All my favorite shows....

Are going to be ending this week and next week, Sad DAY! Grey's Anatomy season finale ended last night tragically, and totally not leaving me with a feeling that I am itching to watch next season at all. It was a painful last episode and very disappointing, I say very disappointing.

Heroes only has 1 episode left and unlike Grey's Anatomy, I am always left wanting more with Heroes, it's so intriguing and unpredictable! What is going to happen with Hiro Nakamura??

LOST, another one of my favorite shows- will be ending next week also. Unexpected turn of events with the characters, and I cannot wait to see what happens in the next episode with Charlie! I was told they only have 1 more season and then it will be ending. I assume that they can only make the story last for so long before people get bored and want to see them get rescued already. I still love the show and would not mind if it continued on.

Our newest adventures, that we can still continue to watch because we are playing catch up is 24 with Keifer Sutherland. This originally was not a series that I thought we would like, but once I started watching it- Wow pretty intense shows. Also, Alias with Jennifer Garner- we started with Season 1 on DVD and have slowly worked our way up to Season 3 on DVD. Only 2 more season of Alias left before we complete it. I love watching all my favorite shows without commercials, so much time is not wasted sitting around waiting for it to come back.

There are definitely a lot of other shows I would like to watch, like America's next top model, Extreme Home Makeover, American Idol, etc. but I just can't get those on Itunes yet. Someday... it will come soon don't you worry :)

24 weeks

Here is an updated picture of me at 24 weeks (6months)! My belly is starting to grow rapidly, and I am really starting to notice such a growth. The baby is starting to put on the fat this month, according to all the weekly guides I have been reading. The baby is going through periods of activity, and I really start to notice my stomach moving when he/she is moving. Sometimes I can almost imagine the baby tap dancing on my bladder because I feel like I have to use the restroom all the time (ha ha!)

We got a crib given to us, it is a Delta Luv crib, rated extremely high on the Consumer Reports and we assembled it this week and put it in the room. Seeing the crib in the room makes the baby even more of a reality now, in just a little while there will be a baby in there- yipeee :)

Sitting at home!

Day 2 of being sick, Stayed home once again from work today because I think it is good to share with my co-workers everything but my sickness... ha ha. I am in between taking naps and my Sudafed to help with the sinus issue, coughing, headache, and fever. While there isn't much to do at home other than sleep, watch some movies, and well look on the internet- I just couldn't help myself but to look at some baby stuff. I know that everyone I knows hopes we have a boy, I still keeping my options open for a girl. I found these 2 cute little onesies I shared with Andrew as well because they are just tooooo cute!

From Old Navy



















From JCPenney by Carter's

Sicker than a dog!!!

Friday, it started with a sore throat and now I at home on a Tuesday with a sore throat, cough, runny nose, and slight fever. I made a call to the Dr to find out what medications I am able to take in order to make myself feel somewhat better. So, Dr Bryan said I am allowed to take Sudafed, Actifed, Cotylenol, and Robitussin. In between sleeping and watching movies I am hoping to get better before I have to go to work tomorrow. Keep me in your prayers :)

An update from the Holybee's

Friday- At work was our Healthcare Recognition for all employees and Doctor's. Hamburger, Hot Dogs, potato salad, starwberry shortcake: and Ice Cream. Very nice day but also very busy with all the planning and phone calls. At night, Andrew and I saw Spiderman 3, which I would not recommend. It was painful to watch- really! The story between Peter and MJ was totally ruined and I don't think I would watch this movie again.

Saturday- Woke up early to get ready for a wedding. This was Andrew's first wedding he has ever performed. He was nervous and hands were shaking, but made it through a very nice ceremony. It only gets easier from here :) The rest of the night stayed at home and tried to enjoy ourselves.

Sunday- Happy Mother's Day to all Mommies and soon- to- be mommies! We went to church in the morning and at 2pm went to Andrew's mom's house for a lunch and gave her a very nice glass Tea/ Lemonade container with a built in spicket for pouring. I loved it, even if just for decor. Got back into town at around 5pm and finished my laundry and watched the finale of "Survivor- Fiji" Yahhhh for Earl :)
Monday- Today I am struggling to get through the day, I have been trying to fight off this sore throat since Sunday. Someone must have gotten me sick or something... I thought I was going to be so proud of not being sick my whole pregnancy- I guess that is out now. I didn't want to come into work today, but because I have so much to do at work I couldn't miss. I feel yucky- wish I could have stayed in bed :( The baby is now kicking like crazy and now everytime I can, I grab Andrew's hand to feel the baby kickin. We both just smile, sometimes it actually tickles me when it kicks :) I sit at my lunch break and just watch my stomach move, it's so awesome!!!!! I can't wait to see what our little baby will look like!!! I am weighing in at 158lbs and only a few more months to go. I don't think I have ever weighed that much in my life, but it's for our little baby :)

That's about it for now!

Dr's appt today

I had my check up today with my Dr after the ultrasound. Dr reported that the baby looks great in proportions, placenta is where it should be and is correct size and our Baby's heart looks normal. Our baby's heart beat is in the 150's which is normal. My blod pressure seemed to be a little higher than my last appt (124/75). Andrew and I will be walking this afternoon to combat my elevated pressure... other than that, we're doing good. I have another another appt in 4 weeks.

Exciting news too! My stomach is actually starting to move now a little. Andrew was able to feel my stomach for the first time this last week. It's still so crazy to think our baby is flipping around in there!!! So awesome :)

Our newest addition...

As I blogged about a few months ago, we sold our beautiful truck to try and cut some costs before the baby comes... in place of the truck we bought a 1996 Acura Integra that was kept in perfect condition and for a low low price of $3800. It was such an awesome deal, and to top it all it is in great condition so that really made out day. We heard about this car being for sale from a girl at a Bridal Shower I was at a few weekends ago. We were so excited about this and of course, Andrew loves it because it is manual transmission just like he wanted. Got give praise to God once more for providing for our needs once again!

Ultrasound

Last Friday I had my ultrasound, the pictures are below! I had to do the whole full bladder thing (yipee!). I didn't quite know how much water to drink. As I am writhing in pain from TOO much water. I check in for my appt, and the receptionist tells me to have a seat should be about 15 more minutes so I am thinking.... MAN I can't wait that long. I went up to her and asked her "Can I please go to the restroom and let some out, this is totally killing me right now" She responded and said, "Go ahead, Count to 10 and you'll have to stop" I am thinking to myself... Yah! okay! I am going to stop in the middle. By the graces of God I did, I sit back down and am still writhing in pain, so I went to the restroom again and let more out. Right as I am walking back to the waiting room the Tech calls me back. I told her I didn't know how much water to drink and I am dying right now. We start the procedure and she says, "Oh Wow, you're bladder is way too full. There is a difference between a full bladder and torture, I will make this quick." After she finishes her portion, she lets me go the restroom (conveniently a bathroom is located right in the procedure room, I love Riverside Medical Clinic). I come back out and she began to show me images of our growing little baby. She showed me the baby's heart beating on screen, and I got to see her/him wiggling around. It was sooooo awesome :) Now, the baby is actively moving and you can tell when she/he is going through the periods of activity and when it isn't moving at all. Still can't feel anything from the outside of my stomach, Andrew is just aching to be able to feel his baby move after I keep telling the baby is wiggling around he always reaches for my belly to feel it but nothing. Hopefully Soon!

Happy 2nd anniversary for the Holybee's

Happy 2nd Anniversary celebrated April 30th. 2 years of being happily married and now beginning our own family. 2 years to grow more fond of each other and grow closer as husband and wife. 2 years to be better friends to each other, and better companions. I have been so blessed in our life to have God give me the husband that I have, and I have to thank God for allowing Andrew and I to have such an easy marriage. Everyone told us about how the first couple of years of marriage would be the hardest and I have yet to quite understand what they are talking about. We had such an easy transition into marriage and I know that was all because of God.

How we celebrated our 2nd Anniversary might seem uneventful of sorts but it happened to fall on our youth group night. Andrew so thoughtfully sent me flowers to my work to say Happy Anniversary and then surprised me by taking me out to lunch to "Backstreet" (which is where Andrew proposed to me). Then we proceeded to continue on our night by running our youth group night for church. Here is a picture of the bouquet of flowers.

Breathe

Moses has been walking this land for 40 years. It isn't as if the ground all of a sudden became holy. The ground didn't just change. It's that Moses became aware of it.

Are we standing on Holy ground all the time and we are passing by burning bushes left and right, but because we are moving too fast and distracted we miss them? Do we take for granted that what we stand on is Holy Ground?

The word LORD is in the Bible nearly 6,000 times. In Hebrew the name is really 4 letters, YHVH. These letter are pronounced "Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh. or as others say now Yahweh. In some traditions this is never even pronounced because it's considered so sacred, so mysterious, so holy. The rabbi's even believed that they were kind of breathing sounds and that the name is simply unpronounceable.

Is the name of God the sound of breathing?

Yod Heh Vav Heh

The word for ground is Adame, God breathed life into Adam from dust

Do you ever have moments when you feel like you're seconds from losing it?
Each persons life is but a breathe- Life is fragile. We've been breathed into by the Creator of the Universe, and this divine breathe is in every single human. If no one ever realizes this, the truth still remains that God gave us life.

Hebrew language the word for breathe is the same word for spirit. The Hebrew word for breathe is "Ruah" and the Greek word is "Pneuma" . Scriptures state that when God takes away the "ruah" they die and return to dust. Cultures actually believed that the breathe of God literally resided within their own body. Having that spirit reside in you, sanctified you.

What happens when you breathe is that you let God in and you realize everything that you need to leave behind. If we were to be totally Honest, is there anything in your life that you need to breathe out? The spirit guides us into truth. God gives the spirit without limit. Is there anything you need to breathe in?

You are a sacred creation of God, flowing through all of us is the breathe of God and we are standing on Holy ground.

When a baby is born what is the first thing they have to do to survive, does this baby have to take a breathe or say the name of God, What is the last thing we do before we die, we take our last breathe or is it that we can no longer can say the name of God.

Yod Heh Vav Heh!

As you slow down may you realize that we live and move and breathe, Yod Heh Vav Heh!

-Notes taken from "Breathe" by Nooma

Baby Holybee's head profile












Baby Holybee Leg











Baby Holybee laying on stomach












Baby Holybee Foot












Baby Holybee fist/ arm

21 weeks and other things going on!

Here is another recent picture of me at 21 weeks pregnant. I am really starting to show, with the help of the belly band I have been able to still wear a lot of my work pants luckily. Everyone at my work that comes in is now starting to notice. Although I am still feeling good about my growth because a girl came in and she was the same size as me but she was only 3 months pregnant, so that makes me feel pretty good! I still have a little bit of a belly button, I assume that should be gone pretty soon though. The baby has been really starting to kick a lot of harder now and not waking me up at night just yet, but man sometimes the baby will kick for like 5 minutes straight. Pretty cool, how God uses our body to create a BABY!

I am still feeling really good, just tired because work is exhausting me. I am on a record or something. Once this week has ended, I will have hired 10 new employees. Bringing my total for the month up to 19 new employees, that has to be a record or something... ha ha. Not just with that, but man... the rest of my job on top of keeping up on all the new hires. Crazy!!!

The newest and greatest thing we have purchased is the Apple TV... drum roll please! I know, we are such geeks. We mainly only watch TV shows through iTunes so this seemed to be the most reasonable solution. We are in the process of setting it up right now so that we can use it. We are so utterly excited to see what this bad boy can do :)

We are in search of a 2nd vehicle, we have done a lot of research on Consumer reports, and Auto Guide to try and find what would be most usable but not expensive and something we can pay cash for since we sold the truck now. Also, something manual transmission since we won't be driving it that much to begin with since Andrew and I carpool to work and so on. We first thought the Honda fit, but then we would be making payments because it would be a new car. And on top of it, it would be sitting in a parking space most of the time so it would be a waste of money. We will see, we are waiting for a call back on a manual Honda Accord, so we will see what happens with that.

Truck sold and other goings on

Well... we said "So long" to the truck yesterday. We sold the truck for $11,000. So sad to see it go, but another step towards saving for the baby and for a house. I am really going to miss that truck! There were so many memories, but more to come with all the new things happening in my life.

I have finally made some business cards because, before I didn't need them and now I am starting to need to give out.

The next Monday (April 30th) we will be celebrating our 2 year anniversary. Man! Time does fly by fast doesn't it? I am so happy to have such a wonderful and understanding husband! Celebrating an anniversary, then a baby! I just want to thank God for all the wonderful blessings He has given us in our life and I just can't wait to see what this new addition to our family will bring to our life. More to come...

A basic thought

"What do your attitudes toward church and toward Christ have to do with each other?
What tempts you to to disobey Hebrews 10:25? What spiritual benefits might you miss out on staying away from Christian gatherings?

'On the most elementary level, you do not have to go to church to be a Christian. You do not have to go home to be married either. But in both cases if you do not, you will have a very poor relationship.' How do regular attendance and participation strengthen your relationships with God, with family members, and with other believers?"

McChristians

" A friend of mine tell me that when he was a college student, a popular bumper sticker boldly stated "Jesus Christ- Yes, The Church- No!" Thought the bumper sticker is long gone, the sentiment has trickled down to a pervasive attitude of "Jesus Christ, Yes- The Church, When I need it and on my terms!"
These days church attenders are infected with a virus on conditional loyalty that has produced an army of church hitchhikers. The hitchhikers thumb says "You buy the car, pay for the repairs, unkeep, and insurance, fill the car with gas- and I'll ride with you. But if you get into an accident, you're on your own, and I'll probably sue!" Many church-goers have a similar agenda: "You go to meetings and serve on the boards and committees. You grapple with the issues, teach, entertain the children, and I'll come along for the ride. But if things do not suit me. I'll criticize and complain and I'll probably bail out. My thumb is always out for a better ride."

The "McChristian" mentality constantly checks to see what 's new on the menu ust in case there's a better deal down the street. "McChristians" have a telling vocabulary, using phrases such as "I go to" or "I attend" but not typically using the words "I belong to" or "I am a member of."

If you're a tried- and- true long-term member of a church, the following may or may not surprise you. "A 1999 George Barna Research poll showed that one in seven Americans change their church affiliationevery year, while one in six rotates between churches."

So here in the first decade of the new millenium, there's a phenomenon that would have been unimaginable in any other century- churchless Christians. There is a vast herd of professing Christianswho exist as nomadic hitchhikers without accountability, without discipline, without discipleship, without fellowship, living apart from the regular benefits of the ordinances."

- Taken from 'Disciplines of a Godly woman" by Barbara Hughes

Hiccups

Shortly before I left for lunch I am sitting at my desk and the funniest thing happened. I think the baby had hiccups, because for about 5 minutes I felt this rhythmic tapping on my stomach and then after that it stopped. I think that was about the only thing I think it could have been. Pretty cool I think!

* My Dr's appt last Thursday was good, Andrew and I were able to hear the baby's heartbeat again. Also, we got set up with the actual Ultrasound appt in 2 weeks, where you have to have full bladder and the whole deal. This would be where they would tell us the baby's age and if it is in line with my due date and if we wanted to know (which we don't) the sex of the baby. Pretty exciting because I haven't seen a new picture of the baby since I was 10 weeks pregnant and I am sure he/ she has grown quite a bit. Fun fun!!!

18 weeks and looking fine!!!

Here is a recent picture of me, I am just starting my 18th week, I am starting to get a little belly but not much yet. I am sure, it will pop out anytime now. I am still waiting to see if I can fill out any maternity clothes, right now I am just leaving my current pants unbuttoned and wearing long shirts to cover the pants.


Today marks the first day I actually realized the baby had kicked me... so exciting!!! I was bending over for something at work and I could feel a few little bumps, nothing too hard but enough to let me realize our baby is ....yep still in there!!

I have moment like this and I have to stop and really cherish it. How amazing it is that we as women get to go through the experience of carrying a child inside our bodies to take care of and keep safe. What a great responsibility, and yet still such a beautiful thing :)

John 17:6-8 & Ahava

After work I was catching up on some of my podcasts and was listening to Robert Elliott from Reformed Baptist of Riverside, has a Scottish accent, but man I have to say 95% of his sermon is all meat! Here are some notes I took while he was speaking, you can download his podcasts for free through iTunes:
John 17:6-8- Robert Elliott

He has made the Father known to us, as his disciples, like 4th of July fireworks- Big, Extravagant, and Colorful. His truths are visible even from thousands of feet away.

Moses, perhaps, the greatest man on earth- Even as great and righteous as he was was only allowed to see the back side of God.

Jesus tells us more about God here, in these passages, than Moses could ever show us. Jesus reveals to us the Holiness and Compassion of God- the Power of God and Tenderness of God. It's Christ that shows us these things not Moses. Moses only gave us glimpses, whereas, Jesus is the full sunshine that shows us through all generations the true God and all His attributes.

I have manifested You to men because YOU HAVE GIVEN THEM TO ME.

We can't look at anything the same once we've seen God. From the most beautiful star in the sky, to the most intricate flower growing out of the ground, we can never look at these the same once we've seen God's beauty.

James Montgomery Boice- Everything is God's, for he made it originally and can do with it what He pleases... Everything is God's and obeys the laws that He has set, from the smallest atom to the greatest star.

If God is God at all, then everything is His, if it isn't God's than God isn't God at all and we might as well find another God, right?

The Word of God has been presented and it opened their heart and has changed their minds, is now something that they have embraced and made their own. It is no longer about their own noble insights, it's about them embracing the Word of God and the Truth of God.
_________________________________________


Celebrating at the end of this month is our 2 year anniversary, and watching this NOOMA video "Flame" was pretty cool. What does love mean to you? Do you have a Raya, a Ahava, or a Dod flame in your marriage, or do you have all three? If you're reading those words and going... what are you talking about? Read below in the notes I have written and you'll understand.

"Song of Songs was originally written in the Hebrew language, which has three different words for our English word 'love'.

The first word we find is the word 'Raya'. Raya would be translated literally as 'friend', or 'companion'- somebody you hang out with.


Another Hebrew word we find for love is 'Ahava'

Ahava is the love of the will. Now, this is way more profound than fleeting romantic feelings. This is much more than temporary urges. Ahava is making a decision to join your life to the life of another. This is an emotion that leads to commitment.


There's a a third Hebrew word for love that we find in Song of Songs. It's the word 'Dod.'
Dod is translated in English, literally, as to 'carouse', to 'rock', or to 'fondle.'

Dod is the physical, sexual element to a relationship."

So, after reading these three definitions what kind of flame do you have, or do you and your spouse have all 3 flames? The kind of spouse that is your friend, your devoted partner, and your lover? Being close to our anniversary, and being appreciative of the kind of close relationship I have with my husband, this was a good video to watch.
In today's society, people are left empty because their marriage only had 1 or maybe even 2 flames. They are left unsatisfied in their marriage because the lack the 3 pieces that truly make a marriage last.

"We have our raya flame. We have our ahava flame. And, we have our dod flame.
One flame burning all by itself will never be as hot as all the flames burning together. I mean, we were created for all the flames to burn as one.

When you separate the flames, it can never really satisfy. It's like you're living outside of how God wired you to live"

True sexuality is vast and mysterious. It involves all of you. I mean, you have a body, but you also have a soul and a spirit. And love is two people coming together and giving all of themselves to each other forever."

Need I say any more? Happy Anniversary to us, April 30th!

The new happenings

Thursday, we had a couple over and we got creative and decorated some cakes for fun, so here is a picture of the cakes we made and they were ohhhh sooo good to eat too. Mine is the cake that looks like a clown cake all brightly colored and all! Becca's is the Surf's up cake with waves and all. What can we say, her major is art. Here is the picture of our 3 cakes:












Yesterday we got delivered our new TV... Yipeee! It is ohhhh so pretty!! Here is a picture of it below:

On order right now is a Wedding Book I have created through iPhoto on my laptop, because I needed something professional looking to show clients when they want to book me for a photography job. This is the cover of my first album, it was relatively cheap considering Shutterfly wanted $60.00 for an album like I wanted. iPhoto only cost me around $30.00 and it will have a black linen cover with this as the front of the album:

Also, may be a prayer answered. We have praying, of course, about what we were going to do once the baby was born and we have been cutting back anything we owe and putting money in the bank. I have been wondering what I could do for any extra money after the baby was born, Thursday afternoon, after helping my boss out a lot with projects and it being crazy busy at work. She said that I couldn't leave working once the baby was born because they needed me so bad. She said that she would find something for me part time in the same department and if we could she would see if we could set me up to do some work from home. My jaw is dropping and I am like, WOW! That would be so awesome if we could do that because that is what we have been trying to figure out :) She said, we'll talk more once we get closer to your due date, but you can't leave us! I am keeping this is my prayers that hopefully something would be able to work out. I am not getting my hopes up, of course, they have to think about budget, etc. before anything like this would ever even happen. So, keep this in your prayers, this would be nothing short of a miracle to us because I love my job and my bosses and I know that I won't want to leave my baby for too long.

Galations "(6:1) Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. (6:2) Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (6:3) If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. (6:4) Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, (6:5) for each one should carry his own load."

Reading at my lunch and these are what we read. As Christians, we have many responsibilities- one including us holding each other accountable. When we see a brother or sister doing things, we should step up to the plate and gently correct them. Doesn't inlcude us going up to our friend and saying "Fool, what are you doing?"
Always keep your spirit humble, reminding ourselves that we are nothing more than servants seeking to please the LORD or GOD and not ourselves.
Take pride that you are exactly how God has planned to make you. Be proud that you are a creation of God, and by the world's standards you may not be perfect but God sees you as a perfect creation.
Lastly, carry your own load. Be prepared that in times in our lives our load may be heavy and other times it may seem light. But don't pawn your responsibilities on anyone else. Step up to bat and take a big swing, sometimes we'll miss the ball but maybe we'll get it at the next pitch. God has given each one of us a specific load, and it will never be more than we can bear.

Keep your focus on the things God has placed before you in your life, and the many joys He will bring you if you continue to follow his direction.

New TV and other stuff

We decided to buy a TV, well somewhat of a TV it is actually a 27in. LCD TV for a pretty low price too from CompUSA. We did buy it online, so we won't have it for the next couple of days but none the less. We will have something to be able to watch.
I still have not decorated much, we are still struggling to find a coffee table that will fit in our apartment. We got this coffee table from a friend but after we put it in there is no walking room and we wouldn't be able to get into our DVD's either. We are in search of a coffee table that is about 17 in. wide to be able to fit it in there. Smallest we've seen was 22 right now. We might end up just buying 2 side tables and putting them in the middle so we can move them whenever we like. We will see what we can find.

Also, I am going to try and see if I can get my wedding pictures, which are on negatives, converted to digital so I can actually re-print them without having to try and figure out which negative belongs to which picture, ugh! I believe Ritz camera can do this but I am not sure. I have very limited amount of wedding pictures in the house right now because of this reason.
That's it for now.

Selling the truck

In an effort to lower our cost of living we have made a decision to sell the truck. The truck has been good to us and if we could help it at all we probably wouldn't sell it. It is costing us a lot to insure plus we won't be able to afford it if we decide to stay home with the baby. The truck has been great, I will miss it dearly and because it was Andrew's dream vehicle. Sometimes we have to sacrifice in order to make things work, especially financially... so I am pretty sure this is the route we are going to go because it seems to be the only thing we really could do. When I am not working the Honda will be good to us, great gas mileage and will lower our insurance quite a bit. Not the thing either one of us want to do, but we have to make it work somehow and this is something we can afford to give up right now. We can put the money from the truck into an account and allow us some room in case things get really tough financially.

I am working on some ideas of what I could do from home once the baby gets a little older. Everyone suggests photography but until I make a name for myself I will be at the mercy of the client for me to make money. I have explored other ideas but haven't found anything too promising and that won't cost me money up front. So if you have any ideas let me know

Going on 16 weeks and the wierdest dream...

So starting next week I should be in the beginning of my 16th week, still feeling pretty good and finding that I am still kinda fitting into my old clothes but getting together. Everyone at church kept asking me "When are you going to start showing?" I usually just shrug and say I don't know... So, I feel chubby and to me I see a little belly but to most people don't see anything at all resembling a belly. Here is the most resent picture I took of myself is morning....


The other part of my title for my blog was that I have had now 2 dreams of my car being stolen. We own a 2006 Honda Civic sedan, this most resent dream was me taking it to a non-official car wash at a gas station. I was waiting for some time when I looked outside and I did not see my car anywhere. When I asked the people they said they took the car around the block to dry it off. A little while later when everyone else's cars were gone I was sitting there and my car still had not shown. When I asked the cashier she told me that sometimes they take people's cars... Aghast I say "What!!" The cashier said, you see those people in the cars leaving right now they are the ones that probably stole you car but we can't bother them now they are leaving... still shocked... I said "Little do they know my car has low-jack and you will pay for this" They located the car and they said it was on the dock getting ready to be loaded into a truck. Then... I woke up. Sheesh what is up with the 2 dreams of my car being stolen?

Does Darfur have a prayer?

A few months back I heard from a friend about the small area in the Sudan, Darfur, and when I was told about the genocide that is occuring over there... at first I wasn't at all hit by it until I went to a website Save Darfur recently and realized the statistics of how bad it really is over there, how devastating it is. The weird thing to me was "Why had I not heard about any of this in the news? How come their government is choosing to ignore the problem?" Below I have copied the background of Darfur from SaveDarfur.org. I hope that you stop by the website and maybe even donate some money to this organization that is trying to stop the genocide over there.

"Darfur has been embroiled in a deadly conflict for over three years. At least 400,000 people have been killed; more than 2 million innocent civilians have been forced to flee their homes and now live in displaced-persons camps in Sudan or in refugee camps in neighboring Chad; and more than 3.5 million men, women, and children are completely reliant on international aid for survival. Not since the Rwandan genocide of 1994 has the world seen such a calculated campaign of displacement, starvation, rape, and mass slaughter.

Since early 2003, Sudanese armed forces and Sudanese government-backed militia known as “Janjaweed” have been fighting two rebel groups in Darfur, the Sudanese Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). The stated political aim of the rebels has been to compel the government of Sudan to address underdevelopment and the political marginalization of the region. In response, the Sudanese government’s regular armed forces and the Janjaweed – largely composed of fighters of Arab nomadic background – have targeted civilian populations and ethnic group from which the rebels primarily draw their support – the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa.

The Bush Administration has recognized these atrocities – carried out against civilians primarily by the government of Sudan and its allied Janjaweed militias – as genocide. António Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has described the situation in Sudan and Chad as “the largest and most complex humanitarian problem on the globe.” The Sudanese government and the Janjaweed militias are responsible for the burning and destruction of hundreds of rural villages, the killing of tens of thousands of people and rape and assault of thousands of women and girls.

With much international pressure, the Darfur Peace Agreement was brokered in May 2006 between the government of Sudan and one faction of Darfur rebels. However, deadlines have been ignored and the violence has escalated, with in-fighting among the various rebel groups and factions dramatically increasing and adding a new layer of complexity to the conflict. This violence has made it dangerous, if not impossible, for most of the millions of displaced persons to return to their homes. Humanitarian aid agencies face growing obstacles to bringing widespread relief. In August 2006, the UN's top humanitarian official Jan Egeland stated that the situation in Darfur is "going from real bad to catastrophic." Indeed, the violence in Darfur rages on with government-backed militias still attacking civilian populations with impunity.

On July 30, 2004, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1556 demanding that the government of Sudan disarm the Janjaweed. This same demand is also an important part of the Darfur Peace Agreement signed in May of 2006. On August 31, 2006, the Security Council took the further step of authorizing a strong UN peacekeeping force for Darfur by passing resolution 1706. Despite these actions, the Janjaweed are still active and free to commit the same genocidal crimes against civilians in Darfur with the aid of the Sudanese government.

International experts agree that the United Nations Security Council must deploy a peacekeeping force with a mandate to protect civilians immediately. Until it arrives, the under-funded and overwhelmed African Union monitoring mission must be bolstered. And governments and international institutions must provide and ensure access to sufficient humanitarian aid for those in need."

Move in day!

Yesterday we were actually able to move in, which is awesome!!! We moved in pretty much everything with the help of our friends Eric, Josh, and Talia. Put most of our stuff away too, we have books (which we need bookcases for), Clothes to hang up, etc. So we spent our first night in the new place tonight and I have to tell you I slept like a baby in our new bed... I never thought it would feel so nice to see a bed until it hit 1am....ha ha. Took a nice Hot shower this morning, so that was pretty awesome. Just looking forward to getting the rest of our stuff from the RV and moving it on in, but it should be just little stuff from now on. Yipeee, It is so nice to be in this place, Just have to thank the Lord for opening the door for us :) I will take some pictures soon and post them, but right now you don't want to see the place because there are boxes everywhere still. More to come :)

Nooma video "Rain"

Imagine this....

It's early in the morning and the sun just barely rises over the lake and a Father takes his 1 year old son on a hike early in the morning. The Father puts his son in a backpack as they hike around the lake with the fog still over the lake from the cool night.. As they re hiking around it's a moment that you wish you could just freeze because it is just so beautiful. As they get halfway around the lake the Father looks up and sees dark clouds. Shortly after, it starts to drizzle and then it is pouring rain. With lightning and thunder, the Father hikes faster to get home with his son on his back still he puts the hood on his son's head. They are soaking wet, his son starts crying at the top of his lungs and at points shrieking out of fear from the lightning and thunder. The Father grabs his son out of the carrier and brings him closer to his body and whispers to him " I love you son, we're gonna make it!" Still hiking through all the rain, thunder, and lightning and whispering "I love you son, we're gonna make it!"

Isn't our relationship with God just like this? We puts us onto His back and we follow His lead through so much beauty and we wish we could just freeze that moment. And when the storms rage, the rain falls, and the lightning strikes we pulls us off His back and brings us close into His body and whispers "I Love you, we're gonna make it!" We're gonna make it through the storm and the rain eventhough we're scared... But we are protected under his strength and loving arms. He just simply whispers in our ear "I love you, we're gonna make it!" It's when we go through these trials that God pulls us close to Him.

Has there ever been a moment in your life you just wanted to freeze because it was so beautiful? Do you think that there is an easier way than to have to go through trials?

The most precious thing

Today I heard our baby's heart beat for the first time! It was such a special moment, I cried the whole way home from the Dr's. Everything is still looking good so far, next visit I have to take another HIV test... they said the results were indefinite... whatever that means. So far so good, I should be getting my lab results from the exam in a week or so. Other than that just my clothes getting tighter and tighter. I think in the next 4 weeks I should be getting a belly here :)

Willow Tree

I have recently purchased 3 pieces of the Willow Tree by Demdaco for our new apartment, so here is a picture I took quickly of them this morning.

So, our intended move in date is now Wednesday instead of this last weekend, but we will just have to wait and see if they did actually finish the apartment. These last couple of days has been kind of hard because we had arranged eveything perfectly for the move this weekend. So now, we have no Hot Water and no home telephone or internet. You wouldn't think hot water would be such a big deal until you go to take a shower. Anyway, that's it for now I think. I will most likely post another because I have a Dr's appointment this morning.

Not moving this weekend!!!!!

Andrew and I are thoroughly mad this weekend... which would have been a perfect weekend to move by the way. We called the apartments Friday morning to pick up keys and said that the contractor has still not finished the granite countertops. So, we had everything shut off, telephone, internet, etc. Now they are telling us we may not be able to move in until Wed. I cannot believe this, they moved our date from the 1st to the 2nd and now not until next week. Andrew is going to get aggressive with them and have them comp us another free month since they have now taken away 1/2 of our free month due to their own problems not ours. Sorry, but they will breach their contract if they don't comp us a month like promised. We had gas turned on, electric, etc at our new apartment too so that is one more thing. Luckily, my work is accomodating and will allow me time off mid week to move if necessary. I am so mad, so we spent all today cleaning up the RV and getting it ready for our new possible owner. Geesh, can you believe it???

Proud new owner of a....

Simmons Durst Heights Plush matress... After a little looking we found a very firm but comfy matress and NO it is not a pillow top. They are too soft :) We went to JCPenney's and they said it would take 5-10 business days to deliver so that wouldn't work! We went to this place called "Matress Discounters" and they can let us do a store pick up since we have a big truck and save ourselves the delivery. Tomorrow we will pick it up after work and do the rest of our moving. Pretty cool!!! Yippeee we move in tomorrow :)

"Ordinary Love" Toby Mac - Portable Sounds

Momma never said it would be like this
I never knew such bliss existed
Or maybe it's just so indescribable
Love was liable to get her twisted
She never told me but if she tried I was a little to young it floated right by me
I never dreamed love so fulfilling it's simply killing and over spilling on me
It goes on and on and on and on and on
Its over spillin' on me
It goes on and on and on and on and on
It goes on and on, Yo
This ain't no ordinary
This ain't no ordinary love
This ain't no ordinary
Gonna tell everyone up under the sun (2 times)
I refuse to believe we're a dying breed
Children of peace, hope and harmony
Ordinary folks extraordinary love
Something from above
Something we fall short of
You can't see with an untrained eye
But if you take a little time you are sure to find it
We complicate something so basic
But once you taste it, you gonna chase it like me
It goes on and on, Yo
It goes on and on
This ain't no ordinary
This ain't no ordinary love
This ain't no ordinary
Gonna tell everyone up under the sun (3 times)
A-yo here we go, open up the gates and let it flow...
A-yo here we go, Love's gonna take us higher (2 times)
This ain't no ordinary...
This ain't no ordinary love
This ain't no ordinary
Gonna tell everyone up under the sun
This ain't no ordinary
This ain't no ordinary love
This ain't no ordinary
Gonna tell everyone, tell everyone (2 times)
This ain't no ordinary love
It's extraordinary love (2 times)

Moving date March 2nd and 3rd

We have been keeping in contact with our complex managers to see if the unit was going to be ready by March 1st and they postponed it to March 2dn because they still had to put the granite countertops in. Okay.... so one more day! I only have a few more things to pack like our dishes, cups, silverware, etc, but I was trying to wait til the last minute because I kind of have to use this stuff :) Last night, we went to look at some mattresses, we stopped by Gottschalks but I think we are going to pass on them- too expensive. A couple that went with us said we should go and look at the Select Comfort (Sleep Number) beds, so we went by the mall but after them offering a basic mattress for a cool $1800... we decided this was not the route to go right now. Although in the future I would LOVE one of these beds. The most comfortable bed by far!!! JCpenney is having a furniture and matress sale so we will probably stop by there today and see if we can find a good deal.

We posted an ad for our 5th wheel on RVtrader.com and we actually have gotten now 6 or 7 bites from this ad now and quite a few people that want to stop by to take a look. Also, we forgot that we are paid up on our current rent until the 15th of March so after we move we are going to keep the RV here until the 10th so we can show buyers the rv while nobody is in it. We have a few serious buyers, so hopefully someone will buy this quickly. Keep that in prayer.

God has been good to us, He really has. Sometimes, I think we bypass all the little blessings we have everyday. Like this morning, I woke up and had hot water for a shower and clothes on my back. I think so often we have these kinds of blessings everyday that we get so used them and we forget to thank God for them. There are people all over the world that have no idea what it is like to have a hot shower. So I feel very blessed that I can. Lately, it has been really hard for to do my devotionals and mostly because I feel so exhausted because of the pregnancy that I try and get as much sleep as possible. After the move, we will have more time to sleep in because we will be closer to work... so I am determined to continue these devotions after the move.

13 weeks

Today marks the beginning of my 13th week and I have my next Dr's appt next Monday. All my labs came back normal which is good, the only thing that was kind of wierd was that they told me I have to re-do my HIV testing because they said it was incomplete... whatever that means! This week is also pretty crazy for us because we are picking up our keys tomorrow for the apartment and also having to move in the bed and the refrigerator at the bare minimum so we can live there. What's even worse is we have to do this all after work! Yikes, well I guess it's better than having to pay for another month's rent. So anyway, yesterday at work was more than crazy and I about cried twice... not sure if this was the hormones or if I actually was stressed or come to think about it I was probably just hungry because I wasn't able to snack like usual because I was so busy. We have tried to keep our refrigerator empty so that we don't have to move as much food as well. Other than that, I think it is kind of hard clothing wise because I can't fit into any maternity clothes and am barely fitting into my regular clothes so... we will just have to see how much longer I can wear these clothes :)

How do you treat your "friends"?

This questions popped into my head the other day as a situation had come up and it made me think. How do you treat your friends? Do you treat them with disrespect with disdain? Do you call them names and treat them in a verifiable crappy manner? When you're done hanging out with them, do you generally feel worse then before you hung out with them? Do they not even show the littlest amount of civility of decency when they're mad at you? Do they belittle your existence?

To me, friends should never make you feel any of those things that I mentioned above. When you hang out with friends, they should make you feel better not worse. They should never talk to you in a manner that is disrespectful for no reason. And if they do any of those things, are they really truly a friend?

friend /frɛnd/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronuncia[frend]- noun

1.	a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard.

2.	a person who gives assistance; patron; supporter

3.	a person who is on good terms with another; a person who is not hostile

I think friends should build each other up, not tear each other down. Should never talk to each other in a manner that belittles their existence. A friend should be supportive in your life and be there for you when they need them. Someone who is on "good terms with another". Jesus gives us the perfect example of what a friend should be, humble, honest (but not hurtful), kind, gentle, wise, gracious, merciful, forgiving, supportive... and the list can go on and on. When a moment arises that you should have a reason to be mad at one another yelling and cursing is not acceptable behavior for friends. They should be able to talk it out without the violence and hostility. No friendship is perfect and you are going to have moments when you are going to be mad. And even if you're not wrong, sometimes we still apologize, swallow our pride, so that we can get past this point because you know that the other person may not apologize. There comes a point when we have to be mature, and that is all that I expect from any of my friends when they get mad at me. A level of civility and decency because that is what we all deserve from our friends.

RV sold?

We have done some advertising for our 5th wheel to get sold. We put a nice little "For Sale" sign out in front of our space so in case anyone in the park wanted to buy it. We are only asking $14,000 and it's a pretty good buy for that amount and considering I took immaculate care of everything in it. Today, we got our first bite and surprisingly enough it wasn't from the $45 ad I placed in RV Trader or the free ad in Craig's List. Funny enough, the bite came from our cute little home made "For Sale" sign outside. The guy came out to look at the RV for his mother and really liked it and I think he was going to pay cash... WOW! Anyway, seems like a good thing and could be an answer to our prayers to have this 5th wheel sold before we move. The great thing about having someone buy it within is we can easily move the space over to the new owner instead of being put on the 1 year waiting list just to get into the park. Keep your prayers on this as we hope that this buyer goes through so we can have everything taken care of.

This week has been extremely tiring, I stayed home from work on Tuesday not because of morning sickness (because I haven't had any) but because I mostly just felt like crap when I woke up. My boss even said my coloring wasn't good on Monday, so I called out sick and went back to sleep and didn't wake up again until 10am. I got something to eat, got ready and headed to my Dad's for the day since we had Bible study there that night anyway and pretty much just slept the rest of the afternoon. Some much needed rest, I am telling you. I think there is just too much going on with my body right now and just needed some rest. I felt much better today, other than the fact that I had to catch up on paperwork when I came back to work today. Can't wait for the weekend... YEEEEAH for packing :) So far so good, things are cleaning up nicely and I can actually see underneath my bed which hasn't happened for storage reasons since we moved in. Very exciting!!!!

Supporting our troops!

Today, I went to my Dad's before Bible study and he had some signs he was in the process of making so he could go and stand out on a busy intersection. One sign stated this "Shame on you Congress, Support our troops!" and one of the other ones said "Here we go again, just like Vietnam!" Now, we are not big ware advocates in my family, but my Dad is a former Marine who did fight in Vietnam and survived even after a mortar blew up within arms length of him. I am not trying to make my Dad seem like some huge war hero, but in my eyes he is because he served his country. No one can tell him his fight wasn't worth it, because only he decides that.

My dad feels very strongly that Congress is making a mistake much like Vietnam in pulling funding from our troops while they are still in Iraq. Why is this bad? Well, if you pull funding they can't buy bullets. My point is this, stand where you are going to stand... but if Congress doesn't agree with the war then pull the troops out. Don't just pull their funding and leave them there with nothing to fight with. Congress right now is working on pulling the funding from our troops. and I have to say that my Dad will probably be one of those people that you would normally look at while you're driving and you see him sitting there and you say to yourself "What a nut!" With my Dad, I support our troops!

I leave you with this thought, this was a quote that I took from the movie "Tears of the sun" but I have forever kept in my mind:
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing"

Happy Valentine's Day!

Normally, I look at Valentine's Day a reason for marketer's to make us feel bad when we don't do something extravagant for our loved ones. And I don't need 1 day out of the year to tell my husband how much he means to me and how much I am truly in love with him.
This year, we did do something for each other nothing too extravagant or anything but I bought Andrew the GPS he wanted for hiking and Andrew bought me a very nice leather case for my phone that I have been desperately needing.
Andrew is so patient with me and he makes me laugh every chance he gets. He recognizes that sometimes with men it takes a tragedy to realize how much their spouse or loved one means or meant to them but that He didn't want to be one of those men... He is always so thoughtful and romantic. Even through all of his goofiness, He has become even better than the man I could have ever asked for.
Today, since Love is in the air I think about the Love that Christ has for me even now. How deep and how wide His love spreads over my life. It is not a day to be selfish but a day to be thankful to the 2 things in my life that totally complete me. Our God's Love is EXTRAVAGANT, forgiving, extraordinary, unfathomable, and so deep we'll never hit the bottom. So, I take today to say I Love you to my Father in heaven and also to my wonderful and patient Husband.

I leave you with these verses:
Ephesians (3:16) I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, (3:17) so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, (3:18) may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, (3:19) and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.


Happy Valentine's Day to you all!!!

How God is working

I guess I thought that I would title this blog this because of all the stuff that has been going on lately. We have 2 more weeks in our little 5th wheel and we have been working on trying to pack what we can until we actually move. Everything is all set to go on the apartment just have to wait for the keys, which we should be able to pick up March 1st. I am so excited about being able to be in Riverside now, and having a regular size kitchen so I can actually bake and cook the way I want to. Seems like such a silly thing to be excited about but still very excited about that.

The blessings so far with this move have been abundant, we did end up receiving a very nice green Lazy boy couch, a headboard, footboard, 2 nightstands, and coffee table all for FREE! That's right all for the low- low price of nothing. All nice furniture that we thought we would have to buy, but it turns out that God has his GREAT ways of providing for us.

We did, however, buy a comforter and we still have to buy a crib. So, we did find some very nice cribs through IKEA for a pretty low price and I was reading a magazine and they rated the IKEA cribs pretty high. I do want to go down and take a look at them before we purchase anything of course... and we do have to measure to make sure it would be able to fit.

Ode to tax season!!! It's that time of year again where we either have to pay or get something back. We have been pretty fortunate that Andrew's Dad just happens to do bookkeeping and taxes for a living. Looks like we will be getting a return once again this year... Just another great blessing.

Work has been good but also pretty hard since I have been really tired, my co-workers were all very excited when I told them about me being pregnant. I was a little bit worred at first because I didn't know how they were all going to react. Seems like everything worked out great. One of the other department's had a Admin Asst III position just open and the VP was trying to convince me that He wanted me to work for him. But his office is in Moreno Valley and although it would pay more, I really don't know what our plans will be after the baby is born. Today, his manager came to my desk and asked me how I liked working in the HR department and I told him I loved it. He said, okay just checking because you know of the Admin Asst III position open. I told him I was aware of this. I have no intentions of leaving the current department I am in just because of money and my bosses are so great and so accommodating. So funny, cracked me up!!

Our current plans for the next two weeks is pack into boxes the things we are not using so that we can get ready to move, also I placed an ad on Craig's List for our 5th wheel since we have not had a buyer yet for it. Keep in prayer that we would be able to sell it before we move in, I know 2 weeks doesn't seem like a lot of time but Man! That would be awesome!!!

How Amazing!!!

Today I had my first appointment with the Dr and of course they had to run a few tests to make sure my protein was at a good level so that they knew my kidneys were working and checked my sugar to make sure I wasn't diabetic. All passed with flying colors. I did not have to have a full examination like I had previously thought. She asked me a whole run of questions about Andrew and I family health history and asked me if I had any questions for her. Which I just had a couple, she is such an attentive Dr. When I asked her a question she was soooo nice. I really am going to like her for my Dr and to deliver the baby. I had blood work ran to look for any other possible diseases like cystic fibrosis also. Then... (drumroll) please..... the Dr said everything so far was looking very good and that I have less than a 2% chance of a miscarriage because she saw the baby's heartbeat so that is such a relief. I had a ultrasound done... so you see the picture of our little tiny baby and what looks to be the beginning of hands and feet. Man, it was so amazing watching the ultrasound. I showed Andrew the ultrasound picture too and it was pretty emotional for both of us- it's really awesome to think that we are going to have a baby. Such a special moment for us both.



Also here is a picture of a cute little piggy bank that Jeff and Sheryl gave to us as a gift. It is the most darling little thing. Awww.

Shocker today!

My very own husband who said He didn't want to hold anyone else's baby but
his own because he didn't want to "break it" if it wasn't his. Here is a
picture of Andrew holding Chris and Stephanie's baby Matthew. A small
revelation of what he will look like holding our own baby sometime. How
cute!!!!

Moving update

Friday, we turned in our deposit and they gave us all the information to
get our electricity turned on and if we wanted cable. We are going to be
unit G02!!! Now we are just kind of waiting until our unit has been
finished with the remodeling and then we should be moving in early March.
We get our first month free, so we are very excited.
Now, we have another task. We have to find a buyer for our 5th wheel, we
thought we had someone that was going to buy it but that might have fallen
through. We are going to be working on advertising with RV trader,
Craiglist, and Pennysaver to hopefully have a buyer for it. We want to sell
it before we move in preferrably.
This is the picture of the couch we are going to buy. It only cost us
$300!!! Plus, we should be getting a refrigerator from Jake. Looks like
everything is coming together slowly. God has been really good to us :)

Love letters to my Baby

A co- worker of Andrew's bought me this cute little book and it's so cute,
here is a little excerpt from the book:

"Just imagine- the Creator of the entire universe, the one who made the
heavens and earth, the originator of all living things, is personally
creating your unborn child. That's right. The same God who hangs the stars
in the night skies and balance the clods is at work this very moment on His
latest masterpiece- your precious baby! He is weaving together all her
teeny, tiny, intricate parts. He hears every beat of her heart. He has
already felt the brush of her eyelashes. He has put her hairs in place and
knows where her ticklish spots are. Your baby is being handmade by God.
When He knits, God doesn't make mistakes. He neither misses nor adds an
extra stitch. Before your baby can even do or say anything on her own, she
is perfect, one- of - a kind original. She bears God's brand name and has
incomparable value because of her Creator. Nothing can ever diminish her
worth. Tell Baby how special you think she is and what knowing that she is
being handmade by God means to you."

Roast Beef sandwich

Today for lunch I had made a roast beef sandwich with provolone cheese and
when I made it this morning I was like all excited about it. When I went to
lunch today and went to eat it, I absolutely could not handle the smell of
roast beef. I had heard stories of women's food aversions and up until
today I didn't know what they were talking about because I was like "Food
is good!" I think this was the first food aversion I have had so far, I
still ate the sandwich because it tasted good but I had to like plug my
nose because I couldn't stand the smell. Peeewweeey!!! Man, that has to be
one of the wierdest things so far!!!
Gotta love being pregnant, but if food aversions is the worst thing I have
to deal with over morning sickness I will take the food aversions anyday :)

Misc stuff

This weekend I ended up sleeping until 9:30am (which I almost never do)...
I guess I must have been really tired!!! Got up and put all our laundry
away, as I am doing this I was appreciating the fact that we will have an
actual closet in about a month from now. I loved our little 5th wheel and I
think we'll laugh at it someday that we lived in it for almost 2 years.

So, all we almost set to go on the apartment, we just have to turn in our
last 2 paystubs and as far as I know we should be all cleared to move in
March 1st. We are so excited to be making this move, it's going to be
different and exciting and closer to work for both of us.

I have made a decision to go shopping for items for the house without
Andrew just because when I go shopping I look at everything and like to
take my time and he is a very In and out kind of shopper. We have a lot of
things we just never bought because we didn't need them. One great thing
is- Andrew's best friend Jake is giving us the refrigerator we needed so
now we don't have to go out and buy one.

According to my little pregnancy tracker I am now 9 weeks pregnant with 1
more week to go til I am able to see the dr for my first check up. Man,
why does it take so long?

Chevy Volt

The lithium-ion battery in the Volt can be fully charged by plugging it
into a 110-volt outlet for approximately six hours per day. When it is
fully charged, the Volt offers a driving range of 40 miles. To increase the
useful range of the Volt, it includes a 1.0-liter 3-cylinder turbocharged
engine that operates at a constant speed to create electricity and charge
the battery. The engine is designed to run on E85 fuel, which is a blend of
85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. The engine does not power the
vehicle, it is only used to produce electricity to recharge the battery and
only the electric motor powers the vehicle

Not much to see

This picture is the beginning of the "Belly Pictures" as everyone calls them, so I can mark the growth of my stomach. As of right now, there isn't anything to see as I feel like I have only gotten chubby because my clothes are beginning to feel a little tight now. This is a picture of me at 8 weeks:

I have my Dr's appointment Friday, Feb 9th. Why do doctor's like to wait until you are almost 10 weeks before they see you for your first appointment. A lot of doctor's prefer to do that, I am not sure why though.


** Update: Last night we turned in our paperwork for the apartment, so we have our unit held for us now until we get all the credit and background portion done for the manager. Once we get the approval, we will need to just give her the security deposit. So, it looks like we will be moving in March to an apartment.

Our possible new home?

Today was good, I took Andrew with me to look at the apartment complex that I thought was decently priced. They are called the Canyon Crest Village Apartments, they are a little older but they have remodeled a lot of the units with new cabinets in the kitchen and granite counter tops. Andrew liked them and so did I. Reason why I liked them the best:

1) The complex is gated and has security guards on site at night. This complex is a member of the Riverside crime-free multi-housing which means that Police units come though occasionally and make sure that everything is safe and no one suspicious is wandering around.
2) It is close to shopping, but not so close that people would be wandering around in our area.
3) They are in the process of building a brand new park right across the street.
4) Our unit would be newly remodeled, so almost everything would be new (to us anyway).


So this apartment may be a new little home, We are still in prayer to make sure this is what we are supposed to do.
Anyway, here are some pictures of the complex that I found online:

Apartment Hunting

Andrew went hiking this morning with a new friend Caleb. Becca, a friend
of mine, and I decided we were going to do some apartment hunting in
Riverside while our husbands were gone and bring some flyers home and
pricing. I think we did pretty good- some places were up to $1000 but we
humored them and did a walk through of the apartments. Some were soooo
awesome but totally beyond what we would want to pay.

There were 2 that we both really liked: priced at $735/month with some
utilities included and the other one we looked at was a little older but
SOOOO cute looking and it was in Canyon Crest with this older lady as the
manager (she was so cute) . A 1 bedroom was $635 and a 2 bedroom was $680-
the catch is this... The apartments are on a month to month basis and so we
would have to call every month to see when and if they had openings.

I also have 1 more lead on an apartment complex but when we went to the
manager's office they were gone for the weekend to Disneyland. I am going
to call them on Monday to get some information and pricing. I just pray
that God would open the door for us :)

Chocolate- why???

I thought I have been eating pretty good and being careful to stay away
from the obvious things like caffeine, smoking, etc. Until I found
yesterday that I am supposed to limit the amount of chocolate I eat because
caffeine is found in Chocolate. Why chocolate? I have to stay away from
chocolate, I am so bummed that I found this out because right now Chocolate
just tastes so good! Kind of a bummer, they said I can have 300 mg of
caffeine and that is safe- I am working on calculations to how much
chocolate equals 300mg... Ha ha. I will try to stay away from it. Darn!

American Idol- my 2 favorites so far

So, we started up again with the American Idol season 6 and these are now my 2 favorites so far since th auditions. I make predictions that both of these candidates will do really well!!!


This guy was awesome because he quit his job in Oregon, and slept behind a dumpster the night before the auditions. Whoa!







Jordin Sparks, so far was my all time favorite, she has a such a wonderful voice and so young only 16 years old. Simon, just couldn't give her a good compliment- could he?

7th week and other stuff

Now starting my 7th week and still feeling pretty good. I am tired, as to
be expected, have a moment or two where I feel gross but not sick to my
stomach. I plan on being good and taking pictures once a month so I can
see the progress of the growth so I can later use it for a scrapbook. I
still don't think I will feel pregnant until I get the belly thing going.

Sunday, my church announced my pregnancy and a lot of the women in the
church came up and congratulated me and started asking me questions about
how I feel and their stories. It was pretty funny!

Andrew is still in Mexico until tomorrow on his missions trip and then when
he gets back we will take a look at the budget again and decide what it is
we can afford to do for living arrangements. Once I get pretty big it's
going to be hard for me to manuever around the RV let alone take a shower
in our little shower. Yikes! We will be looking at all of our options:
Apartments, a bigger RV, or another option (... I don't know, God opening a
door- whatever that may be). I just keep praying for God to give us a clear
picture of what it is He wants is to do. I don't want to do anything
outside of God's will for us. More space for living would be great, but I
am just waiting on the Lord and his plans. Keep us in your prayers.

Snowing in Riverside!!!!

I woke up to the sight of light snowing in Riverside. I have lived here my
while life and never seen it snow. And here it is snowing. How cute!!!!

Having a baby?

We just recently found out that Andrew & I are going to have a BABY!!!! A baby!!!!! I am about 6 weeks pregnant and supposedly due September 3rd. It's very wierd having everyone Congratulate me, and it still feels surreal to me because I still can't believe that this is happening. When Andrew found out, He said "I am going to be a Dad, Whoa!" I cried when I saw the positive pregnancy test and then I said...."breathe... breathe... breathe... you're going to be a mom!" So far I really haven't had any REALLY bad symptoms just really tired ALL day.

We are both very excited, very scared because we REALLY aren't prepared for this yet. We are just leaning on God right now that He is going to provide for us and take care of our needs. That doesn't mean that He is going to get us a house, but that we will have a roof over our head and food on the table and that is totally okay with me because it is God's will that I am seeking to fulfill. There have been a lot of thoughts going through our heads like are we going to stay where we are living? Am I going to quit working? How is this going to work? But I am also just trying to enjoy it all, If I took all the details right now I think I would be stressed out.

Just keep us in your prayers as we want to make sure to make the right decisions and that we can closely listen to what it is that God wants us to do.

Quick facts about bottle water

QUICK FACTS ON BOTTLED WATER VERSUS CLEANING UP THE DRINKING WATER SUPPLY
Reprinted from OneWorld US: us.oneworld.net)

-Members of the United Nations estimate that if the world took half of what
it currently spends on bottled water ($100 billion annually) and invested
it in water infrastructure and treatment, everyone in the world could have
access to clean drinking water.

-But bottled water is cleaner, right? Actually, the EPA sets more stringent
quality standards for tap water the FDA does for bottled beverages, and
roughly 40 percent of bottled water is actually just tap water.

-1.5 billion barrels of oil are consumed each year to produce the plastic
for water bottles, enough to fuel 100,000 cars.

-According to the Container Recycling Institute, only 14 percent of plastic
bottles are recycled.

-A water bottle in a landfill or lying around as litter will take over
1,000 years to biodegrade.