August

Grab my button and tell me all the reasons you are excited about August! Here are a few of mine:

• 3rd- my dad's birthday
• 11th-Crystal finds out if she is having a boy or a girl & other exciting baby news
• 15th-Training in San Antonio with Top earner in our company RUEL MORTON
• 17th- Kyle's dad's birthday & TEAMS
• 21st- Couples wedding shower for Whitney and Casey
• 23rd- Our 3rd baby appointment
• 28th- Birthday Club

Decided

I have decided to sell my great grandmother's Davis Cabinet Company antique furniture that I inherited after she died in 2007. I had it appraised back in May and it is worth $5500.00 I know know know that my grandmommye would love for me to sell her furniture to purchase our baby crib and pay off debt. I have ads in the Thrifty Nickel and Craigslist.

Wish me luck!

Wordless Wednesday

Seek Ye First

^{Matthew 6:}

³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

I attended a funeral almost a month ago for a friend of my moms that died at the age of 51 of a heart attack. I only met the man once and remembered him for making us all laugh and for being the life of the party. I attended that day with my mom for support and well just because of how much of an impression he made on me in those few hours I spent with him.

The preacher did an amazing job at the service and spoke of the above scripture because the man's children said their dad sang it to them every single day when they were growing up (to the point that it annoyed them in their high school days). But what struck me the most, almost knocked the wind out of my spirit causing everything inside me to be still were the next words the preacher spoke: "In Heaven, there is no more seeking!" Pause a minute and let that really soak into your spirit. I could just cry with the hope that resides in that statement. So much truth and peace and freedom! I think we all spend so much of our days seeking the approval of men, or the things of this world, or the dollar amount in our bank account or the you fill in the blank but all we have to do is seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Let's break this down with my non theology background :)

What is the kingdom of God?

I think its Him and His fellowship of believers. A relationship that is born of the Spirit. So does God say in His Holy Word that we should seek Him and those that know Him? YES! But he also states clearly that we should seek those who do not know Him as well. Ultimately our minds and hearts should be focused on the things of Him.

What is His Righteousness?

The Bible dictionary defines Righteousness as:

1. (n.) Holiness; purity; uprightness; rectitude.

2. (n.) A righteous act, or righteous quality.

3. (n.) The act or conduct of one who is righteous.

4. (n.) The state of being right with God; justification; the work of Christ, which is the ground of justification.

So dear ones! It is our challenge as believers to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Remember that today has enough trouble of its own so don't worry about tomorrow. Hope for our days with the Lord when there will be No More Seeking! Thank you Lord for the life of Jim Dudley and what he taught me in his life and death. Praise you that he doesn't have to seek and that he has found and that he is now in heaven with you!

Dear Lord,

Thank you for stirring a stillness inside of me that day. Thank you for awakening me to what You want me to know and do. Thank You that You have set my feet upon a rock and that I cannot be shaken. Lord, rise up a generation of believers who seek Your face and listen to conviction in their lives. I thank You Lord that one day there will be no more sorrow, or pain, or seeking. I love You!

Top 2 Tuesday

Top 2 Favorite perfumes/colognes/scents

1. EZRA by Abercrombie. I love this scent and am currently all out! This topic made me realize that I need to put it in the next budget.

2. Pink Sugar. If you haven't smelled this make sure to stop into a Sephora near you and try it out! Their body butter is amazing!

14 Weeks

Today we had another baby appointment. This time it was very short but held great news! Our baby had a heart beat of 149-155 and my weight is right on track.

How your baby's growing:

This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Our next appointment is on August 23rd at 2:00PM

Our big gender ultrasound is on September 8th at 11:00AM

Thankful Thursday

Welcome to Thankful Thursday!! Here's your chance to tell the world what you are thankful for!! List 5 things, people, etc (or more) that you are thankful for!

Grab my button on the right of my page, and link up! Can't wait to read what you are thankful for!!

1. My wonderful husband Kyle!!

2. Dr. Appointments to see how baby is growing! Can't believe that this time next year I will be a mom to a 6 month old. YIKES!

3. Our wonderful church!!

4. The sun!! I know it is hot here in Texas but I also know that in the next 3 months or so I will be swearing the fact that I have to layer up every time I leave my house. I thrive in the summer.

5. I'm pregnant! So of course I am thankful for Dairy Queen Oreo Cookie Jar blizzards! I am limiting myself to one a week. Don't worry!!

Make sure to link up your blog below!!

Wordless Wednseday 13th Week Pic

Top 2 Tuesday

Top 2 Things you Want to Purchase

This isn't the crib that I would choose but when DO we pick one out? Is there a right time to do this? I am such a planner :)

We've settled on this car seat! It is a Chicco Key Fit 30 and supposedly the best of the best. We are searching on Craigslist for a great deal.

Peach!!!!!

I began my second trimester officially on July 14th! I can now eat anything and everything and do not feel nauseous which is a HUGE blessing! I find myself getting irritable and impatient more often than not but am learning to manage this for my husbands sake :) I dreamt last night that I am having twin boys. Huh? We have another appointment on Monday, July 26th at 9:15 AM but we still have to wait a while to find out if our little peach is a boy or a girl.

Fetal Growth Rate

Your fetus is now about three inches long, the size of a peach — and half of that length is head. By the time your baby is ready to make his or her entrance into the world, the head will be only one-fourth as large as the body.

Your baby is about three inches long and the size of a peach at 13 weeks pregnant. But don't compare your fetus with the fetus next door. Starting about now, babies begin growing at different paces, some faster than others, some more slowly, though they all follow the same developmental path. Growing at a universally breakneck speed now is your baby's body as it tries to catch up to the head in terms of size. Though your baby's head is about half the size of its body now, by the time your baby is ready to make his or her entrance into the world, the head will be only one-fourth as large as the body.

Your baby's intestines are also in for some big changes right now. Up till this point, they've been growing in a cavity inside the umbilical cord; but now they're moving to their permanent (and more conveniently located) address, in your baby's abdomen. And to serve your growing baby's needs, the placenta is also growing. It weighs about an ounce now and will weigh one to two pounds at birth (something else you'll soon be able to blame your weight gain on!).

Also developing this week: your baby's vocal chords. Because sound can't travel through your uterus (your baby's current habitat), you won't be able to hear any sounds or cries just yet, but oh boy (or girl) — those vocal chords will get a good workout once that baby is born.

Thanks to 3 dear friends I should start to look better when I hit the town for meetings and whatnot! Crystal Gelber gave me a big sack of maternity clothes :), Helen McDonald has a sack of clothes ready for me in Seguin, and Kristin Cox has several maternity shirts for me! I've got to hit the mall and find me some long maternity dress pants. Does anyone have any tips? Motherhood Maternity did not have my length. I'm tired of wearing my white Target skirt :)

New Look

Thank you Bailey over at b's {blog} boutique for the wonderful blog makeover! I love it! What do you think?

It Feels Like Today

I'm rushing to get this post in before the end of the day! This morning I met with Ashley S. at the Starbucks in Kyle, TX to discuss chapters 4 & 5 of Ms. Understood by Jen Hatmaker. I'm not sure if we got many of the Bible study questions answered but I had a chance to open up to and also learn about Ashley S.. Ashley and I met last summer at a pool when I recognized a mutual friend of hers that she was there swimming with. We became facebook friends later that day, had lunch the next day, and began a journey of friendship that neither one of us knew was coming. In the fall of 2010, I invited Ashley and her husband to visit our wonderful church family at MBC. A few months later they joined the church, Ashley and I began meeting weekly to study God's word, we attended Women Of Faith conference in Houston, and were able to be in the same TEAMS group. TEAMS is another post for another day and absolutely fab! What I like about Ashley S. the best is that she makes me better. She brings out the best in me, accepts the worst, calls me out if I'm wrong, loves me for me, makes me laugh, pushes me toward a deeper relationship with the Lord, shares who she is, and is an answer to prayer. When I got in my car after meeting today I found it fitting that the song on the radio was Rascal Flatts It Feels Like Today. Today was a breath of fresh air that I've needed. It's time for me to step up and finish the things I've been called to do. I'm thankful for a friend who reminds me of those things and won't let me stop until they are completed.

Friday Fives

This weeks Friday Five is...

Five things you do to relax, destress,contain your composure or that you just enjoy doing for yourself!

Thank you Beth over at

For a fun Friday Topic!!

1. The BEST way to destress is to put on my running shoes and grab my chocolate lab puppy Belle (she likes to run much faster than Shiner, my black lab) and hit the road. I'm a bit slower these days and take more walk breaks but it still does the trick!

2.Once a month I go to Pearl Nails and get a pedicure. I look forward to this time of peace and quiet and relaxation.

3. I haven't had a massage in about 4 months or so but my FAVORITE way to destress is to get one! I might have to schedule one of these soon :)

4. If you know me at all you know that I take a bubble bath EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT. I do this as a way to wind down and take that time to read, play Words With Friends, and process my day.

5. The last way I relax is by listening to music. I love all different kinds of music but when I am trying to chill out I usually choose Explosions in the Sky or Hillsong United

No Not One

Have you ever heard a song that stopped you in your tracks? Have you ever heard a song that stopped you in your tracks AND brought tears of great love to your eyes? This song did that for me. I was getting ready for my day of traveling to Fredericksburg for meetings and listening to Pandora radio when this song by Brandon Heath came on. I urge you to take less than 4 minutes out of your life and close your eyes and just listen to this song. No Not One.

12 Weeks!

I have just completed my 12th week of pregnancy! I'm still feeling very tired at times and have had waves of nausea that are really tough to get through. I am eager to go to my next appointment on July 26th.

How your baby's growing:

Your Baby in Week 12 of Pregnancy
By now, your baby weighs a full half-ounce and is about the size of a large plum. Most of his systems are in place, though there's still plenty of maturing to do. For one thing, his fetal digestive system is beginning to practice contraction movements necessary for eating, and his bone marrow is busy making white blood cells — weapons against germs once he's out of your safe haven. The pituitary gland (at the base of the brain) has started producing the hormones that'll enable him (or her) to make babies of his (or her) own in a couple of decades or so.

This is my 12 week picture. I think I just look fat and should maybe not eat as much ice cream as I have been eating :)

Shiner and Belle's first swim

Had one of the best days yesterday!! Our afternoon meeting got cancelled so we snuck away to spicewood to Kyle's grandparents house on the lake for a swim. I love my dogs even more now and will be making time weekly for this. I even got a Coke Ice Cream float from Kyle's grandma. BLISS!!

AMAZING!

I have just completed my 11th week of pregnancy and this is what my body/baby looks like now!! AMAZING!! I have noticed that I get tired more easily, am sleeping more, and have a huge appetite! Kyle and I have decided that if we have a boy we will have a Kyle Martin Childress JR. I'm still not sure on a girl name. I may have to see her face first but we will cross that bridge when we get there. I hope you are having a wonderful week!

New Look

I have gone back to my original blog title. After much consideration I think it just fits our life so much more. In the coming weeks you will see a new look to my blog and I am so excited! Ashley still wins her Sonic gift card (I haven't forgotten about you).

Thanks for reading! I appreciate you all so much! I also think I have a new life theme song. Enjoy!

Eclipse

Thank you Alamo Drafthouse! We had a wonderful time!!You can see my little bump a bit in this pic :)
Jill, Stephanie, Ashley, and Me

Ashley, Me, and Stephanie Ashley and MeMe and Stephanie

300

300th post?? WHOA!!! Maybe I should slow down a bit :) I feel like I should make this some kind of amazing post with a hot topic or something but I think I will just tell you why I am so excited about the month of July!

• July 1st: June is over hooray!! and it's the start of a new month!! Love starting new AND tonight I am going with Ashley, Jill, Nocona, Stephanie, and a few others to see Eclipse!
• July 4th is my favorite holiday. No stress. Summer. BBQ. Fireworks. Family. Friends. Watermelon. Its just perfect to me!
• July 5th the number one money earner in our company is coming to San Antonio to train and share his expertise. Thank You Ruel Morton!
• July 10th is a wedding for a family friend and will be a fun family event
• July 11th is the Gospel Sunday Brunch at Gruene Hall with Kyle's parents! If you haven't been to this you must do so in your lifetime! If you don't have anyone to go with I will gladly accept your invitation!
• Later July 11th I will be attending my friend Sabrina's baby shower. She is having a girl next month
• July 15th is Kyles 31st birthday!!!! I'm sure I will come up with some sort of surprise for him
• July 26th is our next baby appointment at 9:15 AM I will be 14 weeks pregnant at that point

What does your July look like? Don't you just love summer?