A video worth watching

So as I was watching the tube tonight, it showed part of this video. I had to go to youtube and see it again. It is about a lion who was apart from his trainers for a year, and then they are reunited. Awww...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgFAoaPlTMI

Counting my Blessings

Well, I have to thank the Lord that I have been blessed so much lately and continue to be blessed each day. Friends and family have started giving us baby stuff already and we are so very thankful! So far, the Lord has blessed us with some great used items - a baby gate, safety gadgets (such as doorknob covers), a baby monitor, a pack and play and an almost brand new item too - a car seat! I never expected to be blessed in this way, and I am ever so thankful to the Lord for these gifts so far. He knows how scared I have been about dropping down to one income after December since I have decided to stay home with the baby as long as I can...and this is like His little way of telling me we will be okay.

My parents saved ALL my baby stuff...and I mean really just about ALL my stuff. They saved my crib, blankets, clothes, toys, books and more. I wanted to go through these things with my mom so we could sort and decide what to keep and what not to keep. I was very excited about it! Well, some of these things have been stored at my parents' home and some of it has been in our basement. Well, as you know our house has been undergoing some reconstruction, and fixing up. Well, as it turns out we have had a slight leak in part of the basement..which is where these boxes were sitting. So, we started pulling the boxes out, many of which you could see mold before we even opened them. I was about to lose it. Thankfully, most of the things were still okay in the boxes. We sadly had to get rid of some stuffed animals, books. and some toys. (I hated throwing away books but thankfully again it was not a lot.) In a way it was a weird blessing because we got rid of a lot of my old stuff I had been saving for no good reason (non baby stuff) and threw it away too. Anyways, I HATE mold, and going through my old things was not as fun as I had hoped it would be, but I am thankful we were able to salvage as much as we could. I have to keep counting His blessings. Although, I still HATE mold and it is one of the most evil 4 letter words ever.

P.S. For those concerned..I did wear a mask and hardly touched a thing. The End.

Yard Sales, fun finds and belly touching

So, Saturday morning came and Joshua and I decided to go to some yard sales we had seen signs for near our house. This was a last minute decision since it was almost 11am when we decided this...so I hurried to get ready and off we went. I found some preggy clothes...or some I could use as preggy clothes...and we found an infant car seat for $5. (Sadly to say we found out later the car seat is too old.) While we were at the house with the car seat, Joshua told the lady that we were looking for baby stuff, since we would need it soon. The lady was so sweet...she said "Oh I didn't even realize you were pregnant!" and she touched my belly. Hehe. Then she was very congratulatory. I got in the car and felt so good about looking small. I thought..wow..she didn't even notice! I am not as big as I feel! Great! After this house, we kept driving where we saw signs...which took us to Cane Creek Community Center. There was a multi-family sale going on there so we thought we would check it out. We got there and there was a baby walker/toy outside. I was looking at it, while two older gentlemen were sitting outside in their overalls. One of them looked at me and said "You might be needin' that soon!" I thought...now isn't that funny that the woman I just talked to didn't even notice and this man could tell right away. My good feelings about being small quickly vanished. After we did this, we checked out the last few minutes of Smiley's...we decided next time we should go earlier. Not much good stuff left at 1:45pm. Anyways, we did go to Children's Trading Post in Arden. Now, I know most of you reading this may already know about this place, but I loved it! I found preggy clothes there...and they have a TON of baby/kid stuff which is all consignment. Well, that was our Saturday. I have decided I will keep yard saling...it is a good way to get things cheap!

P.S. If anyone has any preggy clothes you do not want anymore, or that you would like to remove from your closet for a season...please let me know. I would love to wear them for you! =)

The latest newz

Well, we are suddenly in the midst of a busy summer. I have tutoring, Joshua has science camp, soccer coming up..and of course, the never ending finishing up the house work. It is a bit overwhelming but we can manage!

I am thankful for feeling better...thank the Lord! We find out July 31st if the baby is a boy or a girl!!! I cannot believe that it is here already. It seems like only days ago that I stayed awake all night because I had just taken a preggy test and it was positive. Haha.

So, what do YOU think the baby is?? Boy or girl??

Oh and my child unfortunately has no name because name decisions are too difficult and stressful. So far, our baby has nice nicknames...Spawn (Joshua likes to call the baby his spawn), Bob, Euticus, and others...

Well, that is about all. I will keep you updated.

Summer Vacation

So, I know it has been a while since I blogged...well at least according to one of my three readers (Leah). So, here we go...

A few weeks ago, Josh had to go to a classical education conference in Charleston with his fellow teachers. So, we met up with Karen in Myrtle Beach and she took me to her house in Wilmington while he was there. Then when his conference was over, he came and met up with us. Anyways, the trip was fabulous! It was so laid back and relaxing. Karen took me to the beach and the water was AMAZING! I forgot how much I love the beach.

While we were there, the bebe and I had a growth spurt. I think my stomach grew in 3 days. When Josh met up with us that Saturday he was amazed at the change! It was wild. Anyways, here are a few of my favorite pics from the trip...

Bear Sighting Number 3

So, one of my cousins has come to visit us this entire week! It has been great getting to spend so much time with her since she lives in PA and I never get to! We had a fun day at Chimney Rock...yes we hiked and I am not in shape. We were expecting to see some sort of wildlife but we just saw bugs. So, I told her how every year we get a black bear in the yard. Anyways, we had a good time.

Then we came home...I took the dogs out since Jack was begging to play fetch in the front yard. I had asked Josh earlier this week when he thought we would see our next bear since every year we have lived here, we have had one of these black fuzzy visitors. He told me we would probably see one before winter..before they hibernate. That is usually when they come. WELL...I go outside with the dogs (who are loose of course). Maggie is whining, not coming off of the front porch and I figure she is just cranky cuz we are in the yard and she is not. Well, I thought about fetching the ball towards the woods but for some reason decided not to. Boy am I glad I didn't. I hear a loud crunch and decide to check it out (usually when I hear crunching it is birds or other small animals)--well it was a big black bear down the front yard by our creek. (Maybe this is why Maggie was whining??) I don't know how long he had been near us and he did not seem bothered to be close to us but I was bothered. I grabbed Maggie by the collar and told Jack to come inside and thank GOD he followed me in without seeing the bear. I do not know what he would have done if he had seen it. Thankfully we all got inside safely. My parents and my cousin were here so they all got to take a peek at him! So, my cousin believes me...that we have bears from time to time. We went out on the front porch so I could try to get a picture of him but he went into the brush. So, we listened to him walk slowly toward our neighbor's house and I have no picture. But if you have been keeping up with our bears, he is in between the size of the first and second one we have had here so far.

You never know when you will have an exciting experience at the Stones!
It has been about 30 minutes and I am just now calming down. Haha.

Better to see you with, my dear.

So I went to the eye doctor the other day since I have not been in over a year, and have ran out of contacts. I decided to go somewhere new...the eye doctor in the mall...because I HATE having my eyes dilated and they can do this new thing so you don't have to do that. ANYWAYS, so the doc asked me if I had noticed a difference in my eyesight since I have been pregnant. I told him "Not really...maybe a little worse?? Not much difference." Wellll....after all the eye exams, he asked me what my current prescription was...which I am not about to share with you for fear you will make fun of me...and he was shocked. He said "Well, I am not putting you on that high of a prescription this time!" So I jokingly said..."Maybe the pregnancy is making my eyesight better!!" I do not understand it. Did my eyes improve??

I ran into Dawn Moore after my appointment...because if you have been keeping up with her blog, you know she is a mall walker now...and she told me her eyes changed differently for each pregnancy. Then I told my parents, and my dad informed me that I am the reason why my mom can no longer wear contacts. Strange, huh? Well, this baby must be helpin me out in the eye category. I pray that he/she gets Joshua's 20/20 vision!!!

Our new porsche...I mean porch

So, as I said we would be getting a front porch soon. Well, since Conrad Clark works insanely fast, he has done it...in 3 days. We love it already!! I am looking forward to putting flower baskets on the railings, fixing up an old bench someone gave us, and re-painting our rocking chairs to put them on it too. It is so big!! We are thrilled! Take a look if you wish...






The new way to get in the front door...yay!

Wksh wksh wksh

So we went to another baby doctor appointment yesterday morning and got a surprise! I got to listen to the baby's heart beat! It sounds like a washing machine...wksh wksh wksh...and my doctor told me it sounded great!

I wanted to say again...THANK YOU to all of you who are praying. I know it sounds weird to say but I swear I can tell when I am being prayed for...my anxiety slips away and I have better days. So, keep them coming!

Here is the latest photo of preggers...Josh took this in the evening..when I look bigger...haha..

Baby Stone

So, I have been posting like a mad woman today. When I feel the urge to blog, I better go ahead and do it! So, I took pictures of the sonogram picture taken about a month ago of Baby Stone! So, remember this was the baby at 8 weeks and one day old. Now the baby is 12 weeks and 3 days old. I have told friends that even if you were against abortion, and even a pro-life enthusiast before pregnancy, this experience makes you a pro-life fenatic!! I couldn't believe that at 8 weeks I could see a head, fingers, little feet and a heart beat. It is AMAZING! I hope you can figure out the picture. The black oasis is the uterus...and he is head up, kind of rocked forward. I just said he...we don't know the gender yet...I just have a funny feeling it is a boy. But, I am happy with whichever it ends up being! He/She is due around December 20th! (Our Christmas present!)