The Growing Belly

Alright, I'm back...emerging from the world of make-up and visiting nursing... whew! Some updates: First of all, we had our first "snow-storm" of the year up here. Did not take pics because Mama Pearce and I were out in it shopping and sitting on a closed Rt. 80. Tres fun, I assure you. That same day I had my 16 week check-up with my mid-wife. Little Harold might actually be a Harold after all. The baby's heart rate was 132...which is slow...which "they say" is a boy heart rate. Time will tell, we will be having our ultrasound just before Thanksgiving. Our plan is to have the ultrasound tech write the sex on a piece of paper (if they can tell) and put it in an envelope so that we can open it at our leisure. We are so very excited to find out what we are having. I felt the baby move for the first time a week or so ago. Which, they say is early, but I seem to be super in-tune with my body and can feel everything. Scott says I can feel my appendix working (he's not in the medical field, folks, hence he does not know that an appendix does nothing. :-) So anyhow to get to the point of this post...the first belly pic!

You can see my belly is growing, but thankfully the rest of me is not! I have only gained somewhere between 4 and 5 lbs. So we are right on track. So here's to how sugar makes me feel caffeinated and all the protein I need to shove into my tummy...yum...

Unveiling

It seems that since I've been pregnant I've gotten busier and busier. I'm leading GEMS, working in home care nursing 4 days a week, women's book study, trying to be an excellent wife to Scott and to be a diligent homemaker...add to that random commitments to youth group and friends at church and a book club I've joined (this is my fault, but it's Jane Austen!!!!)....*whew*! This is a lot of stuff. But through it all the Lord has been faithful and I've been learning to spend my time more wisely and to seek Him in what I do. I also have gotten more organized! Yay!

So in light of all of that stuff what do I do? I started my own Mary Kay® business :-) That's right, I could be your new Mary Kay® beauty consultant!!!! This has been a huge deal for Scott and I, we are both excited.

Here are my reasons for starting this little business: 1. I already love my baby and want to stay home with him to love and raise him to know the LORD. 2. I really love my husband (!) and I want to take a small part of the financial burden off of his shoulders while caring for our little one. 3. I feel that this will be an awesome ministry opportunity. 4. Rachel is a really great friend, whom I trust, and she loves her MK® business so much and she assured me I would love it. 5. I am a people person and I really like meeting new people, therefore I feel this will be a great outlet when the baby is small. 6. I REALLY like Mary Kay® skin care and make up. It makes me happy to be able to share that with other women.

So that is the newest challenge that is going on at 30 Broad. We are enjoying this season of life, God is really showing His goodness to us and we are praising Him for it!

News Flash!!

Sara Groves' new album is for sale!!! And also it's on sale for $9.99...check it out!

Art*Music*Justice Tour

This weekend Scott and I ventured out to the wilds of Central PA to see Sara Groves and some other singer/songwriters perform at Messiah college. What started out as a little get together with Shana and Chris ended up being a whirlwind of reconnecting with old friends! We saw Dan and Amy Eckel as well as Amy's friend and my acquaintance Heather. Then we ran into Deb Stuber. We also caught up with Bill and Becky Waring--Becky is another friend of mine from back home. It was so fun! One thing I noticed is that with some friends, extended time between visits doesn't change much. Amy and I hadn't seen each other in 3 years--and we noted---"nothing has changed, it's so fun and easy being with you!"

Amy, Dan and Scott

Bill and Becky in their hippy apartment :-)

As for the concert--what a beautiful and heart wrenching display of God's people loving the poor, oppressed, widowed, orphaned and needy... I cannot say enough of the efforts of the 6 people we saw and heard from. Please check out what is going on with that tour at http://www.saragroves.com/. Also you can find out information at Food for the Hungry and International Justice Mission. This tour was the brainchild of Sara and her husband Troy after they went to Rwanda in recent years. Sara has shared her heart and how she was affected in song on her newest album "Tell me what you know". The things they mainly focused on at the concert were the current issues of sex trafficking and modern day slavery in the world, things we would find gruesome and hard to swallow if approached with in our world right now. But these things are happening all the time, right now.

Sara, Troy, Sandra and Derek

Sara singing "Add to the Beauty"

Sandra McCracken

Derek Webb

Needless to say this concert has afforded me with more information in my brain that I must now wrestle with. It feels so hard to know how to divide your time and prayer life sometimes. Scott and I struggle at times, because we would like to help with all kinds of things, but we know that is impossible. This causes us to draw near to God and ask Him what should be the desires of our hearts and where we should be ministering.

Another, but more frivolous and fun, thing that I discovered at the concert is Sandra McCracken whom I have immensely enjoyed on the two Indelible Grace albums that we own. I now have the sampler from her newest album "Red Balloon". You can get it here. You can also get her husband, Derek Webb's newest album there as well.

You put the lime in the coconut...

Apparently Harold is the size of a lime and we are at 12 weeks! Finally there is an end in sight to the first trimester...Don't get me wrong, this has been fairly easy so far. But, just seeing the end of this delicate stage is so nice, I just want our baby to GROW! Not that I'm looking forward to the stage of tremendous belly, I just want to get to the point where it feels like that baby is safely growing.

Yesterday I had my hair trimmed at my friend Dee Frayne's and she said, "I like to look at women and tell what they are having by their appearance...I'm always right." I started laughing, of course, and said "oh really?!" She replied, "Yes and after you deliver this baby boy..." 'Nuff said for me, I'm buying it hook, line and sinker :-) Actually as much as I would love a baby boy I have come to the realization that a girl could be very fun! As much as I dread hormones and "princess" stages and tons of pink...I think we will have a cool girl. We can mold her right? :-)

Speaking of girls, we heard the heartbeat for the first time on Monday night. I thought I would be immune to the thrill of hearing my baby's heartbeat. Just on account of how medical it is and all that. But it was so cool!!! It was beating at 172 bpm. Holy beating like a drum batman! The reason why I say "speaking of girls" is because "they" say that the fast heartbeat means a girl. It also could have to do with the chocolate I ate before the appointment and how nervous I was during the appointment. Also, my midwife said it was way to early to tell the sex by that stuff...or so she said. Let me just say we stopped off at Aron and Megan's afterward to pick up my ipod, which, like an idiot, I left in Megan's car the other day, and I prattled on and on. I was so excited! Just the assurance of a heartbeat---Praise the Lord!

Side note (very side note, since this takes us down politics lane): If I never hear the following words again I will be a very happy girl--- "Maverick", "Wall Street/ Main Street" and "Community Organizer". The latter is probably my least favorite, since it never existed to me until this election. That's all on a red, white and blue note.

More to come after the concert this weekend...

we work for the weekends...sometimes...

Yes that's right...Scott and I have made an impulse decision to go see Sara Groves along with 4 other artists this Saturday night. This impulse decision was made easier given that it will be near Shana and Chris (this is really a guise to see these two lovely people) in Grantham, PA (Messiah College). And also the tickets were only $10 each. YAY!!! I have been wanting to see Sara for a long, long time.

Also a plus? Sandra McCracken and Derek Webb will be there. Maybe they will sing this beautiful song "O Love That Will Not Let Me Go". Scott and I, thanks to Joel and Elizabeth, two of our favorite siblings (you know, aside from Allen, Alex, Amy and Guy) as well as two of our favorite brothers and sisters in Christ, have really gotten into Indelible Grace Music. (run on sentence?) I would encourage you all to check them out!

Other than that, on a more serious note, please continue to pray for Scott in his affliction of this abdominal pain. He started having the pain again in church today, and is now laid up in our bed trying to cope. Pray for healing and for his spiritual well-being as this is very discouraging for him.

More to come, I'm sure...