Week 22

Yay for another week chalked up for the bump! This week was MUCH better than last week. The sinus plague has hung around and worn out its welcome BUT it is very slowly getting better. I could do a big ridiculous happy dance for not getting sick (sick) this week! Thank you Jesus! (and Levi) for allowing me to hold it together this week. This morning I knew exactly what I wanted to blog about and then as I headed to my parents house in this dreadful rain my world got a little shook up. I hydroplaned and ran off the road into some bushels/tree branches. Other than my side mirror getting knocked forward the car is fine. I am fine.. now. It was scary. I have never hydroplaned like that before. Normally I can gain control of the car and stay on the road no big deal.. Everyone has experienced that... THIS felt like somebody had my steering wheel and would not let me have control................ *BIG OLE SIGH*
Like I said I am fine.. Levi has been punching and kicking all day.
But as I sit here and force myself to write this out, I am dreaming of laying in my bed and crying myself into sleep. Tears of fear and thankfulness for our gracious God to not let me hit another car. I don't want to over dramatize my incident today because I am perfectly fine.. but it did scare me and of course it went along with our message at church today. Our days are numbered.
We live this life of "eventuallys" and "one days" without our next breath not being promised to us. Hopefully you have a bigger life to look forward to- I know it is easy for me to get a little caught up in my day to day without making each day count. Like if I were to die tomorrow.. did anything happen today that mattered. Did I make a difference in anybody's life? Did I influence someone's decision towards giving their life to Christ?
I was going to blog about all these dreams I am having about my life. I was not one of those people that knew what I wanted to be when I grew up.. I still don't. I know that I want to live for Him and I pray that He provides opportunities for ministry in daily living. I want to be passionate about whatever I do and God is developing that in my heart right now. He is showing me that ministry isn't always working for a church, or going on mission trips.. Ministry is where God has you right now. What are you doing with it? I don't want to be one of those people at my ten year reunion bragging on all my degrees and accomplishments. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that and MAN I am so excited for so many of my graduating classmates and what they are doing with their lives. They are living big and most of them are living big for God. That's what I want. I want to live big for God. I am tired of feeling small and incapable of being great. That is a lie from that sick enemy. My God made me to be great. I am not a mistake and He has a plan for me- a great big plan. I want to open my life to Him- that I would no longer feel inadequate. I pretend it's humility but it's not. Because the feelings I have are that "I can't accomplish that" or "I'm not good enough"... THAT IS NOT HUMILITY! It is pride. I can't accomplish anything and I am not good enough BUT there is this amazing Savior that has given me new life. He makes me holy. The Holy Spirit dwells inside of me. It's time to let His love spill over. It's past time that I start giving God a little more credit and start realizing that He can do anything if I allow Him to take place in my life.
So on to baby stuff :-)
The hubs FINALLY felt Levi kicking around. I think Monday was the first day Levi kicked in the morning... 5 am I might add. AND he was kicking B in the butt! :-) I told B, Levi was claiming his territory. It was hilarious. Levi doesn't kick all day- he is definitely on a schedule... but if I want him to kick... cheese dip works everytime. Cheese is the one thing I can count on to get him moving. OR if I have my laptop on my belly. Don't worry there's a pillow in between laptop and belly.
So the fabulous hubs started working on a DIY lamp I envisioned. I still have to paint it again so when the nursery is done I'll put a full picture up.. but!

Basically I wanted a lamp made from a fishing pole. I knew I wanted it to be all white (so another coat of paint is needed). BUT the technical (electrical) part is done! It is already super cute, just doesn't have that finished look quite yet. Major props to hubs :-)

AND YES Mr. Levi Fisher is growing! I attribute this weeks growth to no sickness (woop woop).

I want to leave this week with an encouragement. If you are not sure what God is doing in your life- or where He wants you. Be still. Be quiet. And be prepared.

Praying for revelations and dreams to develop.

Me and the bump are hittin the hay. It has been a day.

 





 

Week 21

Goodness.. This week was a rollercoaster! I think we all were ready to see the week end with all the tragedies around us. I just hope everyone's focus is on the Lord. We personally had a bit of bumpy week. First of all I was hit with the sinus plague and it got worse as the week went on. NO FUN. We went to the doctor Wednesday to do the anatomy scan (which is just a more detailed ultrasound to make sure everything is growing properly). Levi is looking good! Such a relief. My mom went with me to my appointment so B can save up on vacation days. It was so funny seeing him be more active. We could see his little mouth sucking on his thumb- which was hilarious. Funny how they learn to do that so soon. Levi already looks so cute (if I do say so myself).

He gave us a wave! :) I think I'm going to be one of "those moms". I wish I would've felt better at my appointment because I was out of it. I had not felt that bad my whole pregnancy. I got sick at the doctors office several times and decided that I shouldn't go to work at all. Luckily my doctor put me on some antibiotics and recommended some safe sinus meds. Feeling a little better every day.

 

Thursday came and we got hit with some not so good news. Hubby's sweet dad heard that terrible word cancer. Luckily they caught it very early. He will have surgery in a few months. No one likes to hear that word- it doesn't matter what "stage" that it's in. It just knocks the breath out of you. We're praying confidently that our gracious Lord will heal him completely so Levi can have his Poppy for many many years.

With all that is happening around us, I was reminded multiple times today that we need to keep Jesus at the center. Everything we have comes God. We are just the recipients of all His giving. We have to remember that without Him we have nothing. So that house that you "own"- belongs to the Lord- He is letting you live there because He trusts you with that home and wants you to have a place here. That promotion you just got- straight from God- how are you going to return the blessing? I am so guilty of forgetting that I am a mere tool in a toolbelt. I have a purpose- but best used by my Carpenter. So thankful for His giving spirit and entrusting me with not only spiritual gifts but blessings all around.

That's a baby bump :)



Thankful for..

Despite all the sickness this week-- somehow Levi grew. I've only gained 2 pounds the whole pregnancy, but my weight has definitely shifted cause this kid is starting to make himself known. He is so active now- I can feel definite kicks which I just love. If I'm really still I can see my belly move. B still hasn't felt him yet (mainly because of his impatience). Maybe this week Levi will kick him.

Praying for..

Our country. Our focus. While there is a lot of hateful things going on- there are His beautiful ways to rescue our thoughts. For every tragedy that happens, there is a group of people gathering to pray, lifting up, encouraging, and serving those who hurt. While our enemy would love for us to focus on all the awful things that fill this world- there is this mighty big God who brings light to the darkness. The devil makes a good case for us to be sucked into- BUT Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and He is GOOD. Please join me in shifting focus to our great merciful God, and pray for the sweet families who laid loved ones to rest. Pray for a comfort that can only come from God. Please pray for my sweet father in law and B's mom and B- as we face treatment options and asking God to give us the courage to see His greatness.

praying that God allows us another week to see His goodness. Jesus be the center of it all!

Week 20

Can we do a victory lap!!?? We're halfway there!!! So incredily surreal! God is good! It hit me today over and over how good He is. Our church service brought me back to last August- today we sang "It is Well with my soul" and "Ten Thousand Reasons".. Both songs address worshipping God when it's the last thing you want to do. I don't want to keep harping on our miscarriage but honestly the Lord is mending my heart through this still and I'm hoping it gives someone encouragement. When you face a loss, it is really hard to see any sort of light. This is why you ask people to pray for you. I don't mean to pray for your well-being. I mean asking them to step into your shoes, take on your burden, and pray for you. Because it is hard to pray when you're mourning. In fact the only thing I could pray at those moments was that someone was praying for me. Someone to say the words that I couldn't. And some one was or ten people. I was blessed with worship music that filled my thoughts. It wasn't something I wanted to do or felt that it was time to do- all I know is.. that is what I did. I layed on the couch in our living room and listened to worship music. Someone was commanding my soul to worship the Lord when I simply couldn't do it. These songs are both about this- what are you going to worship when its hard?. Like I said I couldn't do this on my own nor do I take credit for those moments of worship- honestly I felt like I needed to cry and mope and I felt like I deserved to. It was very confusing- because my heart was in a true battle of worship. I didn't really comprehend it until today when our pastor brought it to life. I don't think God intends for us to go through hard things and put on a happy face and go on with life. He expects us to grieve, to be mad, to hurt- otherwise it wouldn't be hard. But that's also when He makes us strong. It's when the devil is defeated. It's about a choice that even when your hurting- we hold on to a hope, we see a light, and we choose to make that priority over it all.
Today was just a great day of worship.
It was also a great day of rest! :) We hosted a lingerie shower at our house yesterday for my sweet cousin and went out for bachelorette festivities last night. The whole week my mind was racing of the things I needed to do before Saturday. And let me tell you... Friday I realized I needed to make a list of all the last minute things that needed to be done. LISTS ARE IMPORTANT! If it doesn't get written down- it doesn't get done. It's both hilarious and frustrating- I just hope the people around me are forgiving because my brain is like a pin ball bouncing around. We had so much fun celebrating and I'm so thankful for all the help I had from my mom and sweet cousin. Which brings me to my day of rest. I woke up (after 12 hours of wonderful sleep) and felt like I had run a marathon. My legs were killing me- my head was throbbing- I felt like an old lady. So my butt layed on the couch.. all day and listened to the sweet rain. It was exactly what I needed. And it was a perfect (lame-o) celebration for WEEK 20!!!
At some point in the laziness I looked at Brad and said oh my goodness we only have 4 months left. We shared an excited/scared grin. And I think mr.levi fisher is pretty darn excited too. He has been getting a little bit stronger and I have felt him moving from the outside several times. So we took a celebratory midpoint bump pic tonight...

I feel like my bump is growing more up and down than out-- but I'm sure that's coming! I'm just glad I'm showing. Maybe next week's picture will be a little more exciting-- like I said day of rest.

Changes?

Belly is growing..Due to appetite returning!!! WOOP WOOP! My doc told me I needed to gain 5 lbs by next visit (which is Wednesday) so I don't know if I have or not- I'm just glad I'm eating. I don't weigh myself except for mandatory doc office because if I did I would obsess over that number. Something I'm not interested in obsessing over right now. I'm listening to my body and eating when I'm hungry. I love that his movements are getting stronger, it's so sweet feeling him move around.

(the pitiful sounding) How are you feeling?

:) I feel great peeps. I'm tired some days and others I could lead a kickboxing class. I've had a migraine today- accompanied by sickness- BUT it's nothing I haven't faced before. Just doing it without medicine and treating with rest. Other than that, cue the "I feel good da-nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh". The last thing I want to do is complain about any symptoms! The great days outweigh the bleh days 6-1. I'll take it and be grateful for it.

Prayers?

We go for our anatomy scan Wednesday which is a more detailed ultrasound of little Levi. Praying that he cooperates and shows everything they need to see. Also praying that the Lord directs and guides mine and Brad's dreams. Our hearts want to stay aligned with where He would have us and we're praying for His clarity and guidance.

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."- Colossians 3:23

Just a needed reminder of who our Provider is.

Week 19

So thankful for another week! Praise the Lord Alabama saw some sunshine this week! Always makes for a more enjoyable week! The week was a long one but the weekend was so much fun. Got to celebrate Levi's best friend coming into the world soon. I love being surrounded by so many friends who are pregnant. It makes me even more thankful that we are pregnant in His timing not ours. Something that comforted me during the months of "trying" was picturing my kid(s) with its playmates and knowing that God made my mom pregnant when she was suppose to so that I would grow up with the people who molded me to who I am. So I know He has the same intention for my children. And I mean there is something in the water around here!! Levi is going to have so many friends!! I love it- I pray for these sweet ladies and their little ones just about everytime I touch my belly. Mostly I have to pray that God gives me the ability to trust in His name and His promises because there are lies around us all.
Which brings me to the beautiful celebration of marriage we attended tonight. Very close friend and his beautiful bride said their "I dos" on a perfect Alabama day and was just another reminder of His miracle of love. When I met this guy he was probably the most open person about his faith that I had met. And the joy that he carried was infectious. He actually was the first person to tell me about Church of the Highlands and opened my eyes to a new fresh faith journey. I hope the Lord blesses him for always inviting me to church functions and sharing his love of the Lord. He has been a brother in Christ to me for about 5 years and prayed for m,e and I for him. It was such a blessing to see him and his wife join in covenant together and celebrate God's love between them. I always love the choice of songs that are incorporated in weddings these days and tonight was no different. "Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus" was sung while the Lord's supper was given to the couple. Oh this song.. man.. the first time I heard it was at Wednesday night church and our pastor got up there and started playing it and I just have loved it ever since. Particularly because it was convicting my heart at the time. I had a very hard time trusting in God's plan. And I know His plan is all knowing but I was so scared that it would come with something scary. That is the devil. "Tis so SWEET to Trust in Jesus"- this song opened my heart to the truth of God's love. It's not that this life will not have trials but it is knowing and trusting that this life isn't IT. We have something so much bigger to live for. God is good. He is sweet. His blessings overflow. He is generous- the ultimate giver.

What's New!!??
We are still narrowing down exactly what we want to do with the nursery. I've been good so far and haven't bought anything! I've been able to curb my temptation by buying for friends' babies. :)
So.. How are you feeling?
Still so excited about having a little boy. Every time I see a little boy running around it just gets me so excited for him to be here. My appetite is still non existent.. which I feel bad about. I know I need to eat more for Levi but I'm like tired of eating at two bites of a meal. I'm trying to make sure what I do eat isn't just a bunch of junk, but at this point I'm just trying to make sure calories are consumed.
Praying for..
There are so many things on my heart right now. I'm really trying hard to stay in a state of praise. I never want the Lord to think of my "needs" as not being content with my beautiful life. I am beyond blessed with my little family. Everyday I get to see my sweet hubby is just overwhelming to me. But there is also no one I want to trust my needs to other than my Lord. We are trying to strategize our next few months until Levi gets here, but as me and hubs discussed tonight we just want to roll with what God has for us--trusting in our Sweet Jesus.