"First comes the love, then comes the...whaa..??"

Ah, don't we all remember the little childhood rhyme? Though, looking back, not much "childish" about it, ha! But from a very young age, it seems we are taught that there is a certain order and structure to life that is meant to be followed. In some aspects, yes, I do agree. But in this newlywed  phase of life, when it seems like everyone around me is popping out the little ones, all the singles are getting engaged, all the marrieds are celebrating life milestones, I think know that the main thing the Lord is trying to teach me is to sloooowww dooowwwwnnnn....

Did you happen to read through all that crossed out stuff? If you didn't, don't worry you didn't miss out on anything except IRONY. (Which means you need to go back and read it. Now.) In case you did read it and the irony is lost on you, let me explain. I started this post (yes, that exact above paragraph) on June 18th of this year. I never finished it because I didn't know how to finish it, and also for one other reason. Less than one month later, on July 16th to be specific, I found out I was pregnant. I am sitting here laughing to myself and shaking my head (lol-ing and smh-ing?) even as I type that out because it is so...yes, I shall say it again...ironic!! I mean goooo figure.

In some ways I think writing out that pre-pregnancy post was me trying to prove to myself that I really was coming to accept the fact that I don't need to do things in the same timing as others. And that really is true. I don't. God has a timing specific to everyone's individual life, so why try to walk in someone else's shoes? So why am I pregnant, you ask? Well, fact is, birth control only works if you take it when you're supposed to. So there ya go.

(Sidenote: we always knew this would happen. Don't know how we knew, but we just did. Maybe God was preparing us? Or maybe it was just the simple fact that expecting me to remember to take a pill every day at the same time every day was absolutely laughable. Don't know that we'll be trying that again! That's a whole 'nother conversation though...)

So here I am, nearly a month later and now I have to deal with all these emotions I'm having.

Yay! I'm having a baby! You're only pregnant because you wanted to be like other people. I'm glad I'm pregnant! I wouldn't be if God didn't want me to be! You are so unprepared for this. There goes the rest of your life. That's what you get for not having discipline with your pills. You don't even like birth control! Therefore you should've expected to get pregnant; therefore, you should be happy. 

And so on and so forth. I wish I could say that early on, most of my thoughts were positive and that I was just bubbling with excitement. I mean, there were times that I did feel that way, but the fact is, my emotions varied so far and wide that I wasn't sure what was at the core of what I truly felt.

And then came the morning sickness. O. M. G. Worst three months of my life. I mean, seriously. Talk about teetering into depression. I lost between 3-6 pounds during my first trimester, and I only recently got back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Words simply cannot express how absolutely miserable it was to spend the majority of the day leaning over a toilet or always needing a trashcan next to the couch or the bed or always having to keep a plastic bag (or two or three) in the car because I threw up whenever I drove (or was a passenger!) from pregnancy-induced motion sickness. I got the worst hot flashes, and come to find out, public stripping is unacceptable. Everything smelled disgusting. Everything tasted disgusting. Commercials with food looked disgusting. Everything Jeremiah made during that time was disgusting. Life sucked. Blah blah blah. My poor husband! Poor ME!! haha.

It's true. Whoever called it morning sickness must've been a man or some very, very, very lucky woman.

(Sidenote: Want the gory details?? Once I brushed my teeth after I threw up because I didn't like the gross feeling in my mouth. The taste of the toothpaste made me gag, and I threw up again. At least I was already in the bathroom. Yay for positive thinking...!!)

(Sidenote part 2: I do give God all praise though because the way things were ordered, I ended up submitting my two week notice for Things Remembered just a few days before we found out about the baby! The decision to leave was totally unrelated to the pregnancy (I wasn't experiencing morning sickness yet), yet in God's perfect plan. Cuz there's no way I would've survived that retail job and those crazy hours and all that stress with how I was feeling! So glory be to GOD!)

You're probably wondering why in the world I'm sharing all this. I'm actually wondering this myself. Well, I guess I wanted to finish the post I started all those months ago :-) But seriously, even as I'm writing I know this can come across as a bunch of complaints with no real solutions. I guess there are some things I want to clear up, both for myself and for others. For one, I know it's easy to try to keep up appearances. For those of you who read this and are friends with me on Facebook, I'm sure you'd have to agree that most of my statuses are happy and excited about having a little one on the way, and let me be clear, those posts are totally genuine. But getting to the point where I could share that happiness and it actually be how I truly feel....well, that's been a process.

When you really think about it, no one expects for you (me--Christ-follower, married woman) to be feeling anything but sheer joy at the announcement of a child. And even if there's the slightest inclination towards that, no one would expect for you to be broadcasting those mixed feelings to the world. I mean, how un-Christian-like is that!? (more transparency needed in the body, anyone?) Also, it's so easy to hear about the good stuff with pregnancy, all the oohs-and-ahhs and not the hard, uncomfortable, I-think-I'm-going-to-die-why-does-sex-have-to-lead-to-misery-and-BABIES moments. Well, here I am, broadcasting. Just me and my flaws...flaws and all? I hate Beyonce. Well, hate's a strong word lol. Dislike. Where was I? Oh yeah. Broadcasting. The Lord has seriously brought me (and the Husband too, actually) a LONG way since that fateful July day, and it would just be wrong to not give testimony to what HE's done!

So there ya go. This is the intro to me sharing the spiritual, emotional, and physical road I've been travelling since finding out about baby girl (who I love immensely!). It's a road I didn't want to be on at first, but that I'm so thankful and HAPPY to be on now.

How'd I get from those initial emotions to where I am now? Why did I have mixed emotions to begin with? How has being pregnant affected my relationship with both God and the Husband? Stay tuned for Part 2....

Before November Ends

I haven't written on my blog in forever, and I promised myself that no matter what I would get at least one post done for the month of November, and seeing that it's the last day of the month, I suppose today's the day to get it done. (I just realized that was a seriously long sentence, ha.) It simply isn't fair for me to try to condense my whole life from the past few months into one small post, so I'll just give some highlights and write further about said highlights in separate posts!

November 2012 marked Jeremiah and I's first Thanksgiving that we celebrated as a married couple! :-) We decided to have our own little dinner together before heading to my parents' house to celebrate with them and the siblings. 'Twas very fun. Here are a few pics from the Husband and I's dinner.

Our turkey didn't fit in our oven (we use our toaster oven as our oven! Works out better than it sounds ;)) So the Husband came up with the idea of putting our deep fryer to use for half the turkey, and then putting the other half in the oven! We didn't want our apartment smelling like deep fried turkey for a month, so the fryer ended up on a chair outside until it was done! Turned out tasty, by the way. 

That first item is cake. The Husband woke up early just to make it. And he ate the whole thing himself. That's a normal occurrence in our household, lol.

Days and days and days and days and days and days of LEFTOVERS!!!

Awww, I smile just by looking at it. We enjoyed putting it all together for ourselves. We ended up eating around 5 something pm, which is late for him, early for me! We probably would've eaten earlier, but we took advantage of his day off work by have a nap together before getting too into cooking. :-)

Blurry, but I love it! And we matched! I have the best husband.

And again.

And again.

And, yes, again.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures while we were at my family's house, but we had a great time there too! Plus my padre was in town from work, so it was truly a family celebration. After the eating and talking and fellowship was done, me, my older sis, her husband, one of my younger bros, and my younger sis headed to the mall for the Black Friday festivities. I guess it wasn't so festive for my little sis since she had to work... But I must say it was rather freeing for me this year to not have to worry about rushing from Thanksgiving dinner to the mall to work retail! 

Anyways, while at the mall, my older sister and I went to TJMaxx (yes, the one store with no sales on Black Friday because everything is always on sale...go figure!). We browsed and browsed and ended up in the baby section, and she blessed me and the husband with our first sets of onesies for baby girl! Yup, I'm pregnant, 23 weeks today :-) I wish I had pictures of the adorable little outfits since they're so freakin' adorable (so nice, I said it twice!..lame, ha!! You loved it though.), but I shall share some other time. Here I am on Thanksgiving Day:

Anywho, that's all for now! Much has happened over the past few months, but that's all I feel like writing about at the moment. Don't worry, I won't disappear for another five months. Maybe just five days. :-)

The Month To Surpass All Months

It's here! It's here! We are officially in February and I am too hype, because that means my wedding is in just over three weeks! Ahhhh! Excitement, man. Excitement. So many awesome things are happening this month, I just have to share...

February 4

Bridal Shower! My maid of honor, who's been my best friend since like...forever!, has been totally enjoying herself by not sharing ANY details with me about the shower. Grrr! Oh well, I know I'll enjoy it :-)

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February 5

 The Favorite and I's 3 year dating anniversary! (Oh, you thought I was gonna say the Super Bowl?! I didn't even know it was on the fifth til my brother told me a couple days ago. Shows how much football I watch!)

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February 14

 Valentine's Day! Not even one my favorite "holidays," but I'm always down for chocolate :-)

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February 18

 Spiritual Birthday! On this day of 2001, Jesus drew me to Himself, opening my spiritually blind eyes to see my need of Him and His grace and mercy! No longer am I among the walking dead, but the alive in Christ!

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February 25

WEDDING DAY! "And the two shall become one..." It's so surreal; I'm marrying the love of my life! My first boyfriend is also my last, and I have the honor of being his wife! (And he has the honor of being my husband! hehe) Definitely pray for us, that we'll truly have a wedding & marriage that honors the Lord!

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February 26

 Cruise!! DEFINITELY looking forward to the honeymoon, ya'll. Nobody better try to contact us! ;-)

Do you see how much LOVE is in each of these days!? From the beginning of the month with people showering love and gifts on me and the Favorite, to the beautiful union we'll have before family and friends, love, GOD's love is so real and present. And with that in mind, I already know that there are probably more things that are going to arise during this month, some great, some not so great, but in the midst of it all, whether good or bad, I choose to rejoice, and I choose to count my blessings because they are MANY and my great God has been doing, is doing, and will continue to do a great work! 

Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you 

will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.

~Philippians 1:6

Marking Time

We're almost an entire month into 2012, but I'm still going to say it, for posterity's sake: HAPPY NEW YEAR! Time is FLYING, and for obvious reasons, I'm very excited. Oh, did you miss the obvious reason? I'M GETTING MARRIED NEXT MONTH!!! Woohoo! It's so crazy how quickly time has passed; one day the Favorite is proposing to me in DC, the next day I'm 27 days away from being a bride and a wife! Excitement!

Unfortunately the Favorite and I weren't able to bring in the new year together because he was sick :-( He was the first person I called though! :-) My family and I went to our church's annual NYE gathering with food, games, worship, and testimonies about the Lord's working over the past year! It was a blessing. My last time having a New Years Eve with my "maiden name"!! :-)

Life is definitely busy right now, as anyone who is married, has been to a wedding, or has at least watched a wedding show can imagine. (Hence the reason I'm saying Happy New Year 29 days into the year! hehe) But I don't want to neglect to share the awesome things that the Lord has been doing from day one of 2012! I will definitely be having more posts to give a glimpse of these final weeks as I go from being a Miss to a Mrs.

How have you seen the Lord work so far in 2012? Are there things that you are anticipating happening during the upcoming months? I'd love to hear :-)

Holiday Week and Sore Feet

Sorry I've been gone so long, guys. I just could not seem to work up the motivation or the energy to write a new post. (Something I'll be working on for 2012 ;) hehe.) These past few weeks I've been working a ridiculous schedule at work. I've been a sales associate for Things Remembered (TR) for almost two years now (I do sales, managerial, and engraving duties), and this job has definitely made Christmas the least anticipated season of the year for me! Sounds sad, right? Maybe if you've ever been a sales associate during the holidays, you understand. TR engraves items for customers same or next day, and any items that customers choose to pick up the next day have to get engraved overnight. Big deal, you say? Well, overnight typically means that a shift that would normally end at 11:00pm extends til 8:00am the next morning! Alas. Sleepiness. And soreness. Nothing like standing over an engraving machine for 10+ hours! Thankful for the job, even still. Well, now that Christmas is here, I can officially say that the holiday craze is over (at least for my store), but my sleep schedule has been all out of whack! So here I am, 6:15 in the morning, typing a blog post! In spite of the time, I'm glad to be getting one done. :-)

Anyways, MERRY CHRISTMAS! everyone!! Today is also my younger sister's 19th birthday, so a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY shout out to her! My family, including the Favorite and my brother in law, had a Christmas Eve birthday celebration for Erin so we could all be together for it, and it was So. Much. Fun. From the delicious food my sis and her husband baked from scratch, to singing along to the Sound of Music, to dancing the Cupid Shuffle to finishing off the night with homemade pound cake and homemade fried ice cream, it was an all around fantastic night!! After we left their place at like 2am, we got our Christmas tree. Better late than never, right? Well typically my family gets it closer to Christmas anyway, so this was no new phenomena, hehe. I was knocked out in the car during most of the tree buying process, except for when I was ever so rudely awakened by gusts of cold air swirling into the car as my dad and brothers tied said tree to the truck :-/ Even more...excitement...followed when we got home... But I won't share those details on here, not yet. Haha. But yes, it's now only 6:31am, and it's already looking to continue being a great day!

In other news, today is the two month mark for the Favorite and I's wedding day!! So incredibly super excited!! It's crazy how quickly time has flown by, and thinking about it in terms of days (62 days!) makes it seem all the more close. There is still so much prep to be done, but slowly but surely it's all coming together.

Hmm, let's see what else I can update you all on... Well, I have been cooking alot of random yummy things lately, and if you couldn't tell by the word "yummy," they've been coming out delish! Fried fish and grits with seasoned tomatoes, meatloaf and mashed potatoes, country fried pork chops, and more! Yum yum yum. I took some pictures, so if I can find them perhaps I'll share :-)

Ya'll familiar with Pinterest? Well, I am new to it and already absolutely in love with it! It has so much amazing cool stuff on there that I want to try! What's really cool is that I found out about it around the same time my bestest and I began discussing how we can become more Proverbs 31-ish in the new year, and we've both seen on the site that we can really put to use! Excitement! Actually, there are more details to come about this; I'll probably share in a New Year's post!

Life is good though, really. The Lord has been so gracious and faithful to continually, by His Holy Spirit, remind me of the things He's been teaching me in His Word, preaching, articles, and other formats. I have got some MAJOR stuff to work on though!! Like it says in James, the Bible really is a mirror, and it is a constant fight to kill my flesh and keep on looking into that mirror and make changes as the Lord leads instead of going away and forgetting what I really look like before Him. The Christian walk is a constant battle, and I'm working on keeping my armor on every day!

Well, this has been quite a smorgasbord of a post!! I could hardly ask you to provide as many snippets of your life from the past few weeks as I've just provided you with, so I'll end this with one question that I'm asking myself also:

What are you doing this year during this Christmas season to really make Christ known to those around you, to set you apart from Christmas celebrations as the world knows it? 

Hmm... Food for thought!

Enjoy your Christmas, guys! :-)

Thanksgiving Comes 365 Days A Year

I had such a great Thanksgiving with my family! Unfortunately, my hermanita and her husband weren't with us this year, but my boo and I got to do most of the food prep this year together, which kinda made up for that, haha. Even though we should be thankful every single day out of the year, it is extra special to have a day set aside to celebrate the manifold blessings the Lord pours out on us! No matter our circumstances, the sovereignty of God alone is a reason to rejoice and give thanks! 

Elijah made the green bean casserole this year, and it turned out delicious!!! Making it is pretty straightforward ...unless of course your can opener is broken. Ahhh!! Thanksgiving day issues!! Well the Favorite was able to put his knife skills to the test, and at a safe distance I watched as he chopped open the can of green beans, hehehe. 'Twas quite entertaining, I must say. Just glad he didn't lose any appendages!!

He was so intent on it!! How adorable. :) 

I made cranberry sauce from scratch, as I have been for the past few years now. Turned out tasty, but for whatever reason the two bags of cranberries I got from the store made sooo much more sauce than it has in years past!! Weird... Funny story though -  When the Favorite and I went to the store to get the cranberries, as we were approaching the produce section, all of a sudden A BIRD FLEW OUT OF THE GRAPES!! Yes, there was a bird in the grocery store, hiding out in the grapes, eating them! Guess we scared it off! We just looked at each other and busted out laughing. I'm still chuckling to myself now just thinking about it!!

We decided to go the pre-cooked turkey route, primarily thanks to the hermanita and brother in law getting our turkey for us! I am SO glad it was precooked too, because I really wasn't feeling like putting in the work this year to do it from scratch, hehe. It was really quite tasty, though. Yay Butterball!

Now, check out these before and after pics of these rolls we get every year! You butter them, let them thaw, let them rise, then bake them!! We ended up letting them rise for a SUPER long time so they went from 

THIS...

to THIS....

Hahah!! They were pretty much swelling up over the pan! It was fun to poke them though; they were definitely the most abnormally plush rolls I've ever had! Tasted really good fresh out the oven though!

Pretty much all the food is ready to eat....

Mr. Turkey and Mrs. Ham....

Joshua planted himself right in front of the turkey, and I can't say I blame him! I was ready to eatttt....

My hubby to be is just too cute. :)

Erin's home from Howard for Thanksgiving break!! Not to into taking pics right now... but once the food's getting served, smiles pop up all around!! 

My mommy is so pretty! And she got her braces off! Look at that sparkly white smile! :-D

Daddy insisted on getting some dishes done RIGHT before we were about to eat!! Typical, hehe. He's looking forward to dinner, too, especially since we were eating around 5:30 instead of our typical late dinner :-/ 

Smiles :-)

Yep, that's my plate. And that's not even all the food!! That's just all I could fit on my plate at the time... (sidenote, my dad makes the BEST sweet potatoes in the WORLD!!)

Our food preferences are quite different, and we're still learning to adjust! But included a few of my Favorite's  choices on the Thanksgiving menu this year, so yay :)

She kept trying to sneak extra ham!! But I caught her in the act ;-)

There's me!! Haven't quite made a dent in my food yet though... 

Falling into a food coma... 

The Favorite is falling into a food coma, too! 

I HAD to make some ice blue raspberry lemonade koolaid :)

Erin and Daddy having fun dancing off the food! :) So sweet.

Hope all of my readers also had a FANTASTIC Thanksgiving this year!! Anything special happen? What'd you do? I'd love to hear! Next up...CHRISTMAS! :-)

O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!!  ~Psalm 30:12b