Full Term!

  The end is in sight! Only 3 weeks to go and going to the doctor every week now. The nursery is done, maternity pictures taken, hospital tour complete, and birth plan finalized! Now only to choose a pediatrician and to attend birthing classes!
  Looking back on the past 37 weeks, it seems like a lifetime ago that we first saw those 2 pink striped lines! Oh baby how far we have came. I feel like I have grown so much as a person over these last 9 months! We move, faced unemployment twice, joined a new church, celebrated Christmas and Thanksgiving, rang in a new year, and started a new job.
  Baby Lauren will be here before we know it and I cant wait to hold her in my arms!

Maturity

Tomorrow will be the first baby shower to honor baby Lauren's arrival! I am so excited to see my family and friends that are coming from near and far, and to spend some precious time together. Last night my grandparents came into town and we spend time together at my dad's house. My dad was talking about how proud he was of how much I had grown up! As we talked I began to think of how much my life has changed in the last 5 years! This year my parents will be divorced for 5 years, Matt and I have been together 5 years, Married 4 years, Saved 4 years, and out of college 4 years. I have been on my own and had to maintain a household! I thought of myself in high school and college and how much my life centered around myself. Not only was I overly focused on my self but made alot of bad choices! I am so thankful for the past 5 years and all the personal growth I have experienced! Looking back on myself in high school/college I could not see myself as the wife I am today and the mother that I will soon be! I am not perfect and I still make mistakes all the time, but I have learned to put others needs ahead of my own and that I am not the most important person in my "world"! I am so blessed and thankful that my family and friends were by my side through it all and are still her for my family and me!
May God bless! Philippians 4:13

Matt's job search

Great news today! Matt has an interview at 5pm, we are really excited and praying all goes well. God is good and has allowed Matt to work a temp job and still schedule an interview! Please be praying that God's will be done! The job today is a straight hire job and has benefits!

Blessings at 33 weeks

Entering the final stretch until baby is here! Only 7 weeks to go! So much has happened in the past week. Matt's new job did not work out and once again he was on the search for a job. God is good and about one week to the day of him being let go he started a temp to hire job! Also, on Tuesday, Matt had some testing at a company that could lead to a permit job. I am so very thankful that God is so good to our family! We have been praying very hard this past week and seeking his will. Sometimes its hard to hear the answer no or wait, but God is in control and has a plan! I

I had my 33 weeks check up to day and Lauren's doing really good! Her heartbeat is very strong and around 150 beats per minute. She is very active and starting to move into position for her big arrival! Our first baby shower is this weekend and we are very excited to see friends and family from out of town!

May God bless!

A Father's Love

I think I experienced one of the sweetest things ever last night. As Matt and I were talking and getting ready to go to sleep, he started talking to baby Lauren. When he got done he told her he loves her and gave my belly a sweet kiss and then I feel the biggest kick ever from her! So Matt kissed my belly again and again she kicks! This went on for several minutes and finally she move and started kicking again! She loves when her daddy sings to her, also! What an awesome feeling and an awesome husband and father! Even though Lauren is not here yet, I think that she knows she is very loved and is sharing her love with us! I hope everyone has a good night and God bless!

CHRISTmas 2012

Our tree

Next year there will be 4 stockings!

Us and the belly!

Daisy's stocking

Daisy all tired from the Christmas excitement!

Lauren's gifts from her grandpa Randy, great nanny nu-nu, and great grandpa Jim

32 weeks and counting!

We are officially 32 weeks along in this pregnancy, only 8 weeks to go! This past weekend has been a busy one, getting ready for the new year, working, and church! I just wanted to say how thankful I am to be a member of such a wonderful church and excited for what God had ahead in 2012! I spent the day around the house just being lazy! It was really nice and I had not had a lazy day in so long, I think I forgot how to be lazy! lol I did take a few moments and looked through pictures of my life, from the time I was born up until now. As I looked at all the baby and toddler pictures of myself, all I could think of was what my daughter Lauren would look like and what a miracle she is! If you would have asked me in early 2011 when I would have children or if I wanted children my response would have been "some day". Now that I am expecting I honestly do not know what my life would be like without my baby! I think and dream of her constantly and I am so excited to meet her! I never understood how you could love someone you have never met so much! We have never see each other face to face or had a conversation, but she knows my voice and touch and I know her sweet kicks! Eight weeks seems like such a long time away, but I am sure it will be here before we know it! As I look at all the things that we still have to do and all the preparations, I wonder if 8 weeks will be enough time to be ready for Lauren's birth! I delight in watching my belly move and contort into all kinds of funny shapes as my sweet baby plays and moves in her ever crowding world. We chose the name Lauren as sort of a tradition in my family, my mother's name started with L and so does mine, I always knew that when I had a daughter of my own that we would name her something starting with L. As I dream of the one day when we meet our sweet baby girl and pray for blessings over her and her life, I cant help but think what were Mary's thoughts as she carried baby Jesus? I am sure she wondered what the Son of God would look like, and how would he grow into a man, and how would she deal with him dying on the cross for all the world's sins! What a burden placed on this young woman's life! I am so scared of doing something wrong and hurting my baby, I could not even picture carrying the Savoir and Prince of Peace! As the Christmas season has ended and as life gets back to "normal", may of us are going back to work, returning from trips and seeing family, just take a small moment and think back to over 2,000 years ago in the little town of Bethlehem and the miraculous birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus and the joy and delight in his mother's eye!
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."