2 months from today!!

Today is June 24th, and it really hit me today that Emma's due date is exactly 2 months from today!!! Although we are preparing for her as best we can, I am starting to feel very overwhelmed at the list of things we have yet to do before she comes. I started to include a list of a few of the things we have left to do to prepare for Emma's arrival and just listing them made me a little stressed out, ha! So... I decide not to include that here, but I do plan on knocking out several of those items this weekend. In the meantime, my goal is to not get caught up in the stress of how overwhelming this time can be, and instead, concentrate on enjoying this time with my husband and our growing baby inside my belly, to pray diligently for her as she grows and develops, and most of all to thank God for blessing us with this child!

As you can see in the picture, at 31 weeks Emma should be weighing about as much as 4 navel oranges and is 16 inches long - amazing!
We also had our second and final baby shower this weekend with my family in Charlotte and were incredibly blessed by everyone's generosity!! I do not have any picture because they are on my mom's camera, but here are a few big items that we received:



We really received so many wonderful gifts and I cannot say thank you enough to my family for everything and for my aunt Betty and cousin Lesley for hosting - THANK YOU!!

30 Weeks

According to babycenter.com Emma rivals a good-size cabbage in weight, tipping the scales this week at 3 pounds. (Length: about 15 3/4 inches, head to heel.) This means just 10 more weeks (give or take) until her arrival!! We had a hospital tour last night, so we now know where to park and are a little more familiar with the hospital and what will go on during our stay. We have a baby shower in Charlotte this weekend and look forward to visiting with family there. Please continue to pray for safe labor and delivery and a healthy baby!

Don't Waste Your Summer...Read a book!

Each Summer, I (Aaron) tell the students in our church, "Don't Waste your Summer....Read a book!" It is amazing how many students have never read a book outside of their assigned reading at school. Even worse, without prompting, students might never read a book about Jesus, the gospel, or Bible doctrine. So each summer at Grace Baptist, the students are encouraged (read: required) to read at least one good Christian book. My hope is that they would 1) come to believe the gospel, repent of their sins, and trust in Christ, and 2) come to love reading about the gospel and about Jesus.

I thought it might be fun to share with you what books I will be reading this summer.

1. Dear Timothy: Letters on Pastoral Ministry. by Tom Ascol + others.

2. Evangelism Handbook. by Alvin Reid.

3. The Master Plan of Evangelism. by Robert Coleman.

4. God's Big Picture: Tracing the Storyline of the Bible by Vaughan Roberts.

5. Don't Make Me Count to Three: A Mom's Look at Heart-Oriented Discipline (This is a good book for Fathers, too) by Ginger Plowman.

6. Stop Dating the Church: Fall in Love with the Family of God. by Joshua Harris.

7. What is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert.

As I read these books this summer I might post updates and some pertinent quotes or summaries. For those of you looking for a good book to read, I would recommend #4, #6, and #7 for starters.

Wake Forest Baby Shower

This Saturday the ladies from my small group at church hosted Emma's first baby shower. We were so blessed by the generosity of all of the ladies that came!!! Thank you all so much for everything and a special thank you to the ladies in our LifeGroup that did such a wonderful job of hosting - we are beyond grateful! I haven't had a chance to upload my photos, so these are a few that Caroline took.
We received several hand-made gifts like the one above. Caroline used her artistic skills to make Emma this beautiful name picture. We also received a hand-made diaper bag from Mrs. Ruth and Mary made us several burp cloths and a blanket as well. Thanks all you crafty ladies for using your talents to bless us in this way. We received lots of cute clothes for Emma and many other things we needed as well.
This dress is one of Tori's dresses that she picked out especially for baby Emma - too sweet!
And here is a picture of myself with all of the gifts we received. Thank you ladies again for blessing Aaron, Emma, and myself with these wonderful gifts - we are so very grateful!
I hope that I can upload a few photos soon to show you the beautiful spread of food and decorations and some of the ladies at the shower as well. I hate that I did not get a picture with the hostesses, but I want to especially thank Jenny and Nicole for all the planning that you did even down to the smallest details - everything was wonderful, and Dawn and Caroline for everything you did to help with the shower as well.
My mom was also in town for the shower and Saturday night she helped to get all of Emma's clothes, blankets, sheets, etc. washed - so I am very thankful for that as well.

On the baby front - I will be 30 weeks officially tomorrow, we have a tour of the hospital tomorrow night, a doctor's appointment on Friday, and I can no longer see my feet when looking straight down,ha!

Show Us Your Life - China Patterns

This week on Kelly's Korner people are posting their favorite china patterns and dishes. Aaron and I decided before we were married that we wanted more everyday-use dishes and decided not to pick out china. My favorite dishes that we have are these white square dishes below. They are so great because they match anything and food always looks so good displayed on them. I also have some platters I use in this white square look and they are fun because you can stack them by turning a bowl upside-down. I secretly feel like I am on Iron Chef America when I am using these dishes because I love to try and make the plating look so fun and fancy - HA!

The other set of dishes we have is like the set below but with more of a brown color on the inside instead of gray. They are very sturdy and I really enjoy using them. They are very deep and can hold lots of food, but because they are so deep sometimes the food will slide to the center.

Finally, I don't have the set below because it was not out when we registered, but I just love the pattern. I usually prefer to eat on solid colored dishes, but I think these are so fun and would love to have a small set of these some day.

29 Weeks

According to babycenter.com: "Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. Her muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and her head is growing bigger to make room for her developing brain. "

There isn't a lot of news this week, but as far as we can tell baby Emma is doing great. She continues to kick a lot and it has gotten so hard that other people can see it when she is really active. We went to Burgaw this weekend to visit with some of Aaron's family and had a great time! I haven't been able to travel since December when I started having really bad sickness, so it was great to be able to take a quick trip and see some family since we may not get to until after Emma's arrival. Some of the highlights of the trip were visiting with family, eating at grandma's seafood restaurant (check out D&B Seafood if you are traveling through Burgaw), getting some farm fresh blueberries, and worshiping with Aaron's home church, Forest Hills Baptist Church, on Sunday morning. We also received some baby gifts from Aaron's dad and Nellie, and his sister Kim - thank you all so much! We are so grateful for family and are continually encouraged by their support.

28 Weeks

As of Tuesday I am 28 weeks pregnant and officially in my third trimester! According to babycenter.com our baby is equal in weight to a Chinese cabbage -- about 2 1/4 pounds. (Length: almost 15 inches, from head to heel.) We had our 28 week appointment today and everything is looking good. Emma's heart rate was good, in the 140's, and they said my belly measured just right as well. We are so grateful for such a blessing and ask for your continued prayers that the rest of this pregnancy will go well.
Since Aaron had a few days last week before he started his new job, he was able to clean and touch-up the paint in the nursery. Other than a small bookshelf we set up and a glider, the nursery is still pretty bare; but, the furniture should arrive in the next few weeks and we have some showers coming up, so hopefully Emma's room will start to fill up in the coming weeks.