I'm coming home, and.......

We are feeling truly blessed and excited. I'm at 14 weeks now, and we are praying with all our might that we are out of danger. We have had a couple of scares thus far, and truly began to wonder if we should even make a public announcement. However, with my return home, and my belly beginning to look like I've given up my vegetarian lifestyles and switched out for my long craved McDonald's Cheeseburgers... there will be no hiding it.

It is our hope and faith in the Lord that has brought us this far, and gives us the encouragement to share this with our world.

Isn't our baby adorable though? I really love this picture. I happen to have A LOT to choose from. Lots of trips to the hospital = lots of ultrasounds = lots of pictures.

Anyhow, the Dr. says things are going fine now... and although it's been bumpy - we should ok.

Jaren has been the best husband any woman could ask for. He has been waiting on me(quite literally) day and night. He has remained optimistic, patient, and kind. I feel so lucky.

On the funny side - I'm craving meat, and hate the taste of most vegetables. Which is very hard for me at this point. I'm not even considering switching until I'm out of my morning sickness (better named all day sickness) phase, because I wouldn't be able to tell if I'm puking from being pregnant or from the meat.

I literally had a dream about a larger than life meatloaf... it was so beautiful and juicy, and I was trying to get to it, but a force field kept pulling me away from it. And no I'm not anemic. We've checked with the Dr!!!

Anyhow, I fly home to Utah tomorrow (Sunday), and will be there until around the 21st or so. I'm so excited to see my family and friends.

The plan is to then drive with my family back to Arkansas to see my Dad's side of the family. Spend about 10 days with them, and then have my friend pick me up on her way home from St. Louis. Wow! Lots of fun.

Meanwhile, Jaren got held back from SERE school, so he won't even start now until May 25th, and that's barring that he doesn't get held back again. So it looks like I will still have two weeks alone here in Alabama. Boo hiss. Oh well, at least I get to see Utah, the mountains, and my loved ones for a while. And Jaren - he'll get to play lots of X-box while I'm gone, so he should get a nice break. :)

Oh, and one more thing. Here's a video with the house updates (now you can't kill me Marci):

Family, Gardens, Projects, Beaches, and Easter!

Spring is in full swing. With it comes tornado warnings (this equals me sitting in my closet wondering what would really happen if one hit my house). Spring has brought many surprises into our lives. One of which was a surprise "save the day" trip by my mom and brother to Alabama. They stayed for a few days, and brought with them many miracles of love.

One of which was the help in building my garden. This is my brother Scott. I am humbled by the love he showed in never growing tired. He helped Jaren build this, and just kept going, and going, and going.

This is the finished product, well kind of. Jaren added a bunch of peppers in the corners after this. So it's even more full. Hopefully everything will have room to grow. First garden, so I have a lot of learning to do. Mom helped me rake the leaves in the back yard, and get things picked up.

These are the flowers they planted.... before the tornado winds and rains. Good thing flowers like to grow.

Finished product:

A close up of my cute planter! Love it! Look out Martha Stewart!

It was so wonderful to see my family and to feel of their love for Jaren and I. I am so thankful that they would sacrifice everything and just come out here on a moments notice. It made me so grateful to have the families that I do. I am a lucky girl.

After my family left, I was ready for another project. I decided to refinish some furniture. This is the before (including the mess in the guest room):

Refinishing means a lot of sanding. JOY!!!And then priming!

When that project is finished - I will give you some pics - along with that tour of the house I've been promising. Don't worry, I will eventually get to that.

Anyhow, after that there were a few more weeks of rain (lots of rain). We were feeling a bit of cabin fever, so we made our way (with some friends) to Panama Beach. It was gorgeous, warm, and romantic. I was so happy to be able to swim. Swimming just makes everything feel like home to me.

The next day was Easter. We enjoyed the sunshine at home, and had a good time at church. This is what the Easter Bunny brought us... I love our matching camo baskets. We are such dorks. (Mom, please note that the weather radio [aka tornado informer] is there!!!)

Ahhhh... Thank you Enterprise

Warning: This post is very sarcastic and bitter.

If any of you are looking for adventure - may I suggest you look no further. What could be more exciting than waking up at 4:00 am to extreme pain in your side and back, having to drive 20 minutes to get here:

(Please note, there was only one car in the parking lot when we got here too!)

Let me sweeten the deal. I promise that if you come here, you will receive some of the most primitive health care services offered in the great U.S. of A...

I know, it sounds to good to be true.

You will most likely question whether you have landed in another country when they try to push the IV through your valve. "Don't worry, if we leave the catheter half way out like this it will work okay, unless you have to stay - and then we will just do a new one." What the???? Did I mention that afterwards your hand will feel like you have punched a brick wall?

Not tempting enough??? Don't worry, you'll only have to wait another hour and a half for them to give you drugs...

And then, when your sure something dreadful is happening to your body - they will order an ultrasound - that is supposed to be there in 20 minutes according to your Doctor. Don't fret - it will be there in approximately 4 hours, when you have had your poor freezing (did I mention it was 50 degrees in this hospital) husband go and ask what is going on.

"Ooops- we forgot to tell the tech that she needed to do the test during shift change 2 1/2 hours ago! And we didn't figure this out sooner because we don't normally check on our patients."

Your patience will ultimately be tested when they tell you that there is nothing wrong.

See, here's the deal. Even though you've had about 10 kidney stones in your life.... and YOU KNOW what they feel like, you won't be listened to. Don't be bothered if your gum chewing 18 year old ultrasound tech couldn't find a stone - and the doctor this morning told you that you were peeing blood- and then when it comes to diagnosis time - "there's no blood in your urine" - Enjoy!!!

"Here - have another pain killer before we send you home. Ooops!! - Your allergic to Hydrocodone? Oh yes, I see that here in your chart - and that you told us that 15 times today. I'm sorry."

We'll just send ya home now - It's only been 9 hours.

***

Ok, I'll calm down. On the good side - I know that I never have to go to that hospital again. I will drive the extra 20 minutes or so to get to Flowers Hospital. I'll get better care faster, and maybe they can figure out what a kidney stone looks like. Or at least what the heck is wrong with me.

And now to the real purpose of this post. Let this be a warning - stay away from Enterprise Hospital everyone!