B.J.'s Verses

What B.J. read at my baby shower:

Psalm 139:13-16

"For You did form my inward parts. You did knit me together in my mother's womb."...

"I will praise You for the wonder of my birth."...

" My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret, and intricately and curiously wrought in the depths of the earth."...(carefully created)

" Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days of my life were written before they took shape."...

words from 4 men in the Bible:

Job: "They hands fashioned me. The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life."

Solomon: "The Spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child."

Isaiah: "Thus says the Lord Who made you, and Who formed you from the womb."...

" The Lord hath called me from the womb, from the body of my mother."...

Jeremiah: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you."...

Book of Luke: "When Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb."...

7 months

It's been 7 months since Vinny entered eternity. I can't say that I miss him any less or that I don't cry at some point everyday. I can say that I am thankful beyond measure to have him as my brother, to have been so close to him and to know that he loved God with all of his heart.

Molly talked with Jake, one of Vinny's good friends, the other day. What she said about Jake reminded me so much of Vinny that it made me happy and sad at the same time.

Love and miss you Vinny!

What Baby Um is Doing this Week

Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight

35 Days and Counting

We have 35 days until my due date. It's getting more exciting everyday. We think we have the basics we need for the baby minus a few minor things we'll pick up soon. We also know, being first time parents, we have no idea what we'll really need until we bring Baby Um home.

35 days makes me think how much a life can change in such a short time. I've been thinking about that a lot lately. I was watching a show on TLC about first time parents bringing their baby home. The mother was able to introduce her baby to her grandmother just before she left this world. They showed a photo and said, "It's so neat to see the beginning of life and the end of life in this photo". I thought to myself, we have no idea what the end of life looks like. Then last night I was thinking that only God sees what the beginning of life looks like as we are being formed in our mother's wombs. We may see someone who appears to be in the end of life but only God knows our end and tomorrow isn't promised to us.

The end of life can look like a young woman 9 days after her 20th birthday driving home. She hits a patch of black ice and within 24 hours she's in heaven (Cristina Hadley). It could look like a man overseas just weeks before his promotion to Colonel and his retirement serving his country. He gets hit by a vehicle and within 24 hours he's in heaven (David Frankenhauser). It could look like a young man getting up on a beautiful, calm fall day to do what he has done everyday for years. He gets in his lobster boat to start hauling traps, waves to his friends at noon and within hours he is gone. Never to be seen alive on this earth again (Chris).

Or in the case of some very faithful customers and friends of ours, it could be a husband and wife just getting into the groove of life together after raising 3 children and helping them in early adulthood. He has pain in his legs and within weeks they find out he has 4th stage pancreatic cancer and is given less than 3 months to live. Dave just found this out last night and my heart and prayers go out to this couple. They have been such great supporters of ours and we just hope that God gives us wisdom in sharing His love with them in this very difficult time.

This all brings me to a work I ask God to do in me - don't live in fear (that' not of God) - but treat your relationship with God like you could meet Him face to face today. Appreciate the people around you and those people we'd rather not be around - pray that God would fill us with love for them and they would see Him through us. To live life with God's purpose and not my own agenda (something I struggle with). That is my prayer.

Nothing Could Be Finer Than Eating at the Diner

Here is the place we frequent after our now biweekly Centering Pregnancy Classes. We had one tonight. I was on a "good" eating roll until we hit Moody's... I won't tell you what "we" had. The class was great - less than 37 days until the due date. I'm due on March 13, but they say something about the full moon draws people into labor. There's a full moon on March 11. We'll see. We are trying to narrow down our name options and we seem to have taken a completely different road with some of our choices.

How I feel about the Snow

40 Days to Go and More

40 Days to go until my due date! Time is flying by!

My mom had a great shower for me on Saturday. Mom had TONS of food and Molly had a beautiful cake made. I need to upload the picture. Teresa had fun games and I got A LOT of great gifts: tons and tons of great clothes, gift certificates, a beautiful hand made blanket and matching sweater, hamper, sling, swing, cd, traveling bed, books, growth chart, bag, jogging stroller, toys, flowers and more. B.J. read some great verses from the Bible about babies in the womb. Thank you so much everybody!

My grandmother Charlotte couldn't make it because she is in rehab for her surgery. A bunch of us ended up staying at my mom's house chit chatting for an hour or so after the shower. We were laughing and having fun. On my way home my mom called and said she forgot to cut a piece of the cake off for my grandmother, so I decided to bring the rest of the cake over to show her what it looked like. I ended up staying with her until 8 pm. My grandfather came in about and an hour and half after I did, so I visited with him too. When I left I carried the cake back down stairs (all of the patients are on the second floor of this nursing home). The cake is on a huge sheet of glass so it's pretty heavy and awkward to maneuver. I was trying to back my way out of the second set of front doors and it didn't seem like I was doing it right, so I kept pushing. Well, I ended up setting the alarm off. I guess they lock the front doors at a certain time which isn't unusual, but usually there is a sign. I called my grandfather on his cell and he got someone to come downstairs and let me out. It isn't the first time I've been locked inside of a building.

Church was great today. Pastor Sheff preached a great message.

I started thinking that I'm not sure of the name again. I go back and forth between a few names.