38 Weeks 2

Went to the doctor for another check-up today...3 cm, still 60% efaced, baby at -1 station, the good news is I lost 1.5 lbs since last week (we've been walking every day for hours for the past few days). We 'll keep the blog and facebook updated with any changes!!!

Proof I'm still pregnant

38 weeks

Today I hit the 38 week mark. I want to have this baby more than anyone...this pregnancy has been different than my previous ones so we'll see how the labor and delivery go. Thank you to everyone who has called and text to check on us, be sure we will let everyone know when the baby gets here! Right now it's discouraging having to say no baby yet constantly...we'll keep you all updated!!!

37 Weeks 3 days

Just got back from my 37 week check...2 cm dilated, 60% efaced, baby is at a -1 station! We know this doesn't for sure mean we'll have the baby today or tomorrow, but forward progress is still forward...

37 Weeks 2 days...

For the record, here are my previous labor stories....
Emma (7lb 7oz) born at 38 weeks exactly, Anna (7lb 1oz) born at 36 weeks 6 days and Lizzy (6lb 4oz) born at 37 weeks exactly.

I don't say that to brag about my not having to undergo seeing my due date pass...I (as well as my Doctors) thought there was an outstanding chance based on my OB past that I would have had this baby by now! Selfishly I'm tired of the big belly, not being able to move around so well, tired all the time, feeling sick all the time, back pain, pressure, all the normal gripes of being pregnant! But I've heard bad labor stories of women who were induced (past their due dates) and ended up having c-sections because their bodies were trying to tell them...I'm not ready!
I wanted to clarify that there are many other factors and reasons present for me wanting to have this baby right now (I'm not going to list them)!!! I've heard many people say to pregnant women they think they'll go past their due date or very close to their due date (if I've said this to anyone in a mean or hurtful way I apologize)...it's a hard thing to hear no matter how many babies you've had or not had! We should root for one another, Quick and Easy is what I want for all pregnant women! It has become very discouraging and has really hurt my feelings when people have said it to me recently :-( Being pregnant and being this close to having my 4th baby it's hard not to get anxious and want things to happen on my time table! Jody has been very good about reminding me that this will be my last pregnancy, no more ultrasounds, no more listening to the baby's heartbeat in-utero and feeling the baby kick. What a miracle pregnancy and having a baby is and how I should not take it for granted and wish it to be over too soon! He has such a way of putting things into perspective doesn't he? No matter what, I'm not the one who decides when I will have this baby, it will all be in God's timing...

36 weeks

I went for my 36 week check yesterday...I believe I am 36 weeks 3 days today. For those of you keeping up with stats....gained 2.2 more lbs, 18 total. Measuring 38 weeks, baby's heartbeat good, fetal movement good. Cervix closed! I was hoping I would have already started dilating by now, but we'll see. My back & leg pain have worsened quite a bit over the past week and I am now on a consistent daily back & neck massage schedule (from Jody) to help. Heating pads, baths, and Tylenol are not helping, but there is an end in sight! If I get a chance, I'll put a picture on here of my ever-growing belly for you all to laugh at and say whoa!

I almost forgot....we do not have names set in stone as of right now...we do however have a couple names we like...we would love to hear your suggestions..post them in the comments section and see if you win 5,000 pride points!!!
I just found this picture of the girls on Monday, they had dressed themselves and were so proud! Lizzy believe it or not has the best matching skills and can put most of her clothes on the correct way by herself!

Christmas to-do's

We've been gearing up for Christmas...the girls and I have been shopping for gifts, coloring pictures, getting Christmas cards & presents ready to be mailed and ornaments made! I didn't want to give anything away so I didn't put any pictures on here, but here's one I took at BJ's yesterday of Lizzy and Anna patiently waiting in the cart for me to finish shopping!

We're gearing up for the baby to arrive...we have the basinet in our room complete with bedding and little baby clothes in the dresser. The car seat is buckled in the car, the girls car seats have been re-arranged for the new arrival and our bags are packed and stay in the suburban! All the baby gear is ready and waiting to be used! It's getting exciting and scary at the same time!

Our Christmas Cantata is this Sunday night at 7:00pm in our Family Life Center! Both Emma & Anna will join Jody and I in the Cantata this year! They are so excited to sing their songs, especially with Mommy & Daddy! We have real stage lights and new risers have been built! We are excited to be able to use our Family Life Center this year for what we know will be a great performance! Come join us Sunday night!

Emma's 2nd Tooth...

Emma lost another tooth! I didn't get a chance to get on here and add it yesterday...Here's a picture of her "Holey" new smile. She had a time getting this one out...she's looking rough in the pic because it was about 10:00pm Saturday night when she finally pulled it out! She wouldn't eat dinner bacause it was hurting so bad and kept bleeding, but her persistance paid off! Hopefully the next ones will come out easy and before her new teeth come in!!! You can see from the picture the replacement teeth are in quite a bit and were behind the old teeth (2 rows of bottom teeth)...her deadline to get them out was January 1st or we were going to have to take her to the dentist...hopefully they will move forward without help from an orthodontist!

34 Weeks 3 days

I finally hit the 34 week mark Saturday and grabbed a cold on the way :-( 34 weeks was when I was given the ok to resume all activities (within regular pregnancy standards) that I had to stop due to the contractions, and of course I got sick Friday! Lizzy started with a "hurt nose" Wednesday last week, then a fever Thursday...no icky nose until Friday afternoon and then we all got it (minus Emma, she really has only complained about being sick when she sees her sisters getting special treatment)! It's always fun being sick, no matter what the sickness is it seems like it is magnified a ton when pregnant and chasing around sick little ones too! Hopefully we'll be gone of all sickness by the end of this week!
(By the way, Emma took the picture on the left today) I went to a regular check-up today and everything looks good. I gained 2.8 more pounds which brings me to a whopping 16 lbs total! I usually gain almost all my weight at the very end so it doesn't surprise me at the weight gain. I was measuring 36 weeks, 2 weeks ahead again which doesn't mean anything since I've been measuring ahead for a couple of weeks now. And the baby is in position...head down! My contractions have stopped being as consistent, just uncomfortable when I do have them and are now considered normal this late in pregnancy coupled with the fact it's my fourth! I am getting anxious to meet this new little one, but will hold on until I will be full-term (37 weeks)! We had not even started preparing for this new addition until last week when I had Jody dig out all the baby stuff. I have clothes laid out and ready to be packed in bags for all 6 of us...boy that sounds weird! Here is a picture of just the clothes for 2 days worth for the kids! We have a take-home outfit for a boy and one for a girl along with a blanket & hat for each too! I think I have confused Anna & Lizzy with packing both...Anna mentioned bringing home the "babies" and where the other car seat was. One of the girls favortite shows is Jon & Kate Plus 8 so I also think that had something to do with it too! I like to be prepared for everything....don't be surprised to see a baby car seat in our car in the next few days. I've washed everything related to the baby even though it was washed before it was packed away in tupperware containers and stored in the garage. Lizzy has really started being clingy, wanting me to hold her and cuddle with her all the time, not really wanting me to leave her side. I figure moving the car seats around, adding the new car seat and having her help me pack bags will help her not be too jealous, we'll see!

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

Yesterday was a good day. We went to my aunt Joleen's house, ate a very yummy meal and had fun hanging out with the fam! Total there were 28 people! And believe it or not my dad has 2 brothers (and their families) that still live in Minnesota that weren't there! I love having a big family, Holidays are especially sweet! You all know me by now and know I didn't take my camera, it would have been some group shot! I wish I did!

I sat in on a sunday school class last week and and the teacher challenged our students to write a letter of Thanksgiving to someone they are thankful for or for something they have done for them. What a challenge for adults too! So often we are consumed with preparing the delicious food, then eating it and our plans for "black friday" that we forget all about the Thanks part? I absolutely love Christmas and can't wait to get the decorations out and start preparing, but this year it seemed to come so early?! Every year it seems the world is short-changing Thanksgiving as a speed bump on the road to Christmas. But really, shouldn't it be a time of preparing for Christmas?!

Thanks to my husband for putting things into perspective..he's so great at doing that!!!

31 Years...

No, I am not turning 31 today...it is my parents 31st wedding anniversary!

I couldn't help myself adding this picture before they were married!

and on their wedding day....
November 26, 1977
(mom was 18 and dad was 20)

a few years later....
February 14, 1980 Sarah Marie was born...
June 19, 1981 Matthew David was born...
and July 8, 1984 Joshua Dean was born
(I didn't have baby picture of all of us so I didn't put any:-)

But here are some family pictures over the years...

through 3 high school graduations...

2 weddings...

August 19, 2000
Mr. & Mrs. Jody T. Livingston



October 15, 2005
Mr. & Mrs. Matthew D. Goodew

after 4 grand-daughters...

January 27, 2003 Emma Marie Livingston
October 12, 2005 Anna Virginia Livingston
September 2, 2006 Elizabeth Maye Livingston
August 6, 2008 Ashtyn Reese Goodew

and 1 more grandchild on the way...

are these boy feet or girl feet?

Just some photos over the years...

Every year since 2003 my brothers and I have taken an "anniversary" picture for my parents...I thought you might enjoy seeing them...

I couldn't find the one from 2003, I'll add it if I find it...


2004

2005


2006

2007

and this year's picture...

2008

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM & DAD!!!

Our 1st Lost Tooth

Emma has finally lost her first tooth! It has been wiggly for quite a while now along with it's neighbor. The 2 new teeth to replace them have been in for a while too (2 rows of teeth)...Aunt Diana, who is a dental assistant for an orthodontist, feared we would have to take her to the dentist to have them "removed". I am not a teeth kind of person, so Jody was on his own in aiding the removal of these stubborn teeth. When I was younger I had a lot of problems getting my own teeth out and I still dislike going to the dentist more than any other doctor. Emma has not been too happy when we told her they would have to "extract them with force", so she's been working double time and finally today she pulled it out! Anna & Lizzy didn't understand why Emma was so excited about the lost tooth because there was blood all over inside her mouth, face and hands! Now we are hoping the other one will come out soon!

Harvest Day

Yesterday was Harvest Day at our church. Everyone dresses up in their old fashioned garb and we have a huge "potluck" or "covered dish" lunch after wards! The girls and Jody dressed up in their old fashioned clothes, I couldn't find any old fashioned maternity clothes so I wore jeans! Here is a picture of Jody and the girls I snapped really quick before we left for church with my phone...
I of course forgot my camera and by the time we got home everyone was looking pretty rough...I wanted to mention Emma's dress she is wearing, it was a hand me down from a family in our church. They have 4 girls and every year they make dresses to wear to harvest day. I believe Emma's dress was the oldest daughter's (she's 17 now) dress when she was small! I wish I had gotten a picture of their dresses along with some of our other youth and younger girls who dressed up. They are so talented! If you went to the state fair you may have seen our youth girls handiwork...they won!

Snowy Friday

I have to admit I was really excited when I woke up this morning (6:30) and saw that it was snowing, the ground was white!!! The picture to the left is from our front porch. I am originally from Minnesota (yes I lost my "accent") and Jody grew up in the mountains of Tennessee (he lost his "accent" too), so we are both no strangers to inches and even feet of snow! But I think snow is one of those things you never get tired of seeing and it's always fun to go out and play!!! I thought some of you were still in bed asleep and would enjoy seeing the 2nd "snowing event" (the 1st was Tuesday morning flurries) in NC this month! Or for those of you who live farther south who never get to see snow!

Operation Christmas Child

I was reading a friends blog today about Operation Christmas Child and decided I needed to blog about it too! We've been participating for a couple of years now and I encourage you to check out Operation Christmas Child if you don't know what it is. It's almost too late to participate this year, but you can always participate next year or check out other programs by Samaritan's Purse. The shoe boxes are pretty easy and not very expensive, I began picking things up on clearance for the boxes months ago. We went to the dollar store and bought the plastic boxes, we packed them (there is a list of suggested items and things not to pack), then wrapped them. We opted to pay for the shipping online, then printed off the tags and taped them to the box. Our church is collecting them, so we just brought them to church when we were done! It is a great opportunity to teach our kids about others who may not receive any gifts for Christmas and the ultimate gift of Jesus Christ!

Here is a picture of the girls with their boxes before we turned them in. They had so much fun picking out things for their "friends"! Each girl packed a box for a little girl her age. Each box contained a shirt, pair of gloves, a couple pairs of socks and panties, a baby doll or Barbie, hair bows, purse, bracelets, stickers, lollipops and necklaces. Since Emma in the older category this year she also put in a jump rope, notepads, pencils, markers and lip gloss too! We also put a note in each box with each girls picture telling their "friend" a little bit about themselves and our address if their "friend" would like to write to them! This is the first year we've put notes in the box and the girls are anxious to see if they will get a response, especially Emma who is a beginner reader!

Family Update

I forgot to add this picture of me at 30 weeks, taken almost 2 weeks ago! Since this will be our last biological child (I know I am asking for it) I'm trying to take as many pictures as possible! Also an update on the Livingstons....

Most days start off with homeschooling Emma and trying to keep the other 2 busy...

Emma is loving learning how to read, but gets frustrated easily when things don't go her way immediately...she gets that from me :-( She has become such a great helper to me during the day now that I'm limited as to how much I can do. Her sisters adore her and we like her too!!!

Anna is semi-interested in learning her letters & sounds and can almost write an A, she tells everyone there are 2 A's in her name, but it's all downhill from there. She is so different from Emma who was so eager to learn and by her 3rd birthday could write her name as well as spell mine and Jody's names!

Lizzy has a ton of energy and loves her baby dolls. She has really become attached to me and very clingy, I guess she's starting to understand about the new addition to our family soon! She loves to look for "hot air balloons, "rocket ships" and "cows"!

I've been keeping myself busy by cleaning out underneath our sinks, organizing the girls rooms, going through old clothes, shoes & baby stuff. I've cleaned out closets, our laundry room and am completely caught up on my laundry (I don't believe I've ever been able to say that)! All of this of course sitting down and not lifting!

Jody has been busy with church, work and being bossed around when he is at home (since I can't lift and move things around I save those tasks for when he is here)!

It won't be long now before we are announcing what baby # 4 is!!! Thanks to everyone who voted in our poll!!!

Bracelets

OK, so since I am semi-confined to my house for now I thought I could use my time wisely by being crafty, namely bracelets! I made these a few years ago, really enjoyed making them and even made a few for friends last year! I can make any size bracelet...I made Emma one (pictured below) when she was a baby, she wore it all the time until she grew out of it! I only use sterling silver wire, beads and clasps along with swarovski crystal beads.

Here are pictures of the one I made for Emma a few years ago and one I made for a friend...

These aren't very good pictures and I even changed the background so you could see the colors better! They can be customized with just a first initial, initials or even names!

Prices are as follows (based on size of bracelet):
Baby-Child (1-3 letters): between $13-$17 each
Adult, S M L (1-3 letters): between $18-$22 each

If you are interested please email me and I'd be glad to let you see one in person or get you a better picture and provide some more information!

History in the making...

VOTE VOTE VOTE

Do whatever it takes, do your part and vote with Christian principles!!! Polls open early and close late, don't let the rain keep you away! We have been given the right to vote, so go do it (if you haven't already done so)!!! If you aren't old enough to vote, PRAY.... our girls did!!!

Halloween 2008

On our front porch...Jody's uncle John made the picture even better!!!

My adorable niece on her front porch...

On the couch with Mommy...

all the grand-Goodew kids!!!
I just found this one of Lizzy...she got into the dress-up stuff!!!

From my perspective...

So as I'm sure everyone who reads this is aware, Sarah is usually the blogger. I have felt the need though to share some thoughts from my perspective (bear with me)...

There is no doubt that we are in the midst of the most important Presidential Election in our lifetime. Now before you think, "oh he's going political" and stop reading, let me assure you that my main point is not the election. I do feel though that in light of the policies on economics, foreign policy, energy, etc. that we are weighing this year, what has been exposed of our nation is heartbreaking. Many of these issues I believe point directly to the failure of the Church to be what we have been called to be.

We have seen magnified during this political season the attitude of those wishing the government to fix all, provide all, and do all. A dangerous thought for certain. To quote the 38th President of the United States, Gerald Ford, "A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have." And after all has God not told us the Church to meet the needs of those around us? We have in our nation a culture that flees from inconvenience, confrontation, pain, and suffering. Sadly, the Church's are no exception to this. We have forgotten that it is in our weakness we are strong, that His grace is sufficient for us and his power is made perfect in our weakness (Rom. 12:9-10). We don't rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that it produces endurance, which produces character (Rom. 5:3-4). Yet where we fail most is in withholding the most precious from those in need...the Gospel. We come in contact with hundreds, maybe thousands of people a day, and are so busy with ourselves, so afraid of confrontation, so worried about what others might think, that we simply withhold the precious lifesaving message of the Gospel. When was the last time you shared the Gospel with someone? What does this say of our value of our Savior? The problem with our nation today is not simply attitude...it's a heart problem.

We sit idle while others go about the work of "redefining" marriage. We shun the sinner, rather than condemning the sin. Rather than plead with them to turn to the sweet Savior who gave his life for them, we simply avoid it altogether.

We become outraged at the brutality of war. Our streets are filled with protesters at the news of another soldier who has given their life for our nation. Now, do not misunderstand me here. My family is deep rooted in military service. I have the utmost respect and adoration for our men and women who serve our nation. I personally feel that when we protest we dishonor their sacrifice. These soldiers have enlisted willingly knowing that they may give their life for this nation. We belittle their patriotism when we say they are fighting in vain. My hope and prayer is that we will never lose another soldier. But if we do, may we honor them for their sacrifice rather than saying they were wasting their time.

One of our greatest failures is our silence on the issue of abortion. Since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 there have been 4,189 casualties. It is a sobering body count for sure. Within the last 24 hours of you reading this (assuming you still are...lol), approximately 3,200 unborn have been aborted. 24 HOURS!! At the time of my writing this there have been 52,804,976 abortions since Roe vs. Wade in 1973 (you may check the current count now at http://www.teenshelter.org/abortioncount.htm). It is estimated that around 11 million people died during the holocaust, with 6 million being Jewish (close to two thirds of Europe's Jewish population), and about 1.5 million being children. Now again, trying to put this in perspective. On average there are around 1.5 million abortions each year in this country. We know that at eight weeks all the organs are present, the brain is functioning, the heart is pumping, the liver is making blood cells, the kidneys are cleaning the fluids. There are even clear fingerprints. Yet almost all abortions happen later than this date in the pregnancy (not that its okay before this time). Ultrasound has shown the unborn at eight weeks sucking thumb, recoiling from pricking, and responding to sound. Psalm 139:13 says, "Thou didst form my inward parts, thou didst knit me together in my mother's womb." The sad thing is that many who support abortion do not argue that the unborn are "human beings." For many the issue is the right of the mother. The unborn is completely not a factor aside from the inconvenience it might bring (bringing me back to my earlier point). We have taken the place of God, weighing for ourselves the greater good. Who lives and who dies. Ironically it seems that most who support abortion, oppose war, and capital punishment. (For info. on Senator Obama's views on Abortion please read http://betweenthetimes.com/2008/10/14/why-faithful-evangelicals-cannot-vote-for-barack-obama/). While I feel very inclined to keep on with this rant on abortion (and there is much more to say here), I will wind down with a few last thoughts.

First, this election is important. Big issues on the table, no doubt. Second, what will it take for believers to finally wake up? When will we become broken for the lost? When will we long for our Savior? When will we run to the Word of God for direction for our lives with the same urgency we run to the stock report to see how our 401K's are doing? When we will do the hard things to bring Him glory? What will it take? I'm not sure. What I do know is this. We serve a faithful, loving, merciful, just God in whom we can really hope. A true Messiah who was nailed to a cross and hung naked, giving his life for us while we were still sinners. Is there hope? Only one, it is the Son of God, Christ Jesus. These are just a few thoughts, from my perspective...

AWANA

Here are some pictures of the girls I thought I would post...

On our front porch before AWANA wednesday...Anna & Lizzy had a fishing theme tonight, Emma had a regular club night. Anna & Lizzy love their Puggles shirts and Emma is so proud of her Sparks vest she had to earn!!!

Our Two Puggles, all dressed up for the theme "fishing" in their Puggles shirts of course!!!

They had to stand up and show you their entire outfits, rain boots, fishing poles, hats and all!!! Don't worry I made them wear a coat to AWANA...it was in the 50's during the day and it got much colder once the sun went down!!!
The girls and Jody too are so excited about next week's theme "Favorite superheo night". Jody was even telling me last night what he planned to wear! Anna is excited to show everyone her " SuperGirl Cap", she means the cape I made her for her birthday...you'll have to wait until next week to see them all dressed up!!!

Pregnancy Update 29 weeks 4 days...

Went to the doctor today, a day earlier than scheduled. I've been having regular contractions and just wanted to make sure nothing was going on. Gained another 4 lbs (total 11.4lbs), which they were happy I am gaining! Iron levels were good, measured 30 cm (slightly ahead), the babies heartbeat looks good and I got a flu shot. On the downside my cervix is really soft but I'm not dilated. I have to go back this Friday for another cervix check and a fetal fibronectin test (tests to see if a certain hormone is present) to see if I will deliver early, I should know the results Friday afternoon. For now my doctor has told me to be a "couch potato" until friday. I am supposed to slow down which I should be anyway!

I'll give you some average stats on the baby at this point in my pregnany: the baby weighs approx 2.7 lbs & total fetal length is 16.7 inches. A full term baby is on average is between 7 & 7.5 lbs. At this point I need to do everything possible to keep this baby inside for the next 7.5 weeks no matter how difficult it may be on me!

Please pray that my contractions will stop and the test Friday will come back negative! I'll get a picture on here soon of my large belly...you always forget how uncomfortable it gets as your due date approaches and I think I'm uncomfortable now....

Touchy Subject...

Many of you know I get fired up when it comes to politics and religion, but as the election draws near I want to make a plea for those registered voters who are reading this blog. I am very aware that my husband is in ministry therefore I will not say either way who we are planning on voting for. I feeel it is very necessary for people of faith to know what they believe and why they believe it and where it falls in line with the candidates of this upcoming election.

Politics and religion are "touchy" subjects when it comes to many people. There are many issues (abortion & homosexuality) at stake this year that have been pushed aside for more "important" issues. Funny how God has already shown us examples of people in the Bible with the same problems thousands of years ago, He even gave us His instruction book to tell us what to do.

Our country was founded on "religion". Is it our job to freely give the government our money to fund projects stemmed from bad decisions made by some Americans? Many of these "moral" issues have taken a back seat to the name calling and negative campaign ads. Many americans have abandoned their "morals" and have decided they are on their own, whatever decisions they make are theirs to make and if it was a bad decision someone will come along and bail them out. Basically the attitude of I'm responsible enough to make the decision but not responsible to deal with it if things don't go my way. I hear all the time that "the government owes me"? But why? In reality we should all be saying I owe my life to the one who created me and thanking those who came before me who gave their lives.

I want to know what each candidate believes so that I can make a very well informed decision. Many registered voters I feel will vote this election out of ignorance and I ask that not be the case with you. I ask that you really do your research and dig to find out what each candidate for this presidency believes, stands upon and has supported in the past. There are so many places to find information, TV, internet, books, that there simply is no reason for people not to know what each believes. I will not let the media, celebrities or my family dictate who I should vote for. My ONE vote counts just the same as the VP of NBC, Bill Gates, the garbage truck driver, Brad Pitt or the McDonalds worker. It's sad to me that we have been given this right and so many people don't feel it is important enough for them to take it seriously! Don't be swayed by smooth talkers who will promise you the moon and never plan on following through, actions speak louder than words and voting records do the same.
Whoever is voted into the White House this November will certainly make a change, good or bad and it will affect all of us for years to come. I ask that you realize that your actions today will affect our children and grandchildren and so on, even if something doesn't pertain to us now, it may pertain to someone we love in the future.

I made the decision to follow Christ many years ago and I have been called as a believer to stand on God's word. He has given us the Bible as an instruction manual for our lives. Everything we need to know is in His book. He has promised that He will never leave us and He is always in control no matter how crazy our lives seem to be. He created us, He loves us and He died for us. If you are a fellow believer I challenge you to look at the candidates and see where they fall in line according to God's word. We won't always agree with everything a candidate says, on the other hand we can make an informed decision and vote against another candidate and what they are trying to accomplish.

We have arrived...

home safe and sound from another fall retreat with our Youth!!! We (4 adults & 9 students) left Friday afternoon, traveled to Alta Vista, VA to a camp called The Master's Inn. The second half (2 adults & 5 students) of our group arrived Saturday morning at 8:00am! We all got back about 2pm this afternoon! We had never been to this camp before and there were some bumps in the road...1st bump was getting there, it took us 3 hours when it should have taken only a little over 2 hours! Mapquest did not give very accurate directions (we never did find 265?) and we ended up using the GPS on Jody's cell phone to get us there! We were traveling with a van load of teenagers, loaded down with luggage on a trailer hooked to the back of the van, it was night time and it was Virginia!!! The weekend was packed with sessions, game times, worship sessions, down time and of course meal time!!! We always do a campfire and roast marshmellows too, my favorite! This year they also had the option to go horseback riding, roller skating or playing paintball. Skating and horseback riding are not really my thing, but I'm all about paintball, I was quickly reminded of my large belly and had to say no (like anyone would really let me play paintball!!!). I did promise the kids after January we would go by ourselves and play, I'll stomp them all!!! All in all it was a great weekend, many students "Refueled, were Refreshed & Refocused" (our theme for the weekend)! I'll get some pictures on here as soon as I can, just wanted to give a quick update!!!

Happy Valley Warrior

This past weekend we traveled to Johnson City, TN to attend Jody's 10 year High School reunion! We left Thursday evening and got home early Sunday morning. We had a lot of fun visiting with family and meeting some of Jody's "old" highschool friends! I of course could not find the camera in our luggage to take pictures, but some of Jody's friends took pictures...I am hoping to "borrow" them from their facebook pages and post them here!

Happy 3rd Birthday!!!

Anna Virginia Livingston

October 12, 2005 @ 7:52am

7lb 1oz & 20 1/2 inches long

We were so excited 3 years ago to add to our family and how perfect another little girl! Anna is such a happy, giggly, silly girl we can't imagine our life without her!

Ice Skating and Hot Air Balloons

Saturday Emma was invited to an ice skating birthday party for one of her friends. She was so excited! I woke up that morning not feeling really well, but we had already promised Emma that we would take her. Jody had convinced her sisters to give ice skating a whirl too, even though I was reluctant. I had already decided Lizzy was way too small and would just sit down and watch...that of course lasted about 2 minutes before she was yelling "Kate, Kate, Kate"! I sat on the benches and was the "transitioner" when adult backs had to take a break...Lizzy absolutely loved Ice Skating and pitched enormous fits when she had to take a break and let someone else have a turn! They all made me really nervous with the sharp skates on, but no one got hurt and the girls had a blast! We had to leave early because I still wasn't feeling really well, but I did get a shot of Anna & Lizzy with Ms. Becky before we left!

After the party we headed directly to Babies'R'Us where I bought another sturdier maternity belt that has worked much better than the last. As we headed home, from Raleigh towards the "country" we spotted 2 hot air balloons way off in the distance. Where we live we often see hot air balloons, but as we got closer to home the balloons got closer to the ground and we were pretty sure they were going to land. The girls had so much fun watching the balloons and Jody had so much fun "chasing" them. At one point they were very close to us and I even talked with the balloon operator and passengers overhead! I got a lot of pictures, this one directly over our head! I had never seen a hot air balloon up close or land and we wanted to see what happened after it landed. They rolled it up tucked it in a bag and strapped the basket on the back of a 15 passenger van and off they went. Amazing, even though I am scared to death to get in one!