Spending the week in Kansas

Last Saturday Paul surprised me with plane tickets to Kansas (thank you Lance for setting that up) while he had a conference in Florida. Originally I thought if I felt up to it I would join Paul and his parents in Florida for a fun vacation or have a week with Ramona here in Colorado, but after a few setbacks in my health the week before I knew that could not happen. Instead, I got to relax with my family which was so awesome! Mom made yummy food all week and I helped her plan part of her garden she is redoing and I got to hang out with my dad during the day. They have such a beautiful backyard and I would sit back there with the birds singing and read my book. I also got to see my bro, Mike and Tina and kiddos and hang out with them quite a bit. That was definitely a treat. I love my time with my nieces and nephews and Paul has been cracking up at my stories about each of them. My favorite was when Cameron came in and we noticed he had bird poop in his hair. His sister Abby is so imaginative and had to figure out the scenerio..."Did the bird fly over and poop or did the bird land in his hair and poop or was the bird in the tree when it pooped"? Her little mind cracks me up...kids are so funny. Paul had the camera in Florida, so no pics with this blog..bummer:)

Celebrating Ramona & Pete

Saturday, May 10, we got to celebrate Ramona and Pete's engagement as Miriam and I hosted their engagement party. We had a great time, meeting new friends and hanging out with lifetime friends.

We are so excited for them and it's an honor to be a part of their wedding planning.

Baby is Making an Appearance

I have started to emerge out of my long hibernation in bed...yes, I think I might live after all:) Even though I am on anti-nausea meds around the clock, this weekend proved life will be fun again. My friends, Christina and Sloan stayed with us from Thursday thru Saturday and we all attended a Graham Cooke conference. Graham is a dynamic Christian speaker from England and one that I got hooked on listening to years ago. We had a great time and even enjoyed a lunch in Golden, CO to celebrate Sloan's b-day. On Saturday we went to Aran's dedication (Jeremy and Kim's little one). It was a cool dedication with time for family and friends to pray for him as well as Jer made a video of Aran's adoption and this last year. Aran LOVED his video and the fact that he got to eat cake. I also was excited to see my aunt Jane and uncle Loren there, too, from Kansas. Jane took this pic and it kind of shows my poochie belly.

I am officially into maternity clothes and I have had so much fun with that. When Julia visited me last month, she picked out my first maternity pants with me. Then Ramona and I found my first maternity shirt and mom sent me some great clothes from a garage sale. Even though I don't feel good a lot of the time, I will still look good because of my friends/family...That's what really matters, right?

Happy May Day!

I have always loved May Day. Maybe it was the little baskets we made in school that we filled with flowers and gave to our moms, I don't know, but I love the thought of May Day. Yesterday was 80 and I thought maybe if I felt good enough, I would pull some weeds or look around in our garden today. Instead, this is what our May Day looked like! The second pic is of our Spring Snow Crabapple Tree. Yes, the snow part is right. But, I still love my Colorado!

Paul, the housekeeper

Poor Paul, since Baby Houge has come into the picture and has not let me do much but sleep and throw up, Paul has taken over all of the responsibilities and is doing an amazing job! Pictured is Paul cleaning the house, then a picture of my prenatals crushed up by Paul and disguised in PB & J (because I cannot swallow pills at this point) and also a picture of my nightly meal. I used to get up every hour and eat baked potatoes with butter and sour cream. Paul would fix me a cooler full of goodies every night and I would sit in the corner like a little mouse and eat all of my goodies as the night progressed. Thank goodness I am starting to sleep more in the night. In fact, last night I slept through the night! It was amazing! I told Paul, wow, this is what it feels like to sleep through the night, I had forgotten. Thank you Paul for being so good to me:)

Buhler...Buhler...Buhler

I got the funniest card from my Aunt De...to give you little history first, though, growing up in Buhler, KS during the years of Ferris Bueller's Day Off movie was a set up for the scene of Bueller missing school that day and his teacher (Ben Stein) saying: "Bueller....Bueller...Bueller" in the most monotone voice. Anyways, somehow my aunt De found a card that had Ben Stein's voice saying that and she wrote how we need to head to Buhler sometime. It made me laugh so hard. How do you find a card like that? Thanks for making my day aunt De!

With God All Things are Possible

Have I lost all of my blogging friends yet? Ok, so I was watching "Facing the Giants" last week. It's kind of a cheesy movie, but it reminded me of the miracles God did in our life. As most of you know, the same day that Paul made Colonel, the Lord laid it on my heart to take a pregnancy test...very random. I did and it was positive! So I am in the 13th week and in the thick of nausea, needless to say, haven't had the energy/wellness to blog or call most people. But, we are extremely thankful for this little one. It has been a rough road, though, so far. I don't think I have ever been this sick in my life and have had 1 scare of miscarriage. God keeps giving me Ps. 121: I am Your Protector, I will not slumber or sleep and I will protect you from all harm. 2 weeks ago I heard the fast little heartbeat on the doppler and baby kept kicking the doppler monitor--he is making himself known! I always wondered if I would experience all of this and it just doesn't seem for real. :)

One hard part about this was we were matched with a little boy from India a week or two after we found out we were pregnant. As the India director was telling us about the little guy, I told her our latest news and she said we couldn't accept the match. That was tough, but wise on her part, especially how sick I am now. But, we do get to stay on the list and resume the adoption process after the baby is born. Life could get busy around here!

Thanks family and friends for your love and shoulders to cry on and listening ears and prayers as we have walked all of this out. It's so exciting!