My Life Cycle- Every 2 hours

Life with Jude is a lot more tiring than I fully expected. Yes I know everyone tells you there will be sleepless nights, but for me, it was just one of those things I needed to experience first to fully understand. Well holy crap- I have never been so tired in my life! That being said, obviously I am not up on my online life like I was pre-baby.

Anyway, Jude is doing wonderful and honestly is any easy baby. He really doesn't cry over much except to let me know he's ready to eat. The tiring part is that he is usually ready to eat every 2 hours. (I'm breastfeeding which is partly why he eats so often). Anyway, by the time he eats and burps and everything I have approximately an hour before its time to start the cycle all over again. I'm trying my best to sleep when he sleeps, along with eating and showering and the whole slew of other things you have to do in a day. However, like I said, he's a pretty easy baby, just a hungry, growing baby.

One of the most awesome Jude stories thus far in his short life happened a couple of days ago. I was in the middle of burping Jude, which incidentally is quite difficult. He rarely cooperates with this part. Anyway, I had Jude laid out across my back and was burping him when the inevitable happened. Michael sneezed. Now for those of you who have never heard Michael sneeze, it is loud as all get out. Well, naturally, it scared Jude to death. He shot milk out projectile style all over the place. And then as usual, fell right to sleep.

He sleeps through anything. This is really the hardest part of Jude. He will fall asleep halfway through eating all the time. Then we have to resort to torture devices like ice water on his head to wake him up. I would like to say this approach has 100% effectiveness, but sadly Jude can sleep through ice water. We are still looking for quality, fool proof, Jude proof methods of waking up a baby.

All this to say, most of it is pretty amazing. Particularly the fact that he literally changes every day. It's like I wake up in the morning to a new baby. We can't figure out who he might possibly look like because he is constantly changing. Of course all his changes are adorable in our opinion ;) It makes each day exciting though because he looks different and he acts different and he gets a little bit better at one of his new 'skills'.

Speaking of skills, Jude seems to me to be incredibly strong for a week old. He can already hold his head up, Actually, he could hold it up within the first few hours of his life. He's very difficult to keep ahold of. He can maneuver himself so quickly and with such force that there have been several times I've been freaked out that he was going to fly out of my hands. Luckily all dangerous situations have been averted thus far.

Anyway, he's entertaining, and we are really enjoying our son. Although to be honest, we wouldn't mind just a few more hours of sleep....

October 19, 2009- Hey Jude Dylan

(cont from October 18th, 2009) I spent the next 30 minutes or so in shock. I followed the nurses to a delivery room in an absolute daze. Michael went out to get our things, we so fortunately brought with us. He was also going to make ‘the calls’, but I had him wait a little bit until I had finished processing this information. We did eventually call our families and text our friends the news. My parents and sister left shortly after their calls.

The early morning hours were spent with some more tests: sonograms on Jude and my gallbladder, dilation tests, the continuous monitoring my heart rate, Jude’s heart rate, and my contractions. Ironically, I started contracting on my own before the induction started. I was also given a pill that ripens up the cervix. Lovely. This caused my contractions to actually start to make me uncomfortable, but it was just like having cramps. The nurses encouraged us to get some sleep. Michael was able to, but with my contractions, I could really only doze off a little bit here and there.

One thing that really disturbed my sleep in these wee morning hours was my penicillin drip. As you may recall, I was positive for group b strep. This means that I needed at least 2 penicillin drips via IV before delivery. I ended up having four by the time Jude actually arrived. These are incredibly painful fyi. It feels like your arm becomes numb, but in a really painful, burning way. The second round of penicillin was the worst because it had been in the refrigerator or something like that. Anyway, anyone who requires this in the future will receive my utmost sympathies.

Sometime in the morning they began the pitocin. My guess is sometime between 5-8, but the hours from here on out are pretty hazy. The doctors were hoping my contractions would continue to pick up on their own and I could have assisted labor rather than induced. Didn’t happen in the long run, my own contracting certainly still made the whole process easier. Things started to get painful at this point and I gave up sleeping altogether. I began focusing on relaxing through the contractions.

Throughout this whole process, I had had several conversations with the different nurses about going natural vs. the epidural. They explained that there was nothing natural to begin with when you were induced. In natural labor, you contract and relax. As you dilate more, the amount of relaxing lessons obviously, but your body still naturally provides some time for you to breathe. In induced labor, there are no periods of relaxation. You basically alternate between contracting and contracting more leaving you little breathing time. Once the pitocin began, I was able to see this because the contractions were continuous. It just that sometimes it hurt more than others. I began to rethink my natural birth plan.

My parents arrived sometime during all of this, as well as my sister. My mom was wonderful about rubbing my back where it hurt the most and helping me stay as comfortable as possible through my continuous early labor.

Sometime around 8 or 9, my doctor came in to tell me that I had dilated to a 4 and could receive the epidural at any point now. I started to evaluate the amount of pain I was in at 4 and how I still had several centimeters to go. I also considered that I had yet to get any sleep hardly. I went ahead and decided to go ahead with the epidural. To be honest, it was the best decision I ever made.

The process of getting an epidural was difficult in and of itself. I personally got some type of medicine to relax myself because I knew I would freak out during that. I have always been really sensitive to any type of shot to my back. Typically, I pass out and throw up. This is actually the main reason behind wanting to go natural in the first place if you want the honest truth. By the time I had the relaxer and the epidural, I was exhausted. I don’t remember how long it took me to fall asleep at this point. My guess is 5 minutes, maybe. I slept until 2:30 or 3.

When I finally woke up, the nurses began checking me to see how much progress had been made and all that jazz. I had gone to sleep at a 4 and woken up at an 8. Beautiful. At this point, I was able to relax and enjoy visiting with my family before the big show began. It didn’t last long however, because Jude had moved down and lodged himself in a very lopsided and painful way. The nurse came in to check it because it was quite painful. She tested me again and determined that I was dilated enough to begin pushing. My family was kicked out of the room. The nurses came in and Michael and I prepared to say ‘Hey Jude Dylan’.

Like an attentive husband, the first thing Michael did was turn on Bob Marley. He's always thinking of me and what will make me the most happy. I have to stop and say that from this point forward my opinion of my husband totally changed. Childbirth and then parenting brought out a whole new side of him which has made me love him even more. In the delivery room, there was me, two nurses, and Michael. I'm not sure if there are typically more nurses or not, but Michael was quickly recruited to holding my leg. I thought he was supposed to be at the other end holding my hand. Surprise! He got a front row seat to this big event. I'm not going to go in to too many details about the next hour and a half. All that anyone needs to know is that I pushed and he came. Looking back, I wish I could have written this part immediately. It all happens so fast and yet seems to freeze in time. The overwhelming emotions surrounding the event cause so many details to get lost in translation. The thing that sticks out so much though is Michael honestly. Looking at each other the first time after Jude was here was so moving. We both had tears in our eyes and it's just the most surreal experience. I honestly have no words to describe what it's like to see your child for the first time. As Michael says, you cannot watch this whole scenario and not know that there is a God. How true.

October 18, 2009- The Seven Day Itch

This past week has been a season of itching. It started with this incessant itching of my feet and hands. By the weekend, the itching had spread to my entire body. I was walking around like I had ants in my pants and all over my body really. The crazy thing about it was there was no rash or redness or any normal sign of itching. Sunday morning it was even worse, so I decided to call my doctor, even though itching seems a silly reason. She told me to buy some hydrocortisone. Your basic home remedies. We tried these to no avail.
That evening the itching continued to get worse so we decided to google itching in pregnancy. One website listed several possibilities, but there was really only one possibility for all over uncontrollable itching. One percent of all women develop choriastasis (sp) which is an accumulation of bile salts. Michael insisted I call my doctor again even though I said that would be silly. He actually made the call, for which I am now grateful. My doctor at first told me to take benedryl, but then she called me back and had me go to the hospital for some lab tests. This was at 10:00 at night. So we loaded up our things ‘just in case’ and headed down.
At the hospital, I was checked in to a room. I put on the hospital gown and prepared myself for getting stuck. By the time this adventure was over, I was a pro at getting stuck by the way. Once the blood was drawn we were just waiting around for the results. I was hooked up to a contraction and fetal monitor the entire time. Michael entertained me by experimenting with Jude’s heart rate via itunes on the iphone. Among our selections: a little Bob Marley and little Jimi Hendrix. However, the song that got Jude the most excited was Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin. You have no idea how proud Michael was at this point!
Shortly after this we were out of ideas to entertain ourselves. Michael went to check to see if I would be able to go to work tomorrow since it was after midnight and we hadn’t heard anything. The nurses told us not to worry, I’d be going to work. I was excited at this because that obviously meant there was nothing to worry about and I was right, it wasn’t a big deal.
About 30 minutes later however, the nurse came back and said I wasn’t going home tonight after all. Michael and I looked at each other and exchanged confused stares. The nurse didn’t say anything more than that, probably because she’s not allowed to. We sat there in the room by ourselves wondering what was going on and what would happen. Then the doctor came in and explained that I did in fact have elevated liver enzymes in my blood. I was what Michael enjoyed saying ‘the 1% of women.’ The bottom line was that I was going to be induced starting NOW.

Doctor Visit- 38.6 weeks

Yesterday was (hopefully) my last doctor's visit pre-baby. Can you tell I'm ready to get this over with? Anyway, not too much to report as usual. I just updated her on how I was doing, and she checked to see how much I've progressed. I'm dilated to 2 centimeters now and continuing to thin out. Unfortunately, this still doesn't really suggest that anything will or will not be happening. We are still stuck in the waiting game. I think the only way to know when the baby's coming is if you (blessed?) enough to have a scheduled induction or c section. However, we will continue waiting. I've been having a lot of false labor contractions though. I really don't know that this provides many clues to delivery either. However, it is really annoying. Yesterday, they actually got strong enough to make me think I should go in. They subsided when I changed position though. I wish I knew what I was feeling for. I hate this whole lack of experience with this. Plus, most of my friends with baby's were either induced or scheduled c sectioners and never just 'went in to labor' to be able to answer my questions. It wouldn't bother me quite as much if it weren't for the fact that I need to get on those antibiotics soon after going in to labor. Please pray that I will recognize them when they occur. I'm scared I will get confused with false labor and be late getting the antibiotic.

The Watermelon Crawl

Technically, this update is a day early, but it's been awhile since I've posted. Plus, we are really only hours away from 39 weeks. At 39 weeks, Jude is abot the size of a mini watermelon. At 39 weeks, the mom to be is definitely doing the watermelon crawl or waddle, depending on your perspective. Some of this weeks highlights include the continuation of adding fat to help regulate temperature and being approximately 20 inches long. Based on my calculations from the last sonogram, he weighs about 7 lbs 7oz.

I'm continuing to feel the pressure from him dropping more and more. I actually have people regularly commenting on just how low he looks. It's pretty obvious. As I sit here to type, it literally feels like I'm balancing a watermelon in my lap. Personnally, it just feels like he is about to come out.

Every day it hits me more and more that today could be "The Day" we meet him. My bags are packed and so are Jude's. We've bought snacks. We have the car seat in the car, although I have yet to read the manual to figure out how to install the thing. We're getting there. It's crazy not knowing when he's going to come. Every time I get any sort of contractions I start really paying attention in case 'this is it'. I'm caught in the middle though of wanting to finish as much school as I can and also just being ready to leave. Personnally, I'm betting on sometime between now and Monday. Michael says Thursday. I go to the doctor this afternoon. We'll see what she says...

For now, we are just caught in the waiting game wondering when our lives will really truly change. In the meantime, Michael and I are trying to spend as much time together as possible before our time together is a little more stretched thin. Be praying for our little family. We desperately want a safe and healthy delivery and baby.

oh the pain...

We all know it's impossible to predict the timing of labor. However, here's what I do know. I am in pain literally anytime I walk. I think this started Friday, but it just gets worse. I feel like Jude and his 7+ lbs are just baring down on my pelvis as hard as possible. I walk around trying to hold my bump up just to try to alleviate some of this feeling. I am walking so much slower as of yesterday. I mean really slow. I could not keep up with Michael in home depot. I kept begging him to slow down. This is not a conversation we normally have. Normally, our walking speeds are compatible. Not anymore. I am assuming that this is part of the lightening of the baby drop, but I'm not exactly sure. Jude's foot hasn't left my rib cage-still- to give me that ability to feel less crowded. I do look lower though. And he feels lower. I don't know how close to having him we really are just because he has dropped so much more. I'm getting nervous though because reality is starting to set in. I keep reminding myself that God made women for this and my body can handle it. That usually calms me down a bit. What I am not sure I can handle is walking around the school with my kiddos. That will be miserable. Thank goodness today is a staff development day.

Anyway, we have 11 days to go. Give or take. Stay tuned because it could be any time now.

Theology and Pregnancy

I have been thinking some theologically philosophical things this past week. I haven't quite formulated them into something readable yet, so this blog may be choppy. I'm hoping that writing about it will help in make sense in my mind. You may think this blog is an example of an over analyzer and you might be right. I'm still writing it anyway.

As I approach the end of pregnancy, I've been thinking about creating life. As a Christian, I obviously believe that God was involved in the whole creation of the world, including every person in it, including me and Jude. In the Bible, we read that at the creation of man the Trinity got together and said "Let us make man in our own image." Thus people are created in the image of God. Typically, most people do not assume God looks human. It's more of this spiritual need within all humans to worship God. Clearly, some people try to fill this need with a variety of other things, but bottom line, humans have the ability to reason and worship God.

The parts of this story that are sticking out to me are the unity of the Trinity- being all God and yet separate at the same time and making us in their image. In some ways I think the creation of life between a husband and a wife rather parallels this concept. For one thing, the Bible says that at the point of marriage and consummation, the husband and wife no longer are two separate people, but rather become one. This is kind of a mirror image of the Trinity. 3 people with different jobs who are actually one. Marriage is 2 people with different roles who have become 1. I still don't understand the mystery of the Trinity and in many ways don't understand the mystery of marriage.

This unity brings me to the next piece. The Trinity, in their union, came together at creation to create man in their own image to worship them with reason and relationship. When a husband and wife come together, they create a new person in their own image for essentially the same relationship reasons. I would say not for worship, but who doesn't love the idea of the little boy who can't wait to grow up to be just like daddy. If we're honest, we all do worship our parents in one way or another.

Children have always amazed me because they are literally a representation of the unity of the parents. They model a mom and dad who are one. They are a perfect blend of both parents. They come in the image of their parents. Michael and I literally cannot wait to see who's eyes Jude gets, among other things. He will be made in our image. His personality will be formed after our image as well. Unfortunately this comes with good a bad as our children pick up just as many cute quirks as bad habits from their parents. Still, Jude's future strengths and flaws will be based off of our image.

Anyway, like I said, I'm having trouble really getting my thoughts together on this one. The point is that I see some parallels between creation of man and the creation of a child that I had not previously thought about. In a way, I guess it helps me understand the emotions of the Trinity at creation. I mean when Jude is born, all we will see is possibility. We will be filled with love and wonder at what we created. We will think it is 'good'. The truth is, that we are bringing Jude in to a fallen world and there will come a time when we will have to hold him accountable for making the wrong choices. He will experience pain because we are bringing him in to a fallen world. He will not be born a Christian so Michael and I will have to cry out to God daily to call our son to salvation. This is exactly how I imagine the Trinity felt. They had created this amazing, beautiful thing called humans. There was so much possibility there, and they were filled with love. Yet the world became fallen, and God had to watch some of us fall in to sin knowing we will never become Christians and some of us sin knowing it would lead us to Christ.

What does this mean for parents? Well God spends his time calling his children home. He forgives them when they turn away from Him. He loved them enough to die for them. He sanctifies them. He holds his children to a high standard, yet is understanding when they fall short. Parents should do essentially the same things. We should always be there for our children. We should be calling them towards righteousness and teaching them who Christ is. We should forgive easily! Christ never lays a guilt trip on us! Are there consequences, sure. However, he never milks an apology for all it's worth. Love them enough to die for them. I think that should be the daily picking up of our cross. Dying to the fact I want to sleep in. Dying to the fact that all my non-mom friends are going out for girls night. I'm not saying girls night won't happen, but it won't happen every week. Or guys night depending on the case. We are to help them understand how to make good choices and WANT to do the right thing. We should hold our children to a high standard, yet understand they won't make it. We should love them where they are, at the age they are, with the capabilities and understanding they have at that age. Christ expects different qualities and understanding from a veteran Christian than a new Christian. Same for children.

These thoughts are still swimming in my head. Thank you for reading this far if you have. I would love to hear comments if you have them!

Going Home Outfit

Michael and I enjoyed a pretty hot date last night. Both of us were still sick yesterday, so we spent most of the day in bed. Come evening though, we were ready for a bit of adventure. I insisted on a taco cabana date night. It was hot, as taco cabana dates always are! I don't know what it is, but that 2 taco combo just always gets me.

After dinner, we went to Target and then to Babies R Us to find the 'going home outfit'. It was pretty exciting just because this was the first time Michael and I actually really went shopping for Jude together. We've bought things here and there, but never something super sentimental like the going home outfit. At first, Michael did not understand the importance of commemorating the occasion with a new outfit. I'm not sure he completely sees it now, but I do know that we both had fun getting to pick out an outfit together for our baby boy. It's fun watching Michael get excited about some of this stuff. Most of the time he's just a guy about it. (Remember, an earlier post mentioned Michael asking why he wasn't just coming home in a onesie. That was a real quote.)

Anyway, we had a hard time finding something because so many boy clothes have baseball or football themes. Michael likes soccer, but not really any other sports. He wishes we were from the UK. Anyway, Michael actually picked out the above outfit which made me happy. I like knowing the daddy picked it out I guess. Anyway I thought it was adorable. Very much a baby outfit but with the muted colors so it's not too overdone. And I think trains are super cute. Michael loved loved trains when he was a little boy, which is why he was probably drawn to this in the first place. I just love it. We've been having cool weather which hopefully lasts through his birth. The thing about Texas is you just never know. It can go from 80 to 30 here in a matter of hours. Picking out a weather appropriate outfit for an October baby is kind of like playing the lottery. Please pray that Jude comes home on a cool/cold day like we've been having. Otherwise he will be burning up in these little sweat pants. Oh well. Regardless, Michael and I think his little outfit is very cute and we can't wait to bring him home in it!!!

Less that 2 weeks left now!

38 weeks and a leek

Jude is now 38 weeks now. We are really and truly in the waiting stage. At this point he is about the size of a leak. Inside, he's really starting to plump up. Most likely he weighs about 7 lbs. Again, this is going off his last sonogram when he weighed 6 lbs and 1 oz. Babies gain approximately and ounce a day from that point. Given that information, he should be about 7 lbs. This is a little bigger than the average which is 6 lbs 8oz for this point in pregnancy. At 38 weeks, he has a firm grasp which will be fun for us when he's born! He also has fully mature organs and is ready for life on the outside. From this point forward it is really just a time of waiting to see when we will actually pop. As I said yesterday, I probably have at least another week left before I go.

Michael's mom gave me his birth stats a couple days ago. He too was born with a full head of hair! Also he weighed 8 lbs 8 oz. According to her our babies should fall somewhere in the middle of our 2 birth weights. I was 7 lbs 14 oz. I'm guessing that Jude will be 8 lbs 3-4 oz based off of that. Given his ounce a day statistic from this point, he should be 7 lbs 7oz by week 39 and 7 lbs 14 oz by his due date. That's exactly what I was. We'll see. Of course, some of this depends on when he actually comes. While I get braxton hicks contractions a little more each day, it is still nothing to make me expect labor to be around the corner. I have a feeling it will be a long wait...

My goal this week is to get things ready for the hospital. For those of you out there that have had babies, please comment with any advice on packing. I'm the worst packer in the world and truly will find this ardent task overwhelming. Help is appreciated!

The Journey Continues....

Well the past 24 + hours has been pretty rough. I started getting really fatigued with body aches yesterday afternoon. By evening it progressed in to fever and all that. I went to the dr and luckily it is NOT the flu. Apparenlty it is something called an adenoid virus. The doctor didn't seem too worried. I think that luckily with me being so close to delivery, there is less risk involved. I'm just trying to keep fever at bay, stay hydrated, and rest. I took today off for rest and drs appts. I'm taking tomorrow off too.

Unfortunately, Michael came down with the same symptoms this weekend. We have the keys to the apt we are subletting in Lewisville for the next 2 months until our house is ready. We can move in any time, but with us both feeling so badly, we'll have to wait at least a little bit for that to happen. Boo!

I also went to my weekly obgyn appt today. Nothing really to report. A couple of the nurses were saying how surprised they were they I hadn't had Jude yet. Too bad this baby has no desire to come out! One asked me if I was having contractions yet. Luckily, I can say that I am. At some point during the day I will have 10-30 minutes of contractions and then that will be the end of it. The nurse kinda got crestfallen when I said that because apparently thats not enough to be getting close. Again, boo. I know I'll be 38 weeks tomorrow, but I honestly don't think he's dropped at all. He STILL feels like he's camping out right in my lungs. It becomes more miserable every day as he grows so much. No one can really call it, because all babies seem to do things their very own special way. We shall see, but for all of you anxious fans out there- you don't appear that much closer to saying 'Hey Jude Dylan'....

Double on the Rocks Bartender...

If I had a personal bartender I would ask for nothing short of the good stuff. A double pepto on the rocks. Maybe mix it up with a maalox on the rocks. Seriously. As if peeing every few hours was not enough to ruin any chance of a good night sleep, I am continuously topping that off with ridiculous amounts of baby induced acid reflux. I have resorted to keeping pepto on the nightstand and I drink it several times a night. Now that Jude is approximately 6 lbs 13 oz, anytime he moves around, he hits at least one organ. If he rolls into my stomach, he immediately sends this shot of stomach acid right up the throat. Isn't that delightful? And the best part is the most I can hope to do is to coat everything with the yummy pink stuff. It's not like heartburn where I can watch what I eat and curtail miserable consequences. This can only be solved by giving birth. One of the many reasons I am really getting over this whole pregnancy and am just ready for him to get here. In the meantime, my personal bartender will be fixing me the 'baby too big' cocktail at least once during the night. Maybe 2 or 3 times if we decide to get a lil crazy up in hurr!

Waddling Update

Today one of my little boy students pulled me to the side to share a very important observation with me. He said, "You know Mrs. Doner, you're starting to walk the way my momma walked right before she had my little sister." I told him that happens to momma's to be at the end :)

I'm hoping that means Jude is actually starting to drop and I'm starting to waddle more. I'm really getting ready to get this over with. It doesn't matter what position he finds, it makes me uncomfortable. I'm sure it makes him uncomfortable too.

37 weeks

Congratulations are due to Michael, Jude, and I because we have officially reached full term status! That means Jude can come at any time and he will be perfectly ready to function in this world. What a wonderful feeling! This will sound totally moronic, but he's a legit baby now. Based on our last sonogram, he is probably about 6 lbs 10 oz at this point, assuming he's gaining an ounce a day. He's getting pretty big! By this time next week, he will likely have hit the 7 lb mark. Length wise, he should be about 19 inches which approximately the length of swiss chard which our lovely picture portrays.

Michael and I are really getting ready for the big day now. We officially have the car seat, so we are free to take him home with us. I also have the basic essentials of bath wash, lotion, diapers, wipes, etc. Someday soon, I want us to go on a 'date' to find that first coming home outfit. This will be the first outfit we will be buying him together, and I'm really excited about it. Of course, when I mentioned this to Michael he said "An outfit? Can't we just bring him home in a white onesie?" Hah, great idea hun.

As the mom, I am hanging in there. Feet are huge and I'm generally miserable, but I'm still kicking it. I have parent conferences this week, so I'm just trying to make it through that. I'm spending all Tuesday working on sub plans. I figure come this Friday I should be comfortable with whenever Jude decides to come. I'll be 38 weeks at that point. That being said, I would just like to point out that they doctor still does not anticipate him coming until I'm 40 weeks. Truth be told I hope she's right, although I am getting really miserable and there just really isn't any more room for him to grow. He's taken up all available real estate.

On a funnier note, I had a school shower on Thursday with my Lee family. They had all this little toy decorations on the cake which they gave me and are now sitting on my desk. Friday morning my kids were fascinated by these. I explained to them that they were from my baby shower cake. One of my boys said, "You had your baby last night?!" I asked him if he thought I looked like I'd had the baby yet. Obviously he said no. What a bunch of nuts....

I also had a couple little girls whispering about me during my morning duty time. One little girl was going on about how she feels so bad for me. The other little girl didn't get it and asked why. The first little girl was like "she is going to be in soooo much pain!" Don't know how she knew childbirth was painful already....

That's all for now. Check back often- you never know when we'll PoP!!!

Faithfulness

This post is going to be short because I want to get to bed;) However, I just wanted to share a praise and the awesomeness that is God really quick. If you haven't kept up with us recently, please read yesterday's post so that this will make sense.

As you know, Michael and I have been quite between worlds with the ending of our lease and the unforseen house hunting issues. We took that step in faith and are going to keep looking for God's best house for us. That left the question 'what do we do in the meantime?' Well God has provided an option and for that we are so very thankful! Miracle of miracles my father stumbled upon an ad on Craigs list to sub let a 1 bdrm apt in Lewisville during (drumroll) October and November. This was perfect for us because it gives us somewhere to be during the this time where we are finishing up house hunting and everything. The perfect time span as well. What are the chances. God is amazing.

Anyway, Michael checked it out and we are good to go for taking over the lease for the next couple months. We are very thankful and amazed at the perfect timing of the whole thing.