Latest Travels.

So according to my last post (two months ago), we were in Texas and in the midst of deputation travels.

Um, yeah, we actually returned to PA about 1.5 months ago. :-)

We did take a couple of more trips since then, including a deputation/anniversary/babymoon trip to what is fast becoming our favorite vacation state ~ Maine! In between two deputation meetings, Nat and I had a sweet getaway in and surrounding Brunswick, Maine.

Nat is his mother's child, so we took as many opportunities as possible to get close to the water. We didn't actually go swimming in the ocean (hello 50 degree water!), but it was wonderful to be near it!

We decided to go to the Maine Maritime Museum which also included a river boat tour. The museum was quite interesting and we spent just the right amount of time there.

I was studying some lobster cages in one of the buildings when Nat called my name and so I turned around. Although not intentional, it is rather amusing to see how my shirt matches the horizontal slats on the lobster cages. :-)

By the way, notice my hoodie hanging over my purse?? It was actually cool enough by the water to put the hoodie on to ward off the chill. *Sigh* I think 70 degree weather is just perfect!

We really enjoyed the river boat tour, which included a couple of lighthouse sightings. Hey, you can't go wrong with cruising out on the water!

Of course, when in Maine one must try a lobster - or "lobstah" as the locals say! Nat was the adventurous one while I sat contently by watching him crack it open as I ate my shrimp. :-)

The whole trip was so wonderful! One nice thing was we were staying in the same place for four consecutive days... something that is fast becoming a luxury rather than necessity!

We're taking the next two months off from deputation as we wait for Peanut to make his or her grand entrance. We even finally registered for some baby items, mainly because of the free gift card incentive that Babies 'R Us offers. Well, that and the fact that Nat just loves that scanner and wants to scan everything he sees. :-)

Five weeks until my official due date. We'll see how official Peanut is in arriving and just how much he or she takes after Mommy in being early for everything!

Oh, let's hope it's not another five weeks before I squeak out another blog post.

That last period of silence was embarrassing!

Mother's Day.

Nat and I have been visiting with his immediate family in central Texas while we finish up our last few meetings for this leg of deputation. It was pretty convenient that we managed to get into town 2 days before Mother's Day - why yes he is a good son! For the past couple of years, I've always been away for Mother's Day, so it was nice to actually be with one of our moms for the day!

Of course we have plans to take my mom out for lunch when we return to PA. We did that last year and found out the restaurant we wanted to go to had burned up... I'm hoping history does not repeat itself this year!

Nat's been mentioning for weeks we need to take a picture to track peanut's growth. I'm not a huge fan of the weekly picture some moms do, so I finally decided it would be nice to get a picture on Mother's Day. Nat's sister found a nice spot on the front yard and enjoyed taking pictures:).

I'm 25.5 weeks - I'm never sure what that translates into months - but I'm thinking it's somewhere around 6 months. :)

We plan to be out on the road for two more weeks before returning back to PA. After being in Oklahoma and Texas for the past couple of weeks and experiencing their heat in April/May, I'm very glad that I live in Pennsylvania where the heat isn't as bad as in the south. Of course a friend reminded me this morning on the phone that we are heading to Thailand, but I'm not going to think about the heat over there... just yet!

Mass Advertising.

I've mentioned in the past about how funny I think it is when a tourist attraction is advertised several hours away from the actual tourist attraction. It just strikes me as... humorous. :)

Well I found a new tourist attraction to add to my list: Meramec Cavern! Now I don't recall exactly when the billboards started, but perhaps what they lacked in mileage they made up in abundance. As in many. :-) I wish I had taken a picture of the three billboards that were within close proximity of each other ~ all advertising the same thing! I'm really restraining myself because we're only 7 miles away from this cave and I feel like I should at least give it the benefit of the doubt that it's not a dud of a tourist attraction. :-)

We'll be in Missouri for the next few days at a conference, so perhaps during our spare time, we might be tempted to give in and visit well-advertised cave.

I'll keep you updated should we dare to go below... :-)

Deputation Trail ~ #2

Where to start?

I'll spare you all the details of just how pretty Pennsylvania is -- yes we did decide to take the road less traveled in western PA! -- but we have had a fantastic start to our deputation trail! We left bring and early Thursday morning - wait, 8:15 AM isn't bright and early?? :) We had the privilege of joining in on Anchor Baptist Church's third annual missions conference as well as the third anniversary of the church! We were really looking forward to being in this conference because our church was able to have a part in supporting them from the beginning! So it was neat to be with a missionary that we supported. :)

I can tell already that one thing about deputation will be hard: spending several days with a church and the families, getting to know them and interact with them, and then - moving on. Bummer! A wonderful family from Anchor housed us while we were there and they were generosity from the start. From asking what kind of foods we liked to eat to having us try snoogles, we were well taken care of!

Of course Anchor Baptist were wonderful hosts too. Each evening there was a delicious meal provided (courtesy of the ladies of the church) and we enjoyed getting to know the other church planters, missionaries, and evangelists. One of the church planters is from Maine, and we discovered that the little Baptist church we attended while on our honeymoon in Maine was started with the help of this church planter! Small world. :)

Saturday morning we got to go out on visitation and then for lunch the ladies and men split up and went out to eat. I loved the fact that the ladies of Anchor really enjoy spending time with each other and laughing! We had a great time... I keep saying that, don't I? ;)

To end the missions conference, the pastor had all the missionaries stand up front and since it was their Faith Promise Sunday, he had the church members give their faith promise commitment cards to the missionaries. That was really neat to watch the whole church family - little kids included! - come up front and give their commitment cards in. The pastor's emphasis was that all the money that comes in for Faith Promise goes directly to the missionaries.

After the noon meal, the pastor shared that the commitments doubled from last year! I was extremely thrilled for this church as they take a step of faith forward!!

We had a meeting work out for Sunday night, so we drove the hour east and really enjoyed being at Stow Falls Baptist Church. The Lord really set up this meeting for us in a neat way. When we got to the missions conference at Anchor on Thursday night, there happened to be another man there who knew the pastor at Stow Falls. After talking with my husband about our ministry, this man called the pastor up and told him about our ministry. Not ten minutes before this man called, the pastor and another man were praying about the same particular people group that we plan on working with! This church has a real heart for this people group and has a bus ministry that brings in about 100 of this people group every Sunday. We just so happened to have Sunday night available since the missions conference at Anchor ended with an afternoon service. Isn't God good?!?!

Stow Falls was extremely welcoming and friendly and I just loved the singing... I felt like I was back at my home church. :) After the service, there was a fellowship (which had already been planned - details only the Lord works out!) so we were able to visit with some people. This church graciously put us up in a hotel and the pastor said we could meet for lunch, not breakfast at an insane hour of 8 AM or something like that. ;) We were really appreciative of having the opportunity to get a good night of rest and just s-l-o-w down from the marathon it feels like we've been running. :D Of course the bonus for this hotel was having a breakfast provided, so we made sure to take advantage of that!

So that's just part one of Deputation Trail #2! We still have five weeks in this trip so I'm sure there will be many more updates along the way. ;)

From Trip To Trip.

Nat and I just returned from a quick trip to Long Island and we decided to pack a lot into the 24-hour trip... just because. :-) Actually, the most exciting adventure was driving through New York City ~ traffic at its best! We did discover that you don't have to pay to use the Holland Tunnel... if you're leaving the city. That was a nice surprise since tunnels, bridges, and sometimes just existing seem to cost a bunch of bucks!

Long Island Baptist Church was a very gracious host and we felt welcomed from the start! I've known several of the ladies there through the blogging world for a long time, so it was so nice to finally meet them in person. :-) After the service we went out to eat with a dear, dear couple and thoroughly enjoyed our time visiting and fellowshipping with them. Heaven gets sweeter all the time as I meet new friends ~ just think, no more good-byes in Heaven!

This morning we went way out on Long Island to a place called Riverhead where a new church is being started by Long Island Baptist Church. It was exciting to hear the pastor talk about the area and the growth the church has personally seen. The needs are everywhere and the great thing is God is at work!

So it was a quick trip, but we really had a great time and now it's on to the next trip. I just realized tonight that we *are* leaving in two days for a 6-week trip and I should start packing and getting things ready! Between now and then are two very full days, including an ultrasound for peanut!

Some how, some way it will all come together.... it always does. :-)

Home.... But Not For Long!

It was a good week to travel... don't we look so happy?!? :D

I must say, this was one of the best trips I have taken with teens; we really had a great time:). We even got sleep on the bus, which is practically a miracle! It helped that the boys were in the front of the bus this time, so we didn't hear most of the noise;). The only down side to sitting in the back of the bus was the blaring music. Apparently you can barely hear the music up front because of the engine noise, so that means the volume gets turned waaaaaaay up until they can hear it. Bad news for the back because the level goes from comfortable to unbearable. Thankfully the Lord gave grace, especially when anyone had a headache. :)

The thing I was most concerned/terrified about with this trip was stopping the bus just so I could go to the restroom. I'm happy to report that I only stopped the bus once each time, going and coming! Of course I was at the front of the line for every other rest stop but that's just a given when you have an expectant lady on board;).

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This week I reach the halfway point in my pregnancy! It has seriously flown by and I would like to know how to slow the days down a bit. :D I finally bought two maternity skirts, but I'm grateful I can still fit in my normal clothes. :) Peanut/peanutella has been giving some light kicks, especially when I'm going to sleep at night. We go in next Tuesday for our ultrasound appointment and we're looking forward to that!

As for preparing for this baby, we have exactly two things, both of which were given to us - a stroller/car seat combo and a couple of gender neutral outfits and that's it. :)

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We are planning on leaving in just over a week for a 6-week trip (deputation #2). During this time, we hope to see some family and friends-that-are-like-family as well as being in some new (to us!) churches. Much to do before we leave, but we're looking forward to this trip and what the Lord has in store for us!

Deputation Trail ~ #1

We officially started deputation one month ago and boy did it fly by! We started off presenting in our home church ~ always a good thing! ~ and continued on to some area churches we've known for some time. We fell into a routine quickly: pack an overnight bag on Saturday, spend a way-too-short-amount-of-time with a church on Sunday and then drive home late Sunday night - just in time to crawl into bed and get ready for Monday morning. :-)

By the end of the month though, I was laughing at my failed attempts to plan. Let me explain. The first Sunday I didn't think to grab snacks for the ride home and so that had us stopping at a Wendy's for a snack. Not wanting to continue that habit, I decided the next week to pack fruits, veggies, and other snacks for the 3-hour ride home. Imagine my surprise when the church graciously gave us a huge basket stuffed with all sorts of snacks, goodies, and drinks! I was determined to get it right the third time, but didn't count on the hotel we were staying at to have a full kitchen! So there we were sitting there on Sunday morning with a fridge, sink, and two-burner stove and we were eating........pizza from the night before. :-) So don't judge our deputation by our food experiences; we'd be seriously lacking in scoring any points!

As this is just the beginning of our deputation trail, I'm sure the stories will stack up - especially when we put a newborn into the mix. :-) We have tremendously enjoyed each and every church we were in. It's like seeing extended family! Nat did fly down to Texas for a conference in the midst of it all and was able to show our presentation dvd while he was there. Imagine our surprise when he received a phone call after the conference from that church's pastor saying they voted to take us on! God is good. :-)

We're taking a break for the next 2.5 weeks from deputation, although we're joining a group of young people from our church to head to a student competition in Illinois all this week. So I don't suppose we can say we're actually taking a break from traveling. ;)

Deputation trail #2 will start on April 12th.... we're looking forward to some new adventures!

A Day Off.

It's a beautiful day! You're probably saying "So?" but it almost always rains on President's Day and the fact that the sun is shining tells me it is a beautiful day indeed.

Nat and I are enjoying our day off (except for the oops moment I had in forgetting to turn off my normal-Monday-morning-alarm before I went to bed last night) and we intend to make the most of it today! We're going on a picnic lunch (yes it is 40* outside... :D), take an invigorating walk at a nearby park, go rollerskating (I'll be careful!) and then have a giant pizza party at my brother's tonight:).

Like I said, it's a beautiful day!

Makin' It Official:).

Confession time: my lack of blogging has (for once!) an excuse. For weeks now I've been wanting to blog but I've been waiting to share a little secret:).

Now I know a lot of LVBC and facebook friends read here so you already know, but I do want to make it "blogger" official too: we have a little peanut on the way!

We found out on Christmas Eve and were pretty excited - making it a pretty easy Christmas gift:). Then we got to hear the heartbeat on Valentine's Day and were pretty excited - making it a pretty easy Valentine's gift:).

It was kinda funny when the doctor first found the heartbeat because it made our baby so real (and not just some extended illness that has been making me feel nauseous all the time:D) and I said, "Oh my!" Well with me talking that made the doctor go searching after that little beat again:). What a precious sound it was to hear.... too bad we didn't think to record it until several hours later.

So, onto the answers for the frequently asked questions!

• My due date is August 24th.
• This is the 13th grandchild for my parents and the first for Nat's parents!
• We plan on finding out what we're having... when the baby arrives:).
• We do have names picked out!
• Plans for deputation have slightly changed! We'll be taking a 7-week trip (April-May) and have some meetings in churches. After that, we plan to stay "local" for the summer and get some meetings with churches that are within 3-4 hours driving distance.
• After the baby is born, we have a meeting scheduled for the last week of September and all of October. We plan on jumping into this whole newborn/travel thing with both feet even though we have no idea what we're doing! (Prayers are appreciated!!!)
• Cravings. Oh cravings. Actually it's been fairly straightforward and nothing weird like nacho cheese and ice cream (eww, that sounds gross!). My #1 craving is chicken salad from the bakery I used to work at. A close second would be Edy's fruit Popsicles. Mmmm!
• Morning sickness (which turned out to be afternoon/evening sickness for me) is really subsiding. Protein helps! My husband has been so sensitive to what might make me sick to the point that he would walk to the end of the kitchen to get the food item (and the smell!) away from me. The crazy thing is that whatever was bothering me smell-wise was something I had made and had for dinner the night before!

Hmm, can't think of anything else:). God's been good!

Setting In Motion

Is it me or do the days just gallop by? When I was a kid, every summer I used to make a calendar to mark off the days until school started. Yes, I was one of those kids! Now? I still mark off the calendar, but that's only because the days literally fly by. Last year at this time, Nat and I were getting ready for our Thailand trip. Actually all last year it felt like we were getting ready for one trip or another. :D

This year? This year we are in the beginning stages of planning for deputation. I say we, but really I mean my husband. Nat's already made our prayer card, booked a ticket to fly to a conference in Texas in March, and has been on the phone with pastors scheduling meetings. We have 3 meetings in March (plus the Texas conference) and then we'll take a break to go to Park Meadows Baptist Church for a student competition for a week. That is always a fun time! We enjoy being with our teens and the bus ride isn't too bad either. :) Of course, remind me of that when I'm actually on the bus!

We're tentatively planning on being in Missouri and Texas in April and May. And that's about as far as we've planned!

The Lord did provide a deputation vehicle for us:

('99 Toyota Camry)

We are very pleased with it, even if it's not your traditional van/trailer/RV that most missionaries get. :) Lord willing, this car will see us through many miles (safely!) and be a sound, reliable car.

We are thrilled to be getting the wheels set in motion for deputation. My husband will be preaching and presenting at our home church towards the end of February, which is our official start. We're looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us this year!