Ghana

Ghana is a country in West Africa and is slightly smaller than Oregon.  President Obama recently visited Ghana after the G-8 Summit.  Ghana is home to the 4th largest reservoir in the world, Lake Volta.  Ghana has a very stable democratic government.

So, why do I care about Ghana?  It is very exciting, really, and something we have been dreaming about for a long time.  Chris will be making a trip to Ghana this month!  Chris and I have talked and conspired about getting involved with some kind of overseas mission since we got married, and our hearts have always been drawn to Africa.  We didn't know how God would work it out, but we have prayed about it for a long time.  About 3 months ago, we caught wind of a book, Jantsen's Gift by Pam Cope.  Chris quickly got a copy and read it in about 2 days.  After he read it, he said, "we have to get involved with this."  {Jantsen's Gift is an amazing book about grief and redemption, and I would highly recommend it.}  Pam began an organization called Touch A Life Foundation after her 15-year old son died suddenly of an undetectable heart defect.  Through her organization, she has helped countless children in Vietnam, Cambodia, and now Ghana.  In Ghana, her organization is working to rescue children that are in slavery on Lake Volta.  These children work long hours every day and sometimes only get one small meal, so Pam and her team come to the men that "employ" these children and offer them better nets, to repair their boats, or even to teach them a new trade in exchange for the boys.  The next step in this process is to build an orphanage where the children can go after they are rescued because the Village of Hope, an orphanage they have taken a few of the rescued children to, is very full.   

So, Chris {my go-getter husband} got in touch with Pam and asked how he could help and how we could get involved.  It just so happened that a group of people was taking a trip to Ghana this month, and they had room for Chris to join them!  Seriously?!?  If you know Chris and I, you know that this is a dream come true!  So, Chris will be in Ghana, Africa for 8 days during the month of August where he will travel to Lake Volta to meet some of the boys fishing and will also be involved in the Children's Art Village at the Village of Hope where he will get to interact with hundreds of orphans.  We are so excited for this opportunity and feel so blessed that God has provided us a way to help His children.  And, maybe even more thrilling, our church plans to begin an annual mission trip to Ghana to work with the Touch A Life Foundation beginning in the summer of 2010.

Isn't God just so good?!?!  So, if you think about it, say a prayer for Chris and the group that will be in Ghana--for safety and that God will use them to help the kingdom break out in that small corner of the world.  And, pray for me--that I won't be too jealous :) or too worried about my sweet husband.  

Here is a video Chris made about his upcoming trip to show to the church.  Enjoy!

whew...what a week!

It is truly amazing how much more real the whole pregnancy became once we knew this baby inside of me is a little girl! It is so much fun to be able to say "she" and "her," and I love dreaming about her now. Chris and I are definitely planners, so there was never a question whether or not we would find out the gender. And, this planning nature has definitely kicked into high gear since Monday around noon. We have been using almost all of our spare time to look on the internet for sweet baby girl things and going to fun baby stores. Here is just a little bit of what we have done:
*Ordered and received baby girl's crib! Can't wait to put it together soon!
*Searched and searched for baby bedding for many hours.
*Ordered the perfect crib bedding for our girl...I will post pictures once we get it!
*Glider and ottoman have been ordered by my sweet parents. Thanks again, Mimi and Pappy!
*Been to Target once, just to look.
*Been to Lonestar Baby and Kids twice--only because the first time we drove the 30+ minutes to get there, it was already closed!
*Received some sweet outfits for baby girl.
*Chosen her name, which we LOVE and is absolutely perfect. But, don't ask...we're not telling until she is born!

This is just so much fun, all the planning, and I can only imagine how that will be infinitely multiplied once she's here! I am so in love with her already, and I smile every time I feel her little kicks and movements. The creation of life is truly a miracle, and I am so thankful that God has given us this gift.

This week also brought the halfway mark of the pregnancy! UNBELIEVABLE. I cannot believe that in just another 20 weeks, our sweet pea will be here, in our arms. Even though we have obviously already done a lot of planning, there is a lot left to do in the next 20 weeks. And, we have some busy weeks ahead of us, but we are just thankful for this time in our lives. Here we are, me and sweet girl, at 20 weeks. Growing, growing, growing :)

Thanks for checking in! Stop back by soon for an exciting post...

It's a...

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GIRL!!!

We had a great day and couldn't be more thrilled to get the news that we will be bringing home a sweet little lady in December! I could have never imagined how excited I would be to know that the little sweet pea growing inside of me is a girl. It makes it so much more real. I can't wait to meet her and kiss her sweet little face, hands, and feet! The sonogram was absolutely amazing. They had a 32" flat screen TV that we got to watch it on. We got to see EVERYTHING--her brain, all 4 chambers of her heart, her kidneys, the umbilical cord, her spine...and, it was all perfect! That is one word I love to hear about my baby girl! Here we are after we heard the news that we needed to get busy buying pink {we hadn't even left the sono room yet!}

We called our families and got to share the exciting news with them, but we, of course, had to be creative about the big reveal. So, Chris wrote a poem for both boy and girl, I put them on scrapbook paper, and put them inside a Christmas card in separate envelopes. On the outside of one of the envelopes, we wrote "Merry" and on the other, "Christmas." So, when we called our parents, we told them which envelope to open (Christmas being the girl one :) It was exciting, and they are all ready to get busy in preparation for sweet baby girl! This is the first grandbaby for my parents, and the first granddaughter for Chris's parents. So much fun!

Daddy's first picture with his little girl...she already has him wrapped around her TINY finger!

After our sonogram, we had our first appointment with Dr. G, who will deliver this sweet girl. We loved her! She was super sweet, and we could tell immediately that she is passionate about what she does. Dr. G is exactly what I wanted in my doctor, and I am so pleased. She also said everything was perfect, and all my measurements look great.

When we left our appointment, we headed straight to Babies R Us to buy our little girl her first outfits. I love baby clothes, and I love them even more when I think about putting my daughter in them.

We had a wonderful day! I am so thankful that we got great news about our sweet girl today, and I am praising God for his faithfulness and amazing miracle! We are blessed!

tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you, tomorrow...

Tomorrow is the big day! We go in for our 20 week sonogram at 12:00pm, and we get to find out if this baby is a boy or a girl. We are super excited and can't wait to know! We still do not have any strong feelings one way or the other and no preference. Can't wait to see the sweet baby! I will try to post tomorrow evening {or at least Tuesday} to let you know if we'll be buying lots of blue or lots of pink! Check back soon...

Don't forget to vote in the poll if you haven't yet! It closes at midnight tonight.

a little late...19 (and 1/2) weeks

This week was a little more busy than I thought, and I had good intentions every night of sitting down to write my 19 weeks post. But, it just never happened...until now. I guess it's better late than never. I have been a little busy this week, but it has been a good one. Yesterday, I made a day trip to College Station to help my parents move. It was fun, and I was excited to see their new place! We enjoyed some laughs and got at least a little work done, and I really love their house. It is perfect for them! I was pretty tired by the time I got home though, and I realized that this pregnant body can't handle quite as much work. I will admit that I will kind of miss having an excuse for not being able to move heavy things and needing to take breaks often :) Thanks, baby!!!

Today, Chris and I ventured over to Babies R Us and Lonestar Baby and Kids. It was so much fun to just look at all the stuff and got us even more excited! We are ready to start making plans for this sweet baby, and I can't believe that we find out the gender on Monday!!! So crazy, but I can't wait. I have been surprisingly patient about knowing the gender through this whole pregnancy, but now that it is so close, I am starting to get anxious to know. So soon.

On Tuesday, baby and I were 19 weeks. I am really starting to show more and more, which means that I am definitely in need of the elastic waist pants. It's starting to get a little ridiculous to wear my pre-pregnancy jeans because not only can I not button them, but now I can barely even zip them! So, I think it's time to put those away for a while! Here is some evidence of our growth:


Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I will definitely be enjoying the "cooler" weather!

great weekend

We had a great but busy weekend! We got to see lots of friends {and make some new friends} and family, and even though we were worn out, it was well worth it. On Friday night, we met the elders and their wives up at the church to prepare for a big announcement they were making on Sunday {more on that later...another post probably}. Last Friday, at the Chick-Fil-A here in Rowlett, if you dressed up like a cow, you could get free food. So, after all the preparations were complete, the elders and their wives dressed like this to earn some free food...

I don't know about you, but I definitely think they deserved it! Unfortunately, Chris and I already had plans, so we couldn't join the bovine club for dinner :) We went to Matt and Kathleen {Spivey} Lee's house in Plano for a cook-out. We had fun meeting new people and seeing some people that we hadn't seen in quite a while.

On Saturday, my parents drove into town just before lunch, and the four of us headed out to Oklahoma City for my cousin's wedding. I had not been to OKC in a long time, so it was fun to take a little stroll through my old stomping grounds. We drove past elementary schools and old houses and reminisced for a little while. Then, we headed to the wedding. It was beautiful and a sweet ceremony! It had been a long time {since our wedding almost 5 years ago} since I had seen some of those family members, so it was fun to hug all of them. Of course, the baby makes it even more fun! Everything was wonderful, and the bride was just beautiful! I still think of her as a little girl, but it was really neat to see her get married and hear all the wonderful things said about her and her husband. Marriage is such a blessing! We left the wedding about 9:00 and finally made it back to our house at 12:45am! That's late people...especially when you have to be at church the next morning. But, it was well worth it!

On the road

All four of us...Dad, Mom, Me, Chris

My sweet husband and me enjoying the reception

My aunt and uncle, proud grandparents of the bride

The bride and groom... first dance :)


Finally, on Sunday morning, these boys came to church and to stay with us.

These are some incredible young men with great hearts for the Lord, not to mention that they are lots of fun! These guys were in Chris's youth group in Bryan, and we miss them a lot. They left EARLY Sunday morning so they could make it in time for church. We enjoyed spending time with them on Sunday, and I am confident that they enjoyed their day today at Six Flags. Thanks for coming Nate, Jordan, Josh, and David! You are awesome young men, and we love and miss you!

Whew! What a fabulous weekend! I definitely slept well last night, but I am so thankful for all the people we got to see this weekend. We are blessed.

cast your vote

I joined the club, and I put up a poll to see whether my readers think baby Field is a boy or girl. Chris and I go for our official sonogram on Monday, July 20, and we can't wait to find out what this sweet baby is! I honestly do not have a feeling one way or the other, but I am curious to see what you guys think. So let me know!

Happy voting!