It's Christmas Time!

My mom came down to visit last week, to help me get ready for the party that A and I are hosting this weekend. She's amazingly wonderful. We put up the Christmas tree and all the decorations, cleaned most of the house, and set out all the serving pieces and things to plan for the party menu. There is no way I could have gotten all of that done without her help. Thanks, Mom! I'll never be able to repay you for all the things you have been and done for me throughout my life.

So I spent a little while looking through all my cookbooks today to plan for the party faire this weekend. And I have to say that my family rocks. On both sides. I have a family cookbook from both sides of my family that have fantastic recipes and old favorites from years gone by. What a treasure! I'm very grateful to those who took the time to put those together for their younger generations to enjoy.

As for the baby-watch, I'm still very fatigued. Sleeping for the majority of each day and trying to feed myself and baby sufficiently when I'm awake. I gave up on trying to follow the book's prescribed diet. As one of my friends said, it's "enough to feed a football player". So I'm just trying to eat as healthy as possible on the limited portions my stomach will tolerate right now. Only two more weeks til the 2nd trimester...I can make it!

Anybody else starting to feel the holiday calendar crunch? Ours is getting a bit full! I love it when that happens, though. It means we're blessed with many friends and family to spend time with.

Cheers!

I'm still feeling horribly weak and sometimes still nauseated most days. I quit my job at HPB today because I was going to have to call in sick for the second time this week...so I just resigned altogether so they can find someone that can work more consistently. My manager guy took it well and was supportive of taking care of myself health-wise, so that's good. I just feel bad that I had to quit and leave them a lot sooner than I was supposed to. Also, I finally got to the "Pregnancy Diet" section of the What to Expect While You're Expecting book...which is good because it could really help me feel a lot better in regards to the weakness/sickness, but I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed by how MUCH I'm supposed to be eating, when almost nothing sounds good and it takes so much energy to fix anything at all. So I'm kind of discouraged there.

Also, I was supposed to go visit my family for the first time in several months over Thanksgiving weekend -- I have been missing them like crazy and have been looking forward to seeing them for so long -- but on Wednesday night they called and told me that my sister and nephew have both come down with something called MRSA (say "mersa"), which is an antibiotic resistant version of a staph infection that presents as a rash. Needless to say, this can be very dangerous for pregnant women, so I didn't get to go see my family after all. We're thankful it was discovered in time to keep us safe and from being exposed to it, but I was really sad that we couldn't go see them. It was an emotional disappointment that was hard on me. Also because it's one more thing in a long line of health problems that my sister keeps experiencing. They are supposed to do a 30-day regimen of some kind of treatment, and hopefully it will be cleared up and safe for me to be around them again by Christmas. Please pray that the treatment works -- for both their health and safety, and for my heart, because I miss them so much and it would be very hard for me not to see my side of the family for either of the holidays this year.

So, I guess I've been a little discouraged overall this week. On the bright side, A has been absolutely WONDERFULLY supportive through the hardships of getting used to being pregnant and my spending a LOT of time being a slug on the couch, and we had a really good Thanksgiving with his side of the family. Definite praises for his helpful and loving attitude, and for his wonderful family that has taken me in so easily and made me feel truly like a part of the family over the last year.

p.s. one of these days I'll post the sonogram picture I got last week. wait with baited breath.

It's official!

Baby is due in early July. Stomach has been getting much better, but energy level is worse. Praying over whether I should keep working at HPB or not. Urgh. It's difficult to make choices about an unforeseen future sometimes.

So, I worked all weekend for the first time at HPB. I like it, but my energy does not. I technically woke up this morning, but I still haven't really woken up.

Can't wait to see my family this weekend! Been looking forward to it for weeks! Ooh, and Thanksgiving food. Yes, yum to that. Need to figure out how to make green bean casserole, though.

drumroll please...

Pretty sure I'm pregnant.

If I'm not, something is seriously off with me. Sleeping all the time. Can't get enough protein to eat or enough of anything (except alcohol or caffeine of course) to drink. Oh, and then there was the positive home pregnancy test.

So, pray for us! Yippee!

New Job!

So today I got a new job. Lord help me. I don't know why I like to work myself into the ground, but alas, such is my life for now.

For the next 16 weeks, starting Monday, I shall be a seasonal temp cashier at Half-Price Books. Wahoo! I'll be making very little money, but it will be enough for a little spending money during the holiday season, and it will get me out of the house and keep me from becoming a bump on a log for a few months until Baby decides to start showing. I'll be praying that the Lord keeps morning-sickness at bay so that I don't have to skip out on my job too much.

p.s. My employee discount rocks!

Welcome

Hi folks! So, with my new found flexibility of time, I am making another attempt at consistency. Hope y'all enjoy!

transformation

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- his good, pleasing and perfect will. ~Rom 12:2

I want to be able to "test and approve" what God's will is, so this makes me ask how I can be transformed by the renewing of my mind. I heard once that we can be transformed and have our minds renewed by the washing of the Word. That the Word works as water in us to wash away the impurities within us, to make us clean, and to leave its mark upon our hearts so that we live by its precepts and principles more fully. So I try to steep myself in the Word as much as I can, and I am asking that it wash me, transform me, and renew my mind. I also just simply pray that God would renew my mind and transform my heart into more of a likeness to Christ in any way that He wishes to employ to that end, whether through the Word of scripture or through circumstances or people instead -- that He would work out the sanctification of my life more each day. Life is about so much more than acquiring our salvation. After we are assured of our salvation, we are then put on the road of sanctification -- the process of making us holy, of sifting out the sin of our lives, sealing up the cracks in our substance, healing the wounds left by the sin and brokenness of both our own souls and that of those around us. Instead, in the place of all the sin, brokenness, pain, and sorrow, in the place of all the things in the world that just don't seem right, He gives us holiness, healing, fulfillment, and glorious joy. What incredible hope it gives me to know what He is working out, even if I don't understand His means sometimes, and to know that a day will come when we will all be free from the pain of sin! I have experienced a measure of the healing and hope that He promises, and I have been set free from so many of the weights and burdens that had me bound. Praise Him for the freedom and hope He offers through transformation in Jesus Christ!

Food for thought, two definitions:

TRANSFORM

1 a : to change in composition or structure b : to change the outward form or appearance of c : to change in character or condition : CONVERT

synonyms TRANSFORM, METAMORPHOSE, TRANSMUTE, CONVERT, TRANSMOGRIFY, TRANSFIGURE mean to change a thing into a different thing. TRANSFORM implies a major change in form, nature, or function.

RENEW

1 : to make like new : restore to freshness, vigor, or perfection renew our strength in sleep>
2 : to make new spiritually : REGENERATE
3 a : to restore to existence : REVIVE b : to make extensive changes in : REBUILD
4 : to do again : REPEAT
5 : to begin again : RESUME
6 : REPLACE, REPLENISH <renew water in a tank>
7 a : to grant or obtain an extension of or on <renew a license> b : to grant or obtain an extension on the loan of <renew a library book>

intransitive verb
1 : to become new or as new
2 : to begin again : RESUME
3 : to make a renewal (as of a lease)
- re·new·er noun
synonyms RENEW, RESTORE, REFRESH, RENOVATE, REJUVENATE mean to make like new. RENEW implies a restoration of what had become faded or disintegrated so that it seems like new renew the splendor of the old castle>.RESTORE implies a return to an original state after depletion or loss <restored a fine piece of furniture>. REFRESH implies the supplying of something necessary to restore lost strength, animation, or power refreshing drink>. RENOVATE suggests a renewing by cleansing, repairing, or rebuilding renovated>. REJUVENATE suggests the restoration of youthful vigor, powers, or appearance rejuvenated her spirits>.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ~II Cor 5.17

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession -- to the praise of his glory. ~Eph 1.13-14

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion -- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. ~Isa 61.1-3