Getaway!!!

This past weekend, Will took me on a wonderful getaway to a cabin in the Smokies. It was so special and fun to get to spend so much time just the two of us. It was the last getaway we have planned until Laurel is here. The little cabin we stayed in was perfect and we had such a great time playing games, talking, bird-watching, going to the mountains, etc.

This is a bridge that goes over the stream where Will and I were engaged! I am so glad that we got engaged in a National Park because we know that the area probably won't change very much at all since it is protected as a tourist place.

The water felt so good, because it was a pretty hot day...although I was a little bit afraid of snakes and spiders in the stream...thankfully we didn't see any.

Will and I loved the little cabin that we stayed in! Pictures really don't do justice to how cute and nice it was. It was very new feeling, clean, and well decorated. I hope we can go back in the Winter sometime and be there when it is snowing!

I look like I am ready to pop, but I still have 7.5 weeks to go! Laurel is growing by leaps and bounds (and therefore I am too!!). I thought it was fun that we were staying off Laurel Road. I am trying to hold up eight fingers for eight months, but it turned out a little funny in the pictures :)

Cades Cove is SO beautiful. I just love it!

Me and my Will! I am constantly growing in my love, respect, and gratefulness for him.

This was a really cute, young deer that was trying to cross the road, but was too afraid of the cars. It was cool to see him so close!

You probably can't tell how cool this was from the picture, but in real life it was amazing! There was a birds nest with 4 baby birds plastered to the wall in the one of houses in Cades Cove (Will just looked over my shoulder and said that it sounds like the four baby birds were plastered too the wall...oops!...I meant the birds nest was plastered with the birds in the nest!!!). Will and I sat on a bench in the room and watched the Mom and Dad make trip after trip outside to get food and then up to the nest to feed the babies. It was amazing to see it so close! Especially for someone who is very interested in birds, like Will.

I guess this one really isn't very interesting...it is a turkey. We did see a turkey with all it's feathers out (picture the typical thanksgiving turkey). It was really cool, but we didn't get any pictures.

This is an old grist mill.

In addition to these things, we also saw a bear and a coyote (which I had positively identified as a wolf until Will enlightened me!).

I am so grateful to God for blessing me and Will with such a wonderful trip that we don't deserve! We have been given so many sweet blessings :)

In other exciting news, this is my last week of work at the Cornerstone office!! I am very excited about staying home and getting ready for baby Laurel's arrival as well as being able to take better care of Will with my extra time.

This weekend we head off for a week at the beach with my family!! Pictures will be forthcoming.

Big Update!

I am long past due for an update! May has been very busy (and great!) so there is a lot to report.

First, Laurel's Baby Shower!

The ladies in my Care Group threw me a wonderful baby shower on May 18. I was absolutely blown away by everyone's generosity and kindness, both by those who served to make the shower possible and to everyone who came and blessed us with many gifts. Here is a picture of all Laurel's things piled up in Will and my room!

I can't wait to decorate and set-up her room! I only have 12 more days of work, so I should have lots of time to devote to preparing for Laurel in only a couple weeks!!

Anne and Mary DeGennaro took a road trip to visit over the shower weekend! It was really special having them there and we had a wonderful time shopping, eating, talking, and spending time together. I don't have any of those pictures, because they are on Anne's camera. Hopefully she can e-mail them to me soon.

This past weekend Will and I had the opportunity to attend New Attitude. The conference was excellent and it was wonderful to get to spend so much time together. The messages were all about God's Word and it was encouraging to me to hear about prioritizing my bible reading and memorization because I know that it is going to become a lot more difficult in the months/years ahead! I highly recommend listening to the messages which are available at newattitude.com.

On the last night Will and I had a special meal together at The Old Spaghetti Factory. Notice our matching colors :-)

It was wonderful to see so many special friends! Bebbie and I got to eat breakfast together and catch up a little. We both agreed it wasn't nearly enough time!

I am still trying to recover from the business of the conference and catch up on my sleep, but it was completely worth the lack of sleep for so much fun and great teaching!

We have a lot more fun and exciting things coming to us in the next weeks and months. This weekend Mom and Dad are coming for visit, next weekend Will and I are going on a long awaited getaway together (!), and the week after that I finish work and we head off for the Connolly Family Beach Vacation. We sure are blessed!

This is becoming a long post, but there is one thing that was on my heart to clarify concerning this blog. I assume that it goes without saying, but just in case I think I aught to say it. I want to make sure that everyone who reads this blog understands that the things I choose to post about are not necessarily the most important things in my life and that the amount I might devote to a particular topic doesn't mean it is more important than another topic that I don't really discuss. For example, I have recently been posting more about pregnancy and baby Laurel that I post about Will and my relationship. I am very aware that Will is my primary human relationship and I really do cherish him far more then I could ever cherish anyone else. I love Laurel and I am very excited to welcome her into our family, but she will never have Will's place in my heart. I don't want anyone to think that I am more consumed with her just because I post about her more often. Another example is that I don't really discuss Will and my involvement in Cornerstone and my relationship with the Lord on this blog. I love to discuss what God is doing in my heart and what I am learning about him, but I don't consider this blog to be the place to do that. My primary purpose in writing is to update friends and family who don't live in Knoxville with pictures and short descriptions of my activities.

Sorry that I took so long writing about that! It was on my heart to make it clear and I hope I have succeeded!

First week of May happenings

Will is very hard at work studying for his finals for school. We really miss each other for the 2 weeks of hard studying, but it is almost over (or at least it is the beginning of the end). His last final is this Friday morning! He got to take a little break after the Sunday meeting to enjoy the CCK Church Picnic. The weather couldn't have been more perfect and we ate bbq and treats until we were stuffed.

Here is Will enjoying his meal!

We rented bleachers from a man who uses them for Rodeo's.
I can certainly picture them in that environment!

Everyone enjoying the beautiful day.

One of our favorite little friends, London Oldacre!

Another little friend, Braden Blanton. He is about to celebrate his 4 week birthday!

We can't wait for Laurel to meet these 2 friends and for her to come to her first picnic!

100 DAYS!

Today marks 100 days until Laurel's due date! I can't believe how quickly the time is flying. When Will and I got married we did a 100 day countdown where we periodically took pictures of ourselves and an object that had the number of days left until the wedding on it. It was a fun way to countdown the days! This time I am going to buy jelly beans and a container (maybe a large baby bottle!) and put 100 beans inside. We will eat a jelly bean each day until we only have only one left and that will be August 1! It will be fun to watch the container get more and more empty. I do have visions of certain members of the household coming down and eating some jelly beans unauthorized....it will be mid-July and we won't have any left in the container! I will have to carefully explain the situation and provide an alternate source for those with a sweet tooth...including myself!

This weekend Will and I are off to Franklin, WV for Bethany Teter and Kevin Shipp's wedding. We are very excited to see those two get married and also very excited to see my family and all our friends who will be there!

24 weeks 4 days!

I am very pleased to announce the arrival of my pregnancy tummy!! Spring is not the only thing that has sprung :-) God is overwhelmingly kind and I have really been enjoying this season of pregnancy. Laurel has continued to grow in her activity and it is so fun for Will and I both to be able to feel her moving. I can't believe that it has been almost 6 months already(as a side note...does 6 months come at 25 or 26 weeks?)! Everyone told me it would go slow, but if this is slow, I don't know what fast would be like. For a recent date night, Will and I stuffed ourselves with chick-fil-a and then had a great time choosing all sorts of things for Laurel for her registry. It really makes me so excited to be getting so much closer and to begin doing actual projects connected with her arrival! I also had my first experience of "nesting." It all started when I decided to switch out all my too small clothes and winter clothes and pull out the spring/summer clothes that still might fit...within 30 minutes I had pulled tons of stuff out of both of our closets and had it spread all over the floor in trash piles, goodwill piles, back in the closet piles, and who knows what other piles! By the end I was very tired, but I just LOVE having clean closets and I am already planning and getting excited about my next projects! This is very rare for me, so I am trying to take advantage :-)

Here is a picture of Laurel's new-to-her travel crib! Cheri and I had a great time going to a massive children's consignment sale last week. There seems to be a whole consignment sale subculture and it was hilarious to be immersed in it for a couple hours. I am very pleased with my purchase, because it was in great shape and a pattern that I really like (and that they are still making I think, although not this particular pack-in-play style). I already have it all set up in Will's and my room awaiting Laurel's arrival!


By the way...when I was cleaning my closets I found my camera cord!! I should be able to post a lot more pictures now.

I am very grateful to the Lord (most of all) and also to Will for the way they have cared for me during this season. I have definitely been feeling many more emotional fluctuations than normal! I have been so encouraged through spending time with the Lord and knowing his care and faithfulness and greatness! He is completely worthy of ALL my trust and I am so excited about all that he is going to do in the upcoming months and years! Will has been so gentle and caring and wise in bearing with me and my undue emotions! I'm so grateful for him! I couldn't imagine a better husband or man!

Spring has Sprung!

This has been a wonderful and busy Spring so far! I have temporarily (hopefully!) lost the USB cable that connects my camera to my computer, so I can't display the pictures that I have taken, but I have an idea of where the cable is and I hope to recover it soon.
Will and I had a wonderful trip home to Charlotte for Easter. It was filled with March Madness, food, shopping, time with friends, The Train Game, and lots of time with family! Some of my dear friends got together for a little party and Laurel got many beautiful outfits! She is going to be a trendy baby. I will post those pictures when I get them!
In other exciting Spring news, Will and I got to take our first picnic of the year! How I love my husband and all the creative and fun dates he takes me on. There is NO ONE I would rather spend my time with. I'm so grateful to God for him and still completely amazed that he picked me!
Will and I went to the doctors this morning for another ultrasound and an update on Laurel! I am pleased to annouce that she is doing great! She is 22 weeks and 5 days old and she weights 1 lb. 2 ounces. Sadly she has not lost her love of hiding her face and she kept 2 hands, 1 foot, and the umbiblical cord in front of her face! We still loved getting to see our sweet, little girl.

As you can see, she is holding her foot with her near hand and putting her far hand on her forehead!

Here is her profile again, but this time her nose is getting smashed by something. Possibly a foot?

I guess that Laurel just really wants us to be surprised by her beauty when we see her in person! No sneak peaks! I really don't need to be worried about her not having the correct amount of fingers and toes, because we got plenty of shots of those!

Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice!

That's right...we are having a little GIRL! Will and I are so excited. Seeing our little baby for the first time was amazing! It is so encouraging to know that she is growing just like she should and that everything about her is perfectly normal (except of course, above average cuteness!). Will took most of her ultrasound pictures to Law School to show his buddies, but the one I have is pretty funny! We got to have a 3D ultrasound after the normal ones, so that we could see her little face, but she REALLY didn't want us to see her. She kept both of her hands covering her face the whole time!!! Here is an example:
As you can see her little hand is covering up her whole face and that is her ear that is facing the camera :-) The great news is that the ultrasound lady told us we could come back in a month and get another 3D ultrasound free of charge so that we can see her!! That is the kindness of God toward us. I can't wait to see Laurel again! We just love her so much already and even more now that she had her own little girl personality. We can't wait to meet her in person!