Pregnant!

Saturday, February 6th, I decided to take a Sabbath. But I couldn't rest easy, knowing that something hadn't started that should have. I decided to take a test. Is that a faint second line, confirming a positive?

Trying to interpret the results through a haze of oversleeping and excitement is never easy. Better go out to breakfast, go for a walk, drive to the local Walgreens, and buy another test.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but the second test's second line was a lot darker. Derek decided we'd better hit the clinic, which was closing in a half an hour, to be sure.

The nurse walked in to the examining room and told us our due date. Derek and I looked at each other as if to say, "so...that means we're pregnant?" Duh.

So we're pretty excited. We just hit the 6-week mark, so it's still early, but we're just going to keep praying over our little Doodlebug and asking God to let us steward His kiddo. Looking forward to being parents in October, God willing!

How to Grow a Human

Step 1: Rely on God's plan and timing...but, you know, go through the motions ;-)

Step 2: Start taking vitamins that you probably should have been taking anyway

Step 3: Obsess over every little pinch and pain in your abdomen until finally deciding that it's probably just constipation from the vitamins and you're not actually pregnant afterall

Step 4: Discover that you, in fact, ARE pregnant and begin to seriously doubt your powers of self-assessment.

Step 5: Eat EVERYTHING IN SIGHT

I'm at about step 5 right now. Except...for once in my life, I'm not the least bit interested in sweets. Derek's mom made what was probably a delicious pie, and cookies, and chocolate cake, but it all tasted like dust in my mouth. I'm officially broken. To top that off, I'm craving savory/salty things...this must be Derek's kid =)

Week 4

I'm going to have too much fun with this website:

My Baby

By two weeks after conception, the ball of cells implanted in the lining of your uterus has divided into two parts. One half will become the placenta, which nourishes your baby as she grows. The second half is the embryo itself. Around this time, nerve growth begins, as a sheet of cells folds backward to create the neural tube, or spinal column.

...and

Oh yeah. Praise to God for giving me and Derek a baby =) Due date is October 16, 2010. Found out this afternoon. WOOHOO!!

Praises

I praise you, God, for the beautiful mountains lit by morning sun, resembling crisp sheets of starched linen reflected in the still waters of the sound.

I praise you, God, for your commandment to Sabbath, to take the time to enjoy your Word and your Creation for all the glory contained therein.

I praise you, God, for giving us purpose in times of great need, and direction to best glorify you in our struggles.

I praise you, God, that my students raised more than $3,000 for Haiti and feel the joy that comes with God-given compassion.

I praise you, God, for the fullness of life that comes only from knowing you.

I praise you, God, for babies, and for all the joy and heartache in every story I hear.

I praise you, God, for endowing us with a desire to be creative as you are creative, and to enjoy created things as they pertain to your glory, not in and of themselves.

I praise you, God, for giving cats the ability to be warm, soft, and purring all at once.

I praise you, God, for giving me Derek; my favorite example of your love, mercy, and compassion.

I praise you, God, because I get to. That's the best thing of all.

A teachable spirit

One of my New Year's resolutions, and something I've been praying about, is to get to know God better and spend more time with Him. Request: GRANTED! Last night was the first night of our 15-week Perspectives course to prepare us for Missions, and it was really amazing. I admit, I walked in with fairly low expectations and a distinct lack of motivation, but the lesson was really incredible. I am so excited about the work God is doing in Mongolia and I admit, I am a little jealous of the joy the Mongolian church has for God. I often feel that joy, but I don't often express it...ours is not a church where you shout things and weep and dance in the aisles. We're too...Seattle-y. Sometimes I wish everyone would shout and clap and jump up and down, just a little, because ours is a God who is worthy of rejoicing. Lots and lots of rejoicing.

I learned a lot last night, and am busy soaking up and reviewing the new revelations about our amazing God. I have lots more, though...today I went to our church's Women's Training Day at the Shoreline campus and had an absolutely incredible day of training and fellowship with lots and lots of Mars Hill ladies. All the ladies from our community group were there (and fortunately, we didn't clump, but got to know some other ladies as well - yay!) so it will be fun to talk about what we learned when we meet on Monday. We read through James...wow. I learned a ton and was very convicted to pray more for the things that I know I can't (and CAN) do myself. Sometimes God gives us trials , but He gives us trials that we can handle when we lean on Him. Sometimes the trials are seasons of suffering, and sometimes the trials are to remove idols, like comfort (hadn't thought of that before), and sometimes the trials don't feel like trials because we're oh so comfortable in our sin. Point is, we should be praying with fervor and supplication all the time. I'll admit, I suck at this. But I know how important it is and what an amazing aspect of God's grace that we even get to have relationship with our Creator, so I'll pray that God would help me mature in my faith and improve. James says that if we ask for something that glorifies God, He will grant it. What an awesome thing.

I'm off to work on my homework for Perspectives, and I'm looking forward to what I'm going to learn about God as I work. Thank you, God, for reaching out to me. I'm glad you've got big, long monkey arms, cuz it's a long way down to where I'm at.

Resolutions

To be honest, I don't remember any of my resolutions from last year with one exception: eat more spicy foods. I did that, and it was delicious. This year, I'm going to write down my resolutions and pray about them, but I'll be happy if, by this time next year, I can remember just one. Here goes!

1. Spend more time with God. I really want to spend more time delving into the Word and learning more about the God who knows everything about me. I'm especially excited because I know that at least the beginning of this year will provide lots of structured opportunity for this: we have Community Group every Monday, Bible Study every Thursday, Perspectives on Fridays, and Church on Sundays. I like structure. And learning with people.

2. Have a baby. God willing, this could be an awesome resolution. Even if we don't have one this year, all the trying will be good for our marriage.

3. Spend less time at my job. I get paid from 7:00am until 2:30pm everyday, so staying until 4:30 on a regular basis isn't really all that good for me. I want to set a go-home time and actually stick to it. This will make me use my planning period more effectively, I hope. So, I hereby resolve to always go home by 3:30 every day and the only exception is if I have to set up for a sub.

4. Close out Dad's estate. This includes: closing out the IRA still held with Fidelity, filing tax returns, redeeming that tricky savings bond, emptying the bank accounts, and placing Dad's urn in the columbarium. It'll really feel good when that is all done. My list is so much shorter now than it used to be, and I'll be happy when there's nothing left to do but remember my dad for the great guy he was.

Four seems like a reasonable number to tackle. I'll stick with that.