December

In many ways December has been a blur!  It has not been that it has been busy with festivities. We actually scaled back quite a bit on our holiday celebrating this year. However, I hate to say that December has been one that has been filled with lots of mixed emotions.

We have had about 5 big things that have happened in the month of December, so I will try to recap a little bit of each of those to sum up our year.

 Waterview's 50th Anniversary

The first I have no pictures of. However,Waterview has always been a very special place for both of our families. Waterview is our church congregation and our family. You see my mother's parents brought her to this church shortly after it began. My father's family moved to Richardson  during his junior high years and began to go to this church.  Their spiritual formation occurred at this church. They met in the youth group at this church to pass down to their children. After much begging and happenstance with travel situation in college, my parents began to date and were married at this church in 1976. My father's mentor is the minister during all of his years in the ministry is about to celebrate 50 years in the church and  also a mentor to Paul as he teaches our Bible class.  Little did we know that in 2000, my parents would return to this wonderful church as part of the ministry staff.  This change occurred while I was in college, and my sister finished up her high school years as part of the youth group. After college, I decided to move back home to save money, pay off my loans, and begin my teaching career.  God moves in mysterious ways. I then made my home congregation Waterview after feeling like it was home to me for many years as we visited. There were very few people my age when I moved home. However, I persevered and am thankful that I did. One of my very best girlfriends  in this whole wide world was there and single right along with me.  In 2005, I met the man of my dreams at Waterview. Under circumstances that I would not have expected, he began coming to class, sitting with me, and hanging out together we began a relationship. What was even more surprising.... he has been a part of the Waterview home for about 30 years to this date, and had been in the youth group graduating class with one of my cousins. Our paths had crossed probably a million times before!  In 2007 we married in the chapel of the church, were active in that church, and to this day are both Bible class teachers for the children and adult Bible classes, retreats, etc.  This church has rich history in our family and I am excited to say we look forward to the future of the church as our baby girl comes into part of this history.  You see, her cradle roll class will be one of the largest classes of children in recorded history! We are expecting 14 babies in this class the next year. Our Bible class will welcome so many babies this year, and are also excited about the new friends we will make from other Bible classes and those who will join us from other classes as we raise our children together in this fabulous church. We celebrated with a special day, which my dad spearheaded the committee and did an excellent job! It was a long day, but a very special one to recount the memories that both Paul and I had for at least 30 of the years!

Preparing for Baby

The time is growing closer to our baby girl to make her appearance. Right now I am at 31.5 weeks. On December 5th, we went to what is probably our last  sonogram of this pregnancy. Our doctor surprised us and caught the precious 3D images of our daughter. Her little hands, nose, eyes, and mouth are just precious! She is nice and cuddled up! We cannot wait to meet this precious one. It is still hard for me to fathom that something this precious is being given to me and that I will be her mother. 

During the month of December we went to some classes to prepare for her birth.  We went to prepared childbirth classes and a breastfeeding class. During both of these we learned some wonderful information we will need to know when it comes time for her birth and shortly thereafter!  We toured the hospital's labor and delivery. Paul left a little more informed than he wished and wants to take back some things he has now seen!  He has been much sweeter lately after watching the childbirth videos!!!

Here I am at 30 weeks. I know.... I look wider from the back and don't have the defined bump!! 

This was at 28 weeks and was taken for our Christmas card! I look forward to being able to share this with Claire when she is grown up! 

 I have been working on washing clothes, organizing the nursery, preparing long term sub plans, and much, much more! Look for more posts on that to come in the near future.

Celebrating Christmas

December is always filled with decorating, shopping, and preparing to celebrate Christmas with those that you love! It is always one of our favorite times of the year. 

We are online shoppers to the max. However, there was some shopping we had to do while running out to the most dreaded mall. However, Paul was wonderful. We started off early one morning, had our list of things to get, and shopped until I literally dropped. Even though I don't look huge in the above pictures...I felt every bit pregnant trying to shop for Christmas presents this year. I thought I had dressed as comfy as possible. Paul was a great encourager to get the shopping done. We walked the entire length of Stonebriar mall in Frisco and came out with every gift we needed. This momma  had to sit down a few times, but the shopping was done!! When we got home, again, Paul was a champ! We set up 2 tables. Paul took the prepared boxes of gifts and began to wrap.... EVERY SINGLE GIFT! All I had to do was put labels and bows on each one!

We always love how our house is decorated at Christmas time!  

Here are baby and mom at Christmas! I was quite tired by the time this picture was taken.

 Daddy with his baby girl!

Christmas morning at the Jouvenat's! 

Schotzie and her Christmas treat with some wet food!

Surprise!!!! White Christmas!

We celebrated with my parents on Friday, December 28th. My sister and brother-in-law were in town so we delayed our celebrations a while! It was a bittersweet Christmas, but lots of great memories were made. We enjoy having Christmas with all of our furry friends too!

Me without make-up..... no make up for this ever itching mom!

Red is perfectly posed for his picture.

My parents Christmas tree with all the gifts!

Sister picture

Brandi and PA

Sisters and husbands

Another one of Red!

Just the two of us!

Dad and Daughters

Mother, Daughters, and Granddaughter ( You can see the bump here!)

Mom and Dad

Mom and Dad with their girls

Paul and his furry friend!

Losing a loved one

No one is ever ready to let go of someone they love. However, unexpectedly this is what we had to do come December 19th. Just about a week earlier Paul and I went to visit with my Grandpa and take him some Christmas goodies to enjoy in his assisted living home. Paul had the day off, so we were able to go early before Grandpa had to head to dinner. We enjoyed showing him our last sonogram DVD and visiting with him.  The next Sunday, I had stopped at the ladies restroom before Bible class and opened the door, said good morning,  and hugged my grandpa's neck.  Who would have known this would have been the last time?

You see I got a phone call on Wednesday, December 19th early in the morning from my mother saying that Grandpa had gotten very sick late that Tuesday night and they had found he had a brain bleed. They didn't know how long he would last. Luckily for him, he didn't even know what was going on and he only fought this battle for less than 2 hours. There wasn't enough time for anyone to say goodbye.  In ways I felt like I had said goodbye to him in a dream. You see  I had what I thought was a crazy pregnancy dream. In the dream I was in the hospital in labor, my grandfather was in the hospital dying, and my mom's mother was very sick and dying. Little to know, during this dream, my grandfather was already up in heaven. Our whole family will miss him like crazy! He was the quietest, yet most loving man someone could encounter! Many life lessons were taught by this man and I am so proud to have called him Grandpa and for Paul to know "Joe,Joe!" I am also happy to know that he had a glimpse of his great-grandaughter!

So, you see, December was not all a happy month, yet we know he is in a greater place!

 Changes around the House

As we are preparing for baby, we also began the cleaning and organizing of our home! Changes have begun to be made. One large investment that we recently made were blinds for the guest bedroom (which used to be my craft room) and the nursery! We had no privacy in these rooms and it is essential we changed that!  So you see the beginning of the changes to be made in the cleaning process. We are still making even more adjustments, but this is just a glimpse!!

So you see, December has come and gone. It has been a busy month full of blessings and sorrows!  However, I can say I am thankful for all of them! 

We are waiting to see exactly what 2013 brings us! It will sure be an exciting and life-changing one!