Our New Bathroom and Our Brynne

Brynne and dad watching tv together

A little dirty

Thanks Aunt Sarah for my outfit

Sorry these were not in order....I was having issues - I'm so pumped about our bathroom - it's so nice to have it almost finished. Brynne is almost 2 months now and we are loving every day. It's fun to see her smiles!

Our Little Miracle

Brynne Eden finally arrived on June 29th at 9:30 pm. We cannot believe what an amazing miracle she is! For those of you that have not heard the details...I'll give a short summary :) I went in for an appointment on June 29th in the morning and my doctor had me do a test to make sure Brynne was doing okay as she was about a week late. They noticed that I was having minor contractions and during a few of those, her heart rate went down. They wanted me to go to the hospital and be monitored for a little while...and offered to just go ahead and induce to be safe. I was ready to go - so I headed to the hospital at noon, had my water broken at 1:00 pm, got the blessed epidural at 5:00 pm, and pushed from 9:00 to 9:30 and she was here! It's a huge adjustment, but I love being a mom and praise God for His wonderful gift.

A few cousin pics....their first trip to the beach - they both slept through it :)

My Evolution

Well - I thought I would share one more post before Baby Brynne comes. Right now I'm looking at two weeks until the due date. For those who care - I'm 70% and 2 cm...hopefully nobody gets offended by that and for those who don't know what that is, you probably don't want to :) The doctor has been very positive and thinks things are looking great - praise the Lord! Thanks for all the great advice everyone - Rob and I are so excited about this new stage of life. We know there will be many challenges but are so thankful for the sovereignty of God as He continues to guide and direct us. We'll let ya'll know when she finally makes her appearance!

Congrats to my Grad

I just wanted to say a big congrats to my honey. He officially has his MDIV. I'm so proud of all the work he has done and effort his has put into balancing school, work, ministry, and our relatioship over the last four years. We are so thankful for God's goodness. For those of you who don't know, we are praying about church planting in Vancouver, British Columbia and are looking to the Lord for direction in this.

The funny thing about being pregnant...

As I near the "8 weeks are left" mark, I just keep chuckling about what a funny experience it is to be pregnant, like...

*Having the world constantly feel like they have this instant connection with you. Never do people just randomly walk up to you and ask questions, except when you're pregnant. How weird!

*Using my husband as a defense against weird men touching my belly

*Having my students say the funniest things...pregnancy is such a mystery to them :)

~"When's it coming out?"

~"How did it get in there?"...awkward

~"Why is your belly so big?" - to which I responded - "there's a baby in there" - they said "did you eat it?"....well, no....

*Going back to all elastic pants and slip on shoes - it reminds me of being a kid again...everything needs to be as easy as possible!

*Eating like there is no tomorrow and everyone congratulating you for it.

Even with all this, I still can't believe it every time Brynne moves - it's the most incredible miracle and I can't wait to meet our sweet baby girl!

Wonderful Worship and a Belly Update

Recently, we had the incredible opportunity to go to a Getty concert in Richmond. If you have never heard their music, they are endeavoring to write contemporary hymns for people to use in their churches. Their text is very theological and they put music to it that enhances the message so well. The concert was so encouraging - drawing attention to Christ and not a "performer" which I appreciate so much. Praise God for people like this that He is using to encourage the body of Christ!

One of my favorites:

Oh, to see the dawn of the darkest day:

Christ on the road to Calvary.

Tried by sinful men, torn and beaten, then

Nailed to a cross of wood.

CHORUS:

This, the pow'r of the cross:

Christ became sin for us; Took the blame, bore the wrath—

We stand forgiven at the cross.

Oh, to see the pain written on Your face,

Bearing the awesome weight of sin. Ev'ry bitter thought,

Ev'ry evil deed crowning Your bloodstained brow.

Now the daylight flees; now the ground beneath quakes as its maker bows His head. Curtain torn in two,

Dead are raised to life;"Finished!" the vict'ry cry.

Oh, to see my name written in the wounds, for through Your suffering

I am free. Death is crushed to death;

Life is mine to live,won through Your selfless love.

These are friends from college that we hooked up with in Richmond...the Saunders.

And of course...here I am in all my glory - about ten weeks from delivery :)

Four Years....amazing

I was just sitting here thinking about how incredible it is that this May Rob and I will have been married for four years and that (Lord willing) he will graduate with his MDIV. It's hard to sum up this time in our lives - it feels like so many changes have taken place and that there has been so much growth in our lives. I praise God for this time and his goodness to us. It is overwhelming to think about what God has for us in the future, but I'm so thankful that I can look back over these last four years and see God's faithfulness and remember he will be the same God taking us into the future.

"Praise the LORD, all you nations, extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD."

So - here are a few pics of our memories....

We have really enjoyed fixing up our house little by little...unfortunately, I don't have a most recent pic, but this is pretty close. It's been a lot of work, but we have learned so much and are so thankful for the house the Lord provided.

Living near Olde Towne Portsmouth has been a blast. We have loved running, walking, enjoying restaurants, taking the ferry, and so much more down there.

Working with the youth group at Colonial has truly been a privilege. We have really enjoyed the teens and have made many lasting relationships.

The trips we have been able to take together have been a blast. VA Beach has so many great places near by to visit. We have truly taken advantage of a lot of fun spots.

And of course....we have loved being near the beach - that's been such a blast!

We also ran our first couple of races together here...I even conned a few other people into joining :)....


Our most recent excitement is over baby Brynne due to arrive in only 13 weeks - it's so crazy, but we can't wait to meet her.