My Blessings

I have been blessed with many things. I praise the Lord for what He has given me, none of which I deserve. I will never be worthy or good enough to earn all that He has given me.

I, like everyone, have had some hard times. 2010 was a particularly hard year for me. Satan tried to hide my blessings from me. He tried to take my pain and blow it up so big that I was blinded to the good things I had. He is my enemy and he knows how to wage war with my mind.

Too bad for him! God gave me a husband, and a mother, and in-laws, and siblings, and gorgeous friends, and life groupies, and a mentor that remind me every day of what I DO have. He gave me a church family and co-workers and even brief aquaintances that have smiled and encouraged me. They all have taken time to remind me that God has a purpose and a plan for my life. That God wants me to find joy and peace in His arms and look to Him rather than myself for strength. They prayed for me and with me and over me. For all the things I needed (and still need) prayers for. I am so blessed.

I could list my blessings for days, but I mostly am excited and thrilled and anxious to share one particular blessing with you.

The Lord answered all those prayers. Tyler and I are going to have a baby in July! We have waited so long to tell everyone and I want to scream with joy! I have wanted to tell people for sooo long!! We are farther than we have been with our previous pregnancies and are now into the 2nd trimester, which is considered in the "safe zone." We have been itching with excitement to tell people that their prayers and ours have been answered. YEA!

There are some perks to being high risk, one is that we get an ultra-sound every week. We have been watching our sweet baby grow each week in pictures since 6 weeks and we are now almost 13! All the way from a tiny little sesame seed to now, a large peach! My perfect little peach!! Each time we have gone in, the doctors have measured size and length and listened to the heartbeat and each time they have said that EVERYTHING looks perfect! We smile and laugh and giggle at how this baby wiggles and jumps and kicks all over the screen. Tyler holds my hand and grins at me when we hear the heartbeat. He squeezes my hand when they say that everything is measuring just right or looking good or right on track. It makes my heart swell. I am SO blessed.

We have been doing the shots, just as planned. Each night Tyler gets my medicine and gives me my injections like a professional. He is awesome. I have had to do them on my own a few times and I am NOT a champ about it, but I do it because they are helping my body to have a healthy pregnancy. I have had to do them in some wierd places, too. The bathroom at Kyle Field during the 4th quarter of that fabulous Nebraska game. Parking lot of Reed Arena after a Fightin' Texas Aggie Basketball game. Family restroom (with Tyler, imagine what people thought of us going in there together ;)...) at Cowboys Stadium the night Pearland won the State Championship. Restaurants, friend's houses, you name it! I am so sneaky! And you had NO idea!

YES - I have been SO sick. Morning sickness? Yeah, right!! For me it has been 24 hours a day sickness. Just within the past 5-6 days I am finally back to normal. I thought my taste-buds were dead forever! They are back! So is my appetite and my ability to hold down my food, YEA!! It was worth it though. Each time I felt sick I thought about the purpose and it made it okay. If the good Lord needed me to be sick to make a healthy baby, then sick I would (and will) be.

I am so happy to share this with you, finally! We have known since before Thanksgiving and it has been SO hard keeping it from you, but at the same time we still had those fears. Tyler has always been better than me about being hopeful for the best. I have had, and still have fear. I just pray that God will protect this baby and grow him or her (I think it's a him, but what do I know?) healthy and strong and perfect. That we will have ZERO problems or complications beyond those that we have already worked through. I pray for perfection. God has already blessed me with this miracle and I pray that He would continue to protect and grow this precious sweet baby in me. I say prayers of thanks over and over and over. I am glad God loves hearing our prayers and praises because I am giving Him LOTS!

I promise to post ultra-sound pictures soon. As soon as I scan them. We have lots :) I am not showing at all yet, but will post those as they start coming, I am excited for that part, too!

I thank my Sweet Jesus for giving me above and beyond all that I could ask for or imagine. We can't thank you, our friends and families enough for the prayers and encouragement and love. We are so blessed. So very blessed.