One man's trash is another man's treasure...

Shane and I were taking a casual walk around the neighborhood the other night. We pass the dumpster on the way to the mailbox and, wala! Lookie what we found! Shane couldn't go home without them sooooo we walked home with them. It's kind of nice not having to worry about our patio furniture being stollen considering it was free. And when we move, we put them on craigslist. It's a win-win for us!

Thanks neighbors.

Joyful!

Wow, the past few weeks have been so great. Shane and I are loving our new place. We always want to be home. Before, we'd find any excuse to just go somewhere. We didn't hate where we were living, we were actually very content there... but, we didn't realize how "not-homey" it was until we started to experience "homey." I've hung up a few pictures, with the help of a couple friends, but I have yet to hang any curtains or shelves. For now we are just enjoying cooking, eating, watching TV, running around the lake that is right next to our apartment complex, walking to the grocery store, and sleeping with central heat. Soon we will play around with Elsa's room. Maybe we'll get a bed to go in there for guests, who knows. God's timing is so perfect.



We have been blessed already with so many gifts for our little girl. Between friends and family, we have quite the collection of baby stuff. Her closet is filling up quickly (though it was already quite full with daddy's tools).


Here are a few pictures of the 3 of us! 27 weeks/beginning of the 3rd, and last, trimester! Woo!

New places and new faces

Wow, so much has happened since our last post. It was a month ago that we found out we were having a sweet baby girl. On the 15th on January I felt her move for SURE for the first time. Since then it has become easier and easier to feel her. Last Thursday, the 3rd, I actually saw my whole stomach move 3 or 4 times while I was laying on the couch reading. I was so bummed that Shane was at work. By the time he got home, she was back to sleep. It was amazing to see though. Hopefully he will witness some movement soon.

Well, where do I start. I'll start with the few pictures that I posted.

This one is when I used our crock pot to make a pot roast. I need some more practice (it was a bit dry) but at least the carrots and potatoes were good.

One night we had a game night with Sara and Tim. We played Monopoly, one of our Christmas gifts from Mom and Dad K. We laughed a lot. It was fun. Sara just moved back to the area from Wilmington, so it has been fun to have her home. We've been able to grab coffee a couple times and catch up. I've missed her and I'm so glad she's back in the area!

Little miss Elsa got her first package from Aunt B! It was a fun surprise!

I threw everything on Shane so that I could get a picture of all of the goodies. Thanks Aunt B!

AND THE BIG NEWS OF THE WEEK...

WE MOVED!

Here are a couple pictures of us packing up the old place. We are very thankful for all of the help that we had! I'll post more pictures of the place after I have a few decorations up. We are excited to say that we now have 2 bedrooms. God definitely provided this at the perfect time. As stressful as it was, now that it is over, we see it as a huge blessing. Preparing for the arrival of our baby girl is even more exciting knowing we have a clean home to put her in. After we got everything in from our old place, my mom helped me get everything that never left her house and moved it over to the new place. BIG help. Then we went shopping for some new things, another shower liner for Elsa's bathroom, over-the-door hooks, door mats, etc. After the fun of shopping, we headed back over to the old place and mopped, vacuumed, and cleaned the bathroom. Thank you, Mom, for keeping me away from the cleaning fumes.

Happy super bowl 45 to us! We hosted a party at the new apartment. Shane made ribs and I made some veges and a Turtle Bar dessert, and our guest made an appetizer and another dessert. Yes, our guest...singular. This is a picture of the whole crew :) We look so enthused.

Yesterday Shane had the day off and he decided that he wanted to make dinner. He made the best chicken I've ever had! It was so juicy with lots of flavor. Funny thing is, I haven't had chicken since I've been pregnant because it has sounded so nasty to me, but this was delicious! Thank you Shane. Best dinner yet!

Since his dinner was so great last night, I decided that I really needed to step it up. So tonight I made shrimp cocktail, spaghetti and meatballs, and Carrabba-style bread (well, I can't take all of the credit. I used meatballs that Momma K made, and a seasoning mix that Momma K put together to mix with Olive Oil to dip the bread in). We enjoyed it. We are loving having a bigger kitchen with more counter space. We were also able to unpack all of our new cookware and dishes, so it's made cooking a little easier having more than 2 pans to work with.

I guess those are all of the updates we have. It's past my bedtime. 'Til next time!

Drum roll please...

It's a GIRL!

Happy 9 months of marriage to us.

We had an appointment this morning at 10am. Everything looked great on the ultrasound, all the measurements were right on for 20 weeks, 6 days. Her heart beat is 146bpm. We saw her cute little feet, arms, legs, heart, ears, fists, brain, kidneys... it was crazy! The tech said she was shy because she wasn't moving at all, and she was hiding her face from us. I was thankful she was still so that we could see everything the tech was pointing out. I heard the couple that went in before us say that their baby wouldn't stop moving so they couldn't distinguish what anything was. Well, here are the pictures! Enjoy!

Hands are in fists up against her ear. She is facing away from us.

Her spine and ribs.


















Foot prints.


















Hand in a fist next to her ear again.


















And there she is! Her cute little butt cheeks and the back of her legs. I guess she was sitting on the camera.
Hope you have all enjoyed! We are so excited!

Halfway point!

I am halfway through my pregnancy! Woo hoo!

The baby weights about 10 1/2 ounces (according to the website I get weekly updates on) and is 10 inches long from head to heel. Very crazy! It's growing like a weed. The website didn't say much except the size and that it's swallowing and producing sticky black liquid that is a by product of digestion that will be in it's first diaper. Lovely.

I'm still loving green beans and oranges. Still not big on meats. I have a pot roast cooking in the crock pot right now, so we'll see how I like that when I get off work.

We go to the doctor on Monday to find out what the little thing is, so we are very excited! I guess we will also find out it's actual size as well, which I will update everyone on that afternoon.

Happy 20 weeks to me!

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!