I have been reading The Mom Walk by Sally Clarkson and I would like to share a couple quotes with you.

"I realized that one of the roles God wants me to play in my children's lives is a conductor of joy, happiness, and celebration. After all, God designed our need for these things into our hearts. We were made to enjoy life and our Creator, and we were meant to choose to live in His beauty and provision.
"This doesn't mean I won't have difficulties or times of depression. But I do have choices I can make as a mom that will determine the environment in my home." (Sally Clarkson)

This does not only apply to the role of mother, but also of wife. When I am joyful and cheerful, looking for opportunities to praise God, the whole atmosphere in my house changes. We don't have children in the house just yet (although Little One is frequently reminding me that it is on it's way :) ) and I can only imagine how much my attitude will effect the environment of our home, because I know that it does now, and once the children are coming along it will only be even more important and vital that I am not always downcast, focused on all my "duties and responsibilities" instead of focusing on the gift of my children and all that the Lord is doing. Now is the time to be practicing this because it is just as important and vital that we look at our responsibilities with delight, especially for the sake of our Husbands (or families if you aren't married yet).

I will end this post with one more quote:

"To neglect enjoying God and His own wonderful ways in my life is to not really know Him or grow in Him. For at the very basis of His character are love, life, beauty, and joy. To know Him is to know goodness. To walk with Him is to walk in lovingkindness, pleasure, and delight." (Sally Clarkson)

Life

Although there have not been many frequent posts on my blog lately, life is still going on. As always the Lord is teaching me much and one of those things is living life productively and joyfully. I have not been making good use of my time lately and thanks to the Little One growing inside me, my emotions have been on a roller-coaster over the past month which makes me happy one moment and then "down" the next, for no specific reason at all (that is to say, that my reasons usually don't merit such an emotional response). But God is at work! As of late, I have been very happy indeed! Why? Mainly because I am working on turning my entire focus onto the Lord! What a difference it makes when we are wholly focused on God and living for Him.

Since my last blog post I have been to Harkness two more times with my darling Hubby! A week ago we went for a picnic and here are a couple pictures....

It was a beautiful, warm day and we had so much fun walking and taking pictures. Scott took a lot more than I did though as he's practicing with a new camera he got for a wedding he's doing later this year.

God's creation is so beautiful! When I look at the ocean, I am amazed at how big it is, especially as I think about how what I'm seeing is such a tiny, tiny, part of it!

My birthday was last week and I had a great day! My wonderful, sweet, loving husband bought me the nicest locket! I tried to take a picture of it, but this is the best I got (see below). It has a pink flower on it with the words "I Love You" beside it. It is so pretty, I just love it!

My wonderful Husband also bought me some slippers which I was hoping for as I wear my slippers ALL the time! Last year my Mom found some pretty white slippers that said "Just Married" on them, and by the end of the Fall I had completely worn them out! About a month before our wedding I had bought (didn't know about the other slippers) myself some pink slippers similar to the ones below because I knew I would wear them frequently. Well, after a year of wear, those also have gotten pretty worn out and DIRTY! I wore them a LOT on our trip and by the time we got back they were pretty worn out. So I got new slippers for my birthday! I love them and they are very comfortable!

This week I have been trying to finish a baby blanket that I started crocheting back in February! I could have had it done before March, but did I? No! I am nearing the end, so I am trying to actually finish it and start (and finish) another as well before another month is up!

The pregnancy is going well. I am now 24 weeks, 1 day! I'm measuring perfectly and am very much enjoying all the movement that I am feeling! I know I've been saying it for close to 20 weeks now, but it still amazes me how intricate God's design is and that there is a little human being growing inside of me. It can hear me, it can see the difference if I were to shine a flashlight on my tummy, it's lungs are growing, and it is moving it's little legs and arms and I can feel it! It is just so amazing, it brings me to tears!

I will end here for today, but if you'd like some more great encouragement, go check out my friend Shayna's blog and the great post she shared here.

Harkness - 22 Weeks, 3 Days

I apologize for my long absence but I have been keeping very busy. Today I took all of my siblings to Harkness Memorial State Park and we had such a GREAT time! The weather was perfect and everyone (including me) got lots of fresh air and exercise! It was absolutely beautiful!!!!! God's creation is just so incredible!!!!

The pregnancy is continuing to go well. This week I have been feeling the baby move (and kick) a LOT! It seems like every evening as I start settling down in the last couple hours before going to bed, the baby has lots of energy. But I love feeling it! Now this Little One just needs to kick hard enough so Scott can feel it! :)

I know this is so short but I wanted to be sure and post something before May. My birthday is in 1 week and since I didn't think about my birthday until the day before last year ("something" was going on.... something with bells.... perhaps... :)) I am actually thinking about it this year and anticipating it. Hopefully we'll get to go on a double date with my parents since my Mom and I share the same birthday! This is my last birthday before I'm a Mom! :)

Have a great weekend!

8 Weeks

Today I am 8 weeks along in the pregnancy. It was about this point when I miscarried last time, and I am very happy to say that everything is very different this time. As some of you may have noticed, I have not posted in a week. Most of that is due to the fact that last week I came to know the real meaning of "Morning Sickness". Headaches and a "yucky" stomach have been my companions for over a week now. However, I know that being sick means that the baby is healthy, so I am NOT complaining! :)

The baby measures approximately three fourths of an inch and is about the size of a pinto bean. The eye lids are forming as well as the ears (inside and out) and the fingers and toes. The elbows and wrists are developed (and growing) and the legs are just about long enough so that it's feet can touch in front. It is so amazing to me how quickly a baby grows and how everything is developing and growing. Babies truly are miracles from heaven!

Stay tuned for pictures and details of where we've been since Sunday. Can anyone guess???

The Creation Museum

Yesterday we had the exciting opportunity to go to the Creation Museum. The exhibits were very well done and lots of fun to see! :) I didn't get too many pictures on my camera (and I don't know how to get Scott's from his camera to my computer) but I did manage a few! :) Below is a poor picture of an exhibit right in the main entry:

The birds in the next to pictures are all Finches! They were so much fun to watch!

Here is a Chameleon that I could not seem to get a picture of without his tail glowing! :)

Oh, and did I mention that we got to go to the Grand Canyon?

Here is a SCARY dinosaur! :) No, it's not alive although it looked real enough to be. If you stood to his side and looked at his eye, it looked like he was watching you!

It was pretty cold out, but it didn't keep us from walking the garden, and going to the petting zoo. Here we are on our way back to the Museum (we were getting pretty cold by then!) :)

It was a great day! We ate lunch at "Noah's Cafe" (sorry, I didn't get a picture). Scott had a sandwich, and I had a wrap (all very good). After eating we went and spent quite a bit of time in the Bookstore (see Scott's Blog for a picture) and spent $110 on books, including Creation Evangelism for the New Millennium by Ken Ham, After the Flood by Bill Cooper, and Taking Back Astronomy by Jason Lisle. We got a couple more books and a DVD titled: State of the Nation with Ken Ham. It was done in July '09, and we are greatly looking forward to watching it! When our children are old enough to read, we want to have lots of good books available, and in the mean time it's always great to brush up on and learn new things! :)

One thing is for sure, we serve an Awesome, Incredible, Creator!