Deck

In March Brian took on the big job of adding a deck.  Unfortunately, the weather was terrible in March and April.  We got 12+ inches of rain in April, so up until just a few weeks ago, his plans were on hold.   We were pretty busy in May and June so it was hard for Brian to find enough time to get it done.

Here's an after picture:

 

Here is a before picture of the cement slab we had - nothing exciting.

Here is Day 1:  Brian and Todd drilling holes for the footers.

 

Brian's parents came down for the weekend and his dad helped him frame it out. 

Laying Trex

And finally:  The finished Deck.  We are going to add seating under the arbor at some point.

 

I wanted to get a few pictures at dusk because it's really pretty sitting outside then.

SUYL: Marriage Advice

I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner for Show Us Your Life:  Marriage Advice.  We love being married!  I'm really blessed ~ I married a really good man.   There's no doubt we waited on God's best for us.  We'll celebrate 5 years in a few months, so I don't know if we have the best advice ~ it's been a really great 4 1/2 years.  We'll probably have more to add in 10-15 years.

(My answers are pretty similar to Kelly's)  Keeping God in the center of our marriage is a priority.  We are so excited about having kids, but we know we can't let them over-shadow God or our marriage.  Another thing that has helped me is knowing our Love Language.  I love the book The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman.  I highly recommend the book - it's an easy, quick read.  Thankfully quality time is both our #1, so it's easy for us to show each other love.  I also really liked the book Love and Respect (I can't remember the author's name)  The book is based on Ephesians 5:33 "However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband."  Loving Brian is easy, but respecting him is sometimes the difficult one.  I can be so stubborn sometimes -something I'm working on and will probably work on my whole life.  We also made the decision not to have any debt (except our mortgage) when we got married.  We save up for everything that we buy, it makes it easy -if we don't have the money, we don't buy it.   Marriage is awesome, but it does take work.  
  
I asked Brian for his best marriage advice.  His answer:  "Always support your spouse and do things together."

Pitiful Pup

Charlie somehow got a little cut on his foot and has been gnawing at it, so Brian and I taped him up.  Such a pitiful little thing. We had to give him a few treats to distract him. 

Prayer Request

How do I begin this?

Stephanie and I have known each other since kindergarten (we may have even been in pre-school together). I have a lot of fun memories that involve Steph - so many fun slumber parties.  I've known Mike since high school.   They are high school sweethearts (how cute is that?).  They have been married for about 8 years.  They have 1 precious daughter Caylee and a younger sweet son Levi.  Levi is a little over a year old and is cute as a button.  Recently Levi was not feeling well and couldn't quite shake it, so Steph and Mike took him to his pediatrician, who referred them to Indy.  After a lot of bloodwork, a biopsy, and MRI's, Levi was diagnosed with AML leukemia.  Makes me tear up just typing this.  Little Levi faces multiple rounds of chemo.  Thankfully "the success rate is high and the outlook is positive" quote from their blog.  I'm asking my Lexington friends and blogging friends to pray for this little guy and his family.    


Just reading their blog humbles me.  I'm so thankful that Mike and Steph know Christ and that He does have a plan for good for their family.  Thankfully we serve a big God and we know he hears our prayers.  I know he can perform a miracle in this little guy's life and their family.  Mike and Steph okayed me to share a little bit of their story and to put a link up to their blog.  I know they appreciate and covet any prayers.  I'd also appreciate it if you'd click over and read some of their entries and pray for them - love my blogging buddies. 



Little Levi's Battle: Round 2.... Fight!!: "Hi everyone, We made it down to Riley this morning around 9:30. Thanks to Amy for dropping Caylee off at Steph's mom and dad's house, which..."

littlelevisbattle.blogspot.com

Baby Love: 21 wks

Pregnancy Highlights:

Due Date:  11/18/11

Gestational Age:  21 3/7 wks
The girls I work with told me I need to start taking belly shots, so here is the first one.  Notice the pink pajama shorts and washed face?  I'm always exhausted when I get home from work, so the first thing I do is change into comfy sleepwear and wash my face, so all I have to do is brush my teeth before I go to bed.  I think my chest is growing more than my belly.  

 

Little man was not cooperative today.  He had his hands in his mouth and feet up around his head.  See the foot and hand at the top?

  

Then little man was letting us know that we were giving him a headache. 

Size of baby:  length of a carrot- weighed 15 ounces today
 Morning sickness: Thankfully most of my nausea is gone.  Big Praise!!

 Total weight gain/loss: Still minus 5 pounds - good news is that I have gained 5 pounds over the past 5 wks.  I am definitely doing better about eating, but can tell that my stomach has shrunk.  I'm still eating less than what I was before I was pregnant. 

Maternity Clothes:  I'm on the border of needing them.  I have a few clothes that don't fit, but thankfully most items are still okay.  I wear scrubs to work and they fit just fine so far.  In the evenings I usually wear comfy clothes and they still fit, and then on the weekends I usually wear summer dresses and they definitely still fit.    

Gender:  Boy!  We're still trying to decide on a name.

Highlights of the week:  1.  Little man is moving so...much!  I love feeling him kick and squirm.  2.  Last week both of our moms gave us bags of clothes and baby items.  It was so sweet of them.  Little man is already getting spoiled by the grandmas.  3.  I'm excited that I have a plan for the nursery, which I'm starting to get anxious to start working on.  4.  I watched Brian play with a 4 year old boy for an hour and have a blast - he's going to make a great dad and have so much fun with a boy.  Made my heart smile.

Lowlight of week:  I'm still not feeling great/back to my old self.  I keep hoping the 2nd trimester fun will begin.  I still have a lot of exhaustion and heartburn, and still occas nausea.
~How has Michelle Duggar carried 19 kids?

 "What does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD's commands and decree."  Deuteronomy 10:12-13 --One of my prayers for little man

Questions

I stumbled across an odd/random set of questions.   I thought I would give it a go. 

How can someone win your heart?  My best friends are Jesus followers, loving, kind, generous, sweet, and compassionate.  They're all near and dear to my heart.
What does your shirt look like?  Just a plain purple tee that I got on clearance from Banana Republic.
What's currently bothering you?  Nothing.
Do you know all the words to the National Anthem?  YES! 
How would you describe yourself?  Christ follower, compassionate, loving, outgoing, and organized.
What do you currently hear?  Brian watching tv in the other room.
What time did you go to sleep last night?  10:15 - which is kind of late for me, especially since I've been pregnant.  I am not a night owl.  My body starts shutting down by 10 at the latest. 
When is your birthday?  May 3rd.  I turned the big 3-0 this year. 
Do you remember your dreams?  Yes!  And since I've been pregnant, I have been having a lot of nightmares.  At least a couple of times per week I have been waking up screaming.  I have dreamed about several men breaking into our house, a snake in the bed, several men staring at me in our bedroom...
When was the last time you were outside?  About an hour ago.  I went out and sat on our deck for a few minutes, but it's still about 90 degrees, so I came back in. 
If you became a millionaire, what would you buy?  Nothing too extravagant.  I would pay off our house, upgrade our vehicles (we wouldn't go crazy - probably a minivan and truck), set aside a larger emergency fund, give money to several organizations near and dear to our hearts, rent an RV and travel across America (we'd probably wait until our kids are a little older to remember), get a personal trainer lined up to help shed the baby weight, and buy Brian some nice tools for his shop.

How many tattoos do you have?  None.  Not really my thing.
Are you a good cook?  Yes, I think so.  I made the Pioneer Woman's Chicken Parm tonight and it was really good.  I really enjoy cooking. 
What is the last movie you saw?  We actually saw Transformers 3 Friday night (I'm really not into movies, I don't sit still very well).  We were excited to see the movie because Brian's brother is in the movie at the beginning - long story, but Chris works at NASA and got to be in the flash back scenes in the movie. 
What do you do for a living?  I'm a Registered Nurse, but hopefully come November I will be a Stay At Home Mom. 
Do you love your job?   I like my job, but I don't love it.  I finally work for a great doctor, but the previous 3 years were really hard and have caused me to kind of be burned out.  I've had several poor experiences as a nurse since we've been in Kentucky. 
What kind of car do you drive?  2001 Honda Accord with 200,900 miles on it.  I got it new 10 years ago and have almost driven the wheels off of it.  In the fall we will be upgrading our vehicles. 
Do you have a reason to smile right now?  Yes.  I always have a reason to smile.  Just thinking about or seeing my husband makes me smile.  Thinking about our little man makes me smile.   

DIY Planter Boxes

Brian built planter boxes for our deck a couple of months ago, but I haven't really felt up to doing too much, so they have been sitting in our garage.  Last week I finally got up the energy to plant some flowers in them.  I love them!  He did such a great job.  

Here are a few pictures:

Yes, I helped a little bit with the project

I really liked the boxes as white, but Brian thought they would scuff up too easily.  I finally decided that some color on our deck would look nice, so he ended up painting them for me.

 

The final product:

One of these days I'll get pictures of our new deck that Brian built -it's really nice.

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July!  It's one of my favorite holidays.  I'm so thankful to be living in this great country.  We were able to spend the last four days in Indiana and had the best time.  We stayed at my parent's house and got to spend a lot of time with them, spent time with my brother and his girlfriend, got to see my sweet friend Sheri and her two kids, got to see my California friends Jen and Shane and meet their new beautiful baby girl Nakoa, got to see my DC friend Jesy, met Brian's parents for lunch, went to a bonfire Friday night, sat on a porch and watched an amazing storm roll in, went to a cookout at my aunt's house and got to see lots of family members.  We had a packed four days!   Why did I only get a few pictures this past weekend? 

 Mary holding sweet baby Nakoa

Storm starting to roll in

 

A few minutes later - notice the lightning bolt

 

Brian found this snake in our yard today

Completely freaked me out!!!  I usually don't want things to die, but I really wanted him to kill this snake.  Instead, he just shooed it off our retaining wall towards the woods.   He assured me it was not poisonous, but I'm not fully convinced.

Hope everyone has had a great holiday!!  Thank you to everyone who has served and is serving in our military!