We just got another glimpse of our baby girl! (And yes, a different ultrasound technician confirmed she IS indeed a girl!!)
Here she is at 27 weeks, 3 days! She is measuring just right at 27 weeks (I guess I should start mentally preparing for a late arrival?!)
She is now 2 lbs 2 oz, heart rate at 146bpm. The technician said she has long legs and arms!! No wonder I feel her moving around so much! :)
Also, my placenta moved up, so I am all clear. We signed up to get a 3D/4D ultrasound at the end of October so stay tuned for more pictures and possibly a video!
Everything is going smoothly, Praise the Lord! We can’t wait to meet our little daughter in about 12 weeks!
While we were out in Washington, Adam’s parents and sister surprised us by throwing a party for us!! We had somewhere around 60 people over for dinner. Dad grilled chicken, pork, hotdogs, and meatballs and pineapple kabobs. There was also corn on the cob, salads, delicious homemade breads, and an assortment of DELICIOUS desserts made by our friend Leah!
Here’s their newly renovated backyard complete with a huge fire pit:
Dad and a friend built those huge arbors and even installed outdoor lighting on them. It's the perfect place to host a large party. And it looks fantastic!
After we all had our fill, the ladies met inside and showered me with baby gifts!
Here’s Bekah modeling the famous “Tilly Towel” sewn by Adam’s mom:
We received many cute things like sleepers, blankets, and books.
Rebekah and Sadie were excellent helpers with all the gifts!
And it was great to see so many friends from Olympia Bible Presbyterian Church.
Thank you Tonya for taking all these photos!!
Here’s a view of what the TV room looked like during the shower! All the guys were outside talking, all the women were inside chatting, and the kids were watching Cars! And this isn’t even all the kids between the ages of 2 and 8 that were at the party!!
And the most special gift of the night… all the ladies of the church, as well as Grandma Bond, Mom, Karen, and Robin each hand-embroidered a square of a baby quilt!!
Adam’s sister Amy did all the hard work of designing the squares and assembling all the pieces. Isn’t it beautiful!!! (you can find more of her handiwork here)
Click on the picture below to see the details. I typed out the name of the person who made each square!
It is sooo special to us! It means so much that all these friends of ours from far away are praying for us and our little baby!! We have such an amazing support system of family and friends. I can’t wait to hang it on the wall of the nursery. What a fabulous focal point it will make :)
This past weekend we took a trip out to Seattle with our friends the Engers to watch the Seahawks/Bears football game! It was great to get a chance to see family and friends in Washington too. We utilized every single moment out there to its fullest (hence the sleepless part!) and it was a fabulous weekend.
On Thursday, we hung out with our family outside around the firepit. Dad grilled an extravagant dinner of chicken, steak, and salmon along with many other delicious sides. On Friday we toured around Adam’s hometown of Olympia. We went to the Farmer’s Market and to Tumwater Falls.
It was the season where all the salmon swim UPstream to mate. Little did they know after they made it all the way up, these guys were waiting to harvest them…
It was pretty cool to watch. (But I’m glad I had tried salmon the night before seeing this, or I may not have had the courage!)
Saturday was a beautiful day, a perfect day to explore Seattle.
We saw the Space Needle, Pike’s Place Market, and the harbor. (I stole this cool shot from Derek and Jen)
And of course we had to stop by the very FIRST Starbucks!
After church on Sunday we headed back up to Seattle to see the Seahawks game!!!
It was Adam’s first ever Seahawks game, so he was VERY excited about it. His childhood hero is Steve Largent, #80. The stadium had paid great tribute to the man which was pretty special for Adam.
The Seahawks started out fairly strong, despite not having their first string quarterback, but the Bears came back for the victory. Adam was a bit bummed, but Derek and Jen were obviously thrilled about it!! And I was too, since my *second* favorite NFL team won the game!
Great times, Engers!! Let’s do it again soon!
So in grad school, one of the major requirements after getting the masters degree is to take the phd oral qualifier (or proposal) exam. Well, 6 months ago I attempted to take it and did not pass… What a rough couple of weeks that was trying to figure out what to do. Was this God’s way of saying I’m done with grad school? Did I go as far as I could and maybe it was time for me to move on? Well, after lots of prayer and great council from many family, friends and colleagues, I decided to give it one more try.
Fast forward two months and we discovered this! WOAH! Ok, maybe God’s whole plan was coming into view for us! Maybe I really am done with trying for the Ph.D and should just focus on my M.o.M. degree instead?!
Well, after all that I decided to go ahead and take the exam again and see what God’s up to with all this. If I didn’t pass, we could be sure that it was the end of the phd road and all would be fine.
[This is the poster that my advisor just presented at a conference Italy on the same day as my exam]
This past Wednesday was the big day. After 6 months of agonizing over it and 3 solid weeks of studying and preparation, I re-took the exam. I was calm cool and collected going in. I felt very prepared and ready to nail it. The first 15 minutes I presented my proposal. It went great. It was the best presentation I think I had done, I remembered everything I wanted to say and was able to say it at the right moment while staying within the allotted time. (And I KNOW all of that was because so many of you were praying for me! Thank you!)
Then came the questions. And right off the bat, the first one hit me so hard, I was almost knocked off my feet. It was something I hadn’t really considered and it just totally through me off for the rest of the exam. I gave some reasonable answers, but stumbled over several questions. What a humbling experience... AGAIN!
Well, yesterday I found out that I actually passed it! Maybe they were sick of hearing me come and talk every 6 months, maybe they noticed my pregnant belly and had pity, maybe I legitimately improved my thinking and defending skills, who knows! But we are sure that this is God’s way of letting me know that I’m where He wants me to be for now, and that I will keep pursuing this degree so that someday I can use it for His glory.
The next and final step is to defend the thesis (which will be well after the baby comes). I’m sure that will be another long and trying time while I prepare for that, but after seeing what God can do firsthand when I put my complete trust in Him and know that his plan is the ultimate best for me, I’m planning on fully relying on His strength to get me through that just the same. And just as I’ve said in the past, He has provided all these opportunities and abilities and grace, and He deserves all the Glory right back! So here you go, God! Welcome to my PhD candidacy! Please lead the way…
In order to start making room for our little girl to enter our world (and our condo), we decided to find a bookcase to store all our books, magazines, college textbooks, notes, albums and craft supplies And believe it or not, we did it!
We got his huge bookcase from IKEA and we put behind the couch. It puts it out of the way and only pushed things into the living room by a couple extra inches. Adam built a bench to put it on so it has even more store behind the couch for things we don’t often use. (Don't worry, it’s secured well to the wall and it not going anywhere!)
I’ve finished some sewing projects: I finally made curtains for the living room windows…
and some pillows to match.
If you’re wondering what Adam is reading… he got a Kindle for his birthday last month! It’s a small and VERY thin reading device that looks just like a real book page.
It’s really cool- so compact and lightweight! Perfect for taking on the train and on long trips and he can store thousands of books on it. I wish they had these when I was in college so I didn’t have to lug all those books around!
Well- I’m off to make the weekend to-do list which will include finishing the last 3% of the bathroom (hopefully??), and then moving on to plan out the nursery!! Yay!!
