Happy New Year!

Happy new year!

We had quite the exciting night. Shane has been sick since Wednesday, so we watched some HGTV until about 8:30, then went downstairs and brushed our teeth and crawled into bed. Some friends of ours invited us over for dinner, but Shane was achy and not feeling up to anything, so they offered to bring dinner to us. It was the best lasagna and lentil soup I've ever had. Shane said it really hit the spot, which was great to hear considering all he had been eating was chicken broth and noodles. Thank you Carolyn and Andy! It was a huge blessing.

Thinking back to 2010, lots has happened, so we'll start from December and go backwards.

December:















-Shane and I had our first Christmas together. (We were able to go to Monroe the weekend before to spend time with the Kirkpatrick side, and then we were in Apex for Christmas weekend.)
-Cousin Korey accepted Christ into his heart. Praise God!
-Mom and Dad went on their first mission trip to Jamaica. We can't wait to hear about it!
-Eli returned from being in Iraq for a year.


November:

-Spent Thanksgiving in Apex. Michael, Konomi, Grayson, Matt, Becca and Will were all able to come in town. We had to work a lot of the time, but we still got some good family time in.
-Will turned 1 and started walking.
-We found out that Will had a sibling coming next July.

October:


















-Ate crabs on my birthday. Mmm!
-Camping trip to Grayson Highlands in VA.


September:

-We found out that I was pregnant.
-Shane found out that he no longer had Crohn's!
-Shane went full time at Home Depot and we got to enroll in great medical benefits! God's timing is prefect.


August:






















-Shane finished the apartment and we were able to move back in.
-Survived the hottest summer EVER.

July:

















-Puffer reunion in Chattanooga, TN.


June:
-Moved in with Jeanie.
-Took a trip to Wilmington for a friend's wedding.


May:
-I escaped the Boxing gym and started working retail. I don't know if this was a step forward or backward...


April:






















- We got married!
- I went on my first cruise.

March:

















-Shane moved to Apex and started working at Home Depot and on the apartment. Who knew marriage could be so fun?


February:
- Wedding planning...nothing exciting I guess.

January:
- Wedding planning? I can't think of anything else.


Also, a few of y'all picked words for the year 2010. I know that in 2009 or 2008 my whole side of the family did. Anyways, the word I chose for 2010 was CHOICE. My reason for picking this word is that I have a hard time staying positive and joyful when I fall into a funk. I needed the reminder that I always have the CHOICE to continue to be joyful and positive in every situation. Every circumstance gives us a choice of how to respond. The verses I chose to go along with my word were James 4:4 and James 1:19-20.

James 4:4 "You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."


I have the habit of choosing to go against what God wants me to do and towards what the world calls us to do. The world tells us to just look out for ourselves and do what we need to do to make us comfortable and happy. God calls us to glorify Him in every action we take, thought we think, and word we speak. I need to learn to lean on God for the strength to do what does not come naturally, but that glorifies Him the most. I have to say that Shane has helped me with this so much and I could not thank him enough, or thank God enough for putting him in my life. He is so patient with me and has taught me how to communicate instead of shut down. I still fail daily, but I have improved, and I get to give God the glory for that. God has given us so much this year, and we have also had a lot of circumstances we could have chosen to get down about. Instead, we chose to pray and trust that He would provide and take care of us, and He has proven Himself over and over. We are so blessed. It's amazing to see God bless us in our obedience to Him.


James 1:19-20 "This you know, my beloved brethren but everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God."


I would choose to shut people out, shut down, and sit in silence...which would get me no where. I need to learn the disciple of hearing others. I don't need to be quick to defend myself. Shane has taught me, by how he lives, to live out this verse more consistently. I am very thankful.


I didn't meditate on these verses throughout the year like I have done in years past, which is discouraging, but I do know that God has done a good work in me through 2010 and will continue to work in me in 2011. I am thinking about what word I will choose in 2011 and will update y'all.


Happy 2011. I know it will just be another year that God pours His blessings down on us.

Baby Update

Last week I hit 18 weeks. It's going by fast, yet slow at the same time...if that makes any sense. There were a few big developments last week. The ears are now in their final position, and the cartilage is slowing turning into solid bone (that actually started in week 17) so he/she is flexing and moving around a lot supposedly. I THINK I felt some movement mid last week, but it was so subtle it was hard to tell. Due to the growing baby and Christmas time gluttony, today was the first day I couldn't button my jeans, so I got to put the hair tie trick to good use this morning.

One disappointing thing I read this past week was that I am no longer supposed to sleep on my back because my uterus can squish a major vein which would cause decreased blood return to my heart. Shane has to wake me up a couple times a night and nudge me to get on my side. My back has been hurting more and more too, and laying on my back is the only comfortable position for my back pain. Very annoying. Good thing Shane is there to help.

The only things I've really been craving to eat are green beans and oranges. I was wanting potato chips for a week or so, but i resisted the temptation and now I don't want them anymore...again, thank you Shane.

One of my sisters, Becca, sent me a prenatal yoga DVD this past week, so I'm excited to put that to good use this coming week.

Mom and Dad are going to Jamaica soon on a missions trip, so keep them in your prayers. Alright, that's it for now!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Just wanted to share a few pictures of the morning.
















Shane and his new shirt from the in-laws.
















My sister satisfying my need for chocolate with a orange shaped chocolate...and it's not hollow!





















In front of the tree with my new fleece on.





















And this one's for the family down in Louisiana that we are missing. Love y'all! Next Christmas y'all can pass around the baby instead of the phone. :)

We are so blessed to have a Savior that would sacrifice His Son for us as the greatest gift of all. Let us not forget this Christmas season.

Love, Shane, Rebekah and Baby K

The good and the bad...

It's been a rough start to the week. I'll go into more detail later, but the first news we heard was on Sunday night. We found out that the guy I gave Boomer to has taken him to the animal shelter. A girl I work with has been looking for dogs online for a month or so now. We have had converstaions about our old dogs, and I have told her about Boomer. She was on craigslist Sunday night and ran across a dog named Boomer. She didn't think it would be mine, but she texts me and sent me the link...and it was. Pretty devastating and heart breaking. I've cried and Shane's prayed for Boomer. It just stinks that there is nothing we can do to change the situation. So, with that said, please pray for me, and for Boomer.

On a good note, yesterday morning I had my 16 week appointment. Everything looks good according to the doctor. All they did was take a urine sample, blood pressure, listened to the baby'sheart beat, and measure my stomach. The last 2 appointments have been pretty boring. We will find out on January 10th what we are having. So, happy 2011 to us!

Shane and I had the rest of the day off, so we drove out to Mebane to get a couple warm tops. Our house is freezing, and it's freezing outside, so it was time to expand our winter warmbrobe a bit. It was nice to relax for the day, get some laundry done, and watch football.

Sorry this was a depressing blog, but we just have a lot on our minds.

Thanksgiving!

This past week was a lot of fun. Matt, Becca, Will, Mike, Konomi, and Grayson all came in town to celebrate Thanksgiving. Mom and Dad's house was packed. Will is walking now, which is a lot of fun to watch. Grayson learned more games in a span of 4 days than I thought possible. He played a lot of foosball. He didn't like playing with Uncle Matt because he was the Foosball Champion. No one could beat him, not even Grayson. Mom, Becca, and Shane were all sick with a nasty cold most of the weekend, so that drained them of energy. Shane and I had to work every day but Thanksgiving, but it was nice to see everyone when we could. The kids in my famiy do secret santa every year. Since we will all be scattered for Christmas, we exchanged gifts on Friday night. Shane is the newest member of the family, so he was the first to give his gift to his person, Konomi. We missed the Kirkpatricks/Harringtons this year but hopefullywe'll be able to celebrate together next year.

I will be 15 weeks along in a couple days. We have my 16 week appointment on December 13th and then we'll be able to schedule an 18 week appointment to find out if a girl or boy is growing inside of me. Last week, the 14 week email said that the baby's kidneys are now producing urine which is released into the fluid around him...kind of interesting to think about. A little more exciting than that, the baby is now squinting, smiling, frowning and sucking it's thumb. It's about 3 1/2 inches long (which is an inch longer than it was at my ultrasound on 11/11/10.)

The website I base everything on says that I should be feeling a lot better and more energized...but I'm not. I'm still tired all the time, and sleeping 10 hours a night, and don't feel too great before or after eating, but I'm sure it'll go away. I also use the bathroom 3 or 4 times a night which is getting old, but y'all probably didn't care to know that.

I'm sorry this is a bland pictureless post, but I'll try to grab some from my mom to post later on.

Funny story. I've been reading in magazines and on websites that I will have vivid dreams while being pregnant. Well, this morning Shane and I woke up at 5 am so that I could take him to work to have the car to take my mom to work at 7:45 and then myself to work because it was supposed to rain all morning. When I got to my mom's in between dropping Shane off and taking her, I fell asleep and I dreamed that something like Extreme Makeover Home Edition came to the house after Shane and I had left for work and COMPLETELY changed all of the work Shane had done. I ran around the house screaming and crying and yelling at the workers for messing up his work and yelling at Jeanie for not being appreciative of all Shane had done. I was SO angry. When Shane finally got home from work that day, I showed him all around the house (it had tripled in size somehow too) and we were impressed and all, but I was still angry that no one seemed to appreciate the work Shane had put into it. Pretty funny. Also in the dream, as Shane and I were eating breakfast before leaving for work, we saw lizards, rats, mice, and a little mole crawling around our kitchen floor. After the renovations were completed, all the critters were gone. Very strange.

Happy December to everyone!

Happy Birthdays and blessings!

Happy birthday to Mrs. K (today) and Meghan (last Saturday)! Shane and I were able to meet up with Mr. K, Mrs. K, and Meghan in Asheboro last Saturday for dinner and dessert. It was short, but we at least got to see each other and have some fun together. We all laughed a lot, which is easy to do when Shane is around.

We had another doctor's apppointment yesterday and got to meet one of the doctors at the OB office. She was very sweet. I did found out that I have Group B Strep, so I'm on amoxicillin for 7 days. I was worried when she told us, but the doctor assured us that this is VERY common and that the baby and I would be fine. We were able to listen to the heart beat again, which was great. We listend to the baby's heart beat and then mine so we could hear the difference. The baby sounded like I sound when I'm in the middle of a work out...must be working pretty hard in there.

Shane and I have been learning a lot recently. We've been on our knees in prayer and trying to spend time in the Word daily and are overwhelmed by His grace on us. We've been learning day by day to lay our burdens at Christ's feet and were humbled and blessed today. We are so thankful for those of you in our lives who teach us lessons and bless us with your obedience to Christ. We hope to learn by you and live the way you live. Thank you, you are an answer to prayer.

The baby!

It was confirmed today. I do have a baby growing inside of me. Very exciting! I cried (happy tears), and Shane was in shock (with a big smile on his face). I am 12 weeks along, the baby is 6.24 cm long and the heart is beating at 146 bpm...which is right where it should be at this point. We were able to hear the heart beat, SEE the tiny little heart beat, see fingers and toes, and see the brain. It was amazing. Wanted to share these pictures with y'all. They aren't the best of what we saw, but this is what they sent us home with. At least you can see that something is there. Woo hoo! God is amazing.