Prayers and happys

This past week was a busy one. We had so much going on in our lives and our friends/family's lives. A week ago we celebrated my dad's 50th birthday with an all day extravaganza of games and challenges set up for him to earn money for his mission trip to Guatemala he is taking this summer. They included handyman work, basketball, golf, washers, food and music trivia and ping pong. He competed against his kids for most of them and overall dominated most challenges. We learned from the best I guess. It was a fun way to celebrate the day with him and give him a more meaningful gift. He is taking his trip at the end of June so we are praying baby girl waits for grandpa to get home or comes before he leaves so he can be here to meet her.

This was at the start of the day after he put on the shirt Alex made him. He has is "cash flow" jar in hand to collect his winnings. I managed to take no pictures, 2 lame points for the oldest daughter, so I swiped this from Amanda. I have gotten really bad at taking pictures lately. I keep bringing my camera to events and forgetting to actually take it out and use it.

Then the next day we celebrated big events with 3 different families. Matt went to his former co-worker and friend Riley's church in the morning as they dedicated his daughter Brooke. I was helping out in the nursery that morning at Jacob's Well so I couldn't make it with him. Then Matt ran back over to our church for the second dedication of the day, Noah Noonen, our close friends in our small group Annie and Grady's son. That was special to be able to celebrate that day with them and get to meet some of their family. We even got a decent picture of the 5, excuse me, 6 of us :)

Then we headed out south to Gardner for a couple's bridal shower for Matt's childhood friend and fiance, Jake and Lesley. We weren't sure who would all show up to the shower and it was a pleasant surprise to have all the Gardner boys Matt grew up with there. There was a lot of catching up and reminiscing. Boys do such a poor job keeping in touch with each other so it's great to have excuses like this to bring them together to hang out. We had a great afternoon and are so excited for the soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Nellor. They have a destination wedding planned for Destin, Fl which sounds like an awesome time.

Then on Monday, our friend Brian came to town and stayed the week with us while he worked out of his KC office. We were so glad to spend time with him and catch up on life. He and his fiance live in Ohio while she is doing her residency for med school. She is done this summer though and they plan to move back to KC after their July wedding. We can't wait to have them close again! We are also crossing our fingers all goes well with our labor and recovery so the three of us can make it to their wedding. We might be a little crazy traveling with a one month old but my sister has agreed to come along and help out which takes a lot of stress off, she is cool like that.

Other big events included

-Finding out 3 more of my friends are pregnant this week!!! So excited for them! Two of them have started telling people, my friend Emily from nursing school and my childhood friend from Chicago, Melanie. This makes my list of friends who are pregnant that I am praying for 18! Granted I work with a lot of them and my work is a baby factory, but still, it's a lot of praying. Each one of those babies and mommas I am close to are special and deserve a little shout out during prayer time so I made a list and have added specific requests next to any of them that have shared those with me. Each quiet time I run through my list and at the end I get to add our little girl. It is neat to have this unspoken bond with so many girls, to go through this experience together.

-A high school friend of mine traveled from Wichita to TX with her husband to have a tumor removed from his brain. The surgery and recovery has gone well so far and we are all praying the follow up tests show they got it all. She is currently pregnant with her second baby and I can't even imagine how stressful this whole ordeal has been for her and her family. She has a strong heart though and trusts the Lord so I am thankful that is able to bring her comfort through this all.

-My two friends Beth and Megan went to vacations this week. Beth and her husband haven't been on vacation in far too long and needed some time away together. And Megan is getting married to her fiance in FL. They both left last week so I have been praying for good weather and memories for the both of them.

-Hanging out with the Brandon, Julie and Daisy all day Sat. We had so much fun catching up and playing with their sweet daughter. I hope our baby and Daisy will be good friends growing up. It is great to see successful parenting modeled to us. They have really done a great job with her as she has transitioned from a baby to a toddler. They also taught her to sign so it is fun to be able to communicate with her and have her tell us what she wants without getting frustrated. She is a doll.

Whew, see I told you there was a lot going on. We also found the last two pieces of furniture for baby's room, a changing table/dresser and a rocker. One on craigslist, the other in the sale section of Nebraska furniture mart...score! My mom is going to paint her room while we are away in San Diego then I can post pics of our progress.

The last big exciting news of our life is Matt felt her kick on Valentine's Day. That was the best present he could have asked for. The look on his face was priceless. It warmed my heart to see him able to connect with her. Since then she kicks every time his big hand is over her. She can be asleep and not moving at all then along he comes and starts talking to her and puts his hand on my belly and sure enough she wakes and gives him a kick. I keep saying it is coincidence but he is sure that she knows it's her dad, so we will go with that explanation for now :) Here we are at 22 weeks, getting it posted in the knick of time!

Note to self, do your hair on Mondays...you know there is a picture coming so stop pretending your hair wasn't in a ponytail all day, it was and I can tell by the frizz. Slacker.