He loves ❤

I am amazed -whenever I take the time out of my own selfishness- and reflect at how much the Lord truly does love His children...




...and I am learning quickly that the truest evidence of this (although I do not believe we will, on this present earth, truly ever understand the depth of His great love), is in a child. 

Jonathan and I are overjoyed to announce that we are expecting our first child on September 1st of this year, and as stated above, although just shy of 12 weeks along, the feelings we already have towards this baby are inexpressible. 

Wow. Just the thought of the tremendous responsibility that comes along with this next step in our journey together amazes me that God would see us fit to give us this gift. We are still in a bit of the beginning "whoaaaaaa" emotion, but happy, oh so happy. 

Happy, happy, joy, joy :)

So, to give everyone the story of how we got here today:

Children had become a reoccurring topic of discussion almost a year ago. It wasn't until the end of last school year, May 2013, while having dinner at Don Pablos that we made the official decision to give it a go. J even kept the receipt from this outing, but it wasn't until a few weeks later that he showed this to me, including a little message that he had written to himself: 

A great keepsake for grandchildren one day, right?? 

By the way: if you know this wonderful man in the least, he is going to be an 
absolute. mush. pot. 
Absolute. He is so tender and considerate as is when it comes to me, so I cannot imagine what will happen when baby E arrives!

From there on out, the rest is pretty much history! I went off of my birth control last January, we began "officially" trying in June, and Christmas Eve morning, yes, Christmas Eve morning!!!, while taking yet another pregnancy test, that miraculous, little plus sign showed up! 

+ BABY!!! 12.24.13

Talk about a blessing at Christmas...and not being able to say a WORD!!! Poor J was about to pop, especially having to be around all of our families at such a wonderful time of year, but we both were able to pull through on our promise to one another. 

I immediately made an appointment right after Christmas, scheduled for Thursday, January 23rd at 9:45AM. Jonathan took the time off to go with me and it was one of the best and most amazing (and most willing) visits I have ever made to my OB-GYN. We were there for almost 3 hours and if you happen to see Jonathan, you can ask him about his first examination experience: PRICELESS. To quote him, "This place is a HOUSE of HORROR!!!" 
We also had our first ultrasound and when we heard the heartbeat for the first time, we both cried overwhelming tears of amazement. At just 8 weeks, with a heartbeat of 174 b/m...how some do not consider that life, much less that there is even a God who so intricately designs our inner most parts (Psalm 139:13) completely saddens me. 
Our appointment went REALLY well...until I had to give 3 viles of blood, of course. Again, another experience you can ask J about. 
Bless his heart (or in this case, mine). 

Waiting to see the Doctor after our ultrasound. 

Lunch afterwards with my baby' daddy. 

The day of our appointment we planned -oh so very greatly planned- to tell both sets of parents and that went REALLY well!! 

But...I will leave that for another post, very soon. 

So that evening we made the necessary visits, and over time we let grandparents know, and then went on to spend the next 4 weeks in complete torture not being able to breathe a word (with the few exceptions of some friends/co-workers/church family that we practically do life with everyday and had to tell). 

So here are the current stats:

Baby E at 8 weeks and 2 days 

I have a couple more pictures that I would love to share, just of bump and baby progression (not a whole lot going on in either department as of yet), but I those will have to wait as well. 

For now, and pretty much from here on out, we are asking for your prayers. 

Prayers for several things: a healthy and progressive pregnancy with no problems, a healthy baby E, naturally, and for us, as parents. Pray that the Lord will have already begun to equip us and prepare us to not only to be the parents that He has called us to be, but to follow His command of making a disciple for Him (Matthew 28:19-20). Pray for obedience and discipline in our lives to be ready for this tremendous blessing He is giving to us. 

The Lord is good, no matter what, and we will praise His name, no matter what! 

I did not forget...

I promise I did not return only to just slip back into a black hole. I have been meaning to post for a week or two, but alas, life is busy. Better to be out living than to be sitting behind a computer, right?

The weekend after I posted, we headed to Flat Rock, NC for the long weekend with the youth for our annual winter retreat at the fabulous Bonclarken for Amped 2014. Needless to say, it was super busy and super tiring, but...super fun! We had a blast and learned a ton about the life of Peter and how to become better disciples in the name of Jesus. I absolutely love going on these retreats with these kiddos. I love them so much, and even more, I love watching them grow spiritually. They challenge me and I am so grateful for it. 

Along with life in general - you know, teaching and building churches - we have continued to be busy and before I realized it, January had turned into February 1st. Oddly enough, I love and adore this time of year, and look forward to many exciting and fun things planned for this month! ❤

As far as the renovation goes, we continue to press on. Because January was so busy, we kind of hit a wall, but Jonathan did manage to get two of our IKEA closets put in...and they.look.FABULOUS. 

The recessed lighting really adds to the whole look J was going for.

In love.

So...just a few more closets to get in, a few baseboards to paint, clean-up, and then we can begin picking out and putting into place furniture. YAY!

On a more personal note, if you know me, you know that music is my life beat to the Lord. I absolutely love the Word, but I am so grateful for the way He uses song to speak into my life on a daily basis. I have so many songs that I LOVE and listen to on repeat...all.the.time. Lately, one in particular just seems to always come on the radio, every single time I am in the car alone. I have relished in the words of this song, and feel so comforted, loved, and reminded of the way that, if we allow Him, the Lord will carry us through not just struggles, but as it has spoken to me, through life in general. 

I hope you can feel His grace in your life today as you hear these words.
Happy Tuesday friends.