Jason and I, along with another couple who are friends of ours, decided to lead a college Bible study for the students who are home for the summer.  For me, it has been magnificent doing college ministry again.  We just finished a 4-week study on discovering God’s will – a study done by Andy Stanley.  It was a great choice for these students as they muddle their way through trying to choose degrees and decide what on earth to do with their lives (I didn’t have the heart to tell them that I’m almost 30 and am still sometimes unsure about where I’m headed).   Last week Andy taught from Nehemiah.  To make a long story short, Nehemiah devotes himself to rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem, and he will not let anything distract him from the work he is doing.  After some men try to get him to come down from the wall to meet with them, he responds, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.  Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” (Neh 6:3)  I specifically thought of stay-at-home moms when Andy was teaching this, but it could be applied to anyone.  Nehemiah is wholly devoted to the work God has given him.  He remains faithful to continue his job and is confident enough to deny other opportunities that may pull him away.  As I’m quickly approaching parenthood, this was a great lesson for me.  I will be at home with my baby, and I already foresee myself having identity issues.  This passage was a great blessing to me.  When I become a mom, there could be no higher calling for me.  I will probably do many other things in life, alongside being a mom.  But that is my highest calling.  If anything is going to distract me enough or cause me to sacrifice being a great mom, I want to have the confidence to say, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.”

Jason & I went to get our second ultrasound yesterday afternoon.  Our hope was that we would find out the sex of the baby, but… no such luck!  BUT it was so amazing.  This kid moved around like crazy… arms shifting up & down, sucking the thumb, legs kicking a bit.  Wow.  I shed a few tears, that’s for sure.  It was the first time this all became incredibly real to me.  I cried again last night as we laid in bed and Jason sang some Harry Connick, Jr. to my belly.  And I cried again today when he leaned down toward my belly and said, “Daddy loves you.”  Before, I would’ve blamed all this crying on hormones, but I never cried until the ultrasound yesterday.  I’m only 18 weeks along, and this child inside me is SO REAL.  It reinforces why I love to work with pregnant women at the pregnancy care center in town.  It reinforces my desire to give pregnant women all the information they need to make an informed decision regarding what to do with “unwanted pregnancies.”  I don’t care who you are or what you believe.  I am pregnant, and this is a human child inside me… NOTHING LESS.  You can’t argue with a pregnant woman!!  Below is one of the 6 photos we got of our precious one yesterday.  If you click on the link, it should pop up larger on the screen so you can really see it clearly.  The baby is facing down, somewhat in a “bowing” position.  If you’re looking at the screen, the head is in the middle with the top of the head facing toward the left of the photo, and the body follows down to the right.  I really hope you can see it…  Rejoice with us over this little life!

sonogram-18-weeks 

I love those moments where something happens to you and your first thought is, “I will definitely be blogging about this.”  Well, that happened to me the day before yesterday.  I walked into Kinko’s to get some projects printed and, amidst the unusually large crowd, I noticed that the man at the front of the line had a tail.  Yes, I said a tail.  He had some sort of tail attached to the back center loop of his jeans.  It was definitely a double-take moment.  As I stared at it, I actually found myself wondering if it was supposed to be a skunk tail or a cat tail… as if there should be a tail there at all.  I decided I needed to covertly take a picture of it with my iPhone.  Not only did he have a tail, but he was swaying back & forth to make it “swish.”  This was an interesting character.  Anyway, I just thought I should share my funny moment… you can tell in the photos that he’s swishing.