Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all! What a fun day it was! Although I am suffering from a head cold, morning sickness and complete exhaustion, it was a great day. We have so much to be thankful for! I got to enjoy it with both my family and Stephen’s family… I am sure I was quite boring considering I slept most of the day.

Last weekend we had my sister’s shower to celebrate the soon to be birthed Delaney Brown! Anna’s life is changing so much this month! She also got married yesterday!!! Congratulations to Jacob and Anna Brown! Jacob we are so excited to have you in our family.














Stephen is doing pretty well, at least from what he will tell me. They moved him again; he is back in his own room and enjoying it. In the chow hall today they had Mexican food for lunch and he thought that they might get some turkey for dinner. What’s Thanksgiving without turkey?

I can’t wait to get to talk to him again tonight; it is the highlight of my day!

Praise the Lord for family! Praise the Lord for new family! And Praise the Lord for turkey!

The Subway Special

Well we are rounding the corner on another week! I have been talking to Stephen about everyday, but usually it is in the middle of the night, like 10 o’clock, when I have already been asleep for at least an hour. No, really sometimes it is 12 or 1am when he calls. But when baby says sleep, I sleep! Poor Stephen probably has not been enjoying the conversation as much as he would if he were to be talking with someone that was more coherent. I swear he said the other night that he went to Subway with 2 guys from Romania and 1 from Kosovo. I mean, that sounds like one of those jokes… you walk into a bar and there are two Romanians and one Kosovonian (or Kosovoan?)... But it wasn’t, he really did… I can only imagine the stories he will have when he gets back. And do you think the menus at Subway in Iraq are similar to ours in the U.S.?

Well Stephen had a room of his own, until they had him switch rooms, again! Now he shares a room with another guy, but he said it is not too bad. He did have a broken bed when he got there, but they got it fixed so hopefully he will start to be able to settle in. I finally got his address, so the care packages will start soon. Stephen said that he did not want a lot of junk to have to deal with, but I think he knows better than that… honey- get ready for some serious junk! I figure it will just make him feel more at home.

Honey, keep up the hard work! I am so proud of you and love you so much!

Praise the Lord for roommates! Praise the Lord for my late night calls! And Praise the Lord for sleep!

Late Night Call

Well Stephen finally called late last night, which helped me to sleep much better. He sounded very good and is just busy with getting up to speed on everything. As for me, he is not missing too much... I am a zombie. This morning, I was putting my make up on so very slowly as I watched the news and fell asleep! Yes, this pregnancy is slowing me down! Those of you who don't know me well, I am a huge morning person and some what of a night person. I usually go to bed late and wake up early. Now this little baby that is only a quarter of an inch big this week is sucking all of my energy. I have to say that I am very willing to give it up; anything for that sweet little baby. And I am sure that once he or she is out of my belly will suck my energy as well! Other than that I have been feeling pretty good. I have had only two mornings where I felt a little sick, but nothing too bad.

One sad part is that Stephen and I have decided to get rid of our sweet dog Liberty. So anyone reading this that knows of a good home for her please let me know. It is not that we don't love her and want a dog, priorities have just changed. Since she is a puppy (about 7 months old) and already 50 lbs, it is a lot for me to handle. She is so playful, but this causes her to about knock me over every time I let her in the door. I was already not the most graceful and now with being prego it won't get any better. Unfortunately this will only get harder the bigger I get. She is a lab mix and completely housebroken. Has had her shots and has been spayed. She is a great dog and will make a great addition to some one's family.












Praise the Lord for my late night call! Praise the Lord for puppies! And Praise the Lord for 1/4 inch little babies!

One Week Down

As I find myself with mixed emotions this week, one minute ecstatic because I AM HAVING A BABY, and one minute saddened because I want so bad to be able share it all with Stephen right now, I realize that I am blessed. I have more in this life right now, at the age of 25, that I could have ever hoped for. God is not just good, He is great!

Stephen is doing good, but the camping trip lasted a little longer than he had anticipated. He just got into his room a day or two ago, but it is much nicer than he anticipated... this is a huge difference from the military. He will have internet in his room, so we should be able to communicate much more - now he will just have to get a laptop. Right now I have been hearing from him at least once a day... except for today. I am not worried because I know that Stephen is smart and good at what he does.

We also found out some more good news... He will get to come home twice. Once at about 4 months into it for about 2 weeks. Hopefully that will be about the time we find out if it is a boy or a girl. And then again when we have the baby for about a month. Yeah! This will make things much better. So the longest I should have to go without seeing him is 4 months.... that sounded selfish... 4 months will be the longest that he will have to be over there at one time.

Fortunately, before Stephen left we got a chance to get some family pictures done. I may be a little bias, but these are some cute pictures.

Anyone that would like to communicate with Stephen, e-mail is the best. I cannot guarantee that he will respond in a timely manner, but he would love to hear from everyone.

Praise the Lord for the camping trip to be over! Praise the Lord for communication! Praise the Lord for family! And Praise the Lord that He helped me through this week!

Happy Veteran's Day Stephen!

Stephen, I am so proud of you! Sometimes it seems weird that you are a veteran, but you are... and you make me the proudest wife. You are so giving to be willing to sacrifice it all for your country. I wish I was a fraction of how selfless you are.

I love you and hope you have an amazing day!

I talked to Stephen this morning, twice! He called about 3:30 this morning and I hung up on him - not on purpose, just half asleep. Thank goodness he called back. He made it to Baghdad and already had things to do. Unfortunately his room won't be ready until tomorrow, so he will be in a tent tonight... just like a fun little camping trip, right? This call was great even if it was the middle of the night! Then I got the greatest wake up call at about 6:30. He couldn't talk long, just called to say good morning and I love you! But this will sure make my day better!


Praise the Lord for our veterans! Praise the Lord for phone calls! And Praise the Lord for my husband!

Just when you thought the adventure couldn’t get any crazier…

It has.

We got Stephen to the airport yesterday morning and said goodbye. What a rough day! I am trying to be strong, but I just sent my best friend away for a year. He arrived in New York Sunday evening and then arrived in Amman, Jordan today at about 9am our time. I talked to him once he got to his hotel and he was doing pretty good considering he hasn’t slept. He was going to shower and sleep and his flight leaves in the morning (Jordan time) to Baghdad. They are about 8 hours ahead of us, so this will be our night tonight. I hope to hear from him again tomorrow morning. We continue to pray Psalms 91 over him!

I am in awe and amazement as how the Lord works. While we were so wrapped up with this work thing and everything not going as planned we failed to realize that God may be doing something bigger. And He was. Wednesday we found out that we are pregnant! Yes, Stephen got me knocked up and now is leaving for a year. We had actually talked about this before he took the job and decided to leave it all in God’s hands. Apparently God thinks that I can do this on my own. We just have to thank the Lord for allowing Stephen to be delayed so that we could find out together. I am still so very early in the pregnancy (about 5 weeks) but we cannot contain our excitement. Stephen will now only come home once, for the birth, and probably stay a full month. This way when he goes back he will only have a few months left before he is home for good.

So while my emotions are at an all time low with Stephen being gone, they are also at an all time high about the baby. I cry about every few hours, sometimes a happy cry sometimes a sad cry... I pity anyone that spends an extended period of time with me.

Other than those two big events it was a pretty low key week/weekend. We also went to Peyton's 3rd birthday party (Happy birthday Peyton!), dinners with the fam, I got in a car accident (not my fault & not bad at all), a date with my sweet husband, got Libby Lou spayed and a few of norm routines.

Sweet baby in my belly, we love you and have prayed for you for so long. We can't wait to meet you and get to know you!

Praise the Lord for safe plane rides! Praise the Lord that I made it through the first day! Praise the Lord for delays! And Praise the Lord for the sweet gift of a baby!

New Prez...

So, now that the election is over... Obama has been selected as our 44th President. While this is not the candidate that I voted for, this is the one that I will complain about. All seriously, we just have to remember that our trust does not lie in man, but in the Lord Almighty. That is why we will pray for this man over the next four years and trust that the Lord has His hands all over this, just like He takes care of everything else, big or small.

You can't mess up the country that bad in 4 years, can you?

Praise the Lord for our new President! (This is me attempting to be thankful in everything.) Praise the Lord that He is in control! Praise the Lord for our government's checks and balances!

Patience

Patience is a virtue! Well, Stephen did not end up leaving for Iraq on Saturday… apparently there were a few things to be cleared with DOS (Department of State) before he could catch his flight. As of right now we still do not know when he will leave… I have been told it could be tomorrow, or it could be next week. This is sounding more and more like the military, I had to quiz him to be sure it wasn’t. This time is a little bittersweet for me. As I am so joyous that I get more time with my sweet husband, I am feeling the need to know when I will have to say goodbye. I am a planner and when things don’t go as planned I feel the need to readjust, but it makes it hard to readjust when you don’t know what you are readjusting to. I mean let’s hurry and get this year over with!


















Fortunately for me, I was able to take some time off of work so that we could hang out. We enjoyed the extra sleep and all the extra fun. We got to take Reed and Ellis to lunch, met John Austin at school for lunch, and met Nicci at her work for lunch… I am not sure if you got the trend here… but we like lunch! And dinner, we did some of those too.


Friday we invaded the waiting room at the hospital. My mother went in for her hip replacement surgery and had a successful one! Apparently she had worn down an inch already, so this was much needed. We are just so excited for her and hope that she will have a speedy recovery and finally be out of pain!

You will see my sweet nieces here Eden and Faris.

My Uncle Troy and some of his band also stayed with us this weekend. Check them out at http://www.crosscountryministries.org/. They won Entertainer of the Year at the CCMAs!


Praise the Lord for lunches and dinners! Praise the Lord for new hips! And Praise the Lord for Patience!