Strange Obsession

I am so obsessed with this website
www.nickisdiapers.com

I blame it all on my dear friend Katie. Anyone who is thinking about cloth diapers should really look into it. I thought at first that I was doing it out of necessity (cost of diapers and all) but really I am so excited to have this baby and start putting cloth diapers on it! I am so surprised that more people don't do it by how easy it seems. It saves money and lots of space in landfills! You don't even need pins these days. They make them so cute that you actually get oddly obsessed with looking at them. Let's just say I am very excited for the day that we get all our cloth diapers and I can wash them all and get ready for our baby. I know I have half of my pregnancy left, but the one aspect that I thought I would dread now seems more exciting than setting up the nursery.

So whoever reads this, who doesn't have grown children and plans on having children some day, you should really look into this. I think Brion my even be growing on the idea.... not entirely sure about that one, but for how much I talk about it, I think he has to be :)

week 18

Baby Kendo has been moving around and kicking! Brion was able to feel the baby kick for the first time this week and I am feeling the baby more consistently. We are getting very excited for our christmas break and see all our friends and family! Oh and eating some deep dish pizza!!! 

Thankful

I know last week was thanksgiving, but I just have so much to be thankful for today. For the past 3 months I have been very sick. It was really hard for me to have a good outlook on things and be really excited to have this baby when I couldn't keep any food down. BUT God is so good and His mercies are new every morning. I have been able to go to almost all my classes, I was able to help out with work program in the afternoon and I have been able to go to more social events! I was so energized the other day. I had made it to all my classes and work program and I found out one of our friends on campus is expecting a baby 3 weeks after me. I was going crazy that night! (You can ask Brion and he'll tell you how nuts I really am)

Anyway, whether we are throwing up everything we eat or waking up feeling full of energy, God is working in us regardless. We can learn so much in our down times if we just listen. It's hard to be thankful when things aren't going as we planned them, but it helps remind us that we are not in control. Our plans are not always the best thing for us. I would not wish morning (or all day) sickness on anyone, but I had to depend on God for absolutely everything and I think it was a good lesson for me. It was also awesome to see Brion's willingness to do everything around the house and I am even more thankful that God put such an awesome, godly man in my life.

I am thankful for God and how wonderful He truly is to us. I am thankful for my amazing, diligent, hard-working, loving, husband. I am thankful for the little sweat pea growing inside me and the privilege Brion and I have of soon becoming parents. I am thankful for the wonderful family that I have and the family that I married into. I am thankful for the friends that I have had for ages and for the new ones that we have just made in the past few months.

It is hard being away from family, especially because I am growing into this huge person and none of them get to see it, but I am so glad that God brought us to Canada. Even though it is really hard going through some of this stuff without them, this is where God wants us and I have never been more sure of anything in my life.

God is good all the time. I am so happy that I finally feel like a human being again. I am also happy that I was able to snag some free maternity pants from our mission barrel, because I can't even try to rubber band my pants shut anymore! God is always faithful to us and He knows exactly what we need, when we need it. We serve a Mighty God!

Baby Kendo

Week 17 :)

I feel like I have gotten a lot bigger in the last 2 weeks! But still not very noticeable for other people I think.

Crazy Lady!

I think I have turned into a crazy person! Last week it came to my attention that I would have to make a baby registry way sooner than I thought I would. This really freaked me out because I know nothing about baby products and even what we will all need. But I just decided to call my sister (Jess, you really are a lifesaver!) and get it taken care of. After doing some research online and talking to my amazing sister, I began my registry.

I'm really not much of one for staring at the computer screen for long periods of time, so this was a bit rough for me. Oh and you may be asking yourself, "why did she have to do it on the computer?". Well, living in Canada does have it's downfalls. No Target. So after about 4 hours on the computer I felt so exhausted and a bit nervous that I picked the right stuff.

This all doesn't seem crazy does it? Well, lets just say that I'm a bit obsessed now. I keep going on Target.com to check and make sure everything I put on my registry is still there and the internet people didn't delete it. I also have gotten a bit diaper crazy. We have decided on cloth diapering our children for cost and environmental sake. Now, I want to blame my dear friend Katie for getting me so excited about cloth diapers, but I guess that's not very nice of me. So I'll blame my crazy pregnant hormones.

Who gets excited about what they are going to put on their baby's butt? Who gets excited about what they are going to spray off poopy diapers with? Who gets excited about what they are going to put their dirty diapers in? Well, me apparently. I go on this website called Nicki's diapers all the time and I don't even know why I do. Maybe it's just the thought of having a baby to put the diaper on. Who knows!

What all this boils down to is that I have a new obsession: anything baby. I would be so happy putting together a crib, putting up curtains and pre-washing a bunch of cloth diapers right at this moment.  I can only see this getting worse, so if anyone has any advice for me, I will gladly take it! We still have quite a while to wait for our baby to come out, but I am just so darn excited.

I am going to just try and relax and enjoy the rest of this pregnancy, but I think I might need some prayers for patience :) I'll put up another baby picture very soon. We are on week 17 or for people that haven't gone through pregnancy stuff yet, about four months!

Baby Kendo

Here we are at 15 weeks :) I don't have a head, but trust me, it's still there.

Still feeling sick most days, but I have hope that very, very soon we'll be doing just fine.

Provision

Told in one of our classes we were talking about God's provision for us. We were talking about Abraham and Isaac. Not only did God provide Isaac in such an incredible way, but He provided a situation for Abraham to prove his faithfulness to God. God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, that he loved very dearly, and Abraham did not even hesitate.

I was thinking about this today in class and wondered how much I am willing to sacrifice for God and how often is my trust 100% complete in Him. Before we moved to Canada, finances were never really an issue for me. I was raised to work hard and save my money. As soon as I did move out and got married, God always provided a steady job. So in leaving our life in Arlington Heights and moving to Canada with no job and no stable income, I was slightly nervous, but excited to see how God would provide.

Today after sitting through class, amazed at the trust Abraham had and how God continually provided for him, I was just really excited. It may have been that I actually made it through class without leaving to throw up, but I was really in awe of God. So here are Brion and I, sitting in our house. Me watching friends and Brion on his computer playing video games and our doorbell rings. Now my first thought is, SHOOT, it's trick-or-treaters and they came to our door and we don't have candy for them!!! Brion's idea is to ignore the doorbell. Well, then they knocked. They obviously knew we were in here.... Brion went to break the bad news while I hid under the covers pouting. Turns out it was a couple from our church that we attend here. They had a huge box of stuff for us, I mean HUGE. They brought us Francine Rivers books, potatoes and ham, a humidifier (the dryness has really been bothering Brion), a baby blanket (which I may or may not have been snuggling with the whole night), cookbook, candy, flowers, magazines on parenting and some other stuff. I was floored. I teared up going through all the stuff, especially when we got to the baby blanket.

Ok, so I probably didn't have to go through all of that here on this page, but I am just so astounded. Since we have moved here, people have been showering us with love and kindness and food! God knows what we need and He provides. ALWAYS. I am shocked. I feel undeserving, but God doesn't care. He knows exactly what we need and He provides always.

I always tell myself that I won't write so much, but God is great and I guess I just couldn't keep this in. I hope this encourages someone. God knows your needs and He will meet them. I have so much to be thankful for!!

Whoa Baby

This was Written a few days ago....

Today is a beautiful day. Sure it may be raining, cold, windy and destroying all the fall leaves, but it is a wonderful day. Today Brion and I got to hear our baby's heartbeat. What a miracle. Instant tears in my eyes. I am so overjoyed. So excited that I couldn't even take a nap, which these days seem crucial at times. In six short months Brion and I will become parents. What a beautiful blessing and responsibility God has given us! These past six weeks of nausea were all worth it for the thirty seconds of  hearing baby's heartbeat this morning. To know that God knows everything about this tiny person inside me is just incredible. Needless to say, I am one very happy lady today :)

The Perfect Fool

I am such a fool. Who am I to question my Heavenly Father and what He thinks is best for me? I go through a small trial and wonder why God made me go through this. The timing seems so wrong and so unfair. Sometimes I am surprised at how small my faith is. I question the reasoning behind the trials, but I already know the answer. James explains to us that the trials we go through help us develop perseverance.

Just 15 minutes ago I was asking God why. Why this. Why now. I am so tired and just want relief. Here I am, having a pity party for myself, and I hear a knock at our door. I go answer it and there is someone standing with a loaf of bread for me. (She also gave me her leftover lasagna for Brion and I for dinner tonight!) My relief is in Him, He is my refuge and my strength.

SLAP IN THE FACE

I think thats what God was trying to do, but it was with His blessing. Who am I to question my Maker, my Master. He has blessed me so richly and always provides for my needs. First of all He gave me a wonderful husband who has been taking such great care of me. He has used so many people around us to shower us with their wisdom and wonderful cooking. He has used my sisters and my friends to lift my spirits. So why do I still question Him? I am such a fool, but God loves me anyway. When I am weak, He makes me strong. I could be looking at this time of hardship as a blessing, but sometimes that is just so hard to do when we're in the thick of it.

All this to say, I'm feeling a bit humbled today. God has me in the palm of His hand and that is the perfect place to be. I need to just trust Him and learn to be content right where He has me!

People Person

Since we have moved here and met tons of new people, I am asked the same daunting question quite often, "What are your hobbies?" Seems painless enough, right? Not for someone who really doesn't have any "skills". I wish I was artsy and I try often, but it never seems to work out. I can put together awesome ideas in my head, but I can never get them to turn out right. I will of course keep trying, but it never makes me feel very good about myself. That question really has made me think of what I really like to do with my free time and I figured it out. I just love people. I would rather spend time with my family or friends than by myself painting or gardening. Though I wish I could paint and I wish I had a green thumb, at the moment, it's not me.

Now in realizing this I am slightly confused by what God has laid on my heart to do with my life. I love my family, why do I keep moving farther away from them? I love my friends, why do I make it hard for them to come visit me? I never thought of myself as the type of person that would get homesick, but I have never been sick without my mom somewhere close by and I have always had close friends to keep me preoccupied. Now, I have no family close and the people we have met here are awesome so far, but we are still getting to know them. From here on out it is going to get harder. I still can speak the same language as all these people and the culture is quite similar, but it won't always be that way. We are going to keep moving further and further away from "normal" life.

Brion and I want to some day move into a remote group of people who have never heard the gospel. I know that because of my heart and love for people, this passion will never die. I hope that one day I will look back after years of living in the tribe and understand why God gave me this heart. I hope that I will be able to love those people like they are my family and I hope that they will learn to trust and love us as well. I also hope that even after we leave I will know that we will have all eternity to spend together.

I guess that is what it all boils down to, living life with an eternal perspective. It's hard for me to be away from my sisters that I am so close to. My parents who love and care deeply about me. My awesome friends who make me laugh. Our two great church bodies that I love and care for. All of these people that I am thinking about and thanking God for right now, I know that we will have an eternity together in Heaven. What an amazing promise that we will all be together forever. I have to lean on that. I have to keep that in the front of my mind. I know that God is using all of these people in unique ways, just as He is using Brion and I. What an honor to be a messenger and light of Christ.

Cheeseheads

Ok, so this may seem strange, but lately I have been feeling like cooking really isn't all that hard. I don't know why I had it in my mind that it was, maybe because I really never did it. :) It always seemed it was easier to put something frozen in the oven or something from a box on the stove, but tonight we had a great diner and it really only took us maybe 10 minutes of prep time. We used all fresh veggies, had some great potatoes, some cheap steak and threw it all together. For those of you thinking, man this girl has been married for a whole year and is just figuring this out now?, well kind of i guess. I always felt I needed to follow recipes and needed all these crazy ingredients to make a great meal, when in reality I can be as creative as I want.

This is all very random and yet it seems like it's going to change my world significantly. Just thought I would keep people in the loop with what is going on in my brain. Uh, oh, maybe a blog was a bad idea ;)

On a more serious note, we had an awesome first day of orientation. I think this year is going to challenge us to grow in all areas of our lives. Growing deeper in our walk(s) with the Lord. Growing deeper in love and leaning more on Christ in our marriage. And tons of other stuff, but my brain is failing me right now. It's going to be a great year.

Lovers 4 life signing out



(that was for you Marie)

Adjustments

Alright, this is my first blog ever so you are going to have to cut me some slack if it's all over the place :)

I can't believe we are actually in Canada. This past year, as we were working and saving up for MTC, we hit a big bump in the road. New Tribes has had some pretty awful stuff go on in their past and our pastor wasn't sure if this was the most solid mission for us to go with. Brion and I were caught totally off guard with this. We knew God put us at Arlington Countryside Church to be our sending church and we also really felt God calling us to New Tribes. Our pastor and the mission board researched and prayed about this for months and in the end God worked it all out. When we were told that they would still back us up if we went through New Tribes we were overjoyed. But the overjoyed-ness was soon followed by, wow, we have a lot to do! 

As I sit here just remembering this, I am amazed at God hand. He genuinely cares for us and He really does work in our lives. We serve a powerful and Holy God!    

So now that we are actually in Canada and our orientation starts tomorrow, I still can't believe we are actually here. I think that fact may shock me for a few weeks yet. We have an awesome apartment and the people here are so friendly. It will be weird getting used to being in "the bubble" again. (In our own little New Tribes city inside Durham). Everything seems to be more expensive here, which to me is strange. For example: 4 liters of milk (little over a gallon) = $5, gas = $1.27 per liter which translates into about $5 a gallon, cereal is about $5 a box and cheese is just crazy! Needless to say we will be buying in bulk next time we are in the states :) 

All in all. we are so glad we move here. Our campus is beautiful, the people are wonderful, and we have already scored some sweet free stuff from the mission barrel (which is like a free goodwill at New Tribes). I will try to keep you all posted on the interesting stuff that is happening in our lives here in the great white north!  

~ Annette ~