30 weeks already?

Remember that time I promised I'd write more? I must have had pregnany brain and forgot. Sorry! I've recently been informed that I'm not great at communicating about what's going on. Sorry, again. I'm sure nothing will change once there's a little one around that we have to look after. What have we been up to? Well, in a nutshell I've been traveling with my job and Jeremy has been working and studying. Nothing new! If I visit Myrtle Beach and Florence again this year it'll be too soon. ( I say this knowing I'll be back at Myrtle Beach next week.) I am looking forward to staying put from Thanksgiving on. We only have about 10 weeks until this little one makes her debut. And we still have a lot of work to do. 

Here are some questions I get asked weekly, if not daily: 

*How does Margo's nursery look? 

It looks like a room! It will be a nursery/guest room. It's painted, there's a guest bed, and the frame of her crib. That's about it. Everything will come together once we have time to work on it. I'm not worried. She's already blessed beyond measure. 

*When is she due? 

December 29th is still the due date. She's measuring right on track. 

The last question always leads to two things: 

1. You're due in December? You're still so small!

Why yes, I am 30 weeks. I am 5'2" and my husband is short, too. We come from short families and at one point Margo was measuring in the 30th percentile. My guess, and maybe this is far fetched, but she'll be short too! :) 

2. Couldn't you have picked a better time to have a baby? 

First, who asks that question? Really, who says that to someone? I get this at least once a week. It's the same as telling someone who left the house without makeup on that they look sick. This questions drives me crazy. It usually comes with, I feel so bad for her or some other weird statement about birthdays in December. I really am excited that she's due in December. It's a month of celebrating the joy of salvation in Jesus, a month of family get togethers, looking at lights and decorations everywhere, there's no school, and there are presents. It's a month to give back and show selfless love.  It's a beautiful month to be born. How on earth would she have a terrible birthday?!

*How are you feeling? 

Besides feeling fat, I feel great. I've gained 38 pounds. It's ok if it's public knowledge.  I'd tell you in person. I'm also so thankful that I'm able to work regularly still. I rarely get to sit still (except when I'm in the car). I sleep great. I have no weird food cravings or aversions to anything. I've never been sick.  The little things that happen aren't even worth a mention. I am blessed and thank God every day for such an incredible pregnancy... I've seen my share of rough pregnancies. 

*Are you feeling her move? 

Yes! She responds most to our morning car worship and her daddy's voice. All he has to do is call her and she gives him a twirl. It's sweet to watch his excitement. They will have a special relationship! She rolls around and kicks all the time, but she won't do it for anyone who asks but Jeremy. And no, strangers have not come up and touched  my belly. I get that question a lot, too. I don't think it would bother me. Babies bring so much joy to people and I'm not a personal space kind of girl. 

Those are the primary questions. I don't call people much or naturally bring it up in conversation, but I'm an open book about it. I'll try to work on my time management skills. Hopefully it won't be another 10 weeks before I post again. :)

Here I am as an itty, bitty baby. I am in the hearts and my bestie since birth is in the pink. 

This is 28 weeks. Every week I grew while I was traveling. It was a surprise to Jeremy every Friday what we looked like. 

We visited my parents in Boone one weekend. 

I am 3 days shy of 30 weeks here. I took this from my hotel for Jeremy to see. 

20 weeks!

Technically I am twenty weeks and two days, but Baby D is measuring at 20 weeks on the dot! Today was our big ultrasound. Our technician was adorable and has been doing her job for 15 years. Each  time we go to the doctor it is calming for me. I know that God has such an awesome plan in store, so everything I have to do I just feel His presence. It's pretty neat. While our technician was going over all of the basics, and talking to us about each step she was taking, it was just so calming.

So to the report! The head and everything they check ( I honestly can't tell you) looks perfect. The heart was beating at a beautiful 147 beats per minute. As usual, I started laughing uncontrollably when we heard the heart beating away. There's just something so joyful about hearing it and seeing it.  The spine was beautiful, bright, and perfect. I take pride in that spine because it was the most difficult time during the whole pregnancy. (... And by difficult I mean I just slept the whole day away!) Baby D has two hands and two feet. The stomach, kidneys, and all of those parts looked perfect. We are right on track for a December 29th baby! We met another met doctor and she was lovely. I have to see all 5 women in the practice before I have the baby. I think I've seen 4. Who can remember that far?! I have loved each one so far though. 

Jessi went with us and kept her eyes open when we closed ours during the gender part. She and Valerie have a huge secret to keep! We aren't really anxious about knowing. The 24th will be here before we know it. 

Goals for the month? Change my insurance card. I haven't done it. It's such a hassle, but everyone in the office keeps calling it Baby Krueger... I feel bad for Jeremy. He worked hard for years to get me to take his last name! 

Here is Jessi with the photos that have the gender and our DVD of the ultrasound. 

And I am not a fan of showing ultrasound pictures at all, but I know our family wants to see this kind of stuff. There are like 20 more. I just like this one best because of the little face. 

Anyways, I hope you have enjoyed your 20 week update! I'll post again soon!! 

Wooaahh, we're halfway there. Wooaah, livin on a prayer.

That's right. This is the halfway mark. 20 weeks to go. (Which means 19.5 weeks until Christmas... Just thought I'd remind you!) This week we have our gender appointment. We won't know until the 24th. What's a couple of extra weeks of waiting, right? 

I have had 3 dreams about what we are having. Two dreams that it was a girl and one dream that it was twin boys. The first dream was my favorite. When I went to the doctor they said I could invite anyone I wanted to the gender appointment. I guess my brain knew that if that was really an open invitation there's no telling who would show up. In my dream everyone I can possibly think of was there. When they said it was a girl streamers and confetti fell from the ceiling. I woke up laughing! 

I don't know how old Jeremy is in this picture, but isn't he cute? 

Here I am at a little over a year. I can only hope that our child gets Jeremy's perfect eyebrows... 

Two this week?!

It's exciting, isn't it? I finally sat down to write about our lives in the lovely country town of Elgin. Jeremy has been busy with summer school and I, again, have been pretty much sleeping and growing a baby all summer long. Having my energy back is great!

I thought I'd share how I told Jeremy that we were expecting a baby. It's a really funny story, although I didn't think it was funny at the time. I knew I was pregnant almost immediately, but I waited until it was official on the pregnancy test. I took one at work on a Wednesday. I could barely see the line that was supposed to show up and confirm my suspisions. I woke up early on Thursday, took a test, saw it was positive, hugged Jeremy goodbye for the day, and got ready for work. I literally laughed all morning. It's apparently how I handle life little blessings these days. I laugh uncontrollably.

A few weeks prior to this day, I went to a painting pottery place with some friends. (This is important, I promise.) I knew we would eventually start trying to have a baby, so I painted a coffee mug that was light blue with James 1:17 on it. "Every good and perfect gift is from above." On the inside of the mug, on the bottom, I wrote DAD!

I planned a whole baby meal: Baby back ribs, baby carrotts, baby zucchini, and baby corn. Then I served an ice cream dessert in mugs. We even sat at the dinner table. I thought for sure that he'd notice something was up. Jeremy was very busy and his mind was preoccupied during dinner. He blew through his dinner and ate his ice cream like someone was going to steal his mug. He put his plate and his mug in the sink and went back to school work. I called him back and asked if he seriously didn't catch on to what was going on. I grabbed the coffee mug and put it in his face. He probably read it aloud 3 times before it clicked. Then he asked me what that meant. My obvious response? "I'm having your baby." Awkward, Party of 1!

I'm not going to lie. I expected a different response. I expected crying, or laughing, or excitement, or anything other than a confused look. He walked away and I went for a run to not be upset anymore. I knew I was being unreasonable. He had no idea that I had been planning something all day long and that his life was about to change.

Looking back, we laugh at how absolutely clueless he was. He was so preoccupied with school that he didn't even stop to look at what was actually in front of him. And that's the story of how Jeremy found out he was going to be a dad.

Woah. About time, right?

I know. I haven't posted much at all. Nothing really. Sorry! I spent most of the summer sleeping and growing a baby. I think that deserves a break, right? I thought since I will be half way through this pregnancy this Sunday that I would post about it! I am sure one day I will forget, so this will be nice to have. Here are some frequently asked questions I get:

When am I due? December 29th. And yes, it'll be either a Christmas baby or New Years baby. I don't feel bad that our child won't get to have a school birthday party or will have to celebrate around a holiday. Jeremy's birthday is December 20th. He get his own birthday party separate from Christmas. I am confident that the birthday issue won't be a huge issue. It'll be great!

Were we planning to have a baby? Yes and No. We spent about 3 month praying about when was the right time. After a lot of prayer there finally came a day where we agreed with each other. It was affirmation from God that this was the next step for us. We weren't expecting to get pregnant right when we started trying (that's the no). It was a huge shock for us.

How have I been feeling? I feel great. I have only had 4 days of morning sickness and I pretty much spent all of June and July sleeping. Other than that this whole experience has been great.

Have I had any weird cravings? Right after I found out, until about 10 weeks,  I really wanted hamburgers. I really like the taste of tart things: salt and vinegar, mustard, etc. I have also wanted Macaroni and Cheese. I am thankful to not have any food aversions.... We love food!

Are you going to find out what you're having? Funny story! I have never wanted to find out what I am having. I married a man who is a planner. It's really been the only thing we have disagreed on. Jeremy has been such a gracious husband during all of this and he asked for one thing: to find out what we were having. Naturally we are having a gender reveal party. Jeremy's sister and my sister are going to be the only ones to know until WE find out in front of everyone at the party. I'm looking forward to seeing my reaction caught on camera.

I think that covers the big 5! My favorite thing about pregnancy so far? The horror stories. Other mothers or soon to be mothers have asked me about my pregnancy. It's a natural conversation for people who have experienced pregnancy, labor, etc. When I say I have had a wonderfully easy pregnancy I get a lot of remarks like "Oh, well it's coming." or "I hate you." or "What? That's not fair!". I take it in stride. It actually makes me laugh. I realize how incredibly blessed I have been. I think The Lord knows that I just need my strength and sanity to do my big girl job... :)

Here is the latest photo from last Friday, 2 days shy of 19 weeks:

It is official!

On Monday, Jeremy and I went to THE 12 week appointment. We are having a baby... we're having a baby... I'm going to be a mom and Jeremy is going to be a dad...  I think it started settling in just a little bit more. At the first appointment we only saw a little blur with a heartbeat. This appointment we heard the heart beat and watched a little baby squirm and wiggle around inside of me. It was surreal.

Because news was spreading like wildfire, we had to act fast on announcing. We had every intention of doing a video, but timing just wasn't on our side. So we came up with this:

Valerie and I walked up to the front, ordered the drinks, and asked a special favor of the Barista. When we told her we wanted Daddy to be and Mommy to be, along with a smaller baby cup, her face lit up and she was thrilled to be a part of it! She was a great participant in the whole thing.

I decided on Starbucks announcements because people who know me best know how much I love coffee. Coffee is actually one of the things I haven't had a desire to have while pregnant... feel free to laugh at the irony of it all. Also, these happen to be Hot Chocolates. And now we have a tiny souvenir for the baby room. Who knows, maybe I'll turn it into a Christmas ornament.

I'd also like to take a moment to recognize the special man God blessed me with, who has been taking care of me for the past 12 weeks while my body and routines have constantly changed! He jumped on board with the Starbucks plan (last minute after dinner) when he wanted to do something a little more his style. He'll be the best baby daddy ever!

Am I 28 or 29?

Funny story: A few weeks ago my mom said she was excited to see me on my 29th birthday. I politely corrected her (because no one wants to age any sooner than they have to) and we laughed  about it. I just thought she was getting old (sorry mom). Well, the other night our mom and dad called us on Skype and sang us Happy Birthday. After their glorious singing they showed us the card that was on our bassinettes in the baby nursery at the hospital. It said we were born 5/28/1984. So the great debate began: are we 28 or 29?!

My mom feels confident that Stephanie (my older sister) was born in November 1983. That means if we were born in 1984 my mom would have had 7 pound twins 6 months after having her first child. We ruled it out and decided we were definitely born in 1985. It's still funny that 5 months into the year the nurses wrote 1984 on our cards.

Anyways, we had a great birthday! We are 100% positive that we celebrated our 28th birthday. This is our Golden Year! 28 on the 28th! I love being a twin. I love celebrating with my best friend! Never a dull moment in our lives!





Our 1st birthday celebration!

28 years later!

Sunday mornings on the lake.

Last Sunday, Jeremy and I traveled about 30 minutes down the road to Lake Wateree Baptist Church. Jeremy will be doing their sermon/lesson in their 8:15 service each Sunday until Labor Day. It's a really neat opportunity. The church is located right on Lake Wateree and the 8:15 service is done kind of camp style. We sit on wooden benches right on the lake. We are looking forward to learning more about the congregation and just sharing in this experience with their church. They don't have a pastor right now, so that is why Jeremy is filling in for that part.

Jeremy taught on Amos 3: 1-7, which he said has helped and challenged him to become closer to Christ.

Hear this word, people of Israel, the word the Lord has spoken against you—against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt: “You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins.” Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?
Does a lion roar in the thicket when it has no prey? Does it growl in its den when it has caught nothing? Does a bird swoop down to a trap on the ground when no bait is there? Does a trap spring up from the ground if it has not caught anything? When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it? Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

The lion has roared— who will not fear? The Sovereign Lord has spoken— who can but prophesy?

It is going to be a great summer of lessons and learning. Feel free to come to church to hear him any Sunday (although this Sunday is the only Sunday Jeremy will be missing). We are going to make a nice out of town trip of it. You can even have breakfast with us at the Windmill Restaurant. I am looking forward to a great summer at Lake Wateree! :)



My view from the front row.

 

Our summer hobby

Every year Jeremy and I have a garden. It doesn't usually produce much. I think last year we got 1 tomato, 4 green beans, and a zucchini. Between the bugs and our poor watering skills, our plants didn't have a fighting chance. We have a lot of unused land, so we expanded our garden this year. I don't know the dimensions, but it's pretty large. We have planted 3 different kinds of tomato plants, squash, zucchini, watermelon, cantaloupe, okra, broccoli, cucumber, pumpkin, green bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, asparagus, sweet potatoes, blueberries, and some flowers to attract bees. Some we started as plants from the store, some we started as seeds. I always like to test my green thumb.

I love the idea of gardening. My dad is a huge gardener. I think it's in my blood. It's a lot of work, but Jeremy and I get excited every day when we go outside and see everything growing. This year we are determined to have a great year.

I snapped a few photos from Jeremy's phone (my phone is currently in the shop). We hope to be eating yummy fruits and vegetables from our garden soon!

Happy Mother's Day!

The other day I was in Target picking up some baby essentials for a few baby showers I am going to next weekend. As I walked through the aisles, looking at all of the little babies on the packages and all of the teeny, tiny baby things, I just started crying with joy for my friends. It was a mix of feeling: I can't believe my friends and I are at the baby age and I am thankful for my mom and the women in my life who helped raise me.

It felt like just yesterday we were all graduating from college and in the wedding phase of our lives. I am sure it is surreal for our mothers to have watched us all grow up and change from little girls to women.

This is a picture from our last college girl wedding. Columbia College Class of 2007.

The older I get, the more I notice how selfless, dedicated, loving, and kind mothers are. I don't stop to think about how many mothers are around me all the time, but you are everywhere! The best thing my mom ever told me was that I could be anything I wanted to be. No one could tell me different. She is who helped me get to Africa and find my passion in missions because she has always believed in me. I am thankful for my mom, my grandmother, my aunts, and all the other women who helped raise me.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you wonderful, beautiful, selfless mothers out there! I hope you have a beautiful day!

 

 

Happy Mother's Day, M!

 

Happy Mother's Day, Bink!

Happy Mother's Day, Titi Aixa!

 

Happy Mother's Day, Kimberly and Wuelita!

Happy Mother's Day, Yogi!

 

Happy Mother's Day, Sallie!

Happy Mother's Day,Melissa!

Happy Mother's Day, Grandma Sandy!

Happy Mother's Day, Pat!

Happy Mother's day, PY!

Happy Mother's Day, Hali!

 

And to all of the other mothers that I didn't have a picture of, Happy Mother's day!

 

 

When there just isn't anything to say...

There are moments in life where there just aren't words. Sometimes I just can't think of words to help me process how I am feeling. Today is one of those days. As I listened to these words I was reminded that God loves me and has the best plan in mind. I am thankful for that. Maybe you're having the same kind of day. This song encouraged me and maybe it can do the same for you! xo



Revelation Song:

Worthy is the, Lamb who was slain
Holy, Holy, is He
Sing a new song, to him who sits on
Heaven's mercy seat
[2X]

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You

Clothed in rainbows, of living color
Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor, strength and glory and power be
to You the only wise King

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You

Filled with wonder, awestruck wonder
At the mention of your name
Jesus your name is power
Breath, and living water
Such a marvelous mystery
Yeah...

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come, yeah
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You

Sunday Scripture

One of my favorite books to read in the Bible is the book of Romans. Today, I want to share some scripture verses with you.while I read, if there is a certain scripture that catches my attention, I like to read scripture in a few different formats. It helps me to understand. It's easy to open up something online and switch back and forth from one text to the other.

Romans 5: 6- 8, NIV
"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Romans 5: 6- 8, The Message
"Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him." 

Have a happy Sunday and a wonderful week! 

Titi Rudy

I love being Titi Rudy. I am lucky that my sister and her husband live so close. I look forward to meeting my newest niece Virginia Lane, but until then I will continue to be Miss O's personal paparazzi. Enjoy this video of Miss O eating pickles from our date the other night:

my 27 year struggle.

When I was a little girl I used to talk back to my mom and dad all the time. Actually, I've struggled with it my whole life. Some of you may know that my Wuelita and Wuelito didn’t mess around with back talk and I would occasionally have to open my mouth wide, stick out my tongue, and stand there while they dribbled hot sauce on my tongue. Sometimes I could sneak away and wash it off while they did the same thing to my sisters, but most of the time I had to deal with the stinging pain. I don’t eat hot sauce at all and I hate the smell. Talking back is still my struggle or my weakness. I struggle to have a filter and often say not nice things out of frustration.

A few weeks ago, Jeremy and I went out to eat for dinner. Have you ever seen this ecard?

 

 

My sister and I joke about this sometimes. We get grumpy when we are hungry. At the restuarant, Jeremy and I waited 20 minutes to get asked about our drinks and then it was probably 45 minutes to an hour before we had anything to eat. I used to wait tables, so this just added to my frustration. Managers walked by, other servers walked by, no one asked about us or even noticed there was nothing on our table.

When our waitress finally made an appearance I let her have it. I didn't think I was terribly mean, but I could tell on Jeremy's face that he was embarassed. She was really apologetic, but I almost didn't care because I was hungry and upset. When she walked away, though, I immediately thought about what I had done. Did the way I act or the words I use reflect who I am in Christ? In my head I began asking myself if this was my one opportunity to meet her, knowing nothing about her life, her family, only that she works as a waitress, what would she know of me and my husband when we left for the night? Jeremy and I have this rule that we tip with grace. If we go out to eat we always leave a nice tip for the waiter or waitress regardless of their performance. Christians have such bad reputations with waiters because they leave bad tips. I knew we would leave a tip, but what difference would it make after the way I acted?

A few years back I ran across this scripture, "It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!" James 3:5-10 (The Message). That last line gets me. I encourage you to read more of James and the New Testament.

I did the only thing I thought I could do that would help the situtuation... I apologized. I apologized to my waitress and apologized to Jeremy. When we left, though, I couldn't forget about it. I realized that I had some praying to do, some reflecting to do, and some growing to continue to do. But as I reflected on this,I noticed that this was happening in a few other places in my life. This wasn't something I was doing just out of hunger... it was a reflection of my heart. 

And this brings us to today. This is the main reason I haven't updated my blog. I have been in a time of reflection and a time of change. I'm sorry that I have not updated our lives. You haven't missed much. God is teaching and molding me and Jeremy. We are excited about growing in our love for him, our desire to serve him, and to lead by example. Sometimes reflection is necessary. I want to encourage you to reflect on your own life, the words you're using, and actions you take... what is being revealed about your own heart?

The last thing I want to mention is that Jeremy is preaching this Sunday at church. The first time he preached I was in Africa. He has been busy all week putting together what God has placed on his heart. I'm excited to hear it! We go to Blaney Baptist Church (in case you were wondering).  If you aren't able to come I will make sure to put his sermon on here next week. Happy weekend!

Happy 1 year!

I can't believe we celebrated a year as Mr. and Mrs! We are incredibly excited about this new year together and we are so thankful for the support, encouragement, and love we have received. First, a confession: we never sent out thank you cards. It's been eating away at me all year long. It felt impossible to do and so I never did it. We jumped right into J's seminary and life after the honeymoon... literally. No time to stop. So, for everything you've done for us, everything you did to make our special day wonderful a year ago, the gifts, cards, everything, please know how truly thankful we are for you! One of my goals is to not let thank you notes slip again. I feel so ashamed, but a little bit better after confessing it for the world to see!

Here are some pictures of our anniversary weekend. We spent time in Charlotte and just enjoyed being alone: no dogs, no real responsibilities, just us!

We went to a Thai restaurant the Friday night. It was fabulous! 

We stayed at our grandparents house in Charlotte.
This is what we walked in the house to. So lovely! 

We went across the street from the house and had
lunch at Dean and Deluca.

We stopped at this very claustrophobic feeling antique
store in Pineville. We loved it! 

We had dinner Saturday night at Brio's. We highly recommend it! 

After a busy weekend we walked into a lovely place setting on the table
and dinner in the fridge ready to heat up and eat. 

We set the camera on auto and captured our cake eating. Typical cake
smash. I can't remember who baked this lemon cake, but we loved it!

You can't tell here, but Jeremy is terribly ill. He sucked up
anniversary celebrations to make the whole weekend memorable.

We also picked up a pandora bracelet on our honeymoon in St. Marteen. We decided
our tradition would be adding to it every year. 

The first picture we took after we left the church and one year later! 

Romans 8

A few months, and only a few posts ago, I talked a little bit about my struggle with my chaotic feeling life. When things started to get really out of control, and I felt like being angry was the only thing that was possible for my day, I made a decision to spend time in God's word reminding myself daily of what exactly His promises are for me. Since that time I have been very intentional in spending time reading and I have found  myself craving more scripture. I told Jeremy that it felt like I was asleep inside my own body and I finally felt awake. On my way in to work I was thinking about the past few months and I remembered something that I wanted to share.

Over Thanksgiving break my sister and brother-in-love traveled out of town and and I decided to decorate their house for Christmas. I drove over, pulled all of the Christmas stuff out of the attic, and started decorating. I got really frustrated because I couldn't find the tree stand, and the tree weighs about 50 pounds, and then I had to spend an hour fluffing the tree. I just got angry and wanted to quit.  I kept telling myself that I didn't need that frustration and that she would be fine putting it together when she got home that night or the next morning... I did the hardest part of taking it all down.

I remember stopping myself in my frustration and reminding myself why I was doing it. I wasn't doing it to get recognized or to make it crazy beautiful, I was doing it to serve my sister becuase I love her and she was spending her whole day in a car (with a baby). I specifically remember reminding myself of what a task decorating for Christmas was and to just be patient. I also remember thinking to myself, "Hilary you knew this would be hard, but you love her."

It was at that moment where I felt like God was really trying to teach me something. In everything that I faced I just couldn't get over this hump that I was in. But it was because I thought that things would be easy. Except He never promised me that my life would be easy. In fact, he tells me in His word that I will face trouble, hardships, and persecution. Everything that I had faced in the last few months began to just flash in my mind and I instantly began to see them differently. Each struggle began to have a purpose in how God was shaping me and what He was teaching me.

By the time I finished decorating I stood in her living room, with the nothing but the Christmas lights on, and cried at how beautiful it was. I was so excited that my sister would walk into such a beautiful scene. It was a struggle at first, but I knew she would know exactly how much I loved her when she walked in the door. And she did. She was so excited.

I thought it was funny that God would remind me of this on my drive in this morning. I needed to remember this today because he knew how today would play out. I was reminded that at the end of all of this, each struggle, there will be something beautiful to look at and know that God had a plan for all of it. I am thankful for his reminders and his promises. My friend also shared this with me as a reminder, and I will leave you with it:

 Romans 8: 28-39:

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,  neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. "

 

xoxo-

Hilary

 

 

 

Three Kings celebrations!

My family is usually only able to get together 1 time a year and that is for Three Kings Day! This year we celebrated Saturday, January 5th until January 6th. The 5th we did family fun, presents, photos, cooked, and ate food (all day). Sunday, January 6th, we spent the day celebrating Virginia Lane. In March (at least that's her due date) she will be the newest member of the family.

This year was the first Three Kings day with all 4 sisters married off. I feed bad that my father didn't have anyone to carry his name on. I think most people we grew up with will always know us as the Krueger sisters. That's ok with us, I think. It was also Olivia's first Three Kings Day. She was a joy to have around. Next year we will have 2 sweet babies... if not more! You never know!

The Griglens

All of us.

The star of the show... Olivia.

Another shot of the family. Thanks to Jeremy and modern technology!

Hite Family

All the girls!

The Tinker Family

me and the mr!

The 2 who started it all, M and P.Diddy

The future parents and Virginia Lane.

Dinner in the making.

a daddy and his daughter.

rice, beans, and pasteles all the way from Puerto Rico! 

we put my mom to work.

some of our ingredients being watched by our Kings. a lot of Goya.

close up of the pasteles. they were delicious!

using the head massager on Olivia. she couldn't handle it.

It tickled her so much.

a plateful of good Puerto Rican cooking. yum!

Here she is, making magic happen.

rolling the dough.

ready for stuffing

I don't know what's in here besides ground beef. magic?

closing it up to get it ready to fry

ready for the oil!

Olivia picked grass for the camels. She left it under her crib and woke up to some gifts!

Virginia Lane's baby shower!

 

Jeremy and I hosted this year. We are definitely looking forward to next year! Hope you all enjoyed your time with family and friends this holiday. xoxo- Hilary