Take on Tuesday: Knitting

Before I get into what I did yesterday.. I just wanted to say I forwarded my list of worries and scripture to my Pastor (except for the pregnancy one) to get his take on it.  He thought it was great and suggested one for me. 

"Romans 8:1 - There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.^"                

^{He said I am too hard on myself... :) It's true I am.  So, that was nice of him. I need to print out that list and read it everyday.}  

^{So... anyway.  Yesterday.  I have a new friend and I taught her to knit hats! She's the friend of an acquaintance that has ordered a few hats from me before.  She sent me a message, first ordering a hat.. but for some reason I didn't get that message in time.. but she also asked if I could teach her.  So, I invited her over! She has just moved here and said she doesn't have many friends yet.  Thankfully she was a quick learner... she already knows how to cast on and has the basic idea of knitting.  I just showed her how to cast on to dpn's and helped her get it started.  She was so happy I helped her. She sent me a message today saying it was kind of me to help a stranger.  Maybe so.. but really it's not a big deal.  I love to knit and I love to see other people loving it!!!} 

^{On another note.  I made my first ob appt.  Next monday at 1.  :) I was nervous to call them, but I have another UTI and got prescribed antibiotics before i found out I was pregnant.  I didn't take them at first and then I wanted to confirm that I could take them while pregnant.  Good thing I called because I can't! So he called me in another kind.  I also ordered some D-Mannose... finally! So after this.. no more antibiotics!}

^{I am excited for an u/s to get an official duedate.  I will let Dr. Stearnes know what I think I ovulated, but it is neat to see what the u/s says as well.}

^{Signing off!  ((This font is weird and I can't fix it.. ugh!))}

A Little Something on Sunday: Church

Today Pastor Don talked about the words we say and what we meditate in our hearts definitely has an impact on how we think and feel... and we want it to be pleasing to God.  He said if we know how to worry.. if we've ever worried... we know how to meditate.  It was just the wrong things we were meditating on.  Speaking the (positive) words out loud (especially scripture) will help with attitudes and feelings.
He challenged us to make a list of the things that cause us to worry.   THEN, we must find scripture to combat everything on that list... so we can meditate on God's word instead of whatever it is that is causing us stress, or worry.

So.... off the top of my head...... the things I worry about, in no specific order, and the scripture I can find that relates to it....

1. Thinking that my success in life is defined by how well behaved the children are and how clean the house is and feeling immensely discouraged when I fail at those things. - "2 Corinthians 12:9
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

2. Having the energy and motivation to keep doing the cleaning when it never seems to matter. - "1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain."

3. Making sure I am raising my children right and to love God. -    Hebrews 12:11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

4. Feeling like a bad mom for not  homeschooling, or desiring to. "Deuteronomy 11:19 - You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." ((only this one doesn't help))

5. My bad attitude (crankiness, complaining, etc) - " Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight"

6. Not saying enough positive things to Steven. - '' Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."

7. Being a nag.. trying to be his "Holy Spirit". - "Romans 12:10  Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor."

8. Feeling overwhelmed.   "Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

9. Struggling with the pregnancy, feeling that no one is going to accept it and look down on me. - Psalm 127:3  Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

10. Not having patience with Steven and the kids. " 1 Corinthians 13:4 - Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant"

11. My fears... of embarrassment, bad things happening... everything. - "2 Timothy 1:7  For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

12. Not praying/reading the Bible enough. - "Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."
"Philippians 4:6  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."

October's Status Updates

October 3, 2011
Today has not started out well........ I feel awful and I just want to crawl back in bed. On a good note, I am getting ready to eat pizza. Yes, for breakfast. And Mt. Dew. That should help at least a little.
(**I remember that day... I got my period, haha)

Today just got way better!! I am officially going to D.C. with Steven at the end of the month! Yay!! It'll be a first for both of us! He has a business trip and I'm tagging along. :-)

October 11
Lisey is SO cute! She sings, "I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map" while folding her arms and rocking back and forth. I HAVE to get a video... only she doesn't do it on demand.. stinker!!!

October 14
made Matthew a Woody vest (cow pattern) last night. He loves it. :)

October 18
‎14 years ago Steven asked me to "to go out with him" in Rudd park in Canon City, CO! We were only 15 and 16 yrs old. :) I am so happy I said yes!! Happy Anniversary, Steven!

October 22
Me: "Matthew, where's your gum?"
Matthew: "it's gone."
Me: "Did you swallow it?"
Matthew: "No, it's in my mouth"
Me: (looking in his mouth) "where in your mouth?"
Matthew: "in the hole."
He still insists that he did not swallow it... sigh. Note to self: next time I let him have a piece of gum I need to make sure he understands what *swallow* means, lol!


October 23
‎"When life on earth is ending, people don't surround themselves with objects. What we want around us is people - people we love and have relationships with." Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life.
THAT is why I have had so many babies... people and relationships are all that matter.. you can't bring your possessions with you to heaven! :)

October 24
Happy 5th Birthday to my sweet and loving Alaina Julianne Grace! I can't believe how fast the years have gone! It also reminds me that we have now been in NE for just over 5 years. We moved here when I was VERY pregnant with her. :)

I am ashamed to admit that when I get alllll my laundry done, we don't have enough hangers for everything. Or drawer space. I guess it's time to get rid of stuff.... or maybe do less laundry... ;)

October 29
In D.C.!!!! I was really sad to leave the kids, it almost didn't feel worth it. :( But its been fun. I've never been so interested in history!! My feet are so blistered!!! I might have to wear flip flops in the freezing cold tomorrow. So fun though.

Thursday's Thoughts: Hesitance & Confirmation

I want to try and blog as much as I can this pregnancy. 
I haven't told many people yet.  Only Steven (of course) and he is really happy.... :)... and Shelby, Amber, Kelli and Becca.  I have purposely limited it to those people because for one, they are happy about it... and two, I know they won't tell anyone else, yet.
Katie..... if you are reading this... then this is your way of finding out, haha... Surprise! ((come talk to me)) Actually she doesn't get on here much... but it's okay if she knows.
Just for now, I am not saying anything due to the fact that it's really hard and sometimes burdensome to keep a secret like this and I don't want to do that to Katie just yet....
I was kind of curious if I'd be able to do it... keep a secret... and although it's only been about 2 days, I don't think I am going to have a problem with it.  Yes, I am THAT nervous and scared about it.  I shouldn't care what people think... especially if they are not family, but I do.  I don't want anyone to look down on me or be "disappointed" in such wonderful news.  There is nothing better than a new little baby.
I really don't want to hurt people though.  I guess I am thinking specifically of my friend Alicia.  She is really a good friend to me... but sometimes I feel that she doesn't approve of our family size.  Just little things she has said from time to time... I don't feel free to tell her I am worn out because of the kids, I can't really tell anyone that.... so that is why I am waiting.  At least if I am exhausted in my 1st trimester, I can just say "I am tired today" with out possibly getting the whole... "well then why did you want so many kids..." blah...
I realized yesterday I don't even want to call my Dr!! haha!! Obviously he doesn't care... I am making him money with all these babies.. but I just feel uncomfortable, like what I am doing is irresponsible or something.  I know that it's just the culture and I am brainwashed with it, but it's hard to break away from that bondage.

ANYWAY!!!! On to the confirmation part.  I had one pregnancy test strip left... it's been 2 days since I took that frer (after getting two negatives on the test strips) so I figured I'd see if it'd show up.  I used FMU and negative!!! Sigh.... I mean, I think I could make out a faint faint line... but if I didn't already know I was pregnant, I'd say "negative".  Besides getting faint lines on those things is getting pretty normal for me.  So... I had to go and buy another frer pack.  I didn't use FMU and that line is dark dark!! Darker than the control line! So obviously, I think, that means my numbers are going up! Because the first test I took (pictured, previously) the line was light... in fact in the picture it's darker than it was when I first took it... that was past the 10 minute window.  So... Yay!
I don't think I like those test strips and it just makes me all the more confused about my possible miscarriage.  The lines were visible on the test strips (sometimes) and then I took more than one frer and they were all stark white.  From my experience this time around, the frer is obviously much more sensitive than the test strips... but last time it seemed they test strips were more sensitive.... (some of them..) So... was it fluke tests? All positives "vanished"... I've read that a vanishing positive is a negative... or did I get a few in there that were extremely sensitive?
I'll never know.. but God does.. in my heart it was another little baby... but it's just so confusing to me.

Due date.  If I go by a 28 day cycle, I am due July 9. (I could have a 7/7 baby... for my 7th baby. :)) BUT if I go by when I am pretty sure I ovulated, which was on cd 18, then I am due July 13.  Either way, it's not looking like I'll deliver in June, even if I went for induction (because he'll only do it one week early) which I don't want to do.  Alaina was induced about 2 weeks early, but there were medical (supposedly) reasons for it.
Signing off now!

Words on Wednesday: Home Again

The reason for the vague post yesterday was that it wouldn't let me write a post on my phone (only a title). I didn't have another computer to get on because I was in D.C.  It was an awesome trip by the way. 
We got there Saturday early afternoon... the weather was yucky! It was rainy, sleety, and snowy... cold! At first we didn't have an umbrella... totally forgot to pack one, although we knew it was supposed to be bad weather.
The first place we went was the National Archives... I don't have a picture, because we were not allowed to take them.  We saw the REAL Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independance... that was pretty cool. :)
The buildings in D.C. are beautiful.. reminded me a lot of Europe... and Greece too because there were a lot of pillars on the buildings.  

This is where we ate lunch a few times, it's an old Post Office.

Next we went to the Air and Space Museum... that was really cool. :)

This is a real spacesuit, worn on the moon! It has moon dust on it. :)

This is the real Wright Flyer airplane... made of wood and fabric!

Yay! We finally got an umbrella.  Thankfully it wasn't THAT cold.  We were both able to just wear a jacket and not freeze.  Later on it began to snow huge beautiful snowflakes... then our legs got wet, and that was cold, haha.. but we survived and it was worth it so see everything we did.

This is part of the WWII Memorial... it's huge and very pretty.  As you can see, it's snowing pretty good now.

Can you believe this is less than 24 hours later? Beautiful weather!!! It got so warm we were able to take off our jackets... and by this point, I had changed into my wonderful flip flops.  It was perfect!!! Anyways, we are standing in front of the White House here.

Here's a better view.

And the reason I switched to flip flops was not only because they are the best shoes EVER, but because I blistered them the day before. Poor feet.

This same day we went to the Holocaust Museum.  Wow.  That was really sad.  It was about 4 floors of information.  There were pictures... some very horrible ones... there were flyers Hitler used during that time... there was an old train car used to transport the Jews... :(  There were tons and tons and tons of shoes that were worn by the Jewish people.. and forks they used, and the dishes... the wooden beds they slept on..... the striped uniforms they had to wear.  It was very moving.  I didn't take any pictures there either because many parts didn't allow it and I wasn't sure which parts we could take pictures of and which ones we couldn't.

Next on the list was the Vietnam Memorial... it was breathtaking; beautiful and so sad. Steven's dad fought in the Vietnam War.  Unfortunately we were not able to find his friends on the wall.  We looked it up online and none of the names he gave us matched up.

I love this picture.  Someone left these roses up against the wall.

The wall is much bigger than I thought it was... we also didn't know it was built into the ground like this.  The fall trees in the background are so beautiful too.

The Lincoln Monument was so cool!!! The statue was so big! You can't tell how big it is in the picture. It was sooo cool!!!!

The Korean War Memorial

The Washington Monument with the Capitol building in the background... and the NON refecting pool.  Unfortunately they drained it!! So sad.  They are doing some kind of construction on it.

Next we went to Arlington Cemetary and stopped to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  We actually got to see the changing of the guards.  That was pretty neat.

This is a T-Rex at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.  I loved the dinosaur part, but all the evolution crap was really frustrating... ugh.... awful.  Insulting.

Here we are in front of the Capitol building. 

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And of course... on Nov 1st, I got this! :) :) :) :) :) Another little babykin... due in July! I didn't do well with my "boy diet" so hopefully God decided to "override" alkaline levels and potassium.. haha... two boys in July would be pretty cool if you ask me.   ((Katie... if you are reading/seeing this...... surprise!..... (come talk to me..) <3 you!))

So, there you have it!

Take on Tuesday: A New Little Life