New House!!

We have moved! Finally, the house is finished...minus 3 door knobs and a window that needs replaced (but the new window is sitting in a box in the family room!). We closed the deal on Thursday 7/24/08 and had a bunch of guys help us move on Saturday 7/26/08. The kitchen is basically done, the bedrooms have beds and boxes and most other things are still in boxes....but we are officially moved in and I have forwarded the mail to the new address!

If you'd like our address leave a comment and I'll send it to you if I have your email address!

We are happy and the area is nice and has lots of trees...our dog Morgan loves to lay on the bed and look out the window into the trees!

The Family Heirloom

So about 28 years ago my dad was asked to shoot a cow for a farmer, Bill Whitescarver, who couldn't see much and was very old. My dad was told he would get a few steaks out of the deal. Bill had a gun for my dad to use, which my dad would have gladly brought his own to use. My dad went to the farm and Bill handed him a horribly rusty rifle. Praying that this rifle wouldn't backfire and kill him, he asked which cow he was supposed to shoot. Bill pointed to a group of cows very far away and said "Shoot the brown and white one by the tree." (there was no scope on the rifle). Bill explained that the cows hadn't been around people much so they could not get any closer! Of course, my dad is thinking "how the heck am I supposed to know which cow to shoot? All the cows are brown and white and by the tree!". Basically my dad chose a cow he had a good shot at and shot! After the shot was made and the cow was down, Bill said "You shot the wrong the cow!" My dad thought he was joking. Bill took the rifle (saying nothing) and walked to the barn. My dad followed. Bill, still saying nothing, got the tractor and started out toward the dead cow. They loaded the cow and went back to the barn and butchered it...Bill was still silent. They wrapped the meat and put it in the freezer. Since Bill was still not talking, my dad just said, "ok Bill I'm going to go home." And off my dad drove!

The next day or so, Bill shows up at my parents' house and started unloading boxes and boxes of the meat. So my dad went out and asked Bill what was going on. Bill said, "I told you that you shot the wrong the cow. This cow has been in the wild onions and the meat tastes like onions! I don't want it!" My dad helped unload an entire cow onto the front porch of their tiny house in West Virginia.

Then dad and mom were trying to figure out where they would put all this meat...a cow has an awful lot of meat! It all needed to be in a freezer, but they only had the little one with the refridgerator. So dad went and bought a freeer...the family heirloom!

I call it a family heirloom because it has lasted for so long and I can't rememebr our family not having it! But in the move yesterday we thought it had died! It was a sad sad moment. Mom, Dad, and I were a little solemn. Well, 5 minutes later mom comes in and says "WAIT! maybe it's not dead! It might be turned off!" So I ran out to the garage and replugged it in and turned the temperature dial and there came the hum!!! Old Faithful lives on!

Delta Airlines...NO GOOD!

I will post about our vacation to Oregon later, but right now I'd like to share with you the craziness of our flight back!

First of all we got to the Portland Airport in plenty of time for our flight to find out that it was an hour late....we only had an hour layover in Atlanta, GA. So with that flight being delayed an hour that meant we were getting to Atlanta about the same time our next flight was going to leave. So we were geared up for a free night in a hotel. But then we got into Atlanta at around 10:30PM EST and found out that our flight to Charlotte was delayed until 1AM! So we went and found a place to eat and hung out a little and got to the gate 45 minutes before the flight was scheduled to leave...just to find out it was canceled! So we went to the ticketing and check in to talk to a delta employee and found a mob-like line of 200+ people at the ticketing counter! We waited in line for a little while ust to hear an announcement that there were no more available hotels and to come back in the morning for the scheduled flight!

Apparently we were scheduled on another flight in the morning. However, not trusting Delta at all, we tried to see if we had a reservation at the kiosk and it found no reservation! We had no hope in actually getting on that flight in the morning and being in the beginning of my 7th month of pregnancy and it being 2AM I was not doing well!

We called my friend Kristen who lives in the Atlanta area and she picked us up...what an amazing friend! Of course there still was the issue of getting home to Charlotte. And we had to be home by 3:30PM for our house closing...lots of important documents to sign! My mom came down to Atlanta and picked us up in the morning and we made it to the lawyers office for the closing just in time! We then went to the airport and got our luggage.

Now we have to contact Delta and get something out of them! I greatly dislike Delta right now. Chad and I both missed an extra day at work so we lost pay and I am not feeling well and still need to recuperate!

So if Delta tries to give us flight vouchers I'm not going to be happy because I don't want to fly with them again...I'm hoping for free hotel nights. Of course if we do get flight vouchers I will use them.

Oh and we are moving tomorrow!

The New Doctor

Just to let everyone know, my doctor's appointment yesterday went well. The doctor I saw was very nice and knowledgeable. Of course, I am still praying my original doctor's wife will be healed and he can be my doctor throughout the rest of this pregnancy, but if God has other plans then the new doctor will be good as well.

My son's heartbeat was strong and the doctor found it very easily. I am growing at the appropriate speed...they measure your fundal height (from the bottom of the uterus to the top) and I'm measuring normal.

There nothing I can do about the pain in my rib area, it's just my organs being smashed against my ribs and apparently is normal in short pregnant women. The doctor said "I don't know if you've noticed, but you're not 6'3"." I laughed and that made me like him more as a doctor since I can pretty stressed out at doctor's offices and laughing is the best way to get me calmed down.

My next appointment, in 3 weeks, is the glucose tolerance test for diabetes, which I'm not looking forward to since I haven't had sugar in over 8 years! This appointment is with the new doctor.

Right now I just can't wait to go on vacation to Oregon...we leave on thursday morning!

Please Pray!

I found out today that my doctor's wife is sick and is in the hospital. My doctor will be out of the office with her. Please pray for them and that she is healed.

Also, I now will be seeing a different doctor at the same office. Pray that I don't let that stress me out...which it is already starting to do. We will be having our next appointment with the new guy on Friday.

Thanks for all who read this and for all the prayers.

4th Of July

Well, this 4th of July was different than the last few for Chad and I. We didn't really know where to go or what to do. We spent most of the day packing and re-organizing (Sadly some inspection went wrong with the new house and moving has been postponed for a week or more). Then we ate hot dogs and went out to a smallish town for fireworks. The past two years we have gone to Lincoln City, OR on the coast. This year we were in a Dollar General parking lot. Not as pretty as the Oregon coast! But the fireworks were pretty good. There were a couple smiley face fireworks that were very fun (I did not take the picture here)!

BUT the best part was that there was lightning going on at the same time...so we got a man-made fireworks show and a God one too! It was the first time I saw fireworks and lightning at the same time. It was very cool.

So thanks God for making my 4th of July amazing!

The Childbirth Class

First of all, I will try not to be too graphic!

Last Friday we went to a Childbirth Preparation class. Friday evening wasn't so bad. The teacher discussed some anatomy and Chad and I already knew all that from science classes, but it was interesting to see the other fathers in the room and wide open eyes...as if to say "I had no idea all that was in my partner!". The teacher was funny and kept the mood upbeat, which was great since all us ladies are headed to the most difficult thing we've ever done! We discussed exercises and how to get "the gate" open (the gate is the pelvic bone). Gina, the teacher, talked about how if a gate doesn't move it will rust and will not open...a big problem if that happens to your pelvic bone! So I am doing my best to go on walks when I can and stay flexible.

Saturday was a longer day of class. We were there from 9:30 am to 3:30pm. This day we learned about the placenta and such and then the stages of labor! I have decided to give birth with no pain meds, I know I can do it! I have researched the options and talked with women who have given birth with and without pain meds. However, there were quite a few ladies that didn't know anything about it...funny since they were going to have to give birth in about a month or two! It was very interesting to see how they reacted to the stages of labor!

Then the videos came! Fun stuff! We saw lots of women give birth! I have no desire to see myself give birth...some people video tape the birth (NOT ME!), some people use a mirror to watch themselves give birth (NOT ME!), and one lady on the video actually pulled the baby out herself with little assistance from the Doctor (YIKES!). This was interesting. When the lady on the video reached down and pulled the baby out while pushing, I turned, shocked, to the girl next to me and said "Did she just...?" and the girl next to me also with a shocked face said "yep"! And then we agreed that we would NOT be doing that! There were lots of gasps and such during these videos.

After the videos, we learned some relaxation techniques to use during contractions. It was kinda odd because some of the positions were a bit scandalous and we were in a room of strangers. While getting into one somewhat scandalous position (I will not describe it), Gina, the teacher, said "Now I know this is how some of you got into this situation, but its also how you will get out of it!" That brought on a lot of laughter! It was and will be very useful to relax and get through contractions.

Overall it was a great class. Very informative. Now to wait a few months and put it all into action! I'm not going to lie...I'm nervous! I'm just thankful I have a husband who will be there to support me through it all, a mom to comfort me, a dad to pray in the waiting room, and lots of other people to pray as well! God never said life would be easy, but He did promise that He would be there with us!