Current Conditions

• My belly is starting to touch my upper thighs when I sit down. I now can officially appreciate the full-fledged beer gut. I can't say it's a "good" feeling, but hey...anything to get this baby here.


• My belly button is hanging on for dear life. It hasn't "popped out" yet, but it's awful close. I think either somehow it's tied to my spine or our little girl is hanging on to it, because sometimes I feel pressure in that area.... Imagine holding a blown-up balloon by the tied-knot part and then yanking on it. That's what the inside of my belly button feels like, especially when I walk (don't worry...it doesn't hurt).


• I have reached the "it-is-safe-to-ask-her-if-she's-pregnant" stage. I had my first stranger ask about the pregnancy last Saturday in Nashville. And thus the "how far along are you?" "when are you due?" "Is it a boy or a girl?" interrogation has begun. It's kinda nice being out of the "is-she-pregnant-or-does-she-just-really-like-cake-and-ice cream?" stage.


• My bladder is not my friend. He thinks it's funny to press the "I gotta go NOW" button every two hours (or less), which isn't really convenient on road trips or during church services, etc. But, I am still grateful for these types of changes because the gift of pregnancy and new life is SO worth it. One side note: I am considering starting a "public restroom revolution." I spend lots of time in them, and I think it's fair to say that 75% of them are downright grody (80's word for "absolutely nasty"). It is also fair to say that people in the restroom business (as in, Rest Areas on the interstate) are surprisingly better at keeping their facilities clean than, let's say, the average restaurant or store. Our tax dollars are at work!! Thank you government for keeping the rest rooms clean on the side of the interstate! Since Hillary should be able to relate, you know, since she is a woman, maybe she'd have a chance if her campaign slogan was, "Changing America One Public Restroom at a Time."
  
• I still feel the baby move around every now and then, but she's not big enough/kicking hard enough for Donald to feel her. I'm looking forward to that!!

I will post again soon with pictures and stories from our Christmas travels, but first, let me tell you what I've been dying to tell you for a few weeks now: our cousins Thomas (Jay) and Dita are expecting a baby in August!! Our kids will only be 3 months apart, which thrills Donald and me to death! We are looking forward to our children having cousins in the family so close in age! (just for clarification... Thomas' dad and Donald's mom are brother and sister, and they
[Thomas and Donald] grew up like brothers, so they are really close). I guess our kids will be first cousins once removed but we will just call them "cousins." :) Check out this helpful chart if you are often perplexed by the mysteries of cousinship.

What is She?

She's a girl!! Contrary to popular belief, we found out this week that we are having a little girl. To see her in the ultrasound was such a sweet thing. To see her arms and legs and little face was simply breathtaking. With all due respect, a mere ten-weeks ago, she resembled a tadpole or a peanut, but now she has transformed, in such a short time, into a beautiful little girl! She had her legs crossed and tucked up beneath her bottom nearly the entire ultrasound, so her gender almost remained a mystery. However, at the very end, she kicked out a little leg, giving us just a teeny view of the "right" area. The ultrasound tech almost wouldn't commit to a sex because she wasn't sure, but by the end, she gave us an 80/20 percentage and just told us to "buy pink, but keep the receipts." So here we are with our little girl. In our anxiousness, the journey to get her here has now seemed to double, but we have a lot to learn and she has a lot of growing to do in the upcoming months. At least now we can move beyond the world of "it" and "the baby" into the land of "she" and "her."

Praise God for the miracle of this sweet little baby.

Football Highlights

I just wanted to share with you the highlight reel from Donald's little league football team this season. D is the offensive coordinator and he coaches with some guys from church and our neighbor, Fred. These kids are 10 and 11! It amazes me how good they are! They finished the season 8-2. Considering they finished last year 0-10, these kids have learned so much and it was very neat to watch the transformation.

First Ticket and the Totem Pole

So I'm pretty confident that there is a hormone named "cry" and lots of it is released during pregnancy. Apparently my body was lacking in it until several months ago, considering I hardly ever cried, and now I just might cry over an episode of Seinfield. Case in point... I received my first speeding ticket on Saturday night (gasp!). And I bawled. The officer probably thought that I was either nuts or trying to squeeze out of the ticket, but quite honestly, I just couldn't help it. I didn't even really care about the ticket. It was more about wounded pride and the fact that I was less than a mile from my house, and that I never (rarely) speed, and that I'd never been pulled over, and didn't the officer know that I was pregnant and that I drove on that road every day without speeding and that I was listening to Christian music?! Doesn't that matter for anything?! Well, of course none of that mattered, and even if I wanted to tell him all of that, he wouldn't have been able to translate amongst the sobs (nor cared). I would tell you more about the experience, but I really want it to be out of memory close to soon.

Getting Bigger! Me at 19 weeks.

I went to Charlotte last Friday to spend the day with my friend Molly. We went to Body World, which is an exhibit that shows real human bodies that have been "plastinated" so that people, like me, can walk through and look at what goes on in our bodies. Just in case you're wondering, plastinated muscles look like beef jerky, and therefore, I have renamed the exhibit "Beef Jerky World." It was really cool, though. And I really enjoyed my day with Molly! It's not very often that I can hang out with a good friend all day and just do whatever!

On Saturday, some friends from work came over for a Christmas Movie Extravaganza. We watched three movies, made and decorated cookies, made homemade hot chocolate and then taco soup and played "Name that Christmas Tune." So yes, it was most definitely an extravaganza.


Donald and John cut down a tree in our backyard on Sunday. It was a cedar that has slowly died over the last year or so. It now stands in the form of a totem pole...ready to be carved. We are so grateful for John's help. I was a nervous wreck. For some reason chainsaws and ladders scare me when used at the same time.

No, seriously... this 15 foot topless tree is really standing in our backyard (the chainsaw wasn't thick enough). Any ideas, Paul Bunyan?

I Feel the Baby

I began to feel the baby moving last week. It feels like a muscle spasm or a heart flutter. That's the best way I know how to describe it. All last week at work, I felt the movements to the south-left of my belly button every day... especially after I ate. And sure enough, when I went to the doctor on Friday, that's where she found the heartbeat-- to the south-left of my belly button. I didn't really feel any movements over the weekend, but started feeling it again yesterday, due south of my belly button. Either the baby has moved, or that's the twin. At least 15 people, without any encouragement from each other, have randomly claimed that we are having twins. It's quite strange, and I'm starting to get a "am-I-that-big? complex." (not really). I'm pretty confident that there is just one in there. That's what our first ultrasound shows, so that's what I'm sticking with. However, my neighbor claims that two couples at their church found out they were having twins just two weeks before delivering (even after having all of the ultrasounds/sonograms/etc). Unbelievable! SO- we will put all of the speculations to rest next week when we ask the ultrasound tech to look good and hard for baby number two. In the meantime, praise God for baby number one! What a relief it was to hear his or her heartbeat. It was in the 150's, and we were so happy to hear it!
We went to Charleston last weekend for Jeremy and Sam's wedding. It was a very fun weekend, filled with T-Bonz and spending time with friends. Sam and Jeremy:Andrea, the groom's sister and my bestest friend who is 9 weeks away from delivering, looked wonderful. Here is a picture of the four of us. The wedding was beautiful! It was on a tidal creek in Mount Pleasant, and it was a wonderful 70 degrees... a beautiful December day in Charleston. And I have 39 bug bites to prove it!! (no exaggeration! I counted this morning). The bites just started itching Monday night... I didn't even realize I was being mauled during the ceremony, but apparently I satisfied a band of mosquitoes that day! I do not have any pictures to share at this moment... I will post some soon. maybe.

A Weekend in Pictures

Thanksgiving 2007 has come and gone. It's time to put away the turkey and put up the tree, turn off the football and trudge back to work. This year we went to Columbus, GA to hang out with Donald's family (below). What do you mean, "Who's that white girl?"
Aunt Myra and Uncle Kenny live in Columbus, so we all headed that way to spend the holiday with them (since they faithfully head to Charleston most holidays, it was our turn to head their way). Here is D with Aunt Myra:On Friday, we headed over to Auburn with the family to check out the school. It was the day before game day (ultra big game day: Auburn v Bama), and there were already TONS of tailgaters. Here is Dondie with the ultimate Auburn Hummer Jeep thingy:I just had to pose with Evan, Mylin's brother, donning the sweatshirt Mylin obviously bought him. It was also the day before OUR big game day (yeah yeah... I know we lost).
We spent the rest of the weekend back in Greenville. Mylin came back with us and helped us rake the yard, which had a thick carpet of pine needles on it. We collected a boat load as you can see here. People sell pinestraw like it's gold, but we're not interested in starting a business. If YOU'D like to come rake our pinestraw, remove it from our property, and sell it, let's talk. On Sunday afternoon, Donald and I went and picked out our tree. We've never put up a tree so early, but with busy upcoming weekends, it was our only opportunity. We made it official with Christmas music, hot chocolate, and Christmas cookies.

Meet our Japanese Retriever, Sadie. Isn't she precious?
Here's a fuzzy picture of our tree!Sadie found a comfy spot under the tree. I'm gonna keep my eye on her considering last year she ate an ornament that I made in 2nd grade.

That's it! We had a wonderful weekend. Baby update: Nothing new. We go to the doctor on Friday!

The Stomach Formerly Known as Flat

Before you accuse me of being vain, I just want you to know that I chose that title because I think it is just an absolutely great title. Knocking off Prince's name and combining it with a pregnant belly-- what could be better? I've already contacted my manager to make sure that the phrase is trademarked/copyrighted/or whatever so that People or USWeekly can't steal it. I've also submitted it for the "No Doubt the Best Blog Title in the Whole Entire World" award. If it will make you feel better, my next post will be "The Chest Formerly Known as Flat." ...You see-- I'm not vain. Vain people don't admit they have flat chests. :)

So the first pic is classic. This is me trying to clear the Oreos and doughnuts out of the picture. Little did I know, the timer was set on 2 seconds and not 10. Why my left leg looks broken, I'm not sure. I think I was doing the pivot move: Grab the junk food, pivot, dump it, and so and so forth. P.S. The oreos are for Donald.

Here is me with a pregnant looking shirt on. It's not a maternity shirt, but I have made it one, although the elastic armbands are starting to cut off my circulation.

Here is the full-frontal shot. My belly button isn't as deep as it used to be. We'll see if I can avoid the pregnant "outtie."Here is the side shot: Holy Basketball, Batman! (okay, maybe large grapefruit, and not basketball). P.S. all of these are me at 15 weeks (right now).


So there you have it. MB's stomach revealed. We continue to praise God for this ginormous miracle and continue to learn how to trust him with all of the unknowns. My dependence on him has the opportunity to deepen everyday despite my pull towards independence that has been tugging on me since I was in my mother's womb. "Jesus Christ is able to untangle all the snarls in my soul, to banish all my complexes, and to transform even my fixed habit patterns, no matter how deeply they are etched in my subconscious." Corrie ten Boom

Not a Good Title

I just made myself a broccoli casserole. I've been wanting some for about a week now, so I just went ahead and made it even though Donald isn't home tonight. I imagine I'll eat half of it considering I didn't make anything else to go with it. That sounds really strange. Who does that? Pregnant women, I guess. I'm sure I'll eat some cereal later.

So there are 43 days until Christmas. And I haven't bought a thing. Good thing Christmas isn't about buying "things" (riiiight). Although I also do reflect on the awesome goodness of Christ being born, I must admit, the traditions of Christmas do make me pretty happy. Christmasy smells like cinnamon, and pine, and cookies, and sausage balls (at least in my family), and Christmasy sounds like Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby, and bells, and snow falling (ok, not really).

Random: Today I was adjusting the shower head (while taking a shower) and the whole entire piece came off into my hands. Like, the pipe that connects to the pipe in the wall. Seriously. So water is shooting out of the wall, and I scream, turn the water off, and just stand there like a moron. How come when things like that happen, I do just the opposite of the right thing to do? Before managing to cut the water off, I turned the faucet the complete wrong way, making the water come out harder, like mini-Niagra Falls shooting out of the wall at me. Just like in high school, when I backed into another car- instead of hitting the brakes, I hit the gas, and hit the car again. Just like in college when I was in an accident, I needed to speed up to avoid getting hit, but instead, I hit the brakes. I hope that's not a sign of a low IQ. :)
Anyways, so now we have to get the shower fixed (how annoying). Stuff like that makes me just want to move (and hopefully the new owners wouldn't notice the big hole in the wall and lack of shower head).

Baby Spicken is still growing, Lord willing. I have borrowed some maternity clothes from a woman at church, which is a huge huge blessing. I am now 15 weeks...our next appointment is in 2 and a half weeks, and then the "finding out" day is a week or two after that.

The video below is absolutely hilarious. Thanks to Dewa for sending this link. The first time I watched it, I cry-laughed. I don't know why. [Definition of cry-laugh= verb; laughing so hard that tears roll down your face; laughing hard does not necessarily mean "loud" if you are the type of person who laughs and no noise comes out.] Enjoy! (and don't forget to vote for boy or girl! We can't have a tie. That would be awkward).

Bob Wehadababyitsaboy... or Wehadababyitsagirl?

So what do you think? Are we having a boy or a girl? Vote over there using that fancy shmancy polling device. Unlike presidential elections, your vote doesn't count here. It's already happened. Baby Spann is already a boy or girl. (And we find out on December 14th...That's only 6 weeks away). This is more of an opinion poll like, "Will Nicole Richie be a good mom?" or "Will Brangelina ever stop fighting?" The number of "days left to vote" listed over there is also a countdown to Christmas, in case you are wondering. As of today, Christmas is only 57 days away. Wow. The poll will only let you vote once, and I have no way of tracking who voted for what, so I won't hold it against you if you're wrong. Anyways, Donald and I 100% want a boy OR a girl! We don't care!
I am now 13 weeks! We had an appointment last Friday and everything was good! We were able to hear the baby's heartbeat, which was not only a relief, but absolutely fascinating. I am still amazed at the miracle of pregnancy. Sometimes when I'm in a crowd, I'll think, "Wow! All of these people were BORN!!" I realize that sounds like a pretty simpleminded thing to think...but it is kinda amazing.

The Upset and The Great Dog Switch

So, the Vanderbilt game didn't go as well as we hoped. Yeah, we lost. And it wasn't a nice loss. Not a "oh-what-a-close-game! We-should-have-won- loss" It was quite possibly the worst game I've ever witnessed, and we certainly didn't deserve to win. We were sacked 7 times, there were like an additional 15 almost-sacks, our offensive-line had 5 false starts, we threw 4 interceptions, and had multiple fumbles (some that we recovered, thank goodness). We had two things fall our way the entire game, and ironically, both happened when my sister, Stephanie, had gone to the bathroom. Vandy missed a field goal in her first bathroom stop, and then we intercepted the ball, preventing a touch down, in the second bathroom break. We joked that maybe she should go sit in the car for the rest of the game, but considering they drove 6 hours to see it, that wasn't going to happen. To make things even more wonderful for the Gamecock faithful, Clemson always has their biggest win of the year on the day we lose... Maybe we'll get to play Central Michigan High School next year. Anyways- it's just a game... I guess. Argggg. Should it make us feel good that Vanderbilt hasn't beaten a team ranked as highly as we were (#6) since 1937, or should that make us feel even worse?! Worse!

Ah! Tackled again! 4 on 1. That makes perfect sense!

We had to kennel Sadie while we were gone for the game. I went to pick her up Sunday morning and almost went home with the wrong dog. The girl went and got "Sadie" for me when I went to get my checkbook out of the car. I came back inside and this black dog was jumping all over me, going absolutely nuts. She was moving so crazylike that I couldn't get a good look, but she seemed too fat to be Sadie. Her ears looked too short. She was too much of a spaz. So the girl was like, "She's so happy to see you! Do you need help getting her to the car?" After hesitating for a second, I was like, "Umm. This isn't Sadie." The girl looked at me like I was absolutely crazy, which made me doubt myself for a second, and then I was like, "Yeah, this definitely isn't Sadie." So the chick, who looked absolutely mortified, took faux-Sadie away and went to fetch the real one. The guy sitting at the desk was very apologetic, like I was going to sue them or something. I explained that it wasn't a big deal at all.... He continued apologizing saying the girl who fetched Sadie was new, and that perhaps he had made the mistake and not her...He told the girl to try looking for Sadie in Maggie's crate. So the girl came back with our real Sadie, and she and I went on our merry way. But... then I realized. If they switched Maggie and Sadie the previous night in their crates, that meant that Maggie, the spazo dog who originally greeted me, received Sadie's heart medication, not once, but twice. Yikes. No wonder she was going so crazy... "Get me out of this d$#@ place! They're forcing pills down my throat against my will!!"

"How could they possibly mistake fatso Maggie for cute little me?!"

Family Time

We traveled to Charleston last weekend to see family. D hadn't seen his family since July and we hadn't been with my family as a whole since June. Steph and Ev were in town at Seabrook celebrating their 10 year anniversary! Mom had their kids, so we got to spend some time with them, and stayed with Robin and Kevin so also got to spend time with them and their kids.

We ate dinner and hung out with D's family Friday night at his mom's house. It was so good to see them and spend time with them. We will see them all again at Thanksgiving...possibly at Aunt Myra and Uncle Kenny's in Georgia.

Mom, and D and I took the kids to the beach on Saturday morning, and then we celebrated dad's birthday and watched South Carolina almost lose to UNC. What a stressful game!! My family is meeting up tomorrow for the Vanderbilt game, and I really hope we play better!

This really wasn't a posed picture until I asked Lexie, who wasn't originally in the picture, to sit next to Salley Kate and then they all caught on to what I was up to. At least they cooperated!

Meet Katy-Did, the Townsend's new horse, and Weekend Monkey, Mairin's kindergarten monkey who gets to go home each weekend with a five-year-old, who then share's their weekend adventures with the class on Monday.

D captured this shot of the girls.... too cute!

So, what's up in pregnancy land? Hmmm... I'm feeling pretty good, but this hunger thing is pretty obnoxious. The other night I ate a sensible dinner, had a granola bar an hour later, had a bowl of cereal two hours later, and then went to bed. I then woke up at 3am and had another bowl of cereal. I woke up at 8am and instantly had a bowl of oatmeal, and then picked up 3 pancakes and a fruit and yogurt parfait on my way to a 9 o'clock meeting, at which I had a muffin. I was then starving by 11am. Ridiculous! I think I may need to drink a protein shake in the morning...maybe that will last longer. Other than being tired and hungry, I can't complain! My next appointment is a week from today...two days shy of week 13. Wow.

"If you don't slobber on the new baby, I'll sneak you an extra treat every now and then...Deal??" "Deal."

Move Over Week 9

Week 10 has arrived today, and I welcome it with open arms, and finally, a big ole appetite. I had some kind of stomach bug earlier this week that brought on thoughts like, "HOW do women do this more than once?!" and "We are adopting the rest!!" After a steady diet of saltine crackers for three days, I just knew I was going to wither away and/or give birth to a big cracker (which, when I shared that with Kelly Keever, she thought that was quite humorous considering that my baby will NOT be a cracker, racially speaking).


My body also chose Week 9 as the week to reject any type of prenatal vitamin. The one I've been taking this whole time with NO problems, my body is all of a sudden treating like arsenic and sending it back up, much to my dismay. I also tried a new one, but that was worse b/c it was like regurgitating battery acid. SO... I now am taking Flintstone Vitamins (the gummy kind) and Folic Acid (thanks, Ellen). So far, so good.. and look how cute they are!

Dino, Pebbles, and Fred.

All though the pre-historic gummy gang taste good (and stay down), I'm kinda concerned about not getting enough iron. Supposedly, that's something you need, but go figure, it's supposedly the culprit in sending my lunch back up. So, I'd like to try and get it through the foods I'm eating, but considering anything "healthy" these days is completely revolting, it will be a challenge. So what foods contain iron? Isn't that why Popeye ate spinach? I guess I should do some research online, but if you have any suggestions, please let me know! (I really hope candy corn contains iron).


So, yes, I have a life beyond pregnancy. Donald and I went to go see The Kingdom on Friday night, and we both highly recommend it. Just make sure you don't get up to go to the bathroom anytime in the last 25 minutes. Donald got to play paintball yesterday with a bunch of high school guys...he had a blast, and I had to sit this one out. Instead, I enjoyed a wonderful meal at Cracker Barrel with Ellen, after which we checked out some furniture stores and discovered the prices at Wood You are a fraction of the cost of Pottery Barn (and it's real wood!). I'm talkin' 1/4 the cost. You just gotta have painting/staining skills since it's unfinished.
We will be traveling to Charleston next weekend to see family, which we both are looking forward to. My niece and nephew, Salley Kate and Rhett, will be staying with my parents, so it will be great to see them, and it's been eons since we've seen D's family. Kevin is having a huge Redskins party on Sunday, so that will be fun.


Okay, back to pregnancy for a second. There are a few things I want to remember about this time in pregnancy, so I will jot them here: waking up at 3am absolutely starving!, the rubber band trick on your pants (Thanks, Andrea!), wanting to sleep forever and ever (which is quite the opposite of my non-pregnant self), and wanting to eat pancakes for every meal.
Does anyone know of any websites that tell you what size your baby is, week by week? I know that Jenn had one that compared her baby to fruit, but I can't find it (you know, from a grape, to a plum, to a lemon, to an apple, to a grapefruit, to a watermelon). I think right now we are somewhere between a large grape and a medium-sized strawberry.

The rubber band trick pictured below.
Give yourself another inch before buying new pants!!

A Precious Heartbeat

Our first ultrasound was Friday, September 28th. I just knew that the doctor would say, "There's no baby in there! You're crazy!" but she didn't! She said, "There it is! A beautiful baby. With a precious heartbeat..." Of course this made me tear up, and of course I was ecstatic, and of course I wanted to fast-forward 7 months and have the baby safely here.

Proud mom and dad with first ultrasound pics and
first baby gift (from Mema and Granddaddy, of course).

I haven't figured out the rest of the acronym for PREGNANCY, but the P definitely stands for "paranoia." For example: "Is the cigarette smoke coming through my vents from the guy in the car in front of me, going to hurt the baby?!" "Are the fumes from the Sharpie I just used for .05 seconds going to harm the baby?" "The book says don't eat soft cheese that's not pasteurized. Do you think this cheese at the Mexican restaurant is pasteurized?!" I know - I know-- a little ridiculous. I'm hoping this is a first pregnancy thing, and I am sure it is a "Mary Beth needs to give this to the Lord" thing. Fortunately I haven't reached obsessive paranoia (Donald wouldn't let me get away with that), but even subtle thoughts show my independence from the Lord, and how greatly I need to depend on Him (which, ironically we are studying at church right now). Not that dependence is a magical formula for a perfect life, a perfect baby, but relying on the Lord for everything and praising Him for everything is the way to go. Today the teacher at church, Alcides Fuentes, from Nicaragua, said that we need to handle the possible and let God handle the impossible (well, I think Ruth Graham said that), and this baby is definitely my "impossible." A miracle that the Lord can totally take care of. My job is to not smoke the cigarette, not inhale the Sharpie on purpose for like a long time, and do a little research on cheese.

The Secret Month(s)

Knowing that you're pregnant and not being able to shout it out to the entire world is quite agonizing. It was official for us on September 7th, the day upon our return from California, 5-6 weeks into the pregnancy and 4 weeks before we started telling "the world." Of course our families knew, which was super exciting, but keeping it from everyone else was hard.

The day we found out was exciting and surreal. I took the test after Donald had left for work, and I just knew it was going to be negative (by the way, for those who are not up to speed on pregnany test jargon, "negative" means "not pregnant"). I just knew I was "not pregnant." So, I took the test, placed it next to the sink and immediately began brushing my teeth. I looked down, and WHA-BAM it was instantly positive. As you may have guessed, "positive" means "pregnant," and I was very pregnant. My heart dropped, my eyes bulged out of my head. I was very, very excited. I immediately thought about calling Donald and saying (screaming), "it's a plus, it's a plus, it's a plus!!!," but decided I wanted to be more creative than that, which ended up not really working out. He called me, said he had to swing by the house for something, asked what the test said, and of course, when I said, "I"ll tell you when you get here," that meant, "heck yeah, I'm pregnant." Oh well. No cute little baby shoes for him to open in a cute little perfectly wrapped package, no cards, or t-shirts, or mugs that said, "World's Best Dad."


My actual plan was to continue the "bun in the oven" theme that stems from an event that had happened a few months back. You see, an actual bun (hamburger, if you need to know) had fallen to the bottom of our actual oven, and the oven being too hot for me to retrieve it and me not wanting it to catch on fire the next time we pre-heated the oven, I left him a note. "Honey- There's a bun in the oven." Cruel, you might say, but since we weren't trying to get pregnant, and therefore it wouldn't be a let down when it wasn't actually true, I didn't think it'd be too harmful to make his stomach drop for about 3 seconds. So he saw the note, looked at me to see if it was a joke (it was), and then I had fun telling people about our bun in the oven (oh, and once the oven cooled, Donald rescued the burned bun). So I was going to use that somehow in telling him that we were pregnant, but it didn't work. Next time, we will just take the test when we're both home like normal people. Next time?! Or I will just rent this hideous costume...

Looks More Like "A giant fortune cookie in the oven"

So the Secret Month(s), as I have called them, were not too bad, physically. The first several weeks I had lots of cramping, the next weeks brought on complete exhaustion and starvation. I was and am utterly ravenous. Feed me. Feed me. I need more food. Praise the Lord for this absolute miracle.

California or Bust, SC if We Must

Well, we're back from our trip to California, and it was absolutely wonderful. We had an awesome time and enjoyed viewing some of God's masterpieces, which I'll share with you below. There were some of the most gorgeous views on earth over there! The whole trip went off without a hitch, and we got plenty of rest while still seeing lots and lots of stuff and reflecting on the Lord's majesty. We also had fellowship with a bunch of great people (Bonnie (friend), Frances (old youth group friend) and her boyfriend, Greg. Herb and Helen Selby and their fellowship group who we hung out with on Labor Day). The fellowship group was very gracious while we watched the Clemson/Florida State game. They all thought it was quite humorous how we southerners get all worked up about college football. They even made sweet tea for us!

Here are some of our favorite shots:

What is that sticking out of my head?

A view of the bridge from the Marin Headlands.

The Sea Lions have taken over Pier 39 in San Francisco. They are cute!

This is what I'm talking about when I say, "most gorgeous views in the world":

Here we are at the "Lone Cypress" on the 17-Mile-Drive in Carmel.
The Sun Setting in D's Glasses

Long Beach, CA

La Jolla, CA (San Diego Area)

So, it's good to be home, but we're not really looking forward to the reality of work and busy schedules, which are quickly approaching as the weekend disintegrates before our eyes. We hope you are doing well and are enjoying football season like us, and praising God for the miracles that he performs each and every day!!

Sadie and the Cicada

Tonight I went outside with Sadie around, oh, 9 o’clock, and it was over 90 degrees outside. At 9 o’clock?! The last few days have been the hottest that I can remember. The heat index has been like 110 during the day. Crazy hot.
Well, while we were outside, Sadie discovered a cicada. You know…those ginormous bugs that have crazy fast wings and are known for the “songs” they sing out in the night. Anyways, Sadie was torturing the poor thing… smelling it, trying to put it in her mouth, and once, she even tried to step on it. Anytime she touched it, it would yelp out a loud chirp, and Sadie would jump back a few feet (me too), her ears perked in curiosity. And just for the record, I tried to pull her away from it, but pulling my dog away from any type of wildlife that she discovers is like trying to pull a post out of concrete (not possible). So the huge bug finally got away from her by flying towards our house, with its loud buzzing noise coming in my direction making me duck for cover. The stupid thing ended up on the side of our house after bouncing off the ground, the wall, and back again, like a ball in a pinball machine (I always feel sorry for bugs that do that). So of course, Sadie could not get over the fact that the biggest bug on the planet was hanging out on the side of “her” house, just a little too high on the wall for her to reach.

If you look closely, you can see the cicada on the brick. Yuck!

So the only other drama that occured with Sadie and the cicada was when Sadie leaped up as high as she could off the top step to reach the bug and then fell about 4 feet down to the ground. But, don’t worry…it didn’t phase her (or the bug). I happened to catch it on video (but the footage is pretty horrible b/c it was so dark and our dog is so black and I wasn’t expecting her to leap in the air like that!).So Dewa and Arie moved to Iowa today, so I’m going to go feel sorry for myself now as I drift off to sleep….

Meet the Greenleafs

Losing it, Weddings, and Warts

So, I’m totally losing it. Well, no more than the next person, I guess. But listen to my last 15 minutes. So I plugged in my camera to upload some pictures and then decided to order something online. So I got up to get my credit card, and while on the way to get my wallet, I remembered that I needed to switch out the laundry. On the way to the laundry room, I remembered that I was supposed to call Emily after work, so I went to find my phone. On the way to find my phone, I realized I had to pee. After using the bathroom and a room by room search for the phone (which was in the kitchen tucked away behind something), I headed back to the laundry room, while scrolling through my phone book to find Emily’s number. And while scrolling through the phone book, Peggy called. So I talked to Peggy while switching out the laundry and then hung up and forgot to call Emily. So I sat back down at my computer, with my wallet, to complete my order, which I did, and then I remembered to call Emily, who told me she’s watching Shark Week on Discovery, so I turn that on and forgot that my camera was still on and plugged in. Well, I finally remembered (during a commercial) and my camera had turned itself off because I had left it sitting there for 15 minutes. But it got done…FINALLY. And now after 10 minutes of Shark Week being on, I am just now realizing that I’ve seen this one. How can you have Shark Week with re-runs??


Here’s a random picture of a sparkler. D and I had fun with them a few nights ago when I found some in our kitchen “junk drawer”. Sadie wasn’t too sure of them.



So Jonathan and Bailey’s wedding was this past weekend! Yay! It was so fun and we had such a blast with our friends. It was a gen-u-wine College of Charleston reunion. We got to see Adam, Andrea, Jeremy, Sam, Jermile, Hailey, Simon, Stephen, Mylin, Dave and Davies (and 7 of the above got to stay with us, which made it extra fun). We are so very happy for Jonathan and Bailey and their “new life” together. And I don’t mean that in a fake greeting card kinda way… I really, really mean it.
Here’s a picture of all the guys at the Mardi Gras themed rehearsal dinner.

So…what’s with the “warts” in the title, you might ask?? Well, we are keeping Bristol while Jonathan and Bailey are on their honeymoon. And Bristol is laden with warts all over his mouth. Oh yeah, Bristol is a dog, not a child. So the warts have been around for at least a month now, and his vet says they’re not contagious, but I still am washing my hands every two seconds and cringing every time he wraps his monster jaws around Sadies snout. But, regardless, we love ‘em….warts and all.

The 3 Other Quarters

So I’ve covered the week at the beach, but the other three weeks of June have been left out of my memory bank, aka blog. Well…let’s see…My parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on June 3rd, which I think is amazing. My mom says they “couldn’t have done it without Jesus,” and I say, amen, we couldn’t have done the last 2 years without Him, and I fully expect to need Him for the next 38 or however long until death makes us part.In early June we said goodbye to Rick who left America to help plant a church/lead worship in a city on the west coast of Australia. Kelly and other (female) members of his fan club threw a party for him so that he could be properly “well-wished” and sent off… I am also preparing my heart to say goodbye to Arie and Dewa, who are leaving in 3 weeks or so, and the possibility of two other sets of friends leaving. Good grief people! This is the summer of Exodus for our friends, and it is SO not cool.

Before we left for the beach, we were able to spend a night in Blowing Rock with Jack and Christine. We stayed at an amazing little cabin that they had rented and had an absolute blast with them…dinner on the deck in the middle of an isolated forest with nothing but frogs and crickets to bother us…a round of cards while sipping chocolate martinis. Donald and I decided to avoid the interstate on the way there and back, and ended up traveling on 9 different highways, winding through the hills and mountains of North and South Carolina. It was totally worth it. We saw a bunch of beautiful farm land and cute little towns– and while traveling through the cutest of the cute little towns, the highway signs suddenly disappeared, and we ended up on a side of town where it just felt like we were headed southeast instead of northeast. Donald has no fear nor stereotypical manly reservations of asking for directions, so he stopped at the first gas station that he saw, and let me tell you that I am so grateful that my husband rarely judges a book by its cover. For what he saw was a man pumping gas who could easily be asked, “which way is…,” but what I saw was not just a man pumping gas but the most redneck man you’ve ever seen in your life pumping gas, and everything in me naturally screamed “avoid. avoid. avoid” as my little white self sat next to my very black husband in the middle of nowhere North Carolina. However, Donald thankfully doesn’t think like I do, so we got our directions and headed on our merry way. It was just another reminder of how stupid I can be and how thankful that I am forgiven for poor attitudes (attitudes that need adjustments).Our garden absolutely took off in June as did our apple trees (two of them in our side yard that produce the tartest apples you’ve ever had in your life). So we’ve had beans galore, ginourmous yellow squash, tomatoes, and an array of herbs. Trying to be creative with you can make when you have the same veggies to use over and over again can be challenging, but so far I’ve made tomato/basil/mozzeralla salad, squash casserole, boiled squash, grilled squash, chicken, squash and pasta with a cream dill dip (Andrea’s recipe), apple cobbler, boiled beans, steamed beans, and next will be a green bean casserole. There’s something very 19th century about using the things in your garden, and I kinda like it.

Our Apples

Turned into this…

Dewa and I took our dogs to a pond on Paris Mountain towards the end of June. It was a lot of fun, regardless of getting attacked by aliens and covered by dog slobber and mud. By aliens, I mean at least 30 daycare students who were on the trail, who, after eyeing the dogs, came marching at us, with their arms in the air like creatures from the dead, with echos of "ooo doggy"..."I want to pet your doggy"…"doggy!”…”will they bite?"…"ooo a dog!" Poor Sadie and Khairie backed as far away from the kids as possible, shaking like leaves and wondering what all of those mini-people were doing reaching for them. But- as soon as the kids were gone, it was back to jumping in the water and fighting over sticks. Sadie was literally STEPPING on Khairie, dunking her under water in true middle-school fashion– it was hilarious (and Dewa laughed too, so it was okay for me to laugh at my bully dog and her antics).

OMG! Sadie! Stop!

Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine.

It's Already Over?

So the annual beach trip has come and gone. I must say that seven days of bare feet in the warm sand, enjoying the ocean's breeze and being with family is pretty hard to beat. Sitting at my desk on Monday morning in my cold, window-less office was hardly a joyful experience.

We didn't see as much marine life this year (like last year's phantom manatee), although we did find a man-of-war washed up on the beach. It's bag like body was about the size of three of my fists; its purple tentacles only a few inches long, which means the rest probably got ripped off somehow. I've always been fascinated by these creatures, especially since Lori's horrible encounter with one about 9 years ago, which resulted in a trip to the emergency room and scars across her wrist, chest and legs. Everett buried this year's encounter in the dunes before I was able to snag a picture of it.

How cute are they?!

Other notable events: wiffle-ball on the beach, a trip to the alligator farm, playing Hand and Foot with Kevin, and simply doing nothing but lie on the beach and enjoy the weather (80 degrees...beautiful). Also- Kevin and Everett riding the "swing" at the corner amusement park, which looked more like a catapult that could have shot them 2 miles down the beach. Oh, and as promised, D cooked his famous pulled pork for the fam and it was a hit (that junk is good). We celebrated Father's Day with dad and Robin's 31st bday appropriately with both German Chocolate and Fudge Pie. The tides this year were friggin' crazy! The water came up to the dunes, and completely flooded some of the streets that neighbor the marsh. The marsh grass was completely hidden under the water, making the inlet look like a giant pond. They credited the tides to a full moon and high winds.

Mairin and Rhett putting grass into a bucket to make "a bed" for a granddaddy long legs.

In the setting pictured above, my mom and I over heard the following conversation:

Mairin: Rhett, I love you more than this bucket.
Rhett: I love you more than this blanket.
Mairin: I love you more than Aunt Boo's hair.
Rhett: I love you more than Mema's sunglasses.
(and this goes on for like five minutes)
Mairin: Well, do you know who I love more than anyone in the whole wide world? (pause)...God and Jesus.
Rhett: Yeah me too! (pause)... everybody does.
Mairin: Well, not everyone.
Rhett: Right, like, not bad guys.
Mairin: Yeah, bad guys don't go to heaven.
Rhett: Well...some do.
Mairin: Yeah, but most go to that place... you know, that state, I mean, city, ummm...
Rhett: Yeah, once I saw a bad guy and he was chasing us but we got away.

The conversations of five-year-olds are quite possibly the best in the world.

That's it for now. The rest of our beach pics are posted on our website.