Gender Reveal

I can't even express how excited Hogan and I were to find out the gender this past Friday. Hogan was like a kid on Christmas Eve. When he was finished getting ready in the morning, he joked about just going to wait in the car until I was ready but in all honesty, I think he would've if I hadn't laughed at him saying that.

They did the ultrasound right away when we got there. It was an incredible experience. While we were so excited about finding out the gender (which we did at the end of the ultrasound), I was completely in awe of seeing our baby on the screen as the nurse checked on the development of it's entire body. Technology is amazing. Pregnancy is amazing! Hogan and I keep saying over and over again what a miracle pregnancy and childbirth is. By no control of my own (other than being responsible with my body of course) am I forming this baby. What an amazing gift from God and what an amazing God we have!

After the nurse had checked on all the development, we had to wiggle the baby around a little bit to make him uncross his legs so we could find out! Luckily, he did and we immediately could see we were having a baby BOY!!!!! Not that I favored either gender but I just thought it'd be a girl for some reason so it was more of a surprise for me (Hogan had told me a few days earlier he "knew" it was gonna be a boy). We are beyond excited for this precious baby boy and it's so much more real now. We even have a name already but are keeping it a secret until he's born! It's been so much fun though to pray over HIM now and talk about him to each other using the name we've chosen. Now on to registering for boy items whatever those might be :)

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our ultrasound...

And finally he reveals that he is a boy!!!





We found out the gender on Friday and celebrated our 1 year marriage anniverary on Sunday so it was a pretty exciting weekend to say the least. We've been all smiles and are so grateful :)

Oh, and Hogan has already persuaded him to pull for Auburn...

A Beautiful Birmingham Fall

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my city in the fall. I especiallly enjoy my drive to work in the mornings because I go through an area that is abundant in trees and leaves. The entire way in this morning, leaves were falling and blowing all over the place. Put a huge smile on my face!

Also wanted to give an update on life right now. I've gotten a little lax in blogging. These past few months have flown by. Our pastor said last night at church that there were 7 weeks until Christmas - is that for real?? That kind of scares me because I am so bad with Christmas shopping. I aspire to be one of those people that buys gifts throughout the year and is done with major shopping by the end of November but sadly, I don't see that happening. It doesn't help when so much of my family have birthdays that fall closely before Christmas - gotta focus on those days first of course.

This fall has been wonderful. Hogan and I have led a newlywed small group every Friday night where we go out to eat with other couples at a different restaurant every week. We call it "Taste of the Ham - Married Edition" - all Hogan's creativity there. We only knew 1 of the couples before we started this group so it's been so neat to build relationships with new faces. It's also been fun to lead a group with my husband. We have each led many small groups individually before we were married so to join together in this has been great.

The extent of our Halloween activities included pumpkin carving and trying to hand out candy to kids trick or treating. Unfortunately I think our doorbell only rang 3 or 4 times and NO ONE was really dressed up in costumes. I really don't care if you are 15 years old and trick or treating but make an attempt to dress up at least - geez! I had so much fun though carving my pumpkin. An added bonus was the pumpkin seeds that I got from it and roasted - still snacking on those. Here are our creations - Hogan's is the left one and mine is the right one. The picture doesn't do his justice though - he actually made ears that stuck out of the side of the pumpkin as well as nostrils!

And this is Molly checking them out. She was very curious.



Even though our 1 year anniversary is this coming Sunday, we "celebrated" it last weekend by going to....................Ross Bridge! Surprise there :) But it's seriously the best in-town getaway and that's what we were up for. It basically turned into a day of pampering me though as much as I tried to take the focus off of just me, but if you know how sweet Hogan is, that's what it always turns into. I had a pre-natal massage and oh my goodness, it was amazing. I so prefer pre-natal massages over regular ones and seriously want to try to get those even when I'm not pregnant. I also enjoyed a pedicure and then we went out to dinner and dessert that night. It was such a nice relaxing night. Hogan also got me a dozen pink roses and I think the pregnancy hormones are affecting me because when I walked in the room and saw them, I just started crying. It was a good cry but Hogan was so confused, ha ha.

Pregnancy has been a fantastic experience thus far. It is such a gift from God and I'm loving every second of it. We find out the gender here soon so stay tuned!

Jesus is doing a work inside of me right now too. Every now and then I hit those seasons where I get so much revelation from the Lord and I think one of those seasons is happening as I speak. I'm going to articulate myself a bit better though and I'll post a blog on it all soon :)

Love y'all. Thanks for reading!

He Really Does Hear You

He really does hear you. He really does care. He really is faithful.

Since my last post on making big decisions, I've been overwhelmed with answers from the Lord. I'm not ready to share quite yet mainly because it's just too soon, I don't know all the details, and I'm still seeking His will, but I have an incredible peace in all situations right now. And this comes only a few days after the uneasiness I felt about everything. But I kept praying, I kept asking, I kept seeking his will for my life. And most importantly I kept trusting that He would answer me. And He has. I consistently stand in awe of my Lord. I'll never fully understand, in this life, the magnitude of how much he cares for me, but he does, and so I will stand on that and thank him for it - over and over and over again.

And he cares the same way for YOU. So don't be afraid to ask him for help, for an answer, no matter how small it may seem. And in time, he will respond. I pray His overwhelming peace for any situation or decision you are facing right now friends.

Trying to Stay in God's Will

I love those times in life when you know you are living God's will for your life. Life may not be easy but you KNOW you are where you are supposed to be. Decisions have been made and you have a complete peace about them. For a while, things are peaceful even though they may not be easy. You aren't in the middle of huge decisions. You are just living and moving right along in this life.

And then you find yourself in a place where big decisions have to be made again. Or possibly the decision isn't even yours to make yet but you find yourself constantly thinking about your future plans. You don't want to step out of God's will. You need the right answer! You need clarity in that decision.

Well I'm finding myself in one of those places right now.

I'm in a new season...pregnancy...and man are there a ton of decisions to make and many to make in the near future. I want what God's plan for my life is. I need his wisdom and I need clarity moving forward. I need to know whether I'm supposed to stay at home with our child or go back to work. And if I go back to work, should I try to go back to work full time or part time. What is it going to look like Lord?

Proverbs 19:20-21

Listen to advice and accept discipline and at the end you will be counted among the wise. Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. 

I want his purpose. I want his desires to become my desires. I'm in a place where I don't even know what my heart is telling me right now. And so I wait, I wait patiently on the Lord. He hears me, he knows my heart. I wait for his perfect timing. He will lead me in peace.  

It's also that time of year again where I would usually start scheduling games and holding interest meetings for Woodlawn soccer. But right now I can't get in touch with anyone at the school. I feel disconnected. The teacher contact I've had for the last 2 years no longer works at the school. I'm at a loss. I'm reaching out to people trying to figure out the person I need to talk to. And yes, I'm impatient. But only because this time last year I already had games scheduled and right now I have nothing happening at all. But I can't force anything. I don't want to force anything. I want the plan the Lord has. If it's coaching Woodlawn in the spring, then he will make a way as I reach out to others. If it's not, then I'll submit to that plan as well - as heart-crushing as it may seem. I'm pretty sure I'm putting worries in my mind though that will all work themselves out.

But I'm in this place right now. I'm trusting and praying and listening to Jesus. I'm waiting. I'm thanking him for this season. I'm so excited about everything going on and what's to come. And I'm trying to not let these decisions become worries.

Philippians 4:6 

Starting to Show

Don't get too excited. It's definitely not much of a "bump" yet :) But I figured, what the heck, I'll go ahead and post some pics, especially since family and friends that don't live here have no idea of the changes as they slowly start to happen.

Week 8 - nothing at all, but it's a good pre-bump picture that I'm sure will be fun to look back on later...

Week 11 - still nothing really...

Week 15 - it's not much but it's a bump! Our baby right here is around the size of a navel orange :) 

And then wow, this past weekend, I really just popped out...

Totally kidding! It's not real. We went maternity clothes shopping and the dressing room had a 7 month belly you could try on with your clothes. It was neat to feel that pregnant though!

A Rockin Women's Conference

Holy moly, time is flying. I seriously can't keep up right now. And it's obviously apparent through my lack of blogging as well. Sorry!!


Quick run-down of the weekend (even though it's Tuesday) is that my church put on an amazing Women's Conference and I was so refreshed by the Lord through it. The key-note speaker rocked my face off - I literally found my jaw wide open just listening to her in awe. I could've skipped lunch to keep listening to her and that's saying a lot from a preggo girl, ha ha. Her name is Christine Caine. She's on the leadership team at Hillsong Church in Australia but her and her husband also founded and lead the A21 Campaign which is helping abolish human/sex trafficking across the world. I HIGHLY encourage you to go listen to her if she is ever close to you or I'm sure you can find some stuff online. She will no doubt FIRE you up.


Here's a link to the campaign website: http://www.thea21campaign.org/
And here's a link to a video she showed us - it's short (4 min) so check it out - http://youtu.be/stxmmQqKL0E


Christine talked about the A21 Campaign but she talked about so much more too. She talked about being light in the dark places. You can't see light in light places. You don't notice it. She talked about how life is risky no matter what and to not be afraid to be light in the dark places. She said that somehow we've equated the blessed life with the safe life. I think in most circumstances she's right (in that we do equate it that way) but that's not truth. The Lord gave me such a peace through her words about where we are living right now. It's ok to step out of your cookie-cutter safe life and be light in potentially some dark or darker places. The Lord needs and wants us there. She also talked about what compassion really is. Compassion compels you - it causes you to GO, to do something. If you just watch a video or hear a story and your heart hurts for what is going on, that's just emotion. It's not compassion. Compassion is inconvenient. It interrupts your religious schedule. WOW, that hit me hard. God stirs our hearts for different things but the important thing is to make sure we are going into those dark places, wherever they are or whatever they look like. I don't think God is stirring me to do something with human trafficking right now but he is re-igniting my flame for Woodlawn. And if not there for the rest of my life, I just want to make sure I'm shining in some dark place. I can't not shine and I can't shine among light all the time. 


So yes, it was an amazing conference. I am so grateful for my church. And I thank the Lord for refreshing me and speaking to me this past weekend in such a vivid way. 


And speaking again of time flying by, we go back to the doctor this Thursday for my 15 week check-up! I'll definitely start posting some bump pics soon as I'm slowly starting to show so stay tuned...

Home Sweet New Home

I'm writing this post from the back deck of our new townhome...sipping coffee, reading the Word (and now blogging), and enjoying this chilly morning. I love it. First off, this is the first time I've made coffee since I found out I was pregnant - I just haven't had the taste buds or desire for it until now. Maybe it's the cooler weather or maybe it's the 2nd trimester, but whatever the case I'm glad to have my coffee back. 


I'm also loving this morning because change is hard and I've already found several things I love in our most recent change - moving from our apartment to this townhome. Moving is always bittersweet. I'm always excited to move to a new place but I'm at the same time reminiscent about the old one. Things are great so far in our townhome. We have so much more space, it's very cozy already, it's in a great location that's close to our works and church, but it's still different. It's a different community. I get so used to routines in life as silly as they may be - my Molly-walking route, my running routes, the fact that I could walk to Magic Muffins on a Saturday morning and get a delicious blueberry muffin :) And all that plus more changes when you move. 


Back when we were looking for places to live next, I broke down in tears one day. I was doubtful about finding a place, about liking the place we found, and well, I was just whining that while I wanted to get out of the apartment I was so sick of moving. I actually counted it up the other day and this town-home is the 7th place I've lived in the past 8 years. Hogan really encouraged me by saying that I've always ended up loving the next place I move. At the end of the lease, I'm always bittersweet about leaving it whether it was the community, the memories, the actual place, or all of it combined. As simple as that was to say, it really encouraged me. It's true. It's that way in all circumstances in life. We doubt and fear change but God has always and will always be faithful. Look at your life in the past. Has he ever failed? No. He can't and so when we are trusting in him, we have nothing to fear. He turns bad into good. Things always work out, whether it's how we envisioned them working out or not. He shows us new things everyday if our eyes and hearts are open. 


So I'm excited about our new home. I'm excited to see what memories will be made here and I know when the time comes to move again, I'll once again be bitter-sweet about moving. I'm not going to lie though, I'm looking forward to that day when we buy a place and hopefully get to live there for several years!