Second-Trimester Bump Progress

Well I seem to be great at posting these when entering the following trimester, oh well better late than never right? I also want to be able to look back on these and see the progress clearly. Seems hard to believe in just a few short months I will be full term!?!?! When did that happen?? 

The Second trimester was definitely much easier in so many ways compared to the first. The energy burst was super helpful at getting the nursery decorated, buying baby clothes & working in general. Only frustrating part has been the painful stretching while the bump has grown - nothing a little lotion couldn't help with :) 

Food cravings: ice cream & mexican

Well to those who requested pictures, enjoy! 

Thanks to my sweet sis for the awesome maternity dress!

Hannah very kindly did some gender reveal pictures for us around this time!

See them here.

Best tip ever: these are rocking my world as they support the ever-growing bump. 

More soon on the bump progress! Unless she arrives before I get a chance to update here.

Much Love!

First-Trimester Bump Progress.

So it is likely that I will find time to head back here periodically and share pregnancy-related news for a while, then perhaps it will become a place to keep in contact with family & friends as our little girls arrives and grows. Not sure how frequently this will happen, although I do hope to try and make it a regular occurrence. I share that sort of as a disclaimer as I don't want writing here to become an interference with living life so if that starts to happen, you will see me here less again. (Although hopefully not with a 6 month+ break like last time)

A couple of people have asked for bump updates, and even though I've irregularly kept track with an app on my phone, I haven't shared many on Facebook for example. (I'm back and forth on the security of the site due to the ever-changing terms and conditions) So for now I think it's fine to share more here in this little space, but I do reserve the right to change my mind :) 

The day I found out. Andrew was actually at work, I had been feeling off all weekend & I had previously taken a test which was negative, but after the 'stomach bug' was lingering on Monday, I opted to take another test in the middle of the day. Not really sure why, well I found my little 'stomach bug.' So I texted Andrew at work to tell him. 

Most of the rest of the first trimester seems like a fog. Morning sickness hit pretty hard around 5-6 weeks, so other than working and then coming home and sleeping I really didn't do much else. It improved some around 11ish weeks but stuck around occasionally until recently (maybe even until 20 weeks). 

So here's the progress, I wasn't super regular with pictures since there really wasn't much to see in the first trimester. I have been a little more regular in the second since you can actually see the change. (sorry for the quality, most of these were my phone) 

(I promise our bed does actually get made....as much as these pictures would suggest otherwise)

That pretty much wraps up the first trimester, at the end we got to head to LA for a sweet friend's wedding which was beautiful!! I was so thankful we were able to go!! :) 

More bump progress coming soon! Much Love! 

Oh for a Joy like This.

We have been back for nearly a week and my heart still can't stop thinking about these kids. I really miss them with such a burden, their joy & thankfulness to God despite how little they have! They taught me so much! Yesterday we were asked to sit on a panel in our Sunday School class and talk about our trip and the question of what did we learn from the Kenyan people came up.

The answer is overwhelming, because I am sure we learned more from them, than they did from us. Having been on trips before I knew we wouldn't be going on to accomplish amazing things that couldn't take place without us. That was not our goal or our focus, my husband and I both wanted to go knowing we were joining an organisation already very present in Kenya. Knowing the Lord was already moving among the people in the region this group is working in and we wanted to go and encourage them, witness what the Lord was doing & who knows maybe join them someday? We both feel so burdened to not live permanently in the comfort of the western world and instead to reach other people groups. Of course God is at work in our current community which we are privileged to be a part of and I don't view any of the work here as insignificant. The Lord calls people to different places to do His work and for some that means staying exactly where they are. Our hearts just burn with a passion to do His work elsewhere someday. 

But the children over in Kenya, they amaze me. They are just some of the happiest kids I have ever seen. And it broke my heart watching their everyday routine, how little they have, yet how joyful and excited they are to spend time together and with anyone who will play with them. The pace of life over there was just enjoyable, no stress over online activity or how many likes you have on social media. Just quality time with people, loving on others and enjoying late night conversations with the pastors. My heart is just full. I have no other words to describe the feeling. 

I never got to join the children for their evening devotions as our evening schedules didn't permit that to take place. If I go back, I really want to make that happen. We heard them singing praise songs late in the evenings a few times and it was incredible. 

He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."

Matthew 18:2-6

It took everything in me to leave, I wish we had the option to just stay permanently right now. To take on the task of loving these little babes, who were being cared for by 2 selfless amazing women 24/7. To contribute even a little to what the Lord is doing through this ministry. It feels so uncomfortable coming home and discussing Thanksgiving dinner, knowing their are hungry children where I was just a week ago. Or Christmas knowing that they don't even have a toy to call their own while most children in America have more than they could ever possibly hope to play with. 

It feels so unbalanced yet its strange to see which of the children are probably happier. (Not all, just general observations) It's very hard not to dislike the western world after going somewhere like Kenya and coming back feeling guilty about where the Lord has currently called us to. I'm still figuring out what to do with these feelings. 
Until then, I'm praying over and yearning for these kids again.....looking forward to seeing what the Lord does with this passion we both have for them. 

Plus, watching my hubby interact with the older school kids just melted my heart. That man is incredible with them, wanting to know their stories and make them feel special even if he only has a few minutes with them. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me when observing those precious moments, I was too busy etching them into my permanent memory. But it is hopefully something which will occur again and again in our future together. 

Love & Respect in the Family By Dr. Emerson Eggerichs

I read a lot of books. And since I have been down with a cold the past two weeks (maybe its just the crazy weather), I had a bunch of time to review yet another book through BookLook (previously BookSneeze). This title immediately grabbed my attention. I read the book Love & Respect which is written for the marriage relationship, it helped us understand a lot of our communication issues and shed a huge amount of light on why we were offending each other so much in the first couple years of our marriage. 

So when I saw this new title by the same author on a similar idea for the family, I totally grabbed it. I read parenting books fairly regularly, hopefully someday they will come in handy for us personally, but I also work with children and have done for several years now. 

I loved it, honestly. Dr. Eggerichs talked again about the love and respect principle and how it relates in a parent child relationship this time. He uses biblical wisdom and scripture to tackle common problems within the family unit and how children and parents can get into a crazy cycle where no-one feels loved or respected. It was very practical and approached a whole range of topics including discipline, encouragement, supplication, giving, understanding and instructing. I know it is going to be a great resource for years to come for me personally. 

I loved his emphasis on the fact that children are not a reflection of their parents. The mom in the grocery store with three screaming children is not a failure because she can't stop her toddler's tantrums. Children are humans and they make their own decisions. He talked a lot about what it means to parent unto Christ. How to raise children and see as doing the Lord's work, but not getting caught up in the idea that only good parents have good kids. 

It was easy to read as well with shorter chapters, making it my go-to for nighttime reading for a few weeks. It was helpful to me, although perhaps you mommies with more experience may know a lot of what was in here. But either way I thought he gave some great ideas to think about and practical ways to implement them, a refresher on truths about parenting and scripture interspersed throughout to show His ideas were completely biblical. 

I think its a great one to add to my list of biblical parenting books. 

Have you guys read any great books lately??