45 days to go!!!

Amilee is now 4 lbs and roughly the size of a pineapple. It's so funny how they compare your baby to a fruit most weeks. I'm sure there is old man humor somewhere in there. Mostly I've just heard "2 turkeys in the oven this year, eh?" Even from a Winco checker.

Hopefully she doesn't look like a scaley turkey!
I've been loving feeling her kick, and so far it hasn't hurt at all. She's very gentle, but you can definitely see her rolling across my tummy. For the past few days she's had bouts of hiccups. Hopefully to her its not as much of a pain as it is for us to get hiccups. I'm loving being pregnant and I feel huge (in Juno's words "I'm a planet") but it is so worth it! I can't believe I only have a month and a half left, it's gone by soooooo fast (hopefully Jeremy will make it back from tour to see her enter the world)! Ahhhhhh! Before Jeremy left, Emily took some maternity pics of our little family-including Marley. Here is the site if you'd like to see more. I love all of them-thanks, Em!!

Amilee

So here is my little girl and her hand waving at us! She has great fingers and a really straight neck from what I can see! Yay!
This ultrasound was waaaay better than the first. (The first technician we had scared the crap out of me with doom-and-gloom scenarios of what could be wrong. This technician actually explained things to us, showed us everything possible anatomically...even though baby kept crossing her legs, not wanting us to see anything down there. I know she was just being really modest and not at all difficult. ( ; I'm so excited! I'm already so much more attached in a weird way knowing what is growing inside. Jeremy's going to be such a great daddy and I'm sure she'll be a daddy's girl, playing electric guitar and bass, running a studio, touring with the band. I asked him if he was excited that it was a girl and he said he was but it meant he was going to have to kick more guys butts (some words have been changed to keep this blog clean) than he thought...
This also means way more clothes, shoes, makeup, drama, tampons, weddings, etc. Whoa.

Bug bites and shaving cream.

So I got home tonight from Erica's family birthday dinner (Happy birthday, Erica!) and found 2 things...1. from the front gate to my front door-shaving cream. All over the side walk, all over our porch, a giant shaving cream heart on our house, cream covered door knob, and "sucka" written on our doorstep. IF YOU DID THIS...do not confess, seriously. I'm pretty ticked. I will probably throw my preggo hormones into a punch to your throat. It would hurt.

And 2. a giant knot on my forehead from a little blood sucking insect or a swarm of them. I have no idea how I did NOT feel this thing sucking my brains out. It is HUGE!!! I kind of wish it was a zit so I could have the satisfaction of a puss explosion when it popped, but no, it itches like crazy and looks horrible. Ugh. Here it is...

So, I'm going to bed now. Ticked and bitten but really excited for tomorrow. Tomorrow morning I will find out if I'm having a Cohen or an Amelie. I'm so excited!!! I'll let you know!

Hawaii!

Just got back from a week of relaxing on beautiful white sandy beaches, snorkeling with turtles, eels, and an octopus, kayaking, hiking into a volcano, eating delicious food, and hanging with great friends. The Faulknors invited us to join them on the big island, and we could NOT say no! Our favorite thing to do is vacation and snorkel on the Hawaiian islands.
Jeremy and Brett were like little boys when it came to ocean. We couldn't get them out of the water. At one point Jeremy called out to Em and I that he was standing on the only rock on this beautiful, pristine beach ten feet into the water. I just happened to have been in that area and didn't remember any rocks. I kinda laughed and said make sure your not standing on a turtle. He kinda got a weird look on his face and looked down and sure enough the "rock" swam away!
Two days into the trip, Jeremy's cell phone and my nice digital camera ended up in the ocean and were completely ruined (I won't tell you who did it, but it wasn't me!) So dang, we had to rely on the professional photographers to take all the pictures of us!
Anyway, it was so nice to just get away, forget about work, and just have fun with friends! thanks, Faulknors!!!

Baby

so i'm going to have a baby! i know I was supposed to blog about this 2 months ago, but well, it's been crazy. within 1 week (at the end of April) we finished the studio (which is beautiful-I'm so proud of Jeremy), moved the offices, organized the Stirring's music art and film festival,moved into our new home, and found out that we're pregnant...talk about an amazing week. All at once. it was information overload but all great information!
I'm getting more and more excited about the baby. At first, i had so many fears-mostly of miscarriage, then of what we were going to do once the baby came. I had crazy dreams of weird looking baby boys with random teeth coming out every which way, having the baby early and not having anything ready, etc, etc. I kept thinking "what the heck did we do, what am i going to do with a baby?" i felt bad thinking that but I heard its kinda normal. after getting over some fears, i feel better and more capable of bringing a little person into the world. We don't know the gender yet-but we have names so I'm officially claiming them! Haha. If it's a girl...Amelie Joy, if it's a boy...Cohen Jeffrey. we'll find out in a couple weeks!

Moving Day--This Saturday!!!

So we're signing for the house tomorrow, and we'll be able to move in on Saturday! I'm so excited! So....9am my house on Saturday the 28th if you can help us move! Everything is almost packed-thanks to my amazing friends, Sarah Schepens and Emily Branca and Kristena Hayes, and we have a huge uhaul truck ready to go! Let me know if you can come help! Thanks!

drywall is from you-know-who!

In three days (hopefully) we will be done with the drywalling process. I will be so glad to not have to slice, break, screw, caulk another piece of drywall! My muscles hurt, my fingers hurt, my shoulders hurt, my knees are bruised, it looks like it snowed into my nostrils.

So....if anyone wants to come help with the final drywalling, I will be there for the couple days and nights!

Thank you to the faithful drywallers of the Soundhouse...Joe, Devin, Chris, Matt Kluttz, Jacob and parents, Covers, Ryan, Jeremy, Juan, and to many other volunteers (Dan, Nate, etc) who put some time in caulking and screwing! (let the jokes begin...) I appreciate you! I'll post some pics later...

confessions: friends, feelings, and fear of man

This week brought up a lot of stuff for me. It's been the best week and the hardest week in months. I spent a couple hours yesterday afternoon with two good friends at Starbucks (thank you, my lovely friends!). I've been needing that time with friends for awhile-too much time with the guys drywalling and caulking lately. It was so good to just catch up on life and what God's doing in theirs, encouraging one another, praying for each other, confessing. It was amazing to me that the hidden emotions and doubts and fears and feelings of mine are shared in one way or another with the women around me. Sometimes I feel so alone and weird in what I'm feeling that I start thinking that no one cares, no one sees, everything's falling apart, I can't lead, I'm not capable, I'm not a good person, I, I, I, me, me, me. I'm really tired of Satan trying his hardest to get me to fall into this pit.
Nate's message on Sunday was incredible! Exactly what I needed to hear. I get to this point sometimes when everything is about me. I start becoming jealous of what other people appear to have, fearing what they think of me, I get bitter at the anointing, the blessings, the "words" they get, their great relationships with God and others. I'm dishonoring in my thoughts. I become so focused on what I don't have, that I forget everything that God's doing in my life, who He's created me to be, the dreams He has for me, the amazing undeserved blessings He's given me, the husband and friends He's put in my life. Something Nate said has really stuck with me..."God had everyone else when He created you." I almost started weeping at the thought that He wants little ol' ME, He loves ME. So why in my life do I go thru these stupid cycles? It's so frustrating. I know God is teaching me so much thru this-honor is HUGE in this-and I know I'll pull thru with his strength. I don't feel hopeless-that's the cool thing. I'm frustrated, but full of hope that I am becoming who God made me to be-his daughter, made in his image. So that is my confession. And my hope.

Updates...

So the house inspection went well...I got to scour the house, all the nooks and crannies, and I absolutely love it!! Benji said we're great with financing (financial peace paid off-yay!), termite inspection on Thursday, insurance taken care of, the sellers are taking care of all loan fees and if all goes well we'll move in on Feb 20th. It all seems to be falling into place. I'm almost ready to ask "what's the catch?", because you know there always is, but I'm afraid to ask. Unless I just did...
It seems so surreal that we're getting our dream house! There are a few things that need to be put in (lights, sink). Apparently, when someone forecloses on a house, they take the light fitures and copper piping to the sink. Who knew? Oh, and no dishwasher. Hmmmm...
So here's a bigger picture of the house.

The studio is getting done slowly but surely. There's a drywall party goin on tonight if anyones interested! Actually there's one every night this week and until the drywall is DONE! Don't be shy---we need your help! Even if you don't know what drywall is! It's a great workout, and you'll sleep like a baby tonight (unless you fall off the ladder 12 ft up. We won't make you work on caulking......It's messy business, but I'm so excited to see this dream of Jeremy's come about. Stirring worship teams can practice here, art and creative juices will flow out of the Soundhouse. I can't wait! I had a good day off from the studio work yesterday(not so much a day off, more like I couldn't move my arms) , but I'm ready to get my muscles goin again. Hope to see you there!
So here is what our next month looks like...work work work and pack, move Stirring storage this Friday, work and pack, move into house on 20th, work and pack, move stirring office on 28th, work and pack, move Jeremy's studio March 1st, work work work and create, Erase the Dark March 6th. Yeehaw!

Our 3 adventures

I know everyone is pretty used to seeing my once-a-month blogs summarizing my life. I feel like I have so much to blog about. Like 23 different things. So I'll write about our 3 adventures.

1. baby. as in we'd like to have one. after 7 years of being pretty much anti-kids (they would probably ruin everything), we are now finally ready to take the leap into cute cuddly baby, poopy diapers, bottles, sleepless nights, buggers, . i'll keep you updated.

2. studio. so jeremy and i are opening a recording studio-the Soundhouse. huge undertaking-1400 square feet of double walls, double framing, double insulation, double caulking, double drywall. that's were we are right now. drywall. if any of you would enjoy working out for a couple hours hanging drywall with us, we would appreciate it! i think I've lost 10 pounds and gained a ton of muscle. for the last two weeks I go on a run with marley in the morning, go to work for 8 hours, come home to change into work cloths, go hang insulation and drywall until I can't raise my arms anymore, then I fall into bed and pass out. seriously, if you suffer from insomnia, work construction until you can't move, then drop into bed. it will be the best night of sleep of your life. anyone want to help? just coming to the studio to gawk at all of us working is NOT helpful. you know who you are. HUGE THANK YOU to joe, bethel guys-jeff and daniel- and the school of ministry crew, scottie d. dan and nate and devin, and juan for donating your time and kicking butt on this studio. we're so excited to see this dream of jeremys become reality. it's unbelievable the work he's put into it while also working full time... i'm so proud of him!


3. house. it's really old and beautiful and I'm so excited. so excited. we looked at the house 3 months ago and didn't feel we should make an offer at that time even though we LOVED it. so we prayed and waited then last week we offered and they approved. what the heck. could our lives be more crazy right now? nope. we just figured why not get it over with at the same time?

so here we are-baby, studio, house. in the craziest time of our lives, and God has been speaking to us. about honoring, inheritance, his call on my life, about his perfect timing, boldness, marriage, needing to say "no" more often. we started derrick's training group and i must say it was super intense in the best way. i can't wait to get together again-our group is the best-and just bond with one another. i'm excited to learn.

anyway, hopefully i'll be able to write a little later. bear with me in this "season", you probably won't see me very often unless you're with us rockin walls and slingin mud and when you do happen to see me, i'll be the exhausted one who can't lift her arms... ( ; ok, now i'm going to bed.